Ship Review: Holland
America’s Zaandam
Date: October 3 -7, 2006
Itinerary: San Diego –
Cabo – San Diego
Submitted by: Leon
Banossian
As many of you know,
Worldwide works with many types of cruises. From incentives
to meetings to special events, we have a broad client base.
My review of the Zaandam is written in conjunction with the
Legendary Rhythm and Blues Cruise –
a specialty charter that I have been involved with since
2004. Because this is actually a floating music festival,
the nature of this review pertains to Holland America’s
ability to meet the needs of specialty events as well as
standard ship maintenance, service and amenities.
I had last seen the
Zaandam in March of this year on a day when I oversaw the
loading of staging beams and scaffolding in Fort
Lauderdale. These materials are utilized to build a
festival
stage over the aft pool deck for my charter client.
Holland America
again prove their ability to help facilitate special needs
as they stored the stage beaming and scaffolds through the
Panama Canal and Alaska seasons until our charter date on
Oct. 3 from San Diego. This was a huge plus for our
charter client and I feel that these are the things that set
Holland America apart from the others – their ability to go
beyond the standard operating procedures.
The next time I saw the
Zaandam was early in the morning of October 3rd
docked in San Diego. We boarded early to oversee the
craning of equipment and building of the aft pool stage.
Because the beams and scaffolds were already on the ship,
the stage was built in about 2 hours less time than usual.
The ship itself was in great shape and I was pleased to see
everything fresh and clean. San Diego is a beautiful city
and the port facility is fantastic. Embarkation here is
easier than South Florida and our full charter of guests
were onboard early as we pulled away 15 minutes ahead of
schedule.
The Zaandam, at just over
1400 guests, is a true mid sized vessel in this age of the
mass market. The ship features 3 dining options, a
coffee/cappuccino bar, internet café, logo, duty free, and
fine merchandise shops, and wonderful bars and lounges. Our
charter utilized the Ocean Bar, Crows Nest and Mondriaan
Lounge as performance venues as well as the aforementioned
pool deck stage. Because this is a themed event, normal
Holland America event and entertainment were suspended and
substituted by rhythm and blues music throughout the 4
nights.
Dining on the ship was the
standard Holland America fare. Food on HAL is better than
the rest in my opinion and the ship did a great job of
infusing some New Orleans cuisine to tie into the theme of
the event. Our client also staged a southern/creole
cooking demonstration in the ships Wajang Theatre, which has
been coverted to a Culinary Arts Theatre where they do their
cooking demos. The other ship amenities we took full
advantage of were live in cabin broadcasting from the
Mondriaan Lounge and Wajang Theatre. This allowed guests to
see shows from the comfort of their staterooms.
Speaking of staterooms,
the Zaandam features all of the upgrades included in Holland
America’s “Signature of Excellence” program – flat screen
TV’s, DVD players, upgraded bedding and bath amenities and
the standard electronic safes and ship to shore phones.
These features are in all staterooms from insides to the
penthouse suite. Service on the ship was excellent as is
standard with Holland America Line.
I highly recommend Holland
America Line for your incentive needs. I also recommend
Holland America Line for charters, especially a special
event charter. Their staff understands the client needs and
their willingness and ability to work together in a true
team atmosphere set them apart. The onboard crew of the
Zaandam deserve high praise and are sure to make your group,
incentive or charter a success.
For more information on
the Legendary Rhythm and Blues cruise, see
www.bluescruise.com – where more ship photos are
available to show you the possibilities….
Happy Cruising…
