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Veendam 3/1-8 Review and Photos

purplenorway

By purplenorway,
in Holland America Line

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purplenorway

purplenorway

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Pre-Cruise

 

We flew to Tampa the day before the cruise and stayed at the Hampton Inn Yber City. It was a crazy taxi ride with a driver who said two words the whole trip, “That’s it.” It didn’t look like a hotel, just a parking ramp, but it was.

 

I just wanted a shower and good hair washing, but the shower didn’t work. Only a trickle came out. This was the last thing I needed after a long day and if you have long, thick hair like me, I think you can agree that the tub doesn’t do as good of a job.

 

In the morning, the floor by one of the beds was soaked. Of course, this was where my mom’s suitcase was laying and it was also wet. Dad mentioned all this at checkout and they gave us our room for free! The three ladies traveling with us mentioned that they had toilet trouble in their room and they gave them their stay free as well. They were handing out free rooms like candy!

 

The hotel had a complimentary breakfast and we were entertained by a singing man in a Viking hat who jabbed people with his umbrella (he was going on the Carnival ship). They also had a free shuttle to the cruise terminal which is about a mile away.

 

Embarkation

 

At the pier, HAL agent Robert said he would whisk us through the lines. That he did. He handed us off to the special check-in line for suite guests. Then, another agent took us to the front of the boarding line. We had to wait while they adjusted the gangway. As the agent said, we got to know our neighbors — the other suite guests.

 

We dropped off our carryon in our suite and headed up to the Lido for lunch. We met another “Hunky Dory” there and saw a guest wearing one of those fish-print shirts bartenders usually wear. I noticed she had a nametag that said “Mama Lou — Ambassador.” I introduced myself and told her she was famous on Cruise Critic. She knew this and said she had been dead three times. She is very much alive.

 

We talked for a while in the middle of the Lido and somehow ended up going with her to the Front Office. She handed me her plate of bread and cheese and off we went. She honked the horn on her walker and waved to everyone she knew. She introduced my mom and me as her granddaughters and kept saying, “Stick with me. You’ll have more fun that way.”

 

After this, we explored the ship and took a tour of the spa where we had seaweed smeared on our hands and tried out the heated loungers in the thermal suite. I wish we would have booked this, because our weather the whole week wasn’t especially warm.

 

For the lifeboat drill, they opened up the crew staircase. This was something different and we didn’t have to deal with traffic. It was probably one of the coldest drills we have ever had.

 

Suite Life

 

Suite 020 was nice. There were plenty of closets and drawers. The toilet didn’t always flush well, but it was fixed after someone came to work on it twice. Our cabin stewards Hartono and Hotlan were happy to meet any special requests and they were always very friendly.

 

The suite was directly across from the Neptune Lounge, so we had easy access. Concierges Issa and Jay did a lot for us. They had some really good snacks in there as well. Marble pound cake, truffles, chocolate covered strawberries and awesome raspberry cheesecake squares with chocolate crust. I loved the pastry chefs this cruise!

 

Also because of the location, we could hear some people talking and plates rattling in the morning. It was usually time to get up anyway, so it didn’t bother us much.

 

Dining

 

We had table 51 at the 8:00 seating. Our dining stewards were Sam and Aru.

 

Our tablemates the first evening were from England and they were so quiet and polite it was almost sickening. One did get sick, actually. His girlfriend returned to say, “He didn’t quite make it to the loo. He excuses himself, though.” Even polite when seasick. Impressive.

 

Our English tablemates didn’t show up for dinner the second night and we had three new tablemates the third night, including a 90 year-old man who had barely a wrinkle on his face. They talked five times as much as the British people who were spotted sitting on the opposite side of the dining room. Hmm. We saw them many times throughout the cruise and had tea with them. They seemed fine then, but we did wonder why they changed tables.

 

My favorite menu items were beef Wellington and chocolate avalanche cake. All of the soups were good. If you can’t decide which main course to get, you can order any entrée as an appetizer. We did this with different pastas, Nasi Goreng and the chimichanga. They had the Thai curry chicken salad on the Costa Maya day. I love that stuff! Some ships don’t make Swiss style muesli sweet enough, but here, it had the perfect taste. It’s even better if you ask for it with a bowl of mixed berries.

 

Suite guests can have breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill and we loved this. It was especially nice whenever we saw a line for the main dining room in the morning. The service was excellent and the setting was elegant. Please note that the salt shakers here work very well. Mom got way too much salt on her eggs because it came out so fast. The server whisked her plate away and another brought a fresh order saying, “The chef says bon appétit and be careful with the salt.”

 

We had reservations at the Pinnacle for lunch, but found out that was the day of the Mariner’s lunch. We asked Neptune Lounge Concierge Jay if we could change to dinner on the Belize night. He worked hard to get us in because it was full. When we got there, they took us to a table for three and didn’t know that we had six people. Manager Danny didn’t seem too happy about this, but quickly made up another table. I asked that he please not get Jay in trouble and Mom asked that if he were to beat him up would he please give us his cute white glasses first.

 

Here, I had mushroom espresso, French onion soup, steak Diane (so tender) and chocolate volcano cake a la mode. Everything was wonderful!

 

Key West

 

We arrived a bit late in Key West because of the weather, but got to stay until 6:00 to make up for it. We walked to Hemingway House and explored the interiors and gardens. There were lots of cute cats to pet, some with extra toes. We walked Duval Street and it was very busy. I was happy to get back to the spacious ship. During sail away, we saw some dolphins next to the ship.

 

Belize City, Belize

 

The tender ride to Belize City took about 10 minutes. They had fast boats that took us to shore instead of the ship’s tenders. A crew member yelled out a safety overview. I didn’t know a person could be that loud! He got everyone energized. The crew on that boat was friendly; maybe too friendly. One guy gave my parents a spiel about how he would take care of them if they came back to Belize and then held out his hand for a tip. Another sat behind me and kept leaning against me. Too close for comfort.

 

We took the ship’s excursion to the Altan Ha Ruins. The roads to the site were very bad so it was nice to get off the rattling bus. The weather was perfect with a breeze. The ruins were neat, but our knowledgeable guide talked for long periods as we stood in one place. I would have rather walked around while he talked so we could explore more. There were two dogs that followed us everywhere. They even climbed the first temple with us. It was more difficult to get to the top of the second temple, but the view was awesome.

 

Santo Tomas De Castilla, Guatemala

 

In February, I read a HAL Blog post about Veendam crew members donating items in Guatemala. I thought this was really neat and wondered if we could somehow help out during our sailing. So, we packed school supplies and toys in our luggage and the Veendam took care of the rest.

 

When we arrived at the port, we met Chief Housekeeper Nelly, Housekeeper Nur Dian, Housekeeper Mulyance, a Guatemalan social worker and a driver. We and boxes of donations from crew and past guests were piled into a pick-up truck and off we went!

 

Our first stop was a three-room school. We passed out items including pencils, candy, crayons and clothing. You wouldn’t believe how excited the kids were to get simple things like glue sticks and markers! Even though they didn’t speak English, the smiles on their faces said it all. Some even gave me hugs!

 

Also, they absolutely loved when I took their pictures and showed them on the digital camera screen!

 

Our next stop was a hospital. This was not as happy of a place as the school because there were many sick kids; but we handed out stuffed animals and brought out some smiles.

 

For our final stop, we went to Las Escobas Tropical Rainforest Trail. Here, we met a guide who immediately gave all of us a hug. Her family received boxes of food and we took the trail. We saw some very tall trees and stopped at the bat cave and you could hear them breathing. The waterfalls were gorgeous. The water was very clear and a lovely aqua color. There are steps that go right into the pool if you want to take a dip.

 

I would not have traded this experience for anything! Thanks to the Veendam crew for letting us share in it!

 

Costa Maya, Mexico

 

In Costa Maya, we did some shopping. We found Larro, the vendor who we had bought pottery from twice before, and he remembered us.

 

Entertainment/Activities

 

We only went to two shows. They were either held at 7:00 and conflicted with a cocktail party or they were held during our dining seating. The production show “Street Singin’” was great. We also saw illusionists Richard Griffin and Hayley Jane.

 

We went to the galley tour. Although I’ve been to them many times before, I never get tired of it. I love behind the scenes stuff. We were in the last group and they asked us to wait. It got to be quite a while, so I poked my head in the kitchen and asked a nearby steward if we could go inside. He said yes, but there was no one around to start the tour. I just began pointing things out like the dishwashing area. People thought this was very funny. Eventually a steward found us and he knew much more. You wouldn’t believe the size of their coffee filters (see photo)!

 

We hung out with Mama Lou at the Lido Pool Party. She wore an autographed chef’s outfit (it was the Master Chef’s Dinner night) along with about ten different crew nametags. She asked us to walk a lap around the pool with her as she said hi to all her friends, she danced with me and she gave me her “business card” with a photo of her from 1942.

 

I loved the events in the Culinary Arts Center. I tried napkin folding, origami, went to cooking demos, you name it. They also offer hands-on cooking classes. You can sign up for them at the Front Desk for $29. The classes aren’t advertised. You will probably only hear about them if you go the Culinary Arts Center open house.

 

We went to the Asian cooking class with Pinnacle Grill Chef Vijay. There were seven people and we got into groups to work on three different dishes. The dish we made was the Asian ribs with five-spice rub and hoisin glaze. It smelled great. The Chef helped everyone out and gave tips. Then, he showed us how to plate the food and we tasted it. The Asian chicken salad with rice-noodles and peanuts was refreshing and good. The ribs were really different and I didn’t care for them. The plum compote with star anise was yummy. They gave us hats, aprons, bottled water, wine, recipe cards and a subscription to Food & Wine magazine.

 

Miscellaneous Memories

 

A Mariner ceremony for medallion holders was held in the Explorer’s Lounge. I talked with Mama Lou who wore all her medals and pins. She had 700 day platinum pins for earrings! She introduced me to Bubba, the talking stuffed animal, who has over 800 days alone and wore his HAL tote bag vest. They called up the 100 day holders in groups of 10 for a photo and the Yum Yum men escorted the ladies. The lunch was very nice and we sat at a large table in the middle with the cruise director. They handed out the Mariner tiles here.

 

This was probably the oldest crowd I have ever sailed with, but I got to know some very nice and interesting people. I went to the singles/20s and 30s get-together. There were about four other people.

 

There was some major rolling the first night. The Captain made an announcement during dinner that the wind was 45 knots (around 50 mph). He asked us to secure items in our cabins. Dad said this was the only time he could remember where his pillow slid around while he slept. I was thankful for my large sofa bed, because I felt like a cat clawing at the sheets to stay in one place.

 

I got my hair done at the salon the first formal night. The stylist was a perfectionist and it took a long time. I almost didn’t make it to dinner before 8:15. Mama Lou came by wearing a head waiter’s white jacket. On the salon bill, there was a surprise $19 comb-out charge. I would suggest you get a definite price quote before you go. I should have done that.

 

We lost an hour because of daylight savings time. We woke up around 5 am because the crazy clock in the cabin was noisily flying through time. We went out on the verandah and the sea was so smooth. The stars were out and there were all kinds of birds calling to each other and flying along with us in the moonlight. Beautiful.

 

Disembarkation

 

We were some of the last guests to disembark at 9:30. We walked right off.

 

Our flight from Tampa was delayed because they pushed us back and hit something wrong so they could no longer steer the plane. We got to our next flight as the agent closed the door. I waved to the pilots as I watched our luggage being thrown on. How sad that it got there before we did. There was then a tornado warning and it finished with a double rainbow. I got the last seat on the flight home and they put my parents in a hotel.

 

Conclusion

 

It was a wonderful cruise! Food and service were great. For sure, Guatemala was the highlight.

 

You can view my photo album at: http://picasaweb.google.com/purplenorway/Veendam09

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RuthC

RuthC

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Thanks for the extensive review. Seems you did a lot more on the cruise than I did. Glad you had such a good time.

Just four weeks ago tonight I was getting ready to board. How time flies.

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fsdj1097

fsdj1097

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Thanks for taking the time to write a very nice review. The Veendam will always be special to us as it was our first cruise, celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary.

 

We also have met Mama Lou on the Zaandam on our 2005 Alaska cruise. She is a treasure!

 

We look forward to returning to the Caribbean in 2010.

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mek

mek

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Hi Becky - Thanks for the review, mine is in the draft stage and hopefully I get it finished this week. Your pics are great - I'm glad I got to see the school in Guatamala.

 

Meg

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Janie614

Janie614

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Hi Becky,

your pictures and your post are fantastic.

I really enjoyed reading and seeing the cruise through your eyes.

I was there 2 weeks before you and enjoyed it as well.

 

You are a gifted writer and photographer.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Suesan Jean

Suesan Jean

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Well, it sounds like you had a GREAT CRUISE.....!!!:D

 

I am planning a cruise on the Veendam. For next year, New York to Bermuda.:D

 

I will be getting an "S" Deluxe Verandah Suite, just like you were in.

 

Do you have any pictures on your cabin? I would LOVE to see them....!!!:)

 

Besides Breakfast, can "Suite" guests have Lunch in the Pinnacle Restaurant also? (at no extra charge?)

 

Thank you for answering my questions......icon14.gif:)

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purplenorway

purplenorway

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Hi Suesan Jean,

 

I added some suite pictures just for you! http://picasaweb.google.com/purplenorway/Veendam09#5318827328175070818

Keep in mind that your cabin will look different because it will have been updated in the drydock happening now.

 

You could also look at a couple suite photos from the Maasdam, it's basically the same layout as the ones on the Veendam http://picasaweb.google.com/purplenorway/Maasdam08#5205069179880729538

 

There is still a charge for lunch in the Pinnacle Grill for suite guests. I believe it is $10 per person.

 

Have a fantastic cruise!

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Suesan Jean

Suesan Jean

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Hi Suesan Jean,

 

I added some suite pictures just for you! http://picasaweb.google.com/purplenorway/Veendam09#5318827328175070818

Keep in mind that your cabin will look different because it will have been updated in the drydock happening now.

 

You could also look at a couple suite photos from the Maasdam, it's basically the same layout as the ones on the Veendam http://picasaweb.google.com/purplenorway/Maasdam08#5205069179880729538

 

There is still a charge for lunch in the Pinnacle Grill for suite guests. I believe it is $10 per person.

 

Have a fantastic cruise!

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE PICTURES......!!!icon14.gif :)

I DO APPRECIATE IT......!!!:)

I am looking forward to planning my cruise on the Veendam....!!!:D

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