BY TOM BROWN
We needed a break from physical labor and decided a cruise to Bermuda would be good, especially if we could get a round trip from NY.
Three cruise lines do this: Holland America, Norwegian and Celebrity. Of the three only Holland docks at Hamilton, the Bermuda capital and largest city. The other two dock at the NW end of the island. From there guests can walk to a beach, but must take a ferry of 30 to 45 minutes to Hamilton.
And this takes account of the fact that there are exactly three cruise ship docking spaces in Bermuda!
Also our cruise stopped the first day at the East end of Bermuda, At St. George, where we used tenders to come and go.
Our ship was the Veendam, carrying 1200 passengers, newly refurbished. It has one main dining room, the usual top deck buffet and two specialty restaurants, a steak house/French restaurant and an Italian restaurant.
Boarding was very easy and we were in time for a sit down lunch. We had the usual scenic tour from pier 90 on the Hudson River out to sea, albeit in the rain. Our cabin was the top class of balcony where there was a sitting area and a balcony that accommodated two chairs and a chaise.
We had anytime dining, meaning you could arrive any time between 5:30 and 9:30. The specialty restaurants were all reservations only and were booked up before the ship sailed, presumably on line, so we used the main dining room. We were able to arrive at various times and be seated with a 0 to 15 minute wait. We were told we could reserve, but when we tried nothing of interest was available.
The food was very good, the wine list was reasonable.
Sadly the entertainment was very weak. The musical reviews barely had a theme and the so-so magician was the highlight. There was a sing along piano player at one bar and a string quartet at another the latter playing popular music.
Happily there were places with shade and quiet to sit and read. Our favorite was on the promenade deck in an old-fashioned wooden deck chair with a footrest.
I went jogging on the Promenade deck which, sadly, prohibited jogging. But I was never confronted. There were two other joggers and a few walkers, but that changed on the last day when hundreds walked around the promenade "for the cure".
On the third day we met some friends from Wilton. They had a deluxe verandah suite that was four times the size of our deluxe verandah. That exposed an aspect of Holland that was somewhat different from other cruises.
--Our friends, who were not loyalty members, went to several cocktail parties with the captain and officers. We were loyalty members thanks to Princess Cruises, went to a loyalty function, and had no contact with the Captain and officers. On other lines all loyalty members had contact
--Our friends could get all the reservations they wanted when they wanted, we could not get any. On other lines we always had some reasonable access to reservations
They had a concierge and VIP lounge, which is OK.
All this said, we enjoyed two dinners in the main dining room and cocktails on their huge balcony, and they made the dinner reservations!
And we did have a pleasant cruise. The staff was friendly and didn't hassle us.
We did browse the shops and walk around the two towns, took some great photos, especially of the local sailing activity
I finished my big book and Alice met her reading objectives as well. There were a number of well informed interesting people to chat with.
And it couldn't have been easier to embark (we were on the ship, in our cabin by 12:30) or disembark (we were off the ship and through customs in 10 minutes at 7:45)......and home by 9:15am.
So maybe we would do Bermuda again, maybe Holland again, and at least not rule Holland out.
