After our return to Charlotte Amalie, we did our obligatory shopping and SunFlower indulged me in a stop at the local fire department. Again, success! Traded one of my duty T-shirts for one of theirs. Met some more fellow firefighters and had a chance to have a nice chat. There were four ships in harbor this day. Zuiderdam, and two others over at the Havensight Docks; and the Disney Wonder across the harbor. This made for a busy and crowded shopping experience, but we did enjoy the day. A sample of the more than 20 HAL sponsored shore excursions for this port include: Sea Trek Helmet Dive ($94), Coral World ($39), Kon-Tiki Party Cruise ($34), Catamaran Sail ($79), etc.
Nassau, Bahamas – Our least favorite stop. This may have been due to a number of things 1) it was toward the end of the cruise and we were just plain getting worn out, 2) the humidity was very high, and 3) the port was pretty crowded (six ships really added to the number of tourists). We first took a horse drawn carriage ride around town. The going price was $30, but for us … “special … 20 dollar”. Sure, why not? Actually was a nice ride, but the guide was so set in his spiel that he didn’t hear our questions and, on more than one occasion, repeated an entire paragraph without knowing it. Too funny!
Next, we took the Semi-Submersible tour out to a reef near the port. You sit about five or six feet below the water line and have a great view of the reef and of marine wildlife. Not real exciting, but very interesting. Ashore, we found the Straw Market to be over crowded, hot, stuffy and filled with overly pushy vendors. Basically, the aisles are about three feet wide and each vendor sits in front of her wares. Each stall is about eight feet wide and stacked upwards of 20 feet high. As a result, you are squeezing through a gauntlet with a vendor every 4-6 feet. Over-whelming. Other tours included: Atlantis Hotel & Beach ($54 + $25 beach fee), Two-Tank Scuba Dive ($109), Sail & Snorkel ($49), Blue Lagoon Island.
I, of course, stopped at the fire brigade headquarters to swap duty shirts. They were out, but an assistant chief accepted one from me, took my information, and promised to mail me one of theirs when the next order comes in. Ya gotta believe!
Debarkation
The bags were packed the night before, and left outside the cabin door. They were gone before we went to bed! The next morning, we enjoyed another wonderful breakfast as we entered Port Everglades. Then it was just a matter of waiting for our color and number to be called, and it was off the ship, down the gangway, find the luggage, clear customs and grab a taxi. Debarkation began about 9:00 am and we were off the ship by 11:00 am. Met with our daughter, son-in-law and grandson and headed into Fort Lauderdale for lunch and a (way too) short get-together.
In Conclusion
Would we take this cruise again? In a heartbeat! The Calgon Bag is still packed and I’m ready to go. The Zuiderdam is another fine ship in a series of “Dam Ships” and Holland America certainly knows what they’re doing. We had an absolutely fantabulous great time!!! Please E-Mail any questions to Calgon1@yahoo.com
See part 1 of Calgon's cruise review of the Zuiderdam to learn all about this Holland America cruise ship.
