Volendam - Table - Waiter Preferences

[Cruz_Control07]

My family is sailing April 1st on the Volendam. We will probably ask for a table for 6. Do any Volendam Alumni have any recommendations as to location of table and choice of waiters. We have signed up for AYWD, but understand that there may be some play in reserving a favorite table.

A week away...it seems like forever. :o

Thanks.
Robin

[Gerd]

Hello Robin,

we also are really impatient for the next 9 days.

But because we are already flying to Florida on next Saturday, the remaining days will pass fast – we hoop….:)


We do have reserved a table of six ( we are a party of 6 ) for late upper sitting at 8.15 PM;)



Happy Eastern to you and to everybody.

Happy cruising

Anna and Gerd


P.S.
===

Here in the French Alps we do have fresh snow since last night.
35 cm for a successful and prosperous “white Eastern” celebration !




Our marvelous cruises :

MS Ryndam – Wayfarer – March 1997
MS Noordam - Transatlantic Island Hook - April 2001
MS Volendam - Southern Caribbean - April 2002
MS Volendam - Westfarer Caribbean - April 2004
MS Prinsendam - Windmills & Waterford – September 2004
MS Westerdam - Western Caribbean - April 2005
MS Statendam - Hawaii Circle - September 2005
MS Rotterdam - Vikings and Czars – July 2006
MS Veendam - Southern Caribbean – March 2007

106 days - 29'683 Nm


Future Cruise :

=>> MS Volendam, April 1st 2008

http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10731;128/st/20080401/e/MS+Volendam%2C+Panama+Canal/dt/6/k/0b7b/event.png
(http://www.TickerFactory.com/)

[Cruz_Control07]

I told myself to stop thinking of the upcoming cruise and concentrate on my daily life.....then my brother called (who is also cruising with me) and got me all excited again.

I am sure whereever we sit for dinner, it will be wonderful.....I just like thinking of all the upcoming cruise details...it makes me feel like I'm there already.

Enjoy your white Easter. I live on the northern tip of New Jersey and we often have white Easters....not this time, however.....must be global warming.

We will be down in Ft Lauderdale on Sunday. to start our vacation early. Looking forward to next week...take care.:o

Robin

[terrydtx]

On our Volendam cruise last November we had AYWD and after trying different tables a couple of nights we reserved table 307 ( I think that was the number) for the rest of the cruise. It was a table for 6 in the middle of the dining room right under the chandelier and we had a great wait staff and wine steward. The first couple of nights we had tables next to the windows and found it to be noisy and very warm, a chronic problem in the Volendam DR. Believe it or not the table in the center of the DR was less noisy and much cooler. At night you can no see out the windows anyway so there is no advantage to having one there. Also we made reservations every morning for the table at 7:45 at showed up for dinner around 7:15 to 7:30 and got seated to our reserved table every time almost immediately. You will love the Volendam and we really enjoyed the AYWD. If you like osso buco and braised lamb shanks the ones served in the DR are among the best I have ever had

[Cruz_Control07]

That is true that you cannot see anything outside when it is dark.....we were on the Carnival Pride last year and had a window view...could not see a thing.

Table 307? is that on the upper level? I am new to AYWD, but I thought that is reserved for fixed dining. Also, is it the upper level that people have complained about the heat, or is it both levels.

Thanks for your advice, terrydx

Did you enjoy travelling on the Volendam?

Robin

[terrydtx]

That is true that you cannot see anything outside when it is dark.....we were on the Carnival Pride last year and had a window view...could not see a thing.

Table 307? is that on the upper level? I am new to AYWD, but I thought that is reserved for fixed dining. Also, is it the upper level that people have complained about the heat, or is it both levels.

Thanks for your advice, terrydx

Did you enjoy travelling on the Volendam?

Robin

It was on the lower level and it may have been table 507 but I thought it was 307, anyway it was right in the middle of the room like I said above under the big grand chandelier and between the two stairs going to the upstairs DR and next to a table for 12. The lower DR as well as the upper both have problems with warm temperatures. The first night we sat by the window our whole party of 6 were sweating from the heat. When I complained to the DR manager he was the one who suggested that we try the center of the room where is was always cooler and it was. The manager told me that they keep the DR warm because of the older demographics of their passengers who seem to chill very easy and that the heat is worst along the windows. Most people want to have next to the windows as I guess they think they can see out at night.

I love the Volendam it is my favorite Dam ship. Has a lot of charm and is not so big that you get lost in the crowds and the crew is the best of any cruise ship we have been on so far. We were on the Panama Canal itinerary and it was a great cruise, are you on the PC itinerary as well? If you have any specific questions I would be glad to help you if I can. We had a C Cat cabin on the middle of the lower promenade deck which was extremely nice.

Terry

[Cruz_Control07]

My Georgia and North Carolina brothers like their air-conditioning, so I will share this info with them. We are spreading the wealth over the ship....my husband, Matt, and I, who are workaholics/hardly vacation are on the Navigation Deck in suite 7012......my brothers, who just became travel agents, and travel every other month are down on the Dolphin Deck, FF1949.

What did you do to pass the time while on Volendam?
What particular shore excursions did you take?
Is there anything you did not like on the Volendam?

Thanks for your help.

Robin

[terrydtx]

My Georgia and North Carolina brothers like their air-conditioning, so I will share this info with them. We are spreading the wealth over the ship....my husband, Matt, and I, who are workaholics/hardly vacation are on the Navigation Deck in suite 7012......my brothers, who just became travel agents, and travel every other month are down on the Dolphin Deck, FF1949.

What did you do to pass the time while on Volendam?
What particular shore excursions did you take?
Is there anything you did not like on the Volendam?

Thanks for your help.

Robin

I posted on CC a good review of our cruise on the Volendam and you can view it at this link: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=35232 In the review I covered a lot about AYWD and our table 307 expieriences.

On the days at sea we found plenty to keep us busy. Our favorite activity was in the bar in the Crows nest. On the days at sea this bar offers a HAL Mixology class that costs only $10 per person and you learn hands on how to make many of HALs signature drinks, margaritas and martinis . Each session they had 3 drinks that we actually made ourselves and the best part is we got to drink them after we were done, so basically you get 3 drinks for $10 which is a huge bargain.

I really can not recall too much that we didn’t like about the cruise or the ship other than the Lobster dinner was a joke with teeny tiny lobster tails about the size of a large crawdad and petite fillets not much bigger than a silver dollar. That night I was the only one at our table who choose the veal chop instead of the surf and turf and had one of the best veal chops I can remember. One thing I learned from our head waiter is that at 5pm every afternoon you can go up to the Lido restaurant where they serve the same menu as the DR and see that night’s entrée’s and starters on display, so that you can make a better choice at dinner. That was why I had the Veal chop as I saw how good it looked before dinner.

[Cruz_Control07]

I have heard about the mixology classes...but you provided more detailed info.....now I am definitely going to sign up. I will read your review after I finish this note.

Robin