On the sister ship, Zaandam, I had the same experience. I did not realize there were as many people on board until the debarkation day. They did something different that time where the customs officers came on-board rather than doing the process on shore. Until then, I never saw "crowds" during a seven-day cruise. Holland America did a great job of having enough activities scattered through the day that I never felt that there were 1,200 passengers. On the Konnigsdam, had the same experience, even though it was twice the occupancy. Very few, or no lines. Very few, or no crowded activities. Excellent experience for my first cruise! Thank you for enjoying your vacation, but more for sharing an excellent review for others to learn about HAL. :)
Thanks for sharing. We had a very similar experience on our voyage. The only day there was a crowd was when we had to clear customs onboard in Bar Harbor.
Our first HAL cruise was on the Amsterdam in 2015 where we fell in love with a smaller ship and the classic cruise experience offered by HAL. We have been loyal HAL cruisers ever since. We recently experienced a 14 day cruise on a 600 psx cspacity ship that is a corporate cousin if HAL. Loved it, but our bank account needed some healing
I have enjoyed this series very much. In 10 days I will be boarding this ship doing a round trip out of Boston. All the videos were really helpful regarding port information. I too was worried about the ship being too small but you have helped to alleviate those concerns. The casino looks to be a decent size as well. That's very important, lol.
Enjoyed your videos on the Volendam. I’ll be sailing on her in October for 14 days Montreal to Ft. Lauderdale. And then again in 2025 on the epic Pole to Pole….perhaps you’ll do a segment! Also, just off the Zuiderdam and we had lobster tail and steak on dressy night sans surcharge. But it was a legendary voyage so perhaps they have different options.
As a lifelong New Englander, you were incredibly lucky to get out of Logan with your sanity. Boston Logan has been under construction since Noah was an intern at AccuWeather! We always try to sail on the smaller ships, so much more fun! Great vlog! I'm sure it gave a lot of info to people who, in the age of huge ships, do not know how great sailing on a smaller ship can be!
Thanks for that! We were surprised how quiet Boston was. We were expecting it to be much busier. Maybe because it was a long weekend a lot of people were elsewhere.
It would definitely be a hard wait for us. We have been looking at booking it again or at the sister ships. Have a great cruise.🛳 42 days sounds wonderful!
Hi Jill and Jerry, I completely agree with your review! HAL ships are great and many times hidden gems….while others are running for the mega ship experience. Hal has fabulous service, happy staff, always cleaning and attending to guests. It is wonderful to sail to many places on shoulder seasons. We travel a lot on the shoulder as it saves money, time and crowd control. I also agree for us Canadians….we get to spend in our own country and no exchange! Amen! Not often our reality as cruisers/travellers. We look forward to our next Hal cruise! Good to see you both! 😊Happy travels! ❤
Didn't know about that stand by option for HAL, good to know if you can pack and leave quickly. Lovely to hear about the lack of crowds and waiting, thats a real plus. Your itinerary is nearly exactly the same as our Celebrity Eclipse in September so will be interesting to see how busy it will be for us. Often in the UK embarkation times are not until the afternoon and sometimes not until 3pm so that's fab you got on at 1130. Sounds fabulous entertainment and food for a small ship too. Volendam definitely sounds like our sort of ship!
I just got off the Zuiderdam in Amsterdam today. I love Holland America and I agree with everything you have said but I’d like to comment on something that I think is taken for granted. Every HAL ship has beautiful fresh flower arrangements all over the ship from small bouquets on tables to giant floral arrangements. It’s such an elegant touch. Also there is a great deal of art not only paintings lining the hallways but interesting sculptures all well labeled. Unfortunately many people seem to be in a hurry to get from venue to venue and don’t appreciate the decor. I’ve been on all the current HAL ships except the Volendam and have booked it for next year on an Amazon cruise. Can’t wait to enjoy it.
We are booked on the 24 day Iceland, Greenland, Canada and Maine cruise. Thank you for all the wonderful news about the ship, great entertainment including the Step One Dancers that we loved on our Norway cruise and the food. This will be our smallest ship and longest cruise so we are so excited. I will definitely send a message if the jewelry person interferes with the music. Looking forward to your blogs.
We are so glad you had such a great cruise. We had a similar experience on the Oceania Regatta. We are looking forward to our HAL small ship cruise next month.
It confirmed with us that you can still have a fabulous vacation on an older ship. We loved the smaller size and il definitely be looking for more in the future.
As you probably know, the MS Noordam is a ~2000 passenger ship. I have sailed on two of is sister ships. You should enjoy it. There will be more music venues on the bigger ship.
Yes the best cruise I've ever been on was the Sun Viking nearly 50 years ago. Less than 500 passengers. Great food, really great service and no crowds. Love the smaller ships. And thanks for talking about the elevators. I wish more content makers would talk about it. It can affect the experience.
We went on this same cruise in June, except from Boston to Montreal, and I agree with everything you said. I thought it was a wonderful cruise and the entertainment was top notch.
So glad to hear your positive experience. We are sailing the same ship/itinerary in Sept. Can’t wait to see all your upcoming videos. My wife and I love your videos, sense of humor, and interaction with each other. We hope to sail and meet you one day. We live in the Atlanta area.
Nov 8 on the Rotterdam. 3rd cruise this year on HAL. Food is amazing. I just had a bad experiemce at the Pinnacle Grill. Where I come from "Jumbo Lump Crabcakes" have big chunks of crabmeat. I don't mean to seem petty, but these were same tiny nuggets served on Rotterdam in April. Steak was ok, but had to send back the tough and chewey $35.00 Lobster tail. Volendam has some issues...
We did this itinerary last summer on the Zaandam and really enjoyed it. We stayed in a small hotel in Montreal right across from the port so we were able to explore Montreal before we got on the ship and getting on the ship took about 10 minutes. I would love to do it again. The only thing I missed by being on the smaller ship was not having Tamarind, that is my fave.
Going on the Zaandam this summer to Alaska, similar in size to the Volendam. So happy to hear about your experience, makes me look forward to mine even more!
Happy to hear you enjoyed your cruise. We love HAL. We were on the Volendam to Alaska in 2011. This sounds like a nice itinerary, would love to see the east coast.
So glad you had such a positive experience. I haven't cruised in over 20 years, but had cruised about 15 cruises beginning in the mid '90s. My first cruise was on HAL's previous Westerdam, and I fell in love with it, and with cruising. Your enthusiasm about this cruise reminded me of my first experience. It brought back wonderful memories. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing! Your are correct that we felt so happy after this wonderful cruise experience that it is reminiscent of our feelings after our first ever cruise.🛳
Really enjoyed your video. Your honesty and integrity come through. We’ll be doing this cruise in September from Quebec City to Boston, but a stop in Portland instead of Bar Harbor. (I’m a little disappointed about missing Bar Harbor as I had a classmate and roommate from Bar Harbor at the US Coast Guard Academy way back when, 50 years ago.) And, we will be on the Zuiderdam. A comment that I hope that you will take constructively is that I thought the video could have been shorter and more concise. If this is your style then so be it. I totally get why this was the “perfect” cruise for you. I’m a huge fan of HAL, as I already have 3 future cruises already booked with HAL.
Thank you for watching and your comment. Bar Harbor is a great spot but very small so we understand they they are restricting ship to the area. We love HAL also and have more cruises booked with them. Have a fabulous cruise in September.🛳
@@CruisingCanucks Thank you for your reply. I’ve watched and liked your videos for the days of the this cruise , and really enjoyed. You really give a feel for the experience of the day, either on the ship or visiting the port. We’re heading to Amsterdam on Tuesday as we are doing a HAL cruise around Iceland with stops in Norway, Shetland Islands and 2 in northern Scotland. Enjoy your next cruise.
I knew you would have a great time! I did the same cruise last May on the Zaandam. I had the same reservations about a smaller ship but was also pleasantly surprised by how great it was. I loved this cruise and plan to repeat it again in the next couple of years. I am a loyal HAL cruiser and counting down the days until my October cruise to Hawaii on the Koningsdam. I look forward to watching your vlogs of the cruise and discovering the secret word!🤩
Hubby and I are about 2 weeks out, and I'm so happy to hear it's a very good cruise. We'll be traveling from southern Ontario to start our cruise from Boston, our first night celebrating our 39th anniversary. I believe we find out our embarkation time tomorrow, but check in, luggage and boarding passes, dinner reservation, excursions, and prepaid gratuities with our Have it All, done as soon as I realized I could. And travel arrangements and hotel in Boston were done at booking back in November. I guess I can chalk that up to the 30 years of following my military husband (who's been retired for 10 years).
thank you for this video. Hal is our favorite cruise line but we have yet to try any of the older ships because it was just natural to go for the new ones. we have canada/new england booked for next year and this was great information!
James and I are so happy that this cruise was way more than what you had expected. You two needed a reprieve from your last cruise and glad that this one fit the bill!❤
Was on the same ship, same itinerary, but a decade ago. One of my favorite cruises, I find that ship size to be absolutely perfect. I'm GF and every meal, I could get a specially made version of a dish, although so many dishes were GF naturally, so it was rarely needed. Perfect service.
This is a cruise I would love as I am navigational challenged lol. Funny story about east coast music, we call it our Canadian reggae to our Jamaican friends. Nice update😊 thanks.
We're headed to Boston for this cruise in ten days (the north bound cruise)! THANKS! Can't wait! 44 cruises?!?!?! Holy Socks! When did you guys start and how many a year do you do? This will be our third with a Panama Canal (4th) in February. Planning two a year till we die. Thanks for this review!!!!
This is really good to hear because i’m going on an Australian/New Zealand cruise with Holland next February. I found a real good deal on the cruise too.
🎉Glad you had such a great time!!! We had a similar experience on Azamara Mediterranean last year, only 750 people....amazing service...no lines whatsoever...great great time!! THANKS ❤❤❤
Thankyou for a wonderful overview of your experience. This has made me want to give Holland America another chance! I had always heard such wonderful things but unfortunately about 11/2 years ago, our first experience with Holland America was terribly disappointing in almost every aspect! Many people on that particular cruise had commented it was not standard for them but it's hard to repeat spending your valuable money and vacation time after such a lacking experience. However, I will definitely now consider it as this sounded like the perfect cruise for me.
This is wonderful to hear you had a spectacular time, and also sailing within Canada! :) I remember hearing about HAL’s old Prinsendam (which is now MSAmera) which holds around 550 total. Other HAL cruisers over our many sailings spoke of it as a legendary favourite. A unicorn in the HAL fleet. That size is now considered ultra luxury. PS i just read about a much older version of Prinsendam (HAL reuses ship names) Unfortunately, it actually sank 1980 due to engine fire. All crew and passengers rescued and survived!
I enjoyed your reporting. We're booked on the Volendam and their 24 days, Boston - Canada - Greenland - Iceland - Boston cruise. We were on her sister ship the Zaandam and a Panama cruise in January. I love their smaller ships. I'd agree with many of the points you brought up. The elevators were a pleasant surprise to us also. I also enjoyed the live band in the Ocean Bar live band and how the wait staff that quickly learned our names and preferences. Our previous sailing was on the larger Koningsdam, and I'd agree the musical entertainment was as good. We love HAL above all the other ships we've been aboard. Thank You for a fantastic preview.
Glad to hear that you enjoyed it. We did this cruise in June last year. Entertainment was poor and the dining room was a mess. Long lines and poor service. I am sure that we just encountered a bad experience as we have enjoyed HAL before.
That sounds absolutely fabulous! So happy you had such a wonderful cruise! New England weather is gorgeous in May, we lived on the North Shore of Boston for many many years and used to love late spring time ❤😊
We are doing a New York to Quebec cruise on Silversea at the end of August so your feedback has made me even more excited. So glad you had a great time and looking forward to your vlog series. Thanks
Enjoyed your video. We are doing Canada/New England on the Volendam in September and were worried about the smaller and older ship experience but you've put our minds at ease. Looking forward to your vlog series for more info. Thanks.
So glad you had a great time. We are thinking of taking the 10 day Canada and New England: Montreal, New France and Maine cruise in 2025 on the Volendam. Looking forward to seeing your trip vlogs!
Great video! We are taking our first cruise on the Zaandam this Aug. We are doing the 7 day Alaska inland passage sailing out of Vancouver. Your videos have been extremely helpful in planning our first cruise. Thank you.
That sounds awesome! Looking forward to travelling in off peak times. (Retiring 🍁 teacher at the end of June). I see the Volendam goes to St. Pierre French Territory by NL. That would be cool to check out. Thanks for sharing!
The northbound cruise in May and the southbound cruise in September both east and west coast are so Canadian Snowbirds get a cheap choice on the fare every year. Look at San Diego May3rd north to Vancouver Zaandam. Then in September it goes south back to San Diego. When looking at Holland America cruise patterns watch for the Canadian mariners travel cruises patterns to be the cheapest at the right time of year.👍🛳✌️
Love hearing about different cruise lines. We’ve only sailed Princess (14). Definitely like the smaller ships. Thrilled to hear you had such a wonderful cruise!
I am so glad to hear you had a great experience on this cruise. We usually cruise with Viking because of the size of the ships and we’ve done HAL signature class ships. Large ships with more then 2,000 passenger will not be enjoyable to us. As you said the crew on the ship looked happy probably because they did not feel overwhelmed with passengers to take care off. Can’t wait to see your blog about this cruise.
Not at all. We were cruising the majority of time in the St.Lawrence river so you could hardly feel like we were moving. Once we got into the Atlantic Ocean we thought we might feel some motion but we never did.🛳
What a great experience for you. Your embark, disembark, and cruise experience largely matches what we get, every time, on Oceania, Seabourn or Regent. But we pay a lot more.
We enjoyed eurodam Holland america. The orange party was energetic. Respectful people and fun. No big wildness or worrying about rowdy people. I will go again on holland
We fell for cruising in 2015 on the Amsterdam to Alaska. Took it again for 14 days in 2017. It’s a sister of Volendam, and we loved it! We took another sister, Zaandam, through the Panama Canal last year, and again loved it. We’ve sailed on all current classes of Holland ships, and loved them all, but the R class (the previous Rotterdam was the class leader) will always have a special place in our hearts. We did the New England/Canada cruise in the other direction in May of 2018, on the Maasdam (from the previous class). We had weather similar to what you experienced, and really enjoyed it.
This will be my 3rd smaller ship cruise in the past year - Disney Magic, NCL Gem and now the Volendam - sailing in 18 days! This is definitely the time when smaller is better! I’m also on the 24 day NE, Canada, Greenland and Iceland!
I went on the Volendam 18 months ago, I did not know that there was a theater on that nice ship. I will be going on the Zaandam in December so I will be looking to see if that sister ship has the theater.
I love the idea of the smaller ships, not too small so I’d get sea sick! But I loathed the crowded lifts on the Royal Princess. I did walk from deck 7 to 14 quite often!!!
You guys have to try Virgin Voyages. Don’t be afraid. I’m a Canadian in my 50s and after trying VV I will never cruise with another cruise line. I’m so glad virgin will be doing a very similar itinerary as this HA cruise.
@@CruisingCanucks I did one on Discovery a few months back. Absolutely loved it. Would happily go back again. The Glasshouse was our favourite spot. So nice in there
I think the lobster in Peggy's cove was fresh off a boat. In Bar Harbour it was probably drop shipped from Canada. IE extra fees. All the Dam ships are great. What would make them better, I would say, grand Dutch cafe. And pizza...
Cruising like it once was! Helps those understand why us old cruisers ( 1984 to present ) comment that cruising is no where near what it once was. All the venues on huge ships nice but doesn't fulfill relaxing cruise that small ships did. I remember happy crews, lack of lines, etc, miss them. George in NY
I'm just got off the Nieuw Statendam (June 2024) and the exact same thing happened on our cruise. We went to the music trivia event in the BB King area and the jewelry store that is right opposite it started a raffle event with very loud announcements over a microphone that competed with the trivia host's narrative and the music. It seemed unbelievably poor timing.
We don’t think you could go wrong on either HAL’s ships but we definitely enjoyed the smaller ship more than we expected we would. We would be inclined to book the Zaamdam.
July 13, just arrived home Boston to Montreal.Price point was good but if you travel on more than one Holland America Cruise the food is exactly the same. If this is the best ever cruise, you need to graduate!
It was certaiy one of our best cruises ever. Loved the ports, service entertainment and always love HAL food after cruising with them lots. Can’t wait for our next one in February.
@@CruisingCanucks Great for you! The itinerary was unique and spectacular. Cruising 9 knots up the St. Lawrence seaway, barely drifting. Sydney was my favorite port, it reminded me of the small industrial town that I live near Pittsburgh! Service is always great on HAL as well as the food, it's just the same food every cruise regardless of the ship. July 6 from Boston was a geriatric ward with a few grandparents hosting their young grandchildren.
We are booked on Celebrity for a similar cruise in Sept. Based on your experience, would you just recommend booking excursions or getting off in the ports and walking around?
The majority of ports you can just explore on your own. Sydney was the one location that we would recommend booking a ship excursion. Quebec, Halifax, Charlottetown and Bar Harbor were all post that had lots to see and do right at were our ship docked.
@@CruisingCanucks Thank you so much for this information. We have never cruised with Celebrity before. Once on Holland American and mostly with Viking and Oceania, but many of our neighbors are going on this one.
On the sister ship, Zaandam, I had the same experience. I did not realize there were as many people on board until the debarkation day. They did something different that time where the customs officers came on-board rather than doing the process on shore. Until then, I never saw "crowds" during a seven-day cruise. Holland America did a great job of having enough activities scattered through the day that I never felt that there were 1,200 passengers. On the Konnigsdam, had the same experience, even though it was twice the occupancy. Very few, or no lines. Very few, or no crowded activities. Excellent experience for my first cruise! Thank you for enjoying your vacation, but more for sharing an excellent review for others to learn about HAL. :)
Thanks for sharing. We had a very similar experience on our voyage. The only day there was a crowd was when we had to clear customs onboard in Bar Harbor.
We went exactly on this ship after you, from Boston to Montreal and we glad you did enjoy it too! Everything is true.
Wonderful to hear that you had a great cruise.🛳
Our first HAL cruise was on the Amsterdam in 2015 where we fell in love with a smaller ship and the classic cruise experience offered by HAL. We have been loyal HAL cruisers ever since. We recently experienced a 14 day cruise on a 600 psx cspacity ship that is a corporate cousin if HAL. Loved it, but our bank account needed some healing
We have often looked at cruise lines with smaller ships but the budget didn’t make it an option for us. This was the best of both worlds for us.🛳
Thank you - we'll be doing the 11 day in August so I appreciate your review - can't wait. 🙂
Glad it was helpful!
I have enjoyed this series very much. In 10 days I will be boarding this ship doing a round trip out of Boston. All the videos were really helpful regarding port information. I too was worried about the ship being too small but you have helped to alleviate those concerns. The casino looks to be a decent size as well. That's very important, lol.
Have a great cruise. We thought the ship was a great size. Thanks for watching.🛳
Enjoyed your videos on the Volendam. I’ll be sailing on her in October for 14 days Montreal to Ft. Lauderdale. And then again in 2025 on the epic Pole to Pole….perhaps you’ll do a segment! Also, just off the Zuiderdam and we had lobster tail and steak on dressy night sans surcharge. But it was a legendary voyage so perhaps they have different options.
Sounds phenomenal. Wonderful cruises you have planned.It makes sense if they do offer things on their legendary voyages that you don’t see normally.
As a lifelong New Englander, you were incredibly lucky to get out of Logan with your sanity. Boston Logan has been under construction since Noah was an intern at AccuWeather! We always try to sail on the smaller ships, so much more fun! Great vlog! I'm sure it gave a lot of info to people who, in the age of huge ships, do not know how great sailing on a smaller ship can be!
Thanks for that! We were surprised how quiet Boston was. We were expecting it to be much busier. Maybe because it was a long weekend a lot of people were elsewhere.
I really like your approach. You are genuine!
We appreciate that! Thanks for your kind feedback.
Awesome overview. This will be our next cruise!
It is a wonderful ship with a great itinerary!
Thanks for your vlog on the HAL Volendam. We will be on her for 42 days in Nov/Dec - you have made it even harder for us to wait for our cruise!!
It would definitely be a hard wait for us. We have been looking at booking it again or at the sister ships. Have a great cruise.🛳 42 days sounds wonderful!
We are on the 42 Day cruise Nov/Dec. Looking forward to this cruise.
Hi Jill and Jerry, I completely agree with your review! HAL ships are great and many times hidden gems….while others are running for the mega ship experience. Hal has fabulous service, happy staff, always cleaning and attending to guests. It is wonderful to sail to many places on shoulder seasons. We travel a lot on the shoulder as it saves money, time and crowd control. I also agree for us Canadians….we get to spend in our own country and no exchange! Amen! Not often our reality as cruisers/travellers. We look forward to our next Hal cruise! Good to see you both! 😊Happy travels! ❤
Thanks for sharing your experience. We were so happy with how wonderful our time was on the Volendam.
Didn't know about that stand by option for HAL, good to know if you can pack and leave quickly. Lovely to hear about the lack of crowds and waiting, thats a real plus. Your itinerary is nearly exactly the same as our Celebrity Eclipse in September so will be interesting to see how busy it will be for us. Often in the UK embarkation times are not until the afternoon and sometimes not until 3pm so that's fab you got on at 1130. Sounds fabulous entertainment and food for a small ship too. Volendam definitely sounds like our sort of ship!
We definitely had a fantastic experience.🛳
I just got off the Zuiderdam in Amsterdam today. I love Holland America and I agree with everything you have said but I’d like to comment on something that I think is taken for granted. Every HAL ship has beautiful fresh flower arrangements all over the ship from small bouquets on tables to giant floral arrangements. It’s such an elegant touch. Also there is a great deal of art not only paintings lining the hallways but interesting sculptures all well labeled. Unfortunately many people seem to be in a hurry to get from venue to venue and don’t appreciate the decor. I’ve been on all the current HAL ships except the Volendam and have booked it for next year on an Amazon cruise. Can’t wait to enjoy it.
We agree with you. Mrs.Canuck is always stopping g to smell the rose quite literally whenever we are on a HAL ship.🛳
Wow. You had more and better music on the Volendam than we had on the Nieuw Statendam earlier this month.
The music was incredible along with so many other things on this cruise.
We are booked on the 24 day Iceland, Greenland, Canada and Maine cruise. Thank you for all the wonderful news about the ship, great entertainment including the Step One Dancers that we loved on our Norway cruise and the food. This will be our smallest ship and longest cruise so we are so excited. I will definitely send a message if the jewelry person interferes with the music. Looking forward to your blogs.
Have a wonderful cruise. 22 days should be fantastic!🛳
@@leslieoconnell2051 I’m on that cruise too. Getting myself even more excited with these great videos!
@@eileenloring6660 see you there
We are so glad you had such a great cruise. We had a similar experience on the Oceania Regatta. We are looking forward to our HAL small ship cruise next month.
It confirmed with us that you can still have a fabulous vacation on an older ship. We loved the smaller size and il definitely be looking for more in the future.
Nice to hear this. After 34 cruises on Princess I am booked on Noordam in Australia December 2025.
Wow! Sounds wonderful. Enjoy🛳
As you probably know, the MS Noordam is a ~2000 passenger ship. I have sailed on two of is sister ships. You should enjoy it. There will be more music venues on the bigger ship.
We did a 33 day trans Pacific on the Noordam in Oct 2022. It was absolutely amazing. Hope your trip is as great!
Nice to know. We are going with the Zaandam in februari. Same ship like Volendam
Have fun! Where are you cruising to?
Yes the best cruise I've ever been on was the Sun Viking nearly 50 years ago. Less than 500 passengers. Great food, really great service and no crowds. Love the smaller ships. And thanks for talking about the elevators. I wish more content makers would talk about it. It can affect the experience.
Loving the smaller size cruise ships! 🛳️
We went on this same cruise in June, except from Boston to Montreal, and I agree with everything you said. I thought it was a wonderful cruise and the entertainment was top notch.
Glad to here that you loved it as much as we did!
So glad to hear your positive experience. We are sailing the same ship/itinerary in Sept.
Can’t wait to see all your upcoming videos.
My wife and I love your videos, sense of humor, and interaction with each other.
We hope to sail and meet you one day. We live in the Atlanta area.
Thank you. That is very kind. Have a marvellous cruise.🛳
Sailed on Volendam last August in Alaska and loved it!! Clean ship, perfect size and awesome crew!!
We agree! Hope to sail this ship again.🛳
Nov 8 on the Rotterdam. 3rd cruise this year on HAL. Food is amazing. I just had a bad experiemce at the Pinnacle Grill. Where I come from "Jumbo Lump Crabcakes" have big chunks of crabmeat. I don't mean to seem petty, but these were same tiny nuggets served on Rotterdam in April. Steak was ok, but had to send back the tough and chewey $35.00 Lobster tail. Volendam has some issues...
Unfortunate that you had a bad experience.
We have only been on one HAL ship and that was the Volendam wayyyy back in 2012! We loved it! The size was to great to navigate.
We thought the same as you. We loved how easy it was to get wherever you wanted.
I'm glad you had a great time. I love the Volendam.
It is a wonderful little cruise ship. We will definitely be trying to book more cruises this size.🛳
I always travel on my cruises in April and November. It is such a great time to take a cruise
We did this itinerary last summer on the Zaandam and really enjoyed it. We stayed in a small hotel in Montreal right across from the port so we were able to explore Montreal before we got on the ship and getting on the ship took about 10 minutes. I would love to do it again. The only thing I missed by being on the smaller ship was not having Tamarind, that is my fave.
Thanks for sharing! Tamarind is a great restaurant. On our voyage they turned the Pinnacle Grill into an Asian restaurant for one night.
Thanks for a "real" cruise vlog. Well done!
Glad you enjoyed it!
We met you in February on an excursion in St. Lucia with your group. Such a fun bunch. Following you and enjoy your experiences so much. 😊
Awesome! Thank you! That was a fun day even though Mrs.Canuck lost her prescription sunglasses 😎
@@CruisingCanucks oh that's hilarious cause my husband list just too in those crazy waves off the boat 🥸😎😆
Going on the Zaandam this summer to Alaska, similar in size to the Volendam. So happy to hear about your experience, makes me look forward to mine even more!
Have fun!🛳
Happy to hear you enjoyed your cruise. We love HAL. We were on the Volendam to Alaska in 2011. This sounds like a nice itinerary, would love to see the east coast.
Yes it was! We so enjoyed the itinerary. Can’t believe we didn’t do this cruise earlier!
So glad you had such a positive experience. I haven't cruised in over 20 years, but had cruised about 15 cruises beginning in the mid '90s. My first cruise was on HAL's previous Westerdam, and I fell in love with it, and with cruising. Your enthusiasm about this cruise reminded me of my first experience. It brought back wonderful memories. Thank you!
Thanks for sharing! Your are correct that we felt so happy after this wonderful cruise experience that it is reminiscent of our feelings after our first ever cruise.🛳
Really enjoyed your video. Your honesty and integrity come through. We’ll be doing this cruise in September from Quebec City to Boston, but a stop in Portland instead of Bar Harbor. (I’m a little disappointed about missing Bar Harbor as I had a classmate and roommate from Bar Harbor at the US Coast Guard Academy way back when, 50 years ago.) And, we will be on the Zuiderdam. A comment that I hope that you will take constructively is that I thought the video could have been shorter and more concise. If this is your style then so be it. I totally get why this was the “perfect” cruise for you. I’m a huge fan of HAL, as I already have 3 future cruises already booked with HAL.
Thank you for watching and your comment. Bar Harbor is a great spot but very small so we understand they they are restricting ship to the area. We love HAL also and have more cruises booked with them. Have a fabulous cruise in September.🛳
@@CruisingCanucks Thank you for your reply. I’ve watched and liked your videos for the days of the this cruise , and really enjoyed. You really give a feel for the experience of the day, either on the ship or visiting the port. We’re heading to Amsterdam on Tuesday as we are doing a HAL cruise around Iceland with stops in Norway, Shetland Islands and 2 in northern Scotland. Enjoy your next cruise.
Wow that sounds like an awesome cruise! Have a great time.
I knew you would have a great time! I did the same cruise last May on the Zaandam. I had the same reservations about a smaller ship but was also pleasantly surprised by how great it was. I loved this cruise and plan to repeat it again in the next couple of years. I am a loyal HAL cruiser and counting down the days until my October cruise to Hawaii on the Koningsdam. I look forward to watching your vlogs of the cruise and discovering the secret word!🤩
It was a great surprise just how much we enjoyed ourselves. Have a wonderful cruise on the Koningsdam this fall.🛳
My first cruise was in 1992 on HAL Rotterdam. Loved the smaller ship and staff.
Us too!🛳
Hubby and I are about 2 weeks out, and I'm so happy to hear it's a very good cruise. We'll be traveling from southern Ontario to start our cruise from Boston, our first night celebrating our 39th anniversary. I believe we find out our embarkation time tomorrow, but check in, luggage and boarding passes, dinner reservation, excursions, and prepaid gratuities with our Have it All, done as soon as I realized I could. And travel arrangements and hotel in Boston were done at booking back in November. I guess I can chalk that up to the 30 years of following my military husband (who's been retired for 10 years).
Sounds like you are well prepared. Have a fabulous cruise. Happy Anniversary 🍾
thank you for this video. Hal is our favorite cruise line but we have yet to try any of the older ships because it was just natural to go for the new ones. we have canada/new england booked for next year and this was great information!
Glad it was helpful! Have a great cruise.
Having cruised all the big ships and medium size - Volendam was one of my favourite cruise 🚢. Can’t wait to get on board again .
We feel exactly the same. We will definitely be trying to get back again.
James and I are so happy that this cruise was way more than what you had expected. You two needed a reprieve from your last cruise and glad that this one fit the bill!❤
Very true. It was a total opposite experience which confirmed with us where we need to focus our future cruise plans.
Was on the same ship, same itinerary, but a decade ago. One of my favorite cruises, I find that ship size to be absolutely perfect. I'm GF and every meal, I could get a specially made version of a dish, although so many dishes were GF naturally, so it was rarely needed. Perfect service.
The service they provide for special dietary needs we impressive.
This is a cruise I would love as I am navigational challenged lol. Funny story about east coast music, we call it our Canadian reggae to our Jamaican friends. Nice update😊 thanks.
Lol 😂 Great description! It just makes you feel joyful.
One of my favourite itineraries when I don’t want to be far from home. Loved it on. Zaandam. Will try this one.
Hope you enjoy it!
Looking forward to the vlogs on this sailing.
There's too few ships sailing to/from Canadian ports.
It is slowly starting to become a little more popular. We will definitely be doing this cruise itinerary again. It was fabulous.
Holland uses local food. We love Holland. We have not done an Eastern Canada trip yet, but yours sounds like it was amazing!
It's so good! We really recommend it. 🛳
Oh my goodness! This sounds and looks terrific! Thanks for the information! I now have it on my "to do" list!!!
You would love it 🥰
We're headed to Boston for this cruise in ten days (the north bound cruise)! THANKS! Can't wait! 44 cruises?!?!?! Holy Socks! When did you guys start and how many a year do you do? This will be our third with a Panama Canal (4th) in February. Planning two a year till we die. Thanks for this review!!!!
We have been cruising for 17 years. When we first started we would cruise annually but that has been increasing each year when possible.
This is really good to hear because i’m going on an Australian/New Zealand cruise with Holland next February. I found a real good deal on the cruise too.
That sounds wonderful! Have a fabulous cruise.🛳️
🎉Glad you had such a great time!!! We had a similar experience on Azamara Mediterranean last year, only 750 people....amazing service...no lines whatsoever...great great time!! THANKS ❤❤❤
Amazing! We would love to be on a ship with that few people.🛳
Thankyou for a wonderful overview of your experience. This has made me want to give Holland America another chance!
I had always heard such wonderful things but unfortunately about 11/2 years ago, our first experience with Holland America was terribly disappointing in almost every aspect! Many people on that particular cruise had commented it was not standard for them but it's hard to repeat spending your valuable money and vacation time after such a lacking experience.
However, I will definitely now consider it as this sounded like the perfect cruise for me.
Sorry to hear that you had a bad first experience. Totally understandable why you would be hesitant. We have had only wonderful cruises with HAL.
We love the Volendam, we were on her this past December and like you said it's a wonderful ship. We have 5 more HAL cruise booked
That’s wonderful! Enjoy your upcoming cruises.
This is wonderful to hear you had a spectacular time, and also sailing within Canada! :)
I remember hearing about HAL’s old Prinsendam (which is now MSAmera) which holds around 550 total. Other HAL cruisers over our many sailings spoke of it as a legendary favourite. A unicorn in the HAL fleet. That size is now considered ultra luxury. PS i just read about a much older version of Prinsendam (HAL reuses ship names) Unfortunately, it actually sank 1980 due to engine fire. All crew and passengers rescued and survived!
Wow thanks for sharing. We had a fabulous cruise and are already planning on trying to cruise this itinerary again.🛳
I enjoyed your reporting. We're booked on the Volendam and their 24 days, Boston - Canada - Greenland - Iceland - Boston cruise. We were on her sister ship the Zaandam and a Panama cruise in January. I love their smaller ships. I'd agree with many of the points you brought up. The elevators were a pleasant surprise to us also. I also enjoyed the live band in the Ocean Bar live band and how the wait staff that quickly learned our names and preferences. Our previous sailing was on the larger Koningsdam, and I'd agree the musical entertainment was as good. We love HAL above all the other ships we've been aboard. Thank You for a fantastic preview.
Wonderful to hear about your experience. We now want to try all of HAL’s smaller size ships.🛳
The entertainment is perfect for me!❤
It was wonderful!
Glad to hear that you enjoyed it. We did this cruise in June last year. Entertainment was poor and the dining room was a mess. Long lines and poor service. I am sure that we just encountered a bad experience as we have enjoyed HAL before.
That is unfortunate to hear.
Did Australia and New Zealand on the Noordam years ago. Excellent!!
That sounds wonderful.🛳️
That sounds absolutely fabulous! So happy you had such a wonderful cruise! New England weather is gorgeous in May, we lived on the North Shore of Boston for many many years and used to love late spring time ❤😊
It was a wonderful trip and the weather couldn’t of been better.🛳
Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Maybe next up should be a river cruise. 😃
A river cruise is definitely on our wish list.🛳
We are doing a New York to Quebec cruise on Silversea at the end of August so your feedback has made me even more excited. So glad you had a great time and looking forward to your vlog series. Thanks
Sounds like you have a wonderful cruise booked. Thanks for watching.🛳
Enjoyed your video. We are doing Canada/New England on the Volendam in September and were worried about the smaller and older ship experience but you've put our minds at ease. Looking forward to your vlog series for more info. Thanks.
It was an amazing cruise. Enjoy 😊
So glad you had a great time. We are thinking of taking the 10 day Canada and New England: Montreal, New France and Maine cruise in 2025 on the Volendam. Looking forward to seeing your trip vlogs!
We thought it was amazing. We are already looking to do it all again.
Great video! We are taking our first cruise on the Zaandam this Aug. We are doing the 7 day Alaska inland passage sailing out of Vancouver. Your videos have been extremely helpful in planning our first cruise. Thank you.
Have a fantastic first cruise! Thanks for watching.🛳
Looking forward to these vlogs! We are doing this itinerary in September on the Emerald Princess.
That’s wonderful! Have a great cruise.🛳
Sounds like you had a fantastic experience--looking forward as we are on this ship mid June. Thanks for posting.
Have fun! It is a wonderful cruise.🛳
Thank you for this review. Your enthusiasm came through. We’re happy for you. QUESTION: No buffet?
There was a very lovely buffet.🛳
That sounds awesome! Looking forward to travelling in off peak times. (Retiring 🍁 teacher at the end of June). I see the Volendam goes to St. Pierre French Territory by NL. That would be cool to check out. Thanks for sharing!
Congratulations on your upcoming retirement!🥳 We have looked at the same itinerary and would love to cruise to Newfoundland and St.Pierre.
The northbound cruise in May and the southbound cruise in September both east and west coast are so Canadian Snowbirds get a cheap choice on the fare every year.
Look at San Diego May3rd north to Vancouver Zaandam. Then in September it goes south back to San Diego.
When looking at Holland America cruise patterns watch for the Canadian mariners travel cruises patterns to be the cheapest at the right time of year.👍🛳✌️
They do have some good rates at the shoulder season when they are repositioning the cruise lines.
Wow sounds like you had a lovely time and we can’t wait to see your daily videos on this cruise 🚢👍 take care and thank you for the great information 😁
Thank you for watching. 🛳️
Love hearing about different cruise lines. We’ve only sailed Princess (14). Definitely like the smaller ships. Thrilled to hear you had such a wonderful cruise!
We had a fabulous time. We loved the size of ship.🛳
I am so glad to hear you had a great experience on this cruise. We usually cruise with Viking because of the size of the ships and we’ve done HAL signature class ships. Large ships with more then 2,000 passenger will not be enjoyable to us. As you said the crew on the ship looked happy probably because they did not feel overwhelmed with passengers to take care off. Can’t wait to see your blog about this cruise.
Well said. The staff being happy made the cruise so much more enjoyable for us.
So happy you had a wonderful cruise! Looking forward to the vlogs.
Thanks so much!!
Great info. I have always been concerned with going on this small ship. Any seasickness issues?
Not at all. We were cruising the majority of time in the St.Lawrence river so you could hardly feel like we were moving. Once we got into the Atlantic Ocean we thought we might feel some motion but we never did.🛳
Great information and presentation. Hollander is always my favorite line and I will try this route soon
Awesome! Thank you!
We are taking this cruise June 15th. This video made me even more excited! Thank you!
Have fun! It is a wonderful cruise.🛳
Also, cruising from Monteral on June 15.
What a great experience for you. Your embark, disembark, and cruise experience largely matches what we get, every time, on Oceania, Seabourn or Regent. But we pay a lot more.
We felt that it was an incredible cruise especially when you consider the cost of the voyage.🛳
Interesting because we have done the big p and o ships and are thinking of trying their smallest one, encourages me to give it a go
We were so happy that we tried the smaller ship. We will be looking to get on Moore smaller ships in the future.🛳
I made the same observation, about the smaller stage making the dance shows better, being on the Neiuw Amsterdam vs. the Koningsdam for prior cruises.
We never thought it would leave us feeling differently about the shows. We were pleasantly surprised.🛳
We enjoyed eurodam Holland america. The orange party was energetic. Respectful people and fun. No big wildness or worrying about rowdy people. I will go again on holland
Very true. We met so many people that were just so happy to be on a cruise and experience such great service as we did.
been waiting for your report. glad it was more than you expected. All nice points. Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it.🛳
Sounds fabulous! So happy that you had such a wonderful time.
Thanks 😊 We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to take this cruise. We will definitely be trying to do it again.
We fell for cruising in 2015 on the Amsterdam to Alaska. Took it again for 14 days in 2017. It’s a sister of Volendam, and we loved it! We took another sister, Zaandam, through the Panama Canal last year, and again loved it. We’ve sailed on all current classes of Holland ships, and loved them all, but the R class (the previous Rotterdam was the class leader) will always have a special place in our hearts. We did the New England/Canada cruise in the other direction in May of 2018, on the Maasdam (from the previous class). We had weather similar to what you experienced, and really enjoyed it.
Thanks for sharing. We love hearing about how people started cruising and their experiences. 🛳
Great video! Look forward to the future videos on the Volendam.
Thanks 😊 We are busy in the editing room now!
Thanks for this! Looking forward to seeing the videos of this trip!
We are excited to show off this wonderful cruise experience.🛳
Sounds perfect. But I need to find a round trip cruise. I haven't seen any on Volendam.
There were many people that were staying and doing a back to back cruise.🛳
What an amazing review and trip.
Thank you. It was a an amazing cruise.🛳
This will be my 3rd smaller ship cruise in the past year - Disney Magic, NCL Gem and now the Volendam - sailing in 18 days! This is definitely the time when smaller is better! I’m also on the 24 day NE, Canada, Greenland and Iceland!
We saw that itinerary. It looks wonderful. Have a great cruise.
I went on the Volendam 18 months ago, I did not know that there was a theater on that nice ship. I will be going on the Zaandam in December so I will be looking to see if that sister ship has the theater.
Have a wonderful cruise.🛳
I love the idea of the smaller ships, not too small so I’d get sea sick! But I loathed the crowded lifts on the Royal Princess. I did walk from deck 7 to 14 quite often!!!
We feel like the size of this ship was perfect for crowd control and ease of getting around.
Thanks for such a great detailed video
Thank you for this review!
Thanks for watching and for your support.🛳
You guys have to try Virgin Voyages. Don’t be afraid. I’m a Canadian in my 50s and after trying VV I will never cruise with another cruise line. I’m so glad virgin will be doing a very similar itinerary as this HA cruise.
Good to hear. We have been trying to find a deal to try them out.
It's a lovely looking ship. Glad you had fun.
Are you still booked to do a Marella cruise?
We currently don’t have a Marella cruised book but are always trying to get another on the books.🛳
@@CruisingCanucks I did one on Discovery a few months back. Absolutely loved it. Would happily go back again. The Glasshouse was our favourite spot. So nice in there
We totally agree. Hope that a Marella Cruise lines up for the next time we are in Europe.
I think the lobster in Peggy's cove was fresh off a boat. In Bar Harbour it was probably drop shipped from Canada. IE extra fees. All the Dam ships are great. What would make them better, I would say, grand Dutch cafe. And pizza...
We did miss the Dutch Cafe and New York Deli but would continue to book this class of ship again because it was such a good experience.
Cruising like it once was! Helps those understand why us old cruisers ( 1984 to present ) comment that cruising is no where near what it once was. All the venues on huge ships nice but doesn't fulfill relaxing cruise that small ships did. I remember happy crews, lack of lines, etc, miss them. George in NY
Well said!
Try their sister ship Zaandam, very nice also
That is the plan!🙂
i am very happy you both did 44 cruise when did you start cruiseing and how long it took do 44 it is so much encouregement for people like us
We went on our first cruise 2006 and haven’t looked back!🛳😊
@@CruisingCanucks love you guys
I'm just got off the Nieuw Statendam (June 2024) and the exact same thing happened on our cruise. We went to the music trivia event in the BB King area and the jewelry store that is right opposite it started a raffle event with very loud announcements over a microphone that competed with the trivia host's narrative and the music. It seemed unbelievably poor timing.
They need to create a better schedule so that doesn’t happen.
Have you sailed on the Oosterdam? If so how was it?
We have yet to sail Oosterdam but look forward trying it.
Now that you’ve sailed on the Volendam, would you recommend the Koningsdam or Zaamdam for Alaska?
We don’t think you could go wrong on either HAL’s ships but we definitely enjoyed the smaller ship more than we expected we would. We would be inclined to book the Zaamdam.
July 13, just arrived home Boston to Montreal.Price point was good but if you travel on more than one Holland America Cruise the food is exactly the same. If this is the best ever cruise, you need to graduate!
It was certaiy one of our best cruises ever. Loved the ports, service entertainment and always love HAL food after cruising with them lots. Can’t wait for our next one in February.
@@CruisingCanucks Great for you! The itinerary was unique and spectacular. Cruising 9 knots up the St. Lawrence seaway, barely drifting. Sydney was my favorite port, it reminded me of the small industrial town that I live near Pittsburgh! Service is always great on HAL as well as the food, it's just the same food every cruise regardless of the ship. July 6 from Boston was a geriatric ward with a few grandparents hosting their young grandchildren.
We are booked on Celebrity for a similar cruise in Sept. Based on your experience, would you just recommend booking excursions or getting off in the ports and walking around?
The majority of ports you can just explore on your own. Sydney was the one location that we would recommend booking a ship excursion. Quebec, Halifax, Charlottetown and Bar Harbor were all post that had lots to see and do right at were our ship docked.
@@CruisingCanucks Thank you so much for this information. We have never cruised with Celebrity before. Once on Holland American and mostly with Viking and Oceania, but many of our neighbors are going on this one.