Statendam June 16 and 23 sailings

Eph60 · July 8, 2013

We booked a back to back north south Alaskan cruise on the Statendam. They had this cruise listed as a 14 day cruise but it was actually cheaper to book it as two separate cruises. We had also just gotten off the Westerdam, which was a bad experience so we were now reluctant to board the Statendam at this point. We would be pleasantly surprised at the difference between sailing on the Westerdam and the Statendam.

Like the boarding process for the Westerdam the boarding process was very smooth, especially seeing my wife is handicapped.

Our first room was an outside room 724. The room was very nice, we only wished that it had a refrigerator. My wife uses insulin so we had to keep it in the medical facilities because we did not have a refrigerator. Our luggage was brought to the room within minutes of us being in the room.

Our second room was a partially obstructed view room 374. Still a nice room but still no refrigerator. Moving was easy. We called the stewards and they moved everything. We just packed things from the drawers and they brought a rack. Everything on hangers was moved hung up and put into the next room closet hung up. We only had to unpack things back into the drawers.

The Statendam had a very nice layout to it and was a very nice size. The décor was also nice.

The Lido, like the Westerdam, is very confusing especially to figure out where lines start and finish. The crew would dish hot items on hot plates. They would tear off paper towel to give you to try to handle the plates while you tried to find someplace to sit. There is not enough seating.

We had traditional dining in the main dining room and were given a really nice table for 4 at a window in the rear of the ship. This had great views. Our first night at the table we were by ourselves and the assistant manager came up to us and asked us if we would move to another table. We told him we were happy with our table and wanted to stay unless we could get another table with a view like we had. He came back again later and asked us to please move because someone else wanted our table. This did not sit well with us. Perhaps we were not longtime Holland America passengers but there were plenty of empty tables and asking us to move so someone else could have the table we were at so they would be happier did not seem right to us. We also said we would be happy to share our table. The assistant manager came back again and said he had found us a similar table on the other side of the ship with basically the same view. We agreed to move but were not happy. Fortunately our next table was great and had good people sitting with us. I did watch our old table and the people only sat there a couple nights. It was empty most of the time. We were able to keep our new table for the second week of sailing so we were happy.

The food went from good to terrible. There were many meals I could not eat. The sauces they made were not to my liking. I usually reverted back to a steak just so I had something to eat. My wife also had a hard time finding things she liked and she is not a picky eater. I had a hard time finding things I liked in the Lido and the main dining room.

The crew on the Statendam were very friendly and really seemed to like their job. This was a totally different experience from the Westerdam.

The only entertainment I found that I liked was Adagio. A piano and violinist that played classical music. The rest of the entertainment was just mediocre. The musicians in the Ocean Bar at night were good musicians but had terrible singers and I do mean terrible.

We enjoyed the ship and the crew was great. We also met some nice people while onboard. This was a much better experience over the Westerdam. That being said we more then likely will not cruise Holland America again. We just found that Holland America was just not a good fit for us. I am sure people like Holland America and I am glad they do, we are just not comfortable on the cruise line. We must feel comfortable on the ships to return and that just did not happen. We will go back to what we feel is better for us.

WeCruiseToo · July 10, 2013

Thanks for the review. Glad the crew was better on this voyage than your previous Holland America cruise, but very disappointed to hear about the poor food quality – that’s a real important part of the experience for us (and many cruisers I think).

KeithnRita · July 10, 2013

Thanks for your review. We cruised on the Statendam to Alaska about 12 years ago. So sorry the food was not to your liking. It nice that you highlighted the ship and the crew.