What Ship, Itinerary and Events Made This Happen on Holland America's Volendam. 

We went exactly on this ship after you, from Boston to Montreal and we glad you did enjoy it too! Everything is true.

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. :)

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.

Wow. You had more and better music on the Volendam than we had on the Nieuw Statendam earlier this month.

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

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!

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.

Thank you - we'll be doing the 11 day in August so I appreciate your review - can't wait. 🙂

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!!

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!

Nice to hear this. After 34 cruises on Princess I am booked on Noordam in Australia December 2025.

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.

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.

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.

Awesome overview. This will be our next cruise!

Sailed on Volendam last August in Alaska and loved it!! Clean ship, perfect size and awesome crew!!

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.

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!❤

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! ❤

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.

been waiting for your report. glad it was more than you expected. All nice points. Thank you.

I really like your approach. You are genuine!

Thanks for this! Looking forward to seeing the videos of this trip!

Sounds fabulous! So happy that you had such a wonderful time.

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.

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.

I'm glad you had a great time. I love the Volendam.

So happy you had a wonderful cruise! Looking forward to the vlogs.

What an amazing review and trip.

Sounds like you had a fantastic experience--looking forward as we are on this ship mid June. Thanks for posting.

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 😁

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).

The entertainment is perfect for me!❤

Great video! Look forward to the future videos on the Volendam.

Nice to know. We are going with the Zaandam in februari. Same ship like Volendam

Oh my goodness! This sounds and looks terrific! Thanks for the information! I now have it on my "to do" list!!!

Thank you for this review!

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 ❤😊

Great information and presentation. Hollander is always my favorite line and I will try this route soon

Having cruised all the big ships and medium size - Volendam was one of my favourite cruise 🚢. Can’t wait to get on board again .

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!

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!

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.

One of my favourite itineraries when I don’t want to be far from home. Loved it on. Zaandam. Will try this one.

🎉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 ❤❤❤

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.

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!🤩

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

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.

Thanks for a "real" cruise vlog. Well done!

My first cruise was in 1992 on HAL Rotterdam. Loved the smaller ship and staff.

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.

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!

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!

Looking forward to these vlogs! We are doing this itinerary in September on the Emerald Princess.

Did Australia and New Zealand on the Noordam years ago. Excellent!!

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

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 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

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.

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 are taking this cruise June 15th. This video made me even more excited! Thank you!

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.

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!

Glad you enjoyed your cruise! Maybe next up should be a river cruise. 😃

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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. 😊

Looking forward to the vlogs on this sailing. There's too few ships sailing to/from Canadian ports.

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!

Holland uses local food. We love Holland. We have not done an Eastern Canada trip yet, but yours sounds like it was amazing!

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!!!

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

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

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.

Thank you for this review. Your enthusiasm came through. We’re happy for you. QUESTION: No buffet?

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.

Sounds perfect. But I need to find a round trip cruise. I haven't seen any on Volendam.

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!!!!

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...

Watched this video and having made the decision that Pinnacle class is a bit too big after 3 sailings on Rotterdam, we have booked Volendam for a 2025 sailing.

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.

Great info. I have always been concerned with going on this small ship. Any seasickness issues?

Try their sister ship Zaandam, very nice also

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's a lovely looking ship. Glad you had fun. Are you still booked to do a Marella cruise?

It's what I tell my friends, Canadians are very nice people, don't seem to carry that air of entitlment but very clever and and well spoken. You get the feeling of a life lead by common sense.😉

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

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.

Now that you’ve sailed on the Volendam, would you recommend the Koningsdam or Zaamdam for Alaska?

Most importantly, the Wang Wang was tried! 🍸 🍹

Have you sailed on the Oosterdam? If so how was it?

We are also sailing away at 7 pm. What time did boarding begin and what time were cabins available?

Great review, eh?

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?

Would you recommend this cruise to people who have been/lived at all the stops.