Just back from the Volendam

[gizmo]

I think I read where there was some kind of mix up with the number of formal nights. One thing was sent to the pax prior to the cruise (2 nights), but it changed when they got on board to 3. I don't know if it was this cruise or not. Then again it just might be a typo error.

[gizmo]

Too bad the Hookers on HAL thread disappeared with the old board. It was a hoot!

 

I clearly remember that thread. Yes, it was a real hoot ! :D

[lgarner]

Sorry to disagree folks but these were cruise staff girls. There is one rather chunky girl with long blond hair and one with light brown hair (the one who liked my cute hubby) one night the brown haired girl had a white and black gown on and the next formal night the blond wore it and the other girl had a red gown. They were in cruise director clothes during the day, kakhi slacks with dark blue golf shirts and they were there on the first day giving away free drinks and on one day the girl who hit on Steve was in charge of a ping pong tournament. They are staff - they also are in charge of getting people to dance at the crow's nest. I'm sure they aren't supposed to hang on men or try to cause trouble with their wives. I think this girl just got into her job a little to much.

 

I also saw several of the women from the staff on the beach at Half Moon Cay. The blond was there by herself - she seemed fine but there were several other girls (I think they were the show girls - definetly not passengers) who were very scantily clad for HAL. One girl in particular wore a thong bathing suit and spent 15 minutes rubbing sunscreen on her bottom - to the great interest of the men located directly behind her! The staff who had the day off had to be on the 3:00 tender back and they all left together. Except for a very cute couple who when they headed back were dressed in waiters uniforms. I never realized that the staff had days off on Half Moon Cay but I can't blame them for enjoying the beach.

[lgarner]

Suzyhoff,

The river tubing was not difficult - the guides stick right with you the whole way and prevent you from getting hung up in the rocks. The rapids were not huge and they were fun - you will get very wet! Our friend Tom did hit a rock and has a nice bruise on his bum to prove it!! We also stopped part way down at a deep hole to swim but if you are not a strong swimmer you could stay on the shore or wade out to where you are comfortable - at the deepest part it was about 10 feet but only in that one hole.

 

Flashdog1,

The dingh rental agency is Noah's Ark. Do a search on the St. Thomas/St. John site and read some of the great reviews. It would have been a great excursion and we will have something to try next time.

 

Jim and Maxine, good to hear from you. Have a great time in Australia and Japan!!

 

The shows were good and bad. We don't care much for the dance shows but others thought some of them were excellent. The magician was bad - many walked out of the show. The comedian/ventriloquist was excellent. We had a singer who did John Denver - he was really good and Noah Levy played piano and he was really good.

 

HAL had the cook out on deck but we missed it - not sure why except that was super bowl night so maybe we were watching the game. Not only did HAL show the game in the lounge and at the sports bar but it was on the TVs in the room. This was the night we were in Curacao and as we were sailing away Curacao put off wonderful fireworks!! This was one of my favorite islands!

 

There was a dutch night and a chefs dinner. I am still trying to find my papers so I can tell you which nights. I know there were three formal nights but not sure of the dates. I know the first one was our second night on board and the last one was the last sea day but not sure of the other - I do know it was not right after another formal night. The second formal night was the "added" night that some people who had not read the previous reviews were not expecting. That day, outside of the restaurant where they post the menu for the night, the sign said formal/informal but that night the same sign read formal. Many people were confused and on that night we saw everything from jeans to tuxes. I never care how people dress - I like to dress up but it didn't bother me to see jeans. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves no matter what the attire.

 

We really tried to make friends with our waiter, bus boy and room steward. Usually we have no problems drawing them out and learning about their homeland, family, etc. but these folks were not as warm. They all seemed really young - and over worked so chatting was not easy for them.

 

Our table mates were very upset one night when they were told they could not order shrimp cocktail as an appetizer (it wasn't on the menu) but it was available in room service. So the one lady left the table and went to a hall phone and called room service, she ordered shrimp cocktail for three to be delivered to table #64. Within 5 minutes the shrimp cocktail arrived. Several of the head waiters clustered together and discussed it and did not seem happy. I felt sorry for our waiter - he was only stating policy when he said it could not be done. This may have caused him to be a little quiet with our whole table - even though we weren't a part of the plan. However on the last night he presented the others with shrimp cocktail and everyone laughed. So I know he had a sense of humor - I just think he had too many tables to manage and like I said, he was very young.

 

The table mates also had a complaint that the verandah cabins can no longer open the door between two verandahs. Steve and I asked our cabin steward on the first day and he said it could be opened but we needed to call the front desk for a key. Tom and Carol were next door and we thought a drink on the verandah before dinner would be nice. We called the front desk and were told no. So we dropped it. Our table mates had the same experience but they did not drop it. They took it to many levels and it ended when they were told the Captain does not allow it. Apparently it is not a HAL policy fleet wide but it is not allowed on the Volendam. Everything that you are told no about is "because the Captain said so".

 

On one bright and sunny sea day Steve and I were desperately searching for shade (I get a sun rash) so we went up to the teen area in the back of the ship. We had only seen one teen on the ship and there were not teens up there - just one other couple. The music was a bit loud but the area had shade and lounge chairs. Just as we settled in a cruise staff young lady came out and said she had to ask us to leave - the area was for teens only. She said it was her job to come by every hour and make adults leave the area. She claimed that an event was planned for teens starting in a few minutes. We asked if there were any teens other than the one boy we saw at the regular pool and she didn't know but said that it was a requirement from the captain that no adults be in the area. Steve tried to compromise and offered that we would leave if anyone showed up for the event. She said no - "the captain said." So we left but we never did see teens go into the area. I understand having a private area for them but not if its not being used. Again, not a big deal but just a bit annoying.

 

We hardly ever saw the room steward. We only had one problem with him. The pretty bed cover that you see in the HAL pictures is not a spread - rather just a strip of fabric. Ours seemed to smell stale and sweaty - or the room itself did. I removed the fabric and put it in the storage area in the ottoman but it appeared back on the bed so Steve asked the steward to refrain from putting it on the bed because I thought it smelled bad. Each day it was back on the bed. We moved it to the verandah and again it was back on the bed - after the second time of asking him to leave it off the bed and finding it on the bed when we returned, Steve put it out in the hallway. That evening he spoke to our steward and asked if he found it and he said yes and apologized. It wasn't a big deal but I kept trying to refresh the room with air freshener (I recommend this) and we opened the verandah door from time to time but something in that room smelled bad - and it wasn't as bad when the offending fabric was removed. The room steward was also very young. When he cleaned the cabins, he turned on the music and danced!! One day we returned to our cabin while he was cleaning it, he was in the bathroom and we stepped into the bedroom area to pick up something we needed, I started to dance too and just then he came out of the bathroom dancing - we both laughed at being caught dancing!!

 

Don't get me wrong, the staff on HAL are much better than any staff we have encountered. Very friendly, warm and generally will do anything to make you happy. We never have a problem making friends with the staff. We even asked Hunky Dory (in the Lido) if we could take him home with us - he was exceptionally friendly.

[tlm]

I think I read where there was some kind of mix up with the number of formal nights. One thing was sent to the pax prior to the cruise (2 nights), but it changed when they got on board to 3. I don't know if it was this cruise or not. Then again it just might be a typo error.

 

We were on the Jan 12 sailing and our documents clearly said two formal nights. We did end up with three.

 

Toni

[lgarner]

For some reason, part of my last reply didn't make it - I think I was in edit mode. Hopefully the post above is correct but the new stuff I added was about the thermal suite.

 

It was very nice! Our table mates told us that they take turns on vacation (and everyday life) one day its the husbands turn to decide what to do and one day its the wifes turn. So, on my day, Steve and I went to the Thermal Suite. It was $20 per person (I think there is no charge for the sauna but the rest of the area you need a key for). There are showers with cool aromatherapy mist, a hot tub, tile recliners that are heated, steam rooms (we found these too hot), a private sun deck, fruit juices and fresh fruit, and sauna. We had the place to ourselves and it was great. The only weird thing was that at first, just as I was dozing in the heated tile recliner, an alarm sounded... and again in about 5 minutes and again in about 5 minutes. So I put my robe on and went and found a staff member who told me that it was a flaw on the cd that was playing. She said they enjoyed the music on that particular cd so they let it play even with the buzzer. She told me how to change the cd which I did. I can't imagine enjoying the music enough to be able to ignore the alarm. After I changed the cd it was a very relaxing afternoon.

 

There were also deck massages at the Lido pool. $1 per minute and they were wonderful! I did this on several sea days.

 

The ship had beautiful live orchids in the Lido restaurant (and also in some of the public restrooms). Fresh squeezed orange juice in the lido (we never ate breakfast in the dining room so I'm not sure about there.) Room service was great. We had cheese and crackers or shrimp cocktail as an appitizer on the verandah or in the cabin every night before dinner!! If you use room service in the a.m. expect them to come about 20 minutes early. They caught us in bed several days!! We usually had coffee and croissants and grapefruit on the verandah. Then got dressed and went to breakfast!!! Boy did we eat a lot on this cruise!

 

Wonderful ship and great people! Very good itinerary - I want to return to all of the islands again - not one bad one in the whole itinerary!!

 

That's all I can think of for now but I will be glad to answer questions.

 

Lisa

[Rebecca J]

Lisa, thanks so much for your thoughtful comments. I plan to take my husband to the thermal suite also. I went on the Zuiderdam and loved it. I understand this one is smaller but sounds fabulous from what you have written. We also plan to rent cars on the two islands that you did. We are still undecided about what to do in Dominica. If you find out about Dutch night please let me know. Thanks for all your info, Rebecca

[flashdog_1]

In St. Thomas we docked at Crown Bay which caused us to change our plans - we were planning to go to St. John and rent the dinghies but we got a late start because of the dock location and immigration. So we took a cab to a nice beach where we snorkeled and had lunch and then returned to shop before boarding the ship.

Lisa

 

I've not heard of renting dinghies in St John. Please describe what you do when you get in the dinghie. Thanks

[lgarner]

Do a search on St. Thomas/St. John on this board and search for Noah's ark. They rent dinghies that you can take around the island of St. John. You either stop at beaches or you can tie up at bouys and then swim, snorkel, etc. It allows you the chance to get to the more private beaches and cays. Since we didn't get to do it I really don't have any more details. I do know there is another company on St. John that rents dinghies but I don't have their name - you may find it when you do the search since one of the reviews I read mentioned the other company name. Good luck.

[lgarner]

Rebecca J - I do not recommend Super Car Rental at Aruba but I highly recommend Avis at Curacao. Super car did not have the jeep at the port as promised and finally after two phone calls came and picked us up and took us to their home to get a jeep - not professional and wasted a good part of our morning. Avis on the other hand, in Curacao, had a rep at a small booth at the port and she was very professional. The car was sitting there waiting for us and we were on our way in 5 minutes.

 

One thought for Dominica is the cab driver/tour guide we had that was working for Wacky Rollers tubing - he does private tours too. His name was John Rose Barry and his e-mail is at Barrysesc1@hotmail.com he was very nice and we felt very comfortable with him. Tell him Lisa and Steve said Hi if you see him! All of the folks from Wacky Rollers knew about cruise critic and were pleased to have cruise critic members on the tour. I think the tubing was the favorite excursion we did on the cruise but if we didn't do tubing we would trust John to take us on a tour. Hope that helps.

 

Lisa

[Rebecca J]

Lisa, that definitely does help. We are now considering taking the whale excursion through the cruise line at Dominica. My hubby is a little worried that we won't see whales, but that is all right with me. I like being on the water in a smaller boat. I am going to look into the dinghies. Do you sail them yourself. We did a half day sail to St. John with Captain Lou, I think it was, and the Max was the name of her boat. I have been with her twice and she is the best, but it is expensive and took all the time we were in St. Thomas. I want to leave a little time for jewelry shopping LOL. :p :p :p Rebecca

[dtiger]

Great review, I'm going on the Volendam on April 2nd and am looking forward to it.

[lgarner]

Rebecca,

 

You do sail the dinghies yourself but it would take the whole day IMHO. By the time we cleared imigration and got a cab willing to take us to the ferry (since we docked at Crown Bay - which happens some times but not always - the cabs were mostly wanting to take people to shopping in large groups, no one wanted to take 4 people to Red Hook) it looked like we would have to take the 10:00 ferry, 20 minutes to St. John and then time to rent the dinghies and then planning the return, we would have had to make the 3:00 ferry back. One nice thing, the dinghies usually rent for a.m. or p.m. or all day but when I called Noah's Ark that morning the guy said he would do the 4 hour rental from when we got there since he wasn't that busy that day - that was nice but like I said before, we chickened out because we were afraid we just wouldn't have time - it would be awful to miss the ship!!!

 

We did not do the whale watching but the afternoon we left Dominica (I think that was the day) we were up on deck when the captain announced whales off the port side of the ship, we ran over and saw the water spouts - did not see the actual whale but still it was very cool! Another couple we talked to said that they saw whales the morning we were coming in to Dominica. The winter months are great times to see them in that area from what I have read. When are you sailing?

 

Dtiger, have a great time in April! Wish I were going again.

 

Lisa

[kryos]

Wow, were you sure those gals were part of the cruise staff? Maybe they were just single gal pax looking for a good time.

 

Have never seen female dance hosts on a HAL ship. We have met a number of very friendly and outgoing young women who were part of cruise staff but never saw any behaving as you described.

If this is the same sort of thing we had on the Amsterdam, I don't think they were dance hosts, per se. I think they were just folks on the cruise director's staff who were there at dance functions to make sure everyone had a good time. For example, if there was a "sock hop" up in the Crow's Nest, several folks from the Cruise Director's staff, including some ladies, would be up there and they would all be dancing with whoever wanted to dance with them. The regular dance hosts would be up there too.

 

The actual dance hosts we had on our 30-day cruise were four older gentlemen, one VERY much older ... as in I was worried if he'd make it through to the end of the cruise ... who actually wore name tags with "Dance Host" as their title.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Rebecca J]

We are sailing March 23 Volendam. I do think we will do the whales, but maybe take it easy in St. Thomas. We went to St. John's but my hubby thought that was too much of a rush. We had a nice time at Sapphire Beach time before last when we were there. I have stayed on that island for a few days and had a lovely time. Want to make the most of my time there. I love St. Thomas. In fact, I love everywhere on a cruise, but most of all the ship. I am ready for vacation. I have worked 50 hours this week at my two jobs, and I want a frozen drink, a clean, nice room and a wonderful meal that someone else cooked. AHH! Can't wait. Rebecca