Short review VEENDAM Boston-Bermuda RT and Boston-Quebec City, July 2015

This was 2 back to back cruises from 4-18 July 2015, Boston-Bermuda (3 days)-Boston (4-11) then Boston-Quebec City (11-18). It was billed as a Collectors Cruise but I have no idea why or what that means.

We last sailed Veendam in 2008 and despite her age everything looked fine and also worked fine. There was one major disappointment - there is no aft pool, that space on deck now used for 4 jacuzzis (2 regular, 2 rectangular troughs) with extra staterooms below. A very retrograde step in my view as there is now no children-free pool and the lido pool can get very crowded. There is supposed to be a maximum of 17 in at any one time but it's unenforceable and on hot sea days there were often 30 in there at times. For this reason alone I will no longer consider HAL ships with just one pool.

That aside, I really enjoyed the ship and the crew. There are clear signs of cutbacks compared to even 5 years ago but they are minor and don't impact on the overall experience. Things like :

1. No 'welcome back' cold drinks and towels.

2. Three courses instead of 4 at dinner in the MDR - presumably to save on dining room assistants and stewards with a course less to serve and clear.

3. Little or no exotic fruit at breakfast (mango/pineapple) and what is put out is gone in 5 minutes :)

4. The best desserts (almond-based) only served at the Mariners' lunch.

But I reiterate, none of these made any real difference to our enjoyment and across the fleet must mean significant savings. The food was always good and occasionally very good, although there is an over-reliance on melon to pad out the fruit salads and seafood cocktails and the desserts are rather lacklustre.

This was my ninth HAL cruise and we got an invitation to the Crow's Nest to be presented with a bronze medal for having done 100 cruise days. There were about 50 others up there, all receiving medals for varying lengths of long service. While it's always nice to get a complimentary glass or two or red wine or Cava, I couldn't really see the point of it. We posed for the photo with the Captain and Hotel Manager, HAL-engraved medal round our neck, and then removed it, never to put it back - what possible occasion exists where you could wear it ? If HAL is looking to make savings than I suggest they drop this custom ASAP.

Turning to the positives, a welcome and unexpected bonus was being able to self-serve from the start, rather than having to wait 48 hours as before and it was good that we didn't have to attend a second lifeboat drill on our second cruise.

I went to all the evenings shows except 'Mr and Mrs' and 'DWTS' and enjoyed them, my favourite being Canadian comedy juggler Bob Cates. The Veendam stage, due to its size, limits the scope for vast spectaculars but every night we had a very pleasant 45 minutes.

At each port we just did our own thing. This was our 3 days in Bermuda using the 2 day bus/ferry/ticket ($31.50)

We docked at Hamilton, which is considered best, but to be honest St George's or the Dockyard would have been fine too as you need to jump on a bus or ferry to go a to a beach wherever you are docked.

For the second cruise we had to be up at 7.15 to see the Customs guys at Boston, even though we had been on the ship a week. The ports were Boston, Bar Harbor, Halifax, Sydney, PEI and Quebec City (overnighting before disembarkation) and we did this

It was plain Boston and Quebec City would be the standouts in terms of things to see and do, with the others being fairly low key. But I have always reckoned that any port will be interesting for a few hours and as we were blessed with superb weather all the way, that was true, with the exception of Sydney. None of the possible excursions grabbed me so I stayed in the port area - big mistake ! The only reason for that video is to show that there is as close to nothing to do as you'll ever find, so either go out into the country or use that day to catch up on emails (at the excellent Joan Harriss cruise terminal) or enjoy the empty ship.

To to sum up, another very enjoyable cruise. My next will have ports with more history and intensity but we knew from the outset this would be a nice relaxing break and it was. All the best, Tony.

This was 2 back to back cruises from 4-18 July 2015, Boston-Bermuda (3 days)-Boston (4-11) then Boston-Quebec City (11-18). It was billed as a Collectors Cruise but I have no idea why or what that means.

 

We last sailed Veendam in 2008 and despite her age everything looked fine and also worked fine. There was one major disappointment - there is no aft pool, that space on deck now used for 4 jacuzzis (2 regular, 2 rectangular troughs) with extra staterooms below. A very retrograde step in my view as there is now no children-free pool and the lido pool can get very crowded. There is supposed to be a maximum of 17 in at any one time but it's unenforceable and on hot sea days there were often 30 in there at times. For this reason alone I will no longer consider HAL ships with just one pool.

 

That aside, I really enjoyed the ship and the crew. There are clear signs of cutbacks compared to even 5 years ago but they are minor and don't impact on the overall experience. Things like :

 

1. No 'welcome back' cold drinks and towels.

 

2. Three courses instead of 4 at dinner in the MDR - presumably to save on dining room assistants and stewards with a course less to serve and clear.

 

3. Little or no exotic fruit at breakfast (mango/pineapple) and what is put out is gone in 5 minutes :)

 

4. The best desserts (almond-based) only served at the Mariners' lunch.

 

But I reiterate, none of these made any real difference to our enjoyment and across the fleet must mean significant savings. The food was always good and occasionally very good, although there is an over-reliance on melon to pad out the fruit salads and seafood cocktails and the desserts are rather lacklustre.

 

This was my ninth HAL cruise and we got an invitation to the Crow's Nest to be presented with a bronze medal for having done 100 cruise days. There were about 50 others up there, all receiving medals for varying lengths of long service. While it's always nice to get a complimentary glass or two or red wine or Cava, I couldn't really see the point of it. We posed for the photo with the Captain and Hotel Manager, HAL-engraved medal round our neck, and then removed it, never to put it back - what possible occasion exists where you could wear it ? If HAL is looking to make savings than I suggest they drop this custom ASAP.

 

Turning to the positives, a welcome and unexpected bonus was being able to self-serve from the start, rather than having to wait 48 hours as before and it was good that we didn't have to attend a second lifeboat drill on our second cruise.

 

I went to all the evenings shows except 'Mr and Mrs' and 'DWTS' and enjoyed them, my favourite being Canadian comedy juggler Bob Cates. The Veendam stage, due to its size, limits the scope for vast spectaculars but every night we had a very pleasant 45 minutes.

 

At each port we just did our own thing. This was our 3 days in Bermuda using the 2 day bus/ferry/ticket ($31.50)

 

We docked at Hamilton, which is considered best, but to be honest St George's or the Dockyard would have been fine too as you need to jump on a bus or ferry to go a to a beach wherever you are docked.

 

For the second cruise we had to be up at 7.15 to see the Customs guys at Boston, even though we had been on the ship a week. The ports were Boston, Bar Harbor, Halifax, Sydney, PEI and Quebec City (overnighting before disembarkation) and we did this https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrVUjbiYVZU6N0HgLbRlp6AQsFY5NV7mn

 

It was plain Boston and Quebec City would be the standouts in terms of things to see and do, with the others being fairly low key. But I have always reckoned that any port will be interesting for a few hours and as we were blessed with superb weather all the way, that was true, with the exception of Sydney. None of the possible excursions grabbed me so I stayed in the port area - big mistake ! The only reason for that video is to show that there is as close to nothing to do as you'll ever find, so either go out into the country or use that day to catch up on emails (at the excellent Joan Harriss cruise terminal) or enjoy the empty ship.

 

To to sum up, another very enjoyable cruise. My next will have ports with more history and intensity but we knew from the outset this would be a nice relaxing break and it was. All the best, Tony.

Thanks for sharing.

For the record you can still, as you always have, eat as many courses at dinner as you would like. If you want an appetizer, soup, salad, entree and dessert then by all means have them. If you want less courses feel free and if you want to make it a full menu tasting event maybe change into some comfier pants but you could always do that too. The only thing that has changed is the formatting of the menu. :)

Thank you for your review.

We know about the cutbacks -- more each time we cruise.

Have also heard about the cutbacks in the fruits at breakfast as well as the dinner menu from a cruiser on another ship.

Very sad.

You got to sail a great combo itinerary. I agree Veendam is still a lovely ship but it is awful what they did to the aft. What was such a wonderful Navigation Deck aft pool is now an awful mess on Lido Deck. Bad enough to take away the pool but the big tubs block so much of the view.

Also very disappointing to hear the cut back on fresh fruits. I have now read that several times here on CC and am unhappy as I always eat lots of cut up fruit and melons. Do they still have berries or are they gone, too?

Happy you had great weather. While we know it isn't controllable it makes a big difference..

Welcome Back and thanks for your review. I enjoyed reading it.

Thank you for your review.

We notice little cutbacks each cruise, hoping Noordam will have fresh berries next month.

Thank you for writing the review.

Keith

We are doing the exact same cruises in May. We have done many back to backs and we always have to do the lifeboat drill each time. In Jan/February we did a B2B2B and had to do it 3 times. Tat would be an interesting change. Also the 48 hour rule seems to depend on the previous cruise and how many people stay on.

Thanks for your review.

No cutbacks on fruit at breakfast...never fear...we had a nice choice on the Voyage of the Vikings in Aug...but it will always depend on what the supplier has "in season"...similar to your grocery store. They get what looks good at the time. We had great pineapple, melons (honeydews were particularly great), blueberries, strawberries. Only a few raspberries, but they were there if you asked.

Agree about the MDR menu...you can order as many courses as you want...they are just lumped together in the format.

No sign of "cutbacks" that I saw...much better desserts than usual (not a good thing)...and the staff was very helpful in the Lido if you wanted more coffee/tea/water or ask them to get you more "sauce" or something.

Sounded like a nice itinerary!

Thanks for posting your review.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

Wonderful review! Thank you so much for the videos. Great job!!