Volendam 23 day highlights

[St Pete Cruiser]

We just returned from Volendam's 23 day repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Ft Lauderdale, boarding Sep 26 and departing Oct 19, 2018.  Here are some of the highlights:

 

We choose Volendam over Nieuw Amsterdam which left two days later for its overnight call at San Francisco, which was a bucket list item for me.  Beautiful sail in and out with overnight docking at the foot of the city.  Also, the R class Volendam has more/better outside viewing areas than the Signature class.  Deck 6 forward is suburb and deck 6 and 7 aft is open and covered as well.

 

Barbara, Holland America's 28 year port lecturer/EXC guide/location person who has been the world cruise and voyage of the Vikings to go to person was also onboard.  She joined us for dinner one evening and we talked of her memories (and mine) and that was truly special.  She has retired as full time, now continuing as a guest speaker.

 

Barry from Boston joined us in San Diego, another favorite, and entertained us with his amazing repertoire of music.  The piano bar was standing room only early in the evening.

The Ocean Bar had a very lively foursome that played both soft and faster numbers and there were more dancers than I have seen there in some time.  There was also a very good solo pianist at other times.

 

We booked, and received, an oceanview room on deck 2, eight rooms from the aft.  On Volendam, you can access the rear deck and walk up one flight to the promenade deck.

The bathroom had been totally redone with the tub removed and a new shower with glass door in its place, a big improvement for us.  The vista suites still have the tub as do the Neptunes.  We checked personally on departure day.  The insides still have shower curtains.  The old TV sets remain unfortunately.

 

We made all 10 port calls.  Docked at Puntarenas, Costa Rica (NOT Porta Caldera) which we liked better, too.  The Panama Canal crossing went very well.  We were able to view parts of the new canal and saw a bigger Princess ship using the new locks.  I spoke with Capt Frank in Aruba, while he was ashore with his wife riding their bikes, and he confirmed it was a good canal trip with nearly no contact with the dreaded paint scrapping concrete walls.  Our passage cost a mere $250,000!  With only 1100 guests aboard, our port fees were $625 and there fore about $225 was for the canal.

 

Mario was our dining room maitre'd and we had a table for 4 on the rail.  He is a 20 year Celebrity veteran who came over to HAL 8 years ago when Celebrity changed to a younger vibe.  He is a good fit for those of us who are "ancient Mariners" and appreciate the traditional dining room.  Perhaps the biggest MDR treat was having the cellar master host a table of 10 of us on the last gala night.  Csaba, whose family had vineyards in Hungary, was a gracious and charming host.  He is going to the Nieuw Statendam for its maiden voyage in December.  

 

Volendam is to do the Grand south America in 2020.  Looks like Rotterdam and Volendam will be picking up many of Prinsendam's itineraries.  I think HAL is investing more maintenance dollars in their R class ships than a few years ago.  There were outside contractors installing new wiring while we there and paint, carpet, and trim looked very good.  Our room had good AC, a big plus on a hot itinerary.  There were more deck chairs on promenade than Veendam had.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your report.

[kazu]

Great report.  thanks for sharing.

 

Csaba is a great Cellar Master.  Glad to hear that you had him on board and enjoyed a dinner with him.

 

 

[puppycanducruise]

Thank you for posting your report.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[St Pete Cruiser]

Thanks.

I forgot to mention that we had a man from Costa Rica, Eddie, who lectured on the flora, fauna, and culture of Central America.  He was probably the best presenter we have ever had aboard!  He has 5 degrees, lives in Costa Rica, and had a very easy voice to listen to in both English and Spanish.  Once the word got out aboard Volendam, the mainstage was filled for his talks.  It was his first contract with HAL, having previously been on Windstar.  We also invited him to dinner to thank him personally and to get closer to him.  He was just as pleasant and knowledgeable at dinner as on stage. 

[DocJohnB]

Thanks for this report.  I am doing the Panama Canal from San Diego on the Volendam leaving San Diego on 11/3, so not only was your post informative, it was timely.

I have a no view (completely restricted) outside cabin, 3 cabins from the aft on the promenade deck.  Do you know if it would have the same shower/glass door arrangement.

 

Do you know if Barbara and/or Barry will be on that cruise.  Any other information you can pass on would be appreciated.

[St Pete Cruiser]

DocJohnB,

I think your room will have the new shower with glass door as friends showed us theirs on deck 3 (not obstructed) and it did.

Barbara left the cruise with us, but Barry should still be aboard.

Hope the hurricanes are gone by your cruise.  

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing. 

[DocJohnB]

11 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Hope the hurricanes are gone by your cruise.  

Yep, me too.  Fled Florence to be able to make a cruise and caught a little of the tail end of Michael living in South Carolina.

2 in one year are enough for me.

 

And, thanks for the response.

 

[portofrome]

Thanks for your report!

[Skoogs]

Thank you for your review. We will be onboard the Volendam in a few weeks and I was excited to read your positive report.

[erewhon]

Thank you for reviewing your cruise.