Having sailed before we knew what to expect, but we had never been on the Volendam. There were three couples in our group and everyone had the same opinions. Two couples, myself included had a total of 8 prior Holland America cruises.

The ship was a mess and the best description would be unkept. Windows were very dirty as well as some public areas. Our stateroom greeted us with mold on the sink, tile shower grout and hair on the floor all of which was present during the entire cruise. There was not a tiny bit of mold it was all over! There was also tile missing in the shower.

We found restrooms on the ship that stunk and were unkept. We experienced the same problem in the same restrooms every time. One morning the water in our stateroom was as dark as coffee and stunk. Everyone we talked to had the same issues. For the entire cruise the bathrooms periodically stopped functioning on our stateroom level and the entire area around our cabins smelled of sewage! Read more