Help planning a family cruise on Veendam

[lgarner]

We want to take the children and grandchildren on a 7 day cruise. I checked out Norwegian because we were hoping to drive to a port and Charleston SC was the closest for a 7 day but the cabins look really really small compared to HAL. DH and I love HAL so next I looked at Veendam out of Tampa - much longer drive but still do-able. The problem is, the grandkids are 5 and 9 so can not have their own cabin. Will a FF quad cabin really fit four people? I know our son and daughter-in-law were hoping to have two cabins with adjouning doors. I checked the HH category cabins and it is just about as cheep to get them two HH but there are none left with adjouning doors. I don't think it would be safe to have the kids in the next room by themselves. Too much chance for trouble - plus its not allowed by the cruiseline. The next category up that has adjouning doors will be almost $1200 more. SO - how do 4 fit in an FF? Does the sofa fit two small kids or is it one on the sofabed and one in a pull down berth? If the berth pulls down is it over the sofabed or does it block part of the walking space in the room? I think we will try to persuade them to do the FF. Any suggestions?

 

Is the Veendam similar to the Volendam? DH and I just returned from the Vol on Feb 11th and miss her already.

 

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

 

Lisa

[Onbec]

The Veendam and the Volendam are nearly identical in lay out. The Veendam is a little shorter, by 60 ft I think, and about 200 total passengers less.

 

All the HAL S class ships have the same general layout. My Favourite type.

[RuthC]

Also, the Veendam---being S-class---lacks a mid-ship staircase/elevator bank. The Veendam has a Piano Bar, as opposed to a Piano Lounge on the Volendam. Otherwise, if you know one deck plan, you essentially know them both.

As to to the cabin selection, sorry. I can't help there.

[SeaGypsy1]

I can help with this as we have taken our kids and Grandkids 2 years in a row at Thanksgiving. First time, the berth pulled down above the sofa. By the way, they loved it, traded off each night as to who would sleep above. We did not feel crowded, in fact, it was a lot of fun having everybody together. Our Daughter, Son-in-law and 4 Granddaughters. Second cruise we had connecting doors and it was not crowded. This was a Vista ship and the one berth was above our bed the other above the sofa. I am talking 2 teen aged girls and twins age 10. It is a wonderful family time, everyone is having fun and creating wonderful memories. I can only speak for myself and that is how we found it. Really, go for it. You will find a lot of enjoyment being so close.