It's Official - Veendam in the Med with Venice for 2019 Season

Just found out on the HAL website that Veendam will now be in the Med for 2019 and will be including Venice as an embarkation/disembarkation port. Itineraries are what you would expect and the prices are pretty decent. This is why Veendam has been pulled from Bermuda in 2019.

Thanks for sharing the above. I was looking for an ex-Venice itinerary on HAL for my sister/brother-in-law's first-ever trip to Europe. Unfortunately, Veendam departs in August, and we want to sail in the autumn.

Thanks!

I have been looking at the Med. Mosaic on the new ship, Nieuw Statendam.

Maybe I should take another look at the Med. itineraries!

Thanks for sharing the above. I was looking for an ex-Venice itinerary on HAL for my sister/brother-in-law's first-ever trip to Europe. Unfortunately, Veendam departs in August, and we want to sail in the autumn.

We've been looking for one too, not necessarily HAL though. We wanted Venice to Rome with quite a few Greek ports and a port in Italy for Pompeii (Naples, Sorrento, or Salerno). Right now our front runner is Pacific Princess at the end of October. Nice small ship, and the overnight in Venice is a definite bonus.

We booked Prinsendam in Europe for 2019, but we're taking a good look at Veendam since we've never been to Venice. Not sure it would be worth it to give up our Prinsendam cruise.....some very nice ports.

We've been looking for one too, not necessarily HAL though. We wanted Venice to Rome with quite a few Greek ports and a port in Italy for Pompeii (Naples, Sorrento, or Salerno). Right now our front runner is Pacific Princess at the end of October. Nice small ship, and the overnight in Venice is a definite bonus.

We are booked on Norwegian Star for a 12-night Venice to Barcelona cruise. Eleven ports in 12 days! Star isn't my favorite ship, but this one is definitely about the itinerary.

Thank you for the information.

I wondered the last few days if and what small ship HAL would to the Med so that Venice could either be an embarkation/disembarkation port or even a port stop.

We've been looking for one too, not necessarily HAL though. We wanted Venice to Rome with quite a few Greek ports and a port in Italy for Pompeii (Naples, Sorrento, or Salerno). Right now our front runner is Pacific Princess at the end of October. Nice small ship, and the overnight in Venice is a definite bonus.

Your weather will likely not be great at the end of October. And possibly floods in Venice.

I may have missed something. Is HAL giving up Bermuda completely in 2019 or are they going to be using another ship?

I may have missed something. Is HAL giving up Bermuda completely in 2019 or are they going to be using another ship?

Your weather will likely not be great at the end of October. And possibly floods in Venice.

I like to do Europe in winter time, and will take whatever weather is on offer with grace. I will be sure to have my Wellington boots with me.

Rather rain and grey days than the blistering sun and massive crowds of summer. :D

I like to do Europe in winter time, and will take whatever weather is on offer with grace. I will be sure to have my Wellington boots with me.

 

Rather rain and grey days than the blistering sun and massive crowds of summer. :D

I don't like the blistering heat either. Mid to late September is perfect for us. I get enough rain at home thank you ;)

Thank you for the information.

I wondered the last few days if and what small ship HAL would to the Med so that Venice could either be an embarkation/disembarkation port or even a port stop.

Did I hear correctly that the size they finally decided ships must be smaller than is 96,000 tons?

If so, that would make it so all except the Pinnacle Class ships could depart from there.

Looks like no HAL ship will be doing Bermuda for the 2019 season. They would have to re-deploy a small ship suitable for Hamilton. Doubtful they would head down to Kings Wharf with a larger ship. That being said, HAL might surprise us!

I was talking about this with my DH last night.

Since Veendam even had some issues when it first became an itinerary, they would need to go with Prinsendam (unlikely due to the high revenue sailings she does all year round) or Maasdam (unlikely due to all the EXC in depth, long exotic cruises with zodiac boats she is doing). R, Vista, Signature and Pinnacle Class are all too big.

Did I hear correctly that the size they finally decided ships must be smaller than is 96,000 tons?

If so, that would make it so all except the Pinnacle Class ships could depart from there.

96,000 has been in place for a couple of years now. The cruise industry put it in place when Venice kept changing their minds.

I don't like the blistering heat either. Mid to late September is perfect for us. I get enough rain at home thank you ;)

I wish there was a slightly earlier sailing, but that ship with Venice as the embarkation port the choices are October 30th and November 23rd. The cruises out of Rome in the other direction, the itineraries are not anywhere near as good.

Your weather will likely not be great at the end of October. And possibly floods in Venice.

Venice has about 10 rainy days in October, on average, which is only one more than September. Flooding is highly dependent on both the weather and the lunar cycle.

I'd say it's not a given that weather will be bad. I've been to Venice in September, October, November and April and had great weather all three times. (Although cold in November, no rain....).

I was actually hoping for a bit of that foggy, grey atmospheric weather last year when I was in Venice -- makes for great photo ops. And the areas where flooding tends to occur are very quick to put out the board walkways for people to get around.

Venice has about 10 rainy days in October, on average, which is only one more than September. Flooding is highly dependent on both the weather and the lunar cycle.

 

I'd say it's not a given that weather will be bad. I've been to Venice in September, October, November and April and had great weather all three times. (Although cold in November, no rain....).

 

I was actually hoping for a bit of that foggy, grey atmospheric weather last year when I was in Venice -- makes for great photo ops. And the areas where flooding tends to occur are very quick to put out the board walkways for people to get around.

I must have been very unlucky in Venice and Dubrovnik then ;) My late October weather has always been awful. That is not a coast I would recommend anyone visit that time of year if there is an alternative. I think we've been 4 times in September and it's always been lovely.

Veendam rides/sails again. I was looking at the extended Canada-New England cruise summer of 2019 to New Foundland, which was cancelled for 2018 to allow Veendam to do Cuba. Now, Veendam has been rescheduled for the Med in 2019! Oh well. It seems the S class is needed. Maybe, HAL will reverse policy and actually build a new 700' ship. After all, Viking is building a whole fleet of ships about Veendam size.

We hope they will have LOTS of Adriatic ports of call. That is the area we are most interested in.

When does it do the transatlantic back to FTL ??????

She leaves Rome in August for Boston then does New England and Canada then heads to Ft. lauderdale mid October according to HAL web site

Janet

I've been talked out of doing a cruise to Hawaii because of the sometimes rough sea on the Pacific and I don't want 5 days of that, so can someone with experience tell me a bit about the Med in May? I would like to do the Venice to Rome itinerary with various ports on the Adriatic. I am now thinking about either doing that or a river cruise.

I've been talked out of doing a cruise to Hawaii because of the sometimes rough sea on the Pacific and I don't want 5 days of that, so can someone with experience tell me a bit about the Med in May? I would like to do the Venice to Rome itinerary with various ports on the Adriatic. I am now thinking about either doing that or a river cruise.

You can never tell. We had a doozy of a storm while traveling between Corsica and Gibraltar in September, but neither DW and I get seasick at all so it didn't really bother us. Was a weird feeling using the treadmill in the forward gym that morning though - running uphill into the crest, then going weightless for an instant, and running downhill into the trough. And, of course, I did have to hang on to the treadmill for that session, where normally I wouldn't be caught dead. :D

Bigwally - I recall that treadmill feeling on an Alaskan Cruise. I didn't last long on one morning's run. Every other step was a bit long.

But I think an Apr or May Med cruise may have calmer seas than later Fall cruise from the little I've read but you are right about never knowing. I'm now thinking about either a 9 Day Med Legend out of Civit. or 10 day Adriatic Dream out of Venice. One is K-dam and the other V-dam. IIs there a storm season in the Med?