Holland America Line ms Veendam

In-Room Dining Overview

There were three room service dining menus on Veendam. The 24-hour menu included such basic fare as smoked salmon, mixed green salad, club sandwich, hamburger, omelet, cheese plate, fruit plate and desserts; there were also a few “time-tested” seasickness remedies, including beef broth, boiled chicken breast, and green apples and crackers. An expanded menu was available from 12 noon to 10 p.m. and featured soups, salads, sandwiches, and a couple entrées (seared salmon and penne primavera).

Breakfast was ordered by choosing delivery time, in 30-minute blocks between 6 and 10 a.m., with a door tag, hung on our cabin door by 2 a.m. the night before. The selection included cold and hot choices: juice, fruit, yogurt with bread and preserves, packaged cold cereals, eggs any style (eggbeaters available), omelets and ham sausage or bacon.

Presentation

Breakfast was delivered on a tray with a metal lid on top of the plate, the toast in a basket and wrapped in a napkin, a paper cap over the glass of juice and plastic wrap on the pitcher of milk and bowl of fruit. There were salt and pepper shakers, packets of sugar (and substitutes), and a pad of butter and two containers of preserves. Lunch was delivered on a single tray, with utensils wrapped in a napkin and paper packets of salt and pepper, but nothing else.

We requested our breakfast order be delivered between 8:30 and 9 a.m.; the knock on the door came right at 8:30 a.m. When we ordered lunch we were not given a timeframe for delivery; our order took 44 minutes to arrive. Without prompting, the server apologized for the lengthy delivery time and said the kitchen had been very busy.

Our cabin had room for one person to eat at the desk or for two (barely) to share the coffee table. A card on the tray asked us to call to have the dishes removed when we were finished; someone showed up about 30 minutes after we called.

Food

For breakfast, an omelet with cheese and ham was hot and served with a fried potato cake—no surprises here. The tasty wheat toast was not quite warm, while the fruit was a cup of diced pineapple, watermelon and apple. Coffee was hot and the pitcher was ample with more than three cups. All in all, a decent breakfast.

We ordered the penne primavera for lunch, which was described as “tossed in marinara with Italian roasted vegetables—add grilled chicken.” The penne was tossed in a light tomato sauce, the noodles not overcooked, but there were no vegetables to be found, Italian or otherwise. We also thought it strange that no parmesan or bread accompanied the dish. Fortunately the grilled chicken that topped the pasta was quite tasty.

Drinks

Our cabin’s minibar (no fridge) included two cans each of Coke, Sprite and Diet Coke ($1.95 each) and 1-liter bottles of Crystal Geyser and Nativa water ($2.95 each). Our in-room dining menu availed other options, including six domestic or imported beers ($21-$23), wine packages (starting at $89-$118 for three bottles) and liquor and mixer packages, including a gin and tonic package (one bottle of Beefeater gin and three cans of tonic water), Cutty Sark Scotch and soda, Smirnoff or Stolichnaya vodka and tonic, Jim Beam bourbon and coke, and Bacardi white rum and coke; these were priced $30 to $34 each.