Volendam Review
Rating by category
Additional details
We are a 3 star Mariner with Holland America working towards our 4 star. We go away every winter and liked the itinerary of this cruise. We were on for a total of 42 days.
We like to listen to the piano and violin entertainment with a martini before dinner. Adagio, Andreea and Alexandru were fantastic.
The food on this ship has slipped. The worst French Onion soup I have ever had. The service at dinner was very slow and the food often arrived cold.
Cabin Review
Large Interior Stateroom
The size of this room was good however whenever the sea was more than slightly rough this room creaked like an old barn in a wind storm.
Port Reviews
Hong Kong
Embarked and disembarked in the port. Stayed overnight at the Intercontinental Hong Kong. Very nice.
Da Nang
We grabbed a cab with another couple that took us to the Lady Buddha, China Beach, and Hoi An. We stayed in Hoi An for 3 hours and the same cab brought us back. Wonderful.
Bangkok (Laem Chabang)
We took the ship shuttle to Pattaya twice. First time we walked around and shopped for bargains. Used the pickup style cab the second time to get from the centre of town out to the Sanctuary of Truth and walked back into town. Great.
Sihanoukville
We grabbed a cab with another couple into town. Walked around and visited a couple of markets and a couple of Mosques. Each couple took a bicycle powered Tuktuk for the 8 kilometers back to the ship. Paid $3us plus tip for that. Fantastic. Everyone along the way was waving and saying hi.
Koh Samui
Again we did this port twice and loved it. We rented a scooter for $8us both times and toured the island. Both time we stopped at a small resort on the far side. Swan at their beach and used their internet all for the price of an ice cappuccino. Fantastic.
Singapore
Fantastic City. Use the MTR but have some Hong Kong dollars. Once downtown we walked around to see most of it.
Lombok
Again we did this port twice. First time we took the ship shuttle into town and then walked to all of the points of interest. This is the way to get a feeling for the city itself.
Second time we took a taxi into town for $3.us and shopped. Walked back.
Bali
Both days we shared a cab with another couple. Bargain hard and you can get the cab for the day for $45us. We loved Ubud, and the two temples on the coast. One on the West coast and the other down near the bottom end. The last day we wanted internet because the internet at the port was terrible. Our driver said he could take us to a place but we would need to buy a soda. He took us to the ramshackled old building with potholes in the parking lot. The door looked like it would fall of the hinges. When we opened the door we were amazed it was a very clean BBQ restaurant with fantastic wood slab tables and benches. We ordered a large beer for $3us and had fast internet. Great surprise.