Coda, A Dam Good Voyage.

There are good ships. there are wood ships,

There are ships that sail the sea,

but the best ships are friendships,

And May they always be.

Holland America’s Mariner Society appropriated that old Irish toast substituting “dam” for “friend.” And while I love the “dam” ships the original toast is best. It’s the community built, friendships made and renewed that keep us coming back to the “dam” ships.

But beyond human connection this cruise was outstanding because of the itinerary. It took us to places we had never visited. We traveled 25,422 Nautical Miles and only missed one port of call. For most of the trip we traveled in a bubble of good weather. I read 8 books and lost 5 pounds.

Holland America has upped its game in several areas. Music is only getting better. Classical Music is back after being dropped for a while. The mainstage has live music backing up acts again instead of the high class karaoke that we had for the past few grand voyages and the dance band that backs up mainstage does jazz sets when not on mainstage. The Mainstage Company is getting ever better in their production shows.

Holland America has also restored the Destination Guide, the person on board who does the port lectures and holds office hours to help us plan our independent forays ashore. Emryn did a great job.

Another innovation Suzi liked was making Lobster available in the Lido when we didn’t have the energy or inclination to get dressed up on formal or dressy nights.

But when cruise mates commented “This was the best cruise ever.” I had trouble agreeing. While it was a “dam good cruise” it wasn’t “Grand.” On my first HAL Grand Voyage I was blown away by everything. It was much more than I expected. This cruise was about what I had expected on that first Grand Voyage 11 years ago. Pretty Dam good. Had it been my first Grand Voyage I would have considered it “Grand.”

Because HAL needs to keep the price point that will keep us sailing on company ships it has reduced staff in the Lido, Main Dining Room and with the room stewards (Each stateroom team had 34 cabins, when we started Grand Voyages it was 27.) I understand the need to trim financial costs but it does come at a cost in service, and I suspect in wear and tear on the crew.

In The Lido it took staff longer to clear tables or to get us our drinks than in the past. I can get drinks myself. What I missed was enough time to talk with the waiters and waitresses. They were often too busy to spend time chatting. Getting to know folks who are serving you is one of the joys of a Grand Voyage. The Lido staff were friendly and competent, I got to know some of them a bit but not as well as in the past.

The Main Dining Room was hit or miss. Sometimes great service, sometimes not so much. At times when we arrived between 5:15 and 5:30 we either missed the 7:30 show or had to skip dessert to make the show. Sometimes meals were tepid and ice cream was a puddle rather than a scoop. Sometimes there was no salt in the grinder (it always seemed to be the salt) or we had two salt or two pepper grinders on the table. The food was flavorful, the choice good but service inconsistent.

Communications were poor. On past Grand Voyages we got a preview of entertainment for the next two weeks, not this time. In past cruises the time zone shifts were listed in the Navigator well in advance. On this cruise they were added at the last minute, if at all. I am on several boards and need to plan meetings so I need to know what the time will be to schedule meetings. Once I called Guest Services to ask when the clocks would be advanced. They said “There will be a card in your room.” I had to explain WHY I needed to know when the clocks would advance before they told me. I have already blogged about our reboarding in Melbourne and about the confusion about the time for our airport departure.

Then, there was communication from the captain, or lack of it. I can’t even remember the name of our first captain. He avoided bad weather, gave us a smooth ride and looked out for our welfare, a good captain, but he didn’t say much, minimal noon announcements and no Captain’s Q&A. That’s different from past Grand Voyages. Tim Robert’s witty noon announcements, Jonathan Mercer’s charisma and photo blog, Captain Rens, well, almost everything he did, and Captain Paul Adams’s presentations and wandering the ship stopping at tables to chat were all integral to the Grand Voyage experiene. This lack of a visible captain was brought home to me on two occasions. In Sydney I ran into Volendam’s Captain Rens. He pointed to me, laughed and said, “I forgive you for being on the wrong ship.” He remembered a passenger from a year before. The second occasion was when Thomas Van Bentham became captain. He did a coffee chat, cut cheese at a sail away, manned one of the carnival booths and we had a few chats as he was wandering the ship, bringing Suzi and Me up to date on his daughter Lily, who was a toddler traveling with Thomas and his wife in the 2018 Grand World when he was staff captain.

Finally, I did not develop a strong attachment to the ship. Almost everyone loved Prinsendam. It had its own cachet and was a favorite for South America and Med grand voyages. Amsterdam was the traditional ship for world cruises. Captain Mercer and Hotel Manager Henk built affection for “The Beautiful Amsterdam” over years. While I had no affection for Volendam to start, Captain Ren’s obvious love for his “Beautiful, Elegant Volendam” was infectious. It first it was a standing joke on last year’s P2P and then the slogan appeared on t shirts. I developed a genuine affection for Volendam.

Zaandam is a good ship, a comfortable ship, a beautiful ship, and because of her similarity with Amsterdam and Volendam, a familiar ship, but not a ship that I became attached to. I realized that when I made a sunrise Facebook post near the end of the cruise with the tag “Good Morning Volendam.” I took a lot of ribbing for that but it says something.

I don’t want to give the impression that I didn’t love this cruise. On the HAL evaluation I gave it an 8 out of 10. I would take this cruise on this ship again in a heartbeat! I had a wonderful time with friends and will continue to be an advocate for HAL. When asked if I would recommend HAL to family and friends I gave it a 10. This cruise was better than anything I could have expected when I started taking long cruises. But times change. I need to adjust my expectations.