Just back from Nieuw Statendam

[k9hndler]

Just Back and really enjoyed The Ship and Holland America.  Here are the Pluses and a FEW minuses

 

PLUS

1.  Food was superb, in the Lido, Dutch Cafe,  private island, and the Main dinning room. In Quality, taste and preparation, it was the best we have had afloat, and would compare it over  Princess and Celebrity easily. 

2.  SERVICE was amazing.  From the Lido staff (Never needed a drink refilled, plate removed or new silverware the entire cruise)to Room steward, Retreat and spa staff, to Dinning room and deck crew, we were humbled and pleased with the Service all over the ship. 

3.  Dancers and Music  were amazing.  The Dance troop (Step One) was fantastic, even my 16 YO DD LOVED them.  

4.  The SUPERB ship herself.  Satendam was clean, bright and beautiful, with ART and decorations everywhere, opulence and class, without being flashy.  

5.  Ship lay out was simple, easy and quick to navigate.  Elevators were plentiful and waits where short.  

6.  The Deli, Ice Cream and Burger stands were GREAT, with simply the BEST hotdog afloat (Nathans).  

7.  ALL NFL games were played on the room TV or the Main pool screen.  NICE!

8.  EASY off and EASIER on.  From drop off to state room (Already ready for us) was 30 minutes, our best time yet.  BAGS beat us there!

9.  Gym was well stocked and not over crowded.  

10.  In Room tech was GREAT, easy to check bill (more on that later), activities and all other cruising matters on TV or navigator APP on phone.  

11.  Retreat/Adults only Sanctuary was a HUGE hit for the wife.  We rented a Cabana for the week and used it OFTEN.  Service there was AWESOME.

12.  Morning coffee and Danish (or light breakfast)delivered to your stateroom every morning.  WONDEFUL.   Coffee all over the ship (including Ledo) is BREWED and not that giant Keurig style machines other lines have,  

 

Just a FEW cons;

1.  We had at LEAST 8 charges to our account (Hence Check your statement often) that were wrong, but staff DID correct fairly quickly when we caught it.  

2.  Hours on Dinning room, Late Nights snack and OTHER eating venues were limited and fairly rigid.  Lido closed usually at 8-8:30 pm and did not reopen till 10:30 pm for "Snacks" for one hour.   Deli, Pizza, Hamburgers and Cafe all closed before 11 pm, and sometimes a LOT earlier.  When questioned staff would steer you to in room dinning, which was okay, but who wants to eat in your ROOM?

3.  Dinning room service times were LONG and slow, with meals lasting 2 hours plus sometimes.  Staffing concerns are probably the issue here.  Our Stateroom attendant and his partner had 30 rooms to service,  up from their usual 26.  The Dining staff probably the same.  

4.  Soda/Beverage programs are HARD to keep track, and many of the workers unsure what is included and what's not (hence many charges we did not expect).  Again, adjustments were made quick, and sometimes just with a phone call from the room and results visible on the TV screen account statement.  

5.  Port Royal Jamaica  (Don't bother, just stay on and enjoy the ship.)  

 

Overall, a WONDERFUL, pleasant and relaxing cruise.  We will HAL in the future for sure.  Great Job.   

[Florida_gal_50]

Thank you for your review.  It made me smile when you said who wants to eat in their room about room service.  People seem to LOVE it.  I'm not one of those people.  The cabin stewards do have more rooms likely but when they are only servicing them once a day you would think that would cut the work load quite a lot.

[canadianbear]

Thanks for your review including pros & cons.

 

I have followed several live reports and a lot of issues seem to be the charges that people have to sort out.  It’s annoying to have to waste time doing this.  Glad you got yours cleared up.  
 

Did you or your daughter try the milkshakes?  We had them on the Koningsdam and loved them (maybe too much, lol).    We also really like the Dutch Cafe especially their lattes.  
 

Welcome home & glad to hear you’ll try HAL again.  

[k9hndler]

9 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

Thanks for your review including pros & cons.

 

I have followed several live reports and a lot of issues seem to be the charges that people have to sort out.  It’s annoying to have to waste time doing this.  Glad you got yours cleared up.  
 

Did you or your daughter try the milkshakes?  We had them on the Koningsdam and loved them (maybe too much, lol).    We also really like the Dutch Cafe especially their lattes.  
 

Welcome home & glad to hear you’ll try HAL again.  

We also loved the Dutch Cafe and the COOKIES (Especially the Almond ones).  My daughter LOVED the hand dipped icecream but did not try the shakes.  

[k9hndler]

30 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Thank you for your review.  It made me smile when you said who wants to eat in their room about room service.  People seem to LOVE it.  I'm not one of those people.  The cabin stewards do have more rooms likely but when they are only servicing them once a day you would think that would cut the work load quite a lot.

Interesting side note, we had room serviced/cleaned twice a day.  Others on ship had to pick ONE, morning or night.  We were on main deck in a family cabin.  

[Florida_gal_50]

7 minutes ago, k9hndler said:

Interesting side note, we had room serviced/cleaned twice a day.  Others on ship had to pick ONE, morning or night.  We were on main deck in a family cabin.  

Interesting.  I wonder what the criteria is for that.  I would assume the neptune suites would but not the non-suite cabins.  I mentioned this to my PCC at Hal.  She hadn't heard anything about it which I found surprising.  She is going on a cruise this month so hopefully she'll see first hand knowledge of it.

[GonzoWCS]

Thanks for this concise review!

 

Cheers

[rkacruiser]

Thanks for your comments, OP.  Yes, lots of very modern art on the vessel.  Much of it, I don't understand.  All of which had no captions/descriptions of what the artist was thinking when it was created.  Maybe that has changed since I sailed on the good ship Nieuw Statendam?  (I mentioned this lack in my review of my cruise to HAL.)  

[aliaschief]

Nice review. Thanks for sharing your cruise experience.

[Mary229]

53 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

Thanks for your comments, OP.  Yes, lots of very modern art on the vessel.  Much of it, I don't understand.  All of which had no captions/descriptions of what the artist was thinking when it was created.  Maybe that has changed since I sailed on the good ship Nieuw Statendam?  (I mentioned this lack in my review of my cruise to HAL.)  

One of the things I appreciated on Oceania is you can pick up a speaker set for an audio guided tour of the art onboard.  Sis and I spent most of a sea day enjoying the tour.  

[rkacruiser]

Just now, Mary229 said:

One of the things I appreciated on Oceania is you can pick up a speaker set for an audio guided tour of the art onboard.  Sis and I spent most of a sea day enjoying the tour.  

 

HAL used to provide such an audio tour as well.  Many years ago, there was a hard copy brochure about the art (with photos) on the ship that one could obtain.  Maybe there is still an audio tour available on today's ships.  I have not inquired about that at the Front Desk.  

[Mary229]

Just now, rkacruiser said:

 

HAL used to provide such an audio tour as well.  Many years ago, there was a hard copy brochure about the art (with photos) on the ship that one could obtain.  Maybe there is still an audio tour available on today's ships.  I have not inquired about that at the Front Desk.  

I will ask next time.  I vaguely recall the same as you report. It has been so long….

[Sea42]

21 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

HAL used to provide such an audio tour as well.  Many years ago, there was a hard copy brochure about the art (with photos) on the ship that one could obtain.  Maybe there is still an audio tour available on today's ships.  I have not inquired about that at the Front Desk.  

I enjoyed those audio art tours! I would love to see HAL add that capability to the Navigator app or have it available for download.

[St Pete Cruiser]

Very encouraging to read such a positive review.  Nieuw Statendam, or just Statendam as I prefer, just restarted cruising.  For such a good review after being "out of service" for so long says volumes.

[KirkNC]

21 hours ago, Mary229 said:

One of the things I appreciated on Oceania is you can pick up a speaker set for an audio guided tour of the art onboard.  Sis and I spent most of a sea day enjoying the tour.  

At one time HAL had those as well.

[GonzoWCS]

1 hour ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Very encouraging to read such a positive review.  Nieuw Statendam, or just Statendam as I prefer, just restarted cruising.  For such a good review after being "out of service" for so long says volumes.

Well said!

 

Cheers

[Crew News]

I will pass on your cons to Vanessa, Guest Relations, tomorrow since I am onboard.

[kazu]

Great review, OP. 👍. Thank you for taking the time to share with us.  Much appreciated 🙂 

[Ken the cruiser]

Just curious, was there a lot of stuff to do in the evenings and on sea days? Did they have any lectures, trivia or interactive game shows to attend, especially on sea days? Also, do you by chance remember how many assistant CDs there were? The last time we cruised with HAL there was 1. One big reason we stopped cruising with HAL a few years back was mainly due to the lack of a variety of things to do in the evening and on sea days. Just wondering if that has changed more to the positive since cruising started back up?

[nickel-and-dime-me]

Nice review.  I'm curious how full the ship was, since we'll be on it next week.  Did it feel crowded?

[Crew News]

1 minute ago, nickel-and-dime-me said:

Nice review.  I'm curious how full the ship was, since we'll be on it next week.  Did it feel crowded?

1250 this week and next so no waiting lines for anything.  Lots of empty rooms.

[sherryf]

15 hours ago, Crew News said:

1250 this week and next so no waiting lines for anything.  Lots of empty rooms.

I don't suppose you can find out the numbers for the 12/19 sailing?  I am guessing more since it is Christmas, but hopefully still not too full. 

[Crew News]

27 minutes ago, sherryf said:

I don't suppose you can find out the numbers for the 12/19 sailing?  I am guessing more since it is Christmas, but hopefully still not too full. 

1419 pax according to the Front Desk.

[FlaMariner]

On 12/1/2021 at 1:56 PM, k9hndler said:

Interesting side note, we had room serviced/cleaned twice a day.  Others on ship had to pick ONE, morning or night. 

 

On our Rotterdam cruise in October, the room steward asked us our preference....They were willing to do whatever you wanted....1x, 2x, etc.....I did specifically ask if they do 2x....But we did choose once a day and even gave them a preferred time of 10am....And of course, they performed flawlessly....

 

I'm not sure people have to pick once a day but when they come by, they promote the one time a day w/the experience that most people are fine with it and expect it.....but those that one more get more.

 

They were willing to do 2x a day....they even asked if they could come in the evening to refill the ice bucket.....we were fine without that...but again, they were willing.

 

(The room stewards as well as MDR staff and all other onboard crew are, IMO, the biggest part of the HAL magic for us)

[sevenseasnomad]

On 12/1/2021 at 2:56 PM, k9hndler said:

Interesting side note, we had room serviced/cleaned twice a day.  Others on ship had to pick ONE, morning or night.  We were on main deck in a family cabin.  

Since our last cruise was Christmas/New Year's 2019, is cleaning the cabin only once a day something new?  Is there no turn-down service at night anymore?  Does it cost extra to have the room serviced twice a day?  Please advise, as we board Rotterdam Dec. 22.  If it makes a difference, we are 4* and CO.  Thanks for the information.