Volendam review 6/15/05 RT Vancouver

[emsachs]

Hi all,

Just finished answering a bunch of questions on my "Live from Volendam" thread. I am going to try to give you my opinions and review of our cruise, the ship, and variious aspects of HAL service. I will also try to help out with some things that we experienced with things like cameras, binoculars, excursions, packing etc...

 

First of all, let me begin by saying that my wife and I had taken 1 previous criuse (Dawn Princess / Carribean in January 2002). We had a balcony cabin, but after that cruise we decided that we just did not like cruising. (Didn't like the food, service, cabin, etc...)

 

We were somewhat skeptical of this HAL Alaska cruise on Volendam after reading some less than flattering reviews and comments, but vowed to make the best of things because we were taking our 81 year old parents. We were also concerned about the ship itself as it only received an 87 score from a CDC inspection in November 2004.

 

Well, after this cruise, we have become cruise lovers, and are now HAL fans and could not imagine a more perfectly laid out ship than the Volendam.

In fact, we are already planning our next cruise.

 

(Sorry for the following as this is very long, but i wanted to give an accurate review.)

 

Pre Cruise---

We used frequent flier miles to book non stop flights from Houston to Vancouver. We arrived a day early and booked the pre cruise hotel package with HAL. This is somewhat pricy at $300/room, but we feel that the convienience was well worth it. HAL told us we would either be at the Fairmont (across the street from Canada Place Pier building) or the Pan Pacific (in Canada Place). We wanted Pan Pacific because we heard all the hoopla about his hotel, but we were given the Fairmont. If you are considering staying there, no worries. Ths is a fine hotel and you will not be dissapointed. It is even connected underground to Canada Place.

The best part of booking precruise with HAL (as I said in my "Live" post) is that HAL has a check in desk in the hotal lobby and we checked in for our cruise the day BEFORE we cruised. We were able to pick up our ship/cabin card at the HAL desk in the hotel before we were treated to a bus tour of Vancouver and then dropped off at the pier afterwards.

We were then able to bypass the HAL line at check in at the pier. (We still had to wait for Immigration and security of course), but after that, we went ahead of about 50 people in the HAL check in and boarded the ship.

I'm not a fan of bus tours, but we had never seen Vancouver before and this was a nice way to get an overview of the city. If we went again, I might skip the tour and just board the ship.

Another great aspect of the HAL precruise is that we just left our luggage in our room and the next time we saw it was in our cabin. GREAT!!!!!!

 

Overall I would give the precruise HAL hotel package an 8.5 (out of ten) because of the convienience of the check in and luggage handling.

 

Cabin/Ship---

We booked a Verandah suite on deck 6.(Cabins 6171, 6173, 6174). We were with senior citizens and wanted to be midship and close to stairs/elevator.

We were a little concerned about noise, but I'm happy to report that we were not disturbed AT ALL by outside noise from the elevators or passengers. It was SO convienient being close to elevator/stairs that we would book this again with no reservation. In addition, we booked rooms on both the starboard and port sides as well. This was GREAT because when we were in Glacier Bay, we just switched sides when the ship turned around to give the other side of the ship a view of the glaciers. If you are travelling with others, I would recommend this.

 

The cabin itself was much bigger than the similar Dawn Pricess cabin that we had, and my wife was happy that she did not have to put her leg on the toilet to shave her legs while in the shower as she had to do on the Dawn. The beds were fabulous and comfortable as advertised. Our large rollaboards fit under the bed, out of the way. Our room had a VCR, but no DVD. It also had a nice sitting area. The balcony was small but adaquet. I'm not sure if it is big enough if you want to have a meal out there.

Temperature was OK, and I found it a little bit hot although we had the thermstat as cold as it gets.

 

The ship is in excellent shape and we just loved the layout. It was very clean and there were Hand sanitizer stations everywhere. It was easy to get around. Don't miss the views from the crows nest (9th floor forward)

 

Overall, I would give the room/ an 8 (out of ten)

I would give the ship a 9.0

 

Cabin steward/service--

We met our cabin steward the first day and I think we saw him twice for the rest of the cruise. He did a very nice job however, and got us anything we needed. (we left him notes if we needed something).

For example, i wanted more stationary and I left a note asking for some, and there was a stack of it when i returned to my room.

Our room was always tidy when we returned and we did get a towel animal (elephant) the last day. I must say that he was very friendly and seemed eager to please like the rest of the staff.

I would say that the service was like a mid range hotel (Hilton, Sheraton, Marriott). If you want something you ask for it. If they can do it, then they will. It is a step below a 4 Seasons, or a Ritz where you would not have to ask for anything, as they would try for the most part to anticipate what you need and get it for you before you ask.

The mostly Indonesian/Phillipino staff was warm and freindly. By the 2nd day of our cruise, some staff were already calling us by name, including the matre'd (Yusef). I was even approached in the Lido by a waiter who we had met in the Explorer lounge the night before. He called me by name and just wanted to know if I was enjoying myself and if there was anything else he could do for us. This was just over the top and one of the reaons we are now HAL fans.

 

We did experience some lacking service, but this was mostly in the LIDO. We always had to ask 2-3 times each time in the Lido to get a soda. Several times we were already finished with our meal before the soda arrived. Once, the Lido manager came over just to see how we were doing and my father asked for more Iced tea. The manager said no problem. We never saw him again and the iced tea never arrived.

 

I also did not like the way they tried to "sell" art, drinks, jewelry, bingo, duty free, etc...... Also, whenever we went back to our room there were always advertisements there waiting for us.

 

The dining room staff were on top of their game.

 

Overall service 8.5 (out of ten)

 

 

Food--

Food was OK (Hotel food....they are cooking for 1400 passengers) but not bad at all. The salmon was always fresh and I had it at least once a day.

They had smoked salmon on the breakfast menu and Lido lunch buffet everyday. There were even 2 days that they had a charcoal grill going for salmon by the pool. I think many people didn't know about it, because it was empty both sea days, but I wouldn't miss it.

Fresh fruit/frut cocktail was available at every meal and was excellent

In the dining room the food was good and there was great variety. My father (pickiest eater alive) even found something to eat at every meal.

Our waiter was happy to bring multiple entrees or appetizers (shrimp cocktails) if we ordered them. Lobster night was actually "surf and turf" night. Small lobster tail and small filet, but our waiter did not balk when I ordered 6 lobster tails (sorry, i like lobster).

The Pinnacle was excellent and I recommend at least 1 trip there. Suprisingly, it never seemed to be crowded.

 

Food (7.5 for quality; 9.0 for variety in dining room

 

Lido, (7.0 for quality; 8.0 for variety)

 

PS We went to Lido for casual dinner and it was NOT the same as the dining room.

 

 

Entertainment/Activities

There was plenty to do with trivia (we won the last day), bingo games, shows, movies (we didn't go). Expect the movies to be ones theat are currently on pay per view. They showed Hitch, Phantom of the Opera and a few other semi new ones. They are also available on TV if you're into that sort of thing.

The shows were suprisingly entertaining. Don't expect Broadway and you'll be happy.

Champage strings in explorer lounge. (classical.pop) Good

Salt Water Taffy (Jazz trio in Ocean bar) Excellent

Sky Ladd (jazz piano) excellent

2 different comedians good

Entertainment 7.5

 

Excursions

WE did Capt Larry whale watch in Juneau.

Good your and he takes you to different places to make sure you see whales. The boat is fast and comfortable. WE saw many humpbacks, eagles, sea lions. They served excellent smoked salmon chunks and fruit juice/water.

 

Helicopter/Dog Sled in Skagway

through HAL with Temsco.

$419/person and worth every penny.

An unforgettable experience!!! Everone was SO nice. 290 dogs, some from Iditarod. Our musher was in the race also. He stopped so we could take pictures and he took pictures of us too.

They let us hold one of the puppies after. The dogs just seem to want to rin, run , run and love it!!!!!

 

Ketchikan

Misty Fjords float plane and criuse

Cruise one way, fly the other.

Flight was cancelled due to fog.

HAL was very apoligetic even though it wasn't their fault. They gave us our options (we did a cruise /cruise) and refunded our $$.

They also sent up a bottle of wine to our stateroom as a way to say they were sorry for our inconvienience.

Kevin (excursions manager) was always very helpful and even went out of his way to help us track down extra Temsco helicopter caps from Skagway when we were in Ketchikan.

 

Overall excursion 9.0 (expensive but worth it)

 

A few last points (i gotta go to bed)

 

Binoculars. I ws going to buy an expensive pair but found a great deal on

10 x 42 Bushnell that we got for $69 (roof prism what ever that is) originally $149. They were excellent. I'm glad I didn't spend $300 for the pair that I was going to get, as I don't know when i will ever use them again.

 

Camera.

We splurged and bought a Nikon D70 DSLR with 18-70 zoom and a 70-300 zoom and are gald that we did.

Our pictures are amazing. (If someone can tell me how I can post some of my pics I will be glad to do so.

The reason I love our camera is that it has a fast shutter speed and we can take up to 3 pics/sec.

We got some excellent whale shots (full tail) , some good calving glacier pics, and amazing eagle pics. (perched, pre take off, and mid flight).

I feel this was a great investment.

We brought a 2mb, 1 mb, and 512K cards.

We ended up with over 600 pics.

 

Clothes/ packing

BE PREPARED!!!!! We expected cold, and it was HOT. lLayer, layer, layer.

It was almost 85 in Juneau, and shorts were in order, but out on the water we definitely needed a light jacket. On deck in glacier bay I need a turtle neck, a fleece sweatshirt and a jacket.

 

The star of the cruise was the beautiful scenary, mountains, glaciers, and wildlife. This was an unforgettable cruise and I can't imagine not having a fabulous time. HAL did a great job and we loved the Volendam.

 

Final rating for this cruise overall 9.0

This is a great cruise for anyone!!! I would say the average age was about 60. (younger than we expected) and there were all ages on board (8-98). Most of the passengers were very friendly and we met many people that we hope to keep in touch with

I can now highly recommend HAL and we are big fans.

It is not perfect, but if you go with a good attitude, HAL will help you make your cruise whatever you want it to be.

 

It's late and I can't think if i missed something. (I am hoping this wasn't too long for someone to read the whole thing). Anyway, that's it, please ask me if you have any other questions.

[NYteacher]

Thank you for a wonderful detailed review.

 

We are leaving on a southbound Seward to Vancouver Statendam cruise in less than three weeks and your description has totally whet my appetite!

 

(As I look at the above, I think "whet" it the right spelling but I don't even know what it means...anyone out there know?)

[Sage]

Thank you for the wonderful review. I'm so glad you enjoyed the Volendam and the Alaskan cruise. We love the Volendam and are already booked for next doing a b2b Hawaii and Alaskan cruise. I can see that I will have to do the dogsled tour next year. It sounds like it was not to be missed. Thanks again for the review.

[cuddlepie]

We were on the Volendam in May and also had a verandah suite 7065. We had never cruised before and just loved it all. The bed was awesome and we really slept like babies. we also did the helicopter dogsled tour from Juneau & TOTALLY agree with you that it is worth every penny. The glaciers you see are the best and the sledding experience "out of this world". We are from Australia so the chances of seeing Alaska again are slim so we just did as much as we could. We were disappointed with the Misty Fjords Floatplane as there was not any commentary & it was very misty (I know that was to be expected) but it did hamper the view. The best bit of advise is to take as many pictures as possible (digital if possible) as you can never have enough!!!!:D We ended up with well over 1500 between us- that was 2 wks Canada as well.

[emsachs]

Glad you had a great time too!!

We ended up with over 700 pictures. We used a Nikon DSLR that was able to capture 3 frames/sec and thus were able to get some great whale watch and glacier calving pics.

 

If someone can tell me how I can post my pics, I will be glad to share some of them.

[Bucky3]

We have booked Cabin 6195 on Volendam for next summer. Can you see out over the balcony from a sitting position? From pictures in the brochure it looks like there is a metal frame below the railing. Does this block your view when sitting either inside or outside? Great review and thanks for taking the time to tell us all about your cruise. We're looking forward to ours!

[emsachs]

We have booked Cabin 6195 on Volendam for next summer. Can you see out over the balcony from a sitting position? From pictures in the brochure it looks like there is a metal frame below the railing. Does this block your view when sitting either inside or outside? Great review and thanks for taking the time to tell us all about your cruise. We're looking forward to ours!

 

Depends on your height. For most people I would say that the wooden railing would block your view. There is plexiglass underneath the railing, but it gets somewhat dirty. My father is short (5 feet tall) so he could see perfectly. Conversely, if you were very tall then you could probably also see with no obstruction.

A balcony is still awesome and you will have great views and a great time.

We would probably book the same catagory cabin and deck if we had it to do over.