This was our first time on a HAL ship. We actually chose the Veendam over its sister ship, Maasdam, because of the two night scheduled stay in the beautiful city of Quebec. Prior to boarding, we spent a night at a very nice boutique hotel, Hotel Champlain, located in Old Quebec and about ten minutes from the cruise terminal. We chose the "Red Bus" during one of our two days in Quebec for a very nice tour of the city. HAL did an excellent job of providing the local embarkation personnel with all materials required. Embarkation was very quick and without any trouble.

Even though considered a smaller ship by today's standards, the Veendam sailed very well. We even had ten foot seas with barely any motion felt in our cabin. My DW did the Culinary Arts cooking demonstration that we had read about. Signing up for it was the first thing we did after boarding as there are only 12 spaces each for the two demonstrations offered. With regards to activity I like to kid about eating until I fall asleep - and sleeping until I was hungry. We ordered room service for coffee each morning before going to breakfast which arrived on time each time. The Happy Hour was conveniently timed for leaving port each day, and with our late Dining seating, the appetizers were appreciated.

We booked two shore excursions through HAL, one in Charlottetown, PEI, and one in Bar Harbor, ME. Both were very good and well run. Read more