Veendam Bermuda Review

[CRUISELDP]

Firstly I want to say I am a huge HAL fan and cruise with them a lot, so I know what to expect, and I do not expect Carnival conditions on HAL ships. The Veendam although it just went through dry dock was still in need of updating. It seems like they just put some new carpets down, maybe some new bedding but overall they did not update areas such as the Ocean Bar, all ship bathrooms, and stateroom bathrooms.

 

Many areas of the ship I found disgusting. The glass doors leading to the Retreat Pool area were always filthy dirty & covered with fingerprints. Towels were scarce at best and old and frayed in most cases. The lido buffet was not cleaned as often or efficiently as it should have been and had to go looking for clean forks to have lunch on two occasions. Glasses, dirty dishes covered the outside areas and were left for hours on end sitting around. At one point I was walking by the employee entrance by the lido buffet and the door was open, there was food on the floor and it looked like it had not been cleaned for ages.

 

 

We had basically no air conditioning working for almost 3 days, and then when it did work it was weak at best. They ended up giving us a credit which was not nearly enough but better than nothing. They also washed my husbands suit instead of dry cleaning and ruined the entire suit. They tried fixing it two times, but once you wash a good suit it is garbage. They gave us chocolate covered strawberry's to make up for that.

 

The new "Retreat" back deck area was horrible! They took out the pool which is pretty stupid being that there is only one other pool in mid ship which was always packed like sardines. Instead of a pool they put all these lounge chairs in this wading pool it had about 4 inches of water in it. So to get to your lounge chair you had to slosh through water and hold all your stuff on your lap as you could not put it down due to the water.

 

The mid ship pool had to be drained twice as once someone threw plates and glasses in the pool and once a child had an accident. Kids were playing in the hot tubs, water wings and all, no room for adults.

 

They seemed very short staffed in dining room and common areas so I guess that's why the ship was overall grungy looking. I think this is the first time we did not get to know our waiter that well, and we only saw our assistant waiter the "last night" when he came over and was very friendly to us.

 

 

OOOH and the best part was that at night up in the bar the Crow's Nest they allowed 4 and 5 year old children to kick off their shoes and roll around on the dance floor at 11:00 at night. They also ran around the bar, screamed and of course the parents ignored them, and in fact they also took off their shoes and rolled around the dance floor with the kids. I am not kidding, this happened at least 5 nights. Ship said this is acceptable even after numerous complaints from many guests - myself included.

 

Overall I was very dissatisfied with the conditions of the ship and how short staffed they were. HAL should really figure out if they want to go the route of ships like Carnival or go back to the standard of excellence that people have come to expect and associate with the HAL line. :(

[sculptress]

Firstly I want to say I am a huge HAL fan and cruise with them a lot, so I know what to expect, and I do not expect Carnival conditions on HAL ships. The Veendam although it just went through dry dock was still in need of updating. It seems like they just put some new carpets down, maybe some new bedding but overall they did not update areas such as the Ocean Bar, all ship bathrooms, and stateroom bathrooms.

 

Many areas of the ship I found disgusting. The glass doors leading to the Retreat Pool area were always filthy dirty & covered with fingerprints. Towels were scarce at best and old and frayed in most cases. The lido buffet was not cleaned as often or efficiently as it should have been and had to go looking for clean forks to have lunch on two occasions. Glasses, dirty dishes covered the outside areas and were left for hours on end sitting around. At one point I was walking by the employee entrance by the lido buffet and the door was open, there was food on the floor and it looked like it had not been cleaned for ages.

 

 

We had basically no air conditioning working for almost 3 days, and then when it did work it was weak at best. They ended up giving us a credit which was not nearly enough but better than nothing. They also washed my husbands suit instead of dry cleaning and ruined the entire suit. They tried fixing it two times, but once you wash a good suit it is garbage. They gave us chocolate covered strawberry's to make up for that.

 

The new "Retreat" back deck area was horrible! They took out the pool which is pretty stupid being that there is only one other pool in mid ship which was always packed like sardines. Instead of a pool they put all these lounge chairs in this wading pool it had about 4 inches of water in it. So to get to your lounge chair you had to slosh through water and hold all your stuff on your lap as you could not put it down due to the water.

 

The mid ship pool had to be drained twice as once someone threw plates and glasses in the pool and once a child had an accident. Kids were playing in the hot tubs, water wings and all, no room for adults.

 

They seemed very short staffed in dining room and common areas so I guess that's why the ship was overall grungy looking. I think this is the first time we did not get to know our waiter that well, and we only saw our assistant waiter the "last night" when he came over and was very friendly to us.

 

 

OOOH and the best part was that at night up in the bar the Crow's Nest they allowed 4 and 5 year old children to kick off their shoes and roll around on the dance floor at 11:00 at night. They also ran around the bar, screamed and of course the parents ignored them, and in fact they also took off their shoes and rolled around the dance floor with the kids. I am not kidding, this happened at least 5 nights. Ship said this is acceptable even after numerous complaints from many guests - myself included.

 

Overall I was very dissatisfied with the conditions of the ship and how short staffed they were. HAL should really figure out if they want to go the route of ships like Carnival or go back to the standard of excellence that people have come to expect and associate with the HAL line. :(

 

Thank you for the posting on the Veendam. I'm a devoted Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruiser. Occasionally I've gone on NCL and once on Carnival. But I've never heard of such a terrible experience as you had on HAL. I'll be cruising on the Veendam to Bermuda in August and I'm certainly now not looking forward to it.

[milleruszk]

Because we will be first time Holland America cruisers, I find your review most interesting. We will be taking the same cruise next month. Your main complaints seem to be the overall condition of the ship, the unruly children in inappropriate places and the air-conditioning. Holland America can fix 2 of these conditions. I don't know what they can do about the unruly kids. I certainly hope they fix the air conditioning before our cruise. Naturally, because this will be our first time on Holland America, we will be on the lookout for the conditions that you cite. Thanks for your review.

[dtiger]

I'm going on this ship in Sept. with the intent of hopefully avoiding the unruly kids.

[MikeT718]

CRUISELDP

I am sorry you did not enjoy the cruise we were both on I will agree with you they kept the AC a little too warm for me but I was told by my DW and our friends that it was just me. So maybe it was just not me. Also I found the ship to be very clean. As I stated in my review I saw at least 1/2 dozen workers on their hands and knees cleaning the baseboards. As to the Crows Nest I am very surprised because they say no one under 18 is allowed in the Nest at night. I can not talk about the Retreat as I spent no time there

[babygirl722]

I certainly hope that OP has contacted HAL and made them aware of the situation.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you very much for your honest review.

 

I have been flamed a couple of times for mentioning about the shortage of staff -- have witnessed similar conditions -- and this was on other ships.

 

Hope your next cruise will be better on whatever cruise line you sail on.

[CRUISELDP]

Usually my reviews are nothing but raves about HAL so this was very hard to write a review like this, but it is very honest. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the cruise as I was with my Husband and other family members, so we had a great time. Unfortunately this was my brothers first HAL cruise and he said he would not cruise with them again.

 

This was on the July 4th sailing, so I doubt that much changed in regards to the short staff and overall cleanliness of the ship in the common areas. My stateroom although hot due to the no air conditioning was kept spotless. I talked to other mariners who also stated that this ship was not up to normal HAL standards and would not sail on the Veendam again.

 

Apparently leaving out of NY they made a new rule that you do not have to be 18 to be in the bar areas at night and there were a lot of 4-10 year olds along with young teens every night. I don't blame the kids they were having a blast, I blame the parents and the ship for not enforcing the rules and turning the crows nest into a playground for tots.

 

They did try to fix our air conditioning four times but to no avail. I hope that these issues all get worked out before the next sailings and I hope that in September all the little kids are back at school so you can relax and enjoy.

 

I guess it is all a matter of what cruise lines you have sailed before and what level of service you expect. I talked to two couples that only sail on other lines and they loved the ship.

[portofrome]

Sorry to hear you didn't enjoy your cruise. Hope your next will be better and thanks for your review.

[many cruises]

Usually my reviews are nothing but raves about HAL so this was very hard to write a review like this, but it is very honest. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the cruise as I was with my Husband and other family members, so we had a great time. Unfortunately this was my brothers first HAL cruise and he said he would not cruise with them again.

 

This was on the July 4th sailing, so I doubt that much changed in regards to the short staff and overall cleanliness of the ship in the common areas. My stateroom although hot due to the no air conditioning was kept spotless. I talked to other mariners who also stated that this ship was not up to normal HAL standards and would not sail on the Veendam again.

 

Apparently leaving out of NY they made a new rule that you do not have to be 18 to be in the bar areas at night and there were a lot of 4-10 year olds along with young teens every night. I don't blame the kids they were having a blast, I blame the parents and the ship for not enforcing the rules and turning the crows nest into a playground for tots.

 

They did try to fix our air conditioning four times but to no avail. I hope that these issues all get worked out before the next sailings and I hope that in September all the little kids are back at school so you can relax and enjoy.

 

I guess it is all a matter of what cruise lines you have sailed before and what level of service you expect. I talked to two couples that only sail on other lines and they loved the ship.

 

Would you mind posting the cabin(s) you were in that had air conditioning problems? We'll be on the Veendam next week & I'm getting very concerned about this problem that has been posted numerous times.

[CRUISELDP]

We were on the Navigation Deck, Deluxe Verandah Suite floor, towards the front of the ship.

[CRUISELDP]

Do not think the air conditioning problem affected the entire ship, just certain areas like the rooms at the front of the Navigation deck. My niece had a room at the back of the navigation deck and she said her room was ice cold.

[MikeT718]

Usually my reviews are nothing but raves about HAL so this was very hard to write a review like this, but it is very honest. Don't get me wrong I enjoyed the cruise as I was with my Husband and other family members, so we had a great time. Unfortunately this was my brothers first HAL cruise and he said he would not cruise with them again.

 

This was on the July 4th sailing, so I doubt that much changed in regards to the short staff and overall cleanliness of the ship in the common areas. My stateroom although hot due to the no air conditioning was kept spotless. I talked to other mariners who also stated that this ship was not up to normal HAL standards and would not sail on the Veendam again.

 

Apparently leaving out of NY they made a new rule that you do not have to be 18 to be in the bar areas at night and there were a lot of 4-10 year olds along with young teens every night. I don't blame the kids they were having a blast, I blame the parents and the ship for not enforcing the rules and turning the crows nest into a playground for tots.

 

They did try to fix our air conditioning four times but to no avail. I hope that these issues all get worked out before the next sailings and I hope that in September all the little kids are back at school so you can relax and enjoy.

 

I guess it is all a matter of what cruise lines you have sailed before and what level of service you expect. I talked to two couples that only sail on other lines and they loved the ship.

 

Well CRUISELDP maybe they got their act together because we followed you on the July 11 Sailing and the the ship was spotless. Only place we noticed any short staffing was in the showroom where there seemed to be only one waiter/waitress to cover the entire lower level

[TracieABD]

Thank you for your honest review. I hope that your next cruise is better than your last.:)

[sapper1]

I am sorry you did not enjoy your cruise. We travelled on the Veendam on June 6th and found it to be in spotless condition. Granted, the rear pool area left much to be desired but the ship was clean and the staff was very attentive and friendly. We would not hesitate to travel on her again.

As to the children, I think I mentioned in my review that we were very impressed with the way the children on board behaved.