Volendam 7083 - SO CREAKY!!!

Those who know Volendam 7086 and 7083 know they are great cabins, but we're in 7083 and it's an absolute nightmare. The cabin ceiling creaks like a Son of a B in anything other than seas like glass (and we're in the Bearing Sea, which can hardly be described as glassy).

Engineering has been in twice and can only offer shimming the ceiling tiles at the edges with rubber strips, which absolutely has had no effect except for maybe moving the creaking to another spot in the ceiling.

I routinely wear earplugs to bed anyway, because Mrs. BigWally wants the TV on all night long as background noise, and it's bothering me even with earplugs in and the TV cranked much higher than we normally would have it, which is how I find myself posting to CC at 4am instead of sleeping. Mrs. BigWally is slightly deaf and she's even wearing earplugs to try and keep the noise at bay. On the plus side, the cabins are really well insulated, so we're not bothering the neighbors with either the cranked TV or the creaky ceiling!

As nice as this cabin is otherwise, unless you're completely deaf I suggest you avoid booking it.

That would drive me nuts!

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I'm so sorry you are having this problem. We have cruised for many years and had only one creaky cabin which was not as loud as yours and it was awful. The ship was full and we couldn't be moved but they did try to fix it.

Can you be moved to another cabin or is your ship full as well?

I'm so sorry you are having this problem. We have cruised for many years and had only one creaky cabin which was not as loud as yours and it was awful. The ship was full and we couldn't be moved but they did try to fix it.

 

Can you be moved to another cabin or is your ship full as well?

I've not asked to be moved - we like the cabin otherwise and don't really want to pack/unpack again. I'm just posting here as an advanced warning to others. If, however, people were also banging on our cabin walls and/or doors because they found the TV noise from our cabin a nuisance, we would have done more about it.

So sorry you are dealing with that.

It would also drive me nuts. My DH sleeps through everything.

Sorry to hear about your dang ceiling squeak. We had this happen once on the Noordam and were moved to another stateroom.

I've not asked to be moved - we like the cabin otherwise and don't really want to pack/unpack again. I'm just posting here as an advanced warning to others. If, however, people were also banging on our cabin walls and/or doors because they found the TV noise from our cabin a nuisance, we would have done more about it.

We once had a cabin right over the Ocean Bar which was way too noisy after the first night, but also thought we did not want to re-pack everything too.

However I could not see 21 more days and nights like that in that cabin, so I quickly bit the bullet and was able to get a cabin change. We just emptied the drawers back into the suitcases, and the stewards provided a rolling rack for our hanging clothes. In less than a half hour, we were newly settled in our now quieter cabin and had a wonderful rest of the cruise.

Point here, I also thought a cabin change would seem too daunting, but packing it all up was not as onerous as we too had contemplated. So worth it for us.

We would ask to be moved. Why remain in a sub standard cabin? Seems silly to have to turn the TV on to drown out the noise.

As a consumer I think that we all need to get what we paid for. Too often we accept something less. I think some businesses count on this.

I saw the folks in 7086 at dinner tonight. They report that the creaking in their cabin is every bit as bad as ours. So be warned for that one too!

I love creaky cabins.

It's a soothing sound that lulls me to sleep, and reminds me that I'm on a ship. :cool::cool:

On a previous cruise we were allowed to sleep in a different room but keep our assigned cabin. Slightly inconvenient but at least we were able to sleep. Different, but similar issue...

I love creaky cabins.

 

It's a soothing sound that lulls me to sleep, and reminds me that I'm on a ship. :cool::cool:

Me too. Had 3 lovely days in one on Veendam. The remainder of the trip (17 days) it was quiet. It must have been how the ship was moving through the water. This was down the east coast of South America.

We have 7082 on our upcoming Zaandam cruise - so I shall see if this is a fleet wide design problem. Sold out cruise so no cabin changes this time, if it is a built in problem. Glad to hear all other aspects of this cabin location were good.

We're docked in Kodiak and the cabin is finally silent. After 6 sea days I'm ready for a spot of time on dry land, otherwise it'd be a really tough choice between that and sleeping the day away.

It's not just HAL. The noisiest cabin we've ever experienced was on the Silversea "Silver Cloud," about four years ago (prior to its conversion to an "expedition" ship). We really thought on a number of occasions that we had run aground! And this was an expensive, all-inclusive, "luxury" ship. Although truth be told, the rest of the cruise experience was wonderful. When it comes to ships, you just never know.

Ships are going to flex and the speed of the ship, the draft, how rough the seas, the angle the ship is taking the waves and probably the more forward or aft you are the effects are a little more noticeable. All of the above will come together in getting the ship to talk to you!:) I have had many a creaky cabin on ships ranging from a 350' reefer ship to your 1000' mega ships, I really don't think it was a deficiency in any particular cabin on a certain ship.

Take a look at the short video taken on the Oceana which isn't a particularly small ship, 857x106. The flexing and accompanying creaks are present in 5 meter seas.

I had a similar problem on the Oosterdam a few years back. It wasn't loud but there was something that made a regular tapping. It sounded like something above the ceiling. You could hear it in the ceiling in the hall too. The crew could never figure out where it was coming from.

Not much volume but I lay awake waiting for the next tap. I finally guessed it might be a nearby service elevator cable.

The Hotel Manager was very nice and sent us gifts as compensation.

It was one of those handicap angled cabins toward the stern on deck 4.

The last 2 nights have been on the Alaskan Inside Passage and the cabin has been wonderfully silent. So my final assessment of the situation is that the noise is speed and/or swell dependent. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that speed is the number one factor, if (as I suspect might be the case, based on the cabin being relatively squeak free during daylight hours) the Captain orders "Damn the Torpedoes" overnight.

The last 2 nights have been on the Alaskan Inside Passage and the cabin has been wonderfully silent. So my final assessment of the situation is that the noise is speed and/or swell dependent. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that speed is the number one factor, if (as I suspect might be the case, based on the cabin being relatively squeak free during daylight hours) the Captain orders "Damn the Torpedoes" overnight.

I suspect that is what happened on our Maasdam cruise last year (Sept 2017) where increased speed may also have been essential, as we had constant vibrations throughout the ship, not is just one group of cabins. No other Maasdam reports before or after having the same problems. We were racing around hurricanes and a precise Panama Canal entry time in essentially what was a re-positioning cruise.

BigWally - I'm glad your cabin has quieted down for you. You have an interesting, descriptive writing style. Your posts made me laugh and feel wistful at the same time. It's been too long since my last HAL cruise, and I am actually homesick for all the shipboard noises you and others here mention. Where I live it's very, very quiet at night, and I enjoy the sounds of a working, moving ship around me. Hope the rest of your journey is peaceful!

One other thing I noticed that may or may not be relevant - the aft pool was emptied in the overnight hours before our going into Glacier Bay and currently sits empty. Now the pool's aft wall would be on the other side of the forward wall in our cabin, with only the "shelf" that used to contain the oversized "chairs" directly above it, so it's a bit of a long shot, but it's worth mentioning.

Interesting. My 21 year old twin sons will be in 7083 and my wife and I will be in 7086 for the 4th of July Inside Passage sailing. I will report back on any "creaking" after our trip.

Our ceiling in the signature suite on the Maasdam (1993) creaked so loud during higher than normal seas my wife was too scared to sleep

She will not go on a Hal ship smaller than a vista class.

Dream sleeper

Bob

I love creaky cabins.

 

It's a soothing sound that lulls me to sleep, and reminds me that I'm on a ship. :cool::cool:

Same here.

We recently returned form the July 4 - July 11 Alaska Inside Passage cruise on Volendam.

As it turns out, a few days before the trip, my wife and I upgraded to Vista Suite 7088 (across the hall from 7086) and our 21 year old twin sons moved from 7083 to 7086. There was no creaking from the ceiling of either of these rooms during our voyage but you do get some noise in the early morning (about 5:30 - 6:00 AM) as the crew drags hoses across the aft Lido Deck to wash it down and then move the chairs back in to position.

My wife and I did not mind the noise as we were generally up by 6:00 AM every day and we enjoyed the convenience of accessing the Lido Deck from the exterior stern stairs. Our sons, who are deep sleepers, did not report hearing any noise.

We also met the people who ended up in 7083, an older couple from the Midwest, and they seemed to enjoy that room with no complaints.