Last year my sister and I were idly discussing going on a cruise, and by the end of the year I had done hours of research and booked a 7 night Inside Passage Cruise on the MS Volendam. Cruise Critic was instrumental in our choice of ship and itinerary and I read just about everything written on CC, and found it all very helpful. In fact my husband said I no longer needed to go to Alaska as I had read everything there was to know! We were a party of four, my sister sharing her cabin with another widowed friend, all in our early 60's. My sister came from Austin, her friend from Syracuse and my husband and I from Australia. We met up in Vancouver on June 5th, the day before sailing, and I am so glad we planned to arrive the day before as our flight times were changed by the airline and as it was we didn't get into Vancouver until 9.30 at night. It would have been so stressful to be travelling on the day the ship was leaving. Stayed at Days Inn Downtown, which is rather quaint but perfectly adequate for a nights sleep. I chose that hotel because they had a shuttle bus to the cruise dock. In actual fact it was so close to Canada Place that you could have walked! The driver of the shuttle said it would take about an hour and a half to get onto the ship and he was exactly right. There were two ships in dock and a lot of people milling around but the process was well controlled. We were split up though as my husband and I had Australian passports and my sister and her friend had US passports. We were sent to a holding area where we could sit until there was room in the line to pass through US customs etc. My sister and her friend had to stand in line the whole time! We got onto the ship first and our cabins were ready so we took our hand luggage to the cabin and then headed to the Lido for lunch. The Volendam is a great ship,just the right size, and gives the first impression of being an ocean liner, rather than a "fun" ship. Which is what we wanted, we were not looking for loud music, parties or crowds. There was another ship boarding at Canada Place which was huge, and had loud disco music playing, so we were very pleased to be on the Volendam. The ship was spotlessly clean and everywhere there were members of the crew cleaning and polishing. Our inside cabins were a good size and there was loads of storage space. The bathroom was surprisingly large and very well appointed. The shower was good with good water pressure. The hairdryer did not work but there was a replacement dryer in the cabin. The provided shower gel, shampoo and conditioner were really nice. The cabin was so quiet, you could not hear a thing, apart from occasional voices in the corridor. We tended to retire fairly early and there was never any late night noise. Our stewards were very efficient and obliging. Again thanks to CC we had taken a clock and a torch, but found that if you left the bathroom light on and the door closed, there was enough light at night to see your way around without turning on the cabin lights.

We had first dining at 5.45 which suited us and for which we had been wait listed. The dining room staff were excellent and the food was first class. We all ate far too much. We had breakfast and lunch in The Lido and found the choice of food to be varied and of excellent quality. The afternoon teas in the Dining room were really lovely.

The bars and lounges were comfortable and the music provided was excellent. We had cocktails on two occasions before the formal dinner nights and it was nice to get dressed up and sit watching the scenery from the windows. Read more