Live from Nieuw Statendam Premier Voyage, December 2018

[puppycanducruise]

Very enjoyable read.  Wonderful pictures and comments.

Thanks to all who contributed.

Safe travels.

[0bnxshs]

55 minutes ago, scluvsrain said:

Someone asked Tim if there is a chime man on board playing the little musical instrument to announce dinner, like on the other HAL ships. 

 

There is not!!!  ☹️☹️☹️☹️

 

No Yum-Yum Man?  Oh no..... 

[1ANGELCAT]

It was great meeting everyone on this very special trip across the pond.

Although we had some minor hiccups along the way, ( I just got charged for my 2nd free PG dinner last evening- already got it corrected) it was a great time.

Safe travels to all and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year .Until we meet again on another DAM ship.

Kathy

[Vict0riann]

44 minutes ago, 0bnxshs said:

 

No Yum-Yum Man?  Oh no..... 

No Yum-yum man and no yum-Yums.  I believe they are both boarding in Fort Lauderdale.

[I_r_a]

On 12/8/2018 at 8:56 PM, Copper10-8 said:

 

I thought key lime pie was green? .....

Hi Cu

 

The juice of a Key lime (from FL) is yellow.

 

A green Key lime pie is a fraud.

 

" The Key lime is a citrus hybrid with a spherical fruit, 2.5–5 cm in diameter. The Key lime is usually picked while it is still green but it becomes yellow when ripe. It is smaller and seedier, with a higher acidity, a stronger aroma, and a thinner rind, than that of the Persian lime".   Wikipedia

 

[Vict0riann]

One last glimpse as we trudged off on the jetway.

 

 

We did get a cruise log, and according to it we ate a lot of eggs.

 

 

Our friends who who are staying on board for another four days didn’t get the Cruise Log.  I just hope they get one for the full collector’s cruise when they return to FLL.   They did have a nice Indonesian lunch - here is the menu.

 

[Vict0riann]

On 12/17/2018 at 5:15 PM, CruiserRock44 said:

Hi cruisers!

I am going on the Dec. 23rd cruise and very excited!  I have a few questions so thanks in advance if you could kindly let me know:

1)  How is the wi-fi mid package (7day for $99) - is it slow, moderate, or well worth the $99?

2)  For those with "Open seating" time, how has that been in regards to wait time when you arrive for dinner at MDR?

3)  For those with "Open seating" time, has HAL been able to accommodate at least doing a reservation for the next 3 nights?

4)  Are there any specialty restaurants that offer lunch that is "included" and not a fee?

5)  How is the red wine selection / taste under the Signature Package?  

6)  Our ship is sold out (not sure if yours is) but if it is sold out, does the ship seem crowded?

Thank you!!!  I've enjoyed reading your adventure on board the new ship and love seeing the photos!!

Has anyone answered your questions?  I may have missed a few posts, looking back now while we’re at the airport.  I can answer a few things. 

 

1.  I found the internet okay most of the time to post.  I didn’t seem to get many emails, but now at the AP, suddenly I have over 400 emails!  So perhaps it was not that good.

 

2. We only went to the MDR twice, but did not have to wait either time.  We picked unpopular times, I guess, like 7:20, or 6:45.

 

3.  Reservation times seemed to be restricted to early or late, not in between. 

 

4.  No.

 

5.  I don’t know as we just bought a package of wine by the bottle.

 

6. I believe we only had about 2030 passengers on board.  The Music Walk area was busy when music was playing, and the Dutch Cafe was very popular, but I think other areas weren’t too bad.

 

just to add to my answers, POA1 is our go-to wine guy, and he is doing a thread right now.  You should ask him your wine questions!

 

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by Vict0riann

[Vict0riann]

On 12/16/2018 at 4:09 PM, SeaBands said:

looking at the food in SeldeMer makes me want to take this ship. Also the sushi bar. We didn't like the Kdam  since all the aft cabins were Vista with the bed against the window/door and felt that the balcony cabin was smaller than on Edam or New A. What was the cost for the cellar master dinner? I don't like most of the art shown in the photos compared to other ships. Are there photos in the gangways outside the cabins? I will look at the itineraries and may book  the ship when we are on the Rotterdam in Feb. We were thinking of trying Viking or Windstar in November.

Another question that may have been missed.  Cellar Master Dinner was $79.

 

art was quirky.  Not much in the hallways, I think.

[I_r_a]

Thanks to all who contributed to this really, really swell thread.

[Btimmer]

We're continuing on and we received a cruise log.  Using the data provided, I computed that the ship gets 95 feet per gallon of fuel consumed.  The Maasdam, by comparison gets 56 feet per gallon.  That's an impressive increase in efficiency.

 

The mandatory passenger drill is underway. 

[VMax1700]

1 minute ago, Btimmer said:

We're continuing on and we received a cruise log.  Using the data provided, I computed that the ship gets 95 feet per gallon of fuel consumed.  The Maasdam, by comparison gets 56 feet per gallon.  That's an impressive increase in efficiency.

 

Calculate the feet per gallon and  per passenger,  and it improves even more!

 

The mandatory passenger drill is underway.

Did you have to attend or are you excused?

[CruiserRock44]

5 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

Has anyone answered your questions?  I may have missed a few posts, looking back now while we’re at the airport.  I can answer a few things. 

 

1.  I found the internet okay most of the time to post.  I didn’t seem to get many emails, but now at the AP, suddenly I have over 400 emails!  So perhaps it was not that good.

 

2. We only went to the MDR twice, but did not have to wait either time.  We picked unpopular times, I guess, like 7:20, or 6:45.

 

3.  Reservation times seemed to be restricted to early or late, not in between. 

 

4.  No.

 

5.  I don’t know as we just bought a package of wine by the bottle.

 

6. I believe we only had about 2030 passengers on board.  The Music Walk area was busy when music was playing, and the Dutch Cafe was very popular, but I think other areas weren’t too bad.

 

just to add to my answers, POA1 is our go-to wine guy, and he is doing a thread right now.  You should ask him your wine questions!

 

 

Thank you so much for answering my questions!  I appreciate it -- very helpful!!  Glad you had a great time....I can't wait to board!

[Btimmer]

We are exempted from the drill.

[wdw1972]

Tim - Do they still have the "house" wines by the glass?  In the past they weren't on the wine list or bar menu, but one of the whites was a pinot grigio (Zonin), and it was somewhere around $6.50.  With the new list, I'm curious whether they've eliminated the "house" options.

 

Sue/WDW1972

[Copper10-8]

8 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

One last glimpse as we trudged off on the jetway.

 

 

We did get a cruise log, and according to it we ate a lot of eggs.

 

 

Our friends who who are staying on board for another four days didn’t get the Cruise Log.  I just hope they get one for the full collector’s cruise when they return to FLL.   They did have a nice Indonesian lunch - here is the menu.

 

 

Rijsttafel! Enak sekali/delicious! 

[AmazedByCruising]

2 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Rijsttafel! Enak sekali/delicious! 

 

Until last week I had a guest from Bali, and she hadn't even heard of the word Rijsttafel.  But she sure loved it in all 4 Indonesian restaurants my hometown has 🙂

[Copper10-8]

1 minute ago, AmazedByCruising said:

 

Until last week I had a guest from Bali, and she hadn't even heard of the word Rijsttafel.  But she sure loved it in all 4 Indonesian restaurants my hometown has 🙂

 

Pretty sure it's a Dutch "colonial" thing which isn't very popular in Indonesia, but it sure caught on in Holland and its Indonesian restaurants. In welke provincie zit je/in which province are you located?

[AmazedByCruising]

3 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Pretty sure it's a Dutch "colonial" thing which isn't very popular in Indonesia, but it sure caught on in Holland and its Indonesian restaurants. In welke provincie zit je/in which province are you located?

 

I'm in Utrecht, the city. Not in The Hague if you were thinking about the song The Hague, you're the Widow of Indonesia.

 

Talking about songs, once on a cruise I did look up what the weather was like in The Hague for my cruise mate who was born there. I wonder if you can guess the song.  🙂

 

Rijsttafel is indeed a colonial thing, originally to brag about how many different meals you could bring to the table. "Shared dining" avant la lettre. Then the immigrated Chinese found out and that's why there are still more "Chin Ind Rest" restaurants than McDonalds in Holland 🙂 Not to get into politics, please spare me, but in the seventies, such "appropriation" of another culture wasn't considered a bad thing and now I enjoy a Rijsttafel at least once a month.

 

 

 

[kazu]

13 hours ago, Btimmer said:

We are exempted from the drill.

 

Nice 🙂 

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Enjoyed all the final reports.

[Vict0riann]

Made it home at midnight, after a long day flying around - three different flights, but they were pretty good, except for the final hour flying to Victoria through a storm!  

 

We are going to be puppy-sitting for the next week, and DD says puppy is a spoilt brat, so you probably will not be hearing from me much.  Hope everyone has a very happy Christmas and lots of cruises in 2019. 

[puppycanducruise]

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Thank you for this thread.

Enjoy the grandpuppy. 

Hope Santa is good to you.

[cat shepard]

Merry Christmas, Ann.  Thank you for all the trouble you took to share info and pics about the NS with us.

[harryw]

Glad you are home safely.

Thank You for being our eyes and ears for an amazing journey and many of us will follow in your footsteps. And your insights will make our trips more rewarding.

 

Happy Holidays!

Harry

[sailingdutchy]

I am just sitting behind my computer after returning home and reading this wonderful "Live from the Nieuw Statendam Premier Voyage from A to Z " and enjoying our wonderful cruise all over again and I will try to construct " The Credits " and pay homage to the deserving cast .

 

This of coarse has to start by thanking the very well experienced crew of The Nieuw Statendam. We were told they come from about 45 different nations all over the world , just to name a few that we encountered were of coarse starting for a large part with people from Indonesia , The Philippines and The Netherlands but also from Thailand, Brazil , Belgium , Serbia , Croatia ,the USA, Spain ,Hungary ,Tunisia  and many , many more , I wished I knew all of their countries , they all deserve credit . As always I met many great "Old Friends " from the crew from other cruises.

 

In comparison to the Premier voyage of the Koningsdam this "New Built " was totally ready for us , there were very few hick ups that I can think of thanks to the very hard working crew under the direction of the "New Built Captain " whose name escapes me , of Captain Sybe de Boer ( who almost nobody had tagged as the "Take out Captain " ) and a lot of other experienced people who were involved in Venice right from the start.

 

There were many high lights during these first couple of weeks for me and I will just mention a few . The coffee talks with the CD Ross and the Captain , the Chief Engineer and the Hotel Director were a lot of fun . The two talks from Captain Albert on the Main Stage , one on the history of cruising and the different ships and another on the 145 year HAL history were fantastic . For me the performances of the "Quintet " on the Lincoln Center Stage were wonderful and so were the performances of the dancers on the Main Stage .

 

Almost every evening we enjoyed one of the Specialty Restaurants and many had made changes in their menu's which is very nice specially if you cruise on the HAL ships 3 or 4 times a year and have a chance to try out different dishes , there were improvements and also a few losses of my favourites.

Critique I also have a little bit . On this New Class of ships there is very little or none of the rich history of Holland America to be seen , I find the dropping of  "The Halve Maen " out of the logo is totally wrong and there are no Captain Card's paintings to be seen only "Modern Art " . Is that celebrating 145 years of HAL ????

My other big criticism is the incredible loud voiume of music on the "Music Row " it sometimes just blows you away and at some venues it is hard to just sit , listen to the music and enjoy a beverage without getting a head or an earache . They almost chase you away ......

I know this is all my personal taste and feeling and I realize it is very incomplete so please take that as it is .

 

Last but not least  I would like to thank my friends Ann , Sherita and Tim who have taken the time and trouble to give a lot of information to CC'ers who will cruise on this ship in the future an inside . Thank you for all the beautiful pictures and all of the comments . 

Up to the next adventure in 2019 . 

 

Tony , Sailingdutchy