We are a fairly active couple in our late 50's who have most recently cruised (twice) on Princess. (We have also cruised on Carnival and Royal Caribbean.) We chose this HAL Veendam cruise because we wanted to go to Canada; we liked the size of the Veendam; and there was a very good sale.

Here is my review based on the above ratings:

Dining--As already mentioned in previous reviews, there is no self-service in the Lido buffet during the first 48 hours of the cruise in order to lessen the chance of norovirus. I thought this would be annoying, but the staff was really good at serving everyone quickly. We ate all of our breakfasts at the Lido and enjoyed them. The lines for made-to-order foods moved relatively quickly. There was a nice assortment of fruit and breads (although the croissants and chocolate croissants were gone by 8am on the last two days of the cruise and were not replaced). We ate lunch on board ship only twice--sea day and the day in Halifax. The wait for our pizza at Slice on the sea day was very long and the pizza wasn't worth waiting for. The burgers and fries at Dive Inn while we were in Halifax came rather quickly (not many folks on board) and they were delicious! We had "anytime dining" in the Rotterdam dining room and learned after the first night that you really need to make an advance reservation. (The wait line to be seated if you don't have a reservation can be quite long.) I am not a particularly adventurous eater and I did not like the menu because the choices for the entrees, in particular, were too "fou fou" for my tastes. There were some "regular" menu items that were available every day, but they seemed too bland--baked chicken, etc. I managed to find something to eat each evening, but it wasn't like on my cruises on Princess (or even Carnival) where I had a hard time choosing an entree because EVERYTHING looked so good. The food tasted fine and I would recommend anything prepared with fruit--the cold fruit soup appetizers and the fruit crumbles for dessert were the best. Read more