Nieuw Statendam Review
So Disappointed in Service and Conditions of the Pool Areas
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We have been on numerous Holland America cruises, on many of their ships on all types of itineraries, including Northern Europe and the Caribbean. This past cruise was so disappointing primarily for one major problem. Yes, it was a southern Caribbean itinerary with stops on the private island, Curaçao and Aruba, with three full sea days. The weather on those sea days were nearly perfect for spending time either on the aft pool deck or the Lido pool area, center of deck 9. The pool areas were absolutely mobbed, very difficult to move around. On the aft deck I counted almost 50 people swimming or sitting in the pool itself. On all three days it was nearly impossible to order a drink if you were lucky enough to find a chair or chaise lounge. On top of that Holland did (and always does) a poor job of policing passengers who place personal items on chairs and then disappear for hours at a time. In all it was a horrible experience on the open decks during those sea days, which we normally really look forward to. The officers on the Nieuw Statendam could have alleviated the crowding by opening up the aft Sun deck, (deck 11) and Sun Bar, but no it was closed off to passengers for the entire cruise. Bottom line we found our at sea days to be most unpleasant due to the conditions on bothe the Lido and Aft pool areas.
On the plus side we found the dining room and bar experiences to be quite good. Our dining room waiters were a delight, insuring we always had a wonderful dinner experience. And of course the food was quite good, just what we expect with Holland America. The entertainment at both BBKing and Billboard was most entertaining. Very impressed with the musicians at both venues.
Our aft Verandah cabin was spotless and comfortable as we have found on most Holland ships with plenty of storage space. Our cabin attendants were exceptional, always checking to make sure everything was ok. We received twice daily service. It’s always amazing they know when we’ve gone out do breakfast or dinner and we return the cabin had been refreshed.