Which "dam" ships have you been on?

[innlady1]

4 Star Mariners but not that many ships.

 

Nieuw Amsterdam

Ryndam

Maasdam

Noordam

Veendam

 

My list is in the order of our preferences...top to bottom...although we actually like them all!

 

Like others on here, I book for itinerary first...although, I must admit, when I heard the Ryndam is leaving the fleet, I booked her for this winter...one last time.

[nana51]

I've only had 4 cruises, 3 on the lovely Ms. Oosterdam, and one not-to-pleasant one of the Zaandam. They found bedbugs in our room.:eek:

[Himself]

The ships I have been on:

The old Nieuw Amsterdam

The Statendam

The old Westerdam

The Maasdam

The Veendam

The Rotterdam VI

The Ryndam

The Volendam

The Zaandam

The Amsterdam

The Zuiderdam

The current Westerdam

The Oosterdam

The Eurodam

The current Nieuw Amsterdam

 

My favorites: a toss up between the Amsterdam and the Nieuw Amsterdam

 

I will have my first cruise on the Noordam in November.

[JimAOk1945]

I'm sure you will!

 

Thanks! We are really looking forward to it.

[kiwicruiser55]

Veendam, 1st cruise in Alaska

Ryndam in Norway 2nd cruise

About to book Volendam - Alaska again for my 60th - soooo excited, enjoy the research too!

[navybankerteacher]

Maasdam (favorite) - twice; Noordam (next) - three times; Oosterdam - twice; Zuiderdam - twice. Looking forward to Prinsendam in November.

[Dave in NJ]

All of the current fleet except the Zuiderdam & Westerdam. Of ships no longer in service with HAL,

 

Noordam & Nieuw Amsterdam of 1983/1984

Rotterdam V of 1959

Westerdam (ex-Homeric of 1984)

SS Nieuw Amsterdam of 1938

Volendam (ex-Brasil of 1957)

 

Favorites? Of all time, SS Nieuw Amsterdam and Rotterdam V. Of the current fleet, Prinsendam followed closely by all of the R & S Classes except Veendam.

Edited September 22, 2014 by Dave in NJ

[cynalan]

And which is your favourite?

 

The Noordam several years ago was one of the nicest cruises we've taken. The Niew Amsterdam, on the other hand, was one of the worst. Hated what they did to the upper deck around the pool - movable roof took all deck space away. Service was abysmal. Strange how two ships from the same company could be so radically different.

[idiebabe]

We've sailed on Zuiderdam, Noordam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Zaandam and Veendam. Favorite would probably be Zaandam! We're looking forward to Prinsendam in November! :)

[ozcruizer]

We've sailed on Zaandam, Volendam (twice), Eurodam and Noordam. Probably Volendam has the biggest place in my heart as one of our cruises was to Hong Kong from Sydney and it was the longest cruise we'd done. That said, we've enjoyed all the HAL ships we've been on so far. Our next is close to home, a 14 day cruise around NZ on 30 January 2015 (have done it on the Volendam) on the Oosterdam. I have to say it will be nice not to have to face a very long flight to some distant destination to board a ship. :)

 

Ozcruizer

[nb125]

I find this thread very interesting because we have only sailed on one ship the Noordam and did not like it at all. Now I am wondering if we will like any HAL ship.

[Candiaccruiser]

We've sailed on the Noordam (3 times), Zaandam, Maasdam (twice), Zuiderdam and Westerdam, and enjoyed them all very much.

We are looking forward to boarding the Statendam and heading for Hawaii and French Polynesia in just over a week, and we expect to enjoy this ship too!

I think if we had to pick a favourite ship, although we love them all, it would have to be the Maasdam, which we will be returning to for a Mediterranean cruise in 2015.

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[puppycanducruise]

We've been on the Volendam, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Eurodam. We're booked on the Ryndam for next year.

My favourite would be the Volendam, but only because it was the first dam ship we sailed on.

[luvteaching]

We've been on the Oosterdam twice, Westerdam twice, and Amsterdam 3 times. Hands down favorite is the Amsterdam. The size is perfect for us and we've loved the 14-day Alaska itineraries.

 

Karen

[Willem Ruys]

I have sailed in all of the current fleet except the EURODAM and NIEUW AMSTERDAM, all but the OSTERDAM several times. I first sailed HAL in 1965 with Atlantic crossings in the MAASDAM (of 1952) and STATENDAM, then in 1968 in the NIEUW AMSTERDAM of 1938, the "Darling of the Dutch", still my favorite HAL ship and my second favorite ship of all times (Italian Line's CRISTOFORO COLOMBO is my all time favorite), and the NOORDAM of 1983, that one many times. Of the current fleet my favorite is the MAASDAM of 1993.

[RuthC]

I find this thread very interesting because we have only sailed on one ship the Noordam and did not like it at all. Now I am wondering if we will like any HAL ship.

I guess that depends on what it was about your Noordam cruise that you didn't like. It's possible that the itinerary, the size of the ship, weather conditions, all sorts of things individually or in combination, could have made for a less than good cruise. A different ship, itinerary, etc. could work for you.

 

Or, it's also possible that HAL is just not for you. Not every line is right for every person; they are not all alike. By trying various lines, and ships within the lines, we find what works best for us.

[casamariposa]

Veendam (1979...formerly Moore McCormack's ssArgentina)

Nieuw Amsterdam (1980's era)

Noordam (1980's era...twice)

Rotterdam (1960's era)

Maasdam (six times!)

Noordam

Veendam (twice)

Amsterdam

Rotterdam

Prinsendam

 

Getting close to 500 days!

[nb125]

I guess that depends on what it was about your Noordam cruise that you didn't like. It's possible that the itinerary, the size of the ship, weather conditions, all sorts of things individually or in combination, could have made for a less than good cruise. A different ship, itinerary, etc. could work for you.

 

Or, it's also possible that HAL is just not for you. Not every line is right for every person; they are not all alike. By trying various lines, and ships within the lines, we find what works best for us.

 

You're right, of course, Ruth, all sorts of things combine to make a bad experience. Our only other experience of a cruise ship was Legend of the Seas, a RCI ship of similar size to Noordam. I suppose I was expecting it to be similar but found the lack of a central open area and the dark gloomy public rooms very oppressive and closed in. The outside decks also seemed very narrow compared to the Legend.

 

The main thing is something I can't put into words, just a feeling that the atmosphere wasn't right and that the crew were not very happy in their work. They certainly seemed a lot more harassed that on RCI.

 

Maybe one of the newer HAL ships would suit us better.

[meterman2]

And which is your favourite?

 

We've been on the Volendam, Zuiderdam, Noordam, Eurodam, Nieuw Amsterdam and Westerdam.

 

My favorite is the Noordam. I love the Explorations Café/library on it. Most times that we have sail on her, we enjoyed having John Scott as our Captain and Mark Pells as Hotel Manager (both are A1).

 

Runner-up would be the Volendam, which was home to our first two cruises and got us hooked on cruising.

[CJcruzer]

we have sailed : Veendam (twice), Westerdam (twice), Noordam, Rotterdam, Zaandam, Maasdam, Volendam, Nieuw Amsterdam and Eurodam.

 

my least favorite ship was the Maasdam - probably because it was just out of dry-dock and there were many glitches: staff/front office was not as friendly as usual. The cruise was just a bit "off", although we did enjoy ourselves despite a few issues.

 

hard to choose a favorite, I would have to give an edge to Eurodam and Volendam.

 

Carol

[CowPrincess]

The previous Westerdam, the previous Nieuw Amsterdam, the Ryndam, Oosterdam, Zaandam, Noordam.

[zookiebird]

We've been on the Veendam, Noordam, Zuiderdam and Eurodam. Each one has been special and we've loved them all but I give a slight edge to the Eurodam mainly because of the Tamarind and Silk Den. Next up for us is the Nieuw Amsterdam. Can't wait.

[pxn748]

In order Zaandam, Zuiderdam, Veendam, Ryndam, Maasdam. Our favorite is the Ryndam. We like the smaller ships better than the larger ones.

[sppunk]

Westerdam

Eurodam

Veendam

Rotterdam

Zaandam

 

I love the size of the R class ships, and really the S class though the center stairwell makes the R class better. I'd like them more if we could sail on one without plumbing issues which we've had on all three of them (the flood on Veendam, the inoperable toilet on Rotterdam, clogged showers on Zaandam).

 

My vote goes for Eurodam because of Tamarind.

[lazey1]

 

btw---for those making reference to the ships in their signature, know that not everyone sees your signature. Some of us have that, as well as avatars and/or images, turned off.

 

OOPS, my bad.:eek: Thanks for the reminder Ruth.