Veendam Review

4.0 / 5.0
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"Vintage Ship"

Review for Cuba Cruise on Veendam
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bluegiraffe
10+ Cruises • Age 60s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Dec 2018
Cabin: Large Ocean-View Stateroom

This itinerary offered a day in Cienfuegos, Cuba and Belize, both of which were of interest to us. Other ports were Nassau (never got off the ship), Half Moon Cay (very pleasant), Grand Cayman (fine if you're looking to buy Tanzanite, I suppose), Roatan (too windy to make port), and Cozumel (read on).

First the ship itself. This is an older, or as HAL likes to put it, "vintage" ship. It has been cosmetically well-maintained for the most part, but 3 of the 8 elevators were not functioning during our cruise ("we're waiting for parts" says HAL) so getting around during busy times was somewhat more difficult. And we had plumbing problems in our stateroom that had to be reported three different times before they were fixed. "You can't expect the shower to drain when the ship is moving" was what one guest relations person told me. Um, no. But then, I've learned to expect poor guest relations service from HAL. The people in the room down the hall from us couldn't get the heating/air conditioning to work and as far as I know, that problem never got resolved.

Service from the room stewards and food service staff was excellent - always pleasant and helpful. The guest lecturer was very interesting and his hour long lectures flew by.

Cabin Review

Large Ocean-View Stateroom

Adequate ocean view cabin with plumbing problems. Generous closet space.

Port Reviews

Cienfuegos

Our excursion started with an excellent concert by local musicians, then went to a botanical garden (we very much enjoyed it, and thought the guide there was very informative, but the garden consisted largely of trees and other guests didn't care for that), then a nice lunch at an oceanside restaurant, followed by a walking tour of the city's main plaza.

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