Veendam Review

4.0 / 5.0
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Front desk staff a mess

Review for Hawaii Cruise on Veendam
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just judi
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Mar 2015

When we arrived in San Diego there was no line so we thought it would be easy getting on-board. How wrong we were - 40 minutes! It seems our cabin was booked to two different parties. After we were assured it was all straightened out and we boarded, our first stop was at the Front Desk to tell them of our problems and ask for a different cabin. The staff wasn't exactly rude, but sure wasn't warm and welcoming. They told us that cabins are changed around all the time including the last few hours before a cruise - but they had no place for us to move to. We go to our stateroom and then outside for the sailaway. Mixed feelings now about even wanting to be on this cruise. When we returned to "our" stateroom there were three pieces of luggage, not ours, in it. Again a trip to the Front Desk where we were told that 'those people' shouldn't have put that cabin number on their luggage tags. My husband explained that they probably wouldn't have done it if they hadn't been told to! Long story short, the luggage was finally collected and we were told by the Front Desk that 'those people' were sorry they had messed up the cabin numbers. Never an apology from the Front Desk staff until a couple of days later when they offered us a cheap bottle of red wine.

When I tried to use my room key and drink card the first time I was told they weren't activated and I needed to go to the Front Desk to have that done. Again, not treated very nicely - I was told it was my fault for carrying my cell phone near my cards. My cell phone had been locked up in our safe from the beginning. They didn't care about that - could have just said 'not a problem - can take care of that for you very easily' and reactivated the cards. It was just easier to blame me.

On the next to last day of the cruise while sitting on the back deck near the pool, we were hit w/oil drops from the smokestacks. It was a mess: clothes, hair, towels - everything. Again my husband made a trip to the Front Desk to complain about a pair of shorts and a shirt that were a mess. They did offer to clean those clothes for him at no cost. But no apology - and it was just a mistake, easy to apologize for.

Cabin Review

Port Reviews

San Diego

We flew into San Diego, got a cab to the pier, and then tried to board the Veendam. The people working on getting people on board were very nice and seemed to care about what they were doing. No excursions at all. No champagne upon boarding.

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