We went on the older Zuiderdam and were impressed. Food was great and the ship looked very nice, but some signs of age. We were looking forward to be on this newest Statendam. The new design of the ship, you'll love it or hate it. We did not love the main restaurant that looked like Circus Circus with shiny fixtures and ugly carpet and lights. The food was clearly Carnavalised with penny savings here and there. Leaving from Florida, with not a single glas of orange juice, the cheapest tang-like watered drinks were served. This ship was build with the idea that it is better to invest a little one time instead of constant expenses and that shows in the theatre with surround screens. So the shows had no band or real singers, just six persons dancing around. One so-so comedian and one good one. Very far from our experiences with Celebrity. The Culinary Counsel is another example, some of the dishes made no sense, far fetched or simply not good. It never happened to me before but I had to send a dish back, simply not eatable smoked chicken soup, so spicy that I lost my speech for a while and I like spicy food! The cheap imitation wood in the cabin and the hallways, especially leading to the theatre was a big let down. Having said all that, the servers were great and the cabin was fine too. Some did not like the bathroom, seems little space but in fact the large shower takes up most of the room, which was fine with me. The last irritation was the constant selling of extra things, one morning we had 4 persons in a row offering to sell bottles of water. Really, too much Carnival on this New Statendam!