We are a small family of two adults and one teen and we find cruising a wonderful way to spend a vacation that allows our son freedom (whilst on the ship thanks to the teen center) but also provides for shared experiences on land. This is our third cruise in the last three years and we had a great time. Sadly, the Veendam is not returning to Bermuda next summer.

First, New York (Manhattan) Cruise Terminal is adequate once one is inside but access by automobile/taxi is difficult especially when three ships are at dock and one of those ships is rather large. Check in went quickly and painlessly and after a relatively short wait we were on Veendam.

The Veendam is an older and smaller ship that is perfectly nice but is showing its age and size. Compared to the Celebrity Solstice and the HAL Nieuw Amsterdam, public space on the ship was tight and dining options were more sparse. The air conditioning seemed to struggle on sunny, hot days. Whilst our stateroom was never overly hot, despite setting the thermostat to its coldest setting and closing the drapes, our room would warm to about 72 Fahrenheit when it was in the afternoon sun. As it is an older ship, the grind of maintenance seems almost continuous on the Veendam. The day before we boarded they had varnished the wooden handrail on our verandah, which meant it still smelled of the varnish for the first day. The seating area by the pool bar was unavailable for two days as its wooden handrails was stripped and varnished. But despite these minor inconveniences, the ship overall was very nice. Read more