10-3 Veendam Report

[RichNY]

Departing from NY was a pleasure

 

Unfortunately we ran into some rough seas, 20 ft swells. We don't get seasick but two of our friends did..

 

Half way across we blew a transformer and had to run at reduced speed which caused us to arrive in Hamilton about 8 hours late. The St George's portion of our trip was already scrubbed because the tender was damaged during Igor. The transformer issue also caused us to leave about 5 hours early on Friday. We did receive a $50pp OBC and a one hour open bar. :D

 

While our time in Bermuda was cut short but it was really nice to spend all our time in Hamilton.

 

The food was good and we enjoyed the their pay restaurant, the Pinnacle Grill. Unfortunately that reservation was messed up but we made the best of it...They know how the take a reservation, they just don't know how the keep one..:D..Seinfeld

 

Their concept of Anytime dining isn't exactly Anytime. It's more like you can eat Anytime they say you can. Nothing like NCL's concept that we are used to.

 

Since we were traveling with 7 people reservations were a must. We had signed up for anytime dining but our cards had us eating at the 8pm seating. We had this corrected and ended up with the only time available for a reservation, 8pm..:rolleyes: 7pm,our requested time, was out of the question.

 

On formal night the dress in the dining was not EXACTLY to code but everyone looked good.;)

 

The ship was OK small but nice , perhaps a little dated. Our cabin , a Category B, Veranda suite, a nice size with lots of storage. I guess we got lucky since our toilets flushed and our AC worked just fine..;)

 

HAL is a lot quieter than most especially during the day. The shows were excellent and featured multiple singers as opposed the the big production shows..

 

The crew was quite nice and efficient but a lot more laid back than we have experienced.

 

We would might consider sailing Hal again but the itinerary would have to be very special...For Bermuda it was still a good way to go..

 

The hot button issues like the Retreat and the dress code were not issues at all...On sunny days the retreat was packed..and like I said everyone looked good..

[Aruba]

Thanks for the report.

[innlady1]

Thanks for your review, Rich. As you know, we were supposed to be on that cruise...so it's nice to see the reviews trickle in!

[DRWhit]

How was Bermuda looking? Could you tell a hurricane had recently hit?

[RichNY]

How was Bermuda looking? Could you tell a hurricane had recently hit?

 

There was considerable erosion along the south shore due to Igor. That is all we really noticed..The rest of the island looked fine.

[IRL_Joanie]

Thank you Rich for the great review!!

 

Joanie

[DRWhit]

There was considerable erosion along the south shore due to Igor. That is all we really noticed..The rest of the island looked fine.

Gotta love those Bermudians. A hard-working bunch who keep their island in tip-top shape.

[mamaofami]

Thank you Rich, for the review and for keeping us informed about what was happening along the way. I, for one, really appreciated that.