Last November on the Koingsdam we booked CO, fortunately for us, as the lines ever night to enter the MDR were down the hallways past the CO dining room. The most we ever waited to be seated in the CO dining room as 10 minutes. The cruise was 100% booked and there were crowds everywhere. We would never sail on a Pinnacle class ship now without CO for that reason. We will be on the Volendam in August, and we booked CO for the cabin upgrade, but we may enjoy the special lines for CO to enter the MDR.

1 hour ago, Bostonjetset said:

But the HAL site says 140 for OV. So confusing. 
 

 

That actually says 140-319 sqft. If you cruise much you should subscribe to Cruise Deck Plans. Its cheap for lifetime and has much more information on cabins and decks along with actually pictures from past guests who post on the site. I use the site to check out any cabin before we book.

Cruise Deck Plans, Ship Layouts & Room Details - Cruise Deck Info

29 minutes ago, Bostonjetset said:

I’ll be on the Volendam in June and can’t wait. I love the smaller ships. My first HAL ship was the Veendam and that size is great. However, looking at the deck plans it says the ocean view staterooms have a smaller square footage than the interior ones!  Is that correct?  Can anyone confirm that? I found it strange. We had an inside on Veendam and thought it was a great size but have an OV on Volendam

and expected it to be at least the same if not bigger. 

According to the Cruise Deck plans website, on the Volendam Interior cabins have 182 sq ft and the OV cabins have 197 sq ft. 

2 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

Smart move . The upgrade is definitely worth it alone 

We got the midship Vista Suite we would have booked without CO by booking lowest level of VS and the difference in cost paid for the CO add on cost.

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

True that CO is much quieter  because it is a lot smaller restaurant  than the MDR & the same is true in land based restaurant sizes ,The only problem is the Club Orange sells out rather quickly as experienced people know not just the dining benefit but the cabin upgrade & priority boarding & rendering & a special line at customer relations . Simple answer is " whats not to like " 

We booked our upcoming Volendam cruise with CO for the free upgrade and other nice amenities,  not having the CO dining room was no problem on this cruise.

We had the same location on the Koingsdam last November and loved the location. Never noticed any smoke and noise was never to the level to be bothersome. I would book the same cabin again. The only smoking issue we had on the ship was from the casino which was so bad we never could enter the casino and the stairwell next to it.

2 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Since you only sail Koningsdam now, your experience in MDR’s of the other ships is somewhat limited.

 

All of the Pinnacle Class ships’ MDR’s are VERY loud.  Much louder and noisier than the other ships in the fleet.  Fixed dining is not as bad but open dining is horrific.  We could barely hear the person next to us at the Mariner’s reception.  The sound just reverberates like an echo chamber.

 

I have been on Koningsdam for 3 segments B2B2B and Rotterdam for a longer cruise and my experience was the same.  Dining rooms are much quieter on the other ships in my experience.

 

I will not cruise on a Pinnacle Class ship unless I have Club Orange and can use that dining room.  

 

I agree with you about only sailing on the PC ships with CO. Last November on the Koningsdam we had CO and every night the line to enter the MDR was running down the hall past the CO dining room. We were so glad we had CO. The food and service also seemed to be much better than the MDR.

9 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

imo the bottem line is if you want small ship environment in the future then you will be  sailing on the  higher end lines like Seaborn  .Most people will  cintinue to sail on the larger & mega sized ships of the future  ,Even CCL for  their Carnival band  has ordered new larger ships  

 

We can understand the desire for smaller ships . Those which can get into the smaller ports of call & stay for 2 or 3 days  with far less people . But ,you will have to pay a lot more money for that  style of cruising . 

 

 

 

 

Oceania has much smaller ships and they are not that much more expensive than Celebrity and Princess. We are booked on the Oceania Marina for an 18 day cruise for $200PP less than the 14 day Celebrity cruise that was canceled after we booked.

8 hours ago, Dancing Shoes said:

thinking she was going to go out of service at some point we booked the Canda/New England trip for August 2024. 

Are you on the August 20th Boston to Montreal cruise with us?

On 4/8/2024 at 12:13 AM, kelliebiz said:

One thing about Volendam is that there are no verandah cabins. The ship does have lanai cabins where your back door opens right onto the lower promenade deck where the public is walking their laps. I’ve not stayed in one of these cabins but it would feel like a loss of privacy to me. 
 

I really enjoy everything about the smaller size of this ship and it is older but nothing that relates to the age is an obvious deterrent for me. Others may have different opinions of course. 

Not totally true, the Volendam does have verandah cabins called Vista Suites on deck 6. We are booked in one in August from Boston to Montreal. We love the smaller ships of HAL, no crowds, fewer kids and exceptional service. 

The smaller Volendam is perfectly suited for the NE/Canada cruises as she can get into ports the bigger ships can't. 

If you look on your invoice from HAL you will have something like this that shows all of your HIA amenities.

9 minutes ago, Kathyrd said:

Thank you

Glad I could help. We will be on the Volendam in August in a Vista Suite. Our first HAL Cruise was on her in 2007.

1 hour ago, Kathyrd said:

do the Volendam Neptune suites have a shower cube or is it only in the tub? Thank you

Here is a picture of the tub shower in a Neptune Suite and a diagram of the suite. 

22 minutes ago, Toofarfromthesea said:

 

To be pedantic for a moment, probably evaporated milk, which is unsweetened.  Condensed milk is always sweetened.

Sorry my bad it seemed to be evaporated canned milk.

1 minute ago, crusin'k said:

Not new to HAL, but do have a question.  If we pre-purchase the internet package, do we both have to buy it.  Hubby never uses internet, but I do.  

We usually get the HIA with surf internet and I upgrade to the premium but my wife doesn't have to.

3 minutes ago, Navybikermom said:

I feel the same way! I have to set them straight the very first night at dinner, otherwise they bring milk and think it’s the same thing. 😒

My DW ordered cream for her coffee on room service on out last cruise and swore it was canned condensed milk.

3 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

You should not be allowed into the Four and Five Star Priority line if you are Club Orange. Let there be a separate line below them as we have paid more than $15 a day for the privilege.

On our Kongingsdam cruise last November from San Diego there was only one check in line for NS, PS, 4 & 5 star and CO passengers. After we checked in, we all were directed to a special priority waiting area for boarding. As I recall handicap passengers in wheelchairs and scooters boarded first, then PS and NS, then 5 star, then 4 star and CO was last. Each group was called separately, and their express boarding passes were checked before they left the waiting area for their grouping. Priority boarding did not begin until a few minutes after 12 noon for that cruise. Our assigned check in time with CO was 11:00 which is about the time we got to the terminal.

After all in the priority groups had boarded then they began the general boarding by assigned letter codes, with A being first. The letter codes were assigned by the check in times assigned the week before the cruise by HAL. As to be expected many non-priority passengers disregarded those assigned times and showed up well before noon and then grumbled when they were assigned letter codes that would not let them board until their times was called.

2 hours ago, Heartgrove said:

 

I know how it works and I feel that for $15 a day for CO it is not equivalent to sailing as a 4-5 Star  and sailing in PS and NS. When cruising on MSC in Yacht Club I'm usually paying about $3K more than Aurea. For THAT, I expect extra privileges - and get it.

Not sure where you get $15 pp per day? Our upcoming 11 day Volendam cruise in August CO was $25pp per day. 

4 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

You should not be allowed into the Four and Five Star Priority line if you are Club Orange. Let there be a separate line below them as we have paid more than $15 a day for the privilege.

Not the way it works,4 and 5 star along with Neptune and Pinnacle Suites and CO guests are all checked in together and sat in the same priority waiting area to board.

1 hour ago, FrankieSue said:

Let me clarify here… My question was to ask if friends who are travelling with us as a party of 4 could board with us, in the same way as you can bring a non status guest to Specialty restaurants or bring a non status guest in most airport lounges… But the vitriol on this post leaves me speechless… We have Priority status because we earned it after a long loyalty to Holland, which used to be the only way to attain it; we did not buy it. I get it, we will wait with our friends and board with them…. But calm down please…. Geez!!!

Welcome to Cruise Critic. I do not think anyone was being vitriolic in their responses but given you the answers you asked about. Unless the 4 of you are in the same cabin priority boarding is generally not offered to non priority guests in different cabins.

On 4/2/2024 at 8:11 PM, Aexboeingdriver said:

Holland America Line earns certification for responsible fish sourcing in Alaska

 

From Travel Weekly

 

On a typical Alaska cruise, Holland America Line said it serves more than 2,000 pounds of Alaska salmon, 1,000 pounds of Alaska cod, 800 pounds of Alaska halibut and 500 pounds of Alaska rockfish.  

HAL has pledged to buy and serve only local, sustainable, fresh seafood on its Alaska cruises. The line said it is the first cruise line to obtain that distinction from Responsible Fisheries Management

I was hoping that we would some fresh local fish served on our August Volendam Boston to Montreal cruise. Even local cold water lobster and fresh scallops would be nice too.

3 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

As it should be.

Agreed 100%

We were boarding the Koningsdam last November in San Diego with CO so we had priority boarding privileges. There were 2 couples in front of us checking in traveling together, one couple had priority boarding and one didn't. The one couple without priority was directed to the waiting area for general boarding and the other joined us in the priority boarding sitting area.

This morning Fox News had a short mention of the incident, but they made it sound like it was NCL's fault. The fault lies purely with the people on the private excursion. It is no different than when an airliner closes the cabin door and gets ready to pulls away from the gate, they will not return to get a late passenger.

Even the cruise line sponsored shore excursions are not guaranteed to always get you back to the ship. On our first HAL cruise on the Volendam a HAL tour of Costa Rico's capital city was delayed by mud slides and a full tour bus could not get back to the ship for 6 hours. The Captain said we could not wait for them to return as it would delay us getting to our next port 2 days later. We had friends on that tour, and it was a nightmare for them, getting to the next port to catch up with the ship. 

We rarely book any ship sponsored excursions anymore and book with several reputable tour companies that all have similar guarantees to get you back to the ship on time or pay to get you to the next port. Out of maybe 40 private tours done, we have not once been close to missing the ship sailing aways.