These are the observations of a solo traveler on the Holland-America Veendam from Montreal to Boston. I have two previous cruise experiences, both on Windstar ships in Europe. So, from time to time, I will make certain comparisons between my previous experiences on Windstar and the Veendam. While I will try to be as objective as I can, I admit that my experiences with Windstar, it's ships and it crew were remarkably positive.

Veendam is an older (launched in 1996) mid-sized ship with a passenger capacity of about 1300. This is considerably bigger than any ships of the Windstar line whose ships cater to passenger sizes of between 150 and 320. Despite its age, or because of it, the Veendam has a certain elegance of style absent in the behemoths of other cruise lines. To my mind, when it comes to cruising it does NOT take a village.

The passenger demographics on both ships have some similarities and differences. On the Veendam, I'd say well over 75 percent are over 50 and at least 60 percent are over age 65. This is more or less the same on Windstar. There are, however, more children on the Veendam. Windstar does not seem to have any interest in targeting families with children. By in large, the class of passengers on Windstar are more well-travelled and sophisticated. The passengers on Veendam are squarely middle class Americans, Canadians and British citizens. And to put it somewhat indelicately, there is a bit to much spandex for this traveler's taste. Read more