Feedback on Holland- Veendam

[sunlover41]

Hi everyone,
I just recently returned from my second cruise and would like to plan my third. I've tried NCL, and Princess and was very happy but was thinking of trying Holland. If anyone could give me some feedback I would really appreciate it. We are thinking of taking a 7-day western cruise. The ports are Key West, Belize, Guatemala, Cozumel. Here are some questions I was interested in asking.
1) What is the dining like and how are the portions? Are there any buffets? I've only have had freestyle dining and understand this has seating times.
Is there food available most of the time?
2) What is the pool area like? Jacuzzis? Is it hard to get a chair on the at sea days?
3) What is the casino like? Do they have many slots? Is it good size?
4)How are the room size compared to other cruise lines?

I appreciate any feedback, positive or negative that anyone can give me. Thanks for taking the time to answer me. Also if you would like to e-mail me thats fine too. niksbuddy@hotmail.com

[cruzincurt]

We've taken the Veendam twice. It's a very nice size ship in our opinion. The casino is small but has enough variety in the slots. The slots are tight as is true on cruise ships. We often could not scare up enough players to open the craps table.

No complaints on the food. No problem getting a pool chair. In November, there is mostly older cruisers who don't get up at the crack of dawn to hog a chair. The lounge chairs on the Promenade deck are the best.

Only crowded event we ran into was the return cruisers party that for some odd reason they hold at 11:30 in the morning.

We will be back on the Veendam this November.

[grannynurse]

The Lido which is buffet-style, the main dining room and the reservations-only Pinnacle grill. The first 2 are open for all meals and the third for lunch and dinner.
The Lido is more liberal in dining times ex: 7-10:30 for breakfast, the main dining room breakfast time is usually only an hour and a half. In the Lido you may sit inside, or take your food out to one of the two outside eating areas, some of which are designated for smoking which is not possible inside.
At lunch, the Lido also includes an outside Taco, burger, hot dog grill, usually open from 11:30 to 2pm, sometimes later.

Room service is available 24 hours at day at no charge. There is also a late night snack time that runs for approx an hour or more at 11pm.

The main dining room has asigned seating. You may request atable by size, or if you see a room plan, by table number. There are 4 available times. 2 early starting at 5:45, and 2 late, 8 and 8:30pm.
If you're traveling with friends you may request atable together by cross referencing your booking numbers through your TA.
Hope this helps,
GN