Hmm.....just read a post dated 16 January on Cruise Critic about the limited TV channels on Holland America’s Veendam. He mentioned MSNBC, Fox, and ESPN as the only broadcast stations. The other three or so channels were onboard ship information, etc. I think they also have movies on demand but that’s an ongoing upgrade being made to ships during drydock so may not be available on all their ships yet.

Just off Westerdam — no CNBC. Very disappointed with this and ship in general.

Very Poorly run ship. I’ve been on over 40 cruises (mostly Cunard and princess) but only 4th HAL. (3 in last year)

Ship sanitation not great. Many crew and passengers coughing and sneezing. Serious and rampant sneezing!!! Not enuf Purcell’s around ship. Just In entrance to DRs and in Neptune lounge. Crew members serving the salad bar and Ice cream in lido deck buffet sneezing into their elbow but it sprayed on their hands and onto food. How can they have sick crew openly serving food. Tried to find a floor manager to report to but none found. I Stopped eating in lido.

Even with obvious sickness, Never saw crew cleaning handrails. Other ships they are constantly cleaning and either wash basins at entrance to buffet or someone offers to spray your hands (washee washee). That may look tacky but it works.

Deck 10 crows nest destroyed. removed library and most seating and installed useless large computer “desks” with maps of destinations. Looks fancy but No one used. I want my library back and nice reading and hang out area of crows nest. Only coffee bar on ship is in crows nest. Some nice lounge chairs but usually not available on sea days.

cnbc eliminated for financial news. Poor decision IMO.. Still have msnbc, Fox, bbc.

HAL is known for great food and on my previous 4 cruises that’s what I found. Food quality on this cruise just ok. Beef ok but veal bad cuts of meat. Didn’t try fish. Many many dishes had some kind of pork or ham or bacon especially in lido. Couldn’t even get a plain baked potato. Sauces excellent. Desserts had no flavor.
room service great but many tea and coffee pots have no lids so they have to put cellophane on to seal. Can’t they replace? Tacky.

On 15 day cruise with 6 sea days DR only open for lunch 2 day. Why??? Impossible to find seating lunchtime in buffet or by pool. Poor planning.

neptune lounge lovely place to sit but few seats and the coffee machine is a joke. No cappuccino, decaf coffee only in a pot and Luke warm. hot water for tea dribbles out from machine and takes 5 minutes to fill a cup. They have pots of “hot” water but it’s luke warm. Can’t they have a hot water pot to heat water? SAme snacks every day. No one eats them cuz mediocre quality and boring to have same selection every day. No sign of what is type food, what veggie? so everyone has to ask concierges same question. Dumb. They would only need one copy of signs since they never change the variety.

Lots of little screw up. Daily paper says cooking segment on “meatless Monday’s” but demonstration and recipes for tapas. And more...

cruise was through asia. Lots of mandatory immigration checks. Understandable but why do they have to be completed by 10am? Can’t HAL negotiate for later so passengers not inconvenienced. 10am too early.

jeremy port lecturer great and gave same lectures twice so more people can see lecture. Smart. But other lectures including on customs and history of ports , lecture only once and not enuf seating room in main stage. Why can’t they tape and put on tv so passengers can watch at leisure, rewatch to refresh or see at all since not enuf seats. HAL says privacy issue but other lines including Cunard tape and replay lectures.

other port lecturer Phil does small size group lectures on deck 10. Topics interesting but I found him a terrible lecturer. Boring. Goes off topic often. Nice guy but This not the job for him.

Feel free to PM me with specific questions but I am traveling so I may not be able to reply ASAP. Hope this helps

i did TPAC April 2018 on volendam Yokohama to Vancouver and LOVED it. Smaller ship, well run, great classical music duo. Was strongly considering TPAC for this May but wont do it on Westerdam. I think that’s the only HAL ship doing TPAC but will research more when I get home. I think Cunard Queen Victoria doing it around same time as well as sebourne which had a low 25% upcharge for single cabins. Also perhaps celebrity millennium which I think just went through refurbishment. HAL has been my preferred line for last 1-2 years but I was so disappointed with this past cruise that I’m now again open to other options. Particularly if they still offer CNBC to keep up on financial news.