Cruise Review Volendam November 13,2006

[cigarman]

Review of 10 day November 13 - 23 2006 Volendam

In order to make this review easier to read I have divided it into shorter segments and have not edited it as to content (too much).

Also, please be advised that I have 25 plus years in the Hotel/Restaurant Industry and so my opinions may vary from that of many of the readers of this Board.

Monday the 13 Th. of November arrived and since the truck was all loaded we headed south for our three hour drive to Port Everglades, the time was 7:00 am.

My wife (hereafter DW) and I stopped at the terminal at 10:25 where we unloaded the luggage onto the sidewalk at the main entrance. I then proceeded to the Park and Fly where my truck would spend a very pleasant 10 day vacation. Their driver had me back at the terminal by 11:45, the driver was on the other side of town making a pick-up so I had to wait, with no other major problems. Since I had prepaid the parking tab via the Internet this went quickly.

Back at the terminal my DW and I walked inside and noticed that the line at this time was not very long although we had to fill out that form for the credit card which was not included in our HAL package. The line for those that had registered on line was about two and one half turns through the line maze. It went fast enough, but the line for those that did not take the time to register on line was much shorter but only had one agent to assist while our line had a good 20 agents so it moved steadily. NOTE: the suite line was empty. Off to the all powerful metal detector and the showing of the carry on bags. My bottle of port and the cans of soda made it without problems and we were on the gangway for our vacation. (There is an escalator or an elevator to the second floor, we took the elevator)

We entered the Volendam at 12:30 PM so the total check in time was about ¾ of an hour. Not the best ever but not that bad considering all the questions the pax were asking.

Once onboard we were greeted by a very friendly staff who offered to store our bags while we lunched and waited for cabins to be available, we declined due to the bottles and photo gear I was carrying. Elevator to the Lido deck (8) and lunch. While the Lido buffet was very busy the lines did move along. It would not be this busy for the next ten days, The food put out for this buffet was quite good looking and tasty, with a full array of soups and main courses to please anyone. The staff was ever present to carry trays and help with drink service. All the tables were set with the famous blue napkins, and were very clean. Dirty trays and dishes were removed as needed. We both had the pasta and sauce with ice teas for lunch. Of course I had desert. At 1:24 PM we were in our cabin (7085) aft starboard side.

 

Our cabin was as expected with the pull out sleeper for extra storage and of course the verandah. The bottle of wine from our TA was on the desk, a very nice Beaujolais Village which would accompany us to dinner. The cabin had no odors or foul smells and the air conditioner was blowing very cold air. Of course the HAL bed loomed very large and inviting, more on that later.

We decided to take the "mandatory walk around the ship the first day stroll" and become reacquainted with the layout. We have sailed on the Zaandam two years ago, so the Volendam felt very familiar. We walked to the Main dining room to locate our table and sure enough it was a table for two as requested, upstairs by the railing overlooking the downstairs section. The dining room was nice and chilled even in the south Florida November heat. It was around 88 degrees outside. So it would appear that the problems of A/C not working have been fixed from prior cruises. The table settings all looked as they should and the overall appearance of the dining room was clean and orderly. The rest of the ship looked good as well with flowers all around and all areas well A/C’d.

 

Back in the cabin at 3:15 and the luggage arrived at about 4:10, and now for the "boat drill". Boat drill at 4:15 PM went well with our boat being number 13. Time for dinner, early 5:45 sitting.

Dinner this night was; Caesar salad and very well done soup (sorry I did not mark the type) and Prime rib for two with al dente veggies and baked potato. The menu was varied and included both fish and meat items and a "lite" item for those that wanted a no calorie dinner. The dinner was served with great attention to detail and was very good. Please note; while most of us on this board speak of the quality of food on board in various terms, remember that you are not in a fine dining restaurant but rather an institutional restaurant that serves very fine food. Preparing over 6,000 meals a day, 1400 passengers and 600 crew times three, is a very challenging endeavor that I believe HAL does among the best of any cruise line I have been on.

We did have a slight problem getting seated as another couple was in our assigned seats, but this was quickly taken care of and the table reset for us by our waiter. Our TA bottle of wine was served by Carlos the "wine steward" and since it was purchased onboard there was no corkage fee. We did purchase the 5 bottle wine package and will begin enjoying that on the first formal night.

Well that was day one, stay tuned for the rest of the trip. Roy

[NoNoNanette]

Oh, Roy!

 

Thanks for taking the time to post this. I'm in heaven! :D

[Spot]

Roy - I'm liking the review so far, keep it coming as my appetite is just starting to be develop :D

[happy cruzer]

Hey, Roy!!! It was nice to meet you in person.

 

Keep up the great review. I won't even begin my recollections until Monday. The days after Thanksgiving are too busy for me and then there is payroll to do on Sunday. so maybe by Monday, I will start writing my review, your experience is really close to my observations.

 

I do have one important caveat - the heat in the Rotterdam Dining Room is really bad at the 8:00 sitting in the far aft area. We had the 8:00 sitting which is upper level. and we had a table for six at the very back of the ship next to the aft windows (I love those windows). We had a great table of six but on night six one couple could no longer stand it and we requested to be moved. We were split into one table for 2 and and another for 4. I was at the table for 4 which was aft and on the rail; just about 25 feet or so from our previously toooo hoooot table. What a difference - about 10 degrees difference to be exact. The new table was probably 76 degrees whereas the old table was nearer 88 degrees. Mother Nature gave us a cool night on the last night of the cruise and we all regrouped at our original table.

 

So my point in this long story is:

 

1) The staff knows of the problem and don't seem to be able to fix it, probably an AC design flaw

2) If you are assigned the very aft section for Main/late seating, request a change sooner rather than later.

 

Everything else was very excellent. I will not haunt Roy's excellent review anymore but I thought I would add my experience to the Volendam temperature saga.

 

Tell us more, Roy!

Cheers.:)

[Spot]

Happy Cruzin - obviously you are busy with other important arenas of your life but we look forward to all the reviews we can read prior to our embarkation NEXT SUNDAY (12/3).

Thank you for the heads up on the dining room area to avoid.

 

Thanks for posting your thoughts.

[thomasale]

Hey, Roy!!! It was nice to meet you in person.

 

Keep up the great review. I won't even begin my recollections until Monday. The days after Thanksgiving are too busy for me and then there is payroll to do on Sunday. so maybe by Monday, I will start writing my review, your experience is really close to my observations.

 

I do have one important caveat - the heat in the Rotterdam Dining Room is really bad at the 8:00 sitting in the far aft area. We had the 8:00 sitting which is upper level. and we had a table for six at the very back of the ship next to the aft windows (I love those windows). We had a great table of six but on night six one couple could no longer stand it and we requested to be moved. We were split into one table for 2 and and another for 4. I was at the table for 4 which was aft and on the rail; just about 25 feet or so from our previously toooo hoooot table. What a difference - about 10 degrees difference to be exact. The new table was probably 76 degrees whereas the old table was nearer 88 degrees. Mother Nature gave us a cool night on the last night of the cruise and we all regrouped at our original table.

 

So my point in this long story is:

 

1) The staff knows of the problem and don't seem to be able to fix it, probably an AC design flaw

2) If you are assigned the very aft section for Main/late seating, request a change sooner rather than later.

 

Everything else was very excellent. I will not haunt Roy's excellent review anymore but I thought I would add my experience to the Volendam temperature saga.

 

Tell us more, Roy!

Cheers.:)

 

We were on the 10/14 cruise and were at table 33 upper level early sitting. We cooked...I believe this is a flaw in the A/C also. That is why I asked OP about his seat location.

[Sammy1]

To Roy and "Happy Cruzer":

 

We're also on the Dec. 3 sailing, and eagerly await both your reviews. We're particularly interested in your port experiences. If you can post any pictures, that would be a bonus.:D

 

Thanks for taking the time to share with us!

[x lindsay x]

I'd love to see some photos as well.

Anyone take any during the "great pretenders" show?

[NoNoNanette]

Hi Sammy-

 

Have you joined our roll call for 12/03 Volendam yet? If so, kindly forgive me, but I don't remember you dropping in! ;)

[Crazy]

Thanks for sharing. I will be this ship in a couple of months.

 

Emily

[debmkay]

to everyone: my DH (cigarman) is doing a very wonderful review of the ship and trip so I will refrain from mine, we mostly think along the same lines so I am gladly turning it over to him this time. Overall: The cruise was wonderful and I would recommend it to anyone Enough said.

[happy cruzer]

For those leaving very soon, I add a few hints of current interest.

 

The Lido sandwich bar serves excellent HOT wraps and panini at lunch.

 

The aft pool seems to be the party area and the lido pool a bit quieter. The games and more modern music are to be found at the aft pool. The aft pool is still relatively quiet. the entire cruise atmosphere was very mellow. No loud music anyway. Announcements by the CD tended to be loud. Promenade area was blissfully musak free.

 

If you plan to tip room service for breakfast, remember to have it ready. I had mine in the safe, ooops. We had room service for breakfast each day and for two different lunch/snacks. breakfast was perfect and served hot. lunch/snacks take about 40 minutes to be delivered.

 

Really enjoyed the cooking demos in the Culinary Center, they were held on the first two sea days. Neat intro video, then a 20 minute prep demo of two items, followed by q&a, samples of one of the items for all, and copies of the recipes.

 

Poker in the casino started off slow. First night not enough players, later it was full. Two nights in the casino were no smoking nights and marked as such in the daily schedule.

 

High tea is held in the Rotterdam dining room two days, one day a Viennese coffee is held in the Rotterdam, other days are afternoon tea in the Explorer's Lounge.

 

Really enjoyed all the bands. Crossover plays classic dance music. The Mix is more international but still classic. Sorgento Strings is really nice classical style string arrangements. the orchestra fills in for events.

 

We went to the following shows:

 

Vegas style show called Gold, had excellent dancing and good singing. enjoyed.

 

Paul Pappas a pianist was our favorite.

 

they alternate between the Indonesian crew show and the Filipino crew show. our seek was the filipino crew show, very nice. We really enjoyed because two of our favorite staff performed. Go Gina and Ronaldo!

 

We had Jena Pierre Alexandrieux as the Exploration Lecturer. We caught one lecture about the Soviet Cruise Fleet. Very interesting, a bit dry, but any cruising nut will love him.

 

Only tour that we did was in Dominica. we went with Beno on a private tour. Cigarman and debmkay were with us, yeah! We saw the emerald pool, which I took a refreshing dip in. Trafagar falls. Mr. Nice. and the an excellent overlook. Tours was about 5 hours in van with windows open. I really enjoyed the open windows would have hated AC van. We got to hear and smell the island. Loved the "Island in the Sun". just lovely.

 

some favorites form the dining room were: 1st night mahi mahi, apple strudel 2nd night shrimp cocktail,crab legs and rack of lamb (I ordered two entrees almost every night, portions where small so I did not waste alot of food), 3rd roasted game hen, vanilla souffle; 4th volau vent with chicken, dover sole, chocolate souffle; 5th crab dip, oriental duck; 6th pork chop, mud pie; 7th in Pinnacle lamb excellent, rib eye ok; 8th salmon; 9th escargots, antipasto plate, surf and turf (nice lobster) 10th Spring roll, Italian wedding soup, cajun tuna Almost evrything in the dining room was excellent, I just listed our favorites. we carried on wine and had it with our meals in the dining room.

 

well, those are the tips that I can remember. Hope they might help those leaving soon. Proper review to come later when I get unpacked, caught up at work and the darn room stops spinning.

 

Cheers.

[Spot]

Thanks Happy Cruzin!!

 

The more recent info we hear the better.

Sounds like you enjoyed your cruise, we look forward to hearing more of the details from your experience.

 

What would we do without y'all taking the time to post your experiences!!!!!

Thank You Again

[RuthC]

Paul Pappas a pianist was our favorite.

He's one of my favorites, too. Thanks for mentioning that he's around.

[elmorejj]

For Happy Cruzer, you mentioned Ronaldo and Gina, is Ronaldo a bartender, and Gina his wife? If so ,I sailed with them on the Zaandam, great couple. Which bar was he working?:cool:

[happy cruzer]

Ronaldo was our wine steward in the dining room. He sang a wonderful solo in the filipino show. A bit confusing because a gentleman named Ronald was our wine steward in the PG. Ronaldo is more outgoing and friendly. He chased us all over the ship one night to deliver our wine. We mentioned in the dinining room that the next night we intended to eat in the Lido. Ronaldo wondered would we be bringing our own wine or need to order. we said we wanted to order a white wine. He told us that there was no wine steward in the Lido but he would bring our wine down to us.

 

Well, when we got to the Lido at 6:30 we noticed that sole was not on the menu there, so we decided to go up to the dining room to let Ronaldo know not to bother sending the wine down. We waited a few minutes to make sure that his duties with early dining would be complete before going in to tell him. But he found us in the lobby to give us the wine; he had been looking for us in the Lido. He did not even seem upset that we had changed just relieved that we did not have to wait for our wine. At our 8:00 time, he appeared with the wine and a smile. Very gracious.

 

Gina was a drink server in the Crow's Nest. She was a dancer in the show. I never was told if they were related. Gina is very slight with a smile that will light up the room.

 

I did remember them on my comment card. The friendly professional crew really make a difference. The Volendam was filled with smiling people ready to wish you a good day. It even carried over to most of the passengers who would speak in passing.