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.
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