terrydtx

21 hours ago, AV8rix said:

!!!WOW!!!

First time I've EVER seen steak tartare in the MDR!!  I've always had to pay extra for it since it's generally only available in PG or Rudi's <-- where they actually put a quail egg on top.  I'll watch for that MDR offering in the future.  Thanks!

Me too, one of my favorites. 

We took our 12 year old Grandson to Alaska with HAL (Noordam) in 2019. He spent a lot of time in the Kids Club and loved the cruise, food and ship. HAL does an excellent job in Alaska and I would recommend them.

I have the same issue for our August Volendam cruise, the dinner and lunch menus give me the  404 error , been doing this for 2 weeks.

Before the cruise they are refunded back to the original form of payment.

6 hours ago, canadianbear said:

That’s so strange about the escargot @kazu 

 Ours  have been great on our November & February cruises. Wonder what they are doing wrong on your ship.  I sure hope the chef figures it out.  

I also hope they figure it out by August. I really like Escargot and they have been great on other HAL cruises.

58 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

But it wasn't closed every sea day. It was closed some of the evenings on the cruise, for the most part during dinner hours.

Do you really think HAL would close the Crows Nest during the canal transit? That to me would warrant "outrage" but I think this is more to stir the pot than a valid concern.

The OP reported the Crows Nest was closed 6 of the 11 days of the cruise from 4pm to 9pm, that is more than "some" nights and more than just dinner times.

My issue with the app is that it will not display the current diner menus in the MDR on the Volendam, It says the page is unavailable when I click on the menu links. The menu has changed to the summer Canada NE cruise season menu and we will be on the Volendam in August.

13 hours ago, kazu said:

 

The Peruvian chicken is really quite good.  We enjoyed our meal 😉 

On the Koningsdam the Peruvian Chicken and the Lemon Shrimp Pasta were my two favorite CO entrees. Overall we thought the CO food on that cruise was much better than what we recently had on Celebrity in the suite restaurant, Luminae.

45 minutes ago, kazu said:

Here is our menu from the night before last.

 

 

 

What would you have wanted?

 

I knew what I was getting - and it turned out Deb did the same.  Peruvian chicken.

 

I had the port to plate starter

 

 

and Deb the cauliflower soup.  She was concerned it would be too spicy but it wasn’t and she said it was very good.

 

 

And we both had the Peruvian chicken.  One was a small plate & the other the regular.  Posting both so you can see the difference.  first is the small plate.  A bit too close, sorry.  it was mine.  2nd is the regular one.

 

 

 

 

We both had the crisp for dessert.  I believe Deb is a crisp convert.

 

 

I am really corrupting her.  first it was the casino and now it’s the crisps.  Maybe it’s anything that starts with a C?  😂 

I assume that Peruvian Chicken was the CO entree special. We had it on the Koningsdam last Fall and it was delicious.  

On the Volendam, our first HAL cruise, in 2007 the Park West phony art auctions were held in the Atrium in the Oceans bar area during the day only. This was a Panama Canal cruise and the Crows nest was our favorite place for viewing. Can't imagine the outrage if the Crow's Nest was closed every day for these art sales.

4 hours ago, kazu said:

Sorry, ho special one.  We ate at the Westinghouse close to the waterfront.

 

it wasn’t that expensive and the food was really good

Thanks we will have to give it a try in August when we are there.

8 minutes ago, peachycruise said:

Here's an example if that helps.

 

Princess (the END time is typically the all abord time):

 

For HAL (is the Departure time listed really the departure time or is it actually the all abord time?):

The departure time on HAL is the actual time the ship leaves the port. The all aboard time generally is 30 to 90 minutes prior to departure depending on local regulations.

Hi Jacqui, I am just now catching up. We will be on the Volendam in August with 2 other couples doing the Boston to Montreal leg and then staying in Quebec City for a few days after we get off in Montreal. For the 6 of us this will be our first time in that part of Canada. Just looking forward to being out of the 100+ heat of South Texas for 3 weeks. The Volendam was our first HAL ship back in 2007 and we are looking forward to being back on her. Thanks for doing this live thread.

Terry

9 hours ago, LAX said:

Thanks. They are available outside of breakfast hours too, correct?

 

LAX

 

Outside of breakfast hours you will need to have a drinks package or pay by the drink.

4 hours ago, LAX said:

Are the complimentary mimosa and fresh orange juice only available with room service?

 

LAX

 

No, you can get them in the CO dining room

 

Does anyone know what happens when the category of stateroom you booked is recategorised.

We booked a B3 balcony which is now categorised as a an A2 concierge do we get concierge benefits or what came with our original booking,I cannot think if some booked it as a concierge they would offer different benefits to different cabins in the same location?

I have asked Oceania but the answer I got didn’t make sense 

If Oceania can't answer how do you expect a bunch of us to know the answer?

3 minutes ago, Weelynn said:

Hi all. HAL newbie here. Just a quick question. We have HIA onboard which includes 1 speciality dining. I’m understanding that it’s better to book this online as they get filled up fast. I’m trying to do this both on the app and the website but there’s nothing happening. Is this because they’re full or am I trying to book too early. Our cruise is in August this year. TIA

We have an August cruise and we booked our HIA specialty restaurants months ago.

6 hours ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

If you get Club Orange and book the lowest class 'guaranteed' cabin I'm pretty sure you can use the Club Orange complimentary upgrade to upgrade to a specific cabin in the highest class within your category.

Yes that is true and how we got the cabin we wanted on our upcoming Volendam cruise by adding CO when we booked.

3 hours ago, TRLD said:

Where?

 

HAL ships do not have the best layout when it comes to multi use venues. Most are used for nightly entertainment and as such used after 4.

 

The Crows Nest is mostly used during the day for its ocean views with some activities.

On our first Volendam cruise the first floor in the Atrium was used for the art auctions by PW and they were held during the daytime on sea days only. I would be very upset if they took over the Crow's Nest, one of the only two indoor bar venues and by far the quietist on the Volendam.

18 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Well truth be told I have never met anyone on Cruise Critic defend Park West so fervently.   You do them a great service. Now back to why you think it is ok for a contractor to commandeer a popular space for the entire length of a cruise.  I don’t think anyone would complain about a single evening but not for the entire cruise.  
 

PS 30+ day cruises are fairly normal for HAL

I was thinking the poster was a Park West emplyee.

When booking your shore excursions put them all in your cart then when you check out the HIA shorex credit will then be taken out of the grand total. If you book and pay individually, you can lose some of your credit. For example, if a shore excursion is for $90 and you use the $100 Shorex credit the left over $10 is lost. I found this out the hard way on our HAL cruise last year. If you have multiple excursions in your cart the full $100pp credit is deducted from the grand total.

We boarded the Koningsdam in San Diego last November. We had CO priority boarding and there was a line to check in for CO, Neptune and Pinnacle suites and 4* and 5* guests. We had np problems using that line and checking in, then we were directed to the special waiting area for those groups to board when boarding began. We got to the terminal at 11am and boarding began about noon. We were on the ship by 12:15pm.

We use a TA, always, and when we booked our upcoming Volendam cruise last year, she booked us in a B category Vista Suite, added CO and then our upgrade was to an A category VS at the B price. No problems at all.

On 4/21/2024 at 7:08 AM, Mary229 said:

PS when you complain on app Seattle receives a direct message also.  I was saddened to see Park West back onboard.  They were almost sued out of existence but now they are back. Yuck

They are back because of the huge amount of revenue the cruise lines make from this unethical company that has taken advantage of unwary passengers for years. Closing the Crows nest every night is ridiculous and should be unacceptable by passengers. There are plenty of other ship venues that could be used that are not as popular by guests,

15 hours ago, 57redbird said:

We really liked the K with CO on our 35 day cruise in 2023 & have it booked for a December cruise BUT...I found a Caribbean cruise on the Volendam & am having a hard time thinking about going back to a smaller ship without a separate CO....see my signature for the ships we've been on & convince me which one I'd like better, please.  TIA.

I see you did a cruise in 2013 on the Zaandam, the sister ship to the Volendam, how did you like the ship for that cruise? We have sailed on the Volendam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Eurodam, Noordam, Oosterdam (twice) and Koningsdam and found each ship to be very different and we liked them all. When we book a cruise, our first priority is the itinerary and then the ship available for that itinerary. That is why we are booked on the Volendam in August.