The most relaxing cruise ever!
Zuiderdam Cruise Review to Mexico
Contributor Level:
First Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 16
Helpful Votes: 684
Review summary
Our cruise before this cruise was on a sister ship line known for "fun". Although there was less "fun" available on this cruise ship--we were struck by how relaxing this cruise was going to be within 5 minutes of being on the ship. The crew is absolutely wonderful. Everyone said good morning, good afternoon, or good evening EVERY TIME they walked past us--it's impossible not to feel welcomed when on this ship. I did feel bad for the handful of kids I saw on the ship--they looked pretty bored among the adults (although that is only an assumption on my part). This is definitely a ship for folks who want to read a book while on board. There are lots of non-active activities like Trivia and Bingo, a few game shows, and some night time entertainers who were only OK. This is mostly a cruise for folks who just want to wind down and relax. Although in our case--this is what we wanted, I can understand why others might be bored. I was told that the average age on this cruise was 71. Since this was a repositioning cruise--many on board were casino customers who had "gotten a deal"--so the casino was pretty busy most nights.Embarkation
Fast and efficient--used Verifly
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
My husband raved about the food--I thought that it was overall only OK, so I'm compromising and giving it 4 stars. First of all the LIDO breakfast is the best ever--better than any other breakfast on 30 plus cruises. Love that the food is piping hot and made to order--even pancakes--they make them only to order--takes about 3 minutes, but well worth it. The staff in the LIDO is always wonderful--after 2 days--they remembered my breakfast order! Lunch and dinner in the LIDO was hit or miss I thought--sometimes the meat was tough and sometimes the food was only so-so. Interestingly--they ran out of food like--orange juice. Who runs out of orange juice? The LIDO wait staff is always right there with Coffee, drinks, etc--the best waiters ever! Was impressed with Canaletto this cruise. The Pinnacle Grill breakfast for Neptune Suite guests was hit or miss--sometimes spot on, but other days you waited pretty long for food that wasn't exactly what you ordered (hard eggs instead of over medium), etc. Many mornings we wished we had gone to the LIDO. Main dining room is hit or miss--waiters are wonderful but the food can be off--got beef tenderloin 1 night that was tough to chew. I've noticed that Holland has pretty much gotten rid of lobster tails on gala night and their menu is more limited than before the pandemic.
Onboard Activities
Holland is not known for "activities"--the pools are nice and there are 2 of them, fitness center is excellent. However--no rock climbing walls or anything unusual. There are the standard ping pong tables and shuffleboard.
Casino Action
Can't say enough about how nice being in the casino was--very welcoming dealers and pit staff.
Entertainment
I thought the stage shows and entertainers were sub-par to other cruise lines. Music is of course excellent--BB Kings and Lincoln On Stage are always good.
Children's Programs
This is not really a cruise line I would book if my granddaughter was coming with us.
Service and Staff
Service as always on Holland is impeccable. Room Steward kept the room very clean and waiters were excellent. However--the thing that stands out to me is that EVERYONE employed by Holland makes you feel welcome and special.
Ship Quality
Typical Holland ship--no big glitzy atrium. All areas were clean.
Cabin / Stateroom
We upgraded to a Neptune Suite on a casino offer and when you upgrade via the casino you are generally given an SC cabin (not on the 7th floor where the Neptune lounge is). However we were assigned a handicapped accessible cabin (I guess no one who needed it had signed up for it) and the cabin was quite large. It had some interesting features like an emergency call cord (which of course my husband pulled--wondering what it was--and they responded with a phone call immediately--it might have been interesting if I hadn't been there to answer the phone while he was in the shower.) There were also motion sensitive lights that turned on when you got out of bed at night to run to the bathroom--which would be great to put in all rooms. The bathroom had a roll in wheelchair accessible shower and a shower in the bathtub--we used the bathtub shower thinking it would avoid making the floor wet and slippery. However the bathtub walls were pretty high which made getting in and out challenging. Our balcony was large --the width or 2 standard balcony cabins and located aft. I could see that the seat cushions had soot on them--not enough to bother me sitting there in jeans, etc--but I wouldn't have sat in the chairs outside if I had had on white clothes. I would definitely choose this suite again--we loved it.
Ship tip
Try the Canaletto--we often skip this on Holland, but this time we really enjoyed the food and thought the service was great.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
You can walk yourself across the street to the port from several wonderful hotels. (We stayed at the Springhill Suites). There are also great restaurants nearby and things to do including the Midway tour which is within walking distance of the port. We took the Temecula wine tasting tour--which was decent--the scenery was great and some of the wine was good.
A tender port. The rock formations in the bay are beautiful and there are so many shore excursions that take advantage of the beauty and abundant fish in their reef area. If you haven't booked a shore excursion--it is easy to do so once you get off the ship. We were lazy and booked a shore excursion at a resort--giving us access to a beautiful beach as well as a swimming pool with lunch and drinks.
I got off to do shopping only right at the pier--looked like they had about 15 large tents set up. There was a surprisingly good selection of Mexican handicrafts with merchants who were less harassing than usual. Prices were decent if you bargained. There were shuttles available to take you to La Paz which is about 20 minutes away and those who went said it was beautiful.
This area is more of what I think of when I think of Mexico--kind of an average city with both beauty and poverty. We went on one of the more popular tours--Estatuaries and birds--this was a very long tour with a very long boat ride in the bay and then in the mangroves. We then got off the boat on Stone Island and were transported to a restaurant by a tractor pulled cart with seats in it. At the end of a 30 minute "tractor ride" we had a decent lunch at a restaurant with a nice beach. Most of us were too tired to even think about swimming on the beach at that point. There was then another shorter boat ride, walking, and another bus ride to get back onto the ship. We saw over 40 species of birds and had a very knowledgeable guide. Overall the tour was very interesting. Not for anyone with mobility issues or a sore back. Lots of shops and places to eat right in the pier area.
A beautiful, modern city--definitely lots of money here. The port area seems quite safe--we docked across the street from a Walmart, Sams, and Costco & a large shopping mall and met so many people that walked to the Walmart and loved it--not my thing--but apparently there were good bargains.
This was a new port for us and is definitely worth a repeat visit. We took the trolley tour--very informative and stopped at the mission. There were several drop off points if you wanted to wander around the city--so many things to do including flea markets, arts shows, walking on the beach, etc. The city had a tent set up with lots of info on walking tours, where to eat, etc. We enjoyed walking along the famous wooden pier. This is a tender port.
Always a nice place to visit--many shore excursions were cancelled--"operations issues" per the shore excursion office--maybe because we were the first ship into Victoria for the season.
Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia
A beautiful city. Since our flight was in the evening we took the city highlights tour and visited Stanley Park and drove around downtown Vancouver. Next time we'll opt for a tour with an outside company where we can visit Grouse Mountain, etc. The Hop on hop off tour that is usually offered was unavailable--again maybe too early in the season.
Disembarkation
Very fast--only problem was having to stand for 30 minutes with our luggage waiting for the post cruise shore excursion bus.
Traveler Photos
