What can you tell me about the Volendam!

[tlm]

We cruised in January aboard Celebrity's Century. We like the smaller ships which is one reason why we are now looking at the Volendam. We would be sailing next January on the 10 day Southern Carribean itinerary and are interested in a Verandah Suite.

 

What can you tell us? The good and the bad!

 

Thanks

Toni

[obriendan]

We cruised to Alaska on the Volendam in 2002. Like all HAL ships, we found the crew to be wonderful, always smiling, and giving wonderful service.

 

We particularly the size of the S class HAL ships: Statendam, Maasdam, Veendam, and Ryndam. The Volendam is slightly larger (63,000 vs 55,000 tons) but still small compared to many mega ships. One advantage the Volendam over the S class ships is an additional center stairway

[doone]

I have to say the Volendam is one of my favorite ships of HAL. I enjoyed her so much that I am sailing her again this month and am planning a family cruise on her next February 11th. I think you will enjoy the Volendam.

[Sage]

I have to agree with Doone in that my favorite ship is the Volendam. We found the staff and crew to be the best. There is a certain atmosphere on the Volendam that we haven't found on the other ships. I hope that you enjoy your cruise as much as we did.

[dakrewser]

We did that cruise in the fall of 2003 on the Volendam and had a wonderful time. I've never been on the Century, so can't compare the two, but it's hard to believe it could be any better.

[Peggy Sue]

Last November we enjoyed a 10 day cruise on the Volendam .. S suite. The ship is well maintained .. stunning, elegant, classy .. Great layout and very easy to get around.

 

We did have problems with our A/C and we found our suite to be on the warm side .. they tried to fix it several times, but it never really was the way we like it.

 

Service was excellent and dining was very good. We really enjoyed the Pinnacle dining room.

 

Enjoy!

[DFD1]

We did that cruise last year and had a wonderful time. We have sailed five different HAL ships including the beloved Noordam, but the Volendam is our favorite. Elegant, classy,

spacious, superb staff, excellent food and DR service. We found nothing not to like.

 

Hope you have a great cruise. Let us hear from you when you get back.

[Himself]

I have been on this ship three times and have enjoyed this ship very much.

I like this size ship best of all and I am crazy about this ship.

 

Himself

[xznwfd]

Hi Tim,

 

I've been on both the Century and the Volendam (in Jan. of '05), and can recommend the Volendam without reservation. I'll send you my review - I've submitted it to Cruise Critic, but it hasn't gotten posted yet. She is a beautiful ship and we had a wonderful cruise!

 

Cathy

[kelmac]

We cruised in January aboard Celebrity's Century. We like the smaller ships which is one reason why we are now looking at the Volendam. We would be sailing next January on the 10 day Southern Carribean itinerary and are interested in a Verandah Suite.

 

What can you tell us? The good and the bad!

 

Thanks

Toni

 

Toni,

 

My wife and I have sailed both the Volendam and the Century; both ships are excellent in their own way. The Century is a little larger, more modern and a bit more formal. The Volendam has very sleek lines, more old school and is easy to navigate.

Cuisine is a mixed bag; Celebrity is a bit better in the dining room, both quality and service, but HAL does a better job with food in the Lido compared to Celebrity's buffet. In addition, the Volendam has the Pinnacle restaurant, which is outstanding. The Century has no alternative restaurant.

Service is usually about the same, however, this always depends on which individuals you end up with in the dining room and as a cabin steward.

Century will have a very European feel and the Volendam has an Asian feel. Cabins are about the same; the Volendam's bedding, towels and hair dryer are much better, but I prefer the Century's decor.

Entertainment changes from cruise to cruise, but the Century's venue is better/larger. It still feels like HAL targets a much older crowd, while Celebrity mixes it up much more.

It's not until you get to the Millennium class of ships, that Celebrity really outshines HAL. These two lines are our favorite and we have the Mercury, Zuiderdam and Millennium coming up.

I would love the cruise both the Volendam and the Century again, and again!

 

Enjoy!

Kel

[tlm]

Thanks to all who provided comments.

 

Cathy

 

I believe I read your review on CruiseReviews.com (correct me if I'm wrong) and enjoyed it immensely.

 

Kel

 

Thanks for your wonderful comparison of the Century and the Volendam. That information has really helped in our decision to book.

 

To everyone else who thoughtfully gave their comments, thanks again.

 

Toni :)

[BonnieSeattle]

And, I would like to thank everyone as well. This summer, my partner and I will be cruising for the very first time and we've chosen the Volendam to Alaska. I thought I was excited before, but reading this thread has made it even more so!!

 

Bonnie

[Sage]

BonnieSeattle,

 

May I ask what date you have booked for Alaska? My family will be aboard the May 25th sailing. I hope that you find the Volendam as wonderful as we did. As I said before, it is a beautiful ship, and the crew and staff are above and beyond the standard.

[ron46936]

We've been on both the Volendam and Century and I guess our experience was somewhat different than most posters. We has an outside cabin that we were never able to get to a comfortably warm temperature and there wasn't enough room for our luggage under the bed.

 

Our dining room service was very friendly and smiling but they were so overloaded that we never received what I would condsider even average service.

 

I probably would never have cruised HAL again except I figured all the fans couldn't be entirely wrong. Our experience on the Noordam a year later was much more enjoyable but not up to our experience on any of the 3 Celebrity cruises we've been on.

[BonnieSeattle]

BonnieSeattle,

 

May I ask what date you have booked for Alaska? My family will be aboard the May 25th sailing. I hope that you find the Volendam as wonderful as we did. As I said before, it is a beautiful ship, and the crew and staff are above and beyond the standard.

 

Hi Sage... we're not sailing until August 17th. We're on Ziggy's list (yay, Ziggy!), but so far I haven't seen any others for that week. I'll do a roll call, as it gets closer (unless someone else beats me to it). Looking forward to hearing about your return trip in May. That's right around the corner, in comparison to mine. :)