Live from the Volendam - New England & Canada (May 25 to June 1)

[jswdlw]

How was the entertainment?  

 

[Rubyfisch]

3 minutes ago, jswdlw said:

How was the entertainment?  

 

The live music was quite good - I preferred the band in Ocean Bar and the singer/guitarist in Mix to the piano player (but others really liked him). The only show we went to was Brenton Thunder, which was really good. There was a comedian two nights and the dance company two nights. The first night they did Origin Story, which I've seen.

 

They also did game shows at 9 pm that we went to the last two nights, which I really enjoyed.

 

Trivia was at 1 pm, 4 pm, and 7 pm and was enjoyable.

 

The Orange Party was definitely the most happening thing that happened.

[Rubyfisch]

On the bus (the 747) to the airport. The fare is included in the multi day passes, but otherwise is around $12. One thing to note is the bus will not move unless you rack your luggage and you will get yelled at in French. But otherwise, it's great, particularly if you are staying on Rene Levesque.

[Rubyfisch]

At YUL, it's important to remember that US flights are in a separate terminal from both Canadian flights and other international flights.

 

You go through customs in Montreal, which is nice. As seems to always be the case, the Mobile Passport line is shorter than any of the other lines (including Global Entry).

[Rubyfisch]

Let me start with flights between Boston and Montreal all stupidly expensive considering it is a 45 minute flight in a 25 year old plane. The upgrade to business class is often not substantially more, and comes with two free checked bags (up to 32 kg/70 lbs) and lounge access. I find it to be worth it, even though the lounge is ... Somewhat limited. Eating breakfast here ....

 

[Rubyfisch]

Quick wrap up on Montreal. We love it here - from the food to the culture to the beauty. If you want to hit a couple of the included things, the Passport Montreal is definitely worth doing. We used three of the five entries (we'll use the rest in August) and it already paid for itself. Montreal has great public transit - an affordable weekend and multiday passes. A couple of things to note - all of the announcements and most of the signs are in French only. Also, I seem to not be able to find system maps in a lot of the stations. But Google Maps will take care of telling you which way you want to go (it is not by direction or inbound/outbound, it's only by line terminus).

 

If you can, spend a couple of days here pre or post cruise. And for Quebec terminating cruises, consider whether going out of Montreal makes more sense, and add a few days here.

 

In short - A la prochaine, Montreal. Je t'aime. 

[Rubyfisch]

Our ride home:

 

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your adventure, looking forward to reading about your next cruise.

Safe home.

[Rubyfisch]

As I said ... 25 year old plane ....

 

[C 2 C]

16 hours ago, Rubyfisch said:

The live music was quite good - I preferred the band in Ocean Bar and the singer/guitarist in Mix to the piano player (but others really liked him).

 

Trivia was at 1 pm, 4 pm, and 7 pm and was enjoyable.

 

 

Amazingly our opinion is quite different.  Unless you really like to hear jazz musicians playing for themselves, we found this to be the worst music group we have ever experienced.  On the first day we asked for two dance songs (Crazy was one) so that we could make use of the dance floor.  They told us that the song was on their play list but they never played a danceable song (ie one that you can hold on to your partner.)  We stayed after trivia three times but they did not accommodate our request.  We were planning on taking a grand voyage on Volendam but if this is the music they offer, we are not interested.

Trivia was outstanding!!  Hats off to Clif, the quizmaster for offering different questions for 14 days.   

[Rubyfisch]

1 hour ago, C 2 C said:

Amazingly our opinion is quite different.  Unless you really like to hear jazz musicians playing for themselves, we found this to be the worst music group we have ever experienced.  On the first day we asked for two dance songs (Crazy was one) so that we could make use of the dance floor.  They told us that the song was on their play list but they never played a danceable song (ie one that you can hold on to your partner.)  We stayed after trivia three times but they did not accommodate our request.  We were planning on taking a grand voyage on Volendam but if this is the music they offer, we are not interested.

Trivia was outstanding!!  Hats off to Clif, the quizmaster for offering different questions for 14 days.   

The band at Ocean Bar was playing dance music when I was there - it was later in the evening though.

[Rubyfisch]

The meal service on Air Canada Express in Business Class exists, which should be noted as somewhat impressive given it's a 45 minute flight, but it's also always weird ...

 

 

Landing into Boston:

 

 

 

[Rubyfisch]

So, just some final thoughts as we crawl through traffic on the way home.

 

Holland has a lot to offer. The itinerary was great, the staff is wonderful, and the service is fantastic. Our room was comfortable and spacious. As previously mentioned, I didn't love the shower, but who does love cruise ship shows ....

 

We do both agree we preferred Zuiderdam to Volendam. The layout on Deck 5 is not good, and the smoke from the casino (which is made worse by the layout) is annoying. I also felt the Lido has way fewer options than Zuiderdam. I do understand that the only reason we got to Montreal is because Volendam is smaller, so there is that.

 

I also forgot to mention this earlier, but Starlink worked great - we had the middle package and it could do everything we wanted (including playing YouTube videos). I prepayed for one login and upgraded for an additional $10 a day (you get four logins).

[Rubyfisch]

Finally made it home - Boston traffic is ... Awful.

 

Well ... That's a wrap on this trip. Happy to answer questions if anyone has any. If not, I'll be back in August.

[Grandmaanne7]

5 hours ago, Rubyfisch said:

Finally made it home - Boston traffic is ... Awful.

 

Well ... That's a wrap on this trip. Happy to answer questions if anyone has any. If not, I'll be back in August.

Glad you made it home safely.  Thanks again for all the information and entertainment included in your live review.

 

I have one question for Boston.  We will be doing the reverse of your cruise, ending in Boston, and were wondering if you have any suggestions for a quick city tour and drop off at the airport.  We are 11 people so doing it with HAL is almost $1800!  Seems a little nuts!  We've discussed dropping off our luggage at a hotel close to the cruise port and doing some city transit but I think transportation to and from the hotel and then to the airport will really eat into our time.  I've checked Viator and they don't offer anything similar.  We have a 4:00 flight.  Any suggestions?

[Rubyfisch]

5 minutes ago, Grandmaanne7 said:

Glad you made it home safely.  Thanks again for all the information and entertainment included in your live review.

 

I have one question for Boston.  We will be doing the reverse of your cruise, ending in Boston, and were wondering if you have any suggestions for a quick city tour and drop off at the airport.  We are 11 people so doing it with HAL is almost $1800!  Seems a little nuts!  We've discussed dropping off our luggage at a hotel close to the cruise port and doing some city transit but I think transportation to and from the hotel and then to the airport will really eat into our time.  I've checked Viator and they don't offer anything similar.  We have a 4:00 flight.  Any suggestions?

So I've never done this, but one thing people have suggested is the water taxi will apparently hold your luggage. You could do that, stroll along the Green Way, get some seafood for lunch, and take the water taxi over the Logan.

[Grandmaanne7]

35 minutes ago, Rubyfisch said:

So I've never done this, but one thing people have suggested is the water taxi will apparently hold your luggage. You could do that, stroll along the Green Way, get some seafood for lunch, and take the water taxi over the Logan.

Thanks!  We'll definitely look into that.

[Alberta Quilter]

@Grandmaanne7 I recently checked out the water taxi for my upcoming cruise.  It's $50/person which would be less expensive than the HAL tour but maybe a car service would work better for you.  I read in @The-Inside-Cabin's website about Malden Car Service https://www.maldencarservice.com/index.html which may work better for your large group for a little more than the water taxi.  

 

FWIW, we decided against both due to cost/hassle (we're only 2 people).  We tweaked our plans for our disembarkation day and will stay in the Seaport area, store the luggage at our pre-cruise hotel and take an Uber to the airport for our late departure.

 

Hope that helps. 

[Grandmaanne7]

@Alberta Quilter thank you! I will check this out!

[Alberta Quilter]

3 hours ago, Grandmaanne7 said:

@Alberta Quilter thank you! I will check this out!

@Grandmaanne7 You could also try posting your question in the East Coast Departures forum.  There are a few locals who might be able to provide more suggestions.

[NayRN]

I hope this question hasn’t been asked….but I just skimmed through this thread a second time and didn’t see the answer…. 😬

 

I will be doing the opposite of this cruise - Montreal to Boston. While sailing down the St Lawrence River, is the casino open or will it open once we sail from  Halifax to Bar Harbor.

 

Again, sorry if I missed this question if it was asked earlier!!

[Rubyfisch]

3 hours ago, NayRN said:

I hope this question hasn’t been asked….but I just skimmed through this thread a second time and didn’t see the answer…. 😬

 

I will be doing the opposite of this cruise - Montreal to Boston. While sailing down the St Lawrence River, is the casino open or will it open once we sail from  Halifax to Bar Harbor.

 

Again, sorry if I missed this question if it was asked earlier!!

It was open when we were sailing on the St. Lawrence (on our sea day) as well as between Quebec City and Montreal. So basically when we were in motion. We aren't gamblers, but it seemed like both tables and slots were open.

[NayRN]

11 minutes ago, Rubyfisch said:

It was open when we were sailing on the St. Lawrence (on our sea day) as well as between Quebec City and Montreal. So basically when we were in motion. We aren't gamblers, but it seemed like both tables and slots were open.

Thank you! I’m not a huge gambler either…..but every once in a while I like to donate a couple bucks! 😉

[Rubyfisch]

11 minutes ago, NayRN said:

Thank you! I’m not a huge gambler either…..but every once in a while I like to donate a couple bucks! 😉

The folks we met who did gamble seemed to really like the casino staff. And the bartenders and waiters at The Mix (which is the closest bar to the casino) are lovely. 

[terrydtx]

2 hours ago, Rubyfisch said:

It was open when we were sailing on the St. Lawrence (on our sea day) as well as between Quebec City and Montreal. So basically when we were in motion. We aren't gamblers, but it seemed like both tables and slots were open.

I have seen some posts from Volendam passengers this summer complaining about the cigarette smoke from the casino chocking the areas near the casino. Did you notice the same thing?