How does Westerdam compare to Veendam?

[seadancer]

We have been on the Veendam and LOVED it! We sailed on Thanksgiving week and since I am a teacher, I only can sail certain weeks out of the year. Is the Westerdam as good as the Veendam? Any feedback would be great positive or negative. Thanks!:)

[grannynurse]

Hi Seadancer,

Westerdam is much bigger than Veendam. We have a preference for S and R class ships but really enjoyed Westerdam. It'a a weel-organized happy ship. The theme is "All things Dutch", so the ship reflects her theme even to the art in the passage ways. We had an aft suite and the walking was difficult for me. That is one reason I love the S class ships like maasdam and Veendam, even if they don't have the center elevator bank and stairwell. Westerdam is still classicaly HAL, and we liked it enough to book Noordam for this January. If you have mobility issues like I do, book midship because it is a long walf from forward to aft.

GN

[gillianrose]

We have been on the Veendam and LOVED it! We sailed on Thanksgiving week and since I am a teacher, I only can sail certain weeks out of the year. Is the Westerdam as good as the Veendam? Any feedback would be great positive or negative. Thanks!:)

 

I have not been on the Westerdam, but sailed on her older sister, the Zuiderdam. We have also sailed on the Veendam, an S-class ship.

 

We prefer the size of the Veendam, and would suggest it for scenic itineraries, such as Alaska. There is so much connection to the sea on the outer decks. We also prefer the dining room design of the Veendam, which felt much more spacious to us. The Zuiderdam's tables were too close together and it was noisier.

 

We prefer the showroom on the Zuiderdam as the sight lines on the Veendam are not optimal.

 

We had a suite on the Zuiderdam and it was very well laid out, although we don't like the toilets on the Vista-class ships. They seem like the seat is up all the time, don't know how else to describe it!

 

We preferred the clear view on the balcony of the Zuiderdam, and did not like the metal lower portion on the balcony of the Veendam. However, we did not experience any smoke bothering us on the Veendam balcony (very enclosed, though maybe no one was smoking) and it was torture on the Zuiderdam with a lot of smoke driving us not to be able to enjoy our expensive balcony.

 

The passenger passageways on the Zuiderdam were very odd in that that the floors were not even. The Veendam felt more "solid," because of that.

 

We would prefer HAL to open the ships up with more glass for a better connection to the sea in rooms other than just the Crow's Nest.

 

Those are a few comments to get you started. Enjoy whatever cruise you choose. :)

[seadancer]

Thanks for all your comments so far! We are thinking about booking a Thanksgiving cruise in 2008 to the caribbean. We like small ships but have been on larger ones and aren't bothered.

 

What is the difference between S type ships and the Westerdam?

[jtl513]

What is the difference between S type ships and the Westerdam?

Mainly size, IMO. The Vistas are 230 feet (32%) longer than the S-class, and carry roughly 50% more passengers. The V's are also newer than the S's, which I like.

[cruisinbulldog]

Westerdam:

Ship's Registry The Netherlands

Passenger capacity 1,916

Crew members 800

Gross tonnage 82,500 grt.

Length 950 feet

Beam 105.8 feet

Maximum speed 24 knots

 

Veendam:

Ship's Registry The Netherlands

Passenger capacity 1,258

Crew members 560

Gross tonnage 55,758 grt.

Length 720 feet

Beam 101 feet

Maximum speed 22 knots

[doorcountydi]

I sailed on the Veendam this spring and just got off the Westerdam two weeks ago.

 

I think I like the Veendam for size--it's about 200' shorter but has all the amenities except the hyrotherapy pool.

 

I've been on other Vista class ships like the Westerdam, but this is the only one I know that was retrofit for the Explorations Cafe/internet/library combo and ended up in the Crow's Nest instead of mid-ship and mid-level. I didn't particularly like that for a few reasons--the patrons in the other part of the Crow's Nest didn't really "get" the fact that a library was next to them, so they weren't quiet at all. But mostly because it was forward instead of mid-ship, you could only get to it with one set of elevators and, usually, a long walk to the front.

 

The Westerdam's a beautiful ship, though. And the personnel is wonderful. Henk Keijer and Ron Botenbol as Captain and Hotel Mgr are great. Don't particularly care for Rebecca Hannam as a Cruise Director, but she may not be on board when you travel.

 

Diane

[Atomica]

I've been on the Veendam twice now, and while it's a very beautiful ship, I personally prefer the Vista class ships. There's so much to like about them, and I found on my last trip on the Veendam, I really missed things like the glass elevators, and the larger lido (not to mention the true hydro pool on the Vista ships!).

[Crusing Bob]

Diane, do you have any pictures of the Veendam. You may remember from our Roll Call that I surprised Melinda with an 8 day cruise on the Veendam for next November. My email is bbrickhouse at cablelynx dot com.

Bob

[Crusing Bob]

Diane, did you see my request?

Bob

[jtl513]

I've been on other Vista class ships like the Westerdam, but this is the only one I know that was retrofit for the Explorations Cafe/internet/library combo and ended up in the Crow's Nest instead of mid-ship and mid-level.

Unfortunately, the Zuiderdam and Oosterdam will follow suit in '08 and '09.

 

Diane, do you have any pictures of the Veendam. You may remember from our Roll Call that I surprised Melinda with an 8 day cruise on the Veendam for next November. My email is bbrickhouse at cablelynx dot com.

Bob

If you're just looking for generic Veendam pictures (i.e., not a specific cruise with people you know) there are excellent ones at link to SHIPCAFE-VE.

[Crusing Bob]

Thanks, John.

I've visited that thread before and very nice pics but I was also looking for more specific pics of Verandah Suite cabins and Deluxe cabins.

Bob

[gillianrose]

Thanks, John.

I've visited that thread before and very nice pics but I was also looking for more specific pics of Verandah Suite cabins and Deluxe cabins.

Bob

 

You can look at pictures from the Maasdam, Statendam and Ryndam for those categories and they will be the same as Veendam, with possibly a different color scheme. Otherwise, the cabins should be identical.

[Jen&Joe]

We just B2B cruises on the Westerdam and Veendam.

 

Size - the westerdam is much larger than the veedam (500-600 passengers). Several times we would be walking on the veendam and think we were only mid-ship when we were really at the end of it!

 

Age - the veendam is really showing its age. The bathroom in our cabin had tiles falling off, old decor and broken tile on the floor. The railings were not as polished as they are on the westerdam and there were paint chips everywhere.

 

Decor - again the veendam is dated but in a quirky kind of way.

 

Furniture - the veendam has older furniture, including the very annoying older loungers by the pool. The westerdam has newer loungers and our balcony had brand new chair.

 

Staff - oddly enough we found the staff on the westerdam to be more energetic than on the veendam. I have no idea why but it could have something to do with the fact that we heard alot of them were at the end of their contracts.

 

Food - hands down the food on the veedam was better than on the westerdam. It was no competion (and it was easy to compare since the menu was exactly the same on both cruises). The buffet on the veedam is considerably smaller than the veendam but this didn't matter because the quality was outstanding.

 

Pool - the lido pool is salt water on the westerdam and chlorine on the veedam.

 

Overall - regardless of all the above we loved our room on the veedam (220) more than the westerdam (8136). On the veendam we had the back corner room so our balcony was not only private but it was huge and we often felt like we had the entire back of the ship to ourselves (I highly recommend this cabin).