We really enjoyed our cruise aboard the Veendam. The service was excellent and really made our vacation great. The cabin steward was fantastic, along with the dinning room staff. We traveled with children and the crew all went out of their way to know our names and be extra nice to the kids. If you need lots of excitement and constant activity, then this most likely is not the best ship for you. There is one pool and 4 hot tubs at the stern. The 2 days at sea had ping pong and pickle ball tournaments. We did enjoy the cooking shows, she did easy recipes but the interesting tidbits that she said during the show was what made it good. There was a Catholic priest onboard so there was daily Mass at 5 pm each day. We all loved the Dive In, the kids ordered cheeseburgers everyday. My favorite was the taco bar, nice and fresh to eat by the pool. I also enjoyed the frozen fruit snacks brought around to everyone sitting around pool and the cold washcloths to freshen up while sunbathing. There was a pianist and violinist playing classical pieces everyday in the lounge and they were wonderful along with the quartet playing more popular songs. The food was delicious and very good quality. It was a tough decision of what to eat because everything was so good. Make sure to attend afternoon tea at least once, they always have different food each day there and it’s also very good.

We were disappointed with the shore excursions and staff, they were the only ones onboard that had bad attitudes. We did not book any shore excursions through the ship since we found better ones on our own prior to sailing. Beware if traveling with young children, most shore excursions have age restrictions and won’t allow children.

The nightly entertainment in the showroom left a lot to be desired. The singers and dancers were not up to standard and I’ve seen high school shows that were better. There was a comedy fiddle show that was really good, don’t miss that along with the BBC nature show. Read more