Nieuw Statendam is doing a great job.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We are on the Nieuw Statendam , which is a full ship. Staff is friendly, We had dinner last night in Canaletto which was excellent.

Music Walk is hopping every evening.

I am impressed. 

[0106]

Happy to hear your positive report.  We will be on the NS for the first time in March.  We are looking forward to visiting Norway on the Rotterdam next year.  

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

4 minutes ago, 0106 said:

Happy to hear your positive report.  We will be on the NS for the first time in March.  We are looking forward to visiting Norway on the Rotterdam next year.  

You will love it . 

[CNSJ]

52 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

We are on the Nieuw Statendam , which is a full ship. Staff is friendly, We had dinner last night in Canaletto which was excellent.

Music Walk is hopping every evening.

I am impressed. 

Considering your total experience with HAL, this is good to hear,  We join you onboard in October of this year.  Thanks again!

[VMax1700]

See you on Wednesday!  Glad to read that the 'kinder count' is dropping for next week.

[Windsailer]

1 hour ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

We are on the Nieuw Statendam , which is a full ship. Staff is friendly, We had dinner last night in Canaletto which was excellent.

Music Walk is hopping every evening.

I am impressed. 

Did Canaletto have the old or new menu?

[BobbiSox]

Nieuw Statendam is one of my favorite ships. I love the Dutch Cafe, and the gelato bar! Wish all the ships offered these options. 

[Mary229]

After sailing the Koningsdam I booked the NS with trepidation.  I absolutely loved it.  Now my favorites are the Zaandam and the NS.  

[Haljo1935]

Thanks for posting and happy to hear you had a positive experience  - we are on NS in Oct, Nov & March.😊

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

59 minutes ago, Windsailer said:

Did Canaletto have the old or new menu?

It's changing to the new menu on 8/9

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

52 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

After sailing the Koningsdam I booked the NS with trepidation.  I absolutely loved it.  Now my favorites are the Zaandam and the NS.  

It's fun going on a traditional Holland America ship and then going on a Pinnacle class ship.

Both are good/fun. 

[St Pete Cruiser]

2 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

We are on the Nieuw Statendam , which is a full ship. Staff is friendly, We had dinner last night in Canaletto which was excellent.

Music Walk is hopping every evening.

I am impressed. 

Good to hear this.  We understand Presty, from the Zuiderdam World Cruise, is one of the MDR mangers.  Also Rudi Solomin was recently onboard.  The Stat has great itineraries as it doesn't repeat very often, making it ideal for longer back to back cruising. We know at least one man who has been onboard since Ft Lauderdale.

[Heartgrove]

Is Captain Noel O'Driscoll the current Master? If so, he is one of the most personable captains on HAL.

[skrufy]

Going on our first HAL ship, the Nieuw Statendam in January. Glad to hear so many of you love the ship. 

[Nodakboiler]

Captain is Eric

[OlsSalt]

2 hours ago, Mary229 said:

After sailing the Koningsdam I booked the NS with trepidation.  I absolutely loved it.  Now my favorites are the Zaandam and the NS.  

 

How is the NS fundamentally different from the Konigsdam?

K-dam was one and done for us.

[Mary229]

11 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

How is the NS fundamentally different from the Konigsdam?

K-dam was one and done for us.

The flow of human foot traffic seems much less congested, it is lighter and brighter and when I was on it, never seemed to suffer bottlenecks for dining or tenders. 

[Mary229]

34 minutes ago, Heartgrove said:

Is Captain Noel O'Driscoll the current Master? If so, he is one of the most personable captains on HAL.

Yes, he is.  I am not one who remembers names very well but his I do.  Nice person

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

1 hour ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Good to hear this.  We understand Presty, from the Zuiderdam World Cruise, is one of the MDR mangers.  Also Rudi Solomin was recently onboard.  The Stat has great itineraries as it doesn't repeat very often, making it ideal for longer back to back cruising. We know at least one man who has been onboard since Ft Lauderdale.

Yes Presty is here. 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Gail & Marty sailing away

[Senior Sea Dog]

After Sailing on the Kdam and Rdam looking forward to joining the fun on Sept 17.

SSD

[Cruising-along]

1 hour ago, Heartgrove said:

Is Captain Noel O'Driscoll the current Master? If so, he is one of the most personable captains on HAL.

 

28 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Yes, he is.  I am not one who remembers names very well but his I do.  Nice person

Captain O'Driscoll is one of the best!  He did our vow renewal on the NS in 2019 and we sailed with him again last year.  

[Blackduck59]

Thanks for starting a "they're doing great" thread. It is a welcome change from all the whining threads and complain for the sake of complaining threads. We will be embarking on our first HAL cruise in about 2 weeks. We enter with open minds and thankful we don't know how it "used to be". Hopefully what is will be very good and this may be our new best cruise, who knows.

[Oceansaway17]

7 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

We are on the Nieuw Statendam , which is a full ship. Staff is friendly, We had dinner last night in Canaletto which was excellent.

Music Walk is hopping every evening.

I am impressed. 

oh nice to hear this.  I thought music walk is going away or was it just one thing.

 

I will be on NS next June from Copenhagen doing Norway and Iceland.   

[C 2 C]

We cruised on N Statendam for 10 weeks and loved it.

[mahi mahi]

We did the 14 day Norway on NS last month, North Cape from Copenhagen.  We had a fantastic time, loved every minute of it! Ate in the MDR every night except one dinner in Tamarind (also great) and there is really no need to go to specialty restaurants as the food was outstanding.  Loved that they brought fresh fish on in ports. Cruise and travel director Clare Adams was really good as was Amanda the entertainment director.  Don't miss the fun in Ocean Bar during the daily happy hour!

We were told by Clare that HAL is bringing back some classical music starting this month and I believe it has already started on this ship, something we used to look forward to on previous cruises.