Report on 1 week on Veendam (Quebec-Boston, May 23-31)

Hi all,

As promised elsewhere, I thought I'd report (both the good and the bad) on my wife's and my trip on the Veendam. This might be a bit long, and it certainly won't be comprehensive, but I wanted to provide my thoughts while they were very fresh. If you have questions, feel free to let me know, and I'll follow-up.

Background

My wife and I are early-mid 30s, and this was our third cruise together (all on Holland America.) Our first was Zuiderdam to Alaska (Vancouver RT in July 2012), our second was Westerdam to Southern Caribbean (January 2013). We have been in Neptune Suites each time (we had booked a V for Alaska, then there was a great sale on SC Guarantee. HAL let us pay the difference, and we were hooked). We had wanted to do Canada/New England for a while, and the QC-Boston itinerary looked great. I'm trying to provide a balanced view, and overall, we enjoyed the trip, but there were definitely positives and negatives. Unfortunately, some of the negatives were pretty significant to us, and so we're wondering whether there's a cruise line instead of HAL that might be a better fit for us.

Itinerary

Quebec was fantastic. We flew in on Friday early afternoon, and spent a lot of time walking around the city. We got lots of walking in, and our Fitbit (fitness tracker) said we got over 100 floors of climbing in. We enjoyed the places we ate and stayed at a cute little hotel. (I know CC has some strict rules against advertising, and I don't want my recommendations to create a problem, but if anyone has questions, I'll answer if it's not verboten.) We were glad for the overnight here, and enjoyed walking around. The Morrin Center (former prison, college, and library) was off the beaten path a bit and was very enjoyable.

Charlottetown, PEI was very cute. Neither of us was especially interested in Anne of Green Gables (or most of the other things PEI offered), so we spent a significant chunk of the time in port doing the hands-on cooking class (more later). We did get out before the class to a great yarn store, and we walked around again after the class/lunch.

Sydney, NS was okay. We did a non-HAL tour to Ingolish, and as much as people talk about how beautiful the Cabot Trail is, we were both a bit underwhelmed. We've done a lot of beautiful drives (Banff to Lake Louise, California coast, Glacier National Park, etc.), and this was nice, but nothing spectacular. The town of Sydney wasn't much to look at.

Halifax, NS was great. We walked again, toured the Citadel (which was fun), found a cute yarn store and a lovely locally-made letterpress store, and just walked around a bit. People were very friendly (especially for a fairly big city), and we enjoyed our visit.

Bar Harbor, ME was also an adorable town. The weather wasn't especially great when we arrived, so we decided to skip Acadia, but we walked around the town (more-or-less in its entirety; it's quite small), and had a fantastic lunch at a place we found through Yelp. We also had an "adventure" nearly getting marooned on Bar Island; check a tide table BEFORE walking across the sandbar; the tide table on the island isn't especially helpful if your timing works out very badly, and the tides change very very quickly.

Boson: My wife went to college in Boston, and we know the city well, so we weren't interested in spending time there. Instead, we got an early (10:30 am) flight out.

Overall, this was an excellent itinerary. I wish we could have had a bit more time in some of the ports (and frankly, I think it might have been possible based on the distances between ports, but it would likely have eaten too much into casino/shop revenue for HAL to spend longer in port.)

Captain/Senior Officers

The Captain was Chris Norman, and he wasn't our favorite. Henk Keijer on the Westerdam was excellent, but Capt. Norman was a bit, well, off. His roughly 10 minute monologue on how important hand-washing is (while an important topic) was, frankly, a bit off-putting. He spoke increeeeedibly slowly during the muster drill, and his Northern English accent made me really miss the Dutch accent of past trips. We saw him at two receptions, but he never actually spoke to us, and all-in-all, he was wooden and a bit awkward. That said, he did keep us informed of a delay in port (in Charlottetown), and nothing bad happened. (As one member of my trivia team commented, a cruise ship captain's primary job is to not appear on CNN.)

The hotel manager was Simon de Boer, and I never saw him except at one of the cocktail receptions and the Captain's toast. As you'll see below, I think he might have some hard work ahead of him, as there were some minor (but troubling) problems.

The Cruise Director was Mario Vines, and he was personable and funny. We were very happy with him.

The Future Cruise Consultants, Lynn and Larry, seemed like lovely people, but I felt like they were trying to sell us something we didn’t want to buy. It felt a bit salesman-ish for my taste.

Any other officers/senior staff of interest to anyone? If so, I'll do my best.

The Ship

It is pretty clear that the Veendam is an older ship, but she's been fairly well maintained. She was very clear, and in good shape. She feels a bit dates compared to the Vista class, but the discussions elsewhere on CC of her awful condition seem overblown. That said, she is showing her age a bit, and some things have been let go a bit more than I'd like to see. The ship felt pretty small compared to the Vista ships, and it felt like an awkward size; had it been smaller, it would have felt intimate, but it’s kinda neither here nor there for me.

The Cabin

As usual, our Neptune suite was nice. I like the layout on the Vista ships better, but no significant complaints. The verandah was HUGE (probably 8' deep, maybe, and very wide.) Sadly, most days, it was too cold to spend as much time there as we would like, but it was much nicer than the Vista SA verandahs. We were right across the hall from the Neptune Lounge, and so it was a bit loud, but not especially so. The glass on one of our windows had cracks, which I though was a bit odd, but it wasn't all the way through the glass and therefore wasn't a real problem. It did look sloppy. The bathrooms on the Vista ships are much nicer. Our cabin steward (Yaya) was the best we've had by a significant margin. He was very friendly and helpful. Laundry and dry-cleaning service happened very quickly (same day turnaround!).

The food/drinks

This is where things turn a bit for the worse, which is too bad, as this is very important to us. In the past, we've eaten primarily in the MDR. We do a fixed seating so our dining steward can get a chance to know us. This worked out very well on the Zuiderdam and Westerdam, but our MDR experiences (embarkation lunch, mariners lunch, and dinners) were, to be blunt, not good. I should mention that our dining steward and assistant were fine, but seemed severely overworked. The pacing was awful, and the food was not at all impressive. In the past, we found the MDR to be good, but not great, but here, it was truly mediocre. The food had very little flavor, and the plating was terrible; it was as though food was just tossed on dishes however it came out. When my wife and I got the same dish, they bore no resemblance to each other. "Rare" is apparently synonymous with "medium well," and "al dente" apparently means mush. Some other tables seemed to be offered fresh ground pepper, but we were not. On the formal night, when we wanted to buy a bottle, the wine steward seemed as though she was avoiding us, while other nights, she seemed omni-present. Also upsetting to us was that HAL has apparently decided to eliminate the cheese menu, which was a personal favorite of ours. I asked the culinary manager, who made sure we got decent cheese plates on future nights, but it wasn't the same as the fantastic menu HAL used to have. This is a HUGE disappointment for us, as we find most of the deserts to be underwhelming. Throughout the cruise, it felt like corners were being cut everywhere, and this was especially evident in the MDR. We heard numerous people telling us they'd been brought the wrong thing; all in all, something is not working as it should.

The Pinnacle was fantastic (breakfast, and dinner the last two nights when we got too fed up with the MDR), and the PG stewards (especially Indirawali (sp?) and Dian) were fantastic. We were very impressed with our experiences, and it was proof that HAL can get it right when they choose.

We never eat at the Lido, but we did decide to try the Dive-In. Twice. The Cannonball burger was quite good, though I did not care for the special sauce (which i got on the side). It's worth mentioning that we got the sauce twice, and it tasted different each time; again, consistency was NOT a strength on this trip. The pager system worked well, though the announcement "Your table is ready; please return to the hostess" seemed a bit amateurish; surely they could have customized that, right? I tend to think attention to detail is important, and that's the sort of thing that just feels really bush league. We tried the hand-washing station (mostly for fun; we already was our hands pretty frequently), and they were kinda fun. Dunno.

The snacks at the Neptune Lounge were good as always, though seemed a bit scaled back from previously. Dexter, the concierge, was good. For those cruising in a couple of weeks, he is apparently organizing the Filipino Independence Day events, and he was very enthusiastic to talk (an appropriate amount!) about it. Coffee (even the espresso machine) remains mediocre, as it seems to be HAL-wide.

The bars seemed a bit disorganized, and they ran out of limes. A Gin and Tonic does not work with a lemon, but even stranger was using limes (again, apparently in short supply) instead of lemons for the finger baths when our friends got lobster on formal night. Again, things seemed a bit disorganized. Thanks to whoever first mentioned the weng weng on CC; I enjoyed the one I got, but was a bit afraid to get too many more. It was also great to learn that call brand drinks (yay for Knob Creek Old Fashions) are only $1 more. During the pub trivia, drinks were a dollar off, and sometimes, the other trivia coincided with Happy Hour. Apparently, the IT Department took the bar computers down right before a happy hour for maintenance, to the chagrin of bar staff and guests alike. The bar servers seemed overworked, and waits during HH were often quite long.

Fitness Center

To be honest, with the large amount of port time, I didn’t visit on this trip, but my wife did. All but one of the treadmills seemed to work well, which was a huge improvement over her Zuiderdam experience. Things got crowded, apparently, around 7am, but when it opened, it was nearly empty. A few days, it was too cold to walk the wrap-around deck, but it was nice having it there, even if it was on a deck we otherwise didn’t really visit much.

Music and entertainment

HAL isn’t known for its shows, and this was no exception; Bob Mackie’s B-way is starting to feel tired, and the “hilarious comedy of (name redacted)” was NOT especially funny. The comedy magician just seemed smarmy, and we walked out when he was blindfolded for a trick. (Sorry, Bob, but you were not to our taste.) We were impressed with the number of music groups (HALCats, Neptunes, Adagio, solo guitar, piano man), and some were quite good. The audience at Adagio were, well, a bit curmudgeonly, and I saw them glare at people for walking in during a movement. Even a whisper led to shushing. It was a bit excessive; this was more background music and a virtuoso performance, so why treat it like Carnegie Hall? The requests at the piano bar were skewed towards things that were putting us to sleep. (“Autumn Leaves” at a piano bar? Really?) We ended up borrowing movies a couple of nights and heading to bed a bit early.

Fellow passengers

Everyone knows HAL skews older. The customs/immigration guy in Quebec laughed at us and told us we were going on an old-person cruise. We weren’t surprised that the crowd was older, but we were surprised just how much older compared to Alaska or the Caribbean. For the most part, we were comparing our ages to others’ in terms of decades. That said, as someone mentioned at one of the cocktail parties, these aren’t (mostly) the fuddy-duddy old people, and we enjoyed talking to our fellow passengers. We might have been the youngest couple (again, early-mid-30s), but our fellow passengers didn’t seem bothered by our (relative) youth any more than we did by their additional years of wisdom and experience. But yeah, the average age was almost surely above 65, and possibly by a decent margin. I think there might have been 15-20 kids total aboard, but it’s not like I kept count, and again, we avoid the Lido, so perhaps we missed some.

Highlights

I think the highlight for us was the hands-on cooking class. Chef Sebastiano was fantastic, and we learned a lot of tricks/techniques that we didn’t know. I had low expectations (I’m a fairly experienced cook), but I was pleasantly surprised. The class included a lunch at the Pinnacle Grill, and we enjoyed this a lot.

Low-lights

Things – starting with the embarkation in Quebec – felt disorganized and sloppy. We got to the port (walking from the Chateau Fronteneac area, and using the Funiclaire) about 11:00. Boarding started at 11:30, but the communication between shore staff and ship staff was, well, poor. Sadly, this set the tone a bit; no one seemed to know what was going on a large fraction of the time. Things were sloppy, ranging from “On Location” newsletters which were rife (sometimes hilariously so) with typographical errors to flyers with incorrect information. None of these things were, in themselves, terrible, but it just felt very amateurish, and it felt like corners were being cut. I understand that cruises are roughly the same price as they’ve been for a long time and that HAL needs to make sound business decisions, but it seemed like everything (from hard selling of EVERYTHING to ad after ad after ad) was focused entirely on making a profit.

Overall

Overall, we had an enjoyable vacation, but we see significant room for improvement. I’m starting to think we need to explore cruise lines other than HAL to get the focus on quality food and an excellent experience. We’re used to the size and amenities of the Neptune Suites, but I’m wondering if we can get a nicer experience on anther cruise line. The lack of a cheese menu, while seemingly a minor thing, was a big disappointment to us, and was a symptom of corners being cut. At the risk of sounding overly picky, we are finding ourselves disappointed in HAL’s performance on the cruise.

If anyone has questions or I can follow-up on anything, let me know. Part of the reason for such a long review was to create content for the survey, which my wife and I will be filling out in detail.

Thanks for your review! Your comments regarding staffing and food echo our most recent experiences. I'm glad to hear your overall assessment was "enjoyable".

Thanks for the report ..

Thanks for taking the time to write and post a very thoughtful review of your Veendam cruise. Even though you sounded like you had a good time, sorry to hear about your MDR experiences.

Thanks for your report, and sorority to hear your Veendam trip wasn't up to level. Unfortunately I could've predicted that - IMO it is easily HAL's most misguided ship when it comes to organization and service. I'd try to ignore it and pretend it wasn't a real HAL cruise; that's what we have done since our ill-fated Veendam sailing in 2012.

Although we still had an enjoyable time (we try to make the best of things, even when they're not ideal), I'm still strongly considering a different cruise line in the future. We're open to recommendations based on the things we disliked here.

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Veendam in July but will have a different Captain. Does the showroom still have the table and chairs on the floor and then a upper level of couch seating? I am hoping they changed that in dry dock! Thanks

Although we still had an enjoyable time (we try to make the best of things, even when they're not ideal), I'm still strongly considering a different cruise line in the future. We're open to recommendations based on the things we disliked here.

I'd look into Celebrity and if your budget allows really Oceania.

Hope things improve by the time we board in four weeks.

Thanks for your review.

Thanks for the review. We will be on the Veendam in July but will have a different Captain. Does the showroom still have the table and chairs on the floor and then a upper level of couch seating? I am hoping they changed that in dry dock! Thanks

Sounds like it's the same. There are couches (with tables) behind the tables and chairs. We didn't look closely at the balcony, but I think it was the couches as well.

I’m starting to think we need to explore cruise lines other than HAL to get the focus on quality food and an excellent experience. We’re used to the size and amenities of the Neptune Suites, but I’m wondering if we can get a nicer experience on anther cruise line.

Great review! Thanks for being so detailed. We sailed Maasdam last year on a similar itinerary and had the same thoughts as you all did.

It sounds like you need to try some different cruise lines. I think people get really stuck on one cruise line, for some reason. We are in your same age group and we sail strictly for itinerary, which gives us a great variety of lines and ships. Mix it up a bit =)

Thanks again for taking the time to tell us how your trip went. I really enjoy Canada / New England itineraries.

Michael

Excellent snapshot review, thanks much for writing that up. Having just returned from the repo from FLL to the NE a few weeks ago, I completely agree about the 'sales atmosphere' that was ever-present wherever you looked. We had a different FCC on board, (can't recall her name), but she was perfect for us and didn't push at all, so we lucked out there. We also enjoyed that chef on our cooking class, he's quite funny, and as a non-cook, I learned a lot. And indeed, Mario was an energetic CD and quite funny.

I'm afraid I don't have any recommendations for other lines, as I've only sailed HAL. For mom and I, it's a great fit, (with the caveat that we don't know if there's a better one out there, since we are reluctant to try). But a large part of the great fit is the 'stereotypical demographic' of HAL, as well as their design. I don't want to be in a club at 3am, I want to be in bed asleep. I don't want to be sliding down a water slide on the top deck during the day, I want to be taking in a lecture, or staking out a chair to quietly read and look out the windows. It just happens that many of the 'older' cruisers enjoy those same things.

The added bonus for me is hearing stories. Mom and I usually just want a table for two, but almost every time we've sat with others for a meal, it is such an experience. During Indonesian Tea Ceremony, we had the pleasure of meeting a gal who I would imagine was in her late 70s. The stories that she had and the places that she had been too, (both cruising related and non), were so intriguing. Perhaps it's since my grandparents passed when I was young and never got to hear much from them, but I love learning about different times and experiences.

Sorry, this ended up being rather long, haha. I say if your other cruises with HAL were better for you, then don't let one 'bad' cruise put you off. If you do decide to try out another line, think about the things you are attracted to in HAL, and compare that list to the others. (I know there is no way I want to be on a vessel that has 4k passengers. Not at all, so that would be one of my automatic no-gos when shopping around).

Good luck to ya on your future cruises, whomever they happen to be with.

Thanks for your detailed review.

Sorry to learn of the negative experiences.

Thanks for your review.

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

Sorry about the dining room experience. Sadly we are seeing changes and cutbacks on the Vista and Signature class ships as well.

We have been on many ships where the captains have barely spoken to us. It is not a big deal.

Mr. Oz, aside from the suite issue it sounds like you might enjoy Crystal. I did some comparison of prices on similar cruises, late September 2015 Maasdam vs Crystal Symphony. For less than the Maasdam's SA suite you could be in the best regular verandah cabin. It would not be as spacious, and you would not have a butler but I think you would like everything else.

The lowest Crystal Penthouse (with a butler) would be about 1/3 more than your SA, 367 sq ft vs 575 but with superb food and sterling service.

Roy

Thank-you for your review of the Veendam and your cruise. Our first HAL cruise was on the Veendam, and while I don't remember many of the details of the ship, I remember us having a wonderful cruise.

Like you, we feel that HAL's suite experience is lacking. We are currently reviewing NCL and its suite offering for a Canada - New England cruise.

The interesting part of the Cabot Trail doesn't even start until you pass by Ingonish and it is spectacular when you get to it. The trail is really an all day experience and cruise ship passengers really don't have the time needed to see the memorable bits.

Thanks for sharing.

Thank You for the nice review. Its very unfortunate because we were looking seriously at the "Veendam" for August 12th, 2015 which has a great iteniary. But now after reading your review Iam kinda "turned off" from booking it. I didn't realize its an old tug.

.... But now after reading your review Iam kinda "turned off" from booking it. I didn't realize its an old tug.

I'm glad my review was helpful, but I wanted to make sure I hadn't misrepresented things. The ship itself is in pretty good shape, and I certainly wouldn't call it "an old tug."

The problems were mostly staffing (hence my comment that the Hotel Director has a lot that he needs to do) and level of organization, along with apparent corners being cut by corporate. August 2015 is a long way away, so I don't know what advice to provide.

On an unrelated note, I hadn't explicitly mentioned this, but the Culinary Manager said the end of the cheese list is a corporate policy, and he believed it was fleet-wide.

I like HAL and especially enjoy Vista class ships. From my cruising experience, I'd recommend Celebrity. Go to the forum and see what the reviews say about the food. Again, the average age will be older than other cruise lines. Princess might be another choice for you.

... we were looking seriously at the "Veendam" for August 12th, 2015...it. I didn't realize its an old tug.

I would never call the Veendam the best ship in the fleet, but it's hardly "an old tug".

The Retreat area is a disgrace, and the too many lanai cabins cut down on public seating on Lower Promenade; the added wall in Lower Promenade atrium area is unsightly, but the rest of the ship is pleasant.

I would never call the Veendam the best ship in the fleet, but it's hardly "an old tug".

 

The Retreat area is a disgrace, and the too many lanai cabins cut down on public seating on Lower Promenade; the added wall in Lower Promenade atrium area is unsightly, but the rest of the ship is pleasant.

What is "the added wall on the LP Atrium area?" We are on the Veendam for 17 days in October - not by choice but rather by itinerary. We have not been on her since 2006, so I'm trying to gather as much info as I can so we aren't shocked at what we find.