Wonderful Cruise; Awful Travel Agent
Volendam Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 20
Review summary
I booked this trip to celebrate my 70th birthday with my two grown daughters. Had I known that I could do this directly with Holland America and not through Cheap Cruises with a travel agent who 1) only worked from 5:00pm - 2:am, 2) was great until I paid in full, 3) didn't respect what I tried to tell her regarding my missing passport (she was very cavalier regarding this problem) and would promise to call me at certain times and not call, etc. She kept telling me not to worry about the lost passport -- that she could get it expedited 2 weeks before I left. All I had to do was call the Passport Office in Chicago and make an appointment. I kept telling her that this was stressing me out and that I was afraid there would be no appointments. "Oh, you might have to drive somewhere if that happens," she said. I'm 70 years and this didn't seem to enter her mind that having to drive somewhere might not be an option. So 14 days out we call and sure enough no appointments in Chicago! and...they said I had to call back tomorrow as they wouldn't make appointments unless it was 13 days out! Obviously, she hadn't done this as much as she claimed. I called the next day and was then told, "No, Chicago is completely booked. Let me see where I can get you an appointment. Oh, you can go to Aurora, Colorado on June 25 at 10;30 am. Don't be late." We had tickets to fly from Chicago to Vancouver the next day. Well, this wasn't going to happen, as I knew that kind of stress would make me sick (cold or such) from traveling like that. I realize that losing my passport is my problem but I truly feel that she should have given me names of companies that could expedite passports. Luckily, I found one, but it cost me a lot of money and would not have cost as much had I known about them (they are international) and done this sooner. This woman (India McKnight) in my humble opinion is not organized, incompetent and rude (always had an excuse and never could apologize for anything). She is the reason I will never use your company again.Embarkation
While the travel agent promised to call me at a specific time to go over details, I never heard from her until right before we were to leave. Her excuse was that she had no electricity. If you have a cell phone, you can at least text. I believe she was lying as usual.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The food was okay and pretty good in the good dining rooms. The staff on board was excellent. This has nothing to do with Cheap Cruises. Holland America Line is wonderful. The travel agent assigned to me was horrible, disrespectful and obnoxious. She made many promises she couldn't, wouldn't or didn't keep and stressed me out to the max!
Onboard Activities
We all used the fitness center and spa. The fitness center was very good; the spa was disorganized. When the weather was good, the pool was delightful.
Service and Staff
I can't say enough about the crew on this ship. They were pleasant, welcoming and very helpful in every way. Every. Last. One!
Ship Quality
The ship was clearly. maintained to a very high standard, which was appreciated and noticed by all of us.
Cabin / Stateroom
The suite was quite comfortable, large enough for 3 adults and had lots of storage space. We could have used a couple more outlets, but we survived. The huge TV was also very informative with news, weather, excursions, etc.
Ship tip
Hope you have as much fun as we did. Don't expect American portions with food. You won't starve!
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia
I wish we had had more time to spend in Vancouver as it is clearly a beautiful city. We stayed at the Pan Pacific Hotel, located above the embarkation to the ship, which was a big plus. I thought it was a tad over-priced, as it wasn't anything that special. We enjoyed our stay though.
Cruise Tracy Arm Fjord, Alaska
I didn't see much of Juneau as I spent all day in the jewelry stores and the excursion we were most excited to do (evening whale watching) was cancelled. We were given refunds and offered to go on the Salmon Bake which was okay but I would have preferred to see some whales.
One daughter attended a food science event and my other daughter and I did an excursion where we panned for gold (too touristy and then we learned and met the sled dogs, which was very interesting and the 10-day old puppies were adorable. Learning about dog-sledding, etc. was one of my favorite things that we did, and it was very interesting.
Very beautiful but I was a bit sad to see how much the glaciers have melted over time. We were served Dutch Split=Pea soup which was excellent, and I don't even like split pea soup!
This was my favorite port. My daughters went canoeing and hiking while I went to a "lumberjack" show (kind of kitchy) and then we were taken to a place for "all you can eat" dungeness crab, which was fabulous and fun. Unfortunately, we had signed up for the seafood boil (extra $35/pp upon boarding the ship; and by the time we got back (from eating all we could crab), I could hardly eat. I think we should have been told not to do these two things on the same day. To me it was wasteful.
Disembarkation
The loudspeakers only worked in the hallways (not in our suite) and we didn't hear them call for our group to disembark. That was an issue to me, as I have a hearing problem and wonder what would have happened in case of emergency. All in all it was fine and we got the the Vancouver airport in plenty of time.