SAILING AWAY TO HALF MOON CAY!

Donna and I had a wonderful time on what was our fourth cruise together. Donna has been taking cruises for years, but I took my very first one with her back in ’99. Trust me when I say that cruising is THE best way to vacation, if you have any interest in doing something a little out of the ordinary. Not only do you not have to worry about hotels and restaurants, but also you only have to unpack once. J

Having spent nearly ten years in the U.S. Navy, I’m not totally unfamiliar with life at see. Of course, ‘cruising’ for Uncle Sam is very different than going aboard one of the cruise lines and letting other folks serve you. I didn’t have to hang over the side, chip paint or take part in ‘war games’. The closest thing you get to what I did in the Navy was the lifeboat drill, prior to getting underway, and having to take tenders (in this case, the ship’s lifeboats) into a couple of the ports.

This was the first time that either of us sailed with Holland America (HA) and I have to say that neither of us was overly impressed. We were on the ms Zuiderdam, one of HA’s new ships. The ship itself was nice and certainly clean, with our room steward doing an amazing job by almost magically cleaning up after us whenever we left the room. We always found our ice bucket filled and fresh towels when we returned, sometimes only an hour or so later. You get to love the turndown service and the chocolate on the pillow each night is a treat. (Diabetics and dieters take note!)

Our major problem (and I admit we may be spoiled, but our impressions were shared by fellow travelers, even those who had sailed on HA before) was that the service in the main dining room was anything but special. The food was well prepared, but no thought was given to presentation, which one generally expects (and receives) on other lines. One morning we decided to have breakfast in the dining room, rather than on the Lido Deck (where the buffet and informal dining takes place), and it took over a half hour for our meals to arrive. It was not even that crowded as the ship was in port and many folks were already departing for tours and shopping, or preparing to do so. Of the seven nights we were onboard, we only ate in the dining room for three of those, two being the formal nights and the other the very first night (when attire was casual).

On other hand, we found the wait staff on the Lido deck to be friendly and courteous, much more so than those of our dining room table. In the evening, you could even order the same items that were being served in the main dining room and have them brought to your table on the Lido Deck.

While it’s certainly nice to have food and beverages available 24/7, there are certainly other things about cruises and cruise lines that set each one apart.

The entertainment on the Zuiderdam was okay, but certainly nothing special. They had a couple of nights of the Broadway/Las Vegas type of thing, which was on a par with the shows I’ve seen on Celebrity and Carnival, although the stage on this ship was a bit smaller than ones I’ve seen before. Also, I don’t know who designed the theatre (Vista Lounge), but they should be forced to sit in one of the back rows for a performance and be made to see that you cannot see the entire stage from there. The theatre is designed with a half dozen large columns (apparently holding up the balcony, or at least made to look that way) that make visibility impossible from more than a dozen seats on either side of the stage.

There were also performances by a comedian/magician (whose name escapes me), Barneby (if I recall correctly) a comedian/juggler and Paul Tanner, a very good singer/impressionist. Tanner’s show was really entertaining and he certainly could have performed nightly as far as I was concerned. He did a very good Neil Diamond, a decent Tom Jones and a great duet (believe it or not) between Willie Nelson & Julio Iglasios. He finishes with Elvis (naturally), which isn’t great but was funny, as he didn’t take the thing seriously. Except for his costume change at the end for Elvis, he does everyone else using only body language and an occasional prop (his Dean Martin, sits atop the piano smoking a cigarette with a drink beside him).

As for other shipboard activities, they ran the usual range from bingo, trivia contests and a “Newlywed, Not So Newlywed Game”, which you’ll find on most every ship. Nothing really stood out, but only a lack of a nice dance floor (other than a disco, for which Donna and I are a bit too old) put a damper on things.

Finally, the casino was surprisingly small and rather dull. There were several nights where even the tables were empty, though this did allow Donna and I to get into a few games of roulette with only the two of us playing. Oh, the beverage service was consistently good all around, for those of you interested in that type of thing…. ahem. J

I’m going to split this into two parts, so next time out I’ll actually talk about the ports we hit and what we did when we weren’t afloat. See you there!