veendam

[traveled]

We were on the Veendam, Deluxe Suite, 14 day cruise. The cruise was restful..... To start with ther were left items from the cruise before on both the balcony and in the dresser drawers. The closet door kept falling off so that he had trouble dressing for dinner,,called the neptune and still no one responded...We had the dinner partners from .... The food needed salt and seasoning, Half of the time our room was not turned down at night we returned at 10PM...Thr refrigerator is not cold enough to store medicine in it so everything had to be sred in the infirmary..No one gave us any other suggestions other than that... This is not how HAL should treat people at leat not how they treated us on our oyher 5 cruises. Anyother people have trouble. Also at 6AM the diesel smell was so bad he had to leave the room

[LMac]

We were on the Veendam, Deluxe Suite, 14 day cruise. The cruise was restful..... To start with ther were left items from the cruise before on both the balcony and in the dresser drawers. The closet door kept falling off so that he had trouble dressing for dinner,,called the neptune and still no one responded...We had the dinner partners from .... The food needed salt and seasoning, Half of the time our room was not turned down at night we returned at 10PM...Thr refrigerator is not cold enough to store medicine in it so everything had to be sred in the infirmary..No one gave us any other suggestions other than that... This is not how HAL should treat people at leat not how they treated us on our oyher 5 cruises. Anyother people have trouble. Also at 6AM the diesel smell was so bad he had to leave the room

Thr refrigerator is not cold enough to store medicine in it so everything had to be sred in the infirmary..

 

I hate to hear this. We are going on the Veendam May 9, and my DH needs refrigeration for his diabetes meds. Should I call HAL about this ahead of time?

[willowoodf]

I hate to read posts that are almost all complaints. I guess, though, this is what the Board is for, both good and bad comments.

 

You could have had our room on the Veendam. We also had a closet door that kept falling off. We had it put back up twice, and after that we were VERY careful how we opened and shut it, and to be sure it was locked in when shut.

 

Our refrigerator wasn't all that cold either. We didn't have to worry about medicine, and the few times we had something we really wanted to keep cold, we put ice around it in the fridge. If you are in a cabin that the fridge doesn't keep things real cold, this method should work. I know the fridge SHOULD be cold, but sometimes it is easier to have a practical solution than to go back and forth with maintenance trying to make it work correctly.

 

Mary

[Royalpair]

We are just off the Veendam, and after some of the comments here I was a little worried getting on the ship. I'm happy to say our room was great, the air worked, the toilet worked, the staff was friendly, the food was good, and even the entertainment was tolerable. I'm sorry your experience wasn't the same. The only problem I have is when I wake up in the middle of the night, I still think I'm on the ship, and don't know where I am for a second - due to the pleasent dreams I'm having of the ship.

[HeatherInFlorida]

So all in all, Traveled, you had a restful, relaxing time despite a couple of small issues.

 

I'm glad to see you made the best of it. Like you, we just don't let the little things bother us and we just go ahead and enjoy. Good for you:) .

 

I am surprised by your comments ... maybe the trick is not to book a "Deluxe" cabin. We've never come back to the room when the bed wasn't turned down. In fact, sometimes a bit earlier than you'd expect (like when we came back to dress for dinner;) ).

 

I've never been nutty about the food on HAL so that wouldn't come as a surprise. I look at it as a blessing because despite the fact I find it bland, I still manage to gain a bit of weight. Don't know how that happens and makes me wonder what would happen if I actually liked the food!!!!:D

 

So glad you had a restful cruise and hopefully the little stuff will fade away and you'll remember all the good parts.

[CHACruiser]

We were in a suite in September 06 on the Veendam, and only had a couple of problems which we made the best of as well. I agree with everyone re; the refrigerator - we too, put items in with ice. The bathtub/shower also didn't drain a few times and they had to come in to plunge the drain... but overall, it was lovely, Sri - our room attendant was fantastic, Ann in the Neptune was extremely helpful, and the size of the suite itself is amazing! We were so impressed we booked a suite for the No.Europe transatlantic in August 07! I wonder which suite # you guys had with the doors that fell off?....

[willowoodf]

We were in 14. We just learned to be careful with that door!!

 

The cruise overall was great. Of course there are little things that don't go perfectly, but you can't let a little thing overshadow all the great things!

 

CHACruiser - Ann is a great friend of ours, I'm glad you liked her in the Neptune. Unfortunately, she no longer works for HAL. A little bit her fault and a little big their fault, and she's back in the Phillipines now. We used to plan some of our cruises on what ships she was on....

 

Mary

[jcrandle]

IIRC, the fridges on HAL ships are mostly the type that don't use a compressor, but rather use the peltier effect (an electric current passing through dissimilar metals causes one of them to cool [the one in the fridge] and the other to heat [the one outside the fridge]). The benefit of this is a very quiet, maintainence free design. The downside is that most will only cool to 25 or so degrees below ambient temperature. So if the room is 75, the fridge will only cool to 45 or 50 F, much warmer than your fridge at home. Also, if many warm items are placed in it, it takes a long time to cool them too. Again, the plus is that there is only the noise of a fan blowing air across the cooling grid (or the warm one on the outside).

 

This design is often used for car cooler chests, since it uses less electricity than a compressor design, but the tradeoff is reduced efficiency.:(