Brief thoughts on Nieuw Statendam 7 day southern Caribbean sailing

[vicd1969]

Some brief notes on my recently completed 7 -day sailing on the Nieuw Statendam  with my cousin and his family, who were first time HAL cruisers.

 

Positives:

Embarkation was reasonable when we arrived around 1230 - longest wait was actually the traffic going through the port checkpoint 

cabin attendants Made and Andi made us feel at home

Cousin’s family ocean view cabin was spacious and the separate shower and bathtub were much appreciated

Dive In fries and burgers

MDR and Tamarind mains were all hits

Lido service and breads

BB King and Rolling Stone bands delivered energetic and fun performances

NY pizza offering wings and sliders after 9 pm for late night snacks

Dutch cafe had very good coffee - the paid coffee at the bars in the lido are inferior 

Half moon cay - they loved watching the stingrays

Hal now has enough assistants helping out with activities 

I was always able to find a heated chair in the thermal suite, the steam room is huge!

CD Betty Ann was wonderful in her presentations, but the best was her cozy Q&A session that took place on the 12th deck

Plenty of NFL games on the big lido screen for this fan. Standing room only for movie night when they showed Top Gun Maverick.

Instead of a mariner lunch, just got a free mariner cocktail coupon. This actually worked better for me personally since it didn’t force me to schedule around a lunch and I didn’t have a beverage package this time. But I can see it be disappointing for most mariners.

 

Things to improve

We ate in the MDR three times. With two kids in our table, it is necessary to give them something to eat as soon as we sit. Bread was delivered without asking only  once., when we went early at 5. We also didn’t get to put in our orders until like past 15 minutes from being seated once in the MDR and the night we ate at the Tamarind. The food did come out promptly once orders were taken. But it seems anytime dining is a crapshoot and based on the very limited sample size, the earlier you go the better. 

Premium Internet service not very good after day two, though it was somewhat better when I sat closer to the bow on decks 2 and 3, like at the rolling stone room.

 

The port stop hours were a bit limited - we arrived too late in Aruba to do anything more than a beach trip. Getting off at 2 pm was a zoo. We ate dinner onshore which was surprisingly good given the touristy location by the harbor. Curacao was a bit better with the 7 am to 4 pm port stop, we were able to go explore a relatively secluded snorkeling site and walk around town a bit. You do have to be an early riser to maximize the stop.

I didn’t realize the disembarkation process changed. When I sailed this past summer, we were given tags for our Club Orange anytime disembarkation. This time, you had to grab whatever tags you wish by the guest service area. So this ended up to be a first come first served situation with all the desired times gone by the time we came by. Fortunately for us, we had a late flight so it didn’t matter which tag we took. But the communication could have been better, it only said to come by guest services to pick up your tag the evening before disembarkation, not that tags would be available much earlier and will run out.

Some of the Tamarind appetizers were disappointing - either too sweet or not spicy/flavorful enough. The Tom Kha soup didn’t have enough lemongrass for example. We did get a second order of the shrimp tempura, the kids loved them. On a positive note, no charges yet for extra appetizers at Tamarind.

 

No tile received - though not sure 7 day Caribbean sailings get one.

 

 

 

 

[Florida_gal_50]

I’ve eaten in club orange, tamarind, sel de mer and Canaletto on the koningsdam.  As you mentioned, all are quite slow to take your order but as you say the food does come out fairly quickly.   The food has definitely changed in the tamarind. Spring rolls are now like tempura.  They mentioned it’s because they can’t get the wrap anymore yet the mdr has them at lunch.  Thanks for the heads up on the disembarkation tags.  I can totally see that happening on the koningsdam as they are not providing any info from the front desk.  They say it’s being sent out but housekeeping is losing it 🙄.  My cabin stewards are excellent, so no.

Edited November 20, 2022 by Florida_gal_50

[Cruising-along]

2 hours ago, vicd1969 said:

I didn’t realize the disembarkation process changed. When I sailed this past summer, we were given tags for our Club Orange anytime disembarkation. This time, you had to grab whatever tags you wish by the guest service area. So this ended up to be a first come first served situation with all the desired times gone by the time we came by. Fortunately for us, we had a late flight so it didn’t matter which tag we took. But the communication could have been better, it only said to come by guest services to pick up your tag the evening before disembarkation, not that tags would be available much earlier and will run out.

Thank you for your review!  We recently (Oct-Nov) sailed 28 days on the NS and other than a few billing issues that got resolved quickly, we had a great cruise.

 

This paragraph (above) jumped out at me though....nothing like our situation 2 weeks ago.  Our disembarkation papers were left in our cabin a few days before the end of the cruise, as always.  This included our issued tags.  I did see that they had more tags by the guest services desk, but they were meant to be used if you wanted to change what you had gotten.  Very strange that you didn't get them earlier. 

[Mary229]

Thanks for your review.  The only time I had dining room issues was also on the Koningsdam and that was 2019. That said, I don’t consider 15 minutes an issue.  Perhaps HAL could consider a family dining area where the service is more in line with family needs such as shorter dining experiences. It might be something to suggest on your post cruise survey .

 

I always request spicy and sometimes extra spicy.  The crew will sometimes hesitate but will finally follow instructions.  Often they really get a kick out of watching my initial reaction to the extra spicy and are pleasantly surprised that an American likes truly spicy food.  (I put Tabasco on popcorn and hot pepper flakes on lettuce😉)

[Hlitner]

Interesting comment about port times.  We have always seen port times as a major incentive/disincentive when we choose which cruise (cruise line and ship) to book.  With fuel costs sky high, it is tempting for cruise lines to cut-back on their port times.  A 1pm (or 2) in Aruba is a real bummer as it makes a beach day (which is why many like Aruba) almost impossible.   And leaving Half Moon Cay at 3pm (which means all aboard by 2:30) is not necessary.  This is done so that HAL can reduce cruising speeds and it is even worse on some of the other HAL cruises such as with the Zuiderdam,   Consider that on one of their 7 day cruises that ship leaves Grand Turk at 3pm (be onboard by 2:30) and does not arrive in St Thomas until 10am (leaves at 6).  One could also look at the Volendam's Christmas cruise when they arrive at Curacao at 3pm!  That is crazy for an island where many passengers might want to go to a beach, snorkeling, etc.    For these reasons alone, we have advised some friends to book Princess in the Caribbean!  Almost all the Enchanted Princess itineraries include a full day in port (usually in by 9 and out around 6 or 7).

 

Hank

 

 

[Mary229]

@Hlitner  I was going to add a similar comment.  For a short Caribbean cruise HAL would not be my first choice.  HAL’s best performance is their longer “exotic” itineraries and Alaska. 

[njfredd]

Just disembarked from the Nieuw Statendam after a two week Western and Southern Caribbean cruise.
 

The arrival process at the Aruba port was handled in a terribly disappointing/disorganized manner. The original exit place became extremely crowded- with those booked for tours and then those wanting to exit lining up - crowding the stairs and hallways. There were no announcements that I could hear to try to organize the departing hoards, and certainly no social distancing, or even attempts to assist those elderly or mobility impaired individuals. Finally an announcement was made that an additional exit was made operation, resulting in those stairs and exit points also being overwhelmed. Adding insult to injury, at the A exit level point, exiting ship staff was also allowed to join the crowded hoards trying to leave. Overall a very unsafe situation all around, where some sort of announcement and notification by Ship safety or in-charge personnel on the ship PA system  would have been welcome from the start, but was seriously lacking.

 

ship debarkation was also marred by a malfunctioning gangplank. Ship crew handled the process as best they could, but again notification was lacking for at least an hour from the time that passengers were supposed to begin the exit process, again creating lines and folks trying to access elevators to no avail. The captain finally made an announcement, pretty much indicating his displeasure with the malfunctioning unit and the overall process, but again some of the issues could have been avoided by a simple announcement/explanation of the issue at the time that departures were scheduled to begin.

 

Overall we did enjoy our time on the ship and the ports visited. Our Neptune Suite concierge, Lorraine could not have been more helpful and accommodating. Our cabin crew, Arye and Ron were fabulous - we give them great credit for their attention to our requests (even providing nightly towel animals and chocolates) in spite of what we could see were increased number of units on the ship for which they were responsible. Also, kudos to the Club Orange staff, with special thanks to Prio and the husband/wife chef team, for their attention and skill. A little more delay with more people seemingly purchasing the Club Orange package in the second week particularly, but the free mimosas provided at breakfast helped to sooth over the situation 🥂🥂.

 

in spite of the couple of ship exit issues, we would highly recommend the ship and the efforts of the crew throughout the trip. 

[albingirl]

I do like that ship but agree with those discussing time in ports. It always galls me that it's all aboard at 230 when at Half Moon. The most beautiful beach of all and we don't have enough time there. I like the European cruises with the long days in Port. We aren't going there right now because we don't want to be quarantined in Europe. But, I do miss those cruises.

[2LoveBikes]

I agree with those commenting about the poor disembarking handling on our return to Port Everglades on 11/19.  HAL team-members and officers were walking around with their radios while passengers patiently waiting in long lines for some information to get off the ship.  Why can't someone take the responsibility to let the passengers know they are having a problem with the connecting jetway/ bridge and they are going to let you know in a few minutes how we plan to proceed by using deck A to disembark......etc.

 

Also, your comment about the drink card. The Mariner drink card was introduced during COVID and now that COVID protocols have been relaxed (remember Orange Party, face mask optional) let's get back to Mariner Awards appreciation lunch instead of dropping Mariner tiles, pins and medallions in our staterooms.  Some ships are doing it while others are not.  I'm told no tiles were distributed during this cruise.

[510picker]

My wife and I were near the front of the line to disembark. We were told at 6:50 am it would be another 10 minutes. At 7:15 we were told they were having trouble with the gangway. After that, they avoided eye contact at all times. Finally they took us to the elevators, down to A Deck, to a ramp that led us to the pier in between the ship and the terminal, only to have port authorities yell at us to stop because the ship hadn’t been cleared. What a mess!

[njfredd]

re: tile distribution. We were on a B2B for our cruise on the NS and we received tiles during the first week (Western Caribbean). We did not receive anything for the second week (Southern Caribbean), but not sure if others who had joined the ship commencing the second week received anything. 
 

We did receive separate HAL Journeys booklets, with stickers to insert for each week.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for your review

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your comments.

[foodsvcmgr]

Re: port times, I was once told by HAL that they cut the day in HMC short so that passengers don’t get too much sunburn!!!!!

Checking superior and mass market schedules it seems Cunard and HAL are now sailing the slowest between ports where NCL is maximizing ports, times plus number of ports in same or shorter itineraries.

Princess and RCL somewhere in the middle.

Remember the 7 day ABC cruise that is now either 8 or just two ports?

[Ellencruise]

No tiles for me either. Yes disembarkation was interesting to say the least. I waited til 8:30, crept down the stairs with everyone else but was in my car and on my way home by 9:30. That facial recognition in terminal was amazing!  Gee Big Brother really does know everything about us!

[Cruising-along]

20 minutes ago, Ellencruise said:

No tiles for me either. Yes disembarkation was interesting to say the least. I waited til 8:30, crept down the stairs with everyone else but was in my car and on my way home by 9:30. That facial recognition in terminal was amazing!  Gee Big Brother really does know everything about us!

And yet on our Oct. 8-Nov. 5 NS cruise(s) we got 6 tiles.  Wish I could share, we really didn't need more!

[vicd1969]

4 minutes ago, Cruising-along said:

And yet on our Oct. 8-Nov. 5 NS cruise(s) we got 6 tiles.  Wish I could share, we really didn't need more!

Looks like they ran out of the tiles the week before our Nov 19 sailing and weren't able to replenish. I did receive a tile in my June cruise that likely would have been the same Pinnacle ship tile. At least I was able to add a Northern Europe pin to my collection by winning a trivia session.

[foodsvcmgr]

Did anyone ask Front Desk for a tile?

I had to do that a couple times pre-pandemic even.

Or are they going away?

[2LoveBikes]

Did not receive Mariner tiles either.  Sent message to Guest Services via Navigator to request it be delivered to my room.  No response from GS.  Asked Stateroom Steward who said they did not receive any to distribute.

[Crew News]

Still awaiting my tile from Nieuw Statendam from Nov 2021.  Might take the HAL letter promising then to the Rotterdam this December.