Volendam Dolphin Deck

[sijid]

Hi, all! I have a cabin on Volendam's Dolphin Deck (FF) right at the stern for a Sept '08 Alaska cruise. I have two questions if anyone knows: is the noise bad? and what does the stern area look like? I've looked at the deck plan, but it doesn't show much (lots of little boxes, but no indication of what they are). We think (DH & I) that we might really like the little "private area," but I sure would like to get more info.

[Orlandocruiser]

We had similar cabins on the Volendam's main deck once and yes it is noisy when the ship docks. It seems the winches that let out the lines are in that area and so you get a wake up call at every port that has a morning arrival.

[jtl513]

We think (DH & I) that we might really like the little "private area," but I sure would like to get more info.

It is crew-only work space. In general, whenever you see white space that is unlabelled, it is a crew-only area.

[HAL92]

I've never stayed on a Dolphin Deck, but the back down that low would definitely be pretty noisy. It sure is the "bowels of the ship"....the engine noise might not be that bad but there are other factors (as mentioned above) as well.

[buzzer55]

I've never stayed on a Dolphin Deck, but the back down that low would definitely be pretty noisy. It sure is the "bowels of the ship"....the engine noise might not be that bad but there are other factors (as mentioned above) as well.

 

Well maybe it's all they can afford with their hard earned cash... How would you know that it's definitely noisy if you have never stayed there!

Also in my mind (maybe I'm wrong) choice of words like "bowels of the ship" definitely reflects the "holier than thou" attitude I seem to notice coming from some of the postings on this board, towards people that are not renting suites or verandas. I see lots of " DH and I rented this and we did that and we went there and then... what did you do"? If it's all taken in the spirit that it's given that's fine... but there always seems to be an aire of competition and one-up-manship.

My wife and I are taking our first cruise in Nov., in a suite, on the Nav.deck. I'd like to think that we chose a great cruise line and message board.

I probably said too much already... but this is what bugs me.:cool:

 

" Torpedos inbound captn"

[Pincus]

My experience is that it can be noisy during docking and departure times.

 

In an instance or two there were smells, but they didn't last long.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

Pincus

[HAL92]

Well maybe it's all they can afford with their hard earned cash... How would you know that it's definitely noisy if you have never stayed there!

Also in my mind (maybe I'm wrong) choice of words like "bowels of the ship" definitely reflects the "holier than thou" attitude I seem to notice coming from some of the postings on this board, towards people that are not renting suites or verandas. I see lots of " DH and I rented this and we did that and we went there and then... what did you do"? If it's all taken in the spirit that it's given that's fine... but there always seems to be an aire of competition and one-up-manship.

My wife and I are taking our first cruise in Nov., in a suite, on the Nav.deck. I'd like to think that we chose a great cruise line and message board.

I probably said too much already... but this is what bugs me.:cool:

 

" Torpedos inbound captn"

 

Well staying on the dolphin deck is better than not going on the cruise at all. You still get all the benefits of the ship and ports of call....it's not like the old days where if you paid less you were restricted to certain parts of the ship. The only reason I said what I said is that I can only imagine that at the BACK of the ship on the LOWEST deck, it would be pretty noisy. And that's their fault, you can get a cabin for the same price at the front of the ship on that deck....and that wouldn't be nearly that noisy.....but that's their choice. It won't be that bad. But I would have gone for a forward cabin if I was staying on the Dolphin Deck.

[jtl513]

It won't be that bad. But I would have gone for a forward cabin if I was staying on the Dolphin Deck.

We were far forward on the Veendam A deck (equivalent to the Volendam Dolphin deck) and it was pretty noisy there too. Frequent loud metallic bangs below us, and bow-wake roar all night. :(

[sijid]

Thanks for the input. These cabins were booked for us by the TA, who was responding to my request for adjoining cabins, and care for our budget. However, I've called her and let her know that we're willing to pay a little more for something more midship, and maybe a higher deck, and sleep is more important than adjoining cabins. We'll still hope for a visit from the upgrade fairy!

 

Didn't mean to start a flame war.

[Orlandocruiser]

Good luck with your change! Our placement in those far aft cabins was also by a TA giving us and our traveling companions adjacent rooms. She even said "I got you these fabulous rooms" Of course we knew even less about it at the time than she did :o . The last couple of cruises we have taken we have had rooms just forward of midships on the main deck and we can never even tell if the ship has docked or not.

[lstrong]

We love the "back of the boat" and always look for cabins near the back. Forward cabins have too much motion for me. I would prefer main deck aft!

[MSammy]

Buzzer, you had me right up to "in a suite..."

[buzzer55]

Well wanted to let the folks who care know that because we're "in a suite" it doesn't make us immune to seeing this holy attitude that comes across and that it's not coming from the "bowels of the ship",

sorry if I disappointed you... but I wanted to get that point across. :)

[HAL92]

I've never stayed aft of the aft elevators. I've never had much of a problem with forward or midship cabins.....but I generally try to stay away from aft cabins. When I've stayed on a lower deck, it was in a midship cabin all three times.....so I don't really know what a forward cabin on the Dolphin Deck would be like......but I've stayed in forward cabins on higher decks many times and there is usually no noise problem....but of course no matter what deck you're staying on, a midship cabin would be the best bet as far as less noise or motion.

[sijid]

We've moved from the FF cabins at the very back to EE cabins just aft of the front elevators. So we're still not exactly midship, but a lot closer. Still on Dolphin Deck. My TA was very apologetic, and got the move done immediately. Still hoping for a visit from the upgrade fairy!

 

On another topic, can someone tell me how to put the icons in the middle of a message?

[Juanita462]

We have had a room 10 cabins up from the back on the Dolphin deck and it wasn't noisy from the ship but from the room steward coming on duty at 6 a.m. and banging his room door every single morning - grrrrr.

Re the very front of the ship - more problems with motion and noise of the waves slapping the ship - we were in a 32 foot wave storm and there was a loud boom every time a wave hit. Also there is the anchor noise - sounds like an earthquake.

We always book the dolphin deck - DH worked on ships and knows that this is the best deck for less motion in a storm - but we go for cabins midships or as close as possible. Also you are above the crew quarters and below a pax deck so you won't get noise from the active areas of the ship. We have been on the Main deck and could hear the thumping of people running on the promenade - in spite of signs saying not to do so.

[jtl513]

... to EE cabins just aft of the front elevators. Still hoping for a visit from the upgrade fairy!

 

On another topic, can someone tell me how to put the icons in the middle of a message?

Since you have apparently selected specific cabins rather than just an "EE guarantee" your chances of an upgrade are slim, though not zero.

 

Do you mean :confused: these smilies? :) Just place your blinking text cursor where you want it to go :rolleyes: and click the icon over to the right. No more than 5 per post. :D You can put them in as you go along typing, or go back and stick them after, but before the Submit. :cool:

[sijid]

[: and click the icon over to the right. :

 

Okay, I don't normally think of myself as being dense, but when I do a message, the icons are at the bottom, and clicking one puts it next to the title box (as in the question mark above). I don't understand "click the icon over to the right"

 

Is this a blonde moment??

[serendipity1499]

[: and click the icon over to the right. :

 

Okay, I don't normally think of myself as being dense, but when I do a message, the icons are at the bottom, and clicking one puts it next to the title box (as in the question mark above). I don't understand "click the icon over to the right"

 

Is this a blonde moment??

 

No you are not dense, you don't have it set up for smilies..

 

I believe this might be the solution, but not completely sure...Try it & lets see if it works..

 

1) go to top of this page & click on User CP (control Panel)

2) Click on Edit options

3) click on Show avitars

4) click on show images

5) scroll down & click on enhanced interface WSIWYG

6) click on save at bottom

 

This happened to me several years ago & I think this is the way I was told to solve it..If it doesn't work, there are other on this board who know how to do it..

 

Good luck..Betty..:)

 

P.S. We always stay in EE cabins or similar on either Dolphin Deck or on Main deck & have had no problems..We like being closer to the water or as someone said in the "bowels of the ship" LOL.. We prefer to be mid ship or slightly forward..Believe you made a good choice..

[catl331]

sijid - here's another way ... maybe! When you are typing a post, do you see a white smiley above the text box, between the A and a paper clip? Click on the down-arrow next to that, and a selection of smilies will appear. Click on your choice. :)

[jtl513]

scratched

[serendipity1499]

sijid - here's another way ... maybe! When you are typing a post, do you see a white smiley above the text box, between the A and a paper clip? Click on the down-arrow next to that, and a selection of smilies will appear. Click on your choice. :)

 

You know I never thought of using that little white generic smilie.. Good show!

[jtl513]

On another topic, can someone tell me how to put the icons in the middle of a message?

You aren't using the "Quick Reply" icon in the bottom right corner the post, are you? With that you don't get most of the options of the normal Post Reply.

[lorbis]

We got two rooms on the Dolphin Deck of the Zaandam from the travel agent when we requested two rooms together. This was our first cruise and we had no idea about anything, so to us it didn't matter.

 

We just returned from that cruise, which was wonderful, and I have to say that our rooms were just fine. There was a little bit of noise when the ship would dock, but it just sounded like a humming sound-nothing too bad.

 

The only complaint I had with the Dolphin Deck is that on the last day or two of the cruise, I was able to detect a "garbage smell" in the hallways on the way to my room. I imagine we were above where the garbage is kept throughout the cruise? It was only a faint smell which my family members claimed not to notice, but I do have a very good sense of smell.

 

Other than that, I'd have no problem being on the dolphin deck again.

[kathy_bc]

we were in the forward part of the Dolphin Deck.

Worst room!

The anchor sound was super loud.

When docking (always early in the morning), we heard lots of engine noise, don't know if it's thrusters, or what, but very noisy. I am a super hard sleeper, and even that woke me up every morning.

AND, to top it off, the trash compactor would start up at midnight every night. Now, that's LOUD! On day 3 we complained, and even though he tried to convince me it was waves hitting the ship (it was a super calm night), I told him it sounded like metal hitting metal; and he finally confessed that it was the trash compactor. He said what he can do, and luckily, they stopped. After that, they compacted the trash at around 6pm each night. So that was good.

 

In the future I would stay away from that deck.

 

On RCCL, we have been on deck 2, 3 and that was far better. We didn't hear any noise on those decks.