Nieuw Statendam Reviews

Beautiful ship, amazing staff. The shows were good but not fantastic! We like the BB Kings club vibe and band were so good first week but 2nd week the music somehow wasn’t so good to dance to. Rock and roll bank were okay. Classical trio were excellent. Cabin spacious and kept spotlessly clean. We paid extra for unlimited laundry which was the best thing ever!

Spacious ship Even at capacity there always seems to be plenty of room and seats for everyone Outstanding food in every food venue. So much variety and lots of beautiful flavours Superb crew, so attentive and always well presented Spotlessly clean ship always being cleaned Entertainment and activities are plentiful and good Cabins are excellent and kept to a very high standard by the cabin stewards

The ship is lovely. The crew are superb. The Destinations varied, all interesting and excellent choice. The daytime entertainment is all centred around the Bars - there were no lectures or talks about cultural or historic places on the Itinerary. The food in dining rooms and buffet was varied but we have had better on P&O and Cunard. No tea or coffee facility in staterooms and minibar very expensive and not included in drinks package. It was several days before we realised that it was essential to use the Navigation APP to find out where to meet for shore excursions, etc. Overall, it was a pleasant cruise, but it could have been so much better with a Guest Historian speaker. The Theatre is a superb venue for illustrated lectures, but we had none!

Brilliant ship with excellent staff.

Loved Holland America

We have sailed on Zuiderdam two times before and like the smaller ships, because the crew can become more personal. The decor was very dark on Nieuw Statendam and gloomy in many venues. In the dining room, people sat very close to each other.

The Pros 😀 Our itinerary was good, ports provided shuttles where required. Food onboard the Nieuw Statendam is fantastic in the main dining, lido and speciality restaurants. We were lucky enough to visit the Canaletto Italian, the Tamarind Pan Asian and the Pinnacle grill steak restaurants these were in addition to using Main dining room for breakfast and dinner. The lido buffet, Dive In Burger bar (superb cooked to order burgers and hot dogs and the New York Deli( Pizza, filled Bagels etc all deliver fantastic food. Decor around the ship public areas is tasteful and the fresh flower displays are stunning. Room stewards were awesome and went above and beyond to make sure we were looked after We spent most evening in the BB Kings All Star band who deliver stunning live soul and Motown music several times each evening - defo not to be missed The Cons 🙁 Main stage shows defo didn’t have any wow. We went to one this year and the singer couldn’t sing, the costumes were worst I’ve seen on a ship and the choreography poor. The show based on female Icons of music, called Class Act was thenworst Ive seen in 13 years of cruising. Look like they defo don’t spend budget on the main stage shows. Attention to detail by some of guest services was poor this year on the Nieuw Statendam. I was challenged incorrectly on a few occasions about the packages I had paid for !!! And was charged 18% service charge for the pleasure ! This includes in dinning rooms, spa and by room service. As I regular cruiser with HAL, I was surprised how standards have dropped with regards to quality of service. Most evenings during dinner your also pestered to have photos taken. It used to be just on dressy/ formal evenings. This year the photographer went around the dinning rooms every night asking to take photos. I’ve tried to be honest and list the good and bad- hopefully honest feedback will be looked at by HAL and I intend to take up my disappointment with their customer service now that we’re home. I did also raise them onboard but the poor service/organisation is noted but not addressed. Then Dutch cruise director like to have a pop at British whenever he could 😂😂.

Best (of 16) ship we’ve ever been on. Not just the atmosphere but also the service throughout. One hears of drunken brawling and aggression towards other passengers but we never heard a cross word or raised voice during our two weeks on board. Perhaps not the best for families, as children were as rare as hen’s teeth, but that suited us fine. Lovely mix of Americans, Australians, Brits, Canadians, Dutch, New Zealanders & smaller numbers of other nationalities. MDR and specialist dining both excellent but be prepared for post cruise diet as portions are larger than usual. We had the ‘Have it all’ package so no outrageous bill to settle at cruise end but If you fall for the sales patter of the shop sales staff you will definitely see that outrageous bill. Theatre entertainment was varied and original and the show team could actually sing in tune and dance in step.

Really liked the ship Good facilities but shows not as good as other cruises we have been on Cabin was good

Whole holiday was amazing. Beautiful ship, very friendly staff, great food