Just Back From the Volendam

[kelmac]

Just back from our 10 day cruise on HAL's Volendam.
Before I start on this mini-review, let me give you my frame of reference: This was cruise number 17 for my wife and me. Celebrity is still our favorite cruise line, but I must say, we were very impressed with many aspects of this cruise. This was our second HAL cruise, the first being the Veendam last X-mas.

We were very pleased with the demographics of the passengers. I think the longer cruise (not as many kids) was balanced by the holiday time frame (younger crowd in general). For the most part, everyone seemed to have a good time.

The food was very good! This is one of the reasons we are Celebrity fans, the food can be a real deal breaker for us. The dining room had an excellent variety of dishes and everything was well prepared. The Lido, is where HAL really shines. We are not big buffet fans, and the feeding frenzy you get on Royal Caribbean, Princess and NCL is a real turn off for us. We ate breakfast, and a surprising number of lunches, in the Lido this cruise. The pasta bar/stir fry bar was excellent. Lots of fresh food! Higher quality foods prepared well. And the desserts, wow! Best at sea! Great cheese cakes, pastries to die for, and fix your own ice cream. We ate twice in the Pinnacle Grill and had some superior meals. Great beef, and yes, that Volanco Cake is wonderful (make sure you order some ice cream to lesson the chances of a chocolate OD situation!) Well worth the extra $$.

Our service on board was excellent! Edwin and Swanntara took care of us in the dining room. They went the extra mile, getting to know us, giving us that great HAL service people talk about. Our room attendant was the best; always on top of things and worked very hard to make our stay special. George, from the bar staff, learn what I liked and had everything ready for us by the time we got to our table. Top notch service!

The Volendam is a little larger than the Veendam, and that extra set of stairs/elevators seems to really help. The ships are nice, and the rooms are large, but still a bit old school for our taste. Don't get me wrong, these are beautiful ships and we would cruise on them again, but I prefer open spaces and clean lines. We are going to try the Zuiderdam in June and hope these larger Vista class ships are more to our tastes.

We had a mixed bag with the weather, but all in all, this was a wonderful cruise! Entertainment was fine, nothing special, standard stuff. CD, and her staff, were fine; they still cater to that older demographic -- which is fine with us.

We did some great things on shore! And if you have any specific questions let me know, and I will offer up my opinion. By the way, we met some wonderful Cruise Critic posters while on board. Big Hello to John and Dennis --and Nona and Stan.

Enjoy!
Kel

[localady]

Kel-

Great to hear you enjoyed your trip! I agree with you that HAL's food seemed better the last trip. Although our waiters were too busy, the food itself was very tasty and there was a nice selection of entrees nightly! Will be interested to hear your thoughts on the Vista ships after your next cruise. I love the Volendam/Amsterdam size ships also, that extra stairway in the middle of the ship is just great!:cool:

[doone]

Great review, thanks for posting. You have made me even more excited about boarding the Volendam in March. Glad to hear she's still a great ship.

I am sailing on the Zuiderdam and then the Volendam, back to back cruises, look for my review and comparison between the Vista Style ships vs. the R and S style ships.

[SHayesShip]

Thanks for the review. Can not wait until my April cruise on her.
Steve Hayes

[xznwfd]

Kelmac,

Thanks for the great review! I sail on the Volendam for the first time on 1/15, and can hardly wait. I'm also a Celebrity fan, so it was good to hear that you enjoyed the food and ambiance of the ship as much as you did. May I ask what type of room you had? I'm booked in an A minisuite, which sounds like it's just a bit smaller than the Sky Suite I had on the Century.

Thanks!

Cathy

[kelmac]

Hi Cathy,

Lauren and I have been averaging four cruises a year, for the last four years--so we usually have an inside cabin.($$$) We call it the "cave", because when the lights are out it is very dark inside. :rolleyes: It's been a while since we have done outside/Balcony cabins, so perhaps I have little to offer in this area.
We were on the main deck aft. Way aft! Few steps back and we were outside looking at the wake. Kind of cool, because nobody ever used that part of the ship. Little more vibration being down, and aft on the ship, but nothing to keep us from getting a good nights sleep.
The new linens, beds, towels and hair dryers are great!! Best sheets we have slept on at sea!! I'm sure your cabin will be great!

Enjoy!
Kel

[RuthC]

Since you offered to answer specific questions I'll take you up on the offer. :D

Would you tell us, please, who was the Cruise Director? And the names of the individual entertainers in the show lounge? (A thumbs up or thumbs down on each one would also be nice. ;) )
How about the entertainers in the various lounges---who?, how were they?
(Do you think maybe I like the nightlife?)

Anyone in particular that you highly recommend? :)
Anyone to miss?

Thanks a lot! (Oh, I almost forgot! :eek: Welcome home!)

[xznwfd]

Thanks Kel for the quick reply, and for the awesome review!


Cathy

[BLStokes23]

Hi Kel - welcome back. We're sailing the Volendam on 1/15/05. Do you have any comments or suggestions regarding Barbados? This is the only port we've not visited, and would love to hear some feedback. Thanks for posting your review.

[stanjj111]

We were on the same cruise. We are a couple in our mid 50's
Rosario strings -excellent 3 pieces bass,violin and piano
Rain- Disco quite good but I think that they were going home after the New Years cruise.
Piano bar - single man playing - passed him by- was not interested
Ocean bar - 3 pieces, brutal when the drummer sings.

Dottie was the cruise director. Don't take her jokes seriously.

Enjoy your cruise.
Stan

[DFD1]

Thanks, Kel. Great review of a wonderful ship. We love the Volendam.

I wholeheartedly agree about the desserts, especially the cheesecake.

[kelmac]

RuthC,

I think Stan got most of it. Rain was very good. The typical stage shows, nothing special; Charlie Brown was a juggler/comedian -- kind of quirky, but I enjoyed him. Very energetic singer named Charley ???? -- did a lot of old school stuff -- well received. Trumpet player, name ????, very talented -- very old school. (rat-pack stuff).

Dottie Pulasa was the CD -- you could tell she has been doing this a very long time--kind of on "auto pilot." Professional, but her voice is a bit on the chalk board--finger nail--raspy side. She knows her crowd.

If you are there for really good entertainment--HAL may let you down a bit.

Sorry, I couldn't remember everything! Enjoy!
Kel

[kelmac]

BLStokes,

Lauren and I did the five hour Tiami Catamaran (through the ship shore excursions). We had a beautiful day in Barbados; like 86 degrees and the best weather of the cruise. Tiami is a great organization, their catamarans are very large and in great shape. We had like 60 people on board, but we were not crowded; snorkeled around some ship wrecks; open bar the entire time (drinks included) with a full time bar tender; captain + three ship board staff members. Did a great wide open sail around the southern part of the Island. Many crew members of the Volendam joined us on this excursion.
We were going to do a small Catamaran, the Silver Moon (independent tour operators) but they started in the afternoon; shorter sail and more expensive. The ships shore excursion starts at 9:30am.
This was our second visit to Barbados, so we always try and find something different to experience.

Enjoy!
Kel

[RuthC]

Kel and Stan---thanks so much for the info. I love it when I check the daily program and recognize the name of the entertainer from reports here.

[InvestiGator]

KelMac,

Did Comedian Tom Drake perform on your cruise? He is Dottie's husband.

[stanjj111]

I just wanted to point out that the earthquake hit right before we left. The staff although obviously concerned about loved ones did not show their anxiety at all. They were all great and really appreciated our asking about their families at home. There was a donation box at the front desk and we left a small amount of money for the Indonesian Red Cross.

[Sage]

Portifino played in the Ocean Bar, and we thought they were very good on our 12/6 cruise on the Volendam. We now have a new favorite HAL ship and can't wait until we return to the Volendam in May for our Alaska cruise.

[kelmac]

InvestiGator,

I'm glad you brought up Tom Drake--He was there early in the cruise! A real fast pace comedian; I thought he was great; I'm sure he really could shine with an adult only crowd!
Last cruise I saved all the daily programs so I would have all the information when doing my review--as you can see, I getting so laid back, I didn't even remember this time.
Thanks for the mental boost!

Kel

[BLStokes23]

Thanks for the Barbados info Kel.

[kelmac]

BLStokes,

Barbados is one of those Islands that looks like it might be fun to visit and maybe stay at a resort. I guess if it's good enough for "Tiger" -- Anyone stayed there?

Enjoy!
Kel

[arzz]

Were you on the Volendam cruise that was at Half Moon Cay on December 27? Why were you there? We were on the Zaandam and also at Half Moon Cay that day. I had thought I had done my research throughly enough to be sure that we would be alone on the beach. We were surprised to find the Volendam there. My HAL cruise brochure said that the Volendam was to be in Nassau on that day. Also, many on Board the Zaandam found out after boarding that their pre-booked and pre-confirmed shore excursions for Half Moon Cay were cancelled -- we later decided that was because of a change in plans for the Volendam. Were we right?

Of course, if you were there you know the weather was far from ideal that day and many additional excursions (ours included) were cancelled due to the weather. Oh well, just another reason that I must cruise on HAL again!

[kelmac]

arzz,

Yes, they changed our itinerary a couple of days before sailing. The reason the captain gave, "we needed to accommodate another ship that was having problems." We were scheduled to be in Nassau that day, and yes it is more difficult when two ships are there. The weather was so so, but we made the best of it. By the way, because of all the problems they had assigning clam shells, they refunded everyone on the Volendam who had signed up for one, even though most people got one. Kind of felt bad for the cabana people, as this was not the idea day to have one. We did Nassau the last day of the cruise and the weather was perfect; we got an extra three hours in port--so it worked out for us.
PS--the story we got from one of the HMC workers; is they had a ferry accident and 12 of the HMC workers were injured and that's the reason they cancelled everything, except the horses. (????)
We will be back in June, and hope for a chance to spend some time in the water!

Enjoy!
Kel

[Himself]

Kelmac:

Who was your CD. Was it Dotty. I was on in November and found Dotty to be terriffic.

Himself

[kelmac]

Kelmac:

Who was your CD. Was it Dotty. I was on in November and found Dotty to be terriffic.

Himself

Himself,

Dottie Pulasa was the CD -- you could tell she has been doing this a very long time--kind of on "auto pilot." Professional, but her voice is a bit on the chalk board--finger nail--raspy side. She knows her crowd.

Kel

[KAKcruiser]

Does anyone know if the Volendam still has waffle cones at the ice cream bar? We were on a 10 day Rotterdam cruise in December and they didn't have them the whole trip.

[stanjj111]

I saw them on the lastest trip.

[josee]

I did not have much ice cream however my DD report that they were available for the first 2 days only. Given their voracious appetite for ice cream they are probably are the one who ate them all ;) On quite afew night I ended up with DH each having 2+ wonderful deserts in the DR.

And yes, Dottie was the CD, and her husband did a routine one evening.
The dance troup is also good. They had 3 different performances, their last one called H20H which they performed for the first time on Xmas eve. I thought their costumes were quite well done

[arzz]

Kelmac

Thanks for the Volendam view of things and the information. Our clam shell reservation (much to our surprise) was also refunded along with the parasailing. A couple of our dinner companions had a cabana on Half Moon Cay (which they used) but a large portion of what they paid for it was refunded to them BEFORE we even got to the island. That will always remain a mystery to us as there was no explanation. On Saturday we had diverted to St. Croix to tender off an ill passenger to the hospital. At that time we were told that we would be late into Half Moon Cay which did not in fact happen as we were able to make up the lost time. When these things happen no one ever knows the real truth. None of this in any way ruined out cruise. We always love to cruise, especially with HAL.

[kelmac]

KAKCruiser,

Yes, they had waffle cones everyday! I'm kind of a two scoop bowl guy, with lots of butterscotch, chocolate chunks and whipped cream. Got to try their cheese cake, wow! -- was that good stuff. Always loads of cookies next to the ice cream bar, as well. Don't get me started--I'm trying to be good here!

:p Kel

[KAKcruiser]

Thanks for the info on the waffle cones. I agree all the toppings are good, too. The ice cream bar is a big HAL perk I hope they always keep!