*ICE + FIRE* ms Statendam in ALASKA with pre in Las Vegas - Summer 2013 Trip review

Hi everyone. Back from a two week June vacation, one week in Las Vegas with a day trip to the Grand Canyon followed by one week on the venerable ms Statendam. This was a double dose of newness as it was our first cruise on HAL and initial trip in majestic Alaska. We have cruised before with past trips on Carnival, Costa, Celebrity, RCL and NCL. The Statendam was the smallest cruise ship we have sailed, we generally try for the larger and newer builds on the mass market lines but were open for a change of pace and the route benefits of a cozy ship sailing in Alaska and British Columbia.

This wasn't a long planned trip but we have thought about an Alaskan cruise before and did some research here on the HAL experience and top must eats. We didn't find reviews on the Statendam and given her age there doesn't seem to be a strong curiosity about the ship other than a recent dry dock. Hopefully some people can benefit from the thread.

NOTE: One of my current tv favs is Game of Thrones; had not watched the first two seasons but in marathon-esque spurts have watched all 3 seasons now so as a wink to the original source material I thought I would call this thread, "Ice + Fire".

The cruise itinerary.

Here is a sample of things to come with some stitched photos. We haven't completely organized and processed all the photos so there will be a lapse between posts but hopefully summer breaks won't keep the thread from aging too badly.

View of the Grand Canyon.

MDR on the Statendam - Rotterdam Dining Room. We ate at Pinnacle Grill three times (2 lunches and the Le Cirque dinner), Canaletto once and the MDR. We are food photo people so there will be a bunch of food pics later.

Margerie Glacier in Glacier Bay

Inside Passage

Great pictures - love the one of the Grand Canyon - Beautiful

Nice pic of the Rotterdam dining room. Can't wait to see your foodie pics.

So the shotgun marriage of Las Vegas and Alaska you ask, well it wasn't the first combination we planned but the solitude of Alaska was nice after the hectic sights and bright lights of Vegas.

Vegas was locked in since we had a list of restaurants we wanted to try and then we looked at hotels and cruises to Bermuda since we wanted to check out Atlantis and try more Caribbean foods. Nothing matched up perfectly so then we looked at cruising to Alaska. We have spent time in the Canadian Rockies so Alaska hadn't been a must do just a might do. Seattle and Vancouver starts were options but we liked the Statendam itinerary best even though it meant flying up to Anchorage and overnighting there.

Only in Vegas, the thrill rides at the top of The Stratosphere Tower. Never been up there, looks insanely fun with emphasis on insane so not sure if I could do the rides.

Nothing says Vegas like a stretch limo.

We stayed at the The Cosmopolitan. The location is perfect for us, right by City center and near big hotels hubs like Bellagio and Planet Hollywood resort.

During the week has a range of guests; conference attendees, young and older guests. Towards the weekend the crowd gets younger and more party goers check in.

The rooms are spacious and we lucked out with a room on the 55th floor with South strip city views.

When reading what to eat on HAL lamb seemed to come up often as a recommendation (think both in the MDR and Pinnacle Grill). I don't usually eat lamb (I didn't mind lamb in Turkey though) but planned to have HAL's lamb and so I wanted a reference to compare. Enter, Estiatorio Milos at our hotel, Cosmo. Hotel restaurants on the strip are expensive but Milos offers a good value 3 course lunch deal and has lamb on the menu. Colorado USDA Prime Lamb Chops. This was tasty and easily the best lamb I have had in North America.

On HAL we had Lobster twice, Lobster salad at the Le Cirque dinner and Surf and Turf in MDR. This lobster roll (pricey at $24) at Lobster Me

(food court style place inside the shops at Planet Hollywood) was way better than both. Heaps of lobster and some care in the preparation

We had lots of great food and some not so great food in Las Vegas. The best dish we had was at Hakkasan at the MGM. Crispy duck salad -

with pomelo, pomegranate and pine nut (don't remember too much pine nuts though)

Our pick for one meal in Vegas is Hot n Juicy Crawfish. It's not fancy, you have to eat with your hands (or plastic gloves) but if you like seafood and like the heat you'll be in heaven.

It is always busy with lots of locals and tourists even though it is off strip on Spring Mountain Rd. We waited 40 minutes on a Sunday night but it was worth it.

We liked it there so much we went again but to the original location (wicked nice service). This is what you get, heaps of seafood in a sauced bag.

If you are nearby, for a quick bite I'd pick Viva Las Arepas, which has awesome Venezuelan arepas. It is close to the North strip end but the neighbourhood is deserted.

These are filled with garlic shrimp and beef. Yum + filling and only around $7 each.

Thanks for sharing the great pictures with us. My compliments to the photographer.

We too have stayed at The Cosmopolitan and loved it.

Looking forward to the Alaska part of your review:)

Really enjoying the review of your adventure. Love your pictures, great camera.:)

What did you think about the Statendam???

Great review. Really enjoying reading about your travels. Haven't been to Vegas in a long time. Looks like fun.

Enjoying your review.

Thanks for sharing your great photos.

Will be interested to read your thoughts of the Statendam.

Thanks for sharing, great photos, what kind of camera are you using?

Sounds like you had a wonderful land and cruise vacation.

Food pictures look great.

Enjoying your trip report and the nice photos.

Keith

Thanks for the info ..

morning everyone.

Great pictures - love the one of the Grand Canyon - Beautiful

hi, thanks. it's a surreal kind of place, hard to believe how immense the area is.

Nice pic of the Rotterdam dining room. Can't wait to see your foodie pics.

just a bit longer for a boatload of HAL food pictures :)

Typhoon1 thanks, luckily the cameras and lens do most of the tough work, we just have to carry them around.

shrimp56 we like it a lot too. this was our second time at the Cosmopolitan. It strikes a good balance between mainstream and modern upscale. Alaska is coming soon ;)

Really enjoying the review of your adventure. Love your pictures, great camera.:)

What did you think about the Statendam???

hi. overall I liked the Statendam. I had realistic expectations of a smaller ship. I'll get into more detail later but some quick hits:

(+) there are enough public spaces, it seemed well maintained. enjoyed the wraparound teak decks and bow views. cabin was in good condition.

(-) food variety was lacking (can understand somewhat), lido needs work. kind of sad the main atrium sculpture is no longer working (since it's not a fountain anymore it feels like an outdated relic, like something too heavy to move).

notes: The ship feels feels narrow coming from bigger cruise ships. we were encountered long lines but heard from a crew member that we were sailing quite a bit under capacity. the ratio of male to female crew is high. we are used to a more even split on the other mass market lines. think the predominately male crew lends itself to a more subdued vibe and less general chatter which might be HAL's goal.

It didn't shift us to smaller ships but for shorter cruises i would recommend the ship. if you love small ships there may be better ones but there wasn't a glaring problem and it seemed to be a solid HAL cruise ship.

enjoy your epic Incan Statendam journey :)

Great review. Really enjoying reading about your travels. Haven't been to Vegas in a long time. Looks like fun.

hi, thanks. the first time I went to LV was in 2006 and then again last year. the strip has changed a lot moving into modern marvel territory. it still has all the Walgreens and CVS stores you need but now they are just across the street from the Louis Vuitton and designer stuff. that's what great about Las Vegas, it's accessible and offers something for everyone.

erewhon you're welcome. hope you get some insight from the comments and observations.

JamesEM thanks. we have two cameras, an Olympus *****-D EM-5 and a Panasonic GF5. the camera bodies and lens are smaller than DSLRs counterparts but take comparable quality photos.

Sounds like you had a wonderful land and cruise vacation.

Food pictures look great.

thanks, we had a fun time seeing some of nature's highlights. we like taking food/menu pictures since things seem to past by in a blur

Keith1010 nice to hear, thanks.

we're sailing away.... sure, you're welcome

A bit more pre Alaska today. I don't think Las Vegas or Grand Canyon is as practical as a Seattle or Vancouver pre for this forum but someone might get a kick at seeing these snaps.

We had a one day bus trip to the South Rim of Grand Canyon. Last year we drove to Antelope Canyon in Arizona which is beautiful but the drive was exhausting so this time we opted to take a bus tour. Nice to relax but coudn't sleep much on the bus.

On the way there was a short stop to see Hoover Dam. On the left is the Mike O'Callaghan – Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.

The dam taken driving back to Las Vegas from the bridge.

After about 5 hours we made it.

Naturally lots of people. Some of the viewing areas are packed, stepping to the side you can take an alright shot.

There are shuttles buses leading to the lodges and information centers or you can take a paved walking path. We walked back to the bus area, about 1.5 hours in the 88 F/ 31 C degree heat.

Another canyon set. I never thought about it but was surprised that the edge was so close.

There are so many great sites and parks around Nevada/Utah/Arizona. Makes me remember that not everything can be a cruise stop.

We strolled The Fremont Street Experience for the first time. Fun energy with live classic rock music, lots of people and costumes (some better than others).

The light show itself was a bit underwhelming though.

Another Vegas past time, hotel/casino hopping. We strolled around the north strip and walked around Wynn/Encore.

Some eye popping colours.

Canadians love Vegas, it's familiar but different. It's hot but not humid. There's outlet shopping and shops we don't have up here like Trader Joe's.

Well, see you Vegas, Hello Anchorage!

Great pictures! Can't wait for some of Statendam! More please!!

hi. overall I liked the Statendam. I had realistic expectations of a smaller ship. I'll get into more detail later but some quick hits:

 

(+) there are enough public spaces, it seemed well maintained. enjoyed the wraparound teak decks and bow views. cabin was in good condition.

 

(-) food variety was lacking (can understand somewhat), lido needs work. kind of sad the main atrium sculpture is no longer working (since it's not a fountain anymore it feels like an outdated relic, like something too heavy to move).

 

notes: The ship feels feels narrow coming from bigger cruise ships. we were encountered long lines but heard from a crew member that we were sailing quite a bit under capacity. the ratio of male to female crew is high. we are used to a more even split on the other mass market lines. think the predominately male crew lends itself to a more subdued vibe and less general chatter which might be HAL's goal.

 

It didn't shift us to smaller ships but for shorter cruises i would recommend the ship. if you love small ships there may be better ones but there wasn't a glaring problem and it seemed to be a solid HAL cruise ship.

 

enjoy your epic Incan Statendam journey :)

 

<snip>

 

Thanks Fireflies, we have been on the Statendam many time and really liked her but its been some years since we cruise on the Statendam. Appreciated your reply.

Looking forward to the rest of your review and wonderful pictures.:)

lstrong thanks, I'll put some photos of the Statendam up today

PathfinderEss sure, happy to help :) let me know if you have a particular question about anything. Can I ask, when you sailed on her was the fountain flowing?

Sorry I had a typo in my reply, i meant to say:

we never encountered long lines but heard from a crew member that we were sailing quite a bit under capacity.

Whenever we asked for a table for 2 it was never a problem, may of waited 2 minutes once. The ship has aged well and has been updated (there is a Teen Oasis on the top deck)

and well maintained so if you liked her in the past I think you'll still be happy with her.

So with sad faces :( we left Las Vegas and boarded our Virgin America flight to SanFran and then contunied up the seasonal route to Anchorage.

It was our first (and maybe last) time on Virgin America. Things were fine in the air with some superb vistas

Landing at midnight at Ted Stevens airport was a little surreal. In the endless summer of sun it was packed with arrivals and departures. As we collected our bags we noticed something wrong, there was a gaping tear in one corner. I've flown a lot and have had broken wheels, shattered support pieces, messed up pull handles, even straw or hay spilled on luggage but never this. It was ripped open, twisted out of shape and wouldn't roll properly. UUghhh, this was the last thing we wanted to deal with at midnight on a travel day with another travel day to come. We filed a claim with a friendly agent who took a photo and completed the paperwork but till today haven't heard back from the airlines. UUghhh, I guess I'll have to call them and see about it.

So at around 1:30 AM we finally arrived at our hotel, Dimond Center (ranked 7 out of 69 on tripadvisor) on the outskirts of town. If you need an Anchorage hotel this one is alright, simple but clean.

The breakfast room is crowded and the offerings are limited though.

But the best thing about the hotel for us was that it was literally right next door to a Walmart (our view was the side storage area).

Now this is normally not a good thing but when you got to do some last minute replacement shopping you embrace the smiley face. Groggy after only a few hours

of sort of sleep we woke up bright and early and bought a luggage and repacked. Here's a peek at both the new and the destroyed suitcase.

In researching we debated taking a train or bus to Seward. The train would probably be better but left earlier so we decided on a bus. We didn't book with HAL instead we booked with Alaska Cruise Transfer ($54 pp I think )

which was probably cheaper. No problems catching the shuttle though the bus was a little older. Our driver was young but drove smoothly and offered some commentary.

There were 2 stops, first a scenic stop at Beluga point at Turnagain Arm.

There was a taped Alaskan information track on the bus covering various topicss like the Iditarod and the 1964 earthquake. I wasn't fully aware of the great quake and its effects like the ghost forests near Portage