We booked this cruise tour only a month ahead of time and did not have a lot of choices so started out a little worried about that. We have cruised several times but not with Holland America and after reading several on line reviews of the Statendam we thought we were booked on a rust bucket with poor service, no ventilation, poor food , etc.......Happily that did not turn out to be the case.

We went to Vancouver two days early and stayed at the Pan Pacific which we really enjoyed. Enjoyed walking the Sea Walk and used the Big Red Hop on Hop off bus to get explore the city. Wonderful city! Had a great meal our last night at the Coast restaurant which was pricey but worth it and we walked there from our hotel. We also walked to a wine store and purchased a few bottles to take aboard the ship.

We walked to the embarkation point from our hotel around 11:00 am and got checked in shortly thereafter but they did not allow boarding until around 11:30. With some trepidation we boarded shortly thereafter. The first nice surprise was that our verandah stateroom had a bathtub and the room and balcony seemed very spacious. Flat screen TV and lots of storage space. Everything was very clean. We explored the ship and yes the decor was a little dated as it first sailed in 1993 but its relative small size (about 1220 passengers) made it so easy to get around and it never felt at all crowded during our trip. The ship had some up to date exercise equipment and both times I utilized it there were very few people there. Read more