Live from the Veendam! 4/1-8

[I Luv Crusin]

Well, almost!!! We will be leaving our home in about 23 hours to fly to Tampa to board the Veendam. We have an 8AM flight out. I would have loved to fly down a day early but that wasn't possible this trip.

 

If anyone else is on this sailing and hasn't checked out our Roll-call please join us in the Crow's Nest on Sunday at 3pm.

 

Any questions? I'll try to find the answers and post them.

[shipcafe]

Please do update when you get on board. I fly to Tampa in one week from now and would love to hear your first impressions of the Veendam.

[I Luv Crusin]

We made it! After a busy Friday we got packed by midnight using one standard carry-on, a garment bag and a 26" suitcase, plus the laptop of course.

 

We woke at 5AM to get up to Baltimore (BWI) to catch our 8am nonstop on Southwest to Tampa. We arrived about 10 minutes early in Tampa only to have to wait about 20 minutes for our luggage. We caught a cab to the pier for $20.00 plus tip. The meter read 23.00+ but the Taxi guy at the airport said that it would be 20.00 and the cab driver honored it. We arrived at at the airport about 10-15 minutes later have a "hairy" ride, that was much more turbulent than the flight! After showing our docs and signing a document that we hadn't been sick recently we were showed to a very short line to get our boarding information. We had boarding number 11. I overheard a staff member say if you had been sick that they'd have the ship's nurse check you before you were boarded. There are still hand sanitizing stations all over the ship, especially around eating venues.

 

About 11:15A there was an announcement that due to an inspection that we would be boarding "a little later than usual", we prepared ourselves for a wait.

 

Much to our delight we were on the ship about an 1/2 hour later. While waiting I just happened to sit next to NancyJo from CC!!! It's a small world. After going to the front desk to sign up for the culinary classes we were off to Lido for lunch. We sat with a couple that we met while signing up for the classes.

 

About 1:30p our cabin was ready. Boy was I surprised when we arrived at the cabin and there where Happy Anniversary balloons taped to the door!:eek: Our anniversary is in Sept! My birthday is Sat but I didn't order balloons.

 

I left my DH in our cabin while I took care of some business at the front desk and toured a little on my own. I stopped by the culinary arts area. There was a gentleman with his wife and two little kids. I thought, this must be Ben from CC, after all how many couples would be traveling with a 3 and 5 yo. It was Ben! Amazing!

 

Muster drill, I'm just glad it's not summer yet! They DID request that men stand in back and women and children in front. I couldn't see too many who complied. It was over in about 10-15 minutes. We went back to the cabin for a rest.

 

Off to the Pinnacle for dinner. I lucked out and got a 2 for 1 deal, that I understand that has since been cancelled. It was a good meal, probably not the greatest I've had but good. Our waitstaff was personable, (Raj and Nicolai). The sommelier(sp) was friendly too(Rey). And we had a couple of nice chats with Hans that we enjoyed. As we finished up the Hotel Mgr (Nick) and (I think his assistant) Stacy came by. We chatted a few minutes with them.

 

And here I am posting! Then off to bed to catch up on the sleep I've missed. I hope to post more in the coming days and give more info later!

 

Ask any questions and I'll try to find the answers.

 

Slipper Jim, Hans remembers the slippers!!!!

[elmorejj]

So glad you are enjoying the Veendam so far, one of my favorite ships.........have sailed on her 5 times. Continue to have a good time, I know you will...........jean:cool:

[friedshrimp]

Thank you for your updates from the Veendam. We will be on her in 6 days! Please take care of here and leave some lobster for the rest of us :D . BTW, how strictly is the no jeans in public areas during the evening hours code being enforced? My wife is agonizing over what the kids (especially my 11 year old son) will wear onboard. Thanks for any input and have a wonderful trip.

[luvz2run2000]

Hey Lesley,

Sounds like you guys are having a blast! Don't forget to have a drink for me.

Julie

[pisces223]

We're also going on the Veendam. We're leaving on the 15th and can't wait! So, hopefully we'll see some of you there.:)

[infopaul]

We just got off the Veendam on the Saturday you arrived. I think it's a wonderful ship and the Pinacle Grill's general manager is both gracious and curteous as well very professional inspite of posts written on the "Pinacle Grill Fiascos". Give Hans our very best (Paul and Kathy) on his upcoming promotion to the World Voyage class cruises. It is well deserved and we hope to see him soon.

 

The gaming room (in particular craps) was a little cold last week as the table boss Andre (big bouncer looking guy) tried his best to get people involved. Mike, myself and Quick all lost, but not as bad as Quick he lost thousands trying to recoup. When you see Andre at the table you should wear a white tux jacket, it seemed to bring us a good run. When I wore it, it was the best run all week. Andre will definitely remember and it might start a good luck trend. The others in our group seemed to have the slot machines working for them, which is where the most monies were won. They were paying out nice size pots frequently.

 

If you are looking for art, the original oils of Gockel seem to be reasonable if you like that Picasso type of art. I wouldn't pay more than 3500. He's good in the way of the master, but not to collect as much just to have one as a nice addition. The Max's are overpriced for his patriotic series. If you are going to venture a guess on a piece of art for 1000 dollar art credit like Miro's works, guess high/low twenties for us.

 

The all day spa and sauna for 20 dollars was a nice treat for tired after scuba diving bones or any other long day's journey.

 

Randall at the piano bar was good and entertaining. We spent time in the sauna BS'ing, he's a pretty good guy with an interesting story.

 

Something I don't understand is the rubbing elbows instead of shaking hands. I was told it was because of some sickness that happened on the ships recently so there are plenty of hand wash dispensers strategically placed. I suppose the mildew and bacteria from the black/grey water pipe that burst the week before has something to do with it also. They should close down that section of the ship and disinfect the area flooded.

 

Well for now, enjoy. I certainly did...Paul:)

[wwb]

friedshrimp:

we will also be on your sailing with our 2 sons, ages 11 and 12.

look forward to running in to you.

wendy bennett

[mim100]

thanks for sharing with us !! eagerly awaiting your next instalment :)

[HERKIMER417]

I boarded the Veendam 3/11. There was a ship docked next to it in Tampa that had just arrived with a reported 130 passengers contracting nevrovirus. We found out vis our cab driver - it had been a big announcement on the local media that morning.

 

The Veendam Captain ( Dunforth) verified that the ship next to ours had an outbreak and announced that his intention was that no one on the Veendam would come down with it. The hand wash lotion was liberally disbursed at several locations and everyone entering the dining area was given a dab.

 

The Captain mentioned that he regreted not shaking hands but doing so was one of the chief ways to spread the virus - and so he was just going to rub elbows. His officers and crew followed suit.

 

When it was announced prior to disembarting that there was no reported cases of virus on our cruise. There was a cheer. The rubbing elbows and dispensing of hand wash lotion was very effective - at least for us.

[friedshrimp]

friedshrimp:

we will also be on your sailing with our 2 sons, ages 11 and 12.

look forward to running in to you.

wendy bennett

 

wendy, have you been over to the roll call yet? We are all planning to meet at the Crow's Nest right after muster for a drink. Please come and bring your 2 sons with you, I'm sure Thomas will enjoy meeting them!

[I Luv Crusin]

I'm so tired and the computer is slow, so please excuse the brevity of this posting.

 

I've seen jeans at all times, not in the dining room. Not many kids, but some, more teens than little ones.

 

Tonight "informal" most people seemed to read that as very casual, to casual. I'm going to be curious what people will wear for "casual" dinner.

 

Like the ship. I plan to write a full, long review offline and post it when I get home. We need to save our minutes to communicate with our kids at home. I hope to get lobster but haven't seen it on the menu, yet.

 

Jamaica tomorrow, mon!

[infopaul]

HERKIMER417,

 

Can you fill me in on the nevrovirus? Noone was even aware of any potential risk the week prior, is that why they have the questionaire before boarding asking if we were recently sick?...Paul:)

[friedshrimp]

Lesley,

 

Thank you for the information. I can now pull my wife off of the walls :D ! I hope you enjoy the rest of the cruise and I believe lobster night is Thursady night (night of the last formal dinner).

[gophercruiser]

Just for info., Stacey is Nicks wife, not his assistant as was stated in this thread. Might be important if you are still on the ship and happened to run into them at a function.

[diverearl]

Hey Paul, how was the trip especially the diving and did you post a review? earl

[SuiteKids]

Following these threads, we were on this ship this same week. Had a great time, the crew was the best, especially, Kristine and Miftah!!.... Nestor was the best wine steward we found.....Libay by the pool kept us refreshed and cocktail happy! Thanks to Riza (dinning Manager) we were able to have sandwhiches for our 5 & 8 year olds for our day trip in Mexico. Everyone we encountered as part of the crew went out of their way to make our trip a pleasure, Captain, Hotel Manager, Hans and even Thom... This type of sterling service you just don't see these days so we really appreciate it! To show our gratitude we made sure we took care of all of those that took care of us... We got the strong impression that not too many people do that these days.... They should be ashamed! The service was outstanding!

Our only complaint is the amount of smoking in the public areas! People frowned at us for having the kids at the Nagivation Pool but I don't want them exposed to the smoke at the Lido pool..... All the stops were great but if I was running the boat I'd skip Jamacia and stay 2 days at Costa Maya!!!!