The 4 of us, Mom, Dad, my husband & I arrived at Terminal 3, Tampa at roughly 12:30 p.m. on March 9th. We were promptly directed to the elevators because we had lots of carry-on luggage, including a case of wine. No way were we going to make it up an escalator with it. We easily went through the security checkpoint and then saw THE LINE. The online check-in line was backed up to the wall. Well, we got our paperwork together & waited an hour and a half to get to the front desk. We were able to chat with people in line and enjoy our unusual delay. We found out then that the ship had been delayed more than three hours from getting into port because of weather the day before. It also was tied up in such a way that the wireless computer connection had further to run than normal and caused unexpected problems. It also meant that by the time we boarded all rooms were ready. We were able to put all our lugged on bags in the cabin and have a nice leisurely (unencumbered) lunch in the Lido. All of our bags were in our cabins by the time we finished the muster drill. We left the Port of Tampa promptly at 5 PM.

We had sailed prior on her sister, the MS Statendam, for a 16-day cruise through the Panama Canal, so we had no need to explore to get around the Veendam. Included now on the ship cards is your dining table and time, as well as your life boat. Our table was against the aft window and sat 6 people. The other couple assigned with us did not show up the entire week. They had made a special dietary request and a maitre d" was there Sunday evening to make certain their request had been fulfilled. My parents ate in the dining room every night except for the BBQ Friday and they raved over service.Our waiters, Hart and Rony, remembered that Mom liked Sleepy Time tea and Dad drank de-caf coffee after dinner. We brought our own wine for dinners and had an ice bucket right there if needed. DH & I ate there 3 nites, and the rest in the Lido or ordered room service. Breakfast & lunch were taken in the Lido. I ate my fill of smoked salmon for breakfast and treated myself to ice cream in a waffle cone at lunch. Can life be better than that? All 4 of us agree that the food was excellent. We all ate different items and no one had complaints about any of it.

While raving about the staff I can't leave out our cabin steward, Suko. He was extremely efficient. Our room was promptly straightened every morning and evening. If we had a special request, it came almost immediately. We were very spoiled by him. Read more