Just back from Back to Back Nieuw Statendam

[albingirl]

We just spent 2 weeks on the Nieuw Statendam.  It's a beautiful ship with all the bells and whistles and different from the ships we

have sailed previously.  We thought it was beautiful and the staff was incredibly wonderful to us.  It was no big deal for us to get covid tested 

beforehand and so the boarding was simple for us.  We are 4 star, so it went quickly.  We booked a mid ship balcony that we enjoyed, but didn't use the balcony all that much since it was sunny and hot.  We went to Half Moon Cay three times during the sailing, since Grand Turk was canceled.  Also, Key West was canceled which was a disappointment.  The ship does have a promendade  for walking, but it was narrow and no room for the normal chairs for reading.  Very sad, we thought.  Also, the Ocean Bar had no entertainment, which is a loss for the passengers in our opinion.  Also, alas, no library.  But, there were postivie things that we very much enjoyed.  We met Rudy one night in his restaurant onboard and he was very gracious.  The food was splendid and he autographed 2 cookbooks for me.  Also, the Pinnacle grill was lovely, as usual.  We particularly liked the Canaletto Restaurant because the staff was outstanding.  The Dutch Cafe was wonderful, as well, with great staff.  The ports were all beach destinations, and fine, and we had no complaints.  We took no excusions, even though we had planned some, and we decided it was easy enough to get around on our own.  The main dining room was very loud, so we rarely ate dinner there.  There seems to be no cushion for the noise, and the stern of the ship kept vibrating during rough seas, so you could barely hear yourself think.  There was alot of music onboard and we enjoyed most of it.  The constant music by the pool area could be annoying, however, and really not suited for this crowd.  We were probably at 50% capacity for the second leg, so nothing was crowded.  We loved the lounges on the tenth deck overlooking the pool and it was was handy for the deli station.  We saw very little in the way of chair hogs, so that was a plus.  All in all, a very good cruise and I would recommend it to anyone.  We really wanted to cruise in Europe more this year, but stayed with the Caribbean, even though we've been there quite a bit.  The weather was perfect every day and I do like Captain Noel Driscoll....he's just a charming man. I really think the staff outdid themselves and should be highly commended.

 

[Florida_gal_50]

Thank you for taking the time to review your cruise.

[*Miss G*]

2 hours ago, albingirl said:

  Also, the Ocean Bar had no entertainment, which is a loss for the passengers in our opinion.  

 

 

The Ocean Bar had a pianist every evening.  Someone else will have to confirm but I thought I caught her singing as well.

[albingirl]

8 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

 

The Ocean Bar had a pianist every evening.  Someone else will have to confirm but I thought I caught her singing as well.

Not in the happy hour afternoons, like in years past.

[albingirl]

Just now, albingirl said:

Not in the happy hour afternoons, like in years past.

There was a trio that played dance music and a number of people love to dance during afternoon happy hour. That is no more.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing..

[BobbiSox]

I had a lot of problems last week, in our Vista Suite on NS, and I had to ask more than once almost for eveything that I had previously paid for, such as the perks of Club Orange. This cruise put me in the 5* Mariner category, so it's not like I didn't know what to expect. HAL seems always to be one- inch away  from being what it should be. The list of screw-ups would be too long to post here, starting with boarding, where HAL left us 4*/5*  mariners sitting in a room for an hour while they alllowed a movie crew and all it's equipement to board before us.  The few nicities along the way didn't make up for the problems I encountered. I'm not going to blame Covid, because HAL been this way long before Covid. I keep hoping for improvement. I'm really not that hard to please. Just give me what I paid for, and I'll keep quiet. I'm not switching to another line, not at this point, and who's to say another line would be any better? 

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for taking the time to post your comments.