Just returned from the Veendam

[jumelle]

Just completed western carib. Mar.18-25 on the Veendam. Just out of drydock and freshly painted she is a beautiful ship. We are fans of Holland although we have only cruised once before on HAL and once on Seabourn. We love the promenade deck and all the outside space to watch the ocean. THE PROS of the cruise: the service in the dining room and our cabin steward, always with a big warm smile and perfect service. The food in the dining room, the explorations cafe, totally great with excellent espresso. Yummie choc chip cookies. Embarkation a breeze. The beds are so comfortable. By the end of the criuse we had a towel menagerie living with us in the cabin! Soduko puzzles everyday!

THE CONS: The Pinnacle grill, thumbs down. Food not good at all. The chocolate volcano was totally undercooked, the halibut was dry. DEfinitely not worth the money. We ate there twice. The food in the dining room was much better. The AC in the room cannot be adjusted and it was freeezing! The drinks at the bars were soooooo weak! We drank in our cabin where we mixed our own drinks thank you!

 

We did not know about the pipe bursting but that explains the toilet not flushing for about half a day.

The cruise director's announcements were annoying but aren't they all?

The food in the Lido was OK, but you gotta love those bratwurst and fries at the grill!!

 

Costa Maya was a pleasant surprise. We did a non HAL tour of the Chachoben ruins with super guides and the town of Mahahual is not to be missed. Great little beach bars where you can drink and eat with your feet in the water. Do not establish eye contact with the vendors, they are agressive but friendly!

 

All in all it was avery enjoyable cruise. My husband and I love the days at sea, except for the last day. A little too rough and windy!

I enjoy reading new reviews on the forum, so I hope you will find this of interest. Until the next time. Enjoy!

[I Luv Crusin]

How rough is rough? I'm leaving on the Veendam next Sat. What deck where you on? Did they offer a laundry package? How was the internet service? Did you try Wi-fi?

 

Thanks!

[Aussie Gal]

Jumelle,

 

Thanks for spending the time to write your review. We will be on the Veendam for 34 days in September/October so am anxious to hear anything about her.

 

Jennie

[gizmo]

Thanks for your review. I enjoyed. :)

[Darrell6t]

<<The AC in the room cannot be adjusted and it was freeezing!>>

 

Our standard cabin on the Veendam had a working thermostat. I am shocked that your's did not. You cannot turn the fan off and it takes a while for the temperature to change, but it always worked.

[HERKIMER417]

I sail 11-18th on March and found the ship great. The crew was up to its usual great standards. I scolded my room steward telling him he must have left my room door open because when DW and I came in for the evening there was an elephant sitting on my bed. The next night it was a stingray and then a dog.

 

The food in the main dining room was wonderful. Everybody at our tabel agreed that the quality and diversity was good, even if some personal tastes as to sauce didn't agree with the chefs.

 

I was invited, along with maybe 20 others, to a meeting with the Hotel Director, Cruise Director, Shore Excursions Director and a Junior Officer taking notes. It was an informal gathering asking our opinion on the ship and services. Everyone in the group had the highest praise for the overall functions and service. But serveral items were pointed out - not as critical - but rather just observations to keep HAL a step ahead of the rest.

 

Some were - 1) the internet service - it was noted that a moving ship is very difficult to coordinate with a circulating object in space. They are expecting to add a special computerized gyro to assist in tracking so there would be no shut downs on the link.

2) The someone mentioned that the table cloths were wrinkeled. ( I never noticed ) but the HD knew and mentioned that the machine that irons and folded the table cloths was malfunctioning, He was soory and stated that while the ship trys to keep spare parts on board the one that they needed - they didn't have.

3) A question was brought up concerning the drive to bigger ships. The answer was HAL has a demographic group that they want to serve. The traditional customer likes the S and Vista class ship. But when the customer wants to take their Grandchild on a cruise - they may need more entertaining sections for that child than may traditionally be on board. They are not changing to cater to a "younger" crowd but rather expanding slightly on specific ships to accomodate those regular passengers that like the traditional yet want assistance with a younger passengers.

 

4) It was mentioned that some would like hot tea served in its own serving system - as opposed to passing hot water thru a coffee machine. A crafe of coffe is brough around wehy not a crafe of brewed tea ?

5) The lido breakfast heat lamps were not hot enought to keep the waffles or french toast warm - if they were precooked.

 

6) Coordination of communication between Seattle and the ship. The HD mentioned that it is the desire of HAL to have home office personnel rotate on a cruise so they can get the real experience and then better able to answer questions.

 

Overall the comments were very positive and supportive of the new features and activities: the Mixology session, the Culinary session, the expresso, the beds and most appreciatively the attempt of the crew to stem any virus outbreak by offering handwash while entering the dining rooms.

 

This ship has now become my favorite.

 

J