Statendam - Oct 20 - Huatulco/Santa Cruz

The last time we were in Huatulco it was a tendering port. We arrived 15 minutes late. But now a nice pier has been built. The beach area has been improved but the straw market is the same, and the couple of major stores still exist. Since we are only here till 1 PM, this is BBQ lunch - chicken, salmon, several kinds of sausages, corn on the cob, baked potatoes, potato salad, other salads, etc. Things must be bad in the Pinnacle Grill/Salon areas. This morning everyone got a letter offering a combination deal for the Salon & Pinnacle on port days: "Sports package massage for him & a hair & make-up arrangement for her followed by a candlelit dinner for 2 in the Pinnacle with a complimentary bottle of Champagne." It is a $179 package being offered for $95. We have walked by the Pinnacle several times - very few people eating there for dinner (not counting 1st night when there were a lot there at the 1/2 off deal). We have seen only 1 man eating lunch there.

The men worked on our air-conditioning for nearly an hour - it's better - time will tell if it is really fixed.

At 4:38 PM the fire alarms went off - captain came on and announced that it was a false alarm. We later learned that a cabin 2 doors away from were freezing so they left their verandah door open hoping to get some of the hot air into the cabin. It worked - the hot air hit the sensor and since the door had been left open for a quite a long time, the sensor felt that something was wrong - off went the fire alarms.

Since there were only a couple of tours offered here and since we have been here before, we opted just to walk around. While standing our on the Promenade Deck waiting for the main crowd to get off the ship, we saw the technician arrive who is suppose to determine why the starboard engine keeps malfunctioning.

Are you sure this isn't a forgotten script for an Irwin Allen movie?

I do like your writing style, though - if I had to write a cover blurb it would be "taut, gripping - a real page-turner!"

:) -dave

Glad to see that both of you got back to PA OK. Was a pleasure to have met you and hope to be on the same cruise iin the future.

I have to say that I was disappointed with the Statendam. Air conditioning problems in Northern Europe or Alaska are one thing - in tropical waters its not very good. Periodic cabin air problems always seem to happen but we had periodic periods of no air in the Lido, Casino and in the stairwells and some areas in the hallway. Since the effected areas shifted I wonder if they had the necessary engine power to run all systems ? The pool was too hot for five days running and we had to complain to engineering to get it fixed. 90 degree pool water in the tropics is not refreshing.

Food portions were much smaller. I had two main dishes that were appitzer size - the duck and the sliced tenderloin. Food was adaquate but not that good.

Cut backs are very noticable. I only hope that when cruise prices firm back up, and thats happening right now, that they change some things back to the way they were. Unfortunetly too many execs can't seem to do that.

Also noted was the fact that the ship rode about 3 feet higher in the water than it should have. I wonder if they were carrying a light load of fuel to save money.

Hi Ron,

It was great meeting you. Hope Ingrid has gotten over her cold.

Agree with you about the fuel - we loaded fuel in San Diego at the beginning of the cruise and again in Amador. So possibly we weren't carrying a full load any time. And remember when we left the ship in San Diego they were loading fuel again.

I am going to talk about the portions in another chapter. Agree that some of them were small.

Glad you both got home safely.

Hey, KK. It's great fun reading your cruise reports. Thanks for sharing them. I agree with Dave. Your writing style is crisp and right to the point. Thanks again. DFD