HOLLAND AND AMERICA ZAANDAM

The Zaandam is a luxurious ship, the food was excellent and there were plenty of activities on board. The only thing I thought spoiled the ship was an extremely large, rather peculiar organ which filled the atrium on different levels. I sailed on the Dawn Princess last year and loved sitting in their atrium where you were aware of the height of it with the glass lifts but on the Zaandam this effect was lost. This ship carries 1,440 passengers, there are 10 Passenger Decks, 18 Public Rooms, Outdoor Swimming Pools (one with sliding glass roof), Health Spa, Movie Theatre, Duty-free Shops, Library, Casino, Beauty Salon, Practice Tennis Courts, Internet Facilities.

Entertainment - Music and Dancing - The Moonlighters in the Ocean Bar for Dancing, Neil Archer playing the piano in the Seaview Lounge, The Champagne Strings in the Explorers Lounge, Trio Montreal in the Crow's Nest (could describe it as a 'fun bar' with dancing, competitions, games, disco). There was a show each evening and a film. The Casino was open as well.

The crew were mainly from the Philippines and Indonesia. The Dining Room Staff consists of the following:

There are 11 crewmembers and one Foreman in the dishwashing area and the Lido and Room Service areas. They wash approximately 3000 dinner plates, 7000 dessert plates, 2000 side plates, 5000 glasses etc not to speak of ramekins plate covers, silver cutlery, trays and other odds and ends The average workday for a dishwasher on board is 10 to 11 hours. The Baker and his staff daily prepare over 20 kinds of different breads. That would include about 120 loaves of bread 100 loaves of French Bread, 4000 dinner rolls, 800 croissants 800 Danish and sweet rolls. The only bread that is not prepared fresh are the hamburger buns and frankfurter rolls simply because they could not handle the volume.

The kitchen staff (total 102 persons) consists of:

The average weekly consumption of food is:

Holland America Website