Veendam, Dec 14-21: Longish

[vcdarty]

DW and I had a pleasant week on Veendam in February. Planned another with DW's bro and SIL for 14-21 December. Just returned and details follow.

 

Embarkation: the HAL rep at our Tampa hotel advised us on 13 Dec that the ship would be sanitized, with boarding to begin at 2pm Sunday. That meant norovirus had been aboard. (Later a crewmember told me that around 25 guests had been sick.) We arrived at Terminal 3 around 12:30. Long lines to enter terminal, and testy security people. Boarding staff courteous. (Told us that the terminal had been sanitized twice.) Terminal area jam-packed full. People sitting on the floor surrounded by luggage. Ellis Island? Boarding started at 2 as advertised and went well enough. Lido jammed up, too. Cabins announced as ready around three, and most luggage already there. Lifeboat drill chaotic and noisy. Crew obviously exhausted, but getting it all done. We stayed at Code Red till Wednesday when salts and peppers appeared and library bars went up.

 

Dining: we were assigned AYWD for the first time. Sunday night at the DR also chaotic. We arrived at 7. A long line. We were handed a buzzer to notify table availability. No place to sit until a staff member noticed SIL's weariness and use of O2 concentrator, and found a chair for her. After a few minutes Sam, a DR manager, may have realized her predicament, took us upstairs to an empty 6-top, found an AC outlet for her concentrator, and we were served around 7:30.

Regarding reservations--you call 88 to reserve for a time and a table. They want you to select either 5:45 or 7:45. You can reserve a maximum of two nights, then have to reserve again. Since one of us has a digestive issue, we were permitted to reserve for 7:15 and had either 148 or 149 each night, both tables with convenient AC outlets. Staff as professional as ever. Master Chef as silly as ever, perhaps even more a tedious imposition on the staff. At the next night, I believe, the Parade of Baked Alaskas played to a near-empty house.

 

Staterooms: On our February cruise, our room was always made up while we were downstairs at breakfast. This time it was often much later. I'd asked our steward on our first day how the two-person stewarding (in place for a couple of months) was going. He let me know, through body language mostly, that there were problems. Later, upon further inquiry,

he filled in details. Forty-nine room stewards had been reduced to forty-six. Formerly each steward was responsible for around 14 rooms; now the two-steward teams were assigned 31 rooms. Though we always met with smiles and Hello, Dr. X, from the staff, he told us that the stewards were not happy. His assistant, whom we rarely saw, had another regular job looking after the crew cabins. At the end of the cruise when distributing the satisfaction survey forms, he asked, seriously, that we not mention his comments, that he would get into trouble. His work for us was exemplary. His frankness was extraordinary.

 

General impressions: the demographic was very different, as might have been expected of a Christmas-y cruise. Lots of kids (well-behaved) and young adults (less well-behaved). We peered down from our balcony at drunken revellers returning to the ship. Once a boozed-up fellow clutching a beer was shouting up the aft stairway. Pool games at the aft pool were noisy and off-color. (Noodles between the legs, ice-water down the pants.) Cruise director Eric didn't help the apparent "Carnivalization" of the tone. Oddly, I guess, the Ocean Bar was dead at night. (The atrocious combo Bomboleo may have contributed to that!)

 

But we had a fine time, overall. If this sounds negative, it doesn't mean to be. The staff was swell, the food was OK, the air-conditioning icy. Bro and SIL had never sailed and had a grand time. All of their special needs were well looked after. And norovirus stayed away!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

We have been fortunate so far not encounter any pool games like you encountered on any of the ships that we have been on -- noodles, ice cubes, etc.

Glad you all had a grand time inspite of the little things.

[Two@Sea]

Thank you for the review of the Veendam. We would love to sail on her someday, hopefully to Bermuda in 2010!

[clueless2]

What night was the Master Chef dinner? We set sail on Veendam Jan 18 and I'd like to go ahead and made a reservation for the Pinnacle that night.

 

Thanks for the review.

[mek]

Thanks for your review, we'll be on the Veendam the 1st week in March.

[vincent15]

How did you like the ports? Did you take ship's ecursions, or go out on your own? thanks for the review. We've leaving on January 4th on the Veendam.

[trixiee]

Loved the review! Thanks - we'll be on 'er on Feb. 8/08! :)

 

I too, would like more information re: Ports, if possible!

[hammelala]

We are sailing on the Veendam on 22 February. We just got back from a 10 day cruise on the Ryndam out of San Diego and also sailed on the Massdam earlier this year. We like the mid-size ships and have never really been disappointed with Holland America, although we did notice some changes that are being made by Carnival. We were told that Carnival would like to make Holland America more "family friendly", although they all said that they knew about HM being known to cater to the 55 and over clientel. Wonder whether Carnival will be shooting themselves in the foot by trying to Carnivalize Holland America. Sure hope they don't do that.:cool:

[RuthC]

Thank you for your report.

I'll be on the Veendam in February, and I was wondering if you have anything to say about the entertainment on board.

[fireman845]

Thank you for your Veendam review, I am hoping that Noro virus stays away for awhile... Only a couple more weeks to go!

[miramichirivergirl]

We were also on the Veendam Dec 14 -21. Overall we had a nice cruise - we liked the ports of call. We enjoyed the evening departure from Key West - got to watch the Mallory Square antics at sunset. We've been there several times on cruises before but always left well before dusk. We took ship excursions in Belize and Guatemala because this was our first time in those ports. Both excursions were well organized and we enjoyed them - River Rafting in Belize and Quiriqui in Guatemala (try to get Maria Anita for your guide - she is excellent). In the future we will hire a cab in Belize (friendly people that speak English). In Guatemala we will "Go with Gus" or use HappyFish - both are located in the cruise terminal and offer the same tours for less. We spent the day by the salt water pool by the dock in Costa Maya - the place is clean with good service and ok food - lots of places to buy souvenirs as well. There was a military presence in Costa Maya - two Mexican marines at the pier and more on shore. The ship seemed a bit "tired" - according to our room steward it is due for dry-dock in a few months. Many of the staff appeared overworked and tired, probably in part due to the code red. Some passengers felt the illness was actually due to food poisoning?? When embarking HAL explained that the norovirus was brought on board by a passenger - seems a bit conclusive? We also noticed the towels never seemed quite clean - they seemed to have remnants of the person who used them before (hair, makeup, blood stained, etc). We utilized the AYW dining option. We enjoyed the flexibility and met several nice passengers however, we miss having the same steward and assistant each night. Also, they never got our order correct - each night a wrong item was delivered for some course - got to be a running joke after night two. We also noted several guests wearing jeans in the dining room – seldom seen on prior cruises.