Traveling with the Jones

We recently sailed a 7-day Canada and New England cruise on Holland America Line’s ms Veendam.

The last time we sailed on this 1,350- guest Statendam-class cruise ship was in 2012, when we sailed on it to Bermuda.

Launched in 1996, some parts of the Veendam show her age. Yet we found many things to like about this 22-year-old ship, which is named for city in the northeast part of the Netherlands.

The Lido pool has a retractable cover, allowing for the area to be opened or closed depending on the weather, which varied from 85 degrees F to 45 degrees F on our 7-day cruise in late May and early June.The Retreat, located at the aft end of the Veendam, is a raised area with several hot tubs and plunge pools.

This area of the ship is also home to the Bar at The Retreat, and New York Pizza, as well as plenty of alfresco dining and lounge chairs for sun worshipers. Deck six on the Veendam features a wrap-around teak promenade deck, perfect for walking laps or taking in sea air from one of the lounge chairs.

We appreciated this wide deck for walking laps and checking the outdoor temperature. While we love Holland America’s Koningsdam cruise ship with all of its more modern, contemporary amenities, we miss these wide open decks with a view that are a hallmark of the cruise line’s prior ships.

While the Veendam does not have verandah staterooms — you have to book a verandah suite to get a private balcony — the ship does offer lanai staterooms.

The lanai staterooms have a door that opens directly to the public wrap-around deck. Each lanai stateroom has two reserved deck chairs.This was the view from our ocean-view stateroom #774, a category D cabin located at mid-ship on the Veendam’s A Deck, or deck 4.

While we did not use it, the photo above is of one of the self-service laundry room on board the Veendam cruise ship.

While Holland America’s newer Vista, Signature and Pinnacle class ships don’t offer self-service laundries, you can still find them on these HAL ships: Amsterdam, Maasdam, Prinsendam, Rotterdam, Veendam, Volendam and Zaandam.

The Veendam has three different self-service laundry rooms. You can view the locations and hours in the photo above.

One addition to the Veendam that was new to us was Rudi’s Sel de Mer pop-up restaurant — which took place one night of the cruise in the Pinnacle Grill Restaurant.While we’ve previously dined at the Sel de Mer restaurant on the Koningsdam, this “pop-up” event took this dining experience to a higher level of excellence.

We loved the playful Food Faces show plates (in photo above) made by Bernardaud, the leading French manufacturer of Limoges porcelain.

The Dover Sole Meunière (pictured above) was a menu favorite of the Rudi’s Sel de Mer dining experience on the Veendam.

The ship also featured some foods associated with the ports on the Canada and New England cruise itinerary.When in Quebec, the ship’s daily taco bar was turned into a Poutine Bar.

First, guests chose a basket of hot fries, either traditional or sweet potato.  Then you could top them with a wide assortment of poutine toppings.
My poutine included sauteed mushrooms and sausage, covered with mushroom gravy, and then topped with classic poutine cheese curds.

Mr. Jones’ stuck to his college favorite: hot fries topped with brown gravy.

This summer and fall the ms Veendam sails from Boston alternating itineraries to Bermuda, Montreal and Cuba.

Have you sailed on Holland America’s Veendam cruise ship lately?

Check out these posts from other Holland America cruise ships:

• Views from Holland America’s Koningsdam Cruise Ship
• Views from the Nieuw Amsterdam
• Cruising the British Isles: Onboard the Prinsendam
• A Look Around Holland America’s Maasdam Cruise Ship
• A Look Around Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam

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We recently returned from a late May/early June cruise to Canada and New England.
This was our fourth time to sail on this 7-day itinerary in four years.
Obviously, we like the ports on this cruise. We’ve learned a few things from our various experiences.

A key take-away: the weather can be variable in these ports. During our most recent cruise, temperatures ranged from 85 degrees F in Boston, to a high of 45 degrees F in Sydney, on Canada’s Cape Breton Island. We also experienced rain in Quebec City, followed by a hot, sunny and humid afternoon.

A key to enjoying this cruise is to come prepared for a range of weather conditions, especially if you cruise in April .

10 Things we’re glad we packed for our Canada and New England cruise

Flying to Boston, and then back home from Montreal, we wanted to check only one bag each weighing less than 50 pounds. Our two Eddie Bauer Expedition Drop Bottom Rolling Duffels worked well.

Our shoes went into the bottom zip-open part of these rolling duffel bags. Then our clothes and other miscellaneous items — organized into various packing cubes — filled the top part of the duffels.

We also each carried on a briefcase (Mr. Jones) or backpack (Mrs. Jones) that stored our computers, iPads, phones, charger cords, medicine, and anything we couldn’t live without.

We also packed these 10 items.

1. Plastic cruise tags holders for our luggage – after resisting for years we bought these from Amazon for less than $7. As were waiting for our Lyft driver to take us from the hotel to the cruise port, Mr. Jones quickly attached these to our bags, with the paper luggage tags that we had printed slid into place. This method is far superior to stapling paper tags, or asking (and often waiting at the port) for luggage tags.

2. Cross body bag – while my backpack holds all of my electronics and everything important to me while traveling, I don’t want to carry all of that each day in port. This bag has lots of each-to-access compartments for my phone, driver’s license, ship ID/key card, money, credit cards, etc., while still being lightweight enough to carry while walking 6 – 8 miles (which we did in some ports.)

3. GlocalMe 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot — We travel frequently but we need to stay in touch with work, clients and family members. This mobile mi-fi device (that’s about the size of an iPhone) lets us carry portable, affordable Wi-Fi with us in port (and on the ship when it’s in port or near port.) If you’ve ever used data on your smartphone when out of the U.S., you know how expensive it can be.  With this device, you purchase data in advance for the countries you will be traveling in.  So far this year, we’ve used this device in Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, China and Canada.

4. Rain jackets — We wish you beautiful, sun-filled and rain-free weather on your cruise to Canada and New England. We suggest, however, taking a lightweight rain jacket that can be used over other layers to keep you warm and dry on cool and/or rainy days.

5. Cuddl Duds— long-sleeved, thin stretch t-shirts that make the perfect first layer with jeans in variable temperatures.

6. Cotton turtleneck — this was my base layer for the coolest, rainy days of the cruise.

7. Lightweight down vest — this packable vest keeps me warm when it’s cool, and is easy to layer over a t-shirt or turtleneck, and under a light rain jacket. I love the pockets for storing my phone when walking without a jacket.

8. Lightweight Gloves — mine are HEAD lightweight touchscreen gloves that keep your hands warm and allow you to use the touchscreen of your smartphone without taking them off. This might be overkill, but if you hate cold hands…

9. Shorts — yes, I wore shorts during the same 7-day cruise that I wore a turtleneck, with a down vest, raincoat and gloves.  In Boston, it was 85 degrees F and shorts weather. In Halifax it was cold and in Sydney, it was rainy and cold. I was glad to be prepared for both.

10. A Portable Makeup Train Case — this lightweight but sturdy case kept all of my make-up protected and orderly when packed in our rolling duffel bags. Once on the ship, it provided easy access for using my makeup.

Have you cruised to Canada and New England? What items did you pack that made your cruise better?

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Our luxurious suite  — #1512 — was one of the highlights of our 5-night stay at the JW Marriott Hotel in Chengdu, China.When you enter Suite #1512 at the JW Marriott Chengdu, you enter into a huge living room and work area, with an executive desk.

The living room is large enough to host a cocktail party for a small group.

Across from the living area, along the walkway, you will find a series of hidden closets with significant storage space.

Continuing to the doorway (in the left corner of the photo above) is the entrance to the powder room bathroom.

This bathroom has a toilet and sink, perfect for guests, or for a second bathroom if the main was is in use.

The living area of suite #1512 also has a large built-in television, with surrounding drawers for extra storage.

Some of the built-in drawers actually house the mini-bar refrigerator.

Other drawers hold tea and coffee supplies, and glassware, as well as wine for purchase.

From the living area, you pass the walk-in closet before you reach the master bath.
The master bath features double sinks, a stand alone shower and toilet, as well as a large tub with a view.

Not to worry, motorized shades are closed with a touch of a button.

The master bath also has a television, hidden in a mirror when not in use.

The master bedroom contains a comfortable king-size bed, and the suite’s third television.

Each side of the bed has good lighting, and plenty of USB ports and electrical outlets.

We loved this spacious, modern suite, and the gracious touches (like the welcome gift) that came with it.

Have you stayed at the JW Marriott Hotel in Chengdu, China? What did you enjoy most about the hotel? 

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