Veendam - Similar to a 3rd world country???

[July_Cruiser]

We were considering a B2B New England/Canada cruise in August. The Veendam itinerary is great. However, when we read the ship's reviews we have been very concerned!

 

We do like the smaller ships and really enjoyed the Prinsendam. Our last 3 cruises have been with Celebrity but we have cruised on HAL a number of times too.

 

I'll lower my dining room expectations, but I do believe it is reasonable to expect decent sanitary conditions.

 

How low do I have to set my expectations concerning working bathrooms? Is it unrealistic to expect my cabin to be free of mold and have a working toilet & shower? Functional restrooms in public areas should also be operational. Is lack of maintenance an ongoing problem that HAL finds acceptable?

 

Reading Veendam reviews sent up red flags. I'm wanting to remain healthy & well on vacation. In checking the roll call boards the one on our proposed sail date only has 3 members.

 

Any viewpoints that counteract the horrible reviews? (Maasdam also does this itinerary but their reviews are even worse!)

 

We welcome your advice regarding Veendam experiences.

[POA1]

You definitely should not go. Friends of ours were just on. They had a great time and said the ship was in good condition. However, it's definitely not the ship for you. Stick with what you like.

[ski ww]

Somebody must of written an awful review, I don't think I've ever heard anything that bad.

Allan

[debsjc]

I'm sure most people who do live in a 3rd world country would be very grateful to get any type of vacation, especially a cruise with unlimited food.

[momatibm]

I agree with POA1, you should not go on the Veendam. You have already decided it's a bad ship, you will probably only see 'what's wrong', and not enjoy the uniqueness of a small HAL ship. I will be on it in less than 3 weeks for the second time, expecting to have a great time.

[Gunther1]

what debsjc said :).

[StartrainDD]

Just off 15 days on Veendam. Here is the conclusion to the log/review I submitted but not yet published:

 

I hesitated to book Veendam based on cruise critic feedback and reviews. Some on board had issues with their cabins, especially with climate control. Fortunately we had no such troubles. The entertainment is way above what we experienced last fall on Koningsdam, and despite its age, I much prefer the smaller ship size.

 

One of the aft elevators was out of order the entire cruise. I don’t know who is responsible for the entertainer’s schedules but it seems to me that a little tweaking, especially of the Ocean Bar trio would serve passengers well. Their first set is at 6:30. This is too early for first seating guests and also too early for main seating guests looking for pre-dinner cocktails and entertainment. I would think that bar revenue would increase with a tweaking to 7:00 for the first set, and it would entertain more guests.

 

The Adagio duet had a large early audience but I often saw just two or three couples at the later sets. I would really like to know who determines these schedules, is this corporate dictate or is this managed on each ship? If on the ship, is it the cruise director, hotel manager, who?

It is not the ship’s fault that the weather was so horrendous, but many on board were commenting that this cruise is ‘just too early.’ That may be why they had to reduce the price so much as sailing date approached. Perhaps the experts in Seattle should consider doing this one two weeks later as I think that would make a huge difference. Alternatively, do a Caribbean / Bermuda repositioning cruise, calling on Aruba to comply with the Jones act.

“America’s test kitchen” was invisible on the first two-thirds of this sailing. We were told the presenter had a family emergency. Fair enough. Is there no chef on Veendam that with the CD could not do an entertaining kitchen demo? We’ve attended some wonderful cooking demos on various ships and no corporate tie in was needed to provide guests with a great sea day experience.

What really ‘made’ our cruise was Barry from Boston in the Mix Piano Bar. He starts at 9:00 and takes one very short “Eight minute break” at about 10:30. Barry will be on our booked Maasdam NewZealand/Australia cruise over the holidays and it will be great to see him again.

In summary, this was a pretty okay cruise so far as the on board experience. Certainly not five stars, but way better than our Koningsdam experience last fall. 3 ½ stars (out of 5) to the Veendam with hopes that things may improve as we would like these smaller ships to stay in the fleet.

I do tend to think you may not be happy with Veendam so better to cruise on a ship you will not fear boarding.

Edited May 11, 2017 by StartrainDD
Fix spacing

[OlsSalt]

If you track the current CDC inspection rankings, I believe you will find the Veendam got a 100 score - tops in the industry for vessel sanitation.

 

I am sorry a few people make some pretty outrageous and often highly subjective claims about this particular ship, yet she remains highly satisfactory for very large majority of posters here who have also sailed on her. We did the Montreal to San Diego Canada- Panama route just last fall.

 

Will someone please explain how they become an expert about alleged "lack of maintenance" and why they believe HAL is so invested in trashing its inventory?

 

I honestly find your thread title offensive. And agree, with your current attitude this ship or cruise line would not work for you at all if you assume HAL is in business to so egregiously and intentionally abuse you up front. Stuff happens on ships just like everywhere else - people get sick, some systems malfunction and even itineraries can change due to weather and safety considerations. Sometimes replacement parts are not readily available onboard for every situations and one has to wait until a resupply to get things working again. Cruisers need to roll with these issues because they are built into this unique mode of transportation.

 

How does a cruise ship having made all prior warnings protect itself from people still choosing to flush things down a toilet or force their balcony doors open or sail into the equator zone and not have stressed A/C on the afternoon sun side of the cabins or possible "ceiling leaks" when they do safety tests on their fire suppression systems, or smell paint in the relentless war between the sea and rusting metal surfaces.

 

If you cannot roll with any of these peculiar issues that accompany ship travel, you seriously need to consider another vacation mode or find a cruise line that more sufficiently guarantees they will accommodate your every possible concern up front. Seriously.

 

I realize you are getting "piled on" here, but you chose your accusatory thread title instead of merely asking for feedback. No we all have to look at the title which gets a life of its own as other posters defend or condemn this particular ship.

[richstowe]

Seriously - A 3rd world country ? :(

[OlsSalt]

One can have fun speculating what a third world country is today to flesh our this assumed definition. Originally it meant a non-aligned nation during the Soviet-US Cold War.

 

Therefore Singapore could be a third world nation. Or Bangladesh or Somalia. Which one best describes the Veendam.

Third world as in Yemen or Malaysia? Help us out here. Outdoor plumbing, no electricity, children with flies in their watery eyes and ribs sticking out, foraging roots and grubs for dinner?

[sail7seas]

Just off 15 days on Veendam. Here is the conclusion to the log/review I submitted but not yet published:

 

I hesitated to book Veendam based on cruise critic feedback and reviews. Some on board had issues with their cabins, especially with climate control. Fortunately we had no such troubles. The entertainment is way above what we experienced last fall on Koningsdam, and despite its age, I much prefer the smaller ship size.

 

One of the aft elevators was out of order the entire cruise. I don’t know who is responsible for the entertainer’s schedules but it seems to me that a little tweaking, especially of the Ocean Bar trio would serve passengers well. Their first set is at 6:30. This is too early for first seating guests and also too early for main seating guests looking for pre-dinner cocktails and entertainment. I would think that bar revenue would increase with a tweaking to 7:00 for the first set, and it would entertain more guests.

 

The Adagio duet had a large early audience but I often saw just two or three couples at the later sets. I would really like to know who determines these schedules, is this corporate dictate or is this managed on each ship? If on the ship, is it the cruise director, hotel manager, who?

It is not the ship’s fault that the weather was so horrendous, but many on board were commenting that this cruise is ‘just too early.’ That may be why they had to reduce the price so much as sailing date approached. Perhaps the experts in Seattle should consider doing this one two weeks later as I think that would make a huge difference. Alternatively, do a Caribbean / Bermuda repositioning cruise, calling on Aruba to comply with the Jones act.

“America’s test kitchen” was invisible on the first two-thirds of this sailing. We were told the presenter had a family emergency. Fair enough. Is there no chef on Veendam that with the CD could not do an entertaining kitchen demo? We’ve attended some wonderful cooking demos on various ships and no corporate tie in was needed to provide guests with a great sea day experience.

What really ‘made’ our cruise was Barry from Boston in the Mix Piano Bar. He starts at 9:00 and takes one very short “Eight minute break” at about 10:30. Barry will be on our booked Maasdam NewZealand/Australia cruise over the holidays and it will be great to see him again.

In summary, this was a pretty okay cruise so far as the on board experience. Certainly not five stars, but way better than our Koningsdam experience last fall. 3 ½ stars (out of 5) to the Veendam with hopes that things may improve as we would like these smaller ships to stay in the fleet.

I do tend to think you may not be happy with Veendam so better to cruise on a ship you will not fear boarding.

 

 

you likely should a check map to see how far from Bermuda,, Aruba is lo catedin the Southern C aribean. :D. Your sugggestion is not via ble and cannot be done on a 7 day cruise espec ially to disiembark in o Boston..

[vicd1969]

Title of this post would be pretty offensive to the majority of the Veendam's and other HAL crew members imho. Of course they would be too nice to tell you that if you had brought up the exact question to them.

[JimnKaren]

It appears from some of your previous posts that you have sailed on other ships of this size. My assumption is that you might object to the potential that toilets might not be available to you as you need them. I am also going on the assumption that the folks in the kitchen and dining room can/will not serve you food at the perfect temperature. Always.

 

Oops. Some of those things might happen on any cruise ship. Not just those with Holland America Line, but other company's vessels, also.

 

Stick with the new ships then. They are expected to be in perfect working order and the crew that has been assembled are those who have super-positive reviews and are guaranteed to work well together.

 

Jim

[catl331]

... and the crew that has been assembled are those who have super-positive reviews and are guaranteed to work well together.

Not true, at least on HAL. Many of those on new-builds are on their first HAL contract.

[Sequim88]

In checking the roll call boards the one on our proposed sail date only has 3 members.

 

Not surprising. I've found a relative lack of roll call participation for any HAL itinerary compared to Royal Caribbean roll calls. It seems the people with long RCCL histories are a lot more active. Baked into the culture so to speak. Once upon a time they had templates for Cruise Critic door signs with screen name and Meet & Mingle date (See you there!). Our Alaska HAL cruise in June now has three participants - one who just joined yesterday one month out. HAL cruisers just aren't into roll calls as much.

[Appalachian Mountain Mama]

Here's my take on this and the other "bad" comment. I read reviews, a lot of reviews but I take many things into consideration. How many total reviews are there? What percentage of the reviews are "bad"? And a little trick I learned a long time ago...pull up just the "bad" reviews and read all together, not interspersed with "good" reviews. It's pretty amazing how many of them, even ones separated by significant amounts of time, seem to be cut from the same cloth. I've even seen word for word complaints including the same grammar errors! I take reviews like that with less than a grain of salt.

 

 

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[Bostonjetset]

Oh my poor, beloved Veendam. When will she ever catch a break? :(

She is the ship that started my love affair with HAL and as such will always remain special to me.

The bad comments about her have been circulating around CC for years so many get apprehensive about sailing her and then turn out loving her in the end. Of course, there will be some who are ever happy.

Veendam is an older ship but is a great size, has a fantastic crew, and is in great shape for her age.

[OlsSalt]

Oh my poor, beloved Veendam. When will she ever catch a break? :(

She is the ship that started my love affair with HAL and as such will always remain special to me.

The bad comments about her have been circulating around CC for years so many get apprehensive about sailing her and then turn out loving her in the end. Of course, there will be some who are ever happy.

Veendam is an older ship but is a great size, has a fantastic crew, and is in great shape for her age.

 

Take comfort. My own beloved Maasdam apparently comes in even worse than the Veendam according to the OP.

 

Which sounds exactly like the same downer reviews we got on th Maasdam before she took us on our first HAL cruise almost 10 years ago, and we have never hesitated to sail on her or HAL again. In fact knowing she will soon be gone out of service for HAL if/when she gets sold, we booked her to take us home to the San Diego stop after the VOV, instead of flying.

 

Our version of a HOHO cruise - hop off the Rotterdam and go hop on the Maasdam, in port the same days.

 

So she, like a lot of us ladies of a certain age, will have a few more layers of paint, a little creaky in the joints, some systems not working like they did in times past, but ohhh ..what a life she has lived. May she welcome us into her embrace perhaps for the very last time.

[POA1]

Oh my poor, beloved Veendam. When will she ever catch a break? :(

She is the ship that started my love affair with HAL and as such will always remain special to me.

The bad comments about her have been circulating around CC for years so many get apprehensive about sailing her and then turn out loving her in the end. Of course, there will be some who are ever happy.

Veendam is an older ship but is a great size, has a fantastic crew, and is in great shape for her age.

 

We planning on booking the October 2018 Montreal to Fort Lauderdale repositioning cruise and I'm not the least bit hesitant.

[firegal2539]

OlsSalt,

Your post is amazing. I appreciate what you said. I will be taking my first HAL cruise in 2018 on the Veendam. I have read some of the comments, some good, some bad, and I still want to sail on her. I have come to realize that way too many CC members using this as a platform for their "Whoa is me, Poor me" way of looking at everything in their life. One little thing on a cruise doesn't go right, one bathroom out of order, bad weather, it is the cruise ships fault. Pretty soon CC will become a complaint only forum and that is sad.

Thanks for your great post OlsSalt.

 

 

 

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[Bostonjetset]

Take comfort. My own beloved Maasdam apparently comes in even worse than the Veendam according to the OP.

 

Which sounds exactly like the same downer reviews we got on th Maasdam before she took us on our first HAL cruise almost 10 years ago, and we have never hesitated to sail on her or HAL again. In fact knowing she will soon be gone out of service for HAL if/when she gets sold, we booked her to take us home to the San Diego stop after the VOV, instead of flying.

 

Our version of a HOHO cruise - hop off the Rotterdam and go hop on the Maasdam, in port the same days.

 

So she, like a lot of us ladies of a certain age, will have a few more layers of paint, a little creaky in the joints, some systems not working like they did in times past, but ohhh ..what a life she has lived. May she welcome us into her embrace perhaps for the very last time.

I'm jealous! The VoV is a dream cruise for me! Considering I'm still working and, at only 34 years old, likely shall be for many more years it will be quite a while before I can take such a long trip. I'm lucky enough to get a good amount of vacation time from my company but I don't think they would allow almost 6 weeks off all at one time.

Enjoy your HoHo trips!! HAHA. I've been itching to sail Rotterdam but never find an itinerary that works with my schedule so my next trip is on Zuiderdam and after that likely Koningsdam as DH loves newer ships haha.

 

We planning on booking the October 2018 Montreal to Fort Lauderdale repositioning cruise and I'm not the least bit hesitant.

Have a great trip and enjoy Veendam whilst she is still with us.

[Davitur]

Been on the Veendam twice, with the second trip just 6-months ago. While she doesn't have that "new car smell" that some of the super-ships have, she is none the less a pleasant ship for those that like upscale cruising without paying the upscale price. I would sail on her again given the chance.

 

However, I'm not sure that I will get the chance to again before she gets sold off to pay for the Nieuw Statendam in 2018 (speculation).

[joekerstef]

Just want to throw a shout out for Maasdam, which was also maligned in OP's comments ("(Maasdam also does this itinerary but their reviews are even worse!)"). I spent two oh-so-terrible weeks on Maasdam last year in Alaska and I'd do it again in a second. Nice smaller ship, good condition, great food, no terrible toilet/ac/repair or other problems (other than running out of 9-board bingo cards--the horror!).

 

I'll be boarding Veendam in Boston in less than ten days and Maasdam will be there as well. Honestly I'd rather be on Maasdam because I really liked her aft area, which has been converted to cabins and a hot tub deck on Veendam. But I'm pretty sure Veendam will be perfectly fine and even if she isn't, I'm still going to enjoy my dam cruise. There's been no shortage of commentary about Veendam on the board recently and nothing has raised any alarm bells for me. As others have already recommended, if OP is that freaked out by the reviews, then stay away. There are plenty other ships in the sea.

[JimnKaren]

Not surprising. I've found a relative lack of roll call participation for any HAL itinerary compared to Royal Caribbean roll calls. It seems the people with long RCCL histories are a lot more active. Our Alaska HAL cruise in June now has three participants - one who just joined yesterday one month out. HAL cruisers just aren't into roll calls as much.

Our Rotterdam cruise from October last year had more than 225 posters (couples and solo travelers); our upcoming Amsterdam 14-day cruise to Alaska has more than 60 posters.

 

Hmmm! Go figure!

 

Jim

[POA1]

OlsSalt,

Your post is amazing. I appreciate what you said. I will be taking my first HAL cruise in 2018 on the Veendam. I have read some of the comments, some good, some bad, and I still want to sail on her. I have come to realize that way too many CC members using this as a platform for their "Whoa is me, Poor me" way of looking at everything in their life. One little thing on a cruise doesn't go right, one bathroom out of order, bad weather, it is the cruise ships fault. Pretty soon CC will become a complaint only forum and that is sad.

Thanks for your great post OlsSalt.

 

 

 

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I always though CC stood for Cranky Complainers or Crusty Curmudgeons. ;)