Volendam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I will never tire of visiting Alaska. This is some of the most beautiful scenery in the world. The day in Glacier Bay is the high point of the trip. Having National Park rangers on board for the day adds to the richness of this experience.

This was a wonderful itinerary at a very reasonable price. We covered 7 countries in 28 days and were able to walk on the Great Wall of China which was the original objective.  I was continually amazed by the beauty of  these countries and the large population of most of the ports. We made a lot of new friends from all over the world.

I ENJOYED WALKING ON DECK 3.FOOD WAS DONE RIGHT BUT BLASE.DININGROOM SERVICE WAS TERRIBLE.SHIP NEEDS DRY DOCK.MOVIES FOR LIVE SHOWS IS TERRIBLE.SINGERS WERE TOO LOUD.TOURS WERE EXPENSIVE & NOBODY TO HELP YOU..

This was a super fun cruise itinerary for anyone who loves Indonesia or wants to explore Indonesia. Highlights were Bogor, Komodo and Lombok. But we also had a lot of fun in Bali and eating all the wonderful food and experienceing the different large and bustling cities of Java. Singapore was icing on the cake. Loved all the festive activities they had onboard. 

Holland America is not for those that want a hyped up Disney experience and it's not child friendly in the sense that others service families on cruises. But they do provide a top notch ship with on shore excursions that concentrate on the culture of the port being visited. Food is very good (especially in the buffet). 

I was impressed with the ship and helpful staff in all departments. The four tender ports in a row was a bit of a pain and could be split up. Food was good and I enjoyed the Windows lectures. The excursion prices were very high for all stops and not worth the money when not much of interest was offered.  A provided shuttle bus from the port was excellent to the local mall from where you could pay for a taxi to visit any sights in the centre.

We booked this cruise for its exciting, but challenging itinerary through not one, not two, but six countries. Most stops, though, were in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Unfortunately not all ports could accommodate the Volendam and we had to use tenders, sometimes with long lines and discomfort.

The crew was excellent, food was great, so was entertainment. Negatives were the excessive cost of some Shore Excursions (US$220 pp) even for simple bus tours, partly due to distance and added security (police escort), but some simply overprices (e.g., Komodo Island).

all foods in restaurants were just wonderful.

juggling and magic shows were great!

 crews and staffs were so kind.

i still remember some of the friends' names who served our table.

folding towel animals in the stateroom were a nice surprise!

we took three shore excursions.they were awesome!

(mendenhall glacier explorer, ak rainforest sanctuary,raptors&totems,           yukon expedition&white pass railway)

i am going to use Holland america line for my next cruse .

loved this cruise. Great food, service, other travelers, and sites!  Only 2 areas not very good:  Internet access and entertainment.  My only complaint is that I ordered a birthday package from cruise.com for my husband and it never happened...very disappointed!

All of our family had a great time at this cruis. My daughters (8 and 10) loved the club HAL, lots of kids to play with and many activities to keep them entertained. 

Food was delicious, different options everyday and everything tasted amazing. 

The amount of time at the ports was more than enough to do shore excursions and walk around town. 

3 satisfied cruisers.  My 6 year old daughter loved the Club HAL, and we were all very pleased with the ladies that staffed the club.  We all enjoyed the meals and shows.  The shore excursions were all exceptional adventures, though I think the helicopter ride in Skagway was our favorite.  Breathing the clean air around and seeing the glacier was also a highlight.  Vancouver was a great city to visit too.  We loved the excursions we did there too.

My favorite part of the cruise was when I asked my group if everyone had fun and their statement was a loud YES. Few weeks later, they have asked me again to organize our next cruise. My second time as an organizer on cruising, really made me think that in this particular skill I can make a difference in peoples  happiness. Thank you very much for your excellent amusement enterprise. Keep up the good work.

The best part of the cruise was the shore excursions.  The on-board experience was much poorer than our previous Holland America cruises - facilities, service, food.

First, the good.  The Volendam has been recently renovated and looks very nice inside.  Our Neptune Suite was lovely.  The stateroom personnel, the Pinnacle Grill servers, and the Neptune Lounge people were great.  The food in the Pinnacle Grill was great.  The weather was fantastic for the whole cruise--sunny and warm in Juneau, Skagway, and Glacier Bay.  Was cooler and cloudy but not rainy in Ketchikan.

Next, the borderline bad.  The Volendam is smaller than the Westerdam and Oosterdam.  We noticed that right away and it felt small inside.  While some may like that, we did not.  

Finally, the ugly.  Our stateroom--7008--was located directly beneath the location of the ping pong tables located on deck 8.  Of course, we could hear the players jumping around when they played--even at 1:30 and 4:00 AM.  We learned quickly to call the front desk to complain and, to their credit, they managed to stop the games so we could get some sleep.  We did not eat in the main dining room, but were there for the Mariner Society lunch.  The soup was good but the main dish was not.  We were also told by someone who ate there regularly that the service was slow and poor.  One of the servers, when asked for some bread, picked up a slice in his bare hands and put it on the table in front of the customer--not on a plate.  Can't confirm that as true but no reason to doubt it either.  We did have lunch a couple of times in the Lido buffet.  It was small (due to ship size) and so there were more limited options.  Meat was dry.

we had a wonderful trip on the Volendam. It is a small ship and was easily able to navigate the narrow passes on the BC west coast.  We had a calm trip with lots of sightings of wildlife.  Dining on the ship was comfortable, delicious and lots of variety.  Our state room was clean and comfortable.  Lots of activities to do on ship and on shore excursions.  We had fun and would go again.

Very Good trip. I would have preferred to spend less time in Myanmar and have a day more in Kuala Lumpur or Phuket, which have so much more to see and do. I felt that they where forcing themselves to put together tours in Myanmar or just wanting to upsale the overnight tours.

- Room service is great

- Food preparation/ supply is average. Need much more improvements.

- Shore Excursion presentations are good but they do not represent their realities. They are mainly for ad. Ian did not provide details when asked in person. Ian need to be more truthfully when presenting facts.

- On cruise shows some were good but lacked their varieties.

- Luggage service distribution is great

While the locations were excellent this ship is very middle of the road especially when it came to eating.  There is plenty of food, just generally mediocre to poor.  The non-lemon lemonade is one example as was a hard-boiled egg for Eggs Benedict.  They had lamb so tough even the carver couldn't cut it and the list goes on and on.

Information was poor.  For example after a week on board we learned that the New York Times had been available for free on line the whole time.  Learned other things after the fact as well.

Do not exchange money on board!!!!.  As an example in Indonesia they charged about 6 percent exchange rate and on shore it was under 1 percent of the official rate.

The room and the ship were clean and spotless throughout the voyage. The  dinning options and food were superb. The entertain on board was outstanding and we enjoyed all the show that we saw. 

The staff accommodated our party  of twenty-four at every event. They were especially kind to our to handicapped relatives . We enjoyed every minute of the cruise.

The bingo games were fair and fun and we even had some winners in our group over the week we were on the cruise. Everyone loved the Whitney Houston concert and the singer was very much a great impersonator of Whitney. 

The crows nest lounge is simply lovely and had spectacular views of the Alaska coastline and glacier bay.  

Visiting the three cities was very easy to get off and back on the ship.

We stayed 3 days in Vancouver before embarking on our Holland America cruise to Alaska. We loved Vancouver even though the traffic has a lot to be desired. We had wonderful weather every day of our cruise except in Ketchikan and inside the Glacier passage. I would highly recommend Holland America to anyone going on an Alaskan cruise. The trip was amazing!