The 12/21/09 Statendam out of Fort Lauderdale was our first Holland America cruise. We previously had cruised 7 times on Princess and 2 times on Celebrity. We chose the 12/21/09 Statendam based on price and itinerary. I found the cruise on the Holland America Website and booked it through our travel agent. I booked a BC Guarentee and wound up with Category A Cabin 049. We flew into Fort Lauderdale 1 day early. Our pre-cruise hotel stay was at the Hilton, located right off the north side of the Seventeenth Street Bridge. (Wonderful hotel stay and great rate—booked right off the Hilton website.)

In the months and days leading up to our cruise, I continually searched for and read every Statendam cruise review and every bit of general thread information available on CC and other web sites. Although I do this for every cruise we take, I was extremely curious about the condition of the Statendam (christened in 1993) and what our first HAL cruise would deliver. I also checked out every picture of the Statendam I could find on different web sites including my favorite, Webshots. Never did see a picture of our cabin which is always nice to see pre-cruise but did see many of the aft deck pool and knew that area would be wonderful and it was exactly that...WONDERFUL.

The information I found pre-cruise for Statendam was limited and what little I did find was sketchy. Plus, there were zero "it was a wonderful cruise and I loved the ship" reviews/comments or anything even close. Read more