Zuiderdam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Aside from minor glitches and rather poor weather, this was a very wonderful experience

Wonderful way to spend Christmas! I enjoyed having the Officers' families on board and the children visiting with Santa Claus. Made me feel that Christmas had finally arrived. Also, in love with the Island Magic Steel Band.

Crew service was excellent! Best laundry service I have seen on any of my cruises. Quick turn around, laundry well done, and lower cost. Ship was showing signs of age.

I love the somewhat smaller ships. Easier to navigate, no waiting in line for elevators, staff got to know us and call us by name. Met some people from the midwest and Canada the first couple of day on board and spend late afternoon, dinner and most evenings with them. The ship doesn't have all the activities that the larger ships have, but at 76 I don't need or want a wave pool, zip line, rock climbing wall etc. I want to be able to get around the ship easily, enjoy good food and the company of others with similar interests.

We have never been more disappointed in a cruise experience. We have cruised less expensive lines with less venerable reputations than Holland America and have always been delighted and pleasantly surprised by the value of the experiences we have had with food, entertainment, and service. In contrast, our experience on the Zuiderdam was a rip-off. Different passengers we spoke to with experience on Holland America ships told us this cruise was unrecognizable as an HAL experience. One even refered to her experience as feeling like she was in the Twilight Zone. There are plenty of cruise lines out there. No need to take a chance on Holland America and risk a similar experience to ours.

Great value for the money. The crew was very friendly and the on board entertainment was good. The food was also very good. Lots of variety and venues. Would definitely cruise with Holland America again.

A chance to see parts of the world not normally available on a single cruise. The food was excellent and the staff was eager to provide their service to you. A great way to meet new friends.

It was very nice cruise. Food and entertainment exceed our expectations. A lot of activities during days at see. And of cause the promenade on the deck 5 is very helpful for people like us. It is in the middle of the ship, not on the upper deck like in other cruise lines. Excursions from the Holland America are overpriced.

The itinerary was the draw for me. I had high expectations and the ports exceeded them. The ship experience was nice. The cabin was comfortable and the staff were friendly and helpful.

We really like this line and the service, attention to detail and opportunities available. We often would rather just explore the port cities than do 'tours' as we find it intriguing to talk to the town folk in port ciities and find out all kinds of unique things about the region.

the ports were good,  the service was good, only one good entertainment BBKing.  The staff listened to concerns but did little about them.  The ship was clean the food was not, everything is served cant pick out which and how much counter staff just did not seem to understand what you wanted.  No sugar or stirrers with coffee service.

This was a relaxing trip.  The ports of call were interesting and easy to navigate.  Our Neptune Suite service was gracious.  The Zuiderdam is a lovely ship with nice amenities and a very helpful staff.

Wife trip in a doorway and broke her hip the first night. Off loaded in Kiel Germany by ambulance the next day. Surgery and a week of recuperation in order to fly back to US. Worst vacation of our lives.

As seniors, we stay very involved at our retirement community having fun and

volunteering.  We were ready to unwind on our cruise.  We got a cabin with a veranda and  really  enjoyed our evenings looking at the sea and having a glass of wine.  The first 3 mornings I had breakfast in bed! 

The Zuiderdam was a nice mid size ship and offered excellent food and drinks in the dining room.  We had a table for 6 and enjoyed our dinner partners very much.

The entertainment was first class and we enjoyed the Crows Nest for reading

and drinks.  (If I could improve the ship, it would be to make repairs like rusty balcony and noisy partitions making flapping sounds and fix flooring in cabin bathroom.  I realize the ship is an older one but noted repairs could have made

my Rating 5 stars instead of 4.

The start of our cruise was nice and relaxing during the trans-Atlantic portion of this trip. The stops in France and in St. Petersburg were ill time because they stopped on major European holidays, May 1st (May Day) and May 9th (Victory Day in Russia).  Major museums and tourist attractions were closed.

The second leg or the Baltic cruise portion was hectic but fun because the places that we visited were all new to us.  We booked tours through Holland American and through a private tour company. We liked the private tour company better because they organized the tours into smaller groups. Eleven people as compared to forty. Holland American did have well organized tours going to Berlin. Much better than the tours they had going to St. Petersburg.

Transfers to the airport and our flight on SAS airline were exceptional.

Long cruise.  Good guest speakers and culinary exhibitions.  Missed docking at one port (Horta) because of rough seas.  Had a few problems with structural noise at night and moisture (leaking) in passageways.  Food was very good and had a wide variety.  Pinnacle restaurant was good, but not outstanding.

Overall cruise was very good, food was excellent,, embarking and disembarking was smooth and very efficient. entertainment was very good especially the steel drum band , Island Magic.

Cruise could have been great but every port we visited the captain docked the ship with the port side of the ship facing toward the towns leaving the starboard side facing water.  

The only thing we found that was NOT very good ,was the T.V. it was TOO small  also the thermostat, ,it was in Celsius and we do not know Celsius. Other than that, ALL was very good

My favorite part of the cruise when we enter the Panama Canal and we took a shore excursion where we are on the observatory room and see how a ship pass thru the canal.

I love the daily mass held on board

I love the direct luggage program they have from cabin and we saw our luggage again at final destination. We don't have to check in our luggage and we got our boarding pass and luggage tag from the ship. 

Using the sanitizer is not a mandatory when entering the dinning room which is a mandatory in all the cruises I have taken so far.