Caribbean Cruise

Item: Zuiderdam
Rating: 3.7
Author: JRTravler

Zuiderdam Cruise Review to Caribbean

JRTravler

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 36

Overall rating:

3.7 out of 5

14 Night Tropical / Western Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 25, 2020

Ship: Zuiderdam

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 6096

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

After sailing with Holland America for over 40 years, I must say that I was disappointed with this last cruise. Since being purchased by Carnival Lines, the quality and attentiveness that Holland America was known for seems gone. Staff seem to argue with customers, shows are gone and replaced with minimal acts. The quality of food has gone done and Chocolate Extravaganza Night is gone. It seems that when they were bought out, saving money seems to be the new norm. Even the excursions have changed. When you expect to visit places and then are told you need to pay extra to get in to a lighthouse and a fort. Over all I feel that Holland America has cheapened themselves because of Carnival.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Quality of meals seems to have gone down.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Same old same old...Something new should be added to on ship activities.

Entertainment

1 out of 5

The shows are gone and replaced with other non exciting programming.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Staff ratio is not the same in that there are less staff members on this cruise and many seem to have left for other lines.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Cabin was well maintained over the course of my cruise.

Ship tip

Bring books to read to deal with boredom.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

5 out of 5

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (Private Island)

3 out of 5

Same as always. No real changes.

Thumbs Up 0

Grand Turk Island

5 out of 5

Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic

5 out of 5

Key West, Florida

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

5 Comments

Shh813 4 years ago

We will be on the Zuiderdam in March going to Panama Canal. We're hoping for the best. We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam in March of 2018 and loved it. Great ship, fantastic crew. The staff in buffet were the best ever. Always friendly, smiling and willing to help. Also our cabin steward always greeted us by name when he saw us and asked how our day was at the different ports. Cabin always spotless and never had to ask for anything. The food on ship was absolutely delicious. Make sure to try the Dive-In, where they have burgers, hotdogs and fries. The best burgers we've ever had. The Holland line is geared to older passengers which we are so we knew what to expect. We especially loved The pool area where there are no loud bands or DJ's. Just piped in music which was so relaxing. There is not a lot to do on the ship during the day but that's what the ports are for. And our ports were fantastic. My brother and his wife travelled with us and we made sure to bring our card game, Phase 10, which we played often so we always had something to do. Loved the Nieuw Amsterdam and looking forward to the Zuiderdam.

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4Goodtimes 4 years ago

Carnival has owned HAL since 1989. We love HAL especially for the Signature Class & Pinnacle Class ships for long cruises. Life is what you make & so are cruises.

Thumbs Up 1

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Ddam 4 years ago

So many people complaining about “nothing to do” on this sailing- ha! My husband and I scheduled so many activities we overlapped on several days! We took shore excursions in every port even having been to these destinations many times. We can always find something new. Do all the Culinary classes and the demonstrations. BB King’s was great too... Vacations are what you do with them... don’t blame a ship... The one nice lady who couldn’t find anything to do never got off the ship and spent her day’s sitting in the smoking area lighting one after another... 😳 apparently HAL failed her because they didn’t pick her up and take her to activities

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cruisereckoning 4 years ago

We are getting ready for our 2nd cruise on Holland America end of this month. It isn’t our favorite cruise line but for what we were looking for with this cruise it fit perfect. I see a lot of negative comments about Holland and a lot are from young people looking for a cruise to party, Holland isn’t that cruise line. I didn’t know they were owned by Carnival until a couple days ago.

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xldiva 4 years ago

I thought holland America has owned Carnival for quite some time, no?

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Other reviews of this sailing

I miss the old Holland-America Line

Another perfect HAL cruise