Could be better....
Volendam Cruise Review to Other (Asia/Africa/Middle East)
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 51
Review summary
Not sure it was worth upgrading to a balcony for the overall cruise experience. Save your money, stick with a lower cabin and then it becomes value for money. Don’t waste time or money on the specialty restaurantsEmbarkation
Things started out great with perhaps the smoothest embarkation I’ve experienced
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Very disappointed with both the variety (very lacking) and the quality of the food. For a two-week cruise it was surprising to see pretty much the same menu. The service - and food quality - in The Pinnacle (pay) restaurant was very bad (so much so we had to complain and they gave us a free lunch). It. Appears that they move staff around the restaurants based on where they are busy and all this does is then make that restaurant busy
Onboard Activities
Lots of children in the pools with no apparnt parental oversight and no one enforcing no running, jumping, splashing rules. Entertainment was lacking and poor quality. Very few activities beyond the organize-your-own chess, brifge, etc
Entertainment
Poor performances (seemed as if there were only 4 singers and about the same number of dancers
Service and Staff
Dining Room staff were amazing: friendly and professional. Bar staff in The Mix were AMAZING
Ship Quality
Nice sized ship i.e. not too big. Ship just out of dry dock so as clean as it should be
Cabin / Stateroom
Good sized room with surprisng amount of closet space. Disappointed with the towel animals each night, LOL
Ports of call
Amazing city. View the City from Victoria Peak. Spend a couple of days here just exploring
Thumbs Up
1
Do the Hanoi trip. It’s VERY long (13+ hours) but well worth it. Not much to see otherwise
Phu My (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam
Small area still developing. No tours per se, but negotiate a tuk tuk to drive you around for a couple of hours
Laem Chabang (Bangkok), Thailand
Nothing to see or do on this visit. Either use the time for a Thai massage or (weather permitting) beach time
Thorougly modern city; easy to see in a day. Do the Hop-on-hop-off bus tour to see everyuthing
Disembarkation
Again, very efficient