Live from Ms Volendam Pacific Coastal Heading for Vancouver

[Crew News]

This begins my traditional live thread to seek answers for future HAL and Volendam guests, document changes since my last similar class ship (Zaandam), gather price lists/brochures, update my collection of menus, and present my opinions on most everything, except food quality.

 

For those heading to Alaska aboard the Volendam, I will do my best to get answers to help with your planning.  I have a collection of standard "live from" questions posed in the past to get a head start on gathering answers for this thread.

 

Feel free to contribute to this thread.  As a photographer that shoots in RAW format, my photos require digital processing before I can upload them so feel free to upload yours here.

 

For the trivia aficionados:  I was told that HAL rarely asks this question:  What is the name of button on top of a baseball cap? 

[Alberta Quilter]

Have a wonderful time!  I hope you find some brotchen!

[oakridger]

@Crew News I appreciate all your efforts, photos, menus and, well everything!   I'll be watching to see if the Volendam might be in my future considerations for cruises.  I have a hard time getting past her not offering regular veranda cabins/prices.  

 

Thanks,

~Nancy

[Crew News]

16 minutes ago, Alberta Quilter said:

Have a wonderful time!  I hope you find some brotchen!

IIRC it was 2012 when I asked HAL Chef Thomas Krieger for the recipe for brotchen.  Not only did he serve them on the aft Lido Deck for the two days later, but he gave me a thumb drive with more than 2000 HAL recipes.

 

You brought back lots of memories of gasthaus fruhstuck with butter melting into the chewy center of a brotchen and then topped with a sweet marmalade. 

 

Thanks for the reinder.  I will try.

[Crew News]

37 minutes ago, oakridger said:

@Crew News I appreciate all your efforts, photos, menus and, well everything!   I'll be watching to see if the Volendam might be in my future considerations for cruises.  I have a hard time getting past her not offering regular veranda cabins/prices.  

 

Thanks,

~Nancy

The full aft balcony on Decks 6 and 7 is quite a photographic draw for Alaska.

[BetsyS.]

Crew News - Bon Voyage!  🥂😊  I always enjoys your posts. Thanks. 

Have a great cruise!

[Cruise Suzy]

16 hours ago, Crew News said:

What is the name of button on top of a baseball cap? 

squatchee

 

Have appreciated all your menus, schedules, etc.

 

If you could find out what the new Canaletto "Special of the Day" entrees are and if they follow a set pattern, I'd be grateful. I've seen the new menus from Wednesday and Saturday posted on CC, but no mention if they follow a pattern as the former Specials did.

[POA1]

Have a great trip!

[Crew News]

3 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

squatcheef supf

 

Have appreciated all your menus, schedules, etc.

 

If you could find out what the new Canaletto "Special of the Day" entrees are and if they follow a set pattern, I'd be grateful. I've seen the new menus from Wednesday and Saturday posted on CC, but no mention if they follow a pattern as the former Specials did.

I have asked and the new menu is still in trial.  Provisioning is the issue now.  No schedule yet for Volendam.

[Cruise Suzy]

3 minutes ago, Crew News said:

I have asked and the new menu is still in trial.

Thanks. Will wait to make our Canaletto reservations.

[whogo]

20 hours ago, Crew News said:

For the trivia aficionados:  I was told that HAL rarely asks this question:  What is the name of button on top of a baseball cap? 

Whatever they are, the plastic rivets on the inside don't burn a bald guy's head like the metal rivets do.

[StLouisCruisers]

Have a great cruise.  Thanks for any information you can give us.  Much appreciated!

[Crew News]

17 minutes ago, whogo said:

Whatever they are, the plastic rivets on the inside don't burn a bald guy's head like the metal rivets do.

I will answer the trivia question tomorrow.  The answer might make someone a winner of HAL trivia.

[albingirl]

33 minutes ago, Crew News said:

I will answer the trivia question tomorrow.  The answer might make someone a winner of HAL trivia.

Another awesome cruise! So fun...have a wonderful time!

[Crew News]

Embarkation Day began with sunny skies and a 59-degree tickle if you stepped into the shade.

What unfolded over the next 26 minutes after calling for a taxi left me awestruck.  The hotel desk clerk called me a taxi at 10:53 so that I could meet my 11:30 Group D check-in time.  My taxi drove through the open terminal gate and stopped i front of the luggage porters collection point.  Much to my surprise, I was invited into a nearly empty terminal 29 minutes early.  I was asked to go around a group of five trying find their printed boarding passes.  When I offered to show the HAL rep my Verifly pass, their response was, "What's that?  Just need to see your boarding pass." The Security scan took less than three minutes as my pockets had been per-emptied and put into my jacket pockets.  After choosing one of the eight waiting facial recognition scanners, I was cleared and proceeded to my stateroom.  26 minutes!!!!

I asked and was told that the MDR was closed for lunch so the Taco Bar was my next stop where I confirmed that the Taco Bar was NOT alternating as a noodle bar.

 

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Only three US AC outlets in my vista suite and none beside the bed.  I have a long USB cable for my sound machine.
• My room has floor lighting across from the bathroom just like the Koningsdam.
• Mix bar no longer has chicken wings.
• Lido Market chairs slide easily.
• Lido Market cookies are tooth breaking hard.
• The Navigator app takes at least 5 minutes to fully install on a laptop for the first time.  Be patient.
• MDR waiters do not use tablets for orders.
• The Lido Market has the new hand immersion washers.
• The MDR found the 7-Day Indian Menu after I asked but request that Indian food be pre-orderd the night before.
• Four slot machine banks allow smoking.
• My stateroom card had no hole and my puncher was not strong enough to punch one.  The ship reprinted on their stock with built-in hole.
• As posted earlier, the new Canaletto menu deployment is delayed for provisioning reasons for the Volendam and probably other ships.
• I was promised a table map of the MDR.
• Explorations Cafe has only two cookie choices now.

 

Tomorrow is our limited Meet & Greet in the Ocean Bar with a MDR lunch to follow.

 

More tomorrow.

[oakridger]

Wow!  I wonder if that embarkation holds a world record for speed!!!  Excellent news.

 

Thanks for the preemptive strike on many of the common questions @Crew News.  You are on top of everything!

 

Have fun!

 

~Nancy

[Crew News]

The day began with heavy clouds and ended in partial sunshine.
Another sea day began with our small-number Meet & Greet in the Ocean Bar.  At the time of scheduling, I could not predict that the second half of our meeting would be under the speaker system used for line dancing classes.  A few of us did meet for an MDR lunch.  Three of us had dinner in the Canaletto.

My afternoon was filled with bar menu scanning and interviewing a Beverage Manager.  For this season, HAL had abandoned a general bar menu and now created separate menus for each bar.  The Seaview, Terrace, and Cabana bars a common menu while other bars have their own.  Happy hour discounts are now 25% down from 50%.  FWIW a shot of Lous XIII has risen from $155 to $199.

The Captain reported seeing whales during the afternoon which perked some passengers to find a window to scan the water.

A major disappointment was having my upcoming Victoria Butchart Gardens excursion cancelled due to lack of sufficient bookings.  

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Prepaid Specialty Restaurant meals now are concluded with a receipt to be signed that has a line for a tip.  I have a free PG dinner tomorrow expect to see a printed receipt to be signed just like those with Beverage Packages.
• The Explorations Cafe does not have a barista but only a beverage specialist.
• The almond tarts in the Explorations are quite good.
• The Canaletto bread accompaniments are much smaller now.
• The Wayang Theater on Deck 4 now has movies three times per day as well as bingo.

 

More tomorrow.

 

[oakridger]

Lovely.  More ridiculous receipts.  I stopped signing them last November.  What a waste of time for everyone.

 

I am happy to hear that the theater is actually showing movies and the cookies are good!

 

Thanks @Crew News

 

~Nancy

[Florida_gal_50]

Can you ask if you upgrade to the elite drink package if it’s 15 alcohol drinks and unlimited other? I don’t care myself but it seems that there was discussion about this not being true.  I understand you only pay the difference for drinks over $11 in the signature package.  I’m just wondering about the validity of the information for the elite package.  Thanks.

[whogo]

4 hours ago, Crew News said:

A major disappointment was having my upcoming Victoria Butchart Gardens excursion cancelled due to lack of sufficient bookings.  

 

Wow. You would think they would just cut back from a bus to a van or from a van to a sedan.

[TiogaCruiser]

7 hours ago, Crew News said:

 

Miscellaneous Notes:

• Prepaid Specialty Restaurant meals now are concluded with a receipt to be signed that has a line for a tip.  I have a free PG dinner tomorrow expect to see a printed receipt to be signed just like those with Beverage Packages.

 

Interesting- just off Volendam in San Diego. We ate In Canaletto twice and got no receipt to sign. I wonder why they would start that again.

[canadianbear]

On 5/2/2023 at 1:45 PM, Cruise Suzy said:

Thanks. Will wait to make our Canaletto reservations.

I want to make sure Osso Buco is still only on Mondays so I can reserve-it’s hubby’s favourite!

[canadianbear]

Thanks @Crew News for all the info you find, so helpful for all.  Have a great cruise.  

[Cruise Suzy]

7 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

I want to make sure Osso Buco is still only on Mondays so I can reserve-it’s hubby’s favourite!

On the new Canaletto menus I've seen, it's available every night.

[canadianbear]

Just now, Cruise Suzy said:

On the new Canaletto menus I've seen, it's available every night.

Seriously?  Oh, Mr Bear will be very pleased!! 😁