Volendam Review
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Travel To Port of Embarkation - We left our hotel (Park Regis Sydney) at about 11:30am and arrived at Darling Habour's Pier 8 at about 12:00pm by subway and a little walk downhill to the port from the subway station (Taxi's are pretty expensive in Sydney) We arrived at the departure hall to drop our check-in luggage, after completing the health inspection we waited in line for about 15 minutes to pass security and another 10 minutes to check-in. Immigrations had some issues with my passport but everything worked out and we were on the ship by 12:45pm. I have to say that Darling Habour's Pier 8 is mainly used for conventions and meetings rather than for cruise ship and so some of the facilities are pretty primitive including the makeshift check-in desks and security equipment, but I have to say that the staff were pretty innovative in their use of the equipment and it made the long lines pass quickly.
Stateroom - While having our sailaway lunch up at the Lido Buffet, an announcement was made that our staterooms were ready at about 1:30pm. We made our way to find our stateroom which was originally an inside stateroom but we were pleased to find out that we had a last-minute upgrade to an oceanview stateroom and enjoyed the view thoroughly during the scenic cruisings in New Zealand. The stateroom was immaculate with crisp linens and everything was set-up for our cruise ahead. The ship's porters were also really efficient in changing our cabin numbers on our luggage tags and all our bags arrived within an hour. Although there were some signs of wear and tear, it was still very pleasant.
Ship Info - The Volendam was built in 1999 and it was reaching in 10th year in service, but despite her age it seems like the ship was only 3 or 4 years old thanks to the staff who cleans the ship daily making the restaurants to the toilets clean and immaculate. The ship was considered a mid-sized ship and even though it was filled to capacity during this cruise, there were many open spaces in the bars and open decks and no where on the ship felt crowded and we really enjoyed that.