Veendam Review - detailed

[julieawill]

Veendam Review 1/11-18

I’ll try to make it brief.

We cruised as a family to celebrate my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. Our party of 20 included my parents (69 & 74), all nine siblings and spouses (ranging in age from 55 to 27) and one grandchild, age 2 (all the babysitters were on the cruise!). My niece loved the cruise and is still saying she wants to get back on the “big boat”. She did not want to leave.

Kudos to Delta and Holland America; my brother’s flight was cancelled, leaving their family of 3 to fend for themselves. Delta flew them to Tampa and did their best to retrieve the luggage from a less-than-helpful United baggage crew. Delta authorized expenditures to get them outfitted for the first two days and bent over backward to get everything there as quickly as possible. The luggage finally caught up with us in Key West.

The Veendam is a little the worse for wear. The staff is wonderful, but the ship is showing its age. Especially hazardous is the lido swimming pool. Several tiles are broken at the bottom of the pool, creating sharp edges. My dad scraped his foot on one and ended up having the foot cauterized in the infirmary and was in a wheelchair the last two days of the trip. Not the best end to an anniversary cruise. He was on crutches for over a month. Shame on HAL for not better maintaining the pool area.

Belize – We split into two groups. Some wanted to go cave tubing and some wanted to see the Lamanai ruins. The cave tubers went with Major Tom. Unfortunately, heavy rains meant the trip was cancelled, but Major Tom’s son, Minor Tom, said not to worry, he’d make sure everyone had a good time. He proceeded to take them to the zoo, a man-made beach/swim area and to the flea market. The group highly recommended Major Tom’s company, especially since they had to scramble at the last minute to make their day enjoyable.

The Lamanai ruins group went with Belize Cruise Excursions. Because the time was so tight, I was a nervous Nellie about the schedule. The company was very reassuring through every step of the process, from reservation to excursion. They never lost patience with my many questions and were wonderful to us. Our guide was Elio. He drove us to the New River, drove the boat, and was our tour guide for the entire day. His knowledge of all the flora and fauna along the river was amazing. He even had some spider monkeys (abandoned by someone else) that know his boat and come to the river whenever they see him. We were able to feed them some mangoes. What an unexpected treat! The ruins were amazing; what a gorgeous setting. Lunch was excellent. I can’t recommend Belize Cruise Excursions enough.

Guatemala – We went with Turix Activo for Guatemala, and the entire group of 20 was nicely accommodated. Luis was wonderful to work with setting everything up, and Eric was our guide for the day. Eric knew his stuff, but I had to keep a close eye on the time and hustle the group along – Eric wasn’t aggressive enough. We went to Las Escobas falls first, want to a tortilla-making demo, then jetted over the Livingston for lunch. Eric told everyone that lunch was complimentary, but that we would have to pay for beverages. I pointed out to him in the contract that it said beverages were included (thank heavens I brought the contract along). He only told half the group that one beverage/pp was free, and let the other table pay, shame on Eric! It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but even water is $2/pp, so it adds up. It left a sour taste in our mouths. After lunch we went up the Rio Dulce to the Ak Tenamit village for a tour of the school.

Most of my family had low expectations for Guatemala, but after going there everyone agreed it was their favorite stop. It is so green and beautiful. The waterfalls, hike, and tour up the river were gorgeous. The tortilla demo is kind of lame and seems to be a little money-maker for the lady there (and perhaps Eric gets a kick-back?). The school is okay. Livingston is pretty cool, and we would like to have spent more time there. I would recommend Turix Activo; on the whole they were very professional.

Costa Maya – sadly, weather prevented docking in Costa Maya. Our beautiful beach day was rained out. We have planned to split up again, with half going to the Chacchoben ruins (Ivan at Native Choice) and half spending the day at Maya Luna (Caroline van Santvoord) at the beach there. Both operators deserve recommendations under the circumstances; both had refunded our deposits before we even got home and could notify them of our inability to make port. What excellent customer service! If I ever have a chance to go back to Costa Maya, I will definitely go to Maya Luna.

I apologize for both the length and the delay, but I hope someone finds the info useful.

[johnlcruise]

Enjoyed reading your review. Thanks for taking the time.

[aliaschief]

No apology ever needed for a good review. Thank you very much for taking the time.

[ShenValleyGal]

Thanks for taking the time for the review. We were on in February and it was a wonderful experience for us too! Our favorite was also Guatemala! It was so beautiful and we also found the shopping there to be the best of all the ports.

[twinkletoes4445]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. Glad you had a good time (and everyone and all the luggage made it to the ship). Sorry to hear about your dad...and the pool. I don't blame you for not being happy about the beverage situation in Guatemala. It's good you had your contract with you. :)