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Another Redneck review of a "BARGAIN" cruise: Veendam 04/09/16

RedneckBob

By RedneckBob,
in Holland America Line

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RedneckBob

RedneckBob

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Hi y'all, Redneck Bob hear !

 

Attention K-Mart shoppers; we just had a Blue Light Special on a HAL cruise on the Veendam, 04/09/16, 15 day Caribbean cruise. That's right a real good deal. Let me set it up. The Veendam was scheduled to depart Tampa, FL on 04/12/16 for 12 days. HAL decided approximately 4 months prior to selling to switch departure port to Ft Lauderdale and make cruise 15 days. Why? I guess it had to do with being in something called a drydock prior to cruise and not sailing back to Tampa from Freeport. Only a guess. Never heard the term drydock before until someone explained to me it was like putting your toy boat in your bathtub full of water and draining out the water to repair it. Well that made no sense; why would have remove the water to repair my toy boat !

 

Now hears the deal. We booked this cruise 2 weeks prior to sailing; got lowest cabin, guarantee N, inside and 5 days prior to departing were upgraded to D and then 2 days later got a minor upsell, shipping & handling not included, I mean excluding government fees to a Vista Suite; what a deal ! I thought this was the best until I boarded the ship and talked with other people. Everyone on this cruise got a deal. People who booked for 12 days were not charged for extra 3 days of sailing. And some paid between $299-$499/person for a 15 day cruise ! Even someone told me HAL was trying to get people to board in Key West, our first port of call.

 

Well, I rambled on too much about this; what about the cruise.

 

It was Good.

 

I explained in a prior thread what was done to the ship post drydock and issues on ship

 

Embarkation: Went very smoothly except it seemed muster drill was way too long. And do you know when we were lining up for this drill this lady showed up carrying a large fur jacket. I was going to ask her if prior to getting to Antigua were we making a stop at the North Pole :eek: ! Though it was a chilly 84 degrees at the drill.

 

Cabin: The Vista Suite was very nice, smaller than I thought. Stewards were excellent during the cruise. Had only minor issues

 

Food: Began the cruise very good and ended not so good. Three straight dinners got uncooked meatballs, tough beef and mushy lobster. Service was very good.

 

Ports of Call: All very good. The two main types of tours I took were either snorkeling or the free wi fi tour. The free wi fi tours were in Key West, San Juan except Starbucks charged for a cup of coffee for the wi fi, Antigua, Curacao and Aruba.

 

In Key West found great bargains at a store where everything was advertised to be $5, includes hats, t-shirts, etc. It like your local Dollar Store except five times more. Well I found a great $5 t-shirt and moseyed up to the counter where there was a couple in front of me. The lady asked the cashier how much were the t-shirt she was buying. $5; what else would it be in a store where everything is $5.

 

Snorkeled at Sapphire Beach in St Thomas and snorkeled with a "HUGE" stringray; sorry for the play on words; trying not to get political. Then in Curacao went to the beach next to the aquarium and snorkeled with 1000's of fish including a 4 foot barracuda who kept following me. I got very frustrated with this barracuda following me so I looked at it and said, "Do you know I am Redneck Bob, make my day". Well that must have scared the you know what out of it and it swam away.

 

Entertainment: Fair to Good; three good shows; Comedian Fred, Singer who was son of Jackie Wilson and singers and dancers show called Dance.

 

Overall I would give this cruise a 7.4 out of 10

 

"I'm Redneck Bob and I see it like I tell it, I mean tell it like I see it"

 

PS: You might be a Redneck if when you board the ship, go to your cabin and have to call the Front Desk that you can not leave your cabin because there is a small sign on the door that says "Privacy Please" :eek:

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RedneckBob

RedneckBob

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funny the you had no idea what drydock was -

Never heard the term. Heard of what's up Doc, dry martini which is really wet :confused:, dock on my lake that is in water; just couldn't figure how you can dock a ship without any water.

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RedneckBob

RedneckBob

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WOW!

 

Highly amusing, wonderfully written and quite informative!

 

Also, love hearing about all the deals! Amazing!

 

Thanks SilvertoGold. Interesting CC name. What does it mean.

 

I was just plain lucky to get this deal. Were on a cruise and just decided to look for any cruise deals on the internet and found this one. Got off cruise on Monday and went back out Saturday. First time ever didn't unpack and let HAL do the laundry. I think the cabin steward on HAL was very surprised to see a full bag of laundry handed to him when he came to the cabin to introduce himself on embarkation day.

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Topsham

Topsham

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"I guess it had to do with being in something called a drydock prior to cruise and not sailing back to Tampa from Freeport. Only a guess. Never heard the term drydock before until someone explained to me it was like putting your toy boat in your bathtub full of water and draining out the water to repair it. Well that made no sense; why would have remove the water to repair my toy boat !"

 

 

Bob, Whoever told you what a 'drydock' is telling you a crock!

 

First thing is... there are NO drydocks in the Bahamas and the VEENDAM was not even there in one.

 

You are better off looking up the term 'drydock' or 'dry-dock'.

 

In the Bahamas the ships there for refit or repairs are used by FLOATING DOCKS.

 

;)

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RedneckBob

RedneckBob

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Thank you for your review.

 

Thanks Krazy Kruizers.

 

And congrats on reaching +100,000 posts. Is this in the Guinness Book of World Records. If my math is right, 100,000 divided by 14.83 times 365 divided by 24 times the hypotenuse of the right angle added to the function f(x)= pi square; wait a minute pi ain't square, pi are round.

 

Bottom line it is one post an hour for almost 15 years. When do you sleep :D?

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RuthC

RuthC

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The comedian was Fred Klett. He was very funny and received a standing "O" for his performance. The singer Bobby Brooks Wilson was also very good.

Thank you for giving us the names to be looking for on our own cruises. It helps.

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SilvertoGold

SilvertoGold

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Thanks SilvertoGold. Interesting CC name. What does it mean.

 

I was just plain lucky to get this deal. Were on a cruise and just decided to look for any cruise deals on the internet and found this one. Got off cruise on Monday and went back out Saturday. First time ever didn't unpack and let HAL do the laundry. I think the cabin steward on HAL was very surprised to see a full bag of laundry handed to him when he came to the cabin to introduce himself on embarkation day.

 

 

I bet he was surprised. I wonder how often that happens?

 

The name was from several years back when we had graduated from Silver medallion (300 days on HAL) to Gold (500 days). Outdated now, but I'll keep it, thanks.

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