Volendam 12/3-12/13 Review

[HeatherInFlorida]

I really enjoyed reading these reviews because if anyone reads mine about our Prinsendam cruise on almost the exact same 10 days, they'll see that the problem in the DR obviously rests with HAL and not the individual ships or Stewards.

 

As far as Lon and Judy liking the food and Peaches not so much, we all agree that this is so subjective. Actually my DH thought the food was very good and had no complaints which amazed me. I, too, found many dishes inedible and loaded up on dessert instead:) .

 

You all must have had the same lobster we had. None of us could believe how amazingly good it was ... moist and delicious and definitely cold water lobster, not the yucky Caribbean type.

 

I'm sad to see these cutbacks and the result of them. Everyone I talked to on the Prinsendam felt as I did and gave about a "6" to the Dining Room ... much higher for the Lido.

 

Thanks to Lon and Peaches for their reviews of the cruise! I loved reading everything.

[3 Fan]

Enjoyed your review. Nice table you had for dinner. We enjoyed the same table at 8 PM for the Oct 24/Nov3 sailing. Was Mahapulra your waiter ? He was one the best we've ever had. Also, was Regina still in the Neptune lounge? We were in 7007.

[thomasale]

Great review and I concur on most points. Food being the subjective one I cannot rave about the Pinnacle or the Rotterdam. That being said I would return in a minute. :)

[happy cruzer]

I really enjoyed reading these reviews because if anyone reads mine about our Prinsendam cruise on almost the exact same 10 days, they'll see that the problem in the DR obviously rests with HAL and not the individual ships or Stewards.

 

As far as Lon and Judy liking the food and Peaches not so much, we all agree that this is so subjective. Actually my DH thought the food was very good and had no complaints which amazed me. I, too, found many dishes inedible and loaded up on dessert instead:) .

 

You all must have had the same lobster we had. None of us could believe how amazingly good it was ... moist and delicious and definitely cold water lobster, not the yucky Caribbean type.

 

I'm sad to see these cutbacks and the result of them. Everyone I talked to on the Prinsendam felt as I did and gave about a "6" to the Dining Room ... much higher for the Lido.

 

Thanks to Lon and Peaches for their reviews of the cruise! I loved reading everything.

 

Heather, In one sentence you say your DH had no compliants, then later you say everyone you talked to gave the DR a 6?

 

I'm confused.

 

I think the range in opinions of the Volendam are typical. These are just opinions. Some people have more experience or higher expectations than others do. It's just a fact of life that people's opinions will differ. If 1200 hundred people go on a cruise there will be about 1200 hundred different experiences, doesn't make anyones right or wrong. but what is great is that we share our opinions so that we can all enjoy better cruises based on gained knowledge. I guess I just touchy on this because there is a BIG flame war going on the Princess board about the Grand which I sail on next.

 

enjoy!

[Krazy Kruizers]

This is what I posted on another site:

Home from the Volendam -- Felt like 2 different cruise lines!!

Posted by: Krazy Kruizers (IP Logged)

A Friend of John S.

Date: November 20, 07:00AM

 

 

Felt like we had been on 2 different cruise lines. During our first segment, we learned that there had been many negative reports and surveys turned in by passengers on the cruise before ours. So Seattle sent someone down during our first segment to look over the situation and make changes. Everything was great the first 10 days. Food was excellent, service excellent. We couldn't find anything wrong.

 

But - oh the second segment. You all know about the new policy concerning drinks at the Mariner's and Captain's Welcome parties (still don't know what is going on on the other ships). The food went down hill -- poorer quality of meat -- beef was tough -- salmon was of the pink variety which the Alaskans use as bait (not the red sockeye like we used to get). A couple at the table across from us called the area captain and maitre'd over one night - the woman couldn't eat her meal it was so bad -- they never came back to the dining room for the rest of the cruise. At a table for 6 close to us, most of the people kept complaining about the food -- one couple also disappeared after a few days. The table for 2 by the rail forward of us were constantly sending food back. One night I had only a baked potato -- meat was horrible. We also talked to our area captain and maitre'd. We learned that this person from Seattle was making lots of changes in the dining room and he did in fact order cheaper cuts of meat. Service in the dining room was very bad -- lots of complaints the 2nd segment. The wait staff was very annoyed that they had to wait and wait before they got the entrees to be served.

 

I will not be doing a full report like I have done in the past. I will post about the Master Chef dinner and a few other things.

[peaches from georgia]

Enjoyed your review. Nice table you had for dinner. We enjoyed the same table at 8 PM for the Oct 24/Nov3 sailing. Was Mahapulra your waiter ? He was one the best we've ever had. Also, was Regina still in the Neptune lounge? We were in 7007.

Don't think you were addressing me because I didn't mention our table #, but we did have Mahaputra as our dining steward. We were portside forward, so not sure if it is a steward with the same name as yours or if he moved sections. He was fantastic and definetely one of the very best we have ever had.

 

We were also lucky enough to have Regina as our concierge on the Veendam, but she is not now on the Volendam. Miquel was our main concierge on this cruise and Beth was his backup. Both very good, but there is only one Regina, isn't there?

[peaches from georgia]

Personal taste certainly does account for many differing opinions, but my poor rating of the menus/food is based on comparing what was and what is now served in the dining room. If you are a new HAL cruiser or have had only one or two cruises you might not have been as disappointed or known the changes, but believe me the people who were complaining that I knew were all experienced HAL pax and their thoughts were the same as ours, KK's and others who have posted on various threads about recent Volendam cruises, not months ago.

 

One of our new friends on the ship was a longtime employee of HAL who was cruising as a regular pax with her DH. She has been on more HAL ships over more years than almost anyone who posts here and knows HAL from the inside. She shared much info on the changes and cutbacks made in Seattle over the last 2-3 years and by whom. Her comment card was scathing as to how the cutbacks have changed the HAL cruise experience. 'Changed' is the key word here; she and many other pax on the ship and here on CC know what the dining room and other things about the ship used to be and unfortunately in many aspects no longer are, at least on the Volendam the last few weeks. What has been posted here recently is much more than typical differences in taste or expectations.

 

And I will say again, we had a good time. But the cutbacks are too much to ignore.

[KAKcruiser]

We were on the Volendam on November 3 and it was the first time in about 12 cruises that we were not invited to the VIP party. I don't know whether this was a cutback or a slipup.

[elmorejj]

Agree with everything Peaches has posted, also with what Yonnie posted re her BtoB cruises on HAL. I have taken 25+ cruises, 150 days on HAL, and started seing a downward trend about 3 years ago. Little things, one at a time, that have now added up to a different cruise experience. Looking back on menus from the last few years show a huge difference in menu selection and variety. One salad choice (plus the ubiquitous caesar salad)each night is definitely not fine dining. Appetizers and soups were usually good, although there is a lot more of the chicken noodle/rice type soups now......cheaper to make? probably. A lot of game being served. Duck was on the menu about 4 times, also venison, quail etc. I do not eat game. The fish selections are my biggest gripe. In the past, there has been halibut, trout, lemon sole, snapper etc. now its down to perch, cod, whitefish, rockfish etc. all very cheap fishes. If you partake of the vegetarian selection, it is usually so small it should be served as an appetizer. I could go on, but I am still tired from travelling, and I have to pack for our 3 week trip to England on Monday.........I know, life is rough!!............jean:cool:

[doone]

I'd rather pay extra for my HAL cruise and have them go back to how it was before with the nice added touches that set HAL apart from the other cruise lines.

 

To this day, I still miss the violin players at night in the dining room. Anyone else?

[HeatherInFlorida]

Heather, In one sentence you say your DH had no compliants, then later you say everyone you talked to gave the DR a 6?

 

I'm confused.

 

:) I wasn't counting my husband when I said everyone gave the food a "6"...quite honestly I was talking about other passengers besides us. But truthfully I think he gave it an "8".

 

It's one thing not to have an actual "complaint" and quite another to say the food was exemplary or excellent.

 

They served no actual salmon on the Prinsendam. They served what they called Salmon Trout (light pink) which was delicious. Their meats (with the exception of my medium rare prime rib and the filet mignon surf and turf) were tough and inedible. But I honestly didn't care. I know no one quite gets that about me, but my focus on a cruise just isn't food.

 

With all that I've said I honestly didn't have a complaint about the food. I think I even said that in my review. I just said it wasn't that good. But for me to actually complain takes a lot more than that on any cruise.

 

The food did not affect my cruise at all because I don't cruise to eat:D .

 

When I read the comments here about the food, it is almost identical to what we experienced on the Prinsendam the same 10 days. So I comment merely to support what CCers are posting here. They are not making this up. It is simply not important to me ... I had plenty to eat.;)

[Sage]

Doone,

 

Not only is it the violin players that I miss, but it is the extra special things that they used to do that they no longer do, and so with a very heavy heart, we are saying good-bye to HAL. We realized after our latest cruise on Crystal that the little things do matter, and it made us realized just how much has been cut back on HAL. Quality and special touches are worth it to us, and therefore, we are willing to pay extra. I'm sorry that HAL isn't willing to take the risk and charge extra and return the things that made HAL so special to many of us inorder to draw their disillusioned passengers back.

[happy cruzer]

Last time I looked Crystal was charging 4 times as much for a cabin as HAL. that's comparing Crystal's 10 day to a HAL 10 day. That's a little steep, I don't think you get 4 times the cruise.

 

I have to admit I've only been on one Crystal cruise. It was lovely but not worth 4 HAL cruises. Two imagines from my Crystal cruise always come to mind. The Mozart tea with the staff in costume was an incrediably good experience ( some more casual cruisers would hate it). and the picky lady at lunch one day. She returned her soup because it was too cool. the waiter brought her another bowl (the kind with the wide lip). she touched the lip of the bowl and said it was still too cool. The Maitre D came over, she said it was too cool. He went and got another bowl which was steaming. She touch the lip of the bowl again and said it was too cool. He brought another bowl, steaming again, again she touched the bowl and proclaimed the soup too cool. He requested and then he begged the lady to taste the soup. she refused it was too cool, he went to get another bowl. I don't know how this ended because I had finished lunch in this duration, she may still be sitting there with him bringing her more bowls of soup for all I know:p I have to admit that was great service but I prefer not to cruise with anyone like that or on a ship where people are expected to but up that kind of behavior. so yea, I still say these things are subjective.

 

Have a nice day!

[Copper10-8]

Hey Lon, thanks for taking the time and effort to write a review, great job! Enjoyed reading it!

Each night, we went to the Ocean Bar prior to dinner. There we had a great time with Mannie and Bong, the two bartenders, who are very nice and will do whatever it takes to make you happy

 

Good to hear the famous Bong "James Bong";) turned up again, this time on Volendam. That must have meant his wife, Rebecca, a bar waitress, was in one of the lounges. Wonder if you had a chance to meet her also?

[lggfly]

Hey Lon, thanks for taking the time and effort to write a review, great job! Enjoyed reading it!

 

 

 

Good to hear the famous Bong "James Bong";) turned up again, this time on Volendam. That must have meant his wife, Rebecca, a bar waitress, was in one of the lounges. Wonder if you had a chance to meet her also?

 

Bong's wife was at home taking care of their newborn baby, which Bong will see for the first time next month (or maybe Feb...I don't remember).

 

Lon

[Copper10-8]

Bong's wife was at home taking care of their newborn baby, which Bong will see for the first time next month (or maybe Feb...I don't remember).

 

Lon

 

Good to hear! Thanks for the update!

[Sage]

Happy Cruzer,

 

Perhaps you have not checked the brochures lately, as the price is not 4 times as much. But isn't life grand, as life is full of choices, and one can choose the cruise line that best suits their needs. Happy cruising.

[Copper10-8]

.......Ruth and I were among the first 20 peole into the terminal and the holdup was that TSA had only ONE (1) (UNO) X Ray machine up and running and they were short of people there and that created the bottleneck. TSA STANDS FOR "THOSE STUPID ASS...ES"......

 

Hi Jim; just a question: Are you sure that was TSA? Unless it recently changed, TSA was not working the ports, just the airports. Those X-Ray machines were/are usually run by contract security hired by either the port or cruise line.

[elmorejj]

You are correct Copper, it was private contracters at the security post...........jean:cool:

[Krazy Kruizers]

Doone -- I agree with yoju about raising the prices -- I am all for it.

 

There was a thread either last week or the week before about if you were a CEO, etc., I mentioned about raising prices and was jumped upon.

[gizmo]

You are correct Copper, it was private contracters at the security post...........jean:cool:

 

And they were idiots..........Tell them you know you are going to have to be "wanded", the beeper goes off as expected, now the person has to stand there while the guy that should do the wanding is screaming about removing the bag on the table that went through the x-ray. The person cannot get the bag because the "wanding" has not taken place. :eek:

[Krazy Kruizers]

You are so right gismo!!

[Copper10-8]

And they were idiots..........Tell them you know you are going to have to be "wanded", the beeper goes off as expected, now the person has to stand there while the guy that should do the wanding is screaming about removing the bag on the table that went through the x-ray. The person cannot get the bag because the "wanding" has not taken place. :eek:

 

Sounds like their SOP is screwed up:eek: Unfortunately, with a lot of those folks and their companies, you don't get a lot of initiative, problem solving, extra manpower, teamwork, education, you name it. You basically get what you pay for. At selected European ports you will find police or even the military manning those check points. Not saying that those guys and gals run errorless and problemless operations but they are definitely more professional. More $$$ by the cruise line, I know!

[happy cruzer]

Happy Cruzer,

 

Perhaps you have not checked the brochures lately, as the price is not 4 times as much. But isn't life grand, as life is full of choices, and one can choose the cruise line that best suits their needs. Happy cruising.

 

did check my online TA for Dec 11 of 2007 10 nights and the answer was that for an outside cabin Crystal was 3.5985 more than HAL. Of course at any point our mileage may vary :) and yes we are lucky to have choices. And a free country to discuss them in.

 

Merry Christmas!

[gizmo]

First I would like to say we had a great time. The people we met were fantastic and we enjoyed their company every night at the Ocean Bar.

The bartenders, Mannie and Bong, couldn’t have been better.

Embarkation

Embarkation was a nightmare.

It was by far the worst I have ever experienced. I thought the embarkation at the Discovery terminal a couple of years ago was bad, but this one is now on the top my list for the worst ever

Where I was standing there was no water handled out. There was water upstairs in the terminal.

There were a lot more than 50 TA’s floating around, it was more like 150. The TA’s were told by the “Red Coats” to cut in line, at least that is what one of them said. This did not go over very well with everyone around me. After one of them announced she was a TA, my favorite comment was “We are paying customers get in line like everyone else”. I consider this a HAL problem. They should handle boarding of TA’s in a better way.

There was a problem with the ramp. Communication was poor. I felt sorry for the guy who had to keep telling people to sit down and wait. The check in people were telling people to go ahead and board. This might have changed somewhere along the line since people finally stopped coming over. I know this for a fact since we were told we could board.

Food – Dining Room

First let me say food is subjective. What one likes, another does not. I also am comparing the food and menu selections to other cruises on Hal..

The food that I ordered I would rate ok to good. I gave it a 6. My biggest disappointment was the selection. In the past I never had a problem finding something on the menu that I wanted to order. My biggest problem was always selecting which entrée since there were always 2, 3, or 4 entrees that I wanted to order, but not this cruise. I had a hard time finding 1 let alone 2 things I would even consider. Out of 10 days there were only 2 nights that had 2 selections that I would consider and that was formal nights 1 and 3. . There were other nights that there was nada. One night we ate sandwiches in our cabin.

The gravlux my husbanded ordered were lousy. He said they tasted like the fish came right out of a can and not marinated until right before serving them. This was one of his favorites, in the past.

I will agree with others that the lobster was the best I have had in years on the ship.

The Dover sole I had was good and the bones were removed by the waiter

Soups were good but the bowls are now smaller and at times only half full.

I was disappointed that there was no pea soup on Dutch night. I asked about it and didn’t get an answer.

One exception was the Cheddar Cheese soup. Three of us ordered it. Mine was luke warm and had lumps of cheese. It was almost like they were short and threw in more cheese to stretch it but it didn’t melt yet. The other two did not have the lumps and both people liked it.

Salads were terrible. I tried the Caesar one night. I have no idea what kind of dressing it was but it didn’t taste anything like Caesar to me. Others may not agree, but once was enough.

The so called Greek Salad that was ordered at my table was 80 % shredded carrots. Why not just call it Carrot Salad ?

 

For those that liked that Puff Pastry with Chicken and fabulous mushroom sauce, it has been replaced by a Hollandaise sauce that I didn’t care for. It was bland and tasteless.

Mr. Gizmo ordered the pasta dish on the last night. I tasted it. It tasted like it was made around 5:00 and sat under a hot light for 3 hours. It was dried up and probably the worst thing I ever tasted. They offered to bring something else, but we were half way through our meal and he declined. There wasn’t anything else on the menu that remotely appealed to him. This should have never been served to any pax it was so bad.

Maybe Chef Rudi should start tasting his food.

I will recheck the menus but I don't think I saw New York Strip Steak listed. There were variations of steak using the word sirloin, but not NY strip.

Desserts in the dining room were good. I have seen other posters in the last couple of weeks mention desserts were tasteless, but what I ordered I was happy with. If the maitre’d would only get his butt moving and start the flambe’s sooner it would have been better. The soufflés I ordered were excellent.

Fish entree's were very disappointing also.

Our waiter was good. He had our ice tea on the table every night and tried his best to please everyone. I counted the number of people he had to wait on. It was 40. –Sad isn’t it ? This guy worked his butt off IMO, 40 is entirely too many.

Lido -Lunch

I only ate lunch there twice and both times the food was excellent. The Weiner Schnitzel and Fresh Ham (roasted pork) was much better than the dining room food. I did notice some things repeated a lot like meatloaf.

Desserts in the Lido went way down hill. There was not much of a selection. I walked by almost everyday and saw the same things, sheet cake, cup cakes, bread pudding and a cobbler. One day there was this apple crumb pie. Mr. Gizmo got a piece and it was tasteless. I had a taste also and agreed. Mr. Gizmo missed the oatmeal cookies. Everyday all he saw were chocolate chip and peanut butter.

Lunch – Pool Grill

Food was good but only having 1 person behind the counter was not so good. This guy kept mixing up orders.

Lido Breakfast

Food was good. The fresh made omelets were excellent.

Dining Room Breakfast

Food was ok.but service, another story. I was served my food and my husband was told his would be out in a couple of minutes. I was finished when his arrived and I am a very slow eater. This should never happen. We ate there twice. Both times we asked for a table for 2 along the railing. Both times the maitre’d said yes and then proceeded to give the steward a table number that was not on the railing and we were led to a table no where near the railing. We told the steward where we wanted to sit and it was ok.

Room Service – Breakfast

Food was hot and arrived in minimum time.

A couple more things.

The changes in the Lido which defined separate stations much better

Two ice cream stations was a great improvement.

The lounge chairs, and the table and chairs in the Lido Pool have been changed to the plastic wicker look types. These are so much better and more comfortable than those junky plastic ones they changed to a couple of years ago. (The aft pool area still has the junky ones.)

My cabin had fairly new carpeting and the new wicker type furniture. Others did not and some carpeting was in terrible condition in the cabins.

The ship itself looked good. No worn carpets or anything like that.

I was disappointed with the flowers. Like KK mentioned, many are now plastic.

The prices of drinks have gone up. What I couldn‘t figure out is why I was charged a different price for the same drink.. On 2 different days a BBC was one price, on the third day it was higher.

I noticed the lack of cleaning off tables and helping pax with trays both in the Lido and pool area.

Dry Cleaning was not available the entire cruise. First is was supposed to only be the first 5 days for routine maintence but we were then told it would not be available for the entire cruise.

We ordered hot appetizers every night and they were very good.

Entertainment

I did not attend any shows. I almost went to “Annie’s” but when I read she yodeled I changed my mind. I am just not into yodeling. Anyway, I was having too much fun in the Ocean Bar with all the great people I met.

I did not go to the Piano Bar but the guy sounded ok when ever I walked by.

The group playing in the Ocean Bar was very good and the music they played after 10:00 was even better.

Casino

There was a good crowd most nights. I was up and down but got on a good roll on the craps table and walked away a very happy winner.

I had a terrific time on this cruise. As I said earlier the people we were with and met were fanstatic. Mr.Gizmo and I both enjoyed their company.

The negative things I posted are my opinions. I do not go on a cruise looking for things to be wrong or not to my liking. I roll with the punches and enjoy my vacation regardless of things I might not like. I do not believe in posting, “everything was wonderful” when everything was not really wonderful. It is not fair to those that read this board looking for information.

I have always rated the food a 9 or 10 but on this cruise it didn't come close, at least for Mr. Gizmo and myself. I realize others liked the food. Different strokes for different folks.