ms Volendam review by Pierre

Reviewer Profile

Age: 51-65
# of Cruises Taken: 1
Destination: Alaska
Sailing Month: Sep 2007
Stateroom Type: BALCONY
Cruising with Children: No

DINING:

STATEROOM:

ENTERTAINMENT:

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CHILDREN'S ACTIVITIES:

N/A

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OVERALL EXPERIENCE:

Comments By Pierre
The food was generally excellent but lacked a little variety ie: a soft boiled egg was not possible - only hard boiled. We asked and they couldn't accomodate the request. Same basic lunch entree's with some add-on's to enhance the menu. Dinner vegetables were always "overcooked" (not to our liking) leaving them soft and sometimes mushy. One dinner 'manager' did say that it was the 'way most people liked them' and also we were second sitting which most likely left them sitting in a warming oven for a couple of hours. Our dining steward did try and get some 'crisper' veggies but they came back just a soft. The Pinnicle Grill was superb - well worth the cover charge. The 'Chocolate extravaganza' was beyond description in quality, assortment, presentation and service. The 11PM start was a bit hard to adjust to. The main meal entree's were very good and desserts were excellent. We requested and you submitted for an early sitting but we were slated for the second seating. As you suggested we requested a seating change when we arrived for our first dinner. We were told that couldn't be accommodated as the ship was overbooked. We also asked for a table change for our group from where we were seated to a vacant window table but were told that couldn't happen as the table was already assigned. The table was empty for six of the seven nights. We literally roasted in our cabin the first night and could not lower the temperature. The Front Desk did have the cooling lowered the second morning to the point we froze and again could not raise the temperature. We made our first of many calls on Saturday at dinner time. We actually slept with our clothes on. More calls on Sunday with no change. A staff from the front desk came up Sunday at 6PM with a digital thermometer to check the temperature and humidity. Her meter read 62.4 degrees and she agreed it was indeed cold in there. I noticed she had been visitiing a number of rooms and she had a list of about 6-8 rooms with similar temp readings. That was the only time we saw anyone come a take a look. Monday more calls with no change. Each time I called they said they would "put in a work order". One clerk did let me know that after all we were in Alaskan waters and it was cold outside! Tuesday night I finally asked for extra blankets. The front desk staff said that if the temp had not changed when we returned from dinner she would "personally" attend to the problem. I called her to let her know but things still hadn't changed by Wednesday morning. I spoke to our cabin steward about the problem and he was able to cut through the "stuff" I guess because the heat was back on in the afternoon. One thing was hard to get used to was they must close off the HVAC at night and have the system on recirculate. The temp stays the same, the room gets stuffy and the little green light that is on all day is off at night. As you can gather this little quirk definetly tainted our otherwise excellent experience. Our dining room wine steward 'Willy" and waiter "Pep" made each meal an extra special time. They both were worth a million bucks to the ship. Our cabin steward "Eddy" was equally the "face" of the cruise line and exemplified first class service in spite of the hassles we encountered with our room. I expected the the usual club type entertainment which was very good. However, the string quartet from Kiev was extrordinary playing everything from Bach to Jimi Hendrix's Purple Haze (circa Woodstock). The check-in process was exceedingly efficient and well organized. Our bags, however, did take about four hours to get to our room. The exit off the shop was exceptionally well done! From our group call (which was almost an hour ahead of schedule to the time we were in our vehicle (parked at CruisePark) was less than an hour and a half ( including 20 minutes or so at customs paying through the nose for our purchased gifts!) The captain did an exellent job getting us within spitting distance our glacier call as well as slowing down to dead slow so we could watch whales while a Mercury Cruise line blew right past us and a lot of people missed a wonderful sight. All in all a worthwhile trip and would consider possibly a Panama canal cruise in the future.

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