Not Exactly Live from the Volendam - May 21st Ship Review

[heathriel]

May 21, 2014 Volendam Trip Review

 

I’ve seen so many trip reviews here over the years and thought I’d contribute with one from my most recent sailing on the Volendam. This is going to be fairly uninteresting for most people I expect, as the majority of our time onboard was actually spent doing what my DH loves doing most – spending time in the cabin, hanging out on the balcony, and watching the world go by. We didn’t go to any of the shows, piano bars, events or pretty much anything all week, preferring instead to look at the beauty that is Alaska unfold all around us – especially since it stayed light so late and the sun rose so early. So, if that kind of thing interests you, read on ☺

 

Day 1: Vancouver

 

We’d flown into Vancouver the day before and booked a hotel downtown so that it would be convenient for boarding in the morning. I slept in, but DH was up early watching the ship dock at Canada Place, and started counting the seconds until we were allowed on board.

 

Sometime around noon, we grabbed a taxi and began the trek through the somewhat confusing boarding process. I hadn’t realized that they would be boarding three ships all at once in one jumbled security line before we’d ever get to check in, and it was confusing to say the least. Additionally, we were confused with the Princess people and stopped by the Wine Dragon (for Princess), who was trying to take our 2 bottles of Tempranillo away until he noticed we were HAL passengers and waved us on.

 

(Seriously, they need to work that out. We weren’t the only ones being inconvenienced.)

 

Once through that line, it was on to Customs and Immigration, and THEN finally to the Volendam checkin line.

 

This should have been a breeze. We were in a Neptune Suite, and were whisked to the front of the queue. My husband, however, was getting over a cold said so on the health form, producing his antibiotics and doctor’s note clearing him for travel. This raised a red flag, however, as we both now needed to be checked out by the ship’s medical team prior to boarding. We were ushered over to a cordoned off area and left to sit there for 45 minutes, with our boarding cards kept from us. We saw 2 other groups brought into this area, but no medical team in sight. Finally, around 1:15, someone appeared, asked the same questions that we’d answered on the form, handed us our cards and let us go.

 

There was no examination, no special evaluation – DH decided that if he wasn’t an honest person, he’d probably have lied on the form and saved the trouble. I pointed out that’s how ships end up Code Red. Either way, we were finally through, and we made it to our cabin.

When we arrived DH took one look around, dropped the handbags, immediately turned around, went across the hall to the Neptune Lounge and cancelled our Pinnacle Grill reservation for that night, then put in a room service dinner reservation. I swear, I didn't even realize what he'd done until I went over there a little bit later and she was reconfirming the time!

Thus began our week of lovely weather on the Volendam.

Edited May 28, 2014 by heathriel

[heathriel]

Oh, I almost forgot - Towel Animal from last night: Swan

 

Day 2: Inside Passage

 

Did I say lovely weather? Strike that.

 

You know that feeling you get when you’re in the back seat of a car that’s driving around a sharp turn in one direction, and then it suddenly shifts into another direction? Well, the boat was doing that ALL DAY.

 

When we were at lunch, you could barely see past the windows due to the fog and rain. The ship was also a ghost town, presumably because of the people attempting to gain their sea legs. At one point the ship slowed down enough for us to disembark the Canadian Pilot, but it was a very harrowing thing in the choppy waters.

 

This was the first of the two Formal nights. There were people in all levels of dress walking around, from casual to black tie. I even saw a gentleman in a kilt. Everyone appeared to be having a good time, no matter how they were dressed, and that’s really the point, isn’t it?

 

Tonight's towel animal: A seal, I think!

[theloo]

Cute animals, could the second be a walrus?

[heathriel]

Day 3: (Morning) Tracy Arm

 

After breakfast, it was time for the people who were heading out to Tracy Arm to head off on their excursion. The captain made an announcement, and we looked over our balcony just in time to see them dart away.

 

Day 3: (Afternoon) Juneau

 

This was the stop I was looking forward to all trip. I was going to mush sled dogs! I prebooked this online, as I’d heard it sells out. I found out that there are actually two different tours offered that do this due to the popularity. One goes to the closer Mendenhall Glacier, which is where most of the tours end up going, but as I’d booked early I was on the more exclusive “Norris Glacier” tour. It was farther away (around 25 minutes by helicopter), and the only people going there were specifically to see these sled dogs. It was very secluded, and very beautiful.

 

(I wish I could say the dogs themselves were beautiful, but they’re not bred for their looks. ;) )

 

Once there, we were shown the dog camp, then taught how to use the sled. The dogs then ran us for 20 minutes at around 6-8mph (it was too warm for them to run much faster than that, but you definitely felt their power).

 

After we got back to the camp, we got to pet some of the dogs as they cooled down. It was neat watching them eating the snow and generally playing around with each other.

 

Back into the helicopter we trudged to head back to the ship, seeing the different glaciers of Juneau from above.

 

The thing that struck me about this tour was how the landscape goes instantly from white to green, once you crest a mountain. It is stunning.

 

Tonight’s towel animal: A dog, of course.

[PathfinderEss]

Really enjoying your review.:)

[heathriel]

I’ve found that there comes a time in every trip, when something doesn’t go exactly the way you have planned. How you handle these bumps in the road often have a lot to do with your experience, but they definitely can set the mood for the rest of your trip.

 

I mentioned that I’d prebooked my excursion in Juneau. We’d also done so for Skagway. This was one DH and I were going to do together, an all-day trek through Haines and the Alaskan wilderness on 4x4s. Apparently, our fellow shipmates weren’t quite as intrepid adventurers as we, as they didn’t have enough people booked to do the tour, and we received a cancellation notice the night prior, with a “Please feel free to rebook any of our albeit-few still available tours.”

 

After perusing the guide back to front, DH said, “The only one that interests me is the one we already had booked!”

 

I let him cool down a little bit, then pointed out that they had a nice train ride listed, and that we’d done the train ride in Panama, and “Wouldn’t it be neat if we did a train at the Top of North America as well as the bottom?”

 

Begrudgingly, he agreed, so I booked it before he changed his mind.

 

The train didn’t leave until 12:45, and we got to port at something like 7AM, so after having breakfast, we decided to wander around downtown Skagway. We’d been planning on walking, but as soon as we got off the boat, we were hit with a bracing wind and decided that the $2 shuttle charge didn’t sound like such a bad idea.

It turned out that there actually wasn’t much to do in Skagway besides shop, and we’re not shoppers, so we looked around for a few minutes then went back to the ship to wait for the train.

 

Our cabin being on the Navigation deck, near the bridge, we would often see officers going in and out. This time, when we were headed down to board the train, we ended up waiting for the elevator with the captain and his wife. We made smalltalk about the weather, Skagway etc and asked him if he was going on a tour. He said that they were going on the train, on the same tour we were.

 

As they were boarding their car, I turned to DH and said “Well, if there’s one thing you want to happen if your tour is going to be cancelled, it’s to be rebooked on one with the captain of the ship. At least they aren’t going to leave without you if you get stranded somewhere!”

 

He just shook his head, boarded the train, and be a general train nerd for the next 3 hours.

 

This night’s towel animal: a Squid!

[Mtn2Sea]

Really enjoying your review. Sorry your excursion got cancelled, but any excursion with the Captain is probably memorable.

[erewhon]

Enjoying your review.

Who was the Captain?

[hotlipss]

Enjoying your review :)

Do you have to prebook the $2 shuttle?Does it run all day?Thanks for any info!

[heathriel]

Hey guys!

 

Sorry for the interruption - I started posting this while in the airport before catching my flight home.

 

I'll finish posting the rest of the cruise review tomorrow, starting with our very exciting day going through Glacier Bay, but I see a few questions have popped up in the meantime I can address :)

 

@theloo - Yes, I think you're right - it IS a Walrus. I have no idea how we missed that one.

 

@erewhon - The Volendam's captain is Jeroen Baijens.

 

@hotlipss - The Skagway shuttle is $2 one way, or $5 for an all day on/off pass. The All Day Pass includes travel to the Cemetery and Jewell Gardens, so if you were looking for a cheaper option to see those places, spend $5 and just take the shuttle. As we were going on the train, would see the Cemetary as we steamed past it, and didn't have time to go to the Gardens, we just did $4 for two one-ways in and out. ($8 total)

Edited May 29, 2014 by heathriel

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review.

 

Keith

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am loving your review.

Looking forward to the rest of it.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report.

[heathriel]

So, things had started to take a slightly wrong turn the evening of Day 3, when we received the tour cancellation notice, but DH kept telling himself that it was ok, he was going fishing "in two days", so it would all work out.

 

In Skagway, all day, as disappointed as he was that our tour had been cancelled, he was making himself feel better by telling everyone under the sun that it was ok because "He got to go fishing tomorrow!"

 

When we got back from dinner that night, and saw that we'd lost track of days somehow and the next day was Glacier Bay and NOT Ketchikan, his face went blank.

 

He then pragmatically said "Well, I guess I can drink tonight after all!" and proceeded to toast our lack of attention to geography with a glass of Tempranillo.

 

-------

 

The next morning, the Park Rangers were let aboard sometime before we awakened. We'd decided to order room service and hang out in the cabin all day, and were greeted with beautiful views of Glacier Bay park all day, with narration from the Park Rangers coming through the TV. At one point before the ship was scheduled to turn around DH said he wanted to go to the bow and get some different view of the ship turning.

 

He was in the process of standing up when a klaxon sounded. I didn't think anything of it at first, because one had gone off at the same time every day of the cruise for a fire drill. This was different, however, as it appeared there was an electrical fire on Deck 8, forward, in the spa. They needed people to evacuate the spa, the front of the Lido, and the Crows Nest immediately.

 

Now, under "normal" circumstances, the Crows Nest on a sea day is the place to be. During Glacier Bay day, it was PACKED. I would imagine there was quite an operation to get people out of there.

 

I didn't hear anyone complain about this afterwards, however, and it was roughly an hour before the fire (for there actually was one) was put out and the smoke was all cleared. Once that happened, we completed the turn and sailed on our way.

 

This was the second formal night, and people seemed to be "more" formally dressed this time.

 

We turned in early so that DH could have plenty of rest for his ACTUAL day fishing.

 

Tonight's towel animal: an Elephant!

[theloo]

Can anyone comment on the frequency of the appearance of these towel animals? On our first cruise (on Carnival, 10 years ago), we had heard tales of towel animals and looked forward to them. We never saw a single creature on our 4-day trip :(

[heathriel]

I know there are fishermen among you who want to know this first off:

 

Yes. He caught a fish.

 

He caught many, many fish. He said that Alaska is now his favorite place to fish.

 

2 Halibut (he threw one back, under Alaskan law)

1 Rockfish

7 Cod

 

One person that went out even got a Salmon.

 

All of it was filleted, flash frozen, and will be arriving to our home via overnight shipping next Tuesday.

 

The caveats are that you have to have a US address if you want to keep the fish. If you are a foreigner (Canadian or otherwise), you can go fishing but you cannot send it home without having alternate arrangements.

 

My day was entirely less interesting. Having no particular plans, I merely walked around the town, saw the shops and the old town, and then went back on the ship. There are some beautiful furs and pelts to be had here if you are into that, and the totems are nice if you have the decorating scheme for it. My house is modern and there's nothing rustic about it, so no totems for me unfortunately.

 

This was Le Cirque night at the Pinnacle Grill. We opted to dine there. The staff was all questions for us as we've been to the real Le Cirque and they wanted to know how their version compares.

 

I learned from my grandmother that when someone asks you a question like that - the only way to answer it is politely.

 

Lets take it for granted that a restaurant that charges $250 a person (without wine) and buys fresh ingredients *daily* from the best sourcers in New York and Las Vegas cannot possibly be replicated on a ship that gets its stock replenished once a week.

 

Now, say that the menu is "inspired by Le Cirque", and that the staff will do their best to give you the experience of the treatment of that restaurant, for the bargain basement price of $49pp, and you'll have a better idea of what that is.

 

That said, I found HAL's Le Cirque at the Pinnacle Grill to be worth the money spent. When asked what my husband's favorite dish at the real Le Cirque was (we weren't complaining, we were happy with the menu presented, it was only a query from an inquisitive restaurant manager), darned if the restaurant manager didn't go to see if they couldn't find the ingredients to make it for him. We assured him that they didn't have them on the ship before he even went to try, but that didn't deter him.

 

This is Holland America at its finest.

 

When I overheard someone complaining the next morning about how the Le Cirque wasn't actually Le Cirque, and the steak wasn't worth the $250 name, it was all DH could do to hold me down to keep me from throttling the guy.

 

If you pay $50 and expect $250, yes, you'll be disappointed. I found the service to be worth every penny.

 

Tonight's towel animal: A Bat!

[Mary Ellen]

As they were boarding their car, I turned to DH and said “Well, if there’s one thing you want to happen if your tour is going to be cancelled, it’s to be rebooked on one with the captain of the ship. At least they aren’t going to leave without you if you get stranded somewhere!”

I'm enjoying your review.

 

Actually, we've been told by at least one HAL captain that the only person the ship won't sail without is the Doctor. Next time try for a tour with the Dr. instead if you want that security. ;)

[heathriel]

How bittersweet the final day of a cruise always is.

 

This is the day they had the Mariner's brunch, at 11AM. I honestly have never seen so many people at one of these in all my times sailing. The entire first floor of the Rotterdam dining room was filled.

 

There was one person who earned their Bronze pin aboard, and the cruise director made the old joke that there was a 6000 day mariner aboard - the Captain.

 

I went to the jackpot bingo while DH was napping (no one won), then we just packed and did room service dinner again for our last night. We didn't get turn down service as we were busy packing, so I don't have a towel animal to show you for the last evening.

 

It was a really great cruise though, with the great service that HAL always provides.

[heathriel]

The sun was up early again and we woke up around 5:30AM to watch the boat arrive into the Vancouver area.

 

It was a beautiful morning, not too much fog, and we were able to see the mountains and the bridge on the way in.

 

There appeared to be some issues when we docked, however, and everything was delayed by around 45 minutes-1 hour. This isn't entirely uncommon, but as we had a tour of the city booked (with airport transfer) DH was getting slightly antsy.

 

I wasn't concerned - our flight wasn't until 6PM.

 

He insists that we disembark when our written form and the TV says to anyway - "Lime 2, 8:20", and even though he's an experienced cruiser and knows how this works as well as I do, I just nod my head and say "Yes dear, whatever you say dear."

 

So, at 8:22, we're standing in the area of shame, near the guard desk, but off the ship, with the other impatient people. He's doing his little walk around muttering "We should have just stayed in our suite." I'm nodding sympathetically at the other people who have been corralled for leaving the ship before they were called.

 

Around 8:50, before our color was called, the guard comes to me and says "I think some Lime bags are out on the floor - I'll wave you through." So we grab our things and make a dash. Another guard stops us and says "Lime isn't called!" but the previous guard vouches for us and lets us in.

 

There were some Lime bags out - all three of ours, actually. We grab them and go through Immigration quickly, only to be stopped on the other side by the tour operator, who says "Oh, Lime 2? Please go over here and wait..."

 

At 9:45, we finally boarded the bus and were headed on our way through a quite enjoyable quick tour of Vancouver, that led us around Stanley Park, Gastown and Chinatown, then on to the airport.

 

Once at the airport, we learned from the bus driver that you cannot check bags more than 3 hours before your flight. It was just about noon, and our flight didn't leave until 6:30pm. We decided to check in for the flight anyway and deal with the bags later.

 

At checkin, we were told it was actually *5* hours prior, not 3. If we came back at 1:30 they would be able to take our bags. That worked for us fine. We head over to get lunch, then when we were done, we dropped off our bags and headed through Customs/Immigration to wait for our flight.

 

And that takes me to the end of my journey.

 

I hope you've all enjoyed reading it as much as I had writing it!

[Lizzie68]

Thank you - I really enjoyed your review and photos - and your sense of humour.:D

[1ANGELCAT]

Thanks for the great review. I am on the Volendam next Wendsday. Can you please tell me who the Cruise Director is?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[POA1]

Thanks for your review!

[heathriel]

Thanks guys! I tried to make our 8 days in a cabin sound as interesting as possible ;)

 

@theloo - No matter what class of cabin I've been in, I've had a towel animal every night I had turndown service on *every* cruise I've ever been on - even on Carnival. Perhaps the length of cruise/itinerary was your downfall there. I usually take longer cruises, and tend to avoid the Caribbean.

 

@1ANGELCAT I'm sorry to say that I don't remember. There was a lot of crew changeover happening on our itinerary, with some of the crew talking openly of their contracts ending and bringing aboard new people to train as replacements. I know that two weeks ago, the Cruise Director was Bruce Scudder, so maybe that was him this time too? It was a young guy, always wearing a bow tie, dark hair and glasses, whatever his name.

Edited May 29, 2014 by heathriel

[theloo]

Thanks for the review, pictures and answers! Glad you had a great cruise :)

[1ANGELCAT]

Thank you

 

 

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