Just of Veendam VOV 2014 was fantastic

[GRACECRUISE]

Just off the 35 day VOV on the Veendam. It was amazing.

 

Captain: Eric Van del wal He was amazing. His 12:50pm sea day reports from the bridge were great. We always made sure we were somewhere to hear it. The Lido was not a good place, to many people talking. He kept us informed of all that was going on. He did a couple of question and answer sessions with the Cruise Director. Very interesting man and very approachable.

 

Weather: Could not of asked for anything better. We only had only a couple of days when the ship rocked a bit. We did miss the port of Cartwright in Labrador but that was due to ice.

 

Port: Loved them all. From Wthe small villages to the large cities. We did two private tours and one HAL tour. The HAL tours were pretty pricey this time but some internet research will fond you some good private tours.

 

Best day goes to Prince Christian Sund. We spent about 10 hours in there. The weather was gorgeous. Sky blue and sunny, no clouds most of the day. We hit every nook and cranny it offered. The Captain would pull in front of the glaciers a do a 360 for all to see. It was strange that when we left the Sund and went back our into the Atlantic we had large icebergs and fog. What a way to end that day.

 

Some of our best memories are sailing out of ports wrapped up in the wool throws in a sweatshirt on the Promenade deck. We never had any problems finding the teak lounge chairs.

 

Food: MDR was great. First half of cruise had better selections and less repeated menus. Our dining steward was great about creating sometime good for us if we did not see it on the menu. Had a couple nights of cheeseburger and fries or a chef salad. Some days after a long tour, nothing sounds good but some mac and cheese comfort food and he would always come through for us. He even surprised us with chicken wings one night!

 

Lido was great for breakfast. Omelets were hot and fresh and when I wanted french toast or pancakes, I would just ask the grill person if they would put one on for me. So breakfast was always hot and fresh. The strombolis from the pizza place were really good.

 

Dive In was wonderful. I will miss my hamburgers and Nathans hot dogs and great french fries. They also make a wicked chicken sandwich. You can modify the sandwiches as much as you want.

 

Entertainment would be a low point for us. I would of liked more of the cast shows. They had great voices but in 35 days they only have 4 shows. They did do of them twice so we got 6. But some of the other entertainment was strange. But our silver lining was Barry from Boston in the Piano Bar. He was so much fun. His theme nights were great and he has quite a variety. I do not normally go to the piano bar. We also read lots of books from the library. They have good selections. I love to be lazy and read on a cruise.

 

Guest Lectures: I did not attend any of them but those who did said they were very good. They had some interesting topic but not my cup of tea.

 

Teas: Always go to the cupcake tea and it was good. Instead of the Dessert Extravaganza in the evening they did one for tea. I did go to that and everything was good. Lots of people went, glad it was supported.

 

Charity auction: hey did a fund raiser for a cancer center house in St Johns or St Anthonys. It was a silent auction on things people (guests and crew donated) and lots of knitted and crocheted items from the guests. The Culinary Host, Donna, had all the supplies for the ladies who wanted to knit or crochet. There were hats, scarfs, etc. Between the auction and donations, they raised over $5000.

 

Veendam: She was in great shape. This was a great itinerary for all the hot tubs on the aft deck. Not a big fan of her show room, the couches arr not comfy.

 

We did hear from the cast they are rolling out a new show concept. Encore is going away. They are heading back to 2 or 3 singers and lots of dancers. It has been rolled out on some ships.

 

Room Stewards: These guys were Ninjas who do not get enough praise. We were on the later cycle for room clean up which was fine for us. We also got fresh ice service at 4:30 daily. We had an ice bucket and then a bucket we kept water and soda in.

 

Our room 537 was an inside. We had 3 in a cabin. We had one day when it seemed warm and the office came and checked it. Within a few hours whatever it was, they fixed it. We were night to the inside crew area stairs. The first night I did notice the noise. It sounded like the took the horses up the stairs for nigh air and a little later the bowling team rolled their bowling balls down the stairs. After a day or two, I did not seem to notice it anymore. I live near an airport and no longer notice the planes. If you adverse to sound, do not book this room.

 

Tender process: They had a different system on this ship than I had seen before. Prior to open tendering, when tender tickets are required, all guests wanting to get off the ship had to go to the showroom on 7. If you were on a tour, you were given a sticker and waited to be called. If you were not on a HAL excursion you were given a tender ticket number and waited to be called. If you had priority tendering (4,5 or gold card suite) you were to come in and wait to be called. When you were called you went down to the tender via the crew stairs or elevators. No public elevators went to the tender area until open tendering began. This cut down the priority tender people going down and cutting in line with the tours and kept the tour together. As a 4 stair we never had a long wait. It may have been 5 to 10 minutes at the most.

 

As on any cruise, there were some complainers. It wouldn't be a cruise if they weren't there. I don't know of the noro on the ship but we did have the upper respiratory on it. My dad did get it but came prepared with antibiotics and did fine. He was never down and out and did not have it long. Lots of coughers and sneezers out and about who were not good mouth coverers. I did bring a travel size can of lysol and sprayed our air vent frequently as we would leave the room.

 

I was a little worried about the Veendam due to some negative reviews but we had no major air or bathroom problems. The air was on in dining room so a sweater was needed. Overall a fantastic cruise. The Captain and crew of the ship were wonderful. I truly hated to see it end. If you are worried about the Veendam and the VOV, don't be. Book it and have a great time, we did!

[Copper10-8]

Nice! :)

[kazu]

Great Review.

 

Thank you SO much.

 

I know this cruise is on a lot of bucket lists.

 

Really appreciate the report and especially the report on the Veendam:D

 

Welcome home:D

[puppycanducruise]

Glad you had a good cruise, thanks for letting us know!

[jaspersmycat]

Thanks not only for your review here but also your blog and coming onto our Roll Call for next years VOV to let us know how it was going. Now I just have to have patience for 242 days until we sail.

[aliaschief]

Welcome home. Another happy Mariner. Thanks for sharing.

 

Loved your blog.

Edited August 17, 2014 by aliaschief

[HokiePoq]

Thanks for the report and the fabulous blog! I am recuperating from surgery and reading your blog made the days so by faster. Your report makes me so glad we'll be on this itinerary next year!

From a reader's standpoint, I would agree on Prince Christian Sound. Your photos are absolutely wonderful! I hope the weather cooperates again next year.

[Linda&Vern]

Thank you for reviewing the VOV for us. I appreciated the info on the Veendam especially. We will be on her in a couple of months and are glad to hear she is functioning well.

[sail7seas]

Great review. Thanks for sharing with us.

Welcome Back. :)

[SilvertoGold]

Thanks so very much for this review and your wonderful blog with the outstanding photos.

 

It was the perfect blog and I appreciate the amount of time and effort you put into taking us along.

 

I followed along and my husband would ask "how is that family on the VOV doing today?. We would then discuss all your photos and commentary.

 

Missed seeing a photo of you! Hope you have another cruise planned soon!

[DFD1]

Fun and refreshing review! Great read! Thanks for sharing your trip with us.

[NYteacher]

I was on the Westbound portion with my husband and twelve year old, and we also had a great time. We are now in Boston, visiting Boston (Hi S7S!) and return to NYC tomorrow.

 

I'd like to add a few points.

 

First of all, Prince Christian Sund was so wonderful, I emailed our travel agent from the ship, this was my letter:

 

I thought I'd take a moment to let you know we are enjoying one of our best cruising days ever. We are spending the day cruising Prince Christian Sund in Greenland. We have simply stunning weather of sunny cloudless skies.

 

The landscape is consists of sheer rocky mountains above deep turquoise seas. Icebergs are floating in the water, they range in size from basketballs to multi-story buildings. Glaciers populate the mountains, some coming down to the sea, others suspended high above us. We saw one small Inuit village of about thirty houses. There are dozens of waterfalls from glacier run off.

 

Everyone is in a delighted mood as we share this wonderful experience.

 

Thank you for helping to make it possible.

 

Second: there were about two dozen "kids" under 18. My son had a wonderful time with two sets of brothers. One set was from Canada, the other from Germany. His vocabulary now includes about half a dozen words or phrases.

 

Finally, the ports were divinely wonderful. I've come back to read a lot of negativity about HAL but the itineraries can't be beat.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for writing the review of your Veendam cruise, glad you had a good time.

[rkacruiser]

Many thanks for your review!

 

My experiences and thoughts mirrors yours about Prins Christian Sund. Our day there on the Eurodam last year was rainy, foggy, cold. Bundled up with those lovely, warm deck blankets in the deck chairs on Promenade Deck with a some hot Clam Chowder in a Sourdough Bread bowl made it a magical cruising memory. In spite of our weather, the Sund rivals views, although quite different, that I have been fortunate to see in the fjords of Norway and Doubtful, Dusky, and Milford Sounds in New Zealand.

 

Did you visit Nanortalik? On our entire Viking Passage cruise last year, I liked this small village the best. It was so original and not touristy. If you were able to tender into this port, what are your views?

[GRACECRUISE]

We did go into Nanortalik. We even had an iceberg break in half near the ship. We had to re-position due to ice. We tendered into town and wandered about. The fish market was closed to us. They were butchering in the back and we very upset if we came by. Turns out they were butchering a whale. That is their way of life. They did not anyone to see it and take pictures. They took it away in black trash bags. Other than that we wandered all over.

 

One of the neatest things we saw in PCS was an iceberg roll over right in front of us. That was cool. We also had a whale appear at our meet and greet. The Captain was with us talking to someone behind me, the whale appeared in front of the ship and whomever was driving the ship made a sharp turn. The ship listed and the Captain took notice. It was amazing to see this whale appear in front of us and the ship turn on a dime.

[mollyanne]

I really enjoyed your blog and have to find something new to read in the morning! Thanks for taking the time and for all the great pics. My son was very interested in all the shots of Iceland as this is on his "must travel to" list.

 

Welcome home! :)

[rkacruiser]

We did go into Nanortalik. We even had an iceberg break in half near the ship. We had to re-position due to ice. We tendered into town and wandered about. The fish market was closed to us. They were butchering in the back and we very upset if we came by. Turns out they were butchering a whale. That is their way of life. They did not anyone to see it and take pictures. They took it away in black trash bags. Other than that we wandered all over.

 

One of the neatest things we saw in PCS was an iceberg roll over right in front of us. That was cool. We also had a whale appear at our meet and greet. The Captain was with us talking to someone behind me, the whale appeared in front of the ship and whomever was driving the ship made a sharp turn. The ship listed and the Captain took notice. It was amazing to see this whale appear in front of us and the ship turn on a dime.

 

WOW! That was more excitement in the Sund than we had.

 

During our transit of the Sund, we stopped off a very small settlement along the coast and both emergency boats were lowered and supplies were taken to them from the Eurodam. Some fresh fish were returned and served in the dining room that evening.

 

Did not see the Fish Market. Was it beyond the Church? Or, was it beyond the building used as the Cultural Center (which was in the opposite direction from the Church?)

[catl331]

Appreciated your blog Good info for our cruise next wk on the Eurodam. We have some of the same ports. It would be great to have the weather you had on the Sund but....we will take what we can get. We are prepared for sun, rain, fog and snow----no not snow!

 

Your info on the food was inviting. Carol

[iflyrc5]

Thanks so much for the great review. We are on the 2015 V of V. Would you please share the details on the private tours you enjoyed so we can contact the Vendors.

[GRACECRUISE]

I guess fish market was to broad of term. It was a small building towards to cultural center. The front door was lock. The back door was open where the locals were. We did not drop any supplies to the village. We asked the Captain about it at the Q&A and he said it was not requested. We did go past the village twice. Only saw a few seals, expected many more.

[rkacruiser]

I guess fish market was to broad of term. It was a small building towards to cultural center. The front door was lock. The back door was open where the locals were. We did not drop any supplies to the village. We asked the Captain about it at the Q&A and he said it was not requested. We did go past the village twice. Only saw a few seals, expected many more.

 

Thanks for your reply. When we were there, the rainy, cool, foggy weather discouraged much on foot exploration. After we left the wonderful presentation at the Cultural Center and visited the small building where postcards, etc. were being sold, my traveling companion had no interest in walking towards the Church. So, we joined the line to await embarking the tenders.

 

That was interesting. The fog kept rolling in and out; one minute the ship would almost disappear; the next, there it was--faintly.

 

I loved this little village! It's people were so friendly and welcoming and so very much different from all of the other overbuilt ports we had visited on the Baltic and Viking Passage cruise.

 

Only St. John's was yet to come on our cruise. And, it was a delight as well, just in a different way.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report! Glad to hear you had a great time.

[1of4]

I was tied up with overseas visitors when the VOV left on its adventure. Could you please post a link to your blog as I would love to read it. This is on my bucket list. Less than 3 years to retirement!!! But who is counting?? :confused: ME!!;) :)

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Great Review.