YBA

Just off the Veendam, mdr was open on embarkation day until 1:30 pm

We just disembarked from the Veendam on May 19th. As other people have said, everyone has their own opinion. We met a few people onboard that were not happy. I even met a lady that said she would never take HAL again after this trip. When I asked her why, she said she was unhappy with the fact that the elevators were broken the whole week and she didn’t like the service nor the food onboard. Once again, very subjective!

My husband and I have been cruising with HAL since 2006. My 7 year old son just got his bronze medallion (over 100 days with Holland) on this trip so we truly love this line! Yes the elevators were broken but that’s just an inconvenience. We had to wait an extra few minutes for them every time but we’re on vacation so what would be the hurry? The food onboard was fantastic and anyone who has sailed with HAL knows that service is above any other cruise line. Captain Noel O’Driscoll gave us a fantastic trip and it was smooth sailing for us the whole trip.

Before boarding, we were skeptical. It was our first time on the Veendam and the reviews seem to be very bad for her. It’s quite unfortunate because she became our favourite ship. We’ve done the Maasdam, Eurodam, Nieuw Amsterdam and Noordam and the Veendam scores above all of them.

Again, it’s all relative. Enjoy your time onboard and take things with a grain of salt. It’s vacation time after all!

Disembarked on May 19th as well. There are lots of tables and chairs in the back area of the ship. Not sure if you have kids since it’s adults only in that area but since they got rid of the aft pool, there seems to be much more seating.

We disembarked May 19th from the Veendam and we were told that if enough people put in their comments that they want to book this sailing again, that HAL may bring it back for 2020. Fingers crossed as this was in our top 3 cruises with HAL!

Anyone know who the Captain will be on the Veendam May 12th? I checked on the site but it still says TBA starting April 11-May 26. My son is getting his bronze medallion on this cruise so I’d like to know which Captain will be presenting it to him. Thanks!

Took the Eurodam in New England last summer. My 4 year old son was the only person under 18 on the ship.

Hotel Nelligan or Le St-James are great hotels walking distance from the pier.

Unfortunately, the service was subpar except at Le Bistro where they were slammed but additional wait staff were called from other restaurants to help the staff.

We went to the front desk to ask a few questions. The lady could not be bothered looking at us while answering our questions. She kept answering us while looking at her computer.

The cabin stewart forgot to do the turn down service the first night. We called the front desk to complain. It took literally 2 hours some someone to show up to prepare the room for the night.

We asked to have the mini bar unlocked but with no success.

The manager at the spa was rude when we asked to purchase the therapy pool access for a single day. She was pushing to sell a two day pass as opposed to a single day pass as we were looking for.

Breakfast took over 60 minutes to arrive at our table once we ordered. The smoked salmon on the Benedict eggs was literally cooked (probably stayed under a warmer too long)

Question for the frequent ncl sailers. Does ncl provide surveys to fill at the end of each cruise? I did ask this question to the front desk and was told that there are no surveys to complete. I find this odd compared to other cruise lines.

On the positive side, the ship is great. The food at the bistro was excellent (the lamb is really really good). The embarkation process was very smooth. The DJ was excellent. The deck staff did a good job.

Overall it was a good week end but better service would have made a big difference.

Thanks all and Bon voyage to anyone boarding this week. Weather looks pretty warm for the next 10 days. Can't wait to board once again!

Bon voyage!

I'm fairly sure that I spotted some Macallan 18 and 30 in the Ocean Bar. There was also a bottle of Auchentoshan and a Bowmore in the Crow's Nest. They're not on the regular lists, so it's sort of a treasure hunt. If you play your cards right, you might be able to score a very nice bottle of Scotch at a bargain price. I'm a Bourbon drinker and on occasion I've has some pretty rare, expensive whiskey rung up as "Jim Beam" because the unusual stuff wasn't in the POS system.

Any past experiences you could share on this treasure hunt?

By the way, thanks for all the info in this thread. A lot of good info!

Cheers

thank you all for your compliments and good wishes. Chris and I each started sailing at age 5 - he on the West Coast to Hawaii in the MATSONIA and I in the Italian Line's VULCANIA to Italy. We're both passionate shiplovers and ocean travelers. We sometimes spend up to 5 or 6 months in a single ship.

Any hints on what we could look forward to once I hit 1500 days (in approx. 150 years or so)? :-)

By the meat ball really made me chuckle.

Cheers

@krazy kruizers: is it correct the retreat cabanas on Noordam are not allowed for childeren?

 

 

 

we are sailing Noordam next 14th august from Barcelona and I'm thinking of a cabana reservation but I'm traveling with 2 kids :-)

I know I'm not kraft cruiser but I can confirm that the retreat cabanas on the NA are not reserved to adults only. In fact there are 2 family retreat cabanas that are over size. On the other hand I cannot confirm if the Noordam has a different policy.

Cheers

It started out with 1,000 or 1,200 then was increased to 1,400 where it was when I was inducted into the President's Club. Under the newest rules adopted when HAL debuted the new 500 day Mariner to get into the President's Club a passenger must have sailed for at least 1,500 days and be invited. Travel agents accumulating days on reduced rates as Sail said, are NOT eligible. And it's not true as I tell people who ask what we get for being in the PC "an extra meatball at the Mariner's Party"...

 

And my very own one (he's 57!) is closing in on 3,000 days and I (63) am nearing 2,600.

3000 days! All I can say is wow!

It is also my understanding that entrance is by invitation only. I get the sense that membership is reserved for those who are staunch supporters of HAL, not only by actual actual days and money spent, but also by attitude, mind set and length of cruises sailed. I don't think, for example, that someone constantly complaining about HAL on a public forum would ever be invited to attend, regardless of how often they sailed.

You may be right. However it would be safe to assume that if a person reached 1400 days at sea, this person should be somewhat satisfied of the HAL cruising experience. I wouldn't see myself spend so much time on a ship where I keep complaining about.

As you mentioned, it would not surprise me if the entry criterial are more than the number of days at sea.

Quick math... If someone spends on average 300$ per day on a ship (includes cabin fees), you're looking at $420k of spending on HAL ships. That's a lot of money spent in my book! On the other hand, this would be chump change for the person who spends $30k pp for an 8 day transatlantic voyage on the qm2.

Cheers

I don't care about the Retreat cabanas, but the Lido ones are a nuisance for about 2080 people for the benefit of about 20 ... if they are all sold.

I hear you. I what'd the same opinion as you on my first cruise with them. I solved the issue by reserving one or two cabanas for the duration of the sailing. But you're absolutely right, they are eating a lot of space of the lido deck.

Cheers

Does HAL use the syrup based coffee? If I missed it in a post, I apologize.

If memory serves me right, On the lido deck, you clearly see they use ground coffee beans. The same applies for caps and espressos in the tamarind and pinnacle.

on the eurodam this march, I invested in the retreat cabana for 300 $, it was the best experience , highly recommend it, this sept.im on the zuiderdam, sad there's no cabana, but im going to ck. out the hydro pool

As weird as it sounds, we keep on coming back to the Eurodam and NA partly because of the cabanas. We sailed with other ships but it didn't feel the same.

It's a good revenue generating amenity for HAL and a good feature for people will to shell out a little cash.

Melodie

 

 

We have seen quite a few children receive their 300 and 500 day medals on cruises.

 

 

Parents are now starting to take their children on cruises at a much younger age.

My son just turned 4 last week. He's a 3 star mariner already. He will be at 94 days on the seas with HAL this February. He may have a chance to hit 1400 days in his lifetime if he likes sailing when he's older. On the other hand, chances are that he will prefer bigger, newer, more fun packed ships.

1400 days is basically 3.8 years at sea with HAL. This is something my wife and I will never reach. We would need to spend 40'days at sea for the next 30 year with HAL. That sounds like a very improbable number from our perspective.

Hats off to everyone who made into this club. This is very impressive indeed.

Cheers.

We love lido cabanas. We always book two cabanas next to each other and have the staff open the curtains between the two. This makes for a very large private space where we can sit and relax while checking what what's happening on deck. We actually prefer this to the retreat cabanas where it is more secluded. There is a little more action down on the lido deck and don't have to deal with the windy deck of the retreat cabanas.

We are sailing on a 14 day cruise this February which is very port intensive. Nonetheless, we already have pre purchased our cabanas nonetheless.

Cheers

I would pick the NA... The Tamarind, Silk Den, Lido Cabanas, and Retreat Cabanas are very nice areas on the ship. We have done all the ships mentioned above and we keep on coming back to the Eurodam and the NA for this reason. We have done five 14 day cruises on the NA and we've book the Eurodam for September this year and NA for Feb 2015...

Cheers

You must love Starbucks then since you have to ask for it hot:D. I like my latte very hot and it's never tasted funny.

Personally, 145-150F is the ideal temperature.

As long as the milk doesn't reach 160F, I'm good with it.

The last time we were on the Maasdam, the coffee was always scorching hot!

Cheers!

Regular coffee is terrible on HAL ships! This is my number one negative on every HAL cruise we take. On the other hand, the cappuccino is ok when ordered in dining rooms or restaurants. As for the exploration café, lattés are a hit or miss depending on the person making it. More often than none, the staff heats up the milk way too much which make the latté tasting funny.

Eurodam - 24-Sept-14 - 10 day Canada/New England

We watch it every year. The one bummer is that commercials are not showing. During commercials, all you see is a birds eye view of the stadium. Sounds silly but it changes the experience quite a bit (negatively). It gets boring quickly.

Cheers.

Hi

 

I would like to know if there a secret to staying on board your cruise when its over. Free of course.

 

Maty (EG)

Wondering if you found the secret yet and if you did, please share as I've been trying to figure out a way for the last 6 years! :)