Review Voldendam 6/23/04

[ajdegumbia]

Please allow me to prefice that I am a loyal Princess cruiser who enjoys the Megaships. On that note I will give you my overview of my recent 1st cruise on HAL.

 

We embarked at Vancouver last Wednesday. HAL does an outstanding job of embarkation and disembarkation. We were on the ship within 15 minutes. However, a number of people who had completed the immigration forms on line were seated completing the necessary paperwork. At embarkation we were given a notice that the Norwalk Virus was present in Alaska, not on our ship. (found out the next day that 8 cases were noted on the 6/16 sailing) We had an outbreak on Saturday where a family was off-loaded in Skagway. The company did a great job of going into defense mode. However, it was interesting after they informed everyone it seems alot of people came down with sore throats and sniffles. Only thing we could come up with is that the disinfectant they were using was giving the passengers these symptoms.

 

The ship was very lovely, the flowers were very nice. Only thing I didn't care for (again personal preference) was that the atrium 4th floor was tooo dark. I like a lot of light and found it quite gloomy.

 

The cabins were wonderful. Alot bigger than on other cruiselines with plenty of closet space and storage area.

 

The food was overall average. The king-crab were actually snow crab and the sizes of portions were small. We did eat in the Pinnacle and found the food quite good. Only thing the Volcano cake was very dry, even the grand marnier sauce didn't help the texture.

 

Didn't see any shows so I can't comment on the entertainment. The naturalist on board was very informative, matter of fact saw more wildlife on this trip than my previous cruise to Alaska. Saw a few bears (one was a mother with her 2 cubs), seals, dolphins, whales, eagles and a caribu.

 

The weather was very warm. The locals in port were commenting on how hot and were ready for traditional Alaska weather.

 

I hope this helps the folks with future plans. I did enjoy the ship but again, I prefer the "Mega's" so next time if I sail HAL again will choose one of the newer "glitzier" ships, however, I have no complaints.

 

PS Did ask our room steward and dining steward if they could keep the additional tips, both said yes and were very apprecitated. I was very keen to see if anyone was giving extra tips the last night and it seems very few did, matter of fact the "emptiness" of the dining room on last night was VERY noticeable.

[Vic The Parrot]

FYI

 

 

you have an extra "D" in the ships name........

 

 

Glad to hear it was a nice trip.

I'm thinking of going on that ship next year.

[kelmac]

ajdegumbia,

Thanks for the great review! Like you, I do prefer the larger ships. The Millennium class ships of Celebrity are our favorites.

We will be on the Volendam for the New Year's cruise. It was about the only "deal" during the holidays I could find. We did the Veendam last Christmas and it was a good experience. The food on HAL seemed to be much better than RCI, Princess, NCL..., but not quite as good as Celebrity. I would like to try their new Vista class ships, but they were a bit "pricey" during the holidays. Thanks again!:) Kel