My wife and I are in our early 30s and needed a relaxing cruise to get away from our busy careers in the financial industry. We usually travel 2-3 times per year. We have been on a fair number of cruises (Norwegian 2x, Carnival 2x, & Royal Caribbean 2x) and thought we would give HAL a try. For this cruise, we were looking for relaxation and to again explore the Mexican Riviera on port days. We sailed the Mexican Riviera in 2005 via the Norwegian Star (The Star actually ported with the Veendam at a couple ports) and have been to numerous destinations in Mexico with all-inclusive packages to various resort cities (Acapulco, Ixtapa, Manzanillo, Cancun, Cozumel, etc...) The Veendam stopped at Mazatlan, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas during our 7-day cruise from 10/10 - 10/17 that sailed from San Diego. The weather was great, sunny everyday with exception to some rain one night due to a nearby tropical storm we avoided. Embarkation was a breeze as was Debarkation.

We had a great time on this cruise and certainly achieved our goal of relaxation. We were extremely pleased when we were upgraded from an interior room to a Lanai Stateroom without even asking. The room was of adequate size and had all the essential ammenities you would expect. A Lanai Stateroom is essentially a shared balcony of which the sliding glass door opens to a public walkway. During the day, other cruisers cannot see in your room as the outside of the slider door has a mirror, but during the night if you had the lights on, guests could see inside your room. The Lanai Stateroom was certainly unique compared to other ships we have been on and worked well for us. It was convenient just to step outside our room to take pictures and videos of the numerous dolphins and wales spotted in the ocean. The captain was excellent in making announcements whenever we would come close to dolphins or whales.

We were extremely pleased with the food on the ship, which was just as good as our NCL & RCCL cruises, but much better than CCL. The Veendam food venue consists of the Rotterdam Main Dining Room (with open or assigned seating), Canaletto Restaurant offering Italian cuisine, and Pinnacle Grill (surcharge restaurant). We did not try the Pinnacle Grill, but really thought the food was excellent in both the Main Dining Room and Canaletto Restaurant. A majority of the cruisers we visited with also expressed a high opinion of the food. We overall cruisers giving stellar reviews of the Pinnacle Grill and thought is was well worth the upcharge. Read more