Btimmer's Blog of the Nieuw Statendam Inaugural Voyage

[floridababa]

Distant lands station with sushi is free? Is it always opened?

[aliaschief]

6 hours ago, CruiseLady88 said:

Thanks! Did you see any one dancing?

We just spent 24 days on sister ship Koningsdam. We only witnessed one occasion where some folks were ballroom type dancing. That was in the Queens Lounge during an afternoon tea.

 

No dancing in Ocean Bar and in no other venues. Appeared to be a thing of the past on the new Pinnacle Class ships.

 

Maybe others have seen a venue that accommodates Ballroom Dancing but we only witnessed that one time in afternoon tea. Ships band was entertaining.

[Himself]

Thanks for the Blog and for the pictures.  Enjoy the new ship,

[Btimmer]

On 12/12/2018 at 1:45 AM, floridababa said:

Distant lands station with sushi is free? Is it always opened?

It's open during the lunch hour for sushi.  The sushi there is the best of any of the free sushi we've ever had on a HAL ship.  I'll make a note to check at dinner.  For breakfast they have congee and serve omelets and fried eggs (my venue choice for breakfast). 

[Btimmer]

On 12/11/2018 at 7:23 PM, CruiseLady88 said:

Thanks! Did you see any one dancing?

Last night during the Billboard on board All Request set there were two couples dancing to a few songs, but not on the dance floor area.

 

The music venues really are geared for listening to music and selling alcohol and for that they are mightily succeeding.  Surprisingly, the Rolling Stone Rock Room venue at 11pm wasn't well attended.

Edited December 12, 2018 by Btimmer

[Btimmer]

Here's the dance floor in the Ocean Bar, Deck 2 starboard side aft.  So far the music is classical and played every night.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I am enjoying your reports and great pictures.

 

Looks like the internet is better.

[Nymich]

10 hours ago, Btimmer said:

Last night during the Billboard on board All Request set there were two couples dancing to a few songs, but not on the dance floor area.

 

The music venues really are geared for listening to music and selling alcohol and for that they are mightily succeeding.  Surprisingly, the Rolling Stone Rock Room venue at 11pm wasn't well attended.

Generational change of the demographics...…….Ballroom dancing is fading out

[kazu]

On 12/10/2018 at 6:59 PM, iflyrc5 said:

Please let me know the company that you used.  We will be there next fall on the Rotterdam.  We have a tour booked with Madeira Island Tours for their Private Full day Ponta do Pargo Tour includes: +- 6.5 Hours.

 

I don't think your question was answered?

 

From reading Btimmer's blog, sounds like he used Daniel - Daniel's Taxis.

 

Very good operator.  I've used him every time we go there. 🙂.  I believe he is most likely #1 or #2 on Tripadvisor.

[Btimmer]

49 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

I don't think your question was answered?

 

From reading Btimmer's blog, sounds like he used Daniel - Daniel's Taxis.

 

Very good operator.  I've used him every time we go there. 🙂.  I believe he is most likely #1 or #2 on Tripadvisor.

Yes, that's him.  I'll post contact information at some point.  I don't have it handy at the moment.

[kazu]

2 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

Yes, that's him.  I'll post contact information at some point.  I don't have it handy at the moment.

 

Hope you didn't mind me answering?  It's tough enough to do a Live thread, I know 😉 

 

I do have Daniel's contact info handy since they are in my contacts in my email - contact info is - booking@danielmadeirataxis.com

 

Your blog is wonderful and I have been enjoying reading it.  thank you 😄 

[Btimmer]

As a comparison, here's a short video of a walk around the jogging track on deck 11 which has ocean views.  No animals or fish were spotted in the making of this video.

 

https://photos.smugmug.com/Travel/2018/Nieuw-Statendam-2018/i-cFsGPJ8/0/37d28473/640/NS Deck 11 Walk Around 12-12-18_Medium-640.mp4

 

Edited December 12, 2018 by Btimmer

[Btimmer]

6 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Hope you didn't mind me answering?  It's tough enough to do a Live thread, I know 😉 

 

I do have Daniel's contact info handy since they are in my contacts in my email - contact info is - booking@danielmadeirataxis.com

 

Your blog is wonderful and I have been enjoying reading it.  thank you 😄 

No problem, thanks for sharing the link.  I have his card locked in my travel vest in our safe. 

 

You're spot on about doing a live blog.  I spend about an hour a day doing the writing and editing before posting.  I'm trying to give a flavor for doing the cruise and not just post lots of pictures (those will come later when I'm home and can upload them to my picture hosting site).  I'll continue posting interesting pictures from time to time.  During our walk around on Deck 11, I had a very interesting chat with a senior engineer who was on his daily rounds.  He and the Chief Engineer were also on the Koningsdam.  I may put part of that discussion in today's daily blog.  Headed for a sushi dinnner tonight.  Our goal for the rest of the cruise is to eat at a different restaurant every night, and we're on until 12/23.

[kazu]

2 minutes ago, Btimmer said:

No problem, thanks for sharing the link.  I have his card locked in my travel vest in our safe. 

 

You're spot on about doing a live blog.  I spend about an hour a day doing the writing and editing before posting.  I'm trying to give a flavor for doing the cruise and not just post lots of pictures (those will come later when I'm home and can upload them to my picture hosting site).  I'll continue posting interesting pictures from time to time.  During our walk around on Deck 11, I had a very interesting chat with a senior engineer who was on his daily rounds.  He and the Chief Engineer were also on the Koningsdam.  I may put part of that discussion in today's daily blog.  Headed for a sushi dinnner tonight.  Our goal for the rest of the cruise is to eat at a different restaurant every night, and we're on until 12/23.

 

Thanks and yes, blogs do take a lot of time.  Appreciate you doing yours very much 🙂 

 

That discussion with the engineers would be a very interesting read 😄 

 

Enjoy the sushi dinner.  The food looks really good!

[CruiseLady88]

6 hours ago, Btimmer said:

Here's the dance floor in the Ocean Bar, Deck 2 starboard side aft.  So far the music is classical and played every night.

 

Thanks for the pictures. The Ocean Bar dance floor is the same as Koningsdam. One couple can dance Rumba, Cha Cha, Swing, hustle. But won’t be possible to dance Foxtrot, Waltz, Quickstep, or Tango. We asked the pianist to play some Rumba music, and he refused and told us that those music we

as not included in his contract.

[CruiseLady88]

22 hours ago, Btimmer said:

There's no Queen's Lounge, but there is a small dance floor also by the Dueling Pianos.

 

At the Lincoln Center Stage, the quintet played a Tango and invited people to dance.  Nobody did.

 

The Lincoln Center Stage area is where the Queen’s Lounge is on Koningsdam. So, there is still dance floor in front of the stage.

 

If they play Tango music, they may play Waltz, Viennese Waltz music. Now, we may consider trying out this new ship. We already give up in Koningsdam. The Queen’s Lounge on Koningsdam has such beautiful dance floor and is a waste by putting BB King Blue band there every single night.

 

we just came back from Cunard Queen Mary 2 cruise. The dance floor is similar to Koningsdam’s Queen’s Lounge., but a bit wider and longer. The dance floor was packed every night. 

Edited December 12, 2018 by CruiseLady88

[scluvsrain]

I noticed an Ocean Bar type music band playing in the Queens Lounge tonight as I left the happy hour at the Billboard. They were definitely playing dancing music,

even though no one was dancing at the moment. 

[CruiseLady88]

17 hours ago, aliaschief said:

We just spent 24 days on sister ship Koningsdam. We only witnessed one occasion where some folks were ballroom type dancing. That was in the Queens Lounge during an afternoon tea.

 

No dancing in Ocean Bar and in no other venues. Appeared to be a thing of the past on the new Pinnacle Class ships.

 

Maybe others have seen a venue that accommodates Ballroom Dancing but we only witnessed that one time in afternoon tea. Ships band was entertaining.

 

 

A while ago, there was a discussion about ballroom dancing on Koningsdam. All the ballroom dancers went to Konginsdam expected to dance, and came home very disappointed. The music by the BB King band was not dancable. Only the ship’s orchestra played good dance music during the afternoon tea time.

 

We met a couple from Sweden and they are good at swing dancing. The wife wrote a long letter to the cruise director about the music played in the Queen’s Lounge and she got no response. After few more cruises, all ballroom dancers are aware of the fact that you can’t do any ballroom dance on Koningsdam. They will stick with Cunard’s ships, or Princess ships in order to do ballroom dancing.

 

We came back from Cunard Queen Mary 2 cruise, dancing every night to burn off the extra calories from eating. After dinner, some recorded ballroom and Latin music was played until the orchestra came to the stage to take over. Excellent cruise experience! Howeveer, the dance floor was so packed that we can only be able to dance box steps. This is why I want to find out if HAL made any changes to this new ship to see if they can lure some ballroom dancers back.

 

I like the HAL passengers who are full of life experiences. The dinner conversation was always enjoyable,

 

Edited December 12, 2018 by CruiseLady88

[CruiseLady88]

2 hours ago, Nymich said:

Generational change of the demographics...…….Ballroom dancing is fading out

 

 

Does the Billboard area have hardwood floor? If so, how big is the hardwood floor?

 

thanks! The info can help us decide if we should go for another HAL cruise.

[iflyrc5]

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

Hope you didn't mind me answering?  It's tough enough to do a Live thread, I know 😉 

 

I do have Daniel's contact info handy since they are in my contacts in my email - contact info is - booking@danielmadeirataxis.com

 

Your blog is wonderful and I have been enjoying reading it.  thank you 😄 

Thanks for the contact info.

[kazu]

1 minute ago, iflyrc5 said:

Thanks for the contact info.

You are most welcome.  Daniel is a superb host.  His wife, Eusebia does the bookings and very easy and cordial to deal with 🙂 

[iflyrc5]

59 minutes ago, CruiseLady88 said:

 

The Lincoln Center Stage area is where the Queen’s Lounge is on Koningsdam. So, there is still dance floor in front of the stage.

 

If they play Tango music, they may play Waltz, Viennese Waltz music. Now, we may consider trying out this new ship. We already give up in Koningsdam. The Queen’s Lounge on Koningsdam has such beautiful dance floor and is a waste by putting BB King Blue band there every single night.

 

we just came back from Cunard Queen Mary 2 cruise. The dance floor is similar to Koningsdam’s Queen’s Lounge., but a bit wider and longer. The dance floor was packed every night. 

I think you will find that after the recent dry dock of the Koningsdam that the music venues will be changed to the Nieuw Statendam configuration.  There is a thread going on that cruise currently so you might want to check in there.

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, CruiseLady88 said:

 

The Queen’s Lounge on Koningsdam has such beautiful dance floor and is a waste by putting BB King Blue band there every single night.. 

 

That is your opinion and I would completely disagree.  On a K'dam cruise there were some couples who insisted on ballroom dancing to BBKing, swooshing around the other dancers causing chaos . Completely self centered.

i would suggest that  the target market and those who book Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam have very little interest in ballroom dancing and would find it an annoyance.

[puppycanducruise]

Loving your pictures and comments.

Thank you.

[Btimmer]

39 minutes ago, CruiseLady88 said:

 

 

Does the Billboard area have hardwood floor? If so, how big is the hardwood floor?

 

thanks! The info can help us decide if we should go for another HAL cruise.

The Billboard dance area is hardwood about 20 feet in diameter.