Veendam Review
4.0 / 5.0
0 reviews
Great laid back cruise for seniors and couples who love to dine
Review for Canada & New England Cruise on Veendam
sundevil99
2-5 Cruises • Age 40s
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Sail Date: Aug 2016
Cabin: Large Interior Stateroom
My husband and I took this cruise with his parents. His mother was in a wheelchair. Embarkation in Montreal was fast and simple. We were relatively late (2:30pm arrival with 3:00pm all aboard) and were the only people in line. There were 1,341 passengers on our cruise.
The ms Veendam was clean and the crew were always friendly and accommodating. The ship was easy to navigate and offered many places to sit and relax. We particularly enjoyed sitting in the Crow's Nest on Deck 12 to converse as a family. I spent a few nights sitting in The Mix on Deck 8 on the comfortable seats and couches listening to the wonderful pianist. There were very few children and teens on our cruise (about 20-30). They were bored and often causing trouble on the Lido Deck 11. A majority of the passengers were retirees.
The dining options were great, especially for those who love formal dining and relaxing during a long dinner. We ate at the Rotterdam Dining room once and it was very good, but not our style of dining. We did not participate in either of the Gala nights, but many of our cruise mates were dressed to the nines in beautiful clothes and jewelry on both formal evenings. We chose to eat at the Lido for casual breakfast, lunch and dinner most of the time. They often served some of the formal options as part of the casual menu. We also loved The Dive by the pool; the hot dogs, fries and hamburgers were excellent. The pizza station Slice was good at the beginning of the week, but towards the end we think they ran out of dough and started using a sub-par dough because it got worse as the week went on. Ice cream and desserts were almost always available in the Lido Market and never disappointed. The room service menu was decent, and both times we ordered they arrived right on time with hot food. Sodas and tea are not included on this cruise. A 12 ounce can of Coke was $2.59 each including mandatory 15% service charge, and the only place to get a cold can was at the Explorations Cafe on Deck 8. All other places served warm cans with a glass of ice. The snack time from 10:30pm-11:30pm in the Lido Market offered a good selection of entrees, cheeses, meats and desserts to satisfy late night cravings. We went back every night. It's not possible to go hungry on this cruise, even for picky eaters like me.
Cabin Review
Large Interior Stateroom
Cabin K
Our stateroom 537 was relatively large for an interior class stateroom. It featured a large king bed with nightstands on either side, a two-person love seat with a moveable coffee table, a small chair, and a large dresser area. There were six drawers in the dresser, two drawers under the king bed, and three tall cabinets. The bathroom sink was nice and big, with two glass shelves to store toiletries and a shelf underneath. The shower was a bit small. All four of us are either tall or wide and we all struggled with the size of the showers on board. The temperature in the room was relatively cold throughout the entire cruise, even though we set our thermostat to "warm." While it didn't bother me, my Mom was freezing the whole time and had to sleep with extra blankets (which are stocked in the cabinets). Our cabin only had one neighbor on the right side. The left side and rear were backed up to the crew hallways, which made for a very noisy day. They were moving vacuums and carts and bags of things up and down the stairwell for crew, which often sounded like a bowling ball being thrown down metal stairs. Sleeping during the day was a challenge because of the extra noise. They also had some kind of trash compactor or machine which clanked loudly and had a big buzzer sound when it finished. We did not hear any noise at night, just during the daytime. Overall our room was clean, comfortable, roomy, and centrally located.
Port Reviews
Quebec City
There are many things to do in Quebec City. We spent most of our time around the Chateau Frantenac and its surrounding streets. The city is difficult to navigate for those with mobility problems as it has many hills and stairs to climb. We walked 16,000 steps and climbed 23 flights of stairs in five hours around Quebec City.
Sydney (Nova Scotia)
In Sydney, a couple of excursions were offered but we chose to explore on our own. Sydney is easy to get around in, and quite small. There isn't much to the town at all.
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