Review/Summary Nieuw Statendam Western Carribean Feb 18, 2023

[HALcruiser2001]

This was my 3rd cruise.  First two were 2001 and 2006.  Both HAL.

 

After reading nightmares here, I was scared.  From bad food, small portions, cabana boom boxes/cancels, the list went on.  I finally ignored them.

Here is a breif summary.

1) Boarding:  9/10.  I could have had someone drive me to the room in a golf cart to get a 10/10.

2) Room:  Neptune suite.  Ambulatory ADA 7085.  Carpet was dirty, awesome veranda, great bed and pillows.  9/10.

3) Room stewards.    I guess 10/10, but really, we did not require anything from them.

4) Neptune lounge:  9/10, would have liked better food.  Wish that they had Tazo teas like in the crows nest.

5) Room service.  Breakfast 9/10.  Midnight snacks arg..... 3/10

6) Lido market,, its a buffet,  I asked for fresh stuff mostly so that it was hot,  Food was not as hot as I liked but still 8/10.  If you are alone, lean your chair against table if you have to leave otherwise, they will clean your table and someone else will get it,

7) Club orange.  9/10, we had some really odd tasting salad one night.  LMAO.  Portions were perfect.  I had to skip lunch to eat an entire dinner.  Wife has picky taste and Gi issues.  If she did not like something she ordered they brought her something else.  Amazingly accommodating.    She had 3 birthday cakes one for each meal.  They redid one because it was not decorated to the satisfaction of our waitress Kaileah (sp?)

8- Pinnacle grill 10/10, steak and burger were perfect, but total overload as far as fat content.

9) Rudi's:  Amazing.  10/10.  Nico was awesome waiter..

10) Rock and Roll room.  10/10.   We were lucky great band.   Don't think they are staying on ship or as a band.

11) BB Kings  Day 1:  10/10.  Days 2-7:  4/10.  They lost vocalist and keyboard on 2nd day and struggled. Trumpet and Guitar were really great.  Good

drummer, but tough for them.

12) Ocean bar... our favorite.  10/10 great everything, poured and mixed well.  Great cosmos and great smoked old fashions.  Also liked the Rotterdam Martinez.

13) Promenade deck:   9/10 just because I have been on Zuiderdam.  Thank you for giving me a place to walk 5-8 miles per day.  We were mid ship, so i usually went down to promenade, then outside to walk bow or stern (pool and spa lido deck) and then back via promenade.  The promenade is especially awesome in heavy seas.  We had some rough nights and captain Eric was doing 16-20NM, so the front of the promenade was amazing and being an insomniac it was humbling to be down there at 2-3AM.
14)  Cabana:  8/10  Great service.  Could have better view.  Peaceful and quiet.

I cannot imagine anyone rating HAL or this ship low.  i cannot imagine a better way to have spent my wifes 60th bday.

My wife and I are so happy we spent a mega ton of money for her 60th.  HAL treated us very well.

 

 

 

[brovol]

how was the internet?  fast, or super slow, like I had on NA at Christmas?

[brovol]

Thanks for the review BTW.  Nicely done.  I like the format.

[Sea42]

Thanks for taking the time to do a review, I appreciate it. I'm glad you found most things enjoyable!

[HALcruiser2001]

7 hours ago, brovol said:

how was the internet?  fast, or super slow, like I had on NA at Christmas?

Whoops.  Missed that.  It was tolerable.  I could outlook and gmail just fine.  I avoided video so not sure.

I thought that I would be able to SMS/wireless text, but could not.  

[canadianbear]

What a wonderful 60th!  Neptune suites are a great way to celebrate.  Enjoyed reading your review.  We are still hesitant to cruise yet but I sure miss it (hubby not so much 😢)

[HALcruiser2001]

2 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

What a wonderful 60th!  Neptune suites are a great way to celebrate.  Enjoyed reading your review.  We are still hesitant to cruise yet but I sure miss it (hubby not so much 😢)

It was freaking awesome... Best 10k I have spent in years.  Thank you HAL and Cruise Critic!

The only thing that could have improved it would have been if the 1 Pinnacle suite was available.  I would have done it, but we booked Dec 3, it was taken, but I met the "owner" of it and expressed my envy.  😉

I am so lucky to have the $$ to have done this.

[HALcruiser2001]

6 hours ago, Sea42 said:

Thanks for taking the time to do a review, I appreciate it. I'm glad you found most things enjoyable!

The only thing "bad" was the club sandwich at 2:00am.  Thus 3/10... for one sandwich.  What a harda$$.

[HALcruiser2001]

7 hours ago, brovol said:

Thanks for the review BTW.  Nicely done.  I like the format.

Funny.  I pounded it out.  My boss would cringe.

[canadianbear]

2 minutes ago, bdd123 said:

It was freaking awesome... Best 10k I have spent in years.  Thank you HAL and Cruise Critic!

The only thing that could have improved it would have been if the 1 Pinnacle suite was available.  I would have done it, but we booked Dec 3, it was taken, but I met the "owner" of it and expressed my envy.  😉

I am so lucky to have the $$ to have done this.

 For my 65th I did 5 cruises that year, one on Celebrity in a suite and the rest on HAL.  It was wonderful!  I told my husband I want something special on my 70th so hope by then we feel comfortable enough for a cruise.  We were supposed to do the 50 day cruise to the South Pacific but had to cancel.  I suggested it would be a nice 70th gift to me on a long HAL cruise-we shall see!  

[HALcruiser2001]

14 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

 For my 65th I did 5 cruises that year, one on Celebrity in a suite and the rest on HAL.  It was wonderful!  I told my husband I want something special on my 70th so hope by then we feel comfortable enough for a cruise.  We were supposed to do the 50 day cruise to the South Pacific but had to cancel.  I suggested it would be a nice 70th gift to me on a long HAL cruise-we shall see!  

Just do it.  My wife has serious immune issue.  She should have been on TPN (i.v. food), but we found stuff she could eat.  The diversity helped us figure out stuff that we would never spend the time buying at the grocery store... if that makes sense.  You cannot buy everything that the Lido has.  She was walker and wheelchair (evenings).

Everyone from service was amazing.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

We said fvck it, life is short.  Fvck TPN, Fvck C19, lets live life.

We did just fine.  Both of us came back healthy.  We did not mask, but we pay a lot of attention to hygiene.

Edited March 8, 2023 by bdd123

[HALcruiser2001]

18 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

 For my 65th I did 5 cruises that year, one on Celebrity in a suite and the rest on HAL.  It was wonderful!  I told my husband I want something special on my 70th so hope by then we feel comfortable enough for a cruise.  We were supposed to do the 50 day cruise to the South Pacific but had to cancel.  I suggested it would be a nice 70th gift to me on a long HAL cruise-we shall see!  

I am so sorry you had to cancel.  My thoughts and prayers are with you.

[canadianbear]

7 minutes ago, bdd123 said:

Just do it.  My wife has serious immune issue.  She should have been on TPN (i.v. food), but we found stuff she could eat.  The diversity helped us figure out stuff that we would never spend the time buying at the grocery store... if that makes sense.  You cannot buy everything that the Lido has.  She was walker and wheelchair (evenings).

Everyone from service was amazing.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!

We said fvck it, life is short.  Fvck TPN, Fvck C19, lets live life.

We did just fine.  Both of us came back healthy.  We did not mask, but we pay a lot of attention to hygiene.

I totally agree but have to get hubby on board. I actually told him if he won’t go to the SP tell me so I can save to go solo or find a friend if possible that can afford to go for a longer cruise.  

[HALcruiser2001]

7 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

I totally agree but have to get hubby on board. I actually told him if he won’t go to the SP tell me so I can save to go solo or find a friend if possible that can afford to go for a longer cruise.  

LMAO.... are you not the boss?

I can't spend a dime without wifey.  As soon as I said, suite, lounge, cabana, butler, she was all in.

Do I need to pitch this to your hubby?  🙂

If you have the money, do it.

Edited March 8, 2023 by bdd123

[canadianbear]

3 minutes ago, bdd123 said:

LMAO.... are you not the boss?

I can't spend a dime without wifey.  As soon as I said, suite, lounge, cabana, butler, she was all in.

Do I need to pitch this to your hubby?  🙂

If you have the money, do it.

lol!  He only cruises because I “make him”.  I remind him I “allow” him to fish all summer on our boat but I prefer a cruise ship!  We’ve done a lot of cruises but I want more.   Time will tell.  He just thinks 35-50 days are too long but I said you won’t know until you try!  

[HALcruiser2001]

1 minute ago, canadianbear said:

lol!  He only cruises because I “make him”.  I remind him I “allow” him to fish all summer on our boat but I prefer a cruise ship!  We’ve done a lot of cruises but I want more.   Time will tell.  He just thinks 35-50 days are too long but I said you won’t know until you try!  

Cruising is not my gig until wifey became disabled.  HAL seem perfect and it was.  We did not leave the ship, just an awesome experience.  We loved port days when everyone else left.

[HALcruiser2001]

@LauraS

I cut and pasted my review at your request.

[canadianbear]

36 minutes ago, bdd123 said:

Cruising is not my gig until wifey became disabled.  HAL seem perfect and it was.  We did not leave the ship, just an awesome experience.  We loved port days when everyone else left.

We enjoy port days too as don’t always get off the ship.  I’ve had feet issues for many years making it difficult to walk-however, with the pandemic, we got a treadmill and I slowly started walking on it.  Luckily, it has helped.

 

HAL has been a very good fit for elderly or disabled passengers for many years. They’re also good for any generation unless they like to party-since we started on HAL in 2008 where the Crow’s Nest was rocking, it has really changed.  Thankfully BBKings etc are available but I do miss the dancing in the Crow’s Nest.  

I’m so glad you and your wife enjoyed the ship and cruise.  The staff are wonderful.

[HALcruiser2001]

On 3/8/2023 at 2:51 PM, canadianbear said:

We enjoy port days too as don’t always get off the ship.  I’ve had feet issues for many years making it difficult to walk-however, with the pandemic, we got a treadmill and I slowly started walking on it.  Luckily, it has helped.

 

HAL has been a very good fit for elderly or disabled passengers for many years. They’re also good for any generation unless they like to party-since we started on HAL in 2008 where the Crow’s Nest was rocking, it has really changed.  Thankfully BBKings etc are available but I do miss the dancing in the Crow’s Nest.  

I’m so glad you and your wife enjoyed the ship and cruise.  The staff are wonderful.

I thought that I responded to this.  Walking is excellent, keep it up.  Thank you so much for the kind words.

[oakridger]

On 3/8/2023 at 12:31 PM, bdd123 said:

The only thing "bad" was the club sandwich at 2:00am.  Thus 3/10... for one sandwich.  What a harda$$.

 

What a great and concise review!  I'm glad to hear you both had a wonderful birthday cruise.

 

Regarding the club sandwiches......I love a good club and have had some on HAL, but the last time I ordered one from room service it was on barely toasted bread and only had one thin slice of ham and one thin slice of turkey and one piece of bacon with the three pieces of bread! 😲 I took out the middle bread and ate it but didn't order again. Next time I'm on HAL I will know to ask for double/triple meat and well toasted bread.  I'm sure they will accommodate that like most requests are! 🙂

 

Thanks,

~Nancy