Been on 3 cruises so far. First ship was 28 passengers, no engine, out of Camden - schooner Mary Day. Excellent - highly recommended. Second was Azamara Journey - NY to Bermuda, 700 passengers, also fine, but they don't do that run any more. It was nice because the ship could get in to the small harbors, ie: Hamilton & St George. Nice having the White Horse tavern at the head of the dock if you feel like a REAL Dark & Stormy. The big ships are limited to the old Navy yard at the W end of Bermuda. Third was Norwegian something, NY-Carib, 2000 passengers, too crowded for us. The climbing wall was fun, but not getting a lounge chair poolside was NG! At lunch, I'll tell you my Antigua story.
Veendam is 1100 passengers - see how it goes. Wife has done Holland-America once, but back when first class was isolated - lesser peons dare not trespass! (1960s). Our cruise goes Boston to Quebec City & return. We looked into doing it one way, but that had two problems 1) getting back from Quebec City, and 2) not enough time in Nova Scotia. I looked into air flights from Quebec to Boston, then decided 'S..t, just take the ship back. Doubles our time in Nova Scotia! Plus we get 3 days in Quebec City - a no charge bonus.
I'm well aquainted with ship maintenance issues, having worked with the Navy for years. Our Navy has been known to turn off maintenance $$ for older ships. My personal experience includes ships where locker don't lock (16mm movie projector turning into scrap against the far bulkhead), drawers no longer stay closed (500+ sockets, extensions, and adapters rolling aroung a torpedo room), mess room lockers opening and peanut butter & jelly assembling themselves on a far bulkhead - just waiting for a piece of bread.
Anyway, we'll chance it - having splurged for the insurance.