Nieuw Statendam review; good cruise but HAL you can't cut everything

[LMaxwell]

Just back from Nieuw Statendam (45+ cruises, first on this particular class of ship). Summary of my experiences, observations, and opinions.  You may want to go grab a snack or a beverage of choice. 

 

Pros:

Condition of ship. Spotless. Nothing looks worn or broken. Beautiful ship. Musical decor and art work throughout was unique. The entire ship is an art gallery really. I preferred the historical/nautical theme of other ships personally, but this was still very nice. 

 

Staff: by and large friendly, efficient, hard working staff. A+ for the staff. 

 

Food: especially Lido market, very good. They serve everything at night the dining room menu does and much more. NY pizza, dive in, Dutch Cafe all excellent quality. Ordering through app at first two was good.  Honestly, we only went to the dining room one evening. Slooooooooooooow, yet chaotic service, mixes with tiny portions had us going back to Lido and alternative venues. Holland America only cruise line where there is never a night with an included lobster tail; it's simply a cruise thing. Brand loyalist comments need not be made. This is a cutback.  It it's no big deal and not worth so much; then simply add it back in? Or at least stop upcharging for it in every single restaurant. I think that's chintzy. In their flagship restaurants they still charge more for lobster. Marketers must be laughing still.  Late night snack at 10;30 seemed popular the two times I went. Pro Tip: If you want a Bossche Bol from Dutch Cafe; get there 15 mins before they start serving food. They only make a few a day and they go fast. I thought I could get one at like noon; no way.  I actually didn't get one until day 6 of the cruise and I had to line up early for it.  That's the giant cream puff pastry. It was worth waiting for; something I never thought I'd say of a cruise ship snack.

 

Conversely, many seasoned HAL cruisers we met did nothing but complain about the food. They all told me what it WAS.  I said I left where I was because it no longer was what it was; I get that I'm relatively new to HAL and they count on my not knowing how it was. But I at least found the quality and selection to be good to very good and a few items excellent. No one will starve on a HAL cruise. If someone told me they didn't like any of the food I would not find them to be credible. It wouldn't pass my Jersey sniff test, so to speak. Food was pretty darn good. 

 

Pools: both large enough to swim laps and deep. Only cruise line without life guards. Life guards aren't just for kids and should be present IMO. No life jacket station for kids.  Too many adults bringing glass beer bottles into pool. One broken glass will ruin pool for everyone for a day. Bar should serve aluminum cans at pool deck and nothing in a glass. Just observations, great pools basically though. 

 

Layout of ship: pretty easy to get around; very few "gotchas" on deck plans. Appreciated that casino was almost entirely separated from music walk area. Only up/down/over/around type spot is on Deck 10/11 on port side. 

 

Gym/Sauna: nice weight equipment, spacious, much better Sauna than other classes of ship, good operating hours, great locker room setup. 

 

Crows Nest : fantastic, panoramic view lounge with a lot of comfortable seating, board games, good meet up spot. 

 

Mixology Classes: A lot of fun, interesting, only $15 for 4 drinks is a bargain and a half. Great time to meet people looking to have fun and try some new things. We attended one of these. 

 

Kids club: kids loved it. Great staff. Found it a little odd that the entertainment staff doubles as kids club too, but no issues. No information about kids club was included with daily paper OR navigator app; the operating hours are consistent daily but just used to getting info about the kids clubs on other ships. 

 

Promenade deck: appreciate that it goes fully around ship still on deck 3. This is a dying feature on ships. It is narrow and no lounge deck chairs, and much of view is obstructed, but still a good spot to walk, also a shorter dedicated walking track on 11 which also has outdoor exercise equipment. 

 

Sports Court: Well equipped, LARGE area. Many bigger, more family oriented ships have less space for outdoor recreation. Definitely a plus 

 

Captains Corner: Always popular, always well attended. Captain had a great behind the scenes presentation and a Q&A session. While these are floating resorts, they are still working ships. Some enjoy resorts, some enjoy ships; I enjoy both. 

 

On demand movies: I don't go on cruises to watch movies in the room; but it was a great way to wind down the night - pretty large selection of complimentary on demand movies.  Pro Tip: You can turn on closed captions to keep volume low, and if you turn off TV there is a 'resume' feature if you want to pick up the movie the next day. 

 

Happy Hour: Half price, entire menu. Two different venues. an hour at each one consecutively, not concurrently. Would like to see some more venues rotated in for variety, but they did usually do afternoon trivia to coincide with HH so that was good. Very reasonable prices. Not big drinkers so nice to get my daily cocktail or diet coke there. They give you peanuts. All the long timers made sure to tell me about the hot and cold apps they used to get at HH. 

 

Cons: A note about "cons". I don't believe in drive by complaints. If I didn't like something, I explain why I didn't, or what could be improved. The "volume" of this section doesn't indicate there were more cons than pros, or that I let the cons ruin my vacation - far from it. I just believe it's worth explaining in more depth why something was a negative. A positive is a bit more self-evident with shorter comments. 
 

Spa staff: one of only 3 significant complaints I have, and the only interaction the entire cruise that actually ticked me off. They at first refused to honor pricing shown on Navigator app, producing a paper price list 30% HIGHER than the app. A second person was called up and they explained to me that my $50 off Spa Card must be used on services above $100 to start with; not true.  I was told to return later in the day as the manager was on break. Later in the day, the manager of the spa told me that the services I wanted are for women only and I should know that; this again was NOT true and I told her. Am I the first guy on the planet to get a pedicure? There are actually services listed by gender in the app and this was not in those sections. 

 

Eventually the manager verbally agreed to honor the price in the app while also referring to the printed higher charge list. Throughout my treatment I was upsold by both the technician and manager.  I was then charged the incorrect amount on my account and that took quite a while to sort out. I did register a complaint w GS after that and was never contacted back. I will *never* spend money in a Steiner run spa again, on any cruise line. While I acknowledge that Steiner is 3rd party, HAL tacitly allows this behavior. It is customer unfriendly. It must work great on 80% of the people though or they wouldn't do it at all. 

 

EXC/Enrichment/guest speakers: none. Zero. Canceled because a large group booked space. Disappointing. Several venues were blocked off throughout the week for the large group. I know groups can be on any cruise, but they should not be allowed to impact or cancel standard entertainment for the 95% of guests not in the group. Enrichment and guest speakers are a MAJOR plus for me and something HAL is known for. I have enjoyed them in the past. The EXC presentations could easily have been piped into the pool TV which did nothing but play a geometric orb (screen saver) all day. 

 

entertainment: Hope you like hearing the same top 20 hits frequently in music venues and only at night:  

 

Theater schedule as follows 

Day 1: movie 

Day 2: comedian 

Day 3 : BBC presentation w 4 piece musician 

Day 4: same comedian 

Day 5: Dance show 

Day 6: BBC presentation w 4 piece musician

Day 7: same dance crew 

 

No deck parties: never been on a full Caribbean cruise before without a single deck party. Several things about the entertainment onboard make me wonder if cruise director cares, is paying attention, or these are corporate orders?

 

No live music on deck: many people throughout week commented on this unprompted. Adding a duo near pool for couple hours midday would be great, or at least by the more rambunctious sea view pool.  The lido pool contains a bandstand on deck 10 and all kinds of high end AV/lighting equipment - never put to use once. 

 

No karaoke: strange choice, this is always popular and again several people mentioned this all week that we had met.

 

Literally was a couple that got married on board and another celebrating 70th(!!!)anniversary and you would think cruise director might have thrown in a Love and Marriage type show to capitalize on that.  I understand that HAL is not about "cheap laughs", but if they aren't going to have the enrichment and culture aspect, could they at least have the family friendly fun aspect? The comedian they selected, while funny, was downright X rated. The shows centered around lewd sexual jokes. I was not mad about this, but very surprised that this was THE primetime entertainment and no notice of 18+, adults only, etc. These were not late night shows. I can tell you this, the crowd would likely have enjoyed a love and marriage type show instead of two nights of the same comedian. 

 

No mariner gifts/tiles, once a day room service, robes only upon request; all evidence of cutting corners. It is important to note reductions in amenities, benefits, and services. 

 

Other comments and observations - good/bad/ugly - you decide:

 

 

Books: I could have sworn this class of ship was to have a library or book exchange? The only exchange we found at all was deck 12 port side and like...not kidding, 3 books there left by past cruisers amongst the board games.  

 

 Tamarind. Nice spot, but even nicer on NA/Eurodam where its also something of a daytime lounge. I'm just gonna be blunt: you can easily find several of the apps and sides in the lido and replicate some of the mains at distant lands station. If you consider it worth the change of scenery, okay. The food is good, yes, but it is not significantly better or different than much of the already included food, sorry to report. OR: Distant Lands in Lido is simply amazing and must be tried for dinner as their menu changes daily. Glad we went to Tamarind, but not likely to return. It's just not worth $70 for 2 people, again, just my opinion. 

 

Navigator App - Fairly easy to use. I like the quick serve food ordering options.  Built in Newsreader with some magazines and NY Times at no extra charge nice; I don't buy internet on a cruise so that I can purposely disconnect from social media, work obligations, etc. It was nice to have some news articles to read though.  But....for an app called NAVIGATOR it should also include a page with map of where you are, how far into voyage, current speed/conditions, etc. There are a lot of people that enjoy that technical ship stuff. Yes, there is a screen up on Deck 12 lounge, but it was broken and offline the entire cruise. There's no channel on the TV with this information, as most other cruise lines have. This would be a great addition to the app. 

 

Half Moon Cay: Having been here before we opted to stay onboard. It was a short day; 9am-3pm; last tender at 2:30pm. They were calling tender ticket numbers until 11AM, and not until after 11AM was it open tender. Part of the problem is a second ship was in port and things never run smoothly in that situation. Perhaps HAL should stop scheduling two ships to call at HMC, or find a way to extend the day to 4, 5, or even 6pm (in spring months) to improve the guest experience. I live near a beach so it's no big deal to me; I was glad we stayed onboard as I heard almost universal complaining from those that went ashore about the short day and amount of time wasted tendering. I feel bad as so many we met were snowbirds and their beach day getaway was more hype and hassle than anything.

 

Cruise Excursions: We booked excursions through HAL in Aruba. Good value. Same price as I found on any 3rd party site. Pro Tip: Screen Shot your tour tickets in the App while on the ship. I had trouble accessing the app as soon as I got away from the ship and glad I had those screen shots. Paper copies of tickets are not delivered to your room, but I believe can be requested. No issues w excursion; it ran smoothly, easy to meet up. Overall good experience here. 

 

Dining room: Dinner time is slow/loud/chaos with small portions.  Skip it.  However, main dining room breakfast is the best of any mass market/premium line, IMO. Extensive menu options, everything we tried was hot, delicious; not slow or any service issues. Go figure.  Did sea day Tea Time once just to try it.  It's good for change of pace.

 

My rank of music

#1 - Rolling Stones Rock Band - High energy - At least worked their way in a few 1980's+ hits. People were really enjoying

#2 - BB Kings band (definitely skimpier and smaller group than in October though...); should have put them outside by Sea View for Orange dance party. 

#3 - Lincoln center - technically excellent; worth a try to see if you like them. Goes well w the BBC shows

#4 Billboard onboard - How can dueling pianos be so sleepy and low energy? Kind of dull. Didn't seem to have enough energy to ever engage the crowd. Didn't expect this to be least favorite. 

 

Elevators: No matter where I was, or what time of day, elevator wait felt long. Not sure why HAL's newest, largest, highest capacity ships have less elevators than some of their older ships. Well, elevators don't generate revenue and bars and staterooms do, so maybe I do know why. Haha. 

 

Type of Room I had: Forward Facing Oceanview.  One of 4 of these cabins on the ship. Directly beneath the bridge. There's actually 6 OV rooms; the ones at the end are listed as single occupancy rooms and don't show on the deck plans. They may <?> belong to officers. Anyways, for normal purposes they are 7001, 7002, 7003, 7004. There are videos of these rooms on YouTube from other people.  Big shower, comfortable sized room EXCEPT where the bed and angled cabinet meet. What the heck is that? My wife and I are fairly average size and our legs barely fit in this spot. You can not roll a small piece of luggage past it. It is noticeable narrower than a veranda cabin. We both agreed that the bed should have been up against the window with the couch and desk in the middle of the room. This would have made getting around much easier. Plenty of USB ports, outlets, aimable reading lights by bed. Would I get this room again? Probably not. On our port call days we have early excursions and order room service. With a Veranda this is an enjoyable way to start a day. With just an OV it's a little tight for 2 people eating and getting ready. I also felt a good amount of ship movement being all the way forward personally. You definitely get the same view as the captain! Next time going back to midship veranda.

 

I encourage everyone to at least try something new once on a cruise. Break your daily routine. Zig when everyone else zags. You may find something you love. Or; if people aren't trying different things eventually that will just be one more thing cut out for everyone, and no one wins in that circumstance.  We enjoyed the cruise. I'd rank it a high C to a mid B. HAL really underdelivered on entertainment. Even a relative newbie can sense a lot of cutbacks and some tactics that feel a bit nickel and dime. The ship is beautiful. It's a good size ship, not tiny, not a mega city at sea. Would we cruise HAL again? Yes. Do I feel inclined to send a letter to corporate regarding my disappointment in entertainment and preferences afforded to a group allowing large segments of programming to be cancelled? Yes. Does my wife want our next cruise to be on Celebrity instead? Yes. 

[LMaxwell]

Oh, someone pre-cruise wanted to know if I got "the survey" speech. 

 

Nope. Not once. The fastest way to get a 10 is to never ask me for one 🙂 

[Mary229]

Thanks for the review.   

[HAL4NOW]

1 hour ago, LMaxwell said:

Cruise Excursions: We booked excursions through HAL in Aruba. Good value. Same price as I found on any 3rd party site. Pro Tip: Screen Shot your tour tickets in the App while on the ship. I had trouble accessing the app as soon as I got away from the ship and glad I had those screen shots. Paper copies of tickets are not delivered to your room, but I believe can be requested. No issues w excursion; it ran smoothly, easy to meet up. Overall good experience here. 

We noticed a few passengers couldn't access their tour tickets on their phones, but they were able to go on the HAL excursions by just showing their room keycards. HAL is doing better at making this easy.

[RedneckBob]

Thanks for the detailed review. I was on this cruise plus the week before. We share many of the same opinions but since we been sailing on HAL many years, come to expect the unexpected.

STAFF was outstanding, especially our cabin stewards.

Never ate in MDR for 14 days, either Lido or Speciality Dining. Food very good in Lido and our Speciality Dining experiences were excellent.

Entertainment in theater is just ok. The comedian was good the first nite but not good the second time since he used same materials from first performance. The prior week comedian was terrible!

Also did not go to HMC yesterday with Volendam in port.

Our next cruise is also on Celebrity.

Are we related? 😀

[pirate cruiser]

Thanks-love your attitude-it amazes me the complainers still stay with HAL and keep cruising-I say if all you do is look for the negative then stay home.

[albingirl]

Such a nice and detailed review...you are just great. Thank you!

 

 

[LMaxwell]

17 minutes ago, RedneckBob said:

Thanks for the detailed review. I was on this cruise plus the week before. We share many of the same opinions but since we been sailing on HAL many years, come to expect the unexpected.

STAFF was outstanding, especially our cabin stewards.

Never ate in MDR for 14 days, either Lido or Speciality Dining. Food very good in Lido and our Speciality Dining experiences were excellent.

Entertainment in theater is just ok. The comedian was good the first nite but not good the second time since he used same materials from first performance. The prior week comedian was terrible!

Also did not go to HMC yesterday with Volendam in port.

Our next cruise is also on Celebrity.

Are we related? 😀

 

Did I miss an opportunity to meet Redneck Bob?!?!? 

[LMaxwell]

Glad people enjoy. Criticisms should always include what you would wish for, or what could reasonably done. At least an explanation of what a complaint a complaint (spa staff, for example). 

 

I may have neglected to give a shout out to the Activities Staff. Young bunch that tried to keep activities fun. Some of those trivia events can get brutal, wow.  They had a good staff onboard. They just need to be allowed to do more activities. 

 

Anyone remember HORSE RACING on cruise ships?  And I was born in the 80's.......

[RedneckBob]

1 minute ago, LMaxwell said:

 

Did I miss an opportunity to meet Redneck Bob?!?!? 

Maybe we did meet or maybe we have met before! No more clues.

[RedneckBob]

3 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

Glad people enjoy. Criticisms should always include what you would wish for, or what could reasonably done. At least an explanation of what a complaint a complaint (spa staff, for example). 

 

I may have neglected to give a shout out to the Activities Staff. Young bunch that tried to keep activities fun. Some of those trivia events can get brutal, wow.  They had a good staff onboard. They just need to be allowed to do more activities. 

 

Anyone remember HORSE RACING on cruise ships?  And I was born in the 80's.......

Not only do I remember horse racing but also passengers were able through a so call syndicate outright own the horse and collect the winners share!

[pirate cruiser]

My first cruise on NCL I was in a skeet shooting contest and hit golf balls off the back of the ship.

 

[12cruise2]

We enjoyed horse racing in 1959 on the Matson line's Lurline from Los Angeles to Honolulu.  Such fun times and memories.

Edited December 17, 2022 by 12cruise2

[travelholics]

4 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

Glad people enjoy. Criticisms should always include what you would wish for, or what could reasonably done. At least an explanation of what a complaint a complaint (spa staff, for example). 

 

I may have neglected to give a shout out to the Activities Staff. Young bunch that tried to keep activities fun. Some of those trivia events can get brutal, wow.  They had a good staff onboard. They just need to be allowed to do more activities. 

 

Anyone remember HORSE RACING on cruise ships?  And I was born in the 80's.......

My first 2 cruises were in the mid 70's when I was a teen and I remember how much fun Horse Racing was for ALL ages! HAL are introducing more gameshow events on the longer cruises - our TA on OOsterdam had several - but they were during Main dining in the MDR, so we missed them. We were also pleased to see an enlarged entertainment  staff, who worked extremely hard and co ordinated well with the Captain and other key staff to provide some unique entertainment events such as the Captain and Hotel Manager Cookoff! We also enjoyed the cooking demonstrations by members of the kitchen staff, who were competent, amusing and provided samples! With some thought HAL can improve its program of entertainment from within its own talented staff and save money without reducing the experience.

[oakridger]

@LMaxwellThanks for one of the most levelheaded reviews I've read!  I agree with much of what you observed but will add that my most recent experience on the Nieuw Amsterdam in October with the Steiner Spa group was fortunately better than yours.  I had a mani-pedi and they never tried to upsell me any products at all!  I was pleasantly surprised.  I rarely use ship spas because of the high cost and upsell pressure I have experienced in the distant past.

 

As far as no lobster on either of the dressy nights, I also think they are wrong for doing away with that. It is a tradition!! I have had not so good lobster in the MDR (which I asked for and received a better replacement tail) and also some really great tasting tails! 

 

Did people know that Carnival Cruises still currently offer lobster on one dressy night?? 🦞

(Not that I am suggesting going on a Carnival Cruise) If they can offer it on their $50-100 per night cruises, then why not HAL?  

 

~Nancy

[oaktreerb]

@LMaxwellThanks for the detailed report.  You say you were “inclined” to send it to HAL.  Please do us a favor.   Print it and put it in an envelope addressed to Gus Antorcha.   You may receive a response from his office …..which will forward it to the appropriate departments.  

 

I speak from experience.  

[Copper10-8]

51 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

...........................

 

Anyone remember HORSE RACING on cruise ships?  And I was born in the 80's.......

 

HAL still has horse racing but only at HMC.............Btw, thanks a bunch for a very well detailed and informative report!

 

[robotpony]

Thoughtful and thorough review, thank you!

 

3 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

Elevators: No matter where I was, or what time of day, elevator wait felt long. Not sure why HAL's newest, largest, highest capacity ships have less elevators than some of their older ships.

 

We found that taking the stairs was always faster, if you're able to do so. You get the bonus of having nicely toned legs by the end of a longer cruise 🤣

 

3 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

Conversely, many seasoned HAL cruisers we met did nothing but complain about the food. They all told me what it WAS. 

 

We found the same sentiment on our last cruise and at times it was tiring. Other than a few service glitches, we found the food choices pretty great. Speciality restaurants were great to excellent, and Lido/MDR were good to excellent depending. Not perfect, but compared to our 5 star hotel experiences it compared favourably but at a much more modest cost. There is some less great food available too, but we found quality was fairly predictable.

 

Your take on the MDR matches our experience too. Service was inconsistent, a few times quite poor. Food varied, portion sized worked for us (but we're small eaters). When service was great, it was a fun experience (but that was not the norm).

 

Lido for us was a surprise this last trip: we found some amazing dishes (previously it was good, but not great). I think you need to experiment a bit to find what each particular cruise is doing great. I had a few south East Asian curries that were on par with the best available in our area here.

 

3 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

EXC/Enrichment/guest speakers: none. Zero.

 

That would be disappointing: these EXC talks are some of our favourite moments. Normally there should be 4-5 per week (between the BBC Earth presentations, ship talk, future travel talks, and local EXC topics). I highly recommend the future travel talks if you're looking for unique itineraries!

 

3 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

No mariner gifts/tiles, once a day room service, robes only upon request; all evidence of cutting corners. It is important to note reductions in amenities, benefits, and services. 

 

On the NS we did get our tiles and a gift, and we were offered turn down if we wanted. We declined the turn down, and still they tidied our room in the afternoons (and left towel animals and chocolates). We had robes in our room (a cheap inside cabin even).

 

We did notice the lack of snacks in the Piano Bar this time, but honestly the snacks were pretty limited and were not served. On our last Alaska tour, watching people grab foods with their hands instead of tongs convinced us to avoid that snack bar. The Lido was open from 10:30-11:30 I think, and we received snacks in the Blues lounge a few times, and in our cabana daily.

 

3 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

Distant Lands in Lido is simply amazing

 

We were also very impressed by Distant Lands on the NS and Koningsdam. We did enjoy Tamerind, however, and Nami, but we used our HIA credits for it.

 

3 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

Half Moon Cay: Having been here before we opted to stay onboard. It was a short day; 9am-3pm; last tender at 2:30pm.

 

One tip for tendering more quickly: if you book an excursion you can skip the line and get the first tender. Also I believe Club Orange, or Mariners (4 star?) can skip the lines.

 

We did HMC twice on our last cruise (2 days apart), and tendering was smooth and quick both days. I'm sure it would be worse if you didn't get a good time slot, and it might feel chaotic and off-putting. We adored HMC, and really enjoyed the lunch on the island. We floated in the ocean until we turned into salty prunes, and did the horse experience.

 

Our take on HMC is that it felt like the fantasy version of white sands and blue waters, where hints of the real world are pretty far removed. Occasionally, this is exactly what we need.

 

3 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

My rank of music

 

We have found a wide variance between cruises with the bands. We had a NS cruise in the summer where the Blues band was fantastic, though in November it was just good. The Rolling Stone room was tepid in the summer, but amazing in November. We've seen the duelling pianos at both extremes as well. The quartets seem more consistent, but they seemed to draw a smaller crowd.

 

3 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

I encourage everyone to at least try something new once on a cruise. Break your daily routine.

 

This is the best advice I've seen for cruisers in a while! Rolling with it opens up a lot of fun you might otherwise miss. Changing it up is important. Try an excursion you wouldn't normally love, you may find you learn something about yourself! Some of our best cruising moments just happen, things like meeting the music director at a bar and talking about keyboards, or hearing a staff member's plans for their next few cruises, or meeting folks you wouldn't normally get a chance to talk to.

 

We used to avoid the Lido, for example, as our first experience with it ever was chaotic and disappointing. We learned that the Lido on embarkation day is just a silly idea, and that it has huge potential if you try it more. On embarkation day, we now try something like Nami (which most people don't find until later in the week). You can find quiet or loud spaces by learning the ebb and flow of the ship, and we have a lot more fun when we can be in the right places for our moods.

[Crusin-Suzan]

Just got off the Volendam for 28 days!   I agree totally!   Was fantastic but the food was bad!   We never complained because it is not the crews fault!   The deal with what they are dealt!   We ate in The steak house three times!   All three were not worth it!   Steak was horrible!    Did we complain?   NO!   Did in their survey!   
 

But Amazon cruise was wonderful!   For such a unique cruise there was no naturalist aboard!   So sad!   Did complain about that!

[Copper10-8]

5 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

...........................................

 

Staff: by and large friendly, efficient, hard working staff. A+ for the staff. 

 

 Pro Tip: If you want a Bossche Bol from Dutch Cafe; get there 15 mins before they start serving food. ............

 

Can't beat a Bossche Bol (see the inside) at the GDC, except maybe by a "Broodje Kroket" or a cup of "Erwten soep"

 

  

 

Pools: both large enough to swim laps and deep. Only cruise line without life guards. Life guards aren't just for kids and should be present IMO. No life jacket station for kids.  Too many adults bringing glass beer bottles into pool. One broken glass will ruin pool for everyone for a day. Bar should serve aluminum cans at pool deck and nothing in a glass. Just observations, great pools basically though. 

 

Yes, there should be first aid/CPR trained lifeguards, with AED's within reach, at both pools! (HAL has never had them) The only permanently crew assigned there now are the Beverage stewards. And anyone taking glass inside a pool (just like on a dance floor) should be warned once and, upon a second such occurrence, keel-hauled   

,....................................

 

Kids club: kids loved it. Great staff. Found it a little odd that the entertainment staff doubles as kids club too, but no issues. ...............................

 

Are you sure about that one? HAL has always had trained and licensed Club HAL (now called Youth Staff) assigned to their youth facilities. Now, those folks are assigned to the Entertainment Dept. like the entertainment staff that lead the deck games, bingo, trivia, the D.J. etc., but they've never had collateral entertainment duties  

 

..............................They give you peanuts................

 

What? No goldfish? Blasphemy! What is a mother to do?

 

........................
 

Spa staff: one of only 3 significant complaints I have, and the only interaction the entire cruise that actually ticked me off. They at first refused to honor pricing shown on Navigator app, producing a paper price list 30% HIGHER than the app. A second person was called up and they explained to me that my $50 off Spa Card must be used on services above $100 to start with; not true.  I was told to return later in the day as the manager was on break. Later in the day, the manager of the spa told me that the services I wanted are for women only and I should know that; this again was NOT true and I told her. Am I the first guy on the planet to get a pedicure? There are actually services listed by gender in the app and this was not in those sections. 

 

Eventually the manager verbally agreed to honor the price in the app while also referring to the printed higher charge list. Throughout my treatment I was upsold by both the technician and manager.  I was then charged the incorrect amount on my account and that took quite a while to sort out. I did register a complaint w GS after that and was never contacted back. I will *never* spend money in a Steiner run spa again, on any cruise line. While I acknowledge that Steiner is 3rd party, HAL tacitly allows this behavior. It is customer unfriendly. It must work great on 80% of the people though or they wouldn't do it at all. 

 

Unacceptable! Honor what you put out there as advertisement

 

 

entertainment: Hope you like hearing the same top 20 hits frequently in music venues and only at night:  

 

Theater schedule as follows 

Day 1: movie 

Day 2: comedian 

Day 3 : BBC presentation w 4 piece musician 

Day 4: same comedian 

Day 5: Dance show 

Day 6: BBC presentation w 4 piece musician

Day 7: same dance crew 

 

We still enjoy the Step One dancers! They put a lot of energy and enthusiasm in their shows! Having said that.. those five-six shows are getting a bit old in the tooth! Time for an upgrade/new shows Mr. Prince! And while I'm on the topic, how 'bout you bring back the four singers that used to be part of the cast? How 'bout it, dude? 

 

No deck parties: never been on a full Caribbean cruise before without a single deck party. Several things about the entertainment onboard make me wonder if cruise director cares, is paying attention, or these are corporate orders?

 

Deck parties have left the building exit stage left a while back and fer sure post-Covid

 

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#2 - BB Kings band (definitely skimpier and smaller group than in October though...); should have put them outside by Sea View for Orange dance party. 

 

Usually/as recent as April on Zuiderdam, two vocalists, one drummer, one solo guitar, one bass guitar, one keyboard player, one trumpet and one sax player for a total of eight! Are you saying no longer? 

 

 

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Edited December 18, 2022 by Copper10-8

[LMaxwell]

54 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

...

 

Definitely sure about the entertainment staff being in the kids club. There was a different one there for each session.  I met them all at activities and then again later dropping off or picking up the kids. They were all entertainment hosts and all had shifts in the kids club. There may have only been one or two staffers that were permanent to kids club.  Maybe someone was sick for the week and they needed more coverage? When I say staff, I am referring to the entertainment/activities hosts; not musical performers or comedians. 

 

I think Deck Parties/Covid as an excuse is a non-flyer; they HAVE the party, they just cram it into BB Kings inside.  I was on Disney and Celebrity this year, earlier in year with more covid restrictions, and both had an outdoor night time deck party. Like a cheap lobster tail, it's a cruise tradition. The ships are designed to accommodate these activities; someone is making a decision NOT to use them. 

 

The Muesli/Overnight Oats with thin slices of apple was my favorite breakfast; I would dress it up with the dried fruits bar. I should have asked for HAL's recipe for this - it was great. 

 

 

[iflyrc5]

We had a deck party on the NA the week of Nov 22, 2022 - free drinks on the lido deck both inside pool  and sea view pool from 1-2pm.  3 kinds of beer, 2 wines, 2 Caribbean drinks, and soft drinks - all free for 1 hour.

[Copper10-8]

22 minutes ago, LMaxwell said:

How 'bout the BB Kings? You say they cut numbers! Usually/as recent as April on Zuiderdam, two vocalists, one drummer, one solo guitar, one bass guitar, one keyboard player, one trumpet and one sax player for a total of eight! Are you saying no longer? Who got eliminated? 

 

 

 

 

[LMaxwell]

11 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

I only have 1 decent picture in there; I count 7. I could be wrong. 

[ski ww]

Thanks for a great review, we will be cruising on the NS in July. Kind of gives us something to look forward to.