Review of Holland America Veendam Western Caribbean Cruise 29 Jan to 5 Feb, 2005
It was with some nervousness that we checked in at 12.30 p.m. at Tampa Cruise Terminal 2 because the local newspapers, TV and radio had been telling us of the Novovirus outbreak on the Veendam's previous 14-day cruise that had hit over 200 passengers. Barred from stopping at its last port of call, Grand Cayman, the ship had berthed a day early at 6 p.m. on Friday to start an intensive cleaning exercise. On checking in we were offered the option of canceling and getting a full cruise refund but we later found out that passengers in only 12 cabins opted out. Because the cleaning would not be completed to allow boarding to begin until 3 p.m. we were all offered a $10 per passenger credit if we wanted to leave the terminal and get some lunch at one of the many restaurants on Tampa's Channelside. So we went out to lunch and watched the ship being loaded and returned at 2.30 p.m. We boarded at 3.40 p.m. The ship didn't sail until 5.40 p.m. and with the early dinner sitting about to start lifeboat drill was put off until 10.30 a.m. Sunday.
To counter any further illness the ship was on a complete hygiene clamp down and passengers were not allowed to serve themselves with anything. Even the salt and pepper, sugar, etc., were taken off the tables and had to be served. During Friday night the ship had taken all cabin pillows, blankets and comforters to commercial cleaners to rid the soft furnishings of the virus. The casino chips had also been baked in ovens hot enough to kill the virus but not so hot as to make them melt. Everywhere you went on the ship there were dispensers for hand cleaning, even as you entered or left the casino. We were probably on the cleanest ship in the Caribbean. Captain Albert Schoonderbeek adopted an open information policy so we were updated each day on the situation and exhorted to keep washing our hands regularly. On the Sunday there was one case reported, but after that there were none for the rest of the week. As people with the bug can generally infect others for 72 hours after getting it the restrictions were kept up until Thursday and then were lifted. After 5 days of being served everything we were all a bit lost getting back to normality.