Info from all of you Volendam cruisers

[Gabrielle R.]

I am turning to the boards with the hopes of some good advice! I know all of you out there always have good advice- just depends if anyone wants to hear it. Well I look forward to all the advice/information you can send my way! My DH and I have sailed on the Rotterdam in 2004. It was only fair. They were short on staff and food jsut wasn't what we expected- dull, bland cold sums it up. But I'm never one to give up on a line just becasue things didn't go exactly as planned I continue to serach for cruises that appeal to me.

Well, I saw a cruise on the Volendam and I was wondering what that ship is like. What are the good and the bad? We are looking at a 10 day cruise only 2 days at sea. It is a Western Caribbean cruise in Dec. I'd love to hear anyone's opinions on the Volendam. Thanks a bunch in advance! Gabrielle:rolleyes:

[venicecruiser]

I got off the Volendam a week ago today. I had not been on HAL for 3-4 years and was very pleased with the Volendam experience. Beds are WONDERFUL! Service was great everywhere-including the fron office-onboard. We did not go to the dining room. First night onboard we ate in Pinnacle which was quite good. The rest of the cruise we had dinner in Casual Dining in the Lido and it was excellent. I especially like the fact that there is a good salad bar at both lunch and dinner in the Lido.

Based on how much I enjoyed the Volendam, I am currently looking at another cruise on her in the fall as well as several other HAL options. Its nice to be "home on HAL" again!

Claudia

[Gabrielle R.]

Claudia, Thank you! Where did your cruise go? Western Caribbean? What did you order at the Pinnacle? Did you get in the first day? How do you tip at the Pinnacle? I haven't been to the speciality restaurants before- so figured I'd ask.
So the Lido was good for dinner? I wondered about that- was the food warmer then in the dining room? How was the service up there? Most importantly, how did you tip those servers? DH and I always enjoy meeting new people, that's why we eat in the dinning room. Any reason why you chose the lido to eat?- if you don't mind answering that is....
Thank you again! Gabrielle

[SANDY BEACH]

When we dined in the Pinnacle, my DH shook the waiter's hand upon leaving, thanking him for good service and also handed him the tip at that time. We had two great experiences in the Pinnacle and one horrible. Try the crab cakes and the chocolate volcano. Enjoy your planning. I, too, am looking forward to the Volendam at the end of the year.

[venicecruiser]

Gabrielle -

We reserved Pinnacle prior to the cruise. I had halibut-very good- and my traveling companion had a petite filet which she raved about. Our waiter was Daniel and he was excellent. As to tipping, we just handed cash to Daniel before leaving.

Normally I love getting dressed up and going to dinner in the dining room. However, for some unknown reason I just wasn't in the mood to do that this cruise. Judi much prefers casual dining so that's what we did this time and I absolutely LOVED it! I may NEVER go to the dining room again. The food was great. I believe its the same menu that is served in the dining room. I especially liked the salad bar that was available every night. Judi, or I, had fish several nights and it was very good. I had steak one night and enjoyed it. The service was fine and all the staff was very friendly. Take a jacket or a sweater, though, as it was always cold in the Lido at night. By the way, for casual dining the tables have cloths, cloth napkins, candles.

We left the auto daily tips in place on our onboard accounts and at the end of the cruise we gave an envelope containing cash to the Chief Steward in casual dining and asked him to share it among the staff. We also gave cash tips to a couple bar waiters who had taken especially good care of us.

Our cruise itin was Aruba, Curacao, Dominica, Half Moon Cay. The Westerdam was at Half Moon Cay at the same time we were so we decided to stay onboard and avoid the large crowds on the island.

When you're onboard Volendam, be sure and look for Leo-a bar waiter. He will be back fom vacation in November, I think, and he is delightful. Also look for Aldrin, another bar waiter. He's a sweetie who still gets seasick even after 6-7 years on ships...........

Hope you enjoy Volendam! We sure did!

Claudia

[doone]

My family and some friends sailed the Volendam this past February. I have to say the Volendam is one of my favorite ships in the HAL fleet. I have sailed both the Volendam (3 times) and the Rotterdam (just once), and still the Volendam remains my favorite ship. I have always found the Volendam to have one of the best crews onboard. I don't think you will be disappointed if you sail her.

My food in the dining room was always served hot, I hate to have warm or cold food when its supposed to be hot. Never a complaint from me. My cabin steward was wonderful and I found the service to be excellent.

Hope this helps.

[dogsdogs]

Just to add my two cents, the room service food and service on the Volendam is the best I have had at sea. Not only do they do a great job on your order, but they often call and make sure you were pleased. When I had room service on the last RCCL cruise I took, the napkins and silverware were dirty and the china was chipped.

I was on the the same cruise as Doone (2/11/06) and for the first five days, every time we rec'd our room service tray, it had a flower and vase on it. I had flowers all over our room.

[boards]

Venicecruiser I have to agreed with you about the casual dining. We had wonderful tablemates on our Veendam cruise, but went to the Lido several times for dinner and enjoyed it very much. I would not be opposed to having dinner there every night on a cruise, just for the freedom to get what and how much you want to eat or not eat.

[Pilot70D]

The Volendam is our favorite HAL ship. This link will take you to a daily report I filed while we were aboard her.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=108007&highlight=Dialy+Report

We are booked on her again for the ten day December 3rd cruise and we can't wait. Hope this info is helpful.

[Randyk47]

For a photo review of the Volendam and our cruise on her in February go to: www.geocities.com/theklugspage (http://www.geocities.com/theklugspage) We absolutely loved the Volendam and I'd say she was our favorite with the exception of the Ryndam. We honeymooned on the Ryndam so that ship will always have a special place in our hearts and memories.

[Sparticus]

We sailed on the Volendam in March. The cruise was very good.

[KAKcruiser]

I have sailed on the Volendam three times and love the ship. But I also love the Rotterdam. Since both ships are so similar in layout and staff, if you didn't like the Rotterdam, I'm afraid you will probably feel the same about the Volendam.

[mafig]

We'll be on Volendam's 10-dayer in November. Which evening do you recommend for the Pinnacle? We don't want to miss anything special in the dining room.;)

[Gabrielle R.]

THANK YOU! Pilot and Randy for the great info!
Pilot I really enjoyed reading your review! I hate to think of the names my DH has for me.... NOw you have me wondering......
Randy thank you so much for the pictures- very enjoyable.
Now I have to check days off in Dec. and January for us. I think I may get my husband to try HAL again. And I think the Lido may just be the ticket for him.
THANK YOU to everyone who don't mind giving me their two cents worth! Feels like I'm getting a heck of a deal asking for your two cents!
Hard to think about cruising today when we hit 71 and have gotten rid of all the snow and Ice in our area of MN!:D But I know I'm in the mood for a ship moving beneath my feet! THANK YOU FOR THE INFO! I look forward to anything else you feel like adding! Gabrielle

[doone]

Randy, GREAT pictures and thanks so much for sharing them. I enjoyed looking at them, brought back alot of fond memories of my cruise on the beautiful Volendam.

[Randyk47]

About the only picture I didn't get Doone was you getting off the Volendam as we got on. Crossed my mind that morning but we didn't leave the hotel until noon or so and I figured you were long gone by then. I know when we got off we were in our hotel in Ft Lauderdale by 9:15 AM....talk about a quick transition!!!

[doone]

We were at the airport by that time, wishing our wonderful cruise didn't end, that's for sure. Can't believe its been almost 2 months since that cruise!!!!

[Gabrielle R.]

Any good hotels to stay at before the cruise?
Very hard ot get a cab to the airport from the ship?

[venicecruiser]

I usually try to stay at the Renaissance on 17th St. Nice hotel, good location.

Claudia

[Gabrielle R.]

I have sailed on the Volendam three times and love the ship. But I also love the Rotterdam. Since both ships are so similar in layout and staff, if you didn't like the Rotterdam, I'm afraid you will probably feel the same about the Volendam.

I really liked the lay out of the Rotterdam. We had a problem with the cook more then anything else. HE cooked food- he wasn't a chef by any means. One of our table mates said he graded chefs and ours had the lowest grade he had ever given. Even our table mates- long time HAL cruisers said it was the worse food they had had. On the other hand Our waitstaff were great. We tipped them extra since they really tried hard to please. Our room was great, but our room steward wasn't very interested in cleaning. Lucky for us we weren't messy:rolleyes: So our problems with HAL are really small. It was just a few things that turned us off. And we attributed the problem with just that ship.... Of course that's why I had to come to the boards to ask opinions! Thank you all for your help! Gabrielle

[KAKcruiser]

I think that it is possible for one person to have really good service and another person to have really bad service on the same trip. My experience is that most of the time, Holland America provides excellent service. After about 13 cruises, I would say that we had maybe 10 excellent cabin stewards and 3 who were marginal. Most of the time we had excellent service in the dining room. The food has been very good most of the time. But there are always exceptions. After sailing on almost all the other cruise lines, I tried HAL and would rather cruise on any of their ships than go back to the others. That said, my last three cruises have been on the Volendam and I can recommend that ship highly. (Except I really didn't like the Master Chef's dinner!)

[Gabrielle R.]

WEll said KAKcruiser! Thanks so much for your thoughts! gabrielle