Zaandam Review

Vacation from hell

Review for South America Cruise on Zaandam
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Xojennett
10+ Cruises • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Dec 2019
Cabin: Large Interior Stateroom

I really wanted to go to Antarctica, I booked this entire cruise with the plan to do the excursion. It ended up getting canceled due to insurance problems and Holland America gave us (everyone on the excursion) future cruise credit. I think I'm going to let mine go to waste, I have no desire to ever go on another cruise and certainly not a Holland America one. Aside from that: my shower was super tiny and I say that as a 5'3 small woman, I have no idea how a bigger person would shower in there. The bathroom and room were some of the largest I've seen on a ship, so I'm not quite sure why the shower is so tiny. I do know these cabins are getting renovated April 2020. They serve almost the same food every day and after the first week, I just wanted off. The talks were pretty good but they seemed to be all or nothing, there were either a whole bunch all day or none for days. I went to the comedy and the one show was pretty good but the other one was not good at all. Of note, I went in the hot tub a handful of times and was mostly okay. My friend however developed a horrible infection and had to have surgery once we returned to the states to get his leg cleaned out. I'm glad we skipped Puerto Montt, I traded in my plane ticket and got a sooner plane ticket home. I just wish they had said sooner they were going to skip Puerto Montt and I could have canceled my excursion sooner. On that line, I noticed talking to people most of the Holland America shore excursions were the same prices as other ones and the other ones usually went to more places, saw more things, were smaller groups, etc. Essentially,, don't book excursions through the ship for most things. Also the casino and shops were tiny and usually empty. Everything onboard closes at midnight, so don't bank on drinking or going to a midnight buffet or midnight show if that's your thing.

Cabin Review

Large Interior Stateroom

It was bigger than expected but the shower was a deal-breaker. There was no good way to take a shower in my tiny shower. I also had them remove the sitting chairs from my room, it wasn't big enough to have chairs plus the couch and bed.

Port Reviews

Montevideo

The free wifi was the best part. As a whole she didn't speak much English and it wasn't that great.

Punta Arenas

Kind of boring and I did see some cool stuff just walking around.

Stanley

Cool little town and I had a good time walking around. I wish I had bought more stuff while I was here but it is pricey and small.

Ushuaia (Tierra del Fuego)

Cool town but everything was closed because we arrived on a holiday. Most things are closed on Sunday too.

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