My wife, her sister and husband and I spent 12 days on the Veendam stopping at 10 ports in route from Venice to Barcelona. This was our second cruise on the Veendam, and our 13th cruise across five different cruise lines. We had an ocean view cabin on deck six. This deck had the walk around encircling the boat, and our cabin was the last cabin at the aft end with a door to the outside deck just around the corner. Great for walking and lunging right outside our cabin. Our window was exposed to the deck outside, however the reflective glass prevented anyone from looking in.

Things we enjoyed: the Lido buffet now has about eight hand washing stations. Stick your hands in and about 15 seconds later they’re washed! Outstanding library. Great gym. Pastries and breads were always wonderful. The main dining room consistently had very tasty meals, especially the fish.

Things that were a bit disappointing: ice tea and lemonade were no longer dispensed from machines. Instead they were served from pitchers, a little different but we got used to it. Seems that the fresh squeezed OJ machine is a thing of the past. OJ was inconsistent from overly sweet to diluted. No fridge in the cabin. The HA website states that the Veendam is one of three HA ships to have self serve laundry. But the washers/dryers were removed some time ago. So our plan to bring limited changes of clothing resulted in numerous hand washing in the sink. Read more