This is our second Holland America Line cruise, but it was my 19th cruise overall. Have been on a wide range of ships, some older and some newer - actually they become a blur - so I don't think it is fair to judge one line vs. another, but judge them by the experience you had while you were with them. The Veendam is an older ship, at sea since 1996; it has been refurbished several times and is in good shape for its age. The ship was smaller than our last ship (Celebrity - Silhouette), around 785+/- feet and holds around 1,280 passengers and 800 odd crew members.

Most of the serving staff come from Indonesia and are very accommodating, helpful and nice. Having recently been asked by my doctor to go on a gluten free diet, I thought it would be a nightmare getting the proper food, especially since their brochure requires you to notify them 90 days before sailing that you need a special diet. But my fears were quickly put to rest the first dining night., By simply asking I was given a specially prepared meal (delicious I might add), then was asked to pick from tomorrow night's menu what I wanted and the food was prepared without gluten.

We were sailing with 169 other wine lovers on a winery sponsored trip and all of the food in the main dining room and in the specialty restaurant went wonderfully with the wines the wineries brought for us to taste. The special parties were well done, food was wonderful and service top notch. Only problem was we ran into a storm (60 to 80 MPH winds) and the resulting high seas didn't allow us to land in Halifax until late morning which cancelled our pre-planned tour there and we stayed in port all that night. The next day we skipped landing in Sydney NS so this tour went bye-bye too. None of this was the fault of the Veendam's Captain or crew....they kept all passengers and crew safe. Would go again with this ship.