"On one excursion, 2 people got lost so the bus went back to the ship without them while a tour guide stayed behind, found them and put them in a taxi, assuming on the guest's own dollar.There is no dedicated 24/7 ice-cream bar -- only ice-cream during dining hours with chocolate, strawberry, vanilla and one daily flavor...."Read More
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1-10 of 39 Holland America Line Volendam Cruise Reviews for Senior to the Panama Canal & Central America
Meh. This was my eleventh cruise, (4th on HAL) first in 6 years. It didn't rank highly, in fact it has somewhat put us off cruising, at least for anything longer than 10 days. By about day 11, we were ready to get off the ship. We felt there had been some (post Covid?) cutbacks.
EMBARKATION AND DEBARKATION (Fort Lauderdale/San Diego)
Both were fantastically swift, the best we've experienced ...
We chose this cruise because it ended at our home port of Vancouver BC .
It was also our first cruise with the Holland America line.
Prior to boarding we had to sit on rows of chairs the were so close together that gave us a feeling of clostaphobia.
Upon embarking we were informed that our suites had not been made available due to cleaning etc, so we had to find a spot to sit untill ...
Bucket list and a .uch needed break! Bonus was returning to Vancouver. We were upgraded from a window G to a larger window cabin 25**. No complaints. Our cabin stewards were terrific and always attended to everything. We both felt at home and after 21 days we hadn't grown tired of the pampering! The Ocean Band was our go to after dinner. And the food! Fabulous! Ate in the dining room, and 2x ...
I have purposely allowed some time to pass before writing this review.
THE SHIP AND STAFF
The review really concerns an apparently struggling cruise line, an aged ship, and a wonderful itinerary. The captain jokingly said it best when after it was mentioned the ship was 23 years old, a passenger asked him what was the effective service age of such a ship. He replied 22 years.
The ship ...
Initially, we chose this 74-day cruise based solely on the “Grand Voyage” itinerary. The ports-of-call for the cruise, most of the excursions we took, and the passengers & locals we met were great fun & exciting. However, Holland America’s cruise ship (the Volendam) was awful - and based on that we would never want to cruise w/ Holland America again or recommend the cruise line to anyone. We ...
This trip was all about the 33 ports and Antarctica. HAL is recovering from COVID like everyone but they seem to expect pre COVID world to return. Nice if incompetent staff. Many things done superbly and just as many SNAFU'S. 5 star passengers who waited many days with no hot water, heat or flushing toilet. I was lucky as cabin worked well throughout the journey. Overpriced spa, who pays $245 for ...
I originally selected a Baltic cruise 2 1/2 years ago. Covid prevented us from taking it in 2021. So, I did some research and selected the 10-night Panama Canal cruise with the Volendam. I am so glad I did!
First of all, the Volendam was beautiful! It has had a very nice refresh. The new carpets in different venues were beautiful. Everyone was so friendly. It also seemed to have more ...
The loves lost on HAL.
Absolutely dissatisfied and disappointed with HALs commitment to running their operations aground.
Understaffed and overworked.
This ship was severely understaffed and as a result every aspect of operations was negatively affected. Im not sure if the excuses outnumbered the complaints but I did speak to a 4 star mariner who seriously considered disembarking mid ...
The ports. The ports. The ports. The Price. The line (HAL). These are the things that attracted me to this voyage.
This voyage of 11 weeks was my first cruise with a duration of over three weeks, and that alone turns the experience completely around. You see the same people, passengers & crew, over and over again and you get to know them. That was mostly good. Ran into many ...
Compared to other cruise lines, Holland America offered this extensive cruise at a reasonable price with 35+ ports of call and fantastic scenic cruising throughout including a marvelous 4 day tour of Antarctica and a week touring the Amazon. Excursions at each port were plenty and varied and catered to many levels of physical activity and pricing. My favorites were the archaeological sites, wild ...