Post Cruise Wrap Up

We made it home from Toronto this morning.  The flight from Vancouver was smooth and we arrived at the hotel about 9:30pm. Rocky and Joan's plane was delayed two hours, so they didn't arrive until much later.  John and Ellen were going to Denver.

Our cruise ship was the 85,000 ton, 1868 passenger Holland America MS Zuiderdam. It was launched in December 2002. The ship has 924 staterooms spanning 6 decks. 165 staterooms have ocean views and 623 have balconies. The pool decks and promenade decks are covered in teak wood which gives the ship a rich, classy feeling. The forward pool area is like the Skydome as it has its own retractable roof.  This is a ''real'' promenade deck - one on which you can walk all the way around the ship.

Inside the atrium spans from Deck 1 to Deck 3 which are connected by a spiral staircase. There are multiple dining areas ranging from 5 course meals in the Vista Dining to a buffet on the Lido deck.  There were also a couple of speciality restaurants.  Of course there more bars than you can wave a stick at, most of which have some form of entertainment.  There is also a theatre where they have nightly cabaret type shows. The Crow's Nest Lounge is a glass enclosed bar which straddles the entire front of the ship and gives great views.

Our room which was called a "deluxe verandah" was the size of a modern day home's master bedroom with an ensuite tub and shower.  Our verandah was "L" shaped and faced the starboard side and the rear of the boat. Thank goodness Marg's dad shared the cost as we could not afford this on our own.

Marg made use of the Greenhouse Spa, twice,and just loved it.

Well so much for the tour of the ship, here is our opinion. 

We would not go on Holland America again. 

First our toilets did not function on at least 6 different occasions.  Once it did not work from 10pm until 7am.  It is very aggravating to have to get dress in the middle of the night and find a public washroom just to use the toilet.

On the second day there was a formal dinner.  We called at 8am to have our shirts pressed.  At 10am they still hadn't pick them up.  After a second call, someone came up an told us we were too late for same day delivery.  After I explained, in rather blunt language, that we had called in plenty of time but they had screwed up, they took the shirts.  It still took a call the head steward at 4pm to ensure we had they shirts in time for dinner.

In the dining room, the waiters forgot at least one item each night for our table.  The wine steward spilt the wine on more than one occasion or in some case forgot the order.  On our last night I had get up from our table, retrieve our wine and serve the wine to Marg and myself as he was not around to fill our glasses as his responsibility.  In comparison the staff on the Scenic Tours boat had to be asked to stop filling our glasses.  The busboys though nothing of just butting in and taking away the plates, instead of waiting for the appropriate time.  On a positive note the food in the Vista Dining Lounge was delicious.  The Lido Deck Buffet was very ordinary.

The nightly entertainment was average to extremely bad.  I can't believe that an entertainment director would think some of those shows were worth presenting.  I think our 6 year old granddaughter's dance recital was more entertaining than Nadia and the HALCats.

Our concierges were very professional and went out of their way to please us.

All in all the cruise was wonderful, our travel companions fantastic and the scenery incredible, just won't use Holland America again.