ms Veendam - No Air-conditioning, ventilation system - Drydock April 2014

[innlady1]

Sheila,

We had table 27 as well. That is probably the best table on the ship. Were Joko and Wayu (sp) your stewards?

Terri

 

What a small world, Terri! Shhhhh...don't let the cat out of the bag...LOL! No, we had Hendra - he mostly worked the tables himself so I don't know his assistant's name.

[Cruzin Terri]

What a small world, Terri! Shhhhh...don't let the cat out of the bag...LOL! No, we had Hendra - he mostly worked the tables himself so I don't know his assistant's name.

There was a server in the PG by the name of Suhendra. Wonder if it is the same person. If I remember correctly, Joko was going to be promoted to assistant MDR manager. His assistant was also going to be promoted to Dining Steward. Wayu was able to speak German so well. He and my husband would converse in German most evenings. That was such a wonderful cruise. Our wine steward was William. He was really nice to us. We bring our own wine and he was very nice.

Terri

[innlady1]

There was a server in the PG by the name of Suhendra. Wonder if it is the same person. If I remember correctly, Joko was going to be promoted to assistant MDR manager. His assistant was also going to be promoted to Dining Steward. Wayu was able to speak German so well. He and my husband would converse in German most evenings. That was such a wonderful cruise. Our wine steward was William. He was really nice to us. We bring our own wine and he was very nice.

Terri

 

We had a female wine steward(ess). She, too, was lovely. Brought my own wine and she was very gracious...had the bottle ready each evening! I'll see if I can dig up a photo of Hendra...I know I took one of him and DH.

[andyandsue]

HAL is having no problem selling out this ship. To answer your question, her itineraries are fantastic. South America, Canada New England, and now Voyage of the Vikings.

 

We looked and looked and looked, and our favorite itinerary both this year and next year is on ms Veendam.

 

April 2014, and we don't know if they plain to do anything about the AC. I can't imagine they would leave it the way it is.

 

I really think it's all about the destination for Veendam. 4 days in Hamilton Bermuda without that extra day at sea sold us. After what I have read here and all the inconsistencies, I am worried about the a/c and plumbing issues among other things. I don't think it's fair of HAL that we as paying customers should have concerns of this nature. We're talking basic amenities that we should expect (like running water) to be in good working condition, and I don't dare tell my family ahead of time that this is concern.

 

I found your post interesting, and was unhappy at the amount of negativity this one simple post generated. I also find it intersting that after trolling around on the other cruise line sections, HAL is the only one I saw that has a sticky from the admin saying "How to deal with difficult posts or threads". Hmmm :confused:

 

All of this combined is becoming quite the turn off for me with HAL and I continue to struggle with my decision. I am hoping for the best with our vacation in two weeks, and hope HAL proves to me that I had nothing to worry about.

[Cruzin Terri]

I really think it's all about the destination for Veendam. 4 days in Hamilton Bermuda without that extra day at sea sold us. After what I have read here and all the inconsistencies, I am worried about the a/c and plumbing issues among other things. I don't think it's fair of HAL that we as paying customers should have concerns of this nature. We're talking basic amenities that we should expect (like running water) to be in good working condition, and I don't dare tell my family ahead of time that this is concern.

 

I found your post interesting, and was unhappy at the amount of negativity this one simple post generated. I also find it intersting that after trolling around on the other cruise line sections, HAL is the only one I saw that has a sticky from the admin saying "How to deal with difficult posts or threads". Hmmm :confused:

 

All of this combined is becoming quite the turn off for me with HAL and I continue to struggle with my decision. I am hoping for the best with our vacation in two weeks, and hope HAL proves to me that I had nothing to worry about.

 

I hate to repeat this again. I was on this ship for 31 days from March 19 to April 19. I admit that I was quite aprehensive about the ship due to all the negative reviews I read on this board. However, I wanted to see South America and I took my chances. Boy am I glad I did. I have had no complaints about the Veendam. I do know that others have had different experiences, but ours was very good. Our AC (call it what you will) worked, our toilet flushed, we did have a flood in the bathroom once after a shower, but that was fixed immediately.

Service in the dining room was good. I do admit that we started out with late dining at table 301 and that was painfully slow. We asked to change to early dining when the ship got to Valparaiso because we were finding it difficult to eat so late. We were immediately changed to table 27 where the service was much better and stayed at the same table for early dining when we switched. Service was much better.

 

I am not saying that you will not encounter problems. I am not discrediting any problems reported by others. I am saying that you should go with an open mind and take things as you find them and don't look for problems. I would almost guarantee you will have a great cruise.

Terri

[SwissMyst]

......

 

All of this combined is becoming quite the turn off for me with HAL and I continue to struggle with my decision. I am hoping for the best with our vacation in two weeks, and hope HAL proves to me that I had nothing to worry about.

 

 

The odds are very high you will have a wonderful, trouble-free time. Best wishes. But high odds are not a 100% guarantee, just a little bit under. Hope you come back to report your own experience and wipe the worry away before you embark, and are ready if those unplanned glitches that happen on any ship come your way. HAL has very high customer loyalty.

 

You don't get the same people coming back over and over again if HAL ships were anything remotely like the occasional problems that do get reported her would have you believe. But as we all agree, once it is one's own problem and not someone else's problem the story changes.

 

I am only saying the "odds" are very, very high you will have a wonderful trip. Each HAL ship has 1200-over2000 passengers, You don't hear thousands of bad reports by a long shot which one would expect if things were as universally poor as some posters make it out to be - ship wide and fleet wide. HAL would have been long out of business if that were the case, and she is not. Just the opposite.

 

What is posted here are the occasional, and very unfortunate individual reports of a malfunction from time to time. Going from the individual report to a ship wide or fleet wide condemnation is what is even more unfortunate.

[Typhoon1]

Would you be so kind as to qualify what you consider unfounded and what you consider gossip?

 

OP stated they "heard'. The source was never revealed. People hear a number of things from various sources.

[Typhoon1]

I don't have to explain anything because I did not make the statement. I repeated it. Call it hearsay.

 

Unfounded gossip?

[Cruzin Terri]

Unfounded gossip?

Definition of gossip- talk or rumor of the personal or private affairs of others.

[Jade13]

OP stated they "heard'. The source was never revealed. People hear a number of things from various sources.

 

Definition of OP = Original Post (er)

 

I never used the word "heard" in the original post. When someone places a quote mark it is suppose to mean they are quoting what was said. It would be helpful if instead of making short statements you hit the reply button and show exactly what/who you are replying too, which I see you are now doing when responding to tbrien. The first time you posted about unfounded gossip I assumed you were responding to both the OP (me) and to tbrien.

 

I did reveal the source was a representative at HAL who said there was a difference in the air conditioning/ventilation system on Veendam (verses the newer ships), but that Ships Services could explain better. There is a Ship Coordinator who handles Veendam.

 

Please stop insulting me. As far as gossip, I thought I explained in detail on a subsequent post that I was on the ship from Valparaiso to NYC (22 nights) and explained that we were in two different staterooms where the temperature was very different. Plus, I took the iPod tour which took me around the public spaces in rapid succession where I felt a huge difference in air temperature in a short time frame, further validating personal experiance that this system is not working the same throughout the ship. As far as the air temperature I gave the lowest (coolest) reading in our first stateroom the 3rd week of the trip when there seemed to be no cool air coming out at all and after they were able to get it working again. They came back a number of hours later and they got a temperature rating of 74 F. This is all my first hand experience.

[CruiseGal60]

We were on the Veendam a couple of years back and the AC system was horrible. Our room was always hot, yet the cabin a few doors down was always freezing.

 

Almost everyone was complaining about too much or not enough AC. Even the temperature in the public areas was very inconsistent. They actually ran out of fans to put in the cabins.

 

Due to this, we will not travel on the Veendam again.

[Cruzin Terri]

Definition of OP = Original Post (er)

 

I never used the word "heard" in the original post. When someone places a quote mark it is suppose to mean they are quoting what was said. It would be helpful if instead of making short statements you hit the reply button and show exactly what/who you are replying too, which I see you are now doing when responding to tbrien. The first time you posted about unfounded gossip I assumed you were responding to both the OP (me) and to tbrien.

 

I did reveal the source was a representative at HAL who said there was a difference in the air conditioning/ventilation system on Veendam (verses the newer ships), but that Ships Services could explain better. There is a Ship Coordinator who handles Veendam.

 

Please stop insulting me. As far as gossip, I thought I explained in detail on a subsequent post that I was on the ship from Valparaiso to NYC (22 nights) and explained that we were in two different staterooms where the temperature was very different. Plus, I took the iPod tour which took me around the public spaces in rapid succession where I felt a huge difference in air temperature in a short time frame, further validating personal experiance that this system is not working the same throughout the ship. As far as the air temperature I gave the lowest (coolest) reading in our first stateroom the 3rd week of the trip when there seemed to be no cool air coming out at all and after they were able to get it working again. They came back a number of hours later and they got a temperature rating of 74 F. This is all my first hand experience.

Jade,

I have decided that this poster is not worth answering any more. (S)he has done nothing but insult both of us.

Not worth the time.

Let it die

Terri

[Jade13]

Someone should start a thread on ms Veendam where people can post their actual cabin number (plus deck number and "forward", "aft" etc. would be helpful so people have to do less research), dates of travel, and experience with the air conditioning/cooling system such as if it was too hot or too cold. This way there is one thread where people can look up the information. Maybe if there is consistent information on the same staterooms HAL may actually look into doing something (I understand they read these boards).

 

There are similar type threads on the Celebrity board where people can post about different cabins on individual ships.

 

I would prefer if someone else would start the thread since I started this one. People who were actually on the ship can post their experience with more specific information on which stateroom.

[mamaofami]

Off Veendam an hour ago. The air conditioning is definitely different in different areas of the ship. In Caneletto we were very hot, most of the other rooms on the ship were so cold that I bought a sweat shirt the first night and wore it all over the ship. My room was freezing for a few days, and then warmed up, but never uncomfortable. The smell of paint from the lower promenade deck was pulled into many cabins by the air conditioning. People on deck 4 were also complaining about the smell. They were painting the sides and railings of the ship.

However, as we left the ship this AM, there were four pails collecting water on the lower promenade deck. A pipe burst on the deck above. There are no cabins in that area. The people in the cabin next to mine, 350, were sleeping one night when their toilet started making funny noises and it overflowed. They had not been using it. Again, no cabin above. The people in there cleaned up the mess and reported it. Sometime yesterday afternoon it overflowed again, flooding the entire cabin and bringing sewage up. Someone had left the ship in Bermuda and they were moved to their cabin. There were fans working all night to dry out the carpet for the new unsuspecting occupants.

 

There are other issues from the original retreat that I will write about when I get unpacked and have the chance.

 

I did not hear anyone complain about air conditioning not working in their cabins. I was told by the head of the front desk, that yes indeed, there are air and plumbing issues and when they go to NY, they bring on people to do maintenance on these issues while they are in Bermuda. They are unable to do this in S. America.

 

Just a comment on the dining room staff. We were in and out in 90 minutes, but not one of the stewards ever smiled which I found very unusual for HAL. We had a captain who was wonderful, but the rest just did their job. Our room stewards were the best we've ever had, and the front desk was wonderful in helping us to address the problems we had from the paint. More later.

[catl331]

Someone should start a thread on ms Veendam where people can post their actual cabin number (plus deck number and "forward", "aft" etc. would be helpful so people have to do less research), dates of travel, and experience with the air conditioning/cooling system such as if it was too hot or too cold.

Until that thread starts: cabin D418, Oct '11 - the AC worked fine. We could get it as cold as we liked. We never heard any complaints from any one else on our cruise.

[andyandsue]

What is posted here are the occasional, and very unfortunate individual reports of a malfunction from time to time. Going from the individual report to a ship wide or fleet wide condemnation is what is even more unfortunate.

 

Seems more than occasional. Each return we hear of another problem seen with running water, pluming, or A/C. Not ship-wide, not fleet-wide, but certainly more than an occasional malfunction on the Veendam.

 

The latest person to come home said they were on the 4th deck and the 5th deck had plumbing problems. The 5th deck happens to be the deck we will be on. I will have two children with me... I won't want to be without running water, a toilet that is pushing up sewage, or in a hot room. So yes, I am hoping to NOT experience these issues.

 

Why, I wonder, when the same problems continue on Veendam for what appears to be years here, even if just in a handful of cabins, does HAL not take responsibility and fix the problem?

 

I'm not "condemning" the entire fleet, but HAL is the company that owns the Veendam and I am still concerned (rightfully so) about being on this ship for those reasons stated, since after all this thread is about the Veendam.

 

Unfortunately for Jade who started what I thought was an interesting post, and could have been a good discussion; This one has turned into another weird, off-the-wall, HAL fan rant from some, therefore, I'm not returning to this thread. Oh well.

[Cruzin Terri]

Seems more than occasional. Each return we hear of another problem seen with running water, pluming, or A/C. Not ship-wide, not fleet-wide, but certainly more than an occasional malfunction on the Veendam.

 

The latest person to come home said they were on the 4th deck and the 5th deck had plumbing problems. The 5th deck happens to be the deck we will be on. I will have two children with me... I won't want to be without running water, a toilet that is pushing up sewage, or in a hot room. So yes, I am hoping to NOT experience these issues.

 

Why, I wonder, when the same problems continue on Veendam for what appears to be years here, even if just in a handful of cabins, does HAL not take responsibility and fix the problem?

 

I'm not "condemning" the entire fleet, but HAL is the company that owns the Veendam and I am still concerned (rightfully so) about being on this ship for those reasons stated, since after all this thread is about the Veendam.

 

Unfortunately for Jade who started what I thought was an interesting post, and could have been a good discussion; This one has turned into another weird, off-the-wall, HAL fan rant from some, therefore, I'm not returning to this thread. Oh well.

I hope you enjoy your cruise and it is trouble free.

Terri

[SwissMyst]

Seems more than occasional. Each return we hear of another problem seen with running water, pluming, or A/C. Not ship-wide, not fleet-wide, but certainly more than an occasional malfunction on the Veendam.

 

The latest person to come home said they were on the 4th deck and the 5th deck had plumbing problems. The 5th deck happens to be the deck we will be on. I will have two children with me... I won't want to be without running water, a toilet that is pushing up sewage, or in a hot room. So yes, I am hoping to NOT experience these issues.

 

Why, I wonder, when the same problems continue on Veendam for what appears to be years here, even if just in a handful of cabins, does HAL not take responsibility and fix the problem?

 

I'm not "condemning" the entire fleet, but HAL is the company that owns the Veendam and I am still concerned (rightfully so) about being on this ship for those reasons stated, since after all this thread is about the Veendam.

 

Unfortunately for Jade who started what I thought was an interesting post, and could have been a good discussion; This one has turned into another weird, off-the-wall, HAL fan rant from some, therefore, I'm not returning to this thread. Oh well.

 

I hope your cruise is trouble free too. Yes, when there are 1200 passengers and we do hear on this forum the occasional report here from those who have had legitimate issues on one cruise or another, it is good to remember are still well over a thousand who have not drifted over here to report similar experiences.

 

Therefore, it is hard to know from the occasional reports here what in fact the status of the entire ship actually is. I personal don't think it is fair when a poster makes a fleet wide or ship wide condemnation, so thank you for having understood this perspective.

 

Let's hope you will not have these unfortunate and occasional experiences, but they can happen.

 

Best to be prepared to have a Plan B in place (mental and/or physical), just in case because ship are ships and things that would be unacceptable on land, might well happen at sea even though no one wants it to happen ever. Truly they don't. We have all had glitches from time to time - greater or lesser degrees of severity.

 

But thing can and do happen on ships. Comes with the package. No one wants you to have a bad time. This is the hospitality industry and they make money providing people with carefree and happy experiences. That is their bottom line.

 

Other cruise lines might be able to offer more of a trouble-free guarantee, but I can't think of any off-hand. Would make an interesting thread to see which one does come close to making this 100% trouble free trip guarantee, because if you read other cruise line forums on cruise critic, it appears all lines have similar issues. We even had funky smells on the Crystal Symphony.

 

Hope your trip is wonderful. Best wishes.