Food on the Veendam?

[Grdner]

Has anyone cruised recently on the Veendam? if so, how was the food?
We just cruised on the Statendam and the food was poor - I am hoping this was unusual as the HAL food has always been very good on our other cruises. We are booked for the Panama in April and I am concerned about the quality of food this time.
Thanks for any info.

[DeeDee]

I don't know when you cruised on the Statendam, but on another board a passenger who just returned from the Statendam's January 7-21, 2006 cruise said the food was excellent..

Food is very subjective and what one person may find as excellent another may think was poor. We were on the Veendam a few months ago and as far as we were concerned the food was very good.

[Grdner]

thanks DeeDee - that is very encouraging. We were on the Statendam before that cruise and the food was not good - we have over 100 days of sailing with HAL and it has always been excellent up to that point so it is not just fault finding. There were so many complaints that I imagine they decided to improve things for the next cruise. One couple at our table was cruising HAL for the first time and said it would be the last due to the food.

Was there any illness on board the Veendam when you sailed on her? I read that they had 3 episodes of norovirus last year.

[DeeDee]

Nope - no virus on the Veendam when we were there. You never know when it can pop up, but if it does, just make sure you take precautions, like constantly washing your hands. If you do happen to come down with it, please report it to the infirmary and follow their instructions by staying in your cabin. That goes for anyone staying in the cabin with you.

We have been on ships when the virus rears it's ugly head and you would surprised how many people think because they don't have it but their cabin mate does, that they don't have to be quarantined. There was a family in the PS on one cruise and although one of the group was ill rest of them felt that they shouldn't be quarantined also and were wandering all over the ship.

[Grdner]

You brought up an interesting point re. cabin mates of sick people being quarantined. I researched the Norovirus and all information says that a person is not contagious until they start feeling ill - which explains why the ships do not quarantine cabin mates but ask people to report immediately upon feeling ill. I know several people who did not get sick even though their cabin mate had the virus. They said that the virus is passed on when the sick person does not wash their hands properly before handling food. My husband saw dining room staff use the washroom, wash their hands but then touch the handle of the bathroom door and then not use the hand sanitizer that the rest of us were using before going back to work. He reported this so hopefully they insisted on the staff using the sanitizers after that.

[big apple]

Since the original question was on food will comment in this area.Just came off of Veendam last month and food was comparable to all other Holland cruises we have taken Holland does not compare to Celebrity with desserts and pastries however their buffet is fine with excellent pizza and the hot appetizers in most lounges before dinner.They do need to raise the bar in their specialty restaurant as both Celebrity and Carnival does a better job and in particular with the service.The assortment at dinner and lunch in the main dining room was excellent and everyone should be able to find something that pleases them.