Tell me your experience sailing on the Veendam.

[themerle]

We are sailing on the 15 night reposition cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to Montreal. We chose this cruise for the itinerary and price. We are wondering about the crew, condition of the ship and how the library is. Here's a strange question for you......Does the library have puzzles? I really enjoyed putting puzzles together while on the Rotterdam. The Rotterdam had a very good selection of puzzles. We always enjoyed the food on HAL and I'm sure we won't be disappointed.

[iancal]

Take a look at the CC cruiser reviews on the Reviews section of this board.

[OlsSalt]

We did the trip in reverse on the Veendam last year and everything was fine. We like the smaller ships and we had a lovely table in the upper main dining room by the window. We have been on her twice on longer cruises.

 

Only issue is her A/C gets stressed for the few days one is going through the Panama Canal, but is still within normal HAL limits- but the room will run 75 degrees during the hottest part of the trip. Which is exactly the room temperature we wanted when we were in the colder part of the trip up north. Go figure - 75 degrees cabin temp - too warm and just right depending on the outside temperature and humidity.

 

But since you are heading north this will not be a problem for you. Wonderful ports to visit on this itinerary from FLL to Montreal. Some real favorites for us. Yes, she had the traditional library and yes there were puzzles - several of them as I recall and some pretty amazing abstract ones that kept getting filled in as the days went by.

[Cruising-along]

We have done that cruise twice, once on the Veendam. Everything was great, and one of the best crew we've ever had. We're booked on the Veendam again next fall for the Montreal-Fort Lauderdale cruise. :)

[themerle]

We did the trip in reverse on the Veendam last year and everything was fine. We like the smaller ships and we had a lovely table in the upper main dining room by the window. We have been on her twice on longer cruises.

 

Only issue is her A/C gets stressed for the few days one is going through the Panama Canal, but is still within normal HAL limits

[sanjdill]

My friend and I are booked on that cruise also - FLL to Montreal. We will probably see you in the puzzle department, ha. Another question - do they have a regular movie theater and how often are movies shown? Thanks for all the information on these boards.

[OlsSalt]

They have small theaters for movies and they run several times a day. The times will be in your daily program. They range from fairly new releases to films topical for your particular cruise. Plus there are large number of DVDs to check out, or click and view on your cabin TV screen- depending on the equipment on your ship.

 

Sorry I can't remember the exact movie theater venue on the Veendam, but assume it may not have the in-cabin choices but still uses checked out DVD. Some times they have separate screening room and sometimes it is shared with the cooking studio room. We learned to get there early to get a good seat - some theaters don't have great sight lines and some have fairly small rooms with over-large stuffed chairs.

 

But they all have free bags of pop corn -which you can stop by and pick up even if you are not going to see the movie.