Zuiderdam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This was one of our nicest cruises. We spent 3 days in NY city before the cruise. I had never been to NY before and there were so many sights to see we had a very hard time deciding where to go and which shows to see. We stayed in Manhattan so we could walk most places or take the subway where we needed to go. We have been on a couple of ships that have 400+ passengers but I think we like the smaller ships better. The Zuiderdan is great and perfectly suited for and trip into the North East. Don’t think we will do another Duck Boat trip after reading about the one that sank. The people at every stop were so welcoming. We heard great tales and fine music. We also stayed and extra day in Quebec at the end of the trip. We needed more time here but life at home was calling.

great cruise. Love the Holland app to plan daily events. Cruise lines need to add email capability among passengers. We always travel with friends and it can be hard to find everyone

The most fascinating part was the scenic cruising in Prince Christian Sound. We stayed on the bow virtually all day with an excellent commentary from the bridge in gorgeous weather. We particularly enjoyed the residents of the only village on the sound coming out on motor boats with their standing kids and circling the ship. The ship stopped at all 5 glaciers to allow plenty of time for photos. We've cruise Alaska twice but this experience was better. The 2 Greenland ports were not that great and the major experience were 9 somewhat elderly Inuits singing bible hymns in the culture center for $15. We also enjoyed Saint Johns Newfoundland. We had been to the other one in NB 3 times. HAL mistakenly put that in their brochure and subsequently corrected it. We enjoyed the $5 hop on hop off city bus which took us to the top of Signal Hill for a gorgeous vies.

We don't stress too much about the condition of the ship, The ports of call are our main reason to be on the cruise in the first place. We did a back to back on this ship with ports of call Copenhagen, Denmark, Bergen, Norway, Akureyri, Ísafjörður, & Reykavik, Iceland, Prince Christian Sound, Qaqortoq, Nanortalik, Greenland, St, John's, Newfoundland, & Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and of course NYC, New York, USA.

overall it was very good but they will have to fix the food problem before we sail with HAL again and also watch out for the beverage package {15 drinks a day ) doubles count as 2 drinks ,so when you get to 7 double you have 14 drinks the next one they charge you for the whole double not a free single and a charged single no big deal but was surprised how petty that is

good experience would do again. highly recommend. love the smaller ships. the ports were all great. we loved the piano bar and are sorry they are changing it

Very good cruise with excellent ports of call. Outstanding food on board, especially pastries. Specialty dining was outstanding. A good size ship with 2100 passengers and 1000 crew.

We enjoyed the cruise but would prefer more activities, less expensive excursions and where possible ports that are much more convenient to a metropolitan area.

Very nice tour except from the weather, which was rather colder and more windy than expected. The people onboard were quite old so at 11 o'clock the ship was nearly empty, all gone to bed.

This was a very pleasant cruise.  It covered a number of ports of call that we were interested in visiting.  The ship was well managed and staffed and most all of our experiences except as noted below were positive. We liked the smaller size of this vessel (2000 passengers) better than larger ships we have sailed. The food in the main dining room was excellent.  The ship sponsored tours that we used very good but for one exception noted below.  We do find that the ship's excursions to be pricey.   We used off ship tours whenever possible. Our overall experience was very positive and would recommend the cruise to seniors looking for a similar experience.

Pros: Embarking and disembarking was smooth and easy. (I recommend not to go at the very first time for embarking). To disembark, there's full breakfast, and they let you stay comfortably in your cabin until your time to disembark. 

Staff is great; food is quite good in the main venues (Pinnacle Grill is awesome, and not so much Canalettos). Singers and dancers perform great shows; Adagio classical music duet are fantastic. The cabins, although a little bit small, are spotless and well maintained. 

Cons: you have to pay for limited internet; they don't have option for unlimited. This might be a problem if you don't log out properly and time keeps running. Times and places for onboard activities continuously change, and you may miss something if don't read carefully the program. I would like if some golf activities were included. 

Twelve day cruise and 11 different ports.  If you love nature and breathtaking scenery this is a great itinerary for you.  My wife and I love HAL and the Zuiderdam in particular as we have sailed on this ship twice before. I much prefer a cruise like this rather than some cruises that feature ports where shopping is a big factor.  I find the food on HAL ships to be among the best in the industry with the Pinnacle Grill being a step above that.  I always find a day or two to dine in the Pinnacle on each cruise.

Loved the many and varied ports of call in several countries. We used the HopOn/HopOff buses, along with excursions arranged through Viator. Much less expensive with more flexibility. The weather was most often cold, windy, cloudy, and rainy. Dates were May 17-June10. We had a Neptune Suite with lots of closet & storage space. The ship was still in beautiful condition, even though it's scheduled for a renovation in October. A long cruise gave us the opportunity to know many crew members making the trip even more memorable. We enjoyed the food too much and ate in all dining rooms. Holland America remains our favorite line.

Our 24 day cruise on the Zuiderdam was our first on a Vista class ship. The Zuiderdam appeared to be in good condition although scheduled for a refit this fall. We found some aspects troubling though. The top deck has become a reservation only cabana deck, taking away the opportunity of outside deck forward facing views except when the bow was open (only occasionally). We found the Lido Restaurant very busy and hard to find a table at on many breakfast days due to guests trying to eat before excursion departure. Found shore excursions poorly organized for St Petersburg tours. Only 1 guide for tour bus, no safety person and several groups lost tour members in a busy city - VERY POOR. Also no response from shore excursions about the problem. Generally found many staff overwhelmed with duties, and while pleasant had no time to be sociable.

A life time of memories from many interesting ports.

The crossing was very relaxing and it was smooth sailing. Some very intresting ports.

How attentive and caring the cruse staff were.  They were always concerned with my personal comfort going out of their way to make sure I was happy and satisfied. The Food was Delicious,  Ali, Mario and Paul all went out of their the make our dining experience the extremely pleasureable.

This ship was about to undergo a complete remodel when we were on board. We thought that everything was very tastefully decorated already. The staff made sure we felt very welcomed. The room was always well tended to. We will always return to Holland America.

It seems that each Holland America cruise only gets better! Not a single negative moment during the entire 11 days and the entire crew was such a pleasure to interact with. We enjoyed all of the entertainment but the Island Magic Steel Band was absolutely outstanding. Erica, the Digital Workshop Goddess, was filled with both knowledge and patience and helped a lot of us learn much about working with Microsoft products. We did have a billing issue, resulting from a misunderstanding on my part, and it only took one phone call to get it completely resolved after we returned home. We can't 'till we're able to travel with Holland America again! 

We loved every moment of our cruise... Wonderful crew, always helpful and friendly..our Verandah cabin was all that we pictured it to be, our Cabin crew were friendly and always a clean cabin for us to return to. Everything was to our liking...The only thing that both my husband and I missed was meeting the Captain of the ship..We were invited to the Luncheon and were there, but never saw the Captain close up,,,that was rather a a MISS in our cruise.

The shows were all excellent..Other than that we thoroughly enjoyed our Cruise with MS. Zuiderdam