Okay, so Big Daddy and I recently cruised the Panama Canal with Holland America. Our first cruise with this line. We are pretty loyal to either Royal Carribean or Celebrity, simply because we have always gotten the very best of service with both lines. We chose Holland America this time based on price and the fact that we hadn’t heard anything bad about them.
However, we now think it must be a case of “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all“. Everyone must be keeping their mouths shut! LOL
To be fair, let me begin with the good things: 1) We loved the stateroom. It was a Veranda Suite w/Balcony on the 8th deck which is pretty high up there. The stateroom was one of the largest we’ve ever had and the view was fabulous! The bed was terrific - very comfy with a good selection of blankets and pillows available. We also had a tub this time instead of just a tiny shower, which was nice.
2) The ship (Zuiderdam) was very nice. The decorations – paintings, carpets, statues, etc. – were really done well. Everything on the ship was very pretty. The color scheme was great.
3) Daily Activities were great. There were a lot of offerings for activities on the ship. If you wanted to be busy every day, you could. There were dancing lessons, digitial computer classes, cooking classes, card making classes, towel-folding art classes, wine tastings, jewelry showings, bingo, etc. Just a ton of stuff to choose from.
4) The destinations. Each place we visited was FABULOUS! We could not have asked for better locations.
Okay, now for the negative stuff – the reasons we won’t be cruising again with HAL:
1) Cleanliness…it wasn’t there. I think the worst offense of this was the dining room tables in the Lido dining room. Dirty dishes were not picked up in a timely fashion and I witnessed someone who asked a waiter to please wipe the table off for him. The waiter picked up a used dirty linen napkin that someone had left on the table and wiped the guy’s table with it! Seriously! One of my pet peeves is that I don’t like people cleaning around me while I’m eating. They do it all the time on this ship - EVERY DAY!
2) Cleanliness…did I mention this already? Our balcony was filthy! They did not clean it the entire 10 days. Celebrity cleans theirs. Royal Caribbean cleans theirs.
3) Cleanliness…did I mention this already? I put a dirty hand towel on the floor (which means take it for laundry) and the guy folded it up and rehung it in the bathroom. Again, I repeat, Seriously?
4) Age. I am the first to admit that I am not a spring chicken, however, I was a newborn on this ship! The median age was 70. No lie. They played a show called “The Marriage Game” which is similar to the old Newlywed Game. One couple had been married 62 years. WTF? I mean, that’s great for them and I congratulate them for it, but if you can’t barely understand the questions and you can’t remember the last time you made whoopie…come on folks! There were people on this ship in wheelchairs who didn’t even appear to be conscious. We knew we were in trouble when on the first day, during the lifeboat drill, we all had to wait because some woman’s wheelchair got stuck in the door and blocked it completely! I told Big Daddy we had better plan to go over the balcony cause otherwise we were all dying!
Okay, so I’m done with the negative. I guess bottom line for me was that I am used to a certain standard of service and quality when cruising, and HAL just doesn’t come close. I know some people will think “you’re on a cruise, how bad could it be?” and they’d be right. It’s just that after eight cruises, we have certain expectations and we also paid quite a bit of money for this trip. I think to expect the best is not unrealistic.
Zuiderdam
