Volendam 2017 from Tokyo to Vancouver. 30 days.

HAL has gone to the dogs.

Lido is operating with a skeleton crew.

Tables with dirty dishes, we have to serve ourselves water etc.

No help for the elderly to carry their food to the table.

In the Rotterdam restaurant, takes up to 40 minutes for the servers to bring the food.

And the icing on the cake, the toilet does not work, for 10 days they "tried" to fix it and nothing.

I am a 4 star mariner and this cruise is the worst one ever.

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Oh my goodness, that sounds terrible! Have you taken up your concerns with the Hotel Manager / Guest Services Manager / Dining Room Manager?

I think after a couple of days of the toilet not working, I'd be camped down at Guest Services asking for another cabin with a fully functioning toilet.

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

I tried to be civil and patient, today I really let them have it. Thank you for your words.

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After your words . . . what was the result? Have you also spoken to the other managers involved with the Lido and the Dining Room?

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

10 full days and no toilet at all? Amazing. Even the service dogs get better treatment than that.

.......

I am a 4 star mariner and this cruise is the worst one ever.

 

 

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A four star HAL Mariner and your first posts to Cruise Critic? - Welcome aboard. How did you find CC.

No, it is hit and miss. Works with delays.

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ger_77 they offered us to move to other cabin when we arrive to Yokohama and $$. I didn't want anything of that, I just wanted a flushing toilet, but I will take it.

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OlsSalt, I knew about CC, but I never had the need to vent about any of my other cruises.

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No, it is hit and miss. Works with delays.

 

 

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A delay flush is a working toilet in my book. Happens from time to time. We almost come to expect it now. 10 days with NO working toilet always needs a little qualification. Thank you for providing it.

You are on one of our bucket list cruises and we have very fond feelings about the Volendam from a few years ago on the Grand Asia segment. Sorry it has not worked out for you this time.

OlsSalt, if the delay is 5 or ten minutes, but when it is hours, and you have to go out of your state room to go to the bathroom ,because you do not want to add more that it is inadmissible.

Besides, when you pay for first class service you must receive that.

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OlsSalt, if the delay is 5 or ten minutes, but when it is hours, and you have to go out of your state room to go to the bathroom ,because you do not want to add more that it is inadmissible.

Besides, when you pay for first class service you must receive that.

 

 

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Yep, we often waited hours too. Agree, not what one wanted, but it is what one got. Sorry you paid full for a Neptune Suite and did not get the full first class service one expects to go along with it. I would be upset too, but you have a long haul ahead of you so I hope you can find a way to work around this.

Delay flush happens, and hopefully our resident ship's engineer here chengnkp will be along to explain why this happens. He has fascinating stories to tell about "non-working toilets" on ships. And why.

These systems onboard differ significantly from what we expect on shore. Passenger carelessness is the biggest factor, so it may take a while to see who is clogging things with items that should not get flushed that happens to also be on your particular line. Handy-wipes is a big culprit.

We're onboard and have been since Hong Kong on 3/28. We're liking it so much we re-booked for 2018 for the Singapore to Yokohama segments (56 days).

That being said, I would agree there have been staff cutbacks in the Lido. There seems to be a focus on dish pick up and not on water delivery, but they will get water if one asks. I've seen NUMEROUS instances of the infirm being helped with carrying their food to the table. The toilet issue in a NS should be a non-issue and would have been for me after 48 hours if that. A premium cabin means premium service in my book.

Slowness in the dining room is not confined to the Volendam. For the last several HAL ships we've taken to eating most of our dinners in the Lido. At the last formal night it was 1 hour and 10 minutes from seating to service of the main course.

There have been challenges in getting expedited disembarkation when we have ports with an immigration inspection.

All of our plumbing down on deck 1 has been working fine although the shower water temperature is a bit touchy.

We'v had a great selection of first run Movies, the new venue America's Test Kitchen is engaging but scheduled at poor times for us, the cultural talks have been wonderful, and we've met a new bunch of cruising friends.

I've been doing a daily blog over at http://www.timmer2017asia.blogspot.com and more observations can be found there.

TIm

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OP

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Sorry you have encountered problems on your cruise.

Sorry about your problems but I did find your comment interesting that you have known about CC but never contributed until you had something to "vent" about. Only like to share problems and complaints, eh? So glad most folks do not look at CC that way, but to each his own.

Thank you for your feedback.

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Just coming off the 30 day cruise - I was the organizer for the CC meets and greets and organized quite a few independent excursions with the group ......

We have sailed the Volendam a few years ago (Australia and New Zealand) - and while I see cutbacks and changes in service, I cannot say it was a bad cruise. We had issues with our cabin (another story) but HAL dealt with the problem to our satisfaction. In fact, as our children and grandchildren are sailing within 10 days on their scond HAL cruise (Bermuda again, which we sailed with them and where we introduced them to HAL), HAL even offered a complimentary specialty reataurant meal for the family of 5 - I found that to be a very nice gesture.

As this was a lengthy cruise for us, and I had done so much prep, organizing and CC work - hubby and I decided to chill and eat at the Lido most evenings. It gave us more free time and ease to catch the movie, show, or strings playing. We usually do anytime dining.

Despite cutbacks and changes - we still enjoyed our cruise. Sorry the OP had a different experience.

PS - I WILL get back on track with the group/charter/drydock schedule, I have been very lax since the new year ....

Carol

It was good to meet you Carol and we had a wonderful time for 44 days. American immigration at the airport was certainly slow; no fault of HAL.

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Just coming off the 30 day cruise - I was the organizer for the CC meets and greets and organized quite a few independent excursions with the group ......

 

We have sailed the Volendam a few years ago (Australia and New Zealand) - and while I see cutbacks and changes in service, I cannot say it was a bad cruise. We had issues with our cabin (another story) but HAL dealt with the problem to our satisfaction. In fact, as our children and grandchildren are sailing within 10 days on their scond HAL cruise (Bermuda again, which we sailed with them and where we introduced them to HAL), HAL even offered a complimentary specialty reataurant meal for the family of 5 - I found that to be a very nice gesture.

 

As this was a lengthy cruise for us, and I had done so much prep, organizing and CC work - hubby and I decided to chill and eat at the Lido most evenings. It gave us more free time and ease to catch the movie, show, or strings playing. We usually do anytime dining.

 

Despite cutbacks and changes - we still enjoyed our cruise. Sorry the OP had a different experience.

 

PS - I WILL get back on track with the group/charter/drydock schedule, I have been very lax since the new year ....

Carol

Welcome back, Carol. Sound like you enjoyed your cruise.

I want to hear more about your cabin but we'll use our private e-mails.

Catch you on our other cruise critic blogs.

Ursula

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It was good to meet you Carol and we had a wonderful time for 44 days. American immigration at the airport was certainly slow; no fault of HAL.

 

 

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Nice meeting you and your family Tim - see you again on the roll call and on the Volendam for next winter 2018

 

Carol

Welcome back, Carol. Sound like you enjoyed your cruise.

I want to hear more about your cabin but we'll use our private e-mails.

Catch you on our other cruise critic blogs.

Ursula

 

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Ursula, will catch you up on the arranged tours for next year, cabin, and all else! email you tomorrow!

Carol

Ursula, will catch you up on the arranged tours for next year, cabin, and all else! email you tomorrow!

 

 

 

Carol

Carol, take a break. No hurry on my end. Relax and catch up on your life.

Ursula

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