Live from Nieuw Stat sailing from A to A!

[Mike B Landlubber]

Today we made port at A Coruna, Spain and I took a HAL excursion to the big pilgrimage cathedral at Santiago de Compostella. I thought the highlight of my report today was going to be complaining about disembarking for the excursion. There was a LONG line before getting into the auditorium. But it ended up moving efficiently and I was seated in the auditorium with my sticker after about twenty minutes. So not my favorite, but it worked out okay. We rode for about an hour on a bus. Sound problems with the bus PA and somewhat with the earpieces distributed for walking tour dogged us early on,  but we were quickly released for about 80 minutes of self exploration, so it really didn’t matter. I didn’t try to go inside the cathedral, there was a lot of intricate carved stonework around, and that stuff fascinates me so even staying outside I was kept well-entertained and busy.

Final event on the tour was tapas in a nearby hotel. They were okay generally but I really enjoyed a mushroom broth and a fried cheese tidbit they served. We were serenaded by local troubadours. Then a routine one hour bus ride back to the ship.  Unfortunately it was cloudy and sunless all day until shortly before we arrived back at port to reboard the ship! Overall it was a good shore excursion but not a great one.

Edited September 12 by Mike B Landlubber

[shippmates]

I also enjoyed my trip to see the town square and all the arriving pilgrims.  It was a great tour and had a wonderful lunch in one of the sidwalk cafes.  I had the grilled octopus in olive oil and garlic with other spices.  It was amazing and if I ever get back there again I will have it again.  Glad you enjoyed your trip.

[fusion927]

Thanks for the pictures and words.  You did get better weather than we did in May where it rained all afternoon.

 

Question, if you get the opportunity.  We are going to be back on the Nieuw Statendam in November.  Can you let us know who the Cruise Director and Entertainment Directors are?  And (big ask), see if they are still going to be onboard in November.

 

Thanks,

Mark

 

[bigbeergut]

On 9/12/2024 at 4:24 PM, Mike B Landlubber said:

Today we made port at A Coruna, Spain and I took a HAL excursion to the big pilgrimage cathedral at Santiago de Compostella. I thought the highlight of my report today was going to be complaining about disembarking for the excursion. There was a LONG line before getting into the auditorium. But it ended up moving efficiently and I was seated in the auditorium with my sticker after about twenty minutes. So not my favorite, but it worked out okay. We rode for about an hour on a bus. Sound problems with the bus PA and somewhat with the earpieces distributed for walking tour dogged us early on,  but we were quickly released for about 80 minutes of self exploration, so it really didn’t matter. I didn’t try to go inside the cathedral, there was a lot of intricate carved stonework around, and that stuff fascinates me so even staying outside I was kept well-entertained and busy.

Final event on the tour was tapas in a nearby hotel. They were okay generally but I really enjoyed a mushroom broth and a fried cheese tidbit they served. We were serenaded by local troubadours. Then a routine one hour bus ride back to the ship.  Unfortunately it was cloudy and sunless all day until shortly before we arrived back at port to reboard the ship! Overall it was a good shore excursion but not a great one.

In spite of all of your issues with the tour, I think you had a better day than us.  We went to the dentist 😩

[Mike B Landlubber]

This morning I went to Aveiro, about one hour by bus south of our location at Porto. Aveiro has canals and small boats that get it compared to Venice, but our highlight was going to be seeing the making of a special candy and enjoying a sample. Ovos Moles are a special candy made from egg yolks and sugar. It originally was made at a Nunnery in the area from donations of sugar and eggs. The nuns stopped making the candy, supposedly one of the main reasons was because they were getting too fat! Private companies now make the candy and we saw a demonstration batch made. We then got to eat the batch. The candy is very very sweet and quite tasty. Sadly, it can only be sold commercially in the local area because it goes bad after 15 to 30 days. Our time in the candy factory was quicker than I had expected. We went for a boat ride and then had another bus ride back to the ship. I enjoyed the candy factory. The boat ride was kind of routine, but some of the old buildings we saw were lovely.

 

Note the decorations on this barge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Passing out candy.

Edited Friday at 10:44 PM by Mike B Landlubber

[gizmodog]

On cruise Oct. 5, can you tell me how the food has been? Do you like your cabin?

dying to know any ship reviews you have at the moment.

[Mike B Landlubber]

5 hours ago, gizmodog said:

On cruise Oct. 5, can you tell me how the food has been? Do you like your cabin?

dying to know any ship reviews you have at the moment.

Based on your post count, looks like you’ve been around awhile, and I doubt you’ll have any negative surprises if you’ve sailed HAL before. The food is typical Holland America and I am totally happy with it.  I am in Club Orange, but I’m sure the regular dining areas are similar. I suspect you will be happy with your experience If you’ve been happy on other HAL voyages. As for specific suggestions, here are a couple: 

 

For room service they have quite a number of items that are free and several others from the Dive Inn that are only five dollars. I highly recommend the grilled cheese sandwich, free off of kids menu or the Dive Inn hot dog which I believe is $5. Room service is definitely worth doing if you are just tired or don’t want to face the crowd.

 

There are a lot of items on the general menu, and things depend too much on individual taste and preference to make broad recommendations. I will mention that this cruise I had shrimp and andouille sausage with grits for the first time, and really liked it. If you have been squeamish about escargot, I highly recommend being bold and trying it when offered. Use bread to sop up some of the juice after you have eaten the snail.  If you are prone to the midnight munchies, it can be worth grabbing a couple of cookies from the Lido at lunch and taking them to your room for a midnight emergency.

 

The Pinnacle restaurant is open for lunch on sea days and is quite a bargain for some luxe meals at a modest price. You can’t enroll for lunch ahead of time, so I would see the dining reservations desk on the first day if I could. Off of the lunch menu I especially recommend the pinnacle burger and the beef tenderloin with blue cheese.

 

The Grand Dutch Cafe is only on the latest HAL ships so you may not be familiar with it. It has a limited, but very good menu. I am not a coffee drinker, but I hear from others that their coffee is possibly the best on the ship. I especially recommend their grilled ham and cheese sandwich and split pea soup. It can sometimes be hard to get into the Cafe because of the large line and limited seating area. I like to visit on Port days where I either take a short excursion or explore on my own in the port and come back early. It can be easy to get in while most people are still ashore.

 

I have a stern balcony cabin and it is standard HAL. I am quite happy. You have probably seen recommendations to avoid cabins where there is a public area, particularly an entertainment area or food prep above or below, you really want to have other passengers above and below you. Hopefully, you have avoided these. I know I was told that the ship sailed full on this itinerary and there’s a good chance It will be full when you board. So you may have limited or no opportunity to change or upgrade. If you don’t have a balcony, The Crow’s Nest is a good place to go sit and watch the world go by when underway.

 

I find HAL consistently excellent, and I suspect you will be pleased with your experience!

Edited Saturday at 05:37 AM by Mike B Landlubber

[Mike B Landlubber]

22 hours ago, fusion927 said:

Thanks for the pictures and words.  You did get better weather than we did in May where it rained all afternoon.

 

Question, if you get the opportunity.  We are going to be back on the Nieuw Statendam in November.  Can you let us know who the Cruise Director and Entertainment Directors are?  And (big ask), see if they are still going to be onboard in November.

 

 

 

Per the customer service desk, in November the cruise director will be Mr Bryan.  Now that I think about it I may have misunderstood Bryant. The current entertainment Director is Mr Davis, but they aren’t sure who will have that job in November.

Edited Saturday at 02:03 PM by Mike B Landlubber

[Mike B Landlubber]

For those scoping out the ports for future cruises, we received the following letter today, which may be of interest to those headed for Valencia. Of course it may not apply in a future cruise. I have no other information. We received a warning letter about pickpockets in Lisbon also. I had a minor adventure in Lisbon, but pickpockets were not involved. I’ll write it up and probably have something posted tonight for me here in Western Europe.

IMG_6189.heic

Edited Saturday at 02:08 PM by Mike B Landlubber

[fusion927]

16 minutes ago, Mike B Landlubber said:

 

Per the customer service desk, in November the cruise director will be Mr Bryan.  Now that I think about it I may have misunderstood Bryant. The current entertainment Director is Mr Davis, but they aren’t sure who will have that job in November.

Thanks... Names are not familiar, so could be new experiences!

 

[mom7]

I'm enjoying your journey on the Nieuw Statendam with all of the wonderful pictures. It will be our first time on this ship in December for 14 days & wondered if you can confirm if they have 50% off happy hour each day?  We enjoyed it on our last 3 Rotterdam cruises. It was in our Navigator each day & on the back of the Daily with the offer as well as the time & bar locations where it was offered & would like to know if that same 50% off happy hour is offered on the Nieuw Statendam currently.  Thanks in advance, enjoy your cruise & thanks so much for sharing. 

[Mike B Landlubber]

3 hours ago, mom7 said:

I'm enjoying your journey on the Nieuw Statendam with all of the wonderful pictures. It will be our first time on this ship in December for 14 days & wondered if you can confirm if they have 50% off happy hour each day?  We enjoyed it on our last 3 Rotterdam cruises. It was in our Navigator each day & on the back of the Daily with the offer as well as the time & bar locations where it was offered & would like to know if that same 50% off happy hour is offered on the Nieuw Statendam currently.  Thanks in advance, enjoy your cruise & thanks so much for sharing. 

50% off from 3:30 to 4:30, so your window is narrow, but see the pic!

 

IMG_6205.heic

Edited Sunday at 02:31 AM by Mike B Landlubber

[Mike B Landlubber]

Today we were in Lisbon, Portugal. I signed up for an HAL excursion to The Tile Museum. Unlike my previous couple of excursions, this didn’t require a bus ride to another town, which ended up to be a very good thing. Portugal is a center for making extensive use of artistic and high tech ceramic tile, so they have a special museum here. The museum is located in a former convent, which also was a residence for a Queen of Portugal. In addition to the samples of tile and various small tile artworks you would expect here, they have a residence that incorporates a lot of tile and a magnificent church. This was definitely my favorite shore excursion so far on the cruise. I will load some photos after the text.

 

I guess I had to pay a price for enjoying the museum so much. Our guide was giving us a detailed piece by piece narration of the exhibits but our tour description indicated we would have time for self exploration. The guide indicated a time and place for us to meet after self exploration. I wasn’t a fan of the guide presentation, preferred to see the museum on my own at my own pace and went off to explore, and a couple of other people did. I arranged to be back at the designated place about 10 minutes before time and there wasn’t a soul there. Naturally, this bothered me. I got more bothered when nobody showed up! If I’d been in a town at a distance from the ship, I would’ve concluded it was time to panic. But I knew we were close to the ship and we had several hours before all aboard, so I was more embarrassed than scared. I asked Museum staff, and they don’t track the coming and going of tour groups, so couldn’t say that my group had definitely left. But the staff were very helpful and even queried their docents and staff over walkie-talkies to see if my group was still present. We stuck out because we had brightly colored receivers for the guide to talk to us hanging around our necks. But nobody reported any groups in the museum. A different tour guide who happened to be at the museum was emphatic that no tour guide would leave a guest at the museum so I hung around for a bit hoping my group would magically appear at the exit, but I finally got to within 20 minutes of when the tour was supposed to be over. I still had a couple of hours before all aboard, but I concluded it was time to head for the ship. A docent at the museum actually escorted me to a taxi stand and explained to the driver where I needed to go, which I appreciated, even though I wasn’t sure it was necessary. It was an uneventful ride of just a few minutes back to the ship, and the fair was only 6 1/2 euros. I wondered if when I boarded the ship and my card was scanned some sort of flag would go off, but there didn’t seem to be any notification to the ship staff. I asked what to do with my receiver, which of course belongs to the tour company and they had no suggestions except talk to the ship staff who arrange tours. I was skeptical of this, but went to the desk and they were not staffed. I will take the receiver down to excursions tomorrow, but of course we will be in a different city. I wouldn’t be astonished if I end up getting charged for the receiver! Since nobody else ended up following the directions to show up that I did, I figure that either I misinterpreted the instructions in some spectacular way, or more likely the Guide changed the directions after I separated from the group. I’ve never missed returning with my group before, and at this point I just think of it as a weird adventure. In spite of the stressful ending, I really did enjoy the museum!
 

I’m going to try uploading my photos in two posts. The forum software seems to get the vapors when I try to upload them all at once.

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 02:52 AM by Mike B Landlubber

[Mike B Landlubber]

Here is a second batch of Tile Museum pics….

 

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 03:03 AM by Mike B Landlubber

[Shalandara]

@Mike B Landlubber  thanks for the pictures.  Last fall my TA was supposed to make a stop in Lisbon and the Tile museum was my choice of must see.  (I have a friend currently living there and she was to be our guide).  But weather interfered with our port schedule and we never made Lisbon.  Your pictures help ... but I would still love to see it in person.

[Mike B Landlubber]

1 hour ago, Shalandara said:

@Mike B Landlubber  thanks for the pictures.  Last fall my TA was supposed to make a stop in Lisbon and the Tile museum was my choice of must see.  (I have a friend currently living there and she was to be our guide).  But weather interfered with our port schedule and we never made Lisbon.  Your pictures help ... but I would still love to see it in person.

 

a few more tile museum shots for @Shalandara

 

 

 

Edited Sunday at 03:26 PM by Mike B Landlubber

[Lido deck main]

Thanks Mike those Tile Museum pictures are great will definitely take that excursion on our next visit to Lisbon.

[ldog]

Aren’t tour guides supposed to count how many are on the bus when they start out and return with the same number?  Lord knows we’ve spent hours waiting for lost tour members.   

[Hampton99]

Thank you for posting live.  We were on the Nieuw Statendam in March in the Carribean and we found the shared spaces extremely busy compared to other HAL ships.  We will be sailing again on the Nieuw Statendam on the oct 19 sailing Athens to Athens.  We are considering booking a retreat cabana because of our march experience but we realize in the eastern Mediterranean the shared spaces might not be as busy.  How are you finding the pool and outdoor shared spaces?  We have sailed koningsdam, Nieuw Amsterdam, zuiderdam, zanandam.  This was the only time we found it difficult to find seating.

[0106]

@Mike B LandlubberSorry about the tour leaving you behind.  I wonder if Shore Exc will have an explanation when you return your headset.  Very unprofessional. To change the meeting time/place.

 

We prefer to avoid HAL tours if possible, especially when we are close to the site.  We explored the Tile Museum independently in October of 2023 when we were on the Oosterdam.  We took a cab that was about $7 from the ship, paid our admission of about $10pp and flagged down a cab to take us back to the ship.  Our total cost for 2 people was under $40.  In addition to the beautiful tiles that had been recovered from buildings that were about to be demolished, we enjoy watching the process of restoration in their workroom.

[Mike B Landlubber]

14 hours ago, 0106 said:

@Mike B LandlubberSorry about the tour leaving you behind.  I wonder if Shore Exc will have an explanation when you return your headset.  Very unprofessional. To change the meeting time/place.

 

In addition to the beautiful tiles that had been recovered from buildings that were about to be demolished, we enjoy watching the process of restoration in their workroom.

HAL professed ignorance, and I can’t blame them too much for not wanting to be in between a quarreling customer and supplier. The next morning, I presented my receiver to the staff at excursions while I embarked. They effectively shrugged, pointed out. The ship, wasn’t going back to Lisbon, but they would give the receiver to a ship that was headed towards Lisbon. I wondered if I charge for the receiver might show up in my board account but nothing yet. As long as nothing negative happens from it the incident is closed as far as I’m concerned.
 

I agree that this expedition could easily be done on your own. My one-way cab fare was 6 1/2 euros. Two cab trips plus admission to the museum would be cheaper than the HAL rate. Our guide gave a detailed but boring description of some of the exhibits that was partly responsible for me wanting to get off on my own. No value added there.

 

I think I may have stumbled area myself. I went up some stairs that were unmarked and saw signs of work being done and concluded that I didn’t belong there so turned around and headed back down the stairs! It is a big museum and back, less than two hours was not enough time.

[Mike B Landlubber]

Yesterday I did a forgettable excursion from Cadiz, which I will hopefully write up later. For now, I’m going to focus on the short but excellent excursion I had this morning in Gibraltar. At least one of the potential HAL expeditions from Gibraltar is rated as strenuous, involving a lot of steps inside the tunnels and fortifications there. As a World War II buff, I was intrigued by this and originally signed up for it despite not being sure my overweight body and elderly legs could handle it. After getting on board the ship I changed to a less demanding excursion without the steps. After consideration, I signed up for a “Fortress Gibraltar “excursion. I was a little worried because if I read the description skeptically, it wasn’t absolutely clear that the excursion included touring part of the famous tunnels under The Rock, as opposed to seeing an exhibition about them. I should not have worried. The excursion was excellent, and we got a nice tour of the tunnels. We also got to see the famous Barbary Apes up close. Unlike some of the stories I have heard, they were well-behaved and even posed for photographs. We got a tour of part of the tunnel Network, seeing where soldiers slept, getting a spectacular view from the fortress commanders special viewpoint, and seeing now unused tunnels heading for things like water reservoirs. There was an impressive natural fault excavators had to work around. The guide we got was very knowledgeable and gave a good presentation. after we were done, Our driver commented that he was considered the best of the various presenters. They had a number of small buses doing similar tours, the streets are narrow, and I don’t think bigger buses would work well. I suppose it was because of the small number of people, twenty on the excursion that we had just a driver and no separate Guide. We did get a separate site guide for the tunnel excursion as mentioned above. Our driver guide gave us interesting bits on the areas we passed, and talked about living in this tiny colony. I was very happy with the excursion, though it didn’t include the cable cars up onto the rock. I’ll have to save those for the next cruise!

 

excursion staff brings order out of chaos as we are dispatched in the morning 

 

The Rock as we left the ship

 

Not a natural waterfall, this is salty water from the desalination plant that provides fresh water

 

Barbary Ape posing

 

Barbary Apes with youngster

 

In the tunnels

 

Looking up into an impressive natural fault in the tunnels

 

Unused tunnel. There are vast amounts of tunnels still in use for defense or just not used now that we didn’t see

 

This observation post would have been critical if Germany had attacked during World War II. The Spanish border is just on the other side of the airfield!

 

Ancient Moorish fort

 

Bidding farewell to Gibraltar as we sail away

Edited Monday at 01:40 PM by Mike B Landlubber

[cannongate]

Thank you for sharing your experience.  Following every step of the way as I look forward to my first Holland America cruise.  

[Mike B Landlubber]

For anyone interested, here is the MDR menu for this evening. Two dishes are part of Rijsttaffel, a special Indonesian dinner they are serving tonight as a pop-up in the Tamarind.

 

[Mike B Landlubber]

Miscellaneous scenes of crew and other stuff around the ship

 

 

 

Not only does the library have books, it has paper crossword puzzles!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:38 PM by Mike B Landlubber