Our Anniversary cruise on the Nieuw Statendam : Is the honeymoon over ?

[*Miss G*]

Good grief!  Do their passengers not complain?  I would be livid.  I had no idea Princess did this too!  Thanks for the heads up.  I can now cross them off my list.

[scubacruiserx2]

3 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

Good grief!  Do their passengers not complain?  I would be livid.  I had no idea Princess did this too!  Thanks for the heads up.  I can now cross them off my list.

 

We're not sure how much of a factor location and time of the year may have played in this . We cruised on the Carnival Legend in the fall in northern Europe and we could hardly believe the difference between the staff , crew and passengers . On this cruise to the Caribbean we saw a lot of Baby Boomers who behaved like they were on spring break .

[scubacruiserx2]

We are not sure if things have changed in Cozumel but last June in Puerta Maya we had get in line to walk through the long building before having  having a dog sniff your gear . We did notice people walking beside the building which would speed the process up .

 

 

We had a different process here at the International Pier .

 

 

There are several places near the pier

 

 

 

This is the place for food , fun , clothes and balloon hats

 

 

We preferred to order from Dive In

 

 

We ordered a Backflip , a Freestyle and 2 naked fries with Dive in sauce on the side . A half hour later this is what we got

 

 

My wife told the guy that we had ordered another order of fries and a Freestyle . He told us " that is a freestyle ". Not sure if was a language barrier but we found out something different on the next day . We placed the same order and my was told . #1. You can only order what's on the TV screen ( no Freestyles ) . #2.The food was cooked in the kitchen and not from the Dive In . When we received the order the next day we got what we had ordered and an extra fries . 

 

We waited until about 6 PM to go ashore for dinner without the heat and crowds and it worked .

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We had invited our dive master friend Martin to dinner at El Moro which is about 5 miles from the port

 

 

 

 

I had fried conch with garlic butter 

 

 

Pat had a grilled dish

 

 

Rey treats us better than of families do 

 

 

Making flaming Mayan coffee and the story behind it

 

 

There were almost tears in our eyes as we said our goodbyes . How we wish that we could stay longer .

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

We took a look at our balcony on the NS and compared it to our balcony on our last HAL cruise on the Zaandam

 

 

 

Which would you rather have ? Keep in mind that a Neptune Suite is on the other side of the NS divider so apparently HAL has also narrowed the width of the Neptune Suites on the Pinnacle Class ships .

[Krazy Kruizers]

From what I have read elsewhere on here, the balconies for some of the Neptune Suites are smaller on some decks of the Nieuw Statendam as compared to the Zaandam Neptune Suites.

 

Great pictures.

[scubacruiserx2]

1 hour ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

From what I have read elsewhere on here, the balconies for some of the Neptune Suites are smaller on some decks of the Nieuw Statendam as compared to the Zaandam Neptune Suites.

 

Great pictures.

 

The people next to us in the Neptune Suite let us have a little peek into their room . It balcony reminded us of one we had on the Legend with a wrap balcony .

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Returning from Cozumel

 

 

 

 

The Regal Princess

 

 

 

and it's music

 

 

 

We're back

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great pictures.

 

Love the Love Boat but didn't hear any music.

[scubacruiserx2]

17 minutes ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

Great pictures.

 

Love the Love Boat but didn't hear any music.

 

Is your volume turned up ?

[*Miss G*]

14 hours ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

We took a look at our balcony on the NS and compared it to our balcony on our last HAL cruise on the Zaandam

 

 

 

Which would you rather have ? Keep in mind that a Neptune Suite is on the other side of the NS divider so apparently HAL has also narrowed the width of the Neptune Suites on the Pinnacle Class ships .

 

What category of balcony is that on the Zaandam?  Is it Neptune?

[scubacruiserx2]

3 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

 

What category of balcony is that on the Zaandam?  Is it Neptune?

 

Yes a Neptune Suite A in Santiago just before leaving to Antarctica for 22 days . You can read about it here :

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

The Club Orange breakfast menu

 

 

 

We ordered Mimosas and got a bottle , free in the room , $ 7.95 in CO .

 

 

We also got a cake

 

 

 

The animals had taken over the pool

 

 

 

 

 

 

[*Miss G*]

37 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

We ordered Mimosas and got a bottle , free in the room , $ 7.95 in CO .

 

I’m a bit confused.  They’re charging for mimosas in CO now?

 

Did you get an orange tote bag?

 

Love the towel animals.

[scubacruiserx2]

On the Zaandam in January we were charged for mimosas in the Pinnacle , but not when we had breakfast in the room . We didn't eat in CO after the first night but we suspect that the policy is the same since it has replaced the Pinnacle for breakfast .

 

 

[*Miss G*]

I love the Club Orange bag!

 

Unlimited mimosas are free in Club Orange.  They do charge for them in the PG.  Not quite sure why there is a difference.

[scubacruiserx2]

48 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

I love the Club Orange bag!

 

Unlimited mimosas are free in Club Orange.  They do charge for them in the PG.  Not quite sure why there is a difference.

 

Us either but the bottle was free in the cabin 

[scubacruiserx2]

Sailing into Port Everglades

 

The Edge of night

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

Photos from around the ship

 

 

David taking a selfie

 

 

Ship head

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MDR

 

 

 

[Himself]

On ‎3‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 1:44 PM, Krazy Kruizers said:

Wonderful start.

 

I have read that all the cabins (and balconies) on this ship are smaller compared to the other ships.

I was in this ship in Feb and was on 8059.  I did think the balcony was smaller than the one I had last year on the Eurodam

[scubacruiserx2]

19 hours ago, Himself said:

I was in this ship in Feb and was on 8059.  I did think the balcony was smaller than the one I had last year on the Eurodam

 

Our balcony on this cruise was the smallest of all our cruises on HAL and perhaps the smallest of all our cruises . We really enjoy dining on the balcony but we didn't because of it's small size .

 

 

Princess has downsized the balconies on their newer ships as well . They used to serve the Ultimate Balcony Dinner for $ 50 each where they came and set up a table with dinner , a mixed drink and flowers while being served by 2 people .

 

 

Here's their new balcony set up

 

 

It seems that as ships get larger the balconies and promenades shrink .

[Krazy Kruizers]

I don't like the idea that the cruise lines are making the balconies smaller.  We spend a lot of time on them reading and napping.

[3rdGenCunarder]

25 minutes ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

I don't like the idea that the cruise lines are making the balconies smaller.  We spend a lot of time on them reading and napping.

 

I agree. We booked NS to get a big balcony and a table that could actually be used for eating. (At least those tiny Princess balconies have a proper-height table) I wouldn't mind a smaller cabin to have a larger balcony, which is why we used to book the corner afts. 

 

My recent cruise on the K was in a midship NS. I didn't take a pic of the balcony, but OP's picture of a balcony looks like the depth of my NS balcony. The length of the balcony allowed for table and chairs plus the two chairs and footrests. But there wasn't a lot of space to walk by the furniture. The NS balcony we had on Amsterdam was definitely deeper than the one on the K.

Edited March 21, 2019 by 3rdGenCunarder

[scubacruiserx2]

The NS aft balcony

 

 

 

The Eurodam NS balcony

 

 

The Zaandam NS balcony