Feedback on Volendam - Nov 26-Dec 6

[BCEagle78]

Just got off the Volendam on Dec 6.

 

This was our 5th HAL cruise. Volendam was just fine. We had good service (not excellent), very good cabin and very good food.

 

I was going to write a full review but decided to give just some highlights.

 

Coordinating with Marybeach, we tried to get some of the CC'ers together on the second day on the ship. We chose a place to meet for cocktails but it seems that Debbi, me and Marybeach were the only ones that could make it. I never bumped into any other CC'ers for the entire 10 days. That's ok...

 

We cruise every November. This was our first time on the Volendam. I thought I would highlight a small number of differences that I detected since our last voyage with HAL, on the Rotterdam. These were some changes that we noticed but they did not affect our enjoyment of the cruise.

 

In the dining room is where I saw the biggest change. This included:

1) Waiter/Asst Waiter never got to know us and we never got to know them. Their service was adequate and we could see that they were very busy. Not their fault but on previous cruises we had a lot of fun getting to know the Waiter/Asst Waiter. Too bad...

 

2) Menu - It seemed that there were fewer seafood options than before. I missed having my Dover Sole on Dutch night since there is no longer a Dutch night. Also, every night there is an entry that is titled, "Comfort Food". On one of the nights, the dreaded "meatloaf" was on the menu. One person at our table ordered it and admitted that it was mistake... I took pictures of the menu that night but I couldn't figure out how to insert a picture of the menu so if you want to see a sample menu with the famous "Meatloaf" entree, email me.

 

3) Evening Dress - On our 10 day cruise, there were 6 casual nights. We are used to a fairly even distribution between Formal, Informal and Casual. We thought it was unusual to have 3 Formal, 1 Informal and 6 Casual. Not a big deal but a difference from prior experiences. I brought clothes that I didn't wear and some that I had to wear more than once...after using the laundry, of course...

 

Besides change in the dining room, we sensed that there was some subtle changes with the bingo payoffs - My wife enjoys playing bingo while on board. It seemed that the money prizes were quite a bit lower than in the past. At $20 a pop and 100-150 players, you would think that the winner would get more than $90-120. Here are some of my estimates for how the money changed hands - Using my calculator, with 150 players, they had $3000 in revenue per session. They has about 12 sessions so their revenue is about $36,000. Payouts were about $120 per game or $480 per session and a big jackpot on the last night of $3800. Total payout was about $8200. They made about $27,800 in profit... WOW... In addition, several of the lights on the bingo board were not working... you think they could spring for a couple of light bulbs.

 

Speaking of light bulbs, that was a little detail that I noticed on the ship... lots of burnt out light bulbs in many places on the ship... Kind of sloppy if you ask me...

 

The only other mishap we had was with the wine we ordered. I had called before we left and asked for 4 bottles of their house Merlot (at $18/bottle, this was a good deal and decent wine). They told me that the 4 bottles would be in my stateroom upon my arrival. When I got there, there was only 1 bottle. I went to the main desk and informed them that I only got 1 bottle and the problem was rectified in a matter of hours. No big deal, just a small annoyance.

 

Overall we still had a great time, would go again in a minute... we really enjoyed this cruise... To prove it, while on board, we booked our next cruise, Nov 26, 2005, Veendam, 14-days Southern Caribbean... already counting the days... (I wish we could cruise more than once per year!)

[gizmo]

Thanks for your review. I enjoyed reading it. :)

 

Check out the Roll Call board. There are a LOT of people from this board going on the Nov 26 Veendam cruise.

[DFD1]

Thanks, Cruisin' Eage. I enjoyed reading your report. We were on board the Volendam at the same time. Had a great cruise. I did not check on future cruises, but your 14 day on the Veendam next year sounds like a great idea.

[Krazy Kruizers]

BCEagle78

Thanks for the review. We will be on her for 20 days in Feb/Mar.

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

BCEagle78

Just reread your review and noticed that you booked the Veendam.

There will be a lot of cc'ers on board for that cruise - including us! Some of us have already met from previous cruises.

Hope to meet you on board.

[BCEagle78]

Looking forward to the Veendam in 2005

[BCEagle78]

Attached is a photo that I took the night that we had Meatloaf on the menu...