Nieuw Statendam Review, Land of the Midnight Sun, 7/7-7/21

[jude8]

Nieuw Statendam Review, Land of the Midnight Sun, Departure on 7/7/19

 

For a little bit of background, we are mid-40’s cruisers that have sailed on Royal Caribbean, Celebrity & Disney with almost 20 cruises under our belt.   This was our first Holland America experience and we chose this cruise due to the itinerary to the Artic Circle. 

 

We left a few days early so we could have time to enjoy a little bit of Amsterdam before the cruise on Sunday.  We arrived into Amsterdam early afternoon and took a cab to our hotel, the Kimpton Dewitt as we did not want to transport our luggage by public transportation.  We stayed at this location due to free points, but I highly recommend it as it was a short walk to all of the major sites in the city. A colleague recommended that we take the hop on/hop off on tour.  I do not recommend this as it was a big waste of time and the tour highlights were not that great.  We did download the Rick Steves audio tour on my Iphone, and we did two of his free walking tours and learned a lot from this and highly recommend this way to tour the city.  On the Saturday before the cruise, we took the Old Holland Tour that provides public transportation by bus for 20 euros pp and it took you to Zaanse Schans, Edam and Volendam.  We had a great time and they also have a walking tour that we used walking around the windmills. 

 

On Sunday, we headed to the port around noon and were on the ship by 12:30. We were really excited to be on this trip and to experience all that we could see on Norway.  We were even more ecstatic because a couple of weeks before we decided to upgrade to a Neptune Suite.  We have never stayed in a suite, but we pulled the plug because the cabin was an aft corner with the 2 balconies, and we wanted to be able to see as much as we could of all of the scenery both in the fjords and the Artic.  One benefit that we truly enjoyed as a result of the suite was Club Orange.  We had amazing food and service in this venue at both breakfast and dinner.  I have a gluten allergy and they truly catered to me and I was able to have souffle and many other dishes that I have never been able to have on other cruise lines. 

 

Ports:

Eidfjord.  We scheduled an independent excursion through Go Fjord to see the Vøringfossen waterfall.  On the way to the waterfalls, we stopped a nature exhibit.  This was truly a waste of time, but this was the cheapest and easiest way to see the waterfall.  The excursion limited the time at the waterfall, so I highly recommend going to the furthest platform viewing first and working your way back as it had the best views of the falls.

 

Bergen:  We first got on the hop on/hop off bus and do not recommend.  The city is not that big and pretty walkable.  We then walked around and stopped at the Hanseatic Museum and Bryggen. I highly recommend the museum and they have regular tours for English speakers.  We did not buy tickets in advance of the funicular because I was concerned about weather.  However, the weather turned out beautiful so on our walk to the funicular I bought tickets on their app and was able to avoid the huge lines waiting to buy tickets.  We then had a hearty traditional Norwegian lunch at Bryggeloftet & Stuene.  We then headed to the Fish Market as my husband loves all kinds of dried and canned fish.  I bought some sausage (later learned you can’t bring back to USA ☹). 

 

Alesund:  We took the independent excursion through Norway Excursions, Alesund from Fjords to Trolls.  Our tour guide Anita was amazing. I learned so much from her about the history of Norway and their culture.  This was by far the best tour with amazing scenery on the Troll Road with its 11 hairpin turns.  This Florida girl was glad she was not driving.  The tour also allowed several stops and photo stops which was really nice.

Trondheim:  We found a walking tour from Frommers that we used to tour the city.  This was also another very walkable city and Nidaros Cathedral was amazingly beautiful.  We also walked over the Old Town Bridge with the historic wharves up to Kristiansten Fortress which provided a beautiful view of the city.  Afterwards we headed to Baklandet Skydsstation for lunch which was nice little café with outside seating and very yummy food. We then finished our walking tour and headed back to the ship.  The weather was again beautiful, and we had a great day in this city.

 

North Cape/Honningsvag:  We decided to rent a car.  I was a little nervous about driving and renting especially when the rental company said make sure you shut your door at the cape because she had a rental last week lose the door to the wind when he left it open!  However, we had no problems driving.  We headed first to the North Cape and walked around and checked out all of the exhibits.  Then we drove to Skarsvag and checked out the village.  We wanted hike to the Arch, but I was worried about time, so we decided to skip that.  Then we drove to Gjesvaer, a little fishing town.  We had a great day driving around and this allowed for us to make photo stops when we wanted to.  We also brought lunch for ourselves and had a little picnic at one of the pullouts overlooking the water.  A gas station was right by the cruise terminal, so we had no problems filling up.  Also, as a FYI, you fill the tank up first and then pay! 

 

Hellesylt:  This port was a bit of a bummer because we did not cruise all the way to Geiranger.  As a result, we booked the cruise excursion that provided the bus tour and then a cruise down the Geraingerfjord.  There was little opportunity for independent excursions in Hellesylt and the excursion we went on was just okay.  We drove by a bunch of beautiful things but did not really stop and a tour guide was decent but not amazing.

 

Flam:  Because we were in port from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., we did the Norway in a Nutshell tour on our own.  This allowed us to take the Flam train up to Myrdal, then a train to Voss, then a bus to Gudvangen and then the boat down the Nærøyfjord.  We would highly recommend it.  We met another couple from the boat also doing this tour and was able to eat lunch with them in Voss at Tre Broer Cafe and Bar.  It was really a great day.

 

Haugesund:  We decided to rent a car because there were several little things that we wanted to do and decided it was easier and cheaper to do on our own.  We rented from Sixt and the representative was waiting outside for us when we arrived making it very efficient for us to get on the road.  We made the following stops:  Haraldshaugen (Norwegian National Monument), Steinsfjellet (panoramic viewpoint of city), Avaldsnes:  Nordvegen History Centre and Viking Settlement, Skudeneshavn (fishing village) and Åkrasanden (beaches).  Unfortunately, at the Viking Settlement, most of it was closed due restoration; however, the history center was really interesting.

 

Thoughts on Holland America/Nieuw Statendam

 

The good:  The ship is new and beautiful.  The food and service was amazing at Club Orange, Pinnacle Grill and Tamarind.  My husband enjoyed the sushi at the buffet.  We loved all of the musical acts at Lincoln Center, B.B. Kings and Rolling Stone and the themed artwork that went along with it.  We enjoyed the BillBoard Bar and Ocean Bar and had really good service and drinks at those locations.  We also loved the Dutch Café with its coffees and snacks.  We also loved all of the free movies you could get in the room.  We also attended the America’s Test Kitchen demonstrations but wished it was more interactive.  We also appreciated the covered pool area especially on chilly days at sea.

 

The so so:  On sea days, the public spaces were extremely full, and it was sometimes hard to find a place to lay down and sleep or read a book especially around the pool. The EXC talks were just okay.  We felt that she found the information off google and turned it into a speech.  I would have preferred someone from Norway that could provide more history and culture about the areas we visited.

 

The bad:  We felt that there was a huge lack of activities on sea days or at night other than the musical acts.  The ship also repeated some of the same entertainers for the nightly shows at the main stage.  We also had difficulty communicating with some of the staff due to language barriers; this was not a big deal but sometimes it was hard to convey what you needed as far as drinks or food in the buffet.  The drinks at the remaining bar locations other than the ones mentioned above were terrible and the service was not great.  My gluten free options due to my allergy were also limited and even though I was told they have gluten free pizza crusts at New York Pizza, they said they ran out after only 2 days on the ship.  We also had problems due to the lack of receipts given because we were charged for items when we had the beverage package and we wanted to have the option to provide additional gratuities for the servers in Pinnacle Grill and Tamarind. 

 

Overall Thoughts:

We went on the ship for the itinerary and had an amazing time because of it.  We thought the food was top notch and we loved our aft Neptune Suite.  However, I don’t believe that we are the normal demographic for Holland America, and I think we would be truly bored if this had been a Caribbean sailing due to the lack of activities and interactive cruise activities that we love on other cruise lines.

 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

 

HAL has cut back on staff and thus activities have been cut back the last few years.

 

Glad you enjoyed the ports.

[swin26]

Thanks!!! We leave for Amsterdam tomorrow and are staying at the Kimpton before we board the Nieuw Statendam on Sunday.  I do really like Kimpton hotels, especially the happy hours!!

[erewhon]

Thank you for reviewing your cruise.

 

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[ski ww]

Thanks for your review, some good information as we are doing this cruise next year.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for taking the time to post your comments.

Sounds like a wonderful cruise.

[jude8]

Thanks everyone for your comments!