Deb&GarySD

Can't say if the new schedule will hold, but received the same information and made the same revisions to our travel plans. Hopefully the Veendam will be extra spiffy for us! Fingers crossed that it will be a go on the 18th...

We are booked on the 28 day cruise out of Quebec on October 11. We received a phone call and a letter from HAL this afternoon stating that our cruise had been revised to a 21 day cruise beginning in Boston on October 18. The remaining itinerary will remain as scheduled.

If we choose to retain our reservation, we will get a refund for the first seven day portion and a 100% future cruise credit for the canceled portion of our cruise. They will also pay for any change fees required to get to Boston even though we made our own travel arrangements. We will also get a $300 per person on board credit for this sailing.

Those who choose to cancel the cruise will receive a full refund for the entire cruise and expenses as well as a future cruise credit equal to 100% of the fare paid for the seven day cruise departing on October 11.

We have changed our flight arrangements and now need to find Hotel accommodations in Boston. Sure hope it works this time...

There is a company (Priority Baggage 604-303-4500) right inside Canada Place that stores luggage at the cruise terminal or you can have it transferred to the airport and retrieve it from their secure area there. It worked very well for us last May.

My GF was on your cruise. She and her DH ate at Le Cirque also. They both loved it! I think one of them had the chateaubriand. Did you get the little box of chocolates in your cabin? This is the first time she (or I) have received the chocolates.

Yes, we received them in our cabin that evening. We just ate them for dessert last night. They were home made and delicious!

We were on the Veendam Mexican Riviera cruise last week and enjoyed the Le Cirque dinner very much. We both had the lobster salad which was very tasty. I had the butternut squash soup which I enjoyed very much, and the black cod entree was delicious. My husband enjoyed the chateaubriand which was excellent but way too huge to finish. Napolean with berries for dessert was fine, but I'm not much on that type of thing.

The service was nice as it always is in the Pinnacle Grill. We are glad we tried it, but would probably just do the normal Pinnacle nights in the future as the menu is really more to our liking and we did feel that it was a bit over priced.

Our regular night in the Pinnacle was also very nice. I had the tomato and basil salad, Halibut with spinach as the side, and berries for dessert. Husband had crab cakes, Filet Mignon with French fries and Brussels sprouts, and Baked Alaska for dessert. Both meals were excellent and service was outstanding!

I must say that overall, the food and service were very good in the main dining room too.

We sailed Statendam for the fourth time on the 30 day Hawaii and South Pacific voyage last October and had a wonderful experience. She is our favorite ship and we will be very sorry see her leave the fleet eventually.

There were some public areas that were a bit cool, but we didn't experience any problems with air conditioning or odors. There were some problems with plumbing leaks on the Navigation Deck, but they were taken care of very quickly. We had the best food ever on that cruise. I can't wait to sail on her again!

This viewpoint is from one who has always enjoyed late traditional dining. We recently had our first experience with traditional dining after the implementation of the “as you wish” dining concept on the Volendam holiday cruise.

First of all, we were unable to get confirmed for late traditional even though we booked almost a year in advance. After upgrading to a Superior Suite our status immediately changed from “waitlisted” to “confirmed” for our dining choice. However, our other family members who were not in a suite were “waitlisted” until they received their cruise cards upon boarding.

Dinner was supposed to be at 8:00 each night; but we were never allowed into the dining room before 8:20. When we arrived at our table, the servers and assistants were still trying to get the tables set up. Three nights in a row we had to ask for salt and pepper (we were not under code red, they just were so busy they forgot). Service was really lacking even though the wine stewards, section managers and even the Yum-Yum man were pouring water, clearing tables, chasing after food and anything else they could to do help. Our assistant waiter disappeared each night during the meal as he was summoned downstairs to help out in the “as you wish” dining room. Our dinners took at least two hours each night and we usually had to wait 20 to 30 minutes for coffee after dinner. The third night I realized it was because they were waiting for coffee cups to come through the dishwasher. They were so hot when they arrived that you couldn’t touch them. None of the aforementioned problems were due to the staff being lazy or negligent. They are just plain overworked!

“As you wish dining” has, in my opinion put a real strain on all aspects of the dining room service and the quality of the food. For years Holland America has offered four dining times and they know how to do that well. Getting 1,200 – 2,000 complex meals out in a four hour time period requires a finely choreographed kitchen routine and well trained and efficient wait staff. What we experienced was chaos. I’m glad that those enjoying “as you wish dining” don’t have much of a wait because we, as traditional diners, sure did. We never made it to the late show on time after dinner.

I realize that things are always more hectic on a holiday sailing, but this was far more taxing on everyone than it needed to be. HAL needs to realize where their strengths are and stick with what works. I vote for leaving the “Freestyle” cruising to NCL.