Need help.... Veendam vs. Westerdam

We're booked on the Veendam but just found a Westerdam cruise about the same time that is much cheaper.

Does anyone have an opinion on these ships?

A smaller ship, more room per person, think cabins are a bit bigger.

Not impressed with Vista class but we sail on them.

Love Veendam, ship has a personality all its own. Sailed on enagual cruise and maybe 15 times since then. Look below and see how we are scheduled on her now. This should give you an idea of our opinion of the ship.

Have a great vacation whichever ship you pick....

Ruth & Jim

Huge difference between the two. As an S-class ship the Veendam is small compared to the Vista class Westerdam. How much walking do you want to do? On the Veendam you can get from here to there in a couple of minutes; on the Vista's it's a hike.

The Vista's tend to attract younger passengers than the S-class, and more families w/children.

My experience on a Vista was on the Noordam (twice). The crowd tended to stay up later at night on the Noordam than on the S-ships I've sailed. The S-class tends toward quieter; the Vista's are higher energy. YMMV.

I much prefer newer things, including ships, so I prefer Vistas. DW prefers the shorter walks on the Veendam. Also, we can afford verandah cabins on the Vistas. I would love to see the Westerdam since the refit earlier this year. :D

Thanks for the help. We're booked on the Veendam for December 16th. Ports of Call are Key West... Belize... Guatemala and Costa Maya (now Cozumel)

We could save $1000 by switching to the Westerdam for November 25th. Both are balcony rooms but it looks like this one is smaller. Ports of Call are Half Moon Cay... Grand Turk... Grand Cayman... and Cozumel.

Any advice on the Ports of Call?

Also... I see that the hurricane season ends November 30th. Seems like we'd be cutting it close.

Finally... and I really don't want to turn this into a smoking thread... but based on reading these boards I asked about an aft cabin. (where I might be able to enjoy a cigar on the balcony) It would be an additional $250 so that would cut our savings down to $500. Tough decision but the whole point of a vacation is to relax and it would be great to not be stressed about whether I'm offending someone. There was a post on the cigar smokers thread a while back about how maybe smokers should have to pay more for their cruise. I guess this would be an example.

We were on the Veendam in February and the Westerdam in April. I love the smaller ships and prefer the Veendam. The Westerdam was OK, but too much like the newer big resort-style ships. We are looking forward to cruises on the Volendam next month and the Maasdam in February.

Thanks for the help. We're booked on the Veendam for December 16th. Ports of Call are Key West... Belize... Guatemala and Costa Maya (now Cozumel)

 

We could save $1000 by switching to the Westerdam for November 25th. Both are balcony rooms but it looks like this one is smaller. Ports of Call are Half Moon Cay... Grand Turk... Grand Cayman... and Cozumel.

 

Any advice on the Ports of Call?

 

Also... I see that the hurricane season ends November 30th. Seems like we'd be cutting it close.

We did that same Veendam cruise last Dec ... same dates even ... because we wanted to see some Mayan ruins. You can't do that on HMC, Grand Turk, or Grand Cayman. Not sure what's available from Cozumel. It depends on what you want to do. Have you checked out the Ports of Call forum for advice on the ports on the two Itineraries?

Yes, the VA through VF cabins on the W'dam are very slightly smaller than the A through BC cabins on the Veendam, but since there's far fewer on the Veendam HAL can get much more money for them. (I think the Veendam's A through BC cabins are about 2 ft shorter.) There are lots of well-off retirees within an hour of Tampa, so the suites and verandahs sell well.

Don't worry about hurricanes in late Nov or Dec. They're not common, and fairly mild if they do happen. We did hit Belize and Guatemala just after some pretty heavy rains, though, so the ground at the Mayan sites was very soggy.

We are about the same age as yourself. We did a Volendam cruise lastg November. we enjoyed it but wanted to try a Vista due to the younger demographics I have read about. I suspect the Veendam would be about the same.(as our Volendam cruise)

RCrpntr - I was just looking at the HAL gift list and they have a couple of cigar packages - one with just 3 cigars and one with 3 cigars a HAL cigar cutter and traveling humidor with Cedar insert. If you ordered cigars from the gift form and anyone gave you grief about your cigars, you could just say -- but HAL gave them to me :)

... We could save $1000 by switching to the Westerdam for November 25th. ....

The 11/25 W'dam will be my first HAL cruise, so I can't help with your decisionmaking process. But I do want to say that if you decide to switch, please do sign up on our roll call! We have a good-sized group of very nice folks signed up, and we are all looking forward to meeting one another.

Thanks again....

We switched to the Westerdam for the $1000 savings. Plus I really like the ports of call. All four (HMC... Grand Turk... Grand Cayman and Cozumel) look like great beaches and snorkeling. I just bought an underwater housing for our Canon camera.

Thomasale....I've seen you post on the Cigarfamily website. I attended the first CFC in '98. I post under the name ewb. (elwoodbob) I'm originally from Elwood, Indiana.

02cruise... thanks for the tip. However... I'll probably be bringing my own cigars and it really doesn't solve the problem. I'm still offending them... and I would like to avoid the confrontation. I don't want anyone to be bothered by my smoking. I say that... but I didn't spend the extra $500 for an aft cabin. We're just not as affluent as a lot of folks I guess. I may consider it on future cruises depending how this one goes.

02B@C.... I will sign up on the roll cal thread. Thanks.

Robert