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Sunday, July 23, 2017

Last Sea Day on Zuiderdam

HAL Zuiderdam 12-Day Fjords and Highlands Cruise Day 12
Sunday May 28, 2017 -- Day At Sea
Weather: Cloudy

Well, our last day on the Zuiderdam is finally here. It's always kind of sad whenever we have to get ready to leave the ship and having to deal with the dreadful chore of packing. But then, we were ready to go home after having been away for a whole month on two cruises. We might as well enjoy this last day on board to make our moneys worth.



Breakfast in the Main Dining Room
With the port intensive itinerary on this cruise, we have not had a chance to enjoy breakfast at the main dining room yet so this was a good chance for us to have a sit-down, leisurely breakfast there. This was so much more relaxing than up at the Lido, we decided to come back again the next morning before disembarkation.



Too big a bowl of oatmeal!

MOR had the Pan Asia Breakfast which included a piece of pan-fried salmon, rice, and a bowl of miso soup.

Buttermilk pancakes for me.

Crab meat eggs benedict for ChC.

I also had the bacon and eggs on the side.

We like to have our final walk around the ship on our last day just like the first day, to appreciate and remember all there is on the ship.

Nice painting!

















I went to a class called "Painting with Cabernet" at Ocean Bar. It was fun and interesting with the female instructor showing us how to just use the red wine and paint brushes to create a painting of our own. She also told us that HAL will soon take all the arts and crafts classes away which means she will only work til August on the ship. I suppose many people will be losing their jobs.

Mariner's Brunch
Mariner's Luncheon was scheduled for this last day at sea. Captain Van Hoogdalem and some of his officers greeted us at the door as we entered the main dining room. 

The menu of the luncheon is usually very limited but complimentary champagne was provided.
Actually this menu was better than the ones we had before.

Not a clear picture of Captain Van Hoogdalem. 

Choice of appetizer or a soup

My main-Oat Crusted Norwegian Haddock with Grilled Prawns.

Some kind of cheese cake and then a petite four to share.

Afternoon was spent mostly on resting and packing. We managed to finish packing before dinner but we held on to the luggage until after dinner and asked the room steward not to clean our room that afternoon. 

Menu of our last dinner on board Zuiderdam.



Tropical Fruit Medley

Salmon Tartare and baby Zucchini

Wild Mushroom Soup

Herb-Crusted Prime Rib

parade

final farewell

Esterel Cake

Baked Alaska

Chocolate-Ginger Mousse Cake

Our wonderful wait staff on this cruise.

We certainly had a wonderful cruise on the Zuiderdam! Not only that we were able to visit some amazing ports in Norway and Scotland, we also enjoyed our time on the ship itself. The staff and crew on the ship were personal and attentive. While Volendam could be a little small in size I find Zuiderdam to be just the right size for me. Of course there were some glitches, like the bed situation, but everything worked out at the end. The relaxing atmosphere made this an enjoyable trip. 

As far as the itinerary, we really hit a jackpot on this. Zuiderdam will not repeat these same ports next year, at least not on a single sailing. A memorable cruise that we will treasure for a long time to come!


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