Holland America Veendam

Although the Veendam is one of the smaller ships from a major cruiseline that I have sailed on, you would not know it from the size of the cabins. I stayed in an ocean-view cabin and it felt quite spacious. Having the beds separated with one against each wall and open space between them extending the floorspace all the way to the window definitely made the room feel bigger than when the beds were pushed together with a small aisle on each side, but ship had some pretty good-sized rooms anyway. We were down on deck 4 (which is the A deck on this ship, and the lowest passenger deck. On most ships deck 1 is the lowest passenger deck and the A deck is a different deck below that). Our room was very nice. I had expected a smaller than average room on the smaller ship, so was quite pleasantly surprised with all our space. There’s still just the usual one outlet so a power strip comes in handy. The doors are magnetic, but the cabin walls on that ship are not.

Pinnacle Suite Balcony

Consult the deck plans for your cabin location before boarding the Veendam because neither deck numbering nor room numbering follow the usual sequences so without the ever-helpful crew to guide them a lot of bewildered passengers would wander aimlessly about the ship looking in vain for their cabin on the wrong deck on embarkation day. Which explains the crew stationed by the stairs and elevators on each deck throughout the boarding process.

dining room in the Pinnacle Suite

All staterooms include amenities such as bathrobes, hairdryer, flatscreen TV, spa shampoo, conditioner, body wash and hand lotion, ice buckets, and a fruit basket which you can have filled upon request.

Pinnacle Suite Living Room

The Veendam has just one Pinnacle Suite, but it’s a good one. The numbering system starts there, room 001, the number one room on the ship. It has everything from two bathrooms to a butler’s pantry. It’s the only stateroom on board with the bed on the diagonal. The master bedroom area has black-out drapes so the occupants can sleep in total darkness any time of day.

fold-down spare bed in the Pinnacle Suite

The suite also has another bed that folds out from cabinets below a large flatscreen TV. The master bathroom has a jetted tub and the bedroom area includes a walk-in closet and dressing room.

Veendam Neptune Suite

Neptune suites start at 002 for room numbers and go up from there.  Since the suites are on the highest passenger deck the room numbers get higher as the decks get lower, opposite what you find on most ships. Usually the first number of the room is the deck it is on.  Neptune Suites have great amenities including black-out drapes at the windows, (though the space under them could let in a crack of light.) They too have jetted tubs and the Neptune suites as well as the Pinnacle Suite have use of the private Neptune Lounge, VIP boarding and priority tender service, concierge, complementary laundry service, and extra touches like binoculars and umbrellas available for use during the cruise.

Veendam Vista Suite

Vista suites have oversized balconies and a variety of pillows of varying firmness to choose from.  They include a mini-bar, concierge service, fresh flowers and a DVD library.  The Veendam has some spa cabins which add yoga mats, ipod docking stations and exclusive spa treatments to their list of amenities.

Veendam Lanai Cabin.  From the inside you get a clear view through the sliding door.

Lanai cabins give passengers their own doorway to an outside deck without paying suite prices. A full glass sliding door offers more view area than a window, with private access to the promenade deck and reserved deck chairs outside the door.

From the outside you can’t see in through the Lanai sliding door.  In the photo it reflects like a mirror.

A special room card opens the slider from the outside giving the only the occupant access to their room. These rooms are much like a verandah cabin on a larger ship except that the sliding door opens onto the promenade deck rather than a private balcony. In the event of an emergency the lanai guests would have quick access to their muster stations.

Veendam Ocean-View Cabin

The Veendam has some ocean-view cabins on the promenade deck as well as on the two decks below. Some of the window cabins on the promenade deck are located behind the metal structure of the ship and listed as obstructed view cabins as they have views only to the walkway and not to the sea beyond. These of course cost less than a cabin with an ocean view. Ocean-view cabins include a couch and bathtub. Some have a full sized couch that folds into a bed and others have a smaller couch with an end table. These rooms do not have refrigerators, but they do have a hairdryer in a drawer and it has its own special plug and outlet so that is one less thing needing the one outlet in the room.

Veendam Porthole Cabin

Porthole cabins have the same things as other ocean-view cabins other than smaller windows and bigger ledges in front of the window. The porthole cabin would be a dream come true for my youngest grandkids (3 and 5) who loved playing on the window ledge when it was just a wide area at the window itself. For those without kids the ledge would make a nice space to keep computers and things out of the way.

Veendam Inside Cabin

Even the Veendam’s inside cabins have a good amount of space. Their bathrooms have showers rather than tubs, but the dispensers on the wall still are filled with spa shampoo, conditioner and body wash so passengers get to try out expensive spa products for free.  You can pack light when sailing on the Veendam because it has several self service launderetts with washers, dryers, and ironing boards for guests to use.

Cabins on Other Cruise Ships

Arcadia  Breeze  Breeze odd rooms  Divina  Ecstasy  Infinity  Legend  Liberty  Pearl  Ruby Princess    Splendor  Westerdam  Wilderness Adventurer

For a complete list of blogs about cabins see My Cruise Stories Ships and Cabins page.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2015