This as my 70 cruise and my second on this ship dating back to 2011. Overall. This was the second worst cruise of the cruise I have taken. The fault is not with the ship which was maintained in excellent shape. Embarkation was very slow and disembarkation was the same.
Thankfully, I have Global entry which sped up the departure.
The positives on the cruise was an excellent movie selection ...
My husband and I usually travel Holland America not because of it's beautiful ships, but because of the excellent service provided. We like the Neptune Suites because of the extras: priority boarding, priority dining, priority tenders, lots of perks, plus the luxury of having a large suite with a large balcony and private lounge.
It started out bad, with our having to wait to get in our suite, ...
The 2016 Volendam Indonesia Eclipse Cruise March (1 to March 17) from Singapore deviated from the normal route in order to detour into the Makassar Straits to view the Total Eclipse of the sun. Over half of passengers on this cruise were eclipse chasers that were more than happy with the excellent viewing conditions on eclipse day March 9th.
With over 800 eclipse enthusiasts onboard, the ...
We are 4 star Mariners so have been on many Holland America cruises on many of their ships. We just completed a 45 day back to back thru Asia. . Unfortunately we have to rate the Volendam as only a 3 to 4 star . This is not because of the service which was excellent .
The main problem is the condition of the ship . We had numerous problems with the plumbing in our bathroom . Our toilet would ...
WE are 4 star Mariners and absolutely loved sailing on this cruise and ship! Was it perfect? Of course not, but I absolutely loved the ports that we were in. Most of the tours we took were private tours, but we did take some HAL tours. Fortunately. the HAL tours we took ended up being broken into small groups at some points. For Borobadur, we left in large buses, but we went on an antique ...
We sailed back to back on the solar eclipse Indonesia cruise and then the Thailand, Vietnam to Hong Kong cruise (31 days) . We are 4 star mariners with HAL so We have sailed with them many times. We have sailed on every class of ship except the Prinsdendam, which we know is too old and small for us. This was our first sailing on the Volendam and it will be our last on this size ship! We were ...
We are 4 star Mariners which means- among other things- we have sailed on a variety of Holland America ships. As always the staff and crew were outstanding. Our cabin steward was one of the best we have had. We were always greeted with a smile and hello everywhere on the ship. The itinerary focused on Indonesian ports and being in prime viewing space for a total solar eclipse. The captain made ...
This was our 64th cruise on a variety of ships including 5 world cruises but the first and last on HAL. The weather was great, accommodations comfortable, some great ports for fun in the sun, embarkation and disembarkation went smoothly.
Our love for ballroom dancing turned into a huge disappointment. HAL has a reputation for great ballroom music and dancing. Not on this trip. "The Band" ...
This was a "collector cruise" We went to the Southern, then a short trip to the Western Carib, with a stop in Ft. Lauderdale after 11 nights.
The first 11 days the ship had many, many elderly people, lots of wheelchairs, walkers, etc. This is not an issue for us, just to note. The ship was very full. We have cruised the Caribbean before so we are not interested in ports, just the cruise ...
My husband and I booked this cruise as a 65th birthday gift for me. This was our ninth cruise, but first on HAL. We have previously sailed with Carnival, Princess and Celebrity.
We flew in the day before the cruise, and stayed at the Fairfield Inn in Dania Beach. This hotel was just packed with cruisers, and we thought it was good value for what we paid. Nice room, okay breakfast, no ...