Sunday June 14 2009 was the first formal dinner on the Zuiderdam called the Captain's Gala Dinner. I've copied down the choices available to eat. Sorry, I forgot to dessert menu.
Appetizers:
Summer Fruit Salad with Sambuca
Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail
Captain's Anitpasto Plate
Glacier Bay Seafood Cake
Soups and Salad:
Russian-American Borscht
Gold Rush Soup
Chilled Watermelon Gazpacho
Baby Spinach and Button Mushrooms
Entrees:
Rigatoni with Roasted Garlic
Quail with Apricot Bread Stuffing
Land and Sea (filet mignon with prawns)
Oven Roasted Rack of Lamb
Silk snapper with Fennel and Tomato
Seasame Steak Salad
Indian Jalfrezi
Available Daily:
Grilled Salmon with Ginger- Cilantro Pesto
French Onion Soup
Casear Salad
Grilled Breast of Chicken
Broiled New York Strip Steak
Baked Potato, White Rice, Steamed Vegetable
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Daily Program for Sunday June 14 2009
Outside each cabin is a mailbox where items such as the daily program, specials at the shops, etc are dropped off. If you don't bring your mail into your cabin, the steward will bring it when he comes to turn down the bed in the evening.
On Saturday evening we found our Daily Program for Sunday June 14 2009. It had an article about the Zuiderdam's captain, Christopher Turner, the weather forcast, the evening dress code (which was formal that night), the navigator's log about where we'd travelled the night before, and activities throughout the day. This includes the dining room times and the movie that is playing in the screening room on Deck 3 and the times it can be seen.
The activities we attended were the Explorations Speaker Series - North To Alaska, with travel guide Ron. This was a series that he spoke at over the week about Alaska's history. Very interesting and informative. Unfortunately not well attended. But we enjoyed his talks and also saw him around the ship during the cruise and chatted with him. He had another talk at 2pm about Alaska's gold rush dreams which we also attended.
Around noon there was a salmon bake on the Lido aft deck by the swimming pool. I had salmon and salad for lunch while Kerry opted for a hot entree from one of the Lido Restaurants and joined me out on deck to eat. It was sunny but cold out there.
Then it was down to the formal Vista dining room for dinner. The Captain's Gala Dinner. Kerry in a suite and tie, and me in a dress. The couple before us coming to the dining room were turned away because the man was wearing a sweater. Yeppers, any man not wearing a jacket and tie was declined service. They would have to change into appropriate wear or eat at the Lido Restaurants on Deck 9.
I'd seen a man on the ship who looked like Elvis Presley. Elvis and his wife were behind us and got seated at our table. A lovely couple from England, Brian and Charlotte. We often ran into them on the cruise and sat and talked with them. For dinner my appetizer was the jumbo shrimp cocktail, my soup was the chilled watermelon gazpacho, and my entree was the grilled salmon. For dessert - baked Alaska. What else?
Afterwards we went to the 9:30 show in the Vista Lounge and enjoyed a stage and screen review by the Zuiderdam singers and dancers.
I'm sure when we were down we headed up to the Lido for more to eat!
On Saturday evening we found our Daily Program for Sunday June 14 2009. It had an article about the Zuiderdam's captain, Christopher Turner, the weather forcast, the evening dress code (which was formal that night), the navigator's log about where we'd travelled the night before, and activities throughout the day. This includes the dining room times and the movie that is playing in the screening room on Deck 3 and the times it can be seen.
The activities we attended were the Explorations Speaker Series - North To Alaska, with travel guide Ron. This was a series that he spoke at over the week about Alaska's history. Very interesting and informative. Unfortunately not well attended. But we enjoyed his talks and also saw him around the ship during the cruise and chatted with him. He had another talk at 2pm about Alaska's gold rush dreams which we also attended.
Around noon there was a salmon bake on the Lido aft deck by the swimming pool. I had salmon and salad for lunch while Kerry opted for a hot entree from one of the Lido Restaurants and joined me out on deck to eat. It was sunny but cold out there.
Then it was down to the formal Vista dining room for dinner. The Captain's Gala Dinner. Kerry in a suite and tie, and me in a dress. The couple before us coming to the dining room were turned away because the man was wearing a sweater. Yeppers, any man not wearing a jacket and tie was declined service. They would have to change into appropriate wear or eat at the Lido Restaurants on Deck 9.
I'd seen a man on the ship who looked like Elvis Presley. Elvis and his wife were behind us and got seated at our table. A lovely couple from England, Brian and Charlotte. We often ran into them on the cruise and sat and talked with them. For dinner my appetizer was the jumbo shrimp cocktail, my soup was the chilled watermelon gazpacho, and my entree was the grilled salmon. For dessert - baked Alaska. What else?
Afterwards we went to the 9:30 show in the Vista Lounge and enjoyed a stage and screen review by the Zuiderdam singers and dancers.
I'm sure when we were down we headed up to the Lido for more to eat!
Saturday, July 25, 2009
First night on the Zuiderdam
After a 45 minute delay the Zuiderdam finally was on its way. After sailing beneath the Lion's Gate Bridge we decided we should get ready for dinner.
Dinner selections on the Zuiderdam are the buffet style choices on the Lido Deck, casual dining, the Vista dining room on Deck 2, or make reservations at the Pinnacle Grill at a cost of $20 per person. We never ate there on the cruise. Meals are included and so we ate at either the Lido Restaurant or the Vista Dining Room.
The Vista Dining Room is open for dinner from about 5pm to 9pm to be seated. The restaurant is on 2 floors on the aft end of the ship. The people on Deck 3 are the ones who chose a confirmed eating time of either 5:30 or 8:00 when making their cruise reservation. The people who chose open seating go to Deck 2 any time during the dinner serving. You have the choice of a table for 2, 4, 6, or 8. If you have no preference you will either be at a 6 or 8 table. This is always the best, meeting new dinner companions each night. If you want a table for 2 you might have a wait.
The formal dining room Vista has menus with 4 courses. Each course has 4 or 5 selections. When the waiter returns, make a choice from each of Starter, Appetizer, and Entree. Once dinner is over the waiter returns with the dessert menu, again about 5 choices plus several ice cream choices. Expect to spend one and a half to two hours if choosing the Vista. Service is slow, but gives lots of opportunity to get to know your tablemates.
After dinner we went to the Vista Show Lounge on the bow of Decks 2 and 3 to catch the evening show, a variety act that introduced the Zuiderdam's singers and dancers. Show was about one hour long.
When it was done we headed back upstairs to the Lido Deck. Kerry was still hungry and got some more to eat while I ate another dessert. That was the danger of walking past the dessert station multiple times daily. Couldn't resist grabbing a cookie or danish or asking for ice cream in a waffle cone.
It was a nice evening so I headed up to Deck 10, a lounge chair, and a blanket and enjoyed seeing the lights of Vancouver Island.
Dinner selections on the Zuiderdam are the buffet style choices on the Lido Deck, casual dining, the Vista dining room on Deck 2, or make reservations at the Pinnacle Grill at a cost of $20 per person. We never ate there on the cruise. Meals are included and so we ate at either the Lido Restaurant or the Vista Dining Room.
The Vista Dining Room is open for dinner from about 5pm to 9pm to be seated. The restaurant is on 2 floors on the aft end of the ship. The people on Deck 3 are the ones who chose a confirmed eating time of either 5:30 or 8:00 when making their cruise reservation. The people who chose open seating go to Deck 2 any time during the dinner serving. You have the choice of a table for 2, 4, 6, or 8. If you have no preference you will either be at a 6 or 8 table. This is always the best, meeting new dinner companions each night. If you want a table for 2 you might have a wait.
The formal dining room Vista has menus with 4 courses. Each course has 4 or 5 selections. When the waiter returns, make a choice from each of Starter, Appetizer, and Entree. Once dinner is over the waiter returns with the dessert menu, again about 5 choices plus several ice cream choices. Expect to spend one and a half to two hours if choosing the Vista. Service is slow, but gives lots of opportunity to get to know your tablemates.
After dinner we went to the Vista Show Lounge on the bow of Decks 2 and 3 to catch the evening show, a variety act that introduced the Zuiderdam's singers and dancers. Show was about one hour long.
When it was done we headed back upstairs to the Lido Deck. Kerry was still hungry and got some more to eat while I ate another dessert. That was the danger of walking past the dessert station multiple times daily. Couldn't resist grabbing a cookie or danish or asking for ice cream in a waffle cone.
It was a nice evening so I headed up to Deck 10, a lounge chair, and a blanket and enjoyed seeing the lights of Vancouver Island.
On board the Zuiderdam
Once we were through the check in and past the photographers we walked across the gangplank and on to the Zuiderdam. Several crew members were standing there to welcome us aboard. We were told that our cabins wouldn't be ready for awhile and that we could proceed to the Lido Deck for lunch.
We were shown to the glass elevator operated by a crew member and up we went to Deck 9, Lido Deck. This was the only time on the Zuiderdam that crew members operated an elevator. The rest of the cruise it was self serve. This is part of their welcome aboard process to ensure all guests are going directly to the Lido for lunch.
On the Lido deck the restaurant area is towards the back of the ship, Aft. There are several food stations on both the starboard and port side of the boat such as the deli where the crew will make a sandwich of your liking, a station serving several types of hot entrees, an Italian section serving pizzas and pastas, an Oriental section serving sushi and Chinese food, and of course the dessert station with cookies, cakes, pastries, and ice cream.
There is also a salad bar that is typical of most restaurant salad bars. Greens and then tomotoes or other vegatables to put on top. Choose your own dressing. And cottage cheese and fruit.
In the same area as the salad bar is the coffee area. Here you find coffee and tea that you prepare yourself. Just about every kind of flavored tea bag you need and a canister that dispenses hot water. There is also a fountain dispensing water, iced tea, and lemonade or some other fruit punch. The iced tea is of the unsweetened, brewed variety. Sugar or sugar substitutes are available. Likewise cream for coffee. The coffee station is self serve and is available twenty-four hours.
What to choose to eat now becomes the question. Once around the room and I decided to start with a sandwich at the deli. Kerry decided to get in the line for a hot entree. He told me to get a table and he'd find me. I'd pretty much finished my sandwich and chips by the time he found me. He claimed he'd circled the dining area four times looking for me and was pretty crabby by the time he sat down for his lunch.
When we finished eating it was time to explore. First stop was to held to the aft where the outdoor swimming pool, hot tubs, and deck chairs are set up. Then we climbed up one flight of steps to the Observation Deck, deck 10. This deck is mostly a walking deck that encompasses the full length of the ship. The children's area and the video arcade are midship. Heading more forward are deck chairs and at the front of the ship is the Crowe's Nest Lounge. The Crow's Nest has a library with books or videos that can be checked out. There is also a Starbuck's type gourmet coffee place. And here the coffee will cost you. About three bucks seemed to be the average price, so probably cheaper than Starbuck's. There are comfortable chairs up here and its a good place to sit and enjoy the view.
Up one more deck is the sports deck. The only areas available are at the bow (front) and aft. At the front are deck chairs and aft has a basketball court.
We returned to the Lido Deck to take a look at the spa and exercise room. There was a contest for health club services and we entered and returned later for the draw, but to no avail. We didn't win a thing.
In the midship area is another swimming pool with a retractable roof. It was a beautiful sunny day in Vancouver and the roof was wide open, the only time it would be on the cruise. This pool was colder than the outside pool. This area has deck chairs, and tables and chairs set up near the windows. This was my favorite place to eat breakfast and often stayed here during the day reading a book and enjoying the view. Also in this pool area is another eating spot, the Terrace Grill serving burgers and hot dogs. You have to give your order to the cook who is behind the window. We'd only finished lunch an hour or so earlier but this is a cruise after all, just keep on eating. Kerry ordered a burger and I ordered a veggie burger. They come with fries. In this area is a self serve section with Mexican style food: tacos, beans, cheese, etc. Kerry also enjoyed some of this.
We sat at one of the tables and took some time to read over the cruise literature given to us at check in. Around 2pm an announcement over the speakers that the cabins were ready and we could go to our rooms so we headed downstairs. And here it was easier to walk down 3 flights than wait for an elevator. Most of the elevetors were closed off by the crew so that they could transport suitcases to each floor. We walked past the elevator area where all the luggage was piled and I saw my red suitcase waiting for a room steward to bring it. We arrived at our cabin and checked things out. We had an inside cabin and the cruise ship does a marvelous job of space storage. To the left are 3 closets and one closet has the room safe for valuables. You choose your own code when putting items inside and locking it. The bathroom has a sink, toilet, and shower. The shower area also has a clothesline that can be stretched across if anyone is washing any dainties or hanging up a swimsuit to dry. Beneath the bed is enough space to store suitcases and two drawers to store stuff. Each side of the bed has a night stand with a couple of drawers.
I told Kerry I'd spotted my suitcase on the way in and suggested we go back and get it so we could start unpacking. Luckily we also found our other suitcase and backpack next to it. One small suitcase was not with them. So we grabbed the three and returned to the room to unpack. Self serve.
We knew there was going to be a lifeboat drill at 4pm because the captain had announced it on the speaker and on the TV set in our room instructions were playing.
That's the other thing. TV set in the rooms with several channels. Some of them catching the local TV channels of whatever port we were close to. I believe CNN was a station that was on. There were channels that were specific to the Zuiderdam, finding your way around and the amenities. There was a channel that showed a camera from the bow of the ship and another channel showing the camera view from the aft. There was a channel that played movies. But we didn't think we'd be spending all that much time in the cabin watching TV.
We went back to the deck for another walk around the ship and returned to the cabin in advance of the firedrill and got into our lifejackets. When the sirens sounded we went down to Deck 3 where the lifeboats were, and our station was lifeboat 16.
The poor lifeboat captain taking roll call had competition from a very noisy piece of machinery right beside us fromt he port. Finally someone brought him over a bullhorn. This lasted about 15 minutes and we were watched by people up on Canada Place.
Afterwards we headed up to the Lido Deck aft pool deck where a sail away party was to begin at 5pm. Ella and the Hal Cats were set up for musical pleasure as we sailed away under the Lion's Gate Bridge. Five o'clock came and the band started but we were still tied to the port. The Sapphire Princess set sail. our captain came over the speakers and announced we were waiting for an ambulance to take away a passenger. Not a very good start to someone's vacation. Another cruise ship that was not tied to Canada Place passed us and headed out. The ambulance finally arrived at 5:30. The Zuiderdam finally pulled out at 5:45. The Hal Cats finished their set at 6pm and we'd barely pulled away from the port.
Beautiful weather for cruising and we finally enjoyed the view of the underside of the Lion's Gate Bridge.
We were shown to the glass elevator operated by a crew member and up we went to Deck 9, Lido Deck. This was the only time on the Zuiderdam that crew members operated an elevator. The rest of the cruise it was self serve. This is part of their welcome aboard process to ensure all guests are going directly to the Lido for lunch.
On the Lido deck the restaurant area is towards the back of the ship, Aft. There are several food stations on both the starboard and port side of the boat such as the deli where the crew will make a sandwich of your liking, a station serving several types of hot entrees, an Italian section serving pizzas and pastas, an Oriental section serving sushi and Chinese food, and of course the dessert station with cookies, cakes, pastries, and ice cream.
There is also a salad bar that is typical of most restaurant salad bars. Greens and then tomotoes or other vegatables to put on top. Choose your own dressing. And cottage cheese and fruit.
In the same area as the salad bar is the coffee area. Here you find coffee and tea that you prepare yourself. Just about every kind of flavored tea bag you need and a canister that dispenses hot water. There is also a fountain dispensing water, iced tea, and lemonade or some other fruit punch. The iced tea is of the unsweetened, brewed variety. Sugar or sugar substitutes are available. Likewise cream for coffee. The coffee station is self serve and is available twenty-four hours.
What to choose to eat now becomes the question. Once around the room and I decided to start with a sandwich at the deli. Kerry decided to get in the line for a hot entree. He told me to get a table and he'd find me. I'd pretty much finished my sandwich and chips by the time he found me. He claimed he'd circled the dining area four times looking for me and was pretty crabby by the time he sat down for his lunch.
When we finished eating it was time to explore. First stop was to held to the aft where the outdoor swimming pool, hot tubs, and deck chairs are set up. Then we climbed up one flight of steps to the Observation Deck, deck 10. This deck is mostly a walking deck that encompasses the full length of the ship. The children's area and the video arcade are midship. Heading more forward are deck chairs and at the front of the ship is the Crowe's Nest Lounge. The Crow's Nest has a library with books or videos that can be checked out. There is also a Starbuck's type gourmet coffee place. And here the coffee will cost you. About three bucks seemed to be the average price, so probably cheaper than Starbuck's. There are comfortable chairs up here and its a good place to sit and enjoy the view.
Up one more deck is the sports deck. The only areas available are at the bow (front) and aft. At the front are deck chairs and aft has a basketball court.
We returned to the Lido Deck to take a look at the spa and exercise room. There was a contest for health club services and we entered and returned later for the draw, but to no avail. We didn't win a thing.
In the midship area is another swimming pool with a retractable roof. It was a beautiful sunny day in Vancouver and the roof was wide open, the only time it would be on the cruise. This pool was colder than the outside pool. This area has deck chairs, and tables and chairs set up near the windows. This was my favorite place to eat breakfast and often stayed here during the day reading a book and enjoying the view. Also in this pool area is another eating spot, the Terrace Grill serving burgers and hot dogs. You have to give your order to the cook who is behind the window. We'd only finished lunch an hour or so earlier but this is a cruise after all, just keep on eating. Kerry ordered a burger and I ordered a veggie burger. They come with fries. In this area is a self serve section with Mexican style food: tacos, beans, cheese, etc. Kerry also enjoyed some of this.
We sat at one of the tables and took some time to read over the cruise literature given to us at check in. Around 2pm an announcement over the speakers that the cabins were ready and we could go to our rooms so we headed downstairs. And here it was easier to walk down 3 flights than wait for an elevator. Most of the elevetors were closed off by the crew so that they could transport suitcases to each floor. We walked past the elevator area where all the luggage was piled and I saw my red suitcase waiting for a room steward to bring it. We arrived at our cabin and checked things out. We had an inside cabin and the cruise ship does a marvelous job of space storage. To the left are 3 closets and one closet has the room safe for valuables. You choose your own code when putting items inside and locking it. The bathroom has a sink, toilet, and shower. The shower area also has a clothesline that can be stretched across if anyone is washing any dainties or hanging up a swimsuit to dry. Beneath the bed is enough space to store suitcases and two drawers to store stuff. Each side of the bed has a night stand with a couple of drawers.
I told Kerry I'd spotted my suitcase on the way in and suggested we go back and get it so we could start unpacking. Luckily we also found our other suitcase and backpack next to it. One small suitcase was not with them. So we grabbed the three and returned to the room to unpack. Self serve.
We knew there was going to be a lifeboat drill at 4pm because the captain had announced it on the speaker and on the TV set in our room instructions were playing.
That's the other thing. TV set in the rooms with several channels. Some of them catching the local TV channels of whatever port we were close to. I believe CNN was a station that was on. There were channels that were specific to the Zuiderdam, finding your way around and the amenities. There was a channel that showed a camera from the bow of the ship and another channel showing the camera view from the aft. There was a channel that played movies. But we didn't think we'd be spending all that much time in the cabin watching TV.
We went back to the deck for another walk around the ship and returned to the cabin in advance of the firedrill and got into our lifejackets. When the sirens sounded we went down to Deck 3 where the lifeboats were, and our station was lifeboat 16.
The poor lifeboat captain taking roll call had competition from a very noisy piece of machinery right beside us fromt he port. Finally someone brought him over a bullhorn. This lasted about 15 minutes and we were watched by people up on Canada Place.
Afterwards we headed up to the Lido Deck aft pool deck where a sail away party was to begin at 5pm. Ella and the Hal Cats were set up for musical pleasure as we sailed away under the Lion's Gate Bridge. Five o'clock came and the band started but we were still tied to the port. The Sapphire Princess set sail. our captain came over the speakers and announced we were waiting for an ambulance to take away a passenger. Not a very good start to someone's vacation. Another cruise ship that was not tied to Canada Place passed us and headed out. The ambulance finally arrived at 5:30. The Zuiderdam finally pulled out at 5:45. The Hal Cats finished their set at 6pm and we'd barely pulled away from the port.
Beautiful weather for cruising and we finally enjoyed the view of the underside of the Lion's Gate Bridge.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Port of Vancouver, getting ready to board the Zuiderdam
Our first cruise was on June 13 2009 on Holland America's Zuiderdam from Vancouver, up the Inside Passage, to Alaska.
Check in for Alaska cruises is at Canada Place in downtown Vancouver at the Pan Pacific Hotel.
For passengers arriving by car, being dropped off by someone, they can drive into the underground parking lot to the passenger pick up/drop off area. Cars are allowed there for a few minutes, long enough to drop off passengers and their luggage, and then leave again. There are several parking spots and often there will be a backlog of cars waiting for a spot. There are several parking attendants directing traffic and assisting drivers to back in to available spots. If coming by private vehicle, there are attendants who will assist with the luggage. Namely giving out luggage tags which the passenger fills out with their room number on the ship. The attendants then take the luggage and have it taken to the ship.
We arrived by Skytrain, getting off at the last stop at the Waterfront Station at about 11:45am. Check in for the Zuiderdam started at noon, so we were in good time. We wanted to check in as soon as possible and get on board the Zuiderdam and start exploring. We walked over to Canada Place, and here it was a good idea that our luggage was on wheels and we carried backpacks. We walked down the sidewalk past the area where cars were dropping off passengers. This was our mistake. When we reached the check in area where passengers from the various cruise ships were being sorted into the correct line up, an attendant saw us with our luggage and directed us back to the luggage check in. Basically this is the same area as the passenger drop off/pick up with private cars. An attendant at a desk handed us luggage tags. We didn't know our room number but he had a reservations sheet and found our room number. We filled in the tags, attached them to our suitcases, and the attendants took them from us.
Now armed with only my purse, carrying our travel documents, and our cameras we went back to the sorting area. The only ships in that day were the Zuiderdam and Princess Cruise's Sapphire Princess. We proceeded to the metal detector. Our carry on baggage was put through a conveyor belt x-ray. A man ahead of us tried unsuccessfully to go through the metal detector but kept setting it off. They stopped him and motioned me to go through. I did with no problems. Kerry was behind me and set off the metal detector. He has a metal plate in his foot which he explained to the security guard. She waved her wand around him and sure enough it started pinging at his foot. She waved him through.
Next on our stop was a lady sorting out the passengers by country asking everyone from Britain and Australia to go straight and Canadians and Americans in another line. This was the US Customs. Our line up had two customs officers. The line up for all other nationalities had five customs officers. Our line up was going faster. We had a ten minute wait here. Once we got through we were sent through a large room, a big holding area for all the passengers to check in. There were about 25 agents behind desks ready to check in the cruise passengers. Most of the desks were empty so we were ushered to an agent right away. She told us that very soon the area would be full of passengers and they would be checking in 400 people per hour. She took our photos and issued us the cards we had to carry with us at all times. This card was our room key and also to be used if we made any shipboard purchases. She gave us a map of the ship and told us we could board and go up to the Lido deck where lunch was being served.
We headed to the gangplank and photographers were waiting to take our welcome aboard picture which would be available for purchase later on board. It was now about 12:10pm. The whole check in process was very speedy for us.
Later on we heard from some passengers who arrived a little later in the afternoon and they had a one to two hour wait before they came on board the Zuiderdam
Check in for Alaska cruises is at Canada Place in downtown Vancouver at the Pan Pacific Hotel.
For passengers arriving by car, being dropped off by someone, they can drive into the underground parking lot to the passenger pick up/drop off area. Cars are allowed there for a few minutes, long enough to drop off passengers and their luggage, and then leave again. There are several parking spots and often there will be a backlog of cars waiting for a spot. There are several parking attendants directing traffic and assisting drivers to back in to available spots. If coming by private vehicle, there are attendants who will assist with the luggage. Namely giving out luggage tags which the passenger fills out with their room number on the ship. The attendants then take the luggage and have it taken to the ship.
We arrived by Skytrain, getting off at the last stop at the Waterfront Station at about 11:45am. Check in for the Zuiderdam started at noon, so we were in good time. We wanted to check in as soon as possible and get on board the Zuiderdam and start exploring. We walked over to Canada Place, and here it was a good idea that our luggage was on wheels and we carried backpacks. We walked down the sidewalk past the area where cars were dropping off passengers. This was our mistake. When we reached the check in area where passengers from the various cruise ships were being sorted into the correct line up, an attendant saw us with our luggage and directed us back to the luggage check in. Basically this is the same area as the passenger drop off/pick up with private cars. An attendant at a desk handed us luggage tags. We didn't know our room number but he had a reservations sheet and found our room number. We filled in the tags, attached them to our suitcases, and the attendants took them from us.
Now armed with only my purse, carrying our travel documents, and our cameras we went back to the sorting area. The only ships in that day were the Zuiderdam and Princess Cruise's Sapphire Princess. We proceeded to the metal detector. Our carry on baggage was put through a conveyor belt x-ray. A man ahead of us tried unsuccessfully to go through the metal detector but kept setting it off. They stopped him and motioned me to go through. I did with no problems. Kerry was behind me and set off the metal detector. He has a metal plate in his foot which he explained to the security guard. She waved her wand around him and sure enough it started pinging at his foot. She waved him through.
Next on our stop was a lady sorting out the passengers by country asking everyone from Britain and Australia to go straight and Canadians and Americans in another line. This was the US Customs. Our line up had two customs officers. The line up for all other nationalities had five customs officers. Our line up was going faster. We had a ten minute wait here. Once we got through we were sent through a large room, a big holding area for all the passengers to check in. There were about 25 agents behind desks ready to check in the cruise passengers. Most of the desks were empty so we were ushered to an agent right away. She told us that very soon the area would be full of passengers and they would be checking in 400 people per hour. She took our photos and issued us the cards we had to carry with us at all times. This card was our room key and also to be used if we made any shipboard purchases. She gave us a map of the ship and told us we could board and go up to the Lido deck where lunch was being served.
We headed to the gangplank and photographers were waiting to take our welcome aboard picture which would be available for purchase later on board. It was now about 12:10pm. The whole check in process was very speedy for us.
Later on we heard from some passengers who arrived a little later in the afternoon and they had a one to two hour wait before they came on board the Zuiderdam
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