Trying to decide on a HA cruise!

[maggiekoolcruiser]

Aloha,

We're trying to book the circle of Hawaii cruise in 2014. Only one cruise available 17 days in Jan from San Diego. Wondering why HAL has only one cruise scheduled for Jan ? Also has anyone done this cruise before and how did u like it and would you do it again ? As far as the ship it's the Veendam. Not familiar with this ship. Is it new, old , good or not so good ?

Muchas gracias & Mahalo :)

[sail7seas]

Veendam is one of HAL's older, smaller ships. We just sailed her in August and found her in remarkably better condition than we expected. She has a wonderful crew and we enjoyed our scant week aboard.

 

We have never sailed the circle Hawaii cruise and likely won't. Coming from Boston, it's too far to fly for so few ports.... too many sea days to my taste. :o We have been to Hawaii and enjoyed our land stay very much.

 

[CruiserBruce]

Actually, Veendam has two sailings in Jan 2014. Your 17 day Hawaii on Jan 4, and an 18 day Hawaii on Jan 21.

[jtl513]

As far as the ship it's the Veendam. Not familiar with this ship. Is it new, old , good or not so good?

1992, 1350 passengers since some modifications a few years back. It has gotten mixed reviews over the past few years. Some people do not like the fact that there is no aft pool. We had a balky toilet 2 years ago, but other than that the ship was fine by us. :)

[RJ2002]

We were on the Veendam in 2010 for a South America / Antarctica cruise. This is an S class ship, and is one of the smaller ones. We enjoyed the ship very much. Didn't really notice any issues, but wasn't on the lookout for them either.

 

I understand that some onboard improvements have been made since we were aboard, so I would hope it would be in fine shape for your cruise.

 

Enjoy!

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have done the Hawaiian cruise. We would not do it again. It is too many sea days for us and you do not get much time in the few ports to really see everything.

We were glad that we have been to Hawaii a few times on our own.

It is true that the Veendam is an older ship and there have been mixed reviews about her.

[take us away]

We have done this cruise and absolutely loved it! But then we enjoy sea days and I was still working so needed time to decompress. We will take sea days over long flights any day. The ship has lots of activities you can enjoy or you can sit on the deck and read a good book or just watch the world sail by. When we were sailing into one of the ports, several whales including calves came up to check us out, swam around the ship a few times, then went off. Quite an experience.

 

Would recommend this cruise as it is an excellent way to: 1) relax on the way over, 2) see the variety of each island, 3) relax and recharge on the way back.

[dontworry]

In April we did a 17 day Hawaii cruise out of Vancouver on the Zandaam. We totally enjoyed the 5 day sailing both ways. It was a whole different way of life and IMO was one of the most relaxing and comfortable cruises ever. You can still be as busy as you want to be onboard or you can chill to the max. If you enjoy the sailing aspect of a cruise I would highly reccommend a Hawaii cruise whether out od SD or VAN? Highly enjoyable for us.

[Thebes]

We were thinking the same thing for 2015. Have u done Caribbean with HAL ?

[dontworry]

We were booked for a Carribean cruise but switched it to a Panama Canal cruise about 3 years ago. I highly recommend this cruise. We actually find the Carribean heat too much for us.Ilike getting the Pacific breeze blowing on me. We wont do a Carribean because of yhe extreme heat. This is not to say Hawaai doesn't get hot,it does,but we find it way more bearable,not having that super high humidity.....

[localady]

I really think that your enjoyment of a RT Hawaii cruise will depend on how much you enjoy endless days at sea. I have over 300 days aboard ships, but I found that I myself get sea sick about the 4th or 5th day of straight sea days.

For that reason, and the fact that our time in port was really limited (especially Lahaina), I would not recommend this cruise. I myself need a more port intensive itinerary with a few days at sea thrown in for good measure.

[George C]

My problem with Veendam is it is small and I really dislike that they have only one pool which most likely have screaming children, other than that I thought it was a nice ship. (took her to Bermuda last year)