This was our second cruise on Veendam having sailed her in Alaska in 2003. Other HAL cruises have been Massdam and Zuiderdam.
We usually book the Neptune Suites and are never disappointed with the service and the hospitality of the staff.
This time, we wanted to try the Port of Tampa as we live just an hour away. I am familiar with Tampa traffic but got twisted around by the blockage of streets because of the two cruise ships in town on Sunday. VERY POOR marking of streets by TPD and, if I hadn't known where I was headed, would have gotten lost quite easily.
Suite 008 is on the Navigation deck (Deck 10) and has, as we discovered later, a major flaw. All Neptune Suites (class SA or SB) are directly under the lido deck but 008 is right beneath the Ping Pong table! We were unaware that ping pong players or any size, shape, or weight, could all sound as if they were NBA players.
The ship's staff was great in resolving the situation (to a point). All activities around the pool area are supposed to be shut down at 9 PM. That is well and good for the pools, hot tubs, bars, etc. but somehow they neglected to put up the ping pong equipment so it was easy for someone to just start playing anytime they wanted. The first night was bad but once we told the concierge in the Neptune Lounge the situation was cured.
Otherwise, it was a nice, comfortable Neptune Suite