Veendam Mexican Riviera Cruise

[missmishka]

Just posted a review of our November cruise on the Veendam.

[Belle]

Where?

[sail7seas]

Want to copy and paste it here?

 

[chefestelle]

Where? I'm dying to read it!

[missmishka]

I'm sorry, this was the first time I did a review and I didn't realize it took so long to show up. Cruise Critic has to approve it first. If it doesn't get posted by next week I'll do a short one here on the board. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

[missmishka]

My review has been posted in Member Reviews. I've copied it here:

 

This was our seventh cruise on HAL. We are a couple in our late 60's, and we always have a great time, but this time there were a few "not so great moments".

 

We began our vacation by driving from Green Valley AZ to San Diego two days before our cruise. We stayed at the San Diego Hilton Airport/Harbor Island, where we also left our car. This Hilton has a park and cruise package, and Hilton is always our hotel of choice.

 

The hotel shuttle took us to the terminal just before 11:30 am. Check-in and security were fairly painless. We each had a bottle of wine in our carry-on's and declared them to the gentleman sitting at a desk before we boarded.

 

We had reserved a guarantee Vista Suite and were assigned aft suite 078 on deck 10 (Navigation deck). This was the first time we have stayed on the stern of the ship.

 

Overall, the stateroom was very nice. The bathroom was adequate, with a spa tub (only half size, can't lay down) and shower combo, one sink with glass shelves for bathroom storage and a shelf below the sink for additional storage. There was plenty of closet and drawer storage, a full-size sofa, desk, a chair and a refrigerator, and a flat screen tv and dvd player. Our stateroom attendants, Ishlah and Herman, were great.

 

The "not so great moments" of this cruise all occurred with the stateroom. The HVAC system is not adequate and does not keep the stateroom cool. There is not enough air flow in the room. It got very warm, especially when the sun hit the stern of the ship, and did not cool off until very late in the evening. In addition, the sink plumbing had an annoying gurgle that got progressively worse as the days passed, even with the stopper closed.

 

The third issue with this stateroom is that it is directly below the retreat on the lido deck, and we were subjected to lounges, chairs and tables being dragged around from around 6 in the morning throughout the day and into the evening, despite signs posted asking people to be considerate of the passengers in the staterooms below.

 

This aft stateroom has an extended veranda, and we had really looked forward to enjoying the sunset with a glass of wine on the veranda. However, for this cruise, it was way too hot on the veranda until the sun had set.

 

We did not have reserved dining, and never did eat in the dining room. We looked in, it's a beautiful room. We ate dinner in the Pinnacle Grill one night, in Canaletto twice, an early dinner at The Dive-In, and in the Lido whenever we were hungry. The food was all good.

 

This was a relaxation cruise for us, so we didn't do any tours, and only got off the ship briefly in Mazatlan.

 

We spent most evenings in the Ocean Bar, where we really enjoyed the Neptunes. Our bar servers Walter, Kimberly and Junair were wonderful. I'm constantly amazed at how talented the crew is, remembering names, drinks, etc.

 

We went to a couple of shows, they were pretty good.

 

Disembarkation went smoothly. We found our luggage in the terminal, sailed through customs, got a cab back to the hotel, and were on our way back to Green Valley by 10:00 am.

 

I completed the cruise questionnaire HAL usually e-mails following your cruise, and they followed up within a couple of days, acknowledging the problems with the stateroom.

 

The Veendam is one of HAL's smaller ships. I don't think we would sail on these ships again. We really prefer the Vista Class ships.

[chefestelle]

Thanks for posting this review!

[missmishka]

You're welcome!

[cruz chic]

Thx for posting your review. I agree with you about the ship. I did a two week cruise in May. One week was Bermuda, the second week was Canada New England. My cabin was too warm even for the Canada portion and the weather was cold.

[sail7seas]

Thanks for your review. I had not read about those aft cabins they added but sorry to hear there are so many problems in them.

 

Sorry for your disappointment.

 

[Keith1010]

Thanks for your review.

Keith

[Foggy Bay]

Thanks for this review. We are on the exact same trip over Christmas, we have a BA gty--we live in Green Valley, and we always stay at the downtown Hilton in SD. I hope we don't have the hot veranda/room in common, along with all our other similarities! :)

[missmishka]

Thanks for this review. We are on the exact same trip over Christmas, we have a BA gty--we live in Green Valley, and we always stay at the downtown Hilton in SD. I hope we don't have the hot veranda/room in common, along with all our other similarities! :)

 

I hope not too! We stay at the Hilton on Harbor Island, which is a smaller Hilton but has great views on the Harbor side of the hotel, with small balconies where you can sit and enjoy watching the harbor traffic. The cruise ships sail right by when they come in, and the Navy Air base is across the harbor. Can be a little noisy during the day with all the air traffic, but we don't mind.

[Foggy Bay]

I hope not too! We stay at the Hilton on Harbor Island, which is a smaller Hilton but has great views on the Harbor side of the hotel, with small balconies where you can sit and enjoy watching the harbor traffic. The cruise ships sail right by when they come in, and the Navy Air base is across the harbor. Can be a little noisy during the day with all the air traffic, but we don't mind.

 

We are flying this time so staying closer to the terminal. We are actually at the Westin--got all excited and had the hotel wrong. The Hilton sounds great though! Next time we drive over, we will check it out!

[highland cruiser]

Thanks for posting.

We also are on this ship over Christmas and have a guarantee verandah. We visit Puerto Vallarta every year and have done this same cruise before so this is purely for R & R. Sorry you had cabin problems.

Here's to a better cruise/cabin next time!!

[missmishka]

Thanks for posting.

We also are on this ship over Christmas and have a guarantee verandah. We visit Puerto Vallarta every year and have done this same cruise before so this is purely for R & R. Sorry you had cabin problems.

Here's to a better cruise/cabin next time!!

 

Thanks! Have a great cruise!