Veendam

[mllewis48]

The Veendam is 20 years old and their is only so much that can be done in a short down period. We heard of the pipe break at the M&G and the elevator issue was the result of an electrical problem that affected the commode flushing, was corrected quickly and the Captain kept the passengers alerted and up to date. These issues are probably not unusual when cruising. We have experienced similar problems on past cruises but you deal with it. One big problem with the commodes is that people put things in them that they should not and they get plugged up, remember they are vacuum commodes, just sayin.

 

 

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[Qc-Mtl-To]

The Veendam is 20 years old and their is only so much that can be done in a short down period. We heard of the pipe break at the M&G and the elevator issue was the result of an electrical problem that affected the commode flushing, was corrected quickly and the Captain kept the passengers alerted and up to date. These issues are probably not unusual when cruising. We have experienced similar problems on past cruises but you deal with it. One big problem with the commodes is that people put things in them that they should not and they get plugged up, remember they are vacuum commodes, just sayin.

 

 

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Agreed. I was on the repo cruise as well. The toilet/elevator issue was a non-issue. All done while in port and everything was worked out fast enough that somebody in port all day would not have noticed.

 

Elevators and toilets were restored to full operations within a couple hours and brought back in stages so that bathrooms and elevators in some area of the ship were always functional. Nothing like a Carnival episode. The captain kept everyone appraised on a very regular basis and as a result even prevented me from having a nap in my lounger!

 

My Grandparent safe was acting out but a quick service request and everything was taken care of.

[tigger-ttfn]

Yikes - a lot of water problems! Did there appear to be a specific area on the ship or deck number which was most affected?

Glad you had fun despite the floods...

 

I believe it was deck 3 or 4 and deck 9 in one of the suites.

[Robin7]

We were on the repositioning cruise too. (Sorry I had to miss the Meet and Greet!)

 

We were in an outside on Deck 5. Our stateroom was a little warmish the first night but I marked that down to embarkation being on our deck and the open doors. It did cool down just fine. And then it heated up just fine when we were in the frozen North!

 

We never had any plumbing issues.

 

We did experience elevator issues, but since the ship was just over half full, three aft elevators seemed PLENTY. We hardly ever had to wait. (My husband is on a fitness kick and would run up the stairs to the Lido while I rode. He would often beat me if the elevator stopped on another deck or two.)

 

The only real 'tragedy' was the next-to-last night. Our dining room steward gave us the dessert menu, and we noticed no sorbet or ice cream or anything that contained ice cream (including Baked Alaska as it was formal night) were on the menu. Our poor guy was actually sweating when he came to take our orders and had to tell us that the freezer in which the ice cream was stored was broken, and all the ice cream had melted. :eek: While several of us were disappointed (my SIL had special-ordered some watermelon sorbet), it really had no effect on our enjoyment of our cruise.

 

We are travelers, not tourists. We know that ship happens.

 

It was a MAGNIFICENT cruise! I am working on a (really, really long) review. And it will have pictures. It might take me a month to finish though, because I have computer issues. (I am married to a computer guy and just as a contractor's home is the last one to be finished, my computer is the last one to be fixed!)

 

The Veendam is just a lovely ship, and her crew is the finest we have ever experienced. I have not been on a small ship in years, and this cruise reminded me why we used to like them A LOT.

 

Robin

[Jemima]

We were also on the repo cruise and had a great time. The Veendam was in very good condition, we had no problems and we didn't hear of any problems. One aft elevator was out of service very briefly for a few hours one day and, yes, there was a problem with the ice cream chiller as the stewards called it. That resulted in limited to no ice cream the last day or two. I also planning a review, but probably not till next week.

 

There was a comment way back in this thread about the lack of officers at the meet and greet and also the limited beverages & snacks. Wrong. This was a normal HAL M&G. The CD and the Event Manager were both present and the beverages & cookies etc. were better presented and more numerous than many of our previous HAL M&Gs.

 

Captain was Chris Norman, hotel manager Simon de Boer, CD Mario Vines

Edited May 14, 2014 by Jemima