My husband and I have cruised on many different lines, going to Alaska, Mediterranean, Baltics and several caribbean trips. This one was a unique "adventure". I'm not going to give a day by day description, just some observations.

The Veendam is the smallest ship that we have been on and it was quite nice. It was easy to get your bearings and know you're way around. There were plenty of open, public areas and it never felt crowded. We got to the pier about 11:30 and it looked like everyone else was already there! Took a while to get onboard, but the room was ready. Luggage arrived not too long after. We were in an inside cabin, mid-ship, on the main deck, 5. This turned out to be a blessing.

As we left New York a big storm was coming towards us. As the other posters have said, it was something. Unlike the other poster, though, the seas were not 25-30 ft.! The Captain was very good to keep us informed every couple of hours over the next day and a half; he said that our seas were 14 ft., if we hadn't changed course and gone the regular route the seas would have been 25 ft. Still, the boat was really rocking. During the first night it rolled a lot, but our cabin being where it was, it really just kind of lulled us to sleep. The next day, Monday, was a challenge. Just walking was difficult, you had to keep grabbing hold of things. Going up and down the stairs was kind of scary. Read more