Volendam Review

Excellent Volendam Experience

Review for the Panama Canal & Central America Cruise on Volendam
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KCMermaid
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Dec 2018
Cabin: Large Interior Stateroom
Toucan in the aviary at the port in Cartagena
Macaws at the port in Cartagena
The courtyard at the McDonald's in Antigua Guatemala

We simply chose the Holland America volendam because the dates fit in with several of the party we were cruising with. We do enjoy Holland America and our only bad experience out of 7 sailings with them has been on the veendam in the spring 2018 so we were a bit anxious about this booking on the volendam.

We were absolutely delighted with our experience on the volume down. She is well maintained. Her food is excellent. The crew was extremely friendly. when we had any issue the staff bent over backwards to help us work it out. If we submitted a common card with anything the least bit negative we got a phone call to our stateroom and if we were not in our stateroom to take the call we got a note on our door. They then followed up to make sure every little thing was perfect.

of the seven sailings with Holland America in the last two years I have to say this was probably our best overall experience, even though we did enjoy all of our other sailings except on the veendam. What I'm coming to realize is that most ships seem to go through a low period, And then if the company is smart measures are taken to get its act together and correct their weaknesses and make the ship much more pleasing and accommodating to passengers.

Cabin Review

Large Interior Stateroom

Cabin J

Average size cabin. Good storage. Quiet.

Port Reviews

Huatulco

here we took a tour of the five bays. It was very nice. Beautiful Short line and we stopped for a good 30 minutes to swim and incredibly clean and warm water in a private cove. The guide was extremely informational.

Puerto Quetzal (Antigua)

As we have visited this area several times we just booked the ships transport up to the town of Antigua. The Peace of this that I did not like was that the bus had a guide on it that was very condescending and as well as having very strong political opinions about his government which was a little uncomfortable. Also he had the bus stop at the Jade factory and insist that we go in and listen to the presentation. Even after I explained to him I had already heard the presentation three times and I was not interested he then told the group how disruptive I was which was a bit embarrassing. So just beware, I would take the transport again but I would not go into the Jade factory.

Corinto

the next time I'm here I'm a think about taking it to her out of the town as I've been here twice now. The town is very poor and I try and buy things from the vendors or take a pedicab tour. But next time I might look to get out of the city or just stay on the ship.all the tourists seem to have very long transport to and from which I dislike. But I would hate to see this ship pull out of the sport AS the community really looks to the ship 4 revenues from the things they make and I'm sure it really helps the economy in that little town.

Puntarenas (Puerto Caldera)

again this is a part we've been to multiple times so we took private transportation as we knew exactly where we wanted to go. We had a very good experience and turn to the ship very safely. I would not hesitate to pick up a private car and have a private tour in this area.

Cartagena (Colombia)

Each time we have been here it's been extremely hot, did I say extremely! cabbies and private tour guides are extremely aggressive and then they don't speak really good English or not accommodating to people when you take private tours. We just hung out in the port as they have monkeys and parrots and aviaries to walk through. But this is a stop that I would just Rather not visit again.

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