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Volendam dry dock Oct 18-Oct 31


tommy
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On 7/6/2019 at 4:33 PM, tommy said:

Does anyone know why Volendam is going into dry dock in oct 2019

 

Yes, because her last dry-dock was in Nov 2017 so it's time. Mostly routine dry-dock work plus the gutting of her "Mix" bar concept, replacing it with the "Billboard Onboard" concept

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44 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Yes, because her last dry-dock was in Nov 2017 so it's time. Mostly routine dry-dock work plus the gutting of her "Mix" bar concept, replacing it with the "Billboard Onboard" concept

And, sadly, the first song they will sing in the new Billboard Onboard will be "Another One Bites the Dust" ... 😞 or maybe "The Times They Are A-Changin" 😞

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I agree with Taxmantoo about the destruction of the great, intimate piano bar in the "Mix" and installing Billboard Onboard.   The talent that Billboard Corp provides for their dual pianos is hit or miss.   Many of the musicians have never worked together before they got on the ship for their contract.   Some are able to work together and put on a good show, others not so much, and the stronger musician carries the weaker one.   Unfortunately, this Billboard Onboard concept eliminates the possibility of passengers getting to experience such great piano bar showman like Barry from Boston.   Talented musicians like him are not welcome in the Billboard group.   Such a loss !!

 

I have heard from a future cruise consultant onboard the Eurodam, that the smaller S and R class ships will have the large, wall mounted flat screen TV's in the suites, BUT..... they will still be the older 15 or so channels of TV, not the on-demand type system that is on the Vista class ships and larger.   It's a wiring issue.  The on-demand system requires an ethernet cable to be run to each TV from the control room where the video servers are located.   That level of wiring is beyond the capability of a 2 week drydock, according to the FCC.   If that is the case, then the new, larger wall mounted TV's will still have a DVD player connected, and the front desk DVD lending library will still be operational.   If someone has been on a recently updated R or S class ship, and you had a 48" or larger flat screen TV mounted on the wall. let us know how the DVD's were handled.  It the DVD player still mounted at the desk ?   How many channels are there on the new TV's ? 

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3 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

Mostly routine dry-dock work plus the gutting of her "Mix" bar concept, replacing it with the "Billboard Onboard" concept

 

I enjoyed the "Mix" bar concept on the ships that had it.  I spent many pleasant hours there.  The Champagne Bar area was truly a wasted area of space and had to be a negative revenue producer for the space it occupied.  Introducing the "Billboard Onboard" concept in this area is a good idea.  I really enjoyed it on Nieuw Statendam.  But, is the space large enough to comfortably accommodate the guests who will want to attend?

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4 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I enjoyed the "Mix" bar concept on the ships that had it.  I spent many pleasant hours there.  The Champagne Bar area was truly a wasted area of space and had to be a negative revenue producer for the space it occupied.  Introducing the "Billboard Onboard" concept in this area is a good idea.  I really enjoyed it on Nieuw Statendam.  But, is the space large enough to comfortably accommodate the guests who will want to attend?

 

Yup, that champagne bar in the Mix has always been the least used out of the three

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  • 2 weeks later...

I seem to get the post-dry dock cruises.   In '17 they managed to run the cable in the Zuiderdam because the TVs were all interactive.... and the Volendam is smaller.   We'll see... 

 

My biggest disappointment was that when the ship returned to FLL there were SEACANs on the back.  They were removed just after she docked, however and all the furniture from the Sea View pool area was IN the pool.   It was two days I think before the back deck was up and running and the pool re-filled and opened (and then had to shut down again to get the chemical levels up?).

 

Well, at least they won't be touching the beaches 😉

 

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  • 1 month later...
On 7/10/2019 at 2:25 PM, taxmantoo said:

And, sadly, the first song they will sing in the new Billboard Onboard will be "Another One Bites the Dust" ... 😞 or maybe "The Times They Are A-Changin" 😞

Or "wasted days and wasted nights"(Freddy Fender)

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2 hours ago, Gsel said:

We were on the Volendam last week and were told the big TV's were to be installed during dry dock.

 

Good to know; thanks for posting this information.  The larger interactive TV's with the tremendous selection of programming adds much to the enjoyment of my cruise.

 

(And, it provides an additional shelf within the stateroom for storage!)

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  • 2 weeks later...
15 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Thanks for this link, Copper John.  The Volendam is due for a dry dock in October and some of us who will be on her in December/January have been wondering if this would happen.  Still a "wait and see", I think.  HAL and Carnival Corp may not yet know what's going to happen for certain.

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2 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Thanks for this link, Copper John.  The Volendam is due for a dry dock in October and some of us who will be on her in December/January have been wondering if this would happen.  Still a "wait and see", I think.  HAL and Carnival Corp may not yet know what's going to happen for certain.

 

Yeah, this is enough to get me antsy.  We're on the Grand South America in January.

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4 minutes ago, cowmilker said:

 

Yeah, this is enough to get me antsy.  We're on the Grand South America in January.

 

I understand your concern.  While I would like to see a change in the TVs in the stateroom, if the Crow's Nest has yet to be altered to the EXC concept, that's OK with me.  Regardless of dry dock or not--on your itinerary or mine--the Volendam and her crew will well do their job.  We will have the HAL cruise that we anticipate.

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4 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I understand your concern.  While I would like to see a change in the TVs in the stateroom, if the Crow's Nest has yet to be altered to the EXC concept, that's OK with me.  Regardless of dry dock or not--on your itinerary or mine--the Volendam and her crew will well do their job.  We will have the HAL cruise that we anticipate.

 

The S&R Class ships are not going to receive the changes to the Crows Nest like the Vista and Signature class have.  Explorations central will remain in it's current location on the Upper Promenade deck portside and the Crows Nest will remain unaltered, except perhaps for some new seating.

 

S&R class vessels will only get the larger flat panel TVS's in Neptune Suite and the Pinnacle Suites.  Vista Suites and the Oceanview/Interior rooms will not get larger TV's, though they may get new monitors as needed.  Lanai rooms had new wall mounted flat panel TV's installed when converted.  There are no plans to upgrade the TV system on S&R class to "video on demand" programming like on the larger vessels.

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10 minutes ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

 

The S&R Class ships are not going to receive the changes to the Crows Nest like the Vista and Signature class have.  Explorations central will remain in it's current location on the Upper Promenade deck portside and the Crows Nest will remain unaltered, except perhaps for some new seating.

 

S&R class vessels will only get the larger flat panel TVS's in Neptune Suite and the Pinnacle Suites.  Vista Suites and the Oceanview/Interior rooms will not get larger TV's, though they may get new monitors as needed.  Lanai rooms had new wall mounted flat panel TV's installed when converted.  There are no plans to upgrade the TV system on S&R class to "video on demand" programming like on the larger vessels.

 

Thanks for the information.  Very good news that the Crow's Nest will be the venue that I have enjoyed for many days.  

 

My understanding was that all of the TVs were to be replaced with wall mounted screens.  Not sure about whether "video on demand" was included (but which I hoped would be), but to replace the existing the current monitors with new ones?  What's the advantage/benefit of that?

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16 minutes ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

 

The S&R Class ships are not going to receive the changes to the Crows Nest like the Vista and Signature class have.  Explorations central will remain in it's current location on the Upper Promenade deck portside and the Crows Nest will remain unaltered, except perhaps for some new seating.

 

S&R class vessels will only get the larger flat panel TVS's in Neptune Suite and the Pinnacle Suites.  Vista Suites and the Oceanview/Interior rooms will not get larger TV's, though they may get new monitors as needed.  Lanai rooms had new wall mounted flat panel TV's installed when converted.  There are no plans to upgrade the TV system on S&R class to "video on demand" programming like on the larger vessels.

Thanks for that information! Although I would prefer a larger screen TV, all in all, this works for me. 

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