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I wanted to tell you about our cruise. The ms Statendam was the smallest ship we had been on for awhile and with only 1200+ passengers it did make a difference.
Our cabin was in a great position on the fifth deck - and only two doors away from embarkation entrance and debarkation exit. Perfect! Although we had the Promenade deck directly above us - I never found it a problem. Our ocean view was terrific and I found myself using it so much more than I thought. We would sit in our room and watch the sunset and have a glass of wine. We did miss a refrigerator that we had been used to, but we used our ice bucket to cool our wine so not a problem. We loved our stewards and they would even let us keep our towel buddies - so that I had a collection on the back of our sofa over time.
Now not everyone had as great a cabin as we did. We heard about people having rooms too hot or too cold. Then some on deck 4 had water leaks that flooded their cabins. Some people had to sleep in the library one night. I don't know how many cabins may have been affected - but we heard some got off in Cartegena and flew home. Again - it was what we heard.
We knew that this ship was going to be refitted next spring so it was not surprising that for as good a condition as they keep it, things would go wrong. We felt for the captain as there was trouble with an engine that slowed us down, so that we would often make it to ports late. (I think we were supposed to be in San Diego at 8:00 but made it about 11:30. That was the worst). They were wonderful about adjusting the ship tours so no one missed out.
The nightly entertainment was tops! We went almost every night to the Shows, then we liked to listen to the string quartet until 11:00. Even the movies in the theater (with good popcorn!) were ones we wanted to see. The TV had some good movies too, so we could watch in our cabin when we wanted to. My husband enjoyed the daily bridge, especially at sea days. I spent time in the library which was the best we have ever seen. I would do the Daily Quiz and Soduko. There was a couple of us at first that really were the only ones doing the quizzes, so between my husband and me, we won five times. I even got to the point where I would research the questions. Fun.
I guess the only thing I would say that I missed is the variety of things to do on the sea days. I think that was because of the smaller ship. Our last Panama cruise had several speakers from a variety of areas of interest - murder, finance, interior decorating, etc. This ship only had the talk on the history of the canal which, of course, would be important.
Going through the canal was the best. That's where being on the smaller ship shined! The rails weren't crowded with people 5 deep and everyone moved around and didn't become territorial like on the larger ship. The narration was easy to hear and well done.
The ship was wonderful about hand sanitizers and hot plates, food at the correct temperatures and the food was very good. Even though we would see a menu a couple of times in the 20 days, it would allow you to make a different choice the next time.
I hope you realize that we did have a great time!
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