"Live from" ms Volendam to Alaska! My First HAL Experience

[startwin]

Sarah, many people have already stated how excellent your review is, but I just want to add my compliments to you - what a fantastic job!

 

Thank you so much for the huge effort and thought that you have put into this endeavour, to say that it is of epic proportion is an understatement.

 

Your photos give real life to the commentary and the whole comes together in delightful package that was a treat to follow.

 

I have been sitting up in bed since 4.30 this morning reading through the review, and guess what?? In just 5 hrs or so we board the Volendam at Canada Place to do the same cruise! I am so keen to get on board and 'relive' the experiences that I feel I have already shared thanks to your extraordinary efforts.

 

If you should so choose I believe that you could have a bright future in journalism/photography as your work is captivating.

 

Thanks again for a delightful review.

 

Graham, Melbourne Australia.

 

Have a wonderful time! The Volendam is my favourite ship, and Alaska is phenominal.

 

And this review is outstanding, likely to break some kind of record on CC:)

[Rowsby]

The 4th photo in your post #487 is Michelle, the concierge, in the Neptune Lounge.....who does a great job...!!

The 6th photo shows the door to "our" room #7019.....:)

We are reliving our cruise with your amazing photos....

Thanks...

[lovely_serenity]

Sarah, many people have already stated how excellent your review is, but I just want to add my compliments to you - what a fantastic job!

 

Thank you so much for the huge effort and thought that you have put into this endeavour, to say that it is of epic proportion is an understatement.

 

Your photos give real life to the commentary and the whole comes together in delightful package that was a treat to follow.

 

I have been sitting up in bed since 4.30 this morning reading through the review, and guess what?? In just 5 hrs or so we board the Volendam at Canada Place to do the same cruise! I am so keen to get on board and 'relive' the experiences that I feel I have already shared thanks to your extraordinary efforts.

 

If you should so choose I believe that you could have a bright future in journalism/photography as your work is captivating.

 

Thanks again for a delightful review.

 

Graham, Melbourne Australia.

 

Thank you! (: you are too kind. Your thoughtful comment and notice to details are really touching ^^ It makes me happy that my report could have provided any sort of aid in the preparation for your up and coming trip!

 

Get there safely, and I hope you enjoy your cruise upon the ms. Volendam as much as I did (:

 

Aw shucks, thanks :p

 

You're welcome! c: (ooh cool, you're from Aussie! I have relatives there!)

[lovely_serenity]

Wonderful!!!!

 

Keep it coming!

 

Ellen

 

Thank you! :D && I'm working on it! Thanks for following (:

[Buffalo Man]

Enjoying your postings. Our next cruise isn't until the summer of 2014 so I have to cruise vicariously. Even though I taught ESOL for 38 years I am a terrible speller so hope it is correct. Couldn't get spell check to work.

[lovely_serenity]

Have a wonderful time! The Volendam is my favourite ship, and Alaska is phenominal.

 

And this review is outstanding, likely to break some kind of record on CC:)

 

Thank you! Haha, definitely hoping for that! ^^

[lovely_serenity]

Enjoying your postings. Our next cruise isn't until the summer of 2014 so I have to cruise vicariously. Even though I taught ESOL for 38 years I am a terrible speller so hope it is correct. Couldn't get spell check to work.

Haha great!, I do hope you do enjoy your virtual cruising then, I'll work hard to make it enjoyable (: & yeah, you spelled it right! ^^

[lovely_serenity]

The 4th photo in your post #487 is Michelle, the concierge, in the Neptune Lounge.....who does a great job...!!

The 6th photo shows the door to "our" room #7019.....:)

We are reliving our cruise with your amazing photos....

Thanks...

Wow, you really have a sharp eye for detail! I actually didn't even realize that there was a woman in the room until I was uploading this picture!

 

We were just awkwardly taking pictures from the outside because we weren't suite guests :p LOL

 

Regarding your room, do you mean the door you can see to the right, the one on the other side behind the window?

 

&& aw thanks ^^, & yay! I'm happy to hear that! :)

Edited June 6, 2013 by lovely_serenity

[Rowsby]

Regarding your room, do you mean the door you can see to the right, the one on the other side behind the window?

 

It was the door on the far left...across the hall....

It was such a perfect spot....we could quickly zip over....:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Really great as usuall.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Was the rail really broken?

On many of our Alaskan cruises, the rails are removed and taken inside when they need to get a new coat of varnish. They don't dry well in the Alaskan damp weather.

[lovely_serenity]

It was the door on the far left...across the hall....

It was such a perfect spot....we could quickly zip over....:)

 

Ooooh, THAT one! :p wow, you've sure got an eye for detail!

 

I never got to go in lounge, I'm wondering about your take on the set up and ammenities! What's your favourite feature of it?

[Rowsby]

I'm wondering about your take on the set up and ammenities! What's your favourite feature of it?

 

The best feature was Michelle, the concierge....so helpful and friendly....

Second....would be the coffee machine...:)

They stock the goodie areas three or four times a day...

And it was nice to sit and visit with other cruisers.....

[lovely_serenity]

Really great as usuall.

Thank you (: as usual ^^

[Miss_Kharisma]

My significant other/travel companion is not a CC member, but I sent him the link to this thread, mainly for the menus. Everything sounds so awesome (and we’re only on day 2!), that I wanted him to see what we have to look forward to. Turns out that for him, the food looked good, but really caught his eye were the chairs in the Explorations Café in the picture above! He went nuts over them. He’s really into this style of furniture. Then I searched on Google for another picture of them, and found this one. He saw this and now he absolutely can’t wait to get on the ship and sit in these chairs. Only 3 months to go!

 

 

 

As a past Librarian onboard the Volendam, can I just say my biggest nightmare was those chairs!!! You would not beLIEVE the arguements people got into over them - it was absolutely insane!

 

I was onboard for April Fools Day, and the show cast hid them all as a practical joke. It was the worst day of my life. :)

[lovely_serenity]

Was the rail really broken?

On many of our Alaskan cruises, the rails are removed and taken inside when they need to get a new coat of varnish. They don't dry well in the Alaskan damp weather.

 

Oh yeah, they took them off for varnishing. There were sevevral staircases that were closed off throughout my trip due to varnishing as well (:

[lovely_serenity]

The best feature was Michelle, the concierge....so helpful and friendly....

Second....would be the coffee machine...:)

They stock the goodie areas three or four times a day...

And it was nice to sit and visit with other cruisers.....

 

Awh, I'm so jealous! D: I don't get to go in there ^^

[lovely_serenity]

As a past Librarian onboard the Volendam, can I just say my biggest nightmare was those chairs!!! You would not beLIEVE the arguements people got into over them - it was absolutely insane!

 

I was onboard for April Fools Day, and the show cast hid them all as a practical joke. It was the worst day of my life. :)

LOL You're funny ^^ how did the passengers react when all of their favourite chairs disappeared?

[lovely_serenity]

As a past Librarian onboard the Volendam, can I just say my biggest nightmare was those chairs!!! You would not beLIEVE the arguements people got into over them - it was absolutely insane!

 

I was onboard for April Fools Day, and the show cast hid them all as a practical joke. It was the worst day of my life. :)

Also, I have a question for you, is it true that it's through the librarian that you can get decks of cards with HAL logo on them?

[falcon10156]

Also, I have a question for you, is it true that it's through the librarian that you can get decks of cards with HAL logo on them?

 

 

On the Veendam we went to the Casino cashier and were able to purchase cards to keep for $1.00 if you needed cards to play with. Not necessarily HAL though :(

[lovely_serenity]

I took one last shot of the beautiful sunny scenery before we started heading back inside:

 

 

Passed the only set of automatic doors that open fast, and through the glass door, into the Lido buffet:

 

 

We exit the buffet and see this guy waiting to take pictures with people:

 

 

Note that the entrance to the kids' & teen clubs are up there.

 

We decide to go listen to live music, so we take the elevators down to deck 5 and walk through the Explorer's Lounge.

 

 

I notice this wine cart, looked pretty soo :p

 

 

I take a couple shots of Sis & outside the window:

 

[lovely_serenity]

 

We continued down forward until we found music! Mary the guitar player & singer! She performed at the Northern Lights show and played the guitar for one of the songs.

 

 

We stayed here for a good 20 minutes before we left. She was so nice! And conversed with us, asking questions about us and whether or not we knew the song she was going to play. We were like, the only people there, so we just plopped down in the middle of the seating area up front. I requested some songs just for fun, and she actually tried to play it even when she didn't know how! (: how nice. Eventually I started to get bored, but felt it'd be awkward to just leave, so I found a time when she was talking to a crew member to wave goodbye and book it :p

 

Her guitar skills are pretty good, and her singing is alright. Her mic was on way too loud, so she sounded really echo-y :/

 

Personally, I preferred the next act we'd see. We walked past the casino to the Ocean Bar located at the Atrium.

 

We plopped down and watched "the Neptunes" perform. They were a cello and piano duo who played jazz, classic and upbeat tunes. The man was the singer, but at times, they played simply instrumentals.

 

 

I'm not kidding you when I say that this man COULD SING! He was amazing! His vocals were totally top notch. No wonder the whole seating area was full! They were an amazing act! Smooth, powerful voice. I was pretty sure his microphone wasn't even working (because there weren't echos), but he sounded as if it was. o_o He sand loud enough that he didn't even need it. Awesome.

 

We were settled down at a little spot for 2, so I started taking some pictures:

 

 

As we sat there, servers would come over and ask if we would like anything to drink. (LOL yeah right) Yeah, I know they probably meant juice or something, but still ^^

 

This reminded me, I should get shots of the bar menu for you people out there who DO drink! (: I had Sis help me hold the menu and turn the pages for me.

 

Here is the bar menu that basically is the same throughout the entire ship, as well as their prices:

 

(Ooh, here are the Drink of the Days that were always advertised in the daily On Location guides! :0)

 

 

[lovely_serenity]

 

 

 

 

 

[lovely_serenity]

 

We sat there and listened to them sing and stuff until around 7:40pm. We then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner. Mom, Dad & Bro were already back at the room by the time we arrived. We quickly got ready and headed upstairs for dinner.

 

Here was tonight's dinner menu:

 

 

Once we had all finished ordering, I started on my random picture taking spree once more.

 

There was a pretty sunset tonight, it's a shame that the windows weren't clearer :( The picture would've been a lot more awesome.

 

 

I actually considered running upstairs to get a shot, but abandoned the idea once I considered the possibility of it setting by the time I got up there -_-'

 

Random picture time~

 

 

 

I was about to put my camera away, until I noticed the pink light coming from the opposite side of the restaurant. The sky was pink! :O <3

 

(must.get.shot. :P)

 

 

At this time, I could feel a bit of motion underneath me :/ due to wind, waves were hitting the back of the ship (where the Rotterdam is) and causing it to shake & sway. -_____- *sigh*

[lovely_serenity]

Well, our food arrives. Here was Bro's "Captain's Antipasto Plate":

 

 

I really don't know why he likes this stuff so much o_o' to me, it's just fancy ham LOL. ^^'

 

Next up was my "Corn Pancakes with Dill-Orange Cured Salmon":

 

 

Okay honestly, those corn pancakes were gross =_=. They were dry little patties of tough flour. It tasted really grainy too. No thank you.

 

The salmon was good though! c: I finished it up and left half a pancake of my plate. (I cut the other one up and plopped it on everyone else's plate to "try" it :D hehe, of course it was for them to try, not because I wanted to get rid of it! ;p)

 

Here was (sorry blurry shot) Dad, Mom's, Bro's & my "Crab and Shrimp Tower with Avocado Salsa":

 

 

Okay, this one was quite a disappointment for me. Even with a blurry shot, you can see the puddle of water underneath the salad dressing, right? =_= It was sopping wet! Not only was it missing the "tower" essence of the "Shrimp Tower", the shrimp clump fell apart super easily and mixed into the mass mess of wet avocado! Some avocado salsa, >_> it's just one piece of avocado.

 

I expected more. With all the right ingredients, how could they still make it come out so unappetizing? :( I love shrimp, and I love avocado, but wet shrimp ball with avocado in a puddle really is just not my cup of tea. ._____.

 

After we all finished gobbling up our wet shrimp and avocado, Mom and Dad's soups arrived.

 

Here was Mom's "Chilled Strawberry Bisque":

 

 

Pretty much a delicious strawberry milkshake in a bowl. (:

 

and Dad's "Cream of Green Asparagus Soup":

 

 

As usual, HAL's soups very fail me (: A delicious creamy vegetable soup. I find their soups are always really good! Nothing to complain about! (yet! >:D muahaha..)

 

We waited for a bit and in no time, our entrées were here.

 

Here was Mom's "Apricot-Glazed Salmon":

 

 

It was pretty funny how, when multiple dishes arrive at the same time, those who are waiting to eat theirs start badgering me about "hurrying up", otherwise, they won't be able to eat ^^.

 

The salmon was alright. Nothing wrong with it, nothing special. Normal salmon.