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Name: Kim Kitchen
Email: Kkitc12276@aol.com
Age: 32
Occupation: Administrative Assistant
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Holland-Veendam
SailingDate: July 12, 1998
Itinerary: Western Caribbean
FoodDiningRoom: 98
CruiseDirector: 95
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService: 90
CruiseStaff:
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 98
DiningRoomService: 98
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets: 95
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety:
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 95
ShoreExcValue: 70
GoodForHoneymoon: 90
CasinoStaff: 85
PrivateIsland: 100
GoodForFamilies: 100
LoungeService: 85
TenderService: 100
GoodForSeniors: 100
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 85
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 85
EntertShowLounge: 85
OverallPortsofCall: 85
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 85
CruiseActivities: 85
Casino: 90
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 100
DiscoNightclubs: 85
DeckSpace:
Stabilization: 85
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio:
OverallCruiseValue: 90
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 27 Jul 1998
Time: 13:47:50
Remote Name: 192.77.198.2
Remote User:
Comments
This was our second cruise, but our first time cruising with
Holland America. After reading all the reviews time and again, I
was pretty much prepared to
enjoy my week.
Here is my review of the Veendam.
Embarkation/Disembarkation: This process is quite smooth and
hassle free. Basically you are given a number and you wait for
your number to be called. No
hassles or worries there. When boarding the ship, all you carry
on is your hand luggage, and your picture is taken. Your then
escorted to your cabin by one
of the stewards while violins are playing in the background. What
a beautiful way to start your week!
Cabin: We had a quad, which accommodated my husband and myself as
well as our two kids. The cabin was roomy enough to hold all of
our clothing and
our luggage. It was an inside cabin, but after experiencing an
outside cabin on our first cruise, I think that it's worth the
extra money to have a window.
Although you don't spend much time in your cabin, it's nice to
know whether it's day or night (this is a factor when in the
morning your cabin is so dark you
think it's still midnight). Our cabin steward (Ardie) was
wonderful in making sure that we had ice and keeping everything
in order in the cabin.
The ship itself is beautiful and one thing I must say about the
Holland staff. At any point in time during our cruise you
constantly see people polishing,
vaccuming, scrubbing, buffing -- it was unreal! Hats off to the
staff for keeping such a fine ship. One downside, though, is the
elevators. Actually, it's not
quite Holland's responsibility but there were some kids on the
cruise that was playing on the elevators and as a result, a car
or two was continually
out-of-service. As soon as the repairman would fix the car,
another would go out due to these kids. Maybe Holland can come up
with some way to have the
parents monitor there children's activities. Letting kids have
free reign on a ship is annoying to other passengers. While
speaking with some of the other
passengers, they felt the same way as we did.
Speaking of kids, that leads me to the Club HAL program. My son
(age 8) and daughter (age 6) had a ball at Club HAL. I think they
enjoyed spending a
couple of hours away from their parents and meeting new people.
By the end of the cruise, they had met a couple of new friends
and won some stuff
animals. The staff was wonderful with them, having all kinds of
activities scheduled and sending they looked forward to getting
their next day's itinerary every
evening.
The cruise director, Barbara was very nice and very informative.
She is also very personable and tried to make everyone feel at
home.
The food was great. Only one evening I did not particularly care
for the menu, but that's a matter of personal tastes in food. The
burgers and hot dogs up
on the lido deck was fantastic as well as the breakfast in the
lido restaurant. We only had breakfast and lunch once in the
dining room, because the lido is
much more casual and who feels like dressing for lunch after
hanging out at the pool all day.
The ports of call were Cozumel, Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman and Half
Moon Cay. Another negative with Holland is their Shore
Excursions. First of all, I feel that
there should be children's prices as well as adult prices for
these excursions. We signed up for the Dunn's Rivers Falls
excursion in Ochos Rios. Save your
money! It was definitely not worth the money. The excursion
consists of taking another boat a few feet from the Veendam to
the falls and then climbing the
falls. What a waste of time and money! First of all, I was under
the impression that the falls was something out-of-this-world.
Not! It looked more man-made
than anything and while it is a nice place to take pictures, it
clearly was not worth the money. But you live and learn. After
that fiasco we decided that at the
rest of the ports, we would just hire a taxi driver to take us
around the island which worked out much better. Cozumel was okay
- nothing spectacular there,
and Grand Cayman was also very nice but the weather did not hold
up for us there. Half Moon Cay on the other hand was marvelous! I
recommend that
Holland change their itinerary to spend a couple of hours in
Ochos Rios and a full day at Half Moon Cay. The water, beach,
everything about this island is
wonderful. It was the highlight of the trip.
Another letdown was the entertainment. Although there was a
ventriloquist who was excellent, the rest of the week was pretty
boring. So much so that in
fact the last couple of days we didn't even bother to go to the
shows. Holland needs to make a conscious effort to get better
acts for the shows. The lounges
were also pretty boring. The lounges seemed to cater to people 50
and older with themes like Rock and Oldies and Country Western
and the night club
(Crow's Nest) was not much better. By 11:00 you're sitting around
wondering what to do. Although I did read about the lack of
things to do in the evening, I
was really surprised to see that things have not changed since
others have written their reviews. Again, Holland needs to make
sure that the lounges have
something to offer for all age groups. A nice jazz group would
have been nice as well as more modern music in the Crow's Nest.
By the evening's end you
have nothing left to do but gamble in the casino (maybe this is
Holland's intent(?))
Overall, we had a wonderful time and was quite pleased with the
staff and service on the Veendam.
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