Zuiderdam Review

Zuiderdam Panama Canal Sunfarer Feb 14-24, 2014 - The Canal

Review for the Panama Canal & Central America Cruise on Zuiderdam
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phoebeparker
2-5 Cruises • Age 70s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Feb 2014

Embarkation:  We took the 10:45 shuttle from our hotel to the cruise terminal. At the cruise terminal entrance, we were held up for a moment by the sheriff's department. Someone had apparently violated perimeter security somewhere, and there were a lot of flashing lights and speeding vehicles. The delay didn't last more than 10 minutes, and we were soon at our ship.

Our shuttle driver got the luggage of all the passengers out and we moved it to the curb for the porters. They loaded it onto carts, we took our roll-ons and carry ons, and we went through the boarding procedures somewhat painlessly. It wasn't speedy, with a rather lengthy wait until our boarding group was called, but it wasn't undue. We walked onto the ship and were in our cabin by 12:30. Yes, the cabins were ready that quickly!

Our checked luggage was delivered to our room by 3:30 PM, even including the two fridge-packs of soft drinks for DW.

Cabin Review

Our SS cabin was on deck 8, two rooms aft of the mid-ship elevators (which we never heard at all during our entire stay). There was plenty of closet and drawer space, under-bed storage was slightly limited by the bed's built-in drawers but still sufficient for four suitcases, and the bed itself was quite comfortably firm. The stewards kept the room in immaculate condition, providing service usually three times per day. Again contrary to previous reports, our commode flushed properly and forcefully at all times, and hot water was in constant supply.Our only complaint was with the air conditioning in the room. At first, the thermostat was cranked all the way to the coldest setting but the temperature in the room was barely tolerable. After several calls and visits to the Front Office, over the course of a couple of days, maintenance personnel were eventually able to lower the temperature to a level that was acceptable - with the assistance of a fan provided by staff. The thermostat was still cranked to its coldest setting, meaning that its purpose was more for decoration than anything else.On disembarkation day, we noticed four or five fans being removed from rooms on our level, which would indicate that others had the same experience as we did.It's our only complaint, and Front Office staff did their best to make it right.

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