Hello from Volendam!

[hammybee]

Here is a story I'd like to share......

 

I really hate to imagine people snickering or taking her picture to illustrate some type of "point".

 

Thank you for sharing your story with us. We really don't know and therefore are in no position to judge anyone or their situation by something as superficial, as attire. My mama always said, "gracious people do not notice, such things."

[CrystalLady]

Ab-Duck-Tion!

 

We hear that the Duck disappearances are continuing unabated – Poor Francois, our HM tells us that his staff and crew are being unduly blamed for the kidnappings (Well, there has been Duck on the menus for the past few days, and Duck Pate served in the lounges before dinner…). Apparently, the Duckie members are getting their feathers all ruffled - they’re even turning on each other: one lovely lady in the group has actually been excommunicated from the Ducky group! One wonders what future atrocities could be in store…

 

I sincerely hope your comments are in jest, Brian! :rolleyes: Yes, some door duck ornaments were missing from Sage's and my doors - and their DD's were sorely disappointed at what was missing - but it was hardly a major issue.

 

No one was "excommunicated" from the group - that's absolute balderdash. We (the Duck Crew) had a fabulous time...you make of a group and/or a cruise what you wish to.

 

What was a terrible disappointment, especially to those of us who are repeat Volendam cruisers, was the shabby condition of the ship compared to previous voyages. That was a true heartbreak. :mad: I would add, however, that the Crew was excellent, as was the food (and I know food is very subjective). The day that the Ducks spent in HMC's Grand Cabana was extraordinary - kudos to everyone who helped make it THE BEST shore excursion any of us ever experienced. Even Mother Nature cooperated in giving us ideal weather.

[RevNeal]

The dear Volendam is, indeed, in need of her April Drydocking. Sadly, the wear and tear of the traffic of the Alaska season really appears to have taken its toll on her.

[Micmac]

Revneal,

 

You have been so great during and after the cruise in posting pictures and information (we loved reading the daily schedules - definitely helped to get us in the mood!). We wanted to ask one last question - if you had a chance to take pictures of the ramps in Aruba and Curacao?

 

While you were on the cruise, we finally got an email back from the accessibility office that there were in fact 2 steps at the bottom of the ramp in Aruba. They said it was handicapped accessible - she would just need to walk the 2 steps.. that would be great if she could walk, even a few steps! Anyway, we have ramp extenders that we can take, if the steps aren't too steep. A picture would help tremendously in deciding whether the extenders might work.

 

Thanks for all the information you have provided!

 

Michelle

[RevNeal]

Dear Michelle,

 

Thank you so much for your kind words. They are greatly appreciated. The following photos are of the ramp in Aruba:

 

 

 

 

As you can see, while there is a small staircase at the bottom (5 steps) that they put one end of the ship's ramp on, on our trip they put another ramp on THAT to the deck so that there were NO steps in Aruba. At least, this was the case on our cruise.

 

Here's a photo of the ramp in Curacao. No steps:

 

 

I hope these photos help.

[billsrobb]

Greg: I have enjoyed reading your posts prior to our cruise. I never found you to do anything in a bad taste or any other fashion. I met you personally and enjoyed our conversations especially at the meet and greet. I find it amazing that people were very critical of you and down right mean too.

Like you said what a cruise!!!!

Robb

[GufiFoot]

Hello to all, we arrived home safe & with out any incident as did all of our lugage and purchases.:)

Here is a brief rundown of what we did, liked/disliked;

Our room - 6161 - was fine. AC worked, but we couldn't get it super cold. Toilet always worked and only 1 brief brown water incident in the shower. Sugi our steward was MIA the first day:cool: , but never a day after that.

 

We were 1 door down from 2 rooms of Ducks & we were kindly "inducked" into their group with a duckie door picture - of which was promptly given a black sharpie afro and then known from there on out as "Afroduck". Thanks to all the ducks for making us feel right at home all the time.

 

We enjoyed formal nights & thanks to all the CC members who said that DH would be fine in his Class A uniform... he was & received a lot more attention than we anticipated (cute little old lady alert - a man in a uniform still does it for them !) We were a bit disappointed/surprised at how many people didn't play by the rules... I won't take that heated subject any further.

 

Our food was good most of the time. Our table server was Widi & he was fun, very nice and attentive. He also took very good care of us at breakfast on the lido. We had the same issue/problem that Brian had on the Baked Alaska night... cold sticky food in the name of melted ice cream and gooey egg whites.... but our table mates (another separate story within it self:confused: ) just LOVED it all.

 

We did dine at the Pinnacle on their ... ugh can't remember the name... It was the special night with a different wine with every course... any way, that was great. We had a great table of different people and the food was fantastic - best on the ship, in our opinion. It was our anniversary & our table mates each wrote a nice congratulatory note on the menu (keepsake) along with a personal toast from the wine steward Ben.

 

We enjoyed the nightly opportunity, even in the rain, for Cigars Under the Stars on the aft deck with Augustine the bartender. He was fantastic & the best of all the crew members we dealt with. We brought our own cigars from home, bought some on board & some in port. We also really enjoyed Kenn the Piano Man and usually finished off our nights listening to his last set.

 

As far as the ports go. We had fun at them all. HMC was fantastic. We went horse back riding and had a ball. The horses hadn't been ridden in 2 weeks, due to hurricane Noel, and they were ready to ride and swim. It helped that we were the first group, as 8:00 a.m. & that there were only 3 of us riding. It had been so long that even 4 of the hands went with us. We all had a ball and we rode for what seemed to be forever (maybe 2 hours total?)

After that, we hung out in our clam shell and watched the entertainment & going ons at the "those" two cabanas... yes we could see from where we were :D ... DH & his Heineken loved HMC - as seen on the ships DVD :eek:

 

Our favorite stop was Aruba. We ended up renting a Harley along with 1 other couple (Allen & Jeanette from New Jerssy). We rented a new 2008 Road King with 280 kilometers on it and had it for about 6 hours. We also got a guide, David Heather, for $20 for those 6 hours. He was outstanding ! He took us places (beaches, bars, points of interest) that we would have never found on our own. Trust me... he made much more that $20 from us that day. We would highly recommend this to all motorcyle lovers. Afterwards, we hit the Black Hog Saloon, just outside of town. It was fun, but it was all Americans, no locals at all.

 

In Curacao, we shopped & ate & drank & shopped & walked. We didn't find the exact linen table cloth we wanted, but we bought some jewlery and clothes. We also passed on the large man with two ENORMOUS iguana's offering to take pictures for money.

 

The Panama Canal was spectacular! Enjoyed watching/going through with Paul - on the little deck we shared with him. We got off in Lake Gatun & did the kayak tour (along with 18 others). Our tour guide was great & even though it lightly rained all day long, we still saw a lot of animals - monkies, sloths, tucans - to name a few. Afterwards we shopped - picked up 2 "panama" hats, a 6 pack of Panamanian Lager ($2.36 for a 6 pack) and 2 small paintings.

 

As mentioned before, a lot of the tours in CR were canceled due to rain. We had signed up for horseback riding, but it too was canceled. We ended up taking the bus/train/boat eco tour. We were gone for 6 1/2 hours (longer than scheduled) and stopped by the Dole Banana plantation. It was all very interesting and it was pleasant and we are glad we did it, but we like more adventurous stuff, so it would not be our first choice. Afterwards, we did some more shopping, in the pouring rain, at the area set up right outside of the ship & bought some cigars, t-shirts, coffee & vanilla.

 

Our sea days were spent sunning our selves (I can still hear Scotty cracking up after my DH made the comment out on the aft deck, "Honey, I don't get this whole tanning thing... it just isn't working.")

On our raining days, we just hung out, watched a few DVD's checked out from the Exploration Cafe and played cards and board games. We each got a massage too. We both were very pleased with the spa/gym services. I have learned that I can't run on the treadmill in high seas :)

 

It was great to meet all the CC peeps and put a real name & face to your board names. It was also nice to actually "know" people on the ship.

 

Scotty & Brian, we had a blast with you two. Miss your laugh Brian (but could hear you on RevNeals down load from HMC- lol) & Scotty, Thomas is still (kinda) laughing about the "spa stalking guy".

 

Paul, we found the right spot for the Canal... thanks for an enjoyable time.

 

RevNeal, we took pictures, but you took GREAT pictures. Can't wait to see the rest of them.

 

My DH actually asked if I had started planning our next one - damn, I haven't even washed all my clothes from this one.

 

To all those we met, thank you for your friendship and kindness,

Thomas & Kelly

No longer virgins.... Looking forward to becoming regulars.

[IheartHAL]

Nice review, GufiFoot -- your cruise sounded wonderful. I'm especially envious that you had such a small group on the HMC horseback excursion. May all your future HAL cruises be as great!

[Micmac]

Revneal -

 

Thank you so much for the pictures. You just made Hannah grin from ear to ear! She was so upset that she might have to miss two of the ports. Just so that you can see how much she loves cruising, I have attached some pictures from last year's cruise. Hopefully you will smile knowing the grin she broke out in thanks to your last post!

 

Gufifoot - glad you had a good first cruise. Don't worry about the laundry -just hop back on the ship and take advantage of the unlimited laundry! It is a win win anyway you look at it.

 

Michelle

[gooselace]

That you for posting those wonderful pictures. I'd read all 32 pages of this thread at one sitting, it's 2 a.m., but Hannah's grin just made it all worthwhile:D :D :D

[RevNeal]

Revneal -

 

Thank you so much for the pictures. You just made Hannah grin from ear to ear! She was so upset that she might have to miss two of the ports. Just so that you can see how much she loves cruising, I have attached some pictures from last year's cruise. Hopefully you will smile knowing the grin she broke out in thanks to your last post!

 

Gufifoot - glad you had a good first cruise. Don't worry about the laundry -just hop back on the ship and take advantage of the unlimited laundry! It is a win win anyway you look at it.

 

Michelle, I'm so very grateful that those photos helped to bring a smile to Hannah's face! I'm sure she will have a great cruise; HAL's crew is just wonderful and they will definitely be very helpful in transfers on and off the ship. One of the good things about the new large transfer tenders at HMC is that it makes it easier for people with various physical disabilities to make it ashore there as well.

 

Oh, and thank you so much for sharing those photos! You've reminded me of one of the reasons why cruising is such a wonderful form of vacation-travel ... it enables a whole wide-range of people to travel and see so much of the great world!

 

Have a GREAT cruise!

[RevNeal]

Scotty & Brian, we had a blast with you two. Miss your laugh Brian (but could hear you on RevNeals down load from HMC- lol) & Scotty, Thomas is still (kinda) laughing about the "spa stalking guy".

 

Paul, we found the right spot for the Canal... thanks for an enjoyable time.

 

RevNeal, we took pictures, but you took GREAT pictures. Can't wait to see the rest of them.

 

Thanks ... I'm working on my photo gallery of this cruise, and when it's done I'll post the link here. Looks like it's going to be about 500 or so photos, including a new partial-tour of the Volendam.

 

I'm so glad you had a GREAT cruise! It was a wonderful trip, wasn't it? And, OF COURSE you both are hooked, now... hehehehe ... cruising is VERY addictive!

[thomasale]

I have enjoyed this thread tremendously. I want to thank Brian for his writing style and Rev for his pics. I look forward to his posting the link to his whole photo log of the cruise. Thank you to all contributors here.

[bepsf]

My, My, My, My, My!

This thread certainly has taken on a life of its own!

I expected it to be relegated to page 23 by now...

 

First off, I'd like to thank everyone here for your kind words regarding my writing - I certainly enjoyed doing it and hope that if Mr Rose, my 10th grade English teacher, sees this that he will will reconsider my "D"...

 

Some of you might have noticed that NanaApa (My M&D) were following along - Well, it seems that they shared this with my Sister, B-in-L and their children (whom I've been trying to pursuade to join me on a cruise) and as a result, I received an e-mail the morning of our debarcation from Volendam that M&D want to plan a Whole-Family Panama Canal cruise for NanaApa's 45th Anniversary! This puts us in the January 2010 timeframe, so we're going to have to look at the schedules this time next year, but if this year's schedule is any indication, we're looking at the first segment of the 2010 World Cruise aboard Rotterdam (VI): Fort Lauderdale to San Diego.

 

Speaking of "preparing for future cruises", Apa had his gallbladder surgery this past Friday - it was perfectly successful and he's recovering nicely - so now between his diet for this issue and my diet for Celiac, we'll both be playing "What Can I Eat" on our cruises from here on out (Nana can, of course, eat anything she wants...)

 

For those of you who don't know what Celiac is, it's an allergy to all things "Wheat". Before this cruise, I had requested a special diet from HAL - it was just too much trouble to deal with so I didn't follow through. As before, I found that navigating the HAL menus was not too much of an issue, but I suppose that if I were as severely affected as my Uncle (who can take only as much wheat as what is in a spoon of soy sauce) it would be a bit more difficult to manage as that would eliminate all of the breaded & fried appetizers in the lounges, etc.

(Now you know why I just say "No" to bread...)

 

The flight home was rather uneventful, although we learned that Fort Lauderdale Airport refuses to allow anyone to enter the gate area more than 2 hours before departure - and their TSA pre-security gatekeeper personnel are some of the slowest people on the planet. United didn't upgrade me to First for my flight from IAD to SFO, but I did get a free upgrade to Economy Plus (beats a poke in the eye) Upon arriving in SFO, I didn't have to wait for baggage claim as all the luggage had arrived before me - and as I exited the terminal headed for the taxi stand, a fellow hung his head out of a Lincoln and asked if I needed a ride - well for the cost of a taxi, I took him up on his offer! (That was two unexpected Lincoln's this trip!)

 

In my cruise history, this was probably the most difficult from which to adjust to "real life". My floors didn't stop moving for over 5 days. I gaze at the flip-flops in my closet longingly every morning before choosing socks and sensible black loafers. I still have difficulty deciding what to eat because nobody is here to hand me a menu. Somebody needs to make my bed and put fresh towels in my bathrooms. The soda in my fridge is expired. I almost had my bowtie knot perfected: I just needed another Formal Night or three. Nobody cares if I smuggle liquor into my apartment, and I have to refill my own ice trays. Why doesn't the bartender whose children I've put through college know my name and preferred cocktail after all these years? The view out my livingroom windows is the same old city every day. They don't let me take mid-afternoon naps at the office. The elevators don't tell me what day of the week it is. I think I know the words to "Roly Poly" now...

 

A couple comments about the lovely Volendam herself: I agree w/ Greg that she is in rather good shape, all things considered - but the big gashes in the paintwork on the hull were due to her hitting the side of the Panama Canal, and from what I've learned many ports are much more sensitive to ships touching up their paint nowadays as the ports (understandably) don't want any drips or spills in their waters. I personally didn't have a problem w/ the AC - in fact I found it a bit too cold from time to time, but then again I generally prefer my rooms a bit warmer than the other animals in the Zoo since I'm not covered in fur. The Geek-Group meetings were held in several public rooms on many days, but they were not in any way disruptive to the overall use of the ship by the other passengers - something that I definately appreciated. Club HAL was in use, but the Loft was completely locked up and Oasis was absolutely deserted for the entire cruise (the faux-waterfall looked as if it hadn't been turned on in months) - I understand that HAL now realizes that those "upgrades" were $$$ very poorly spent: Kids hate them.

 

The good news is that in 8 short months, we'll be aboard Eurodam and 7 months after that, "The Good Nuts" will be back on Noordam. By then my co-workers will need new HAL pens and magnets and I'll have made space for another inaugural plate and more HAL tiles on my kitchen wall. I'd better order my Dam passport now...

[ekerr19]

Ah, Brian - I was wondering where the heck you were hiding. Glad to hear all is well, especially with your Dad's surgery. :)

 

Thanks again for giving me a last smile - hopefully the flip-flops will see the light of day before the next cruise!

 

Can you sing "Roly Poly" for us now????? :D

[bepsf]

Can you sing "Roly Poly" for us now????? :D

 

I can sing this Roly Poly...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEuof6lFvNk

 

...but I can't sing this one.

;)

[Copper10-8]

Great writing style Brian - Mr. Rose would be proud! Looking forward to shaking your hand in eight months! Take care and be safe!

[jhannah]

Brian, I certainly relate to your readjustment-to-real-life issues. Bummer! ;)

 

Welcome back ... and DO get hoppin' on that passport.

[Sage]

Brian thanks for all the wonderful memories and the writing is what can I say, incredible comes to mind. I'm so glad that your Dad is recovering from his surgery. I look forward to joining everyone on the "Good Nuts Cruise".

[kakalina]

Welcome home Brian, and thanks for the memories. As Copper said, Mr. Rose would be proud and certainly upgrade you to an A+.

[Miss Scarlett]

I can sing this Roly Poly...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEuof6lFvNk

 

...but I can't sing this one.

;)

I am so glad I got to see the real live version of you singing the "other" Roly Poly. That was too hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard for a long time. :)

[mamaofami]

Brian, I've loved reading your cruise report and I know that English teacher is sorry he gave you a D. Your description of readjustment to daily life is sooo true.

 

Just curious, why all you "good nuts" picked a holiday week with all the kiddies off to cruise next February?

[billsrobb]

Brian:

I arrived at Ft. Lauderdale airport almost 4-1/2 hrs prior to take off and I had no trouble get into the airport. I spent most of the time waiting for the plane having bloody mary's and watching other people get their flights.

It was a pleasure to sail with you and your friends.

Robb

[RuthC]

My dear Brian, I've been wondering whatever had become of you, and now I know---you were watching over Apa and Nana. It's good to know that Apa is doing well. :) And it's good to see you back on the board! :)

You took us on a delightful ride---Mr. Rose would be proud. Thanks for including me on your cruise. See you and NanaApa soon!

[RevNeal]

Just curious, why all you "good nuts" picked a holiday week with all the kiddies off to cruise next February?

 

You mean Feb 2009?

Good question! When they told me about the date they had chosen that was one of my questions. I would have preferred late January, myself.