On this cruise, the captain first came on the loudspeaker and his every mention of the Statendam was “the elegant Statendam,” which we thought was amusing.
We’re in our 60s and most of the 1,211 passengers could have been our parents, so this 15-day trip may not be for anyone younger than the 24-year-old ship. But it was a five-star experience all around. The 719-foot-long Statendam was nearly pristine and the staff members, from servers to officers, were universally efficient and smiling.
We booked this cruise mainly to visit the Panama Canal, thinking the trade-off would be lackluster ports in Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Colombia. While we did see poverty, there was a good variety of fascinating experiences. I would recommend booking a lot of tours, though. Despite no tendering, many places had unkind sidewalks. We booked HAL and independent tours and all were very good. The Cruise Critic roll call was very helpful.