dining rooms

[MacGuffin]

Hello HAL fans! I Have a chance to go on the Volendam, but some conflicting pictures of the dining room have me in a quandry (I guess it's the wrought iron chandeliers that are a little scary!) Some pictures show an elegant blue carpeted dining room with yellow and gold accents. Other pictures show a drab silver/gray theme with reddish purple carpet and chairs, a dining room I'd rather avoid. Is one the Zaandam, or has the Volendam been refurbished? The glass sculpture in the Vol atrium looks very cool, so that's a big plus for that ship. The Statendam would be our Plan B ship. Thanks!

 

PS: is there a thread where folks chime in on their favorite HAL ships? Some of the decor seems very hit (Noordam atrium) or miss (Zaandam's pipe organ??)

[dinoman]

There are 2 different dining rooms on Volendam: I guess the one you described as "a drab silver/gray theme with reddish purple carpet and chairs" is the MDR "Rotterdam" and the other one is Pinnacle Grill. Rotterdam is free and Pinnacle involves a additional fee. You may see their pictures from the link:

http://www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-vacation-onboard/Volendam

 

Hope that helps.

[MacGuffin]

Sorry, I was referring to the Rotterdam dining room. I've seen pictures labeled "Rotterdam dining room on Volendam" that have the wrought iron chandeliers, but 2 completely different color schemes. Either the pictures were from the Zaandam's Rotterdam dining room, or the Volendam's was remodeled.

[Jemima]

The diningrooms are more subdued than they appear in the photos.

[SwissMyst]

For our experiences the atrium decor is of no consequence, the Pinnacle dining rooms can often look weird in the photos, but since we did not like this dining option the one time we went there, this does not matter either but yes, we do have favorite main dining rooms - the Maasdam our favorite and looks like the Statendam has the same glass flower globe ceilings as well.

 

Our favorite place on these smaller ship dining rooms (the R and S class ships) is on the upper level at a table for two along the railing being able to look over the edge to the dining room floor below, close to the entrance to people watch and still see out the full story windows which is particularly dramatic when in the "white nights" parts of the world during the summer and it is still very light during the dinner hour.

 

We found we did not like this local at the railing on the larger Vista ships and their dining rooms could be too big and too busy so we opt for a more quiet alcove area and again a table for two off to the side away from a lot of the traffic.

 

Just looking at HAL website photos I swore the Zuiderdam would be the last ship I would ever choose simply for its garish looking dining room decor, yet when we recently took it to Alaska we found the dark and vivid colors all came together is a very pleasing way with rich reds, purples, burgundies and dark paneled walls. Having the best food so far on the Zuiderdam in the MDR went a long way to increase our dining enjoyment on this Vista ship.

 

Worst was the Oosterdam where our table for two along the railing was close to rows of tables for 10 that were more like large dormitory feeding stations with huge amounts of traffic and reaching back and forth all around them. Not a very gracious or serene dining atmosphere at all, and thank goodness we at least had the more personal charm of our table for two though it was surrounded by all that constant busyness.

 

That was a Christmas cruise too so there was a lot of energy on that trip with large families and constant traffic of parents with strollers going in and out during the dining hours with children that needed to be attended to during the dinner hours. But it was fun seeing the little kids dressed up for formal nights and sharing in the whole holiday anticipation experience.