This was our second time through the Panama Canal with Holland America. Last year we did the same cruise(on the Maasdam) but from East to West. The Statendam experience was not quite as good as the Maasdam experience. Many of the reviews I had read before the cruise mentioned the ongoing problem with the air conditioning. They were right. We had the AC unit turned down as low as it would go. While the temperature was adequate during the day, during the night we found it way too warm as we prefer to sleep in a cooler room. We noticed that the people across the hall from us had a fan going in their room, so they too had problems. Neighbours on one side of us told us that they had had to call maintenance to have them look at their system several times as it was too warm. So obviously the Statendam has problems. I would not let it stop me from traveling on this ship again, but if I had a choice of ship, doing the same route, the Statendam would not be my ship of choice!!
On the Maasdam, we had lots of lounge chairs out on deck 12 and there were lounge chairs all the way around the outside of Deck 6. Not on the Statendam!! There were only 5 chairs on each side of the Sports Deck and only one small stretch of the Promenade Deck has chairs. I know of 4 people who independently went to complain at the front desk about the lack of chairs, and who were told that more would be put out, yet the number of deck chairs did not change. Again, this would not be a deal breaker for me, but I did miss the outside loungers!!!
Those two complaints I mentioned were the only things that were not wonderful about the ship. The staff was amazing. The entertainment was fantastic, from the nightly shows, to the piano bar to the guitar lounge to the string quartet. I would have to say that HAL excels at selecting good entertainment. The room stewards were the most attentive we have ever had. The food was great as always. This ship even had fat free french dressing, which I have not seen on a HAL ship before!! We found that a lot of people were like us and preferred to eat on the Lido deck rather than in the formal dining room. Some days it was difficult to get a table. Yet one side of the Lido was closed to guests as it was reserved for officers and staff. Yet we often only saw about 6 people there. On days when the guest side is full, perhaps they should allow people to sit at one end on the staff side.
614 Statendam
Very quiet, great location, AC adequate but not cool enough.