hal veendam-tampa

[elvis1112]

looking at sailing on the veendan out of tampa in the fall of 07. can anyony help me with info on this ship. info about cabins and getting around the ship. i an in a power wheelchair.thanks

[Splinter]

Do you already have an accessible cabin reserved? HAL has a very limited number, and not all of their "accessible" cabins have roll-in showers. They book up pretty far ahead. You need to read the descriptions of the cabins very carefully. Some are accessible only in that they have a level bathroom, but have a tub with hand rails, and these cabins are much smaller. Even though the accessible cabins are some ways from the elevators, unlike most ships this is rarely a problem, as HAL does not use carts for room cleaning. The cabin stewards use only small carried basket for this. The only time you may have problems with objects blocking the hallway is on the last night when people put their luggage outside their doors.

 

You can see for C389, C390, G704, G706, G709 AND G711 are wheelchair accessible, roll-in shower only, wheelchair-accessible doorways. G704 and G709 are much better than the G711. We have not stayed in the others (we always try to get the least expensive cabin we can get that is accessible and will take 3 people). We can get three into 704 and 709 with a roll-away bed and still have plenty of room for the power chair.

 

We have not been on the Veendam, but we have been on the Ryndam and Statendam many times. Generally the rest of the ship is very accessible and easy to get around in a power or manual chair. Be sure to take your manual chair for shore excursions though. They will not take a power chair (or a manual chair wider than 18" seat width) on their tender lift, and for docked ports you may not find the shore-side very power chair friendly.

 

They do not have a pool lift but the tables around the pool area are pretty accessible.

 

Be sure to check in with the dining room as soon as you arrive. It is much better if they can put your table nearer to the doorway for dinner. There is open seating in the dining room for both lunch and breakfast. The buffet is pretty easy to use, but you may have to ask for someone to carry your tray (they will if asked). We love the Crow's Nest as a place to sit while at sea, and it is pretty accessible once you figure out the pathways between the tables and sofas.

 

Generally we have had good service from the HAL Special Services department. For our first HAL cruise they even arranged to get digital photos of the cabin to us ahead of time so we could check out the bathroom set up.