Our First HAL Cruise - Nieuw Statendam - A Little Surprised

[lovelights]

8 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Maybe because I work in the luxury hotel business, seeing people walking around in bathrobes isn't something to get my panties in a bunch.  It is pretty common in all the hotels I've worked in.  It's a piece of clothing, it covers people, it doesn't bother me.   People cross the lobby all the time in robes - to get their morning coffee, to grab a drink at the bar, to pick up food that they've ordered, to go to the Fitness Center, to go to the Spa, go to up to the pool and hot tubs...  I even had some gentlemen come up to our Yule Log celebration Friday night in their robes (coming back from the hot tubs), and some more on Saturday night came out to the fire pit to make S'mores (and it was about 20 degrees out!).   I guess what is common sight for me is abhorrent for others. To each her own...

 

[lovelights]

8 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Maybe because I work in the luxury hotel business, seeing people walking around in bathrobes isn't something to get my panties in a bunch.  It is pretty common in all the hotels I've worked in.  It's a piece of clothing, it covers people, it doesn't bother me.   People cross the lobby all the time in robes - to get their morning coffee, to grab a drink at the bar, to pick up food that they've ordered, to go to the Fitness Center, to go to the Spa, go to up to the pool and hot tubs...  I even had some gentlemen come up to our Yule Log celebration Friday night in their robes (coming back from the hot tubs), and some more on Saturday night came out to the fire pit to make S'mores (and it was about 20 degrees out!).   I guess what is common sight for me is abhorrent for others. To each her own...

 

[lovelights]

Usually when you see the words "getting your panties in a bunch", it's usually followed with something that makes no sense at all. If your luxury hotels, has a restaurant where they allow people to walk around in their pajamas covered up with a bathrobe, let me know what "luxury" hotel this is, so I can let everyone know that this very disrespectful practice is allowed, and looked upon as something that is normal for a dining facility. I'd like to have the names and numbers of these lovely hotels, that you speak so highly of.

 

I just mentioned that this act of dis-respectfulness surprised me for this cruise line. I never said that it would make me not cruise with HAL again, so my panties or anyone else's panties on this particular board shouldn't be of any of your concern. Matter of fact, we're looking at cruises on HAL right now for next Spring. I was just surprised that they have a stricter dress code to go to shows, etc., compared to other cruise lines I've been on, yet allow the older generation to walk around in their bathrobes, that they must think is a new fashion statement to go out for dinner. To be honest, I don't give a hoot if they walk around wearing just their underwear. But to tell guests that they have to get dressed on Gala night, and then you see someone walking around in their night clothing, is nothing shy of total disrespect. It's disrespect for other guests, and it's also disrespect for the cruise line.

 

[lovelights]

5 hours ago, Vict0riann said:

 

Well, it looks like at least he might have had footwear on!  Remember that sign "No shirt, no shoes, no service"?  Perhaps it would be an idea to have that up in the Lido Market.  We saw bathrobes there on the TA, too, my DH had to be held down.   

 

[lovelights]

He had slippers on. LOL They actually covered up more of his feet than my sandals did. His feet were also more covered up than the guy that we seen walking through the LIdo completely barefooted.

[lovelights]

bathrobe - noun

(a piece of clothing, rather like a loose fitting coat, worn to cover up after a bath, or before getting dressed)

[lovelights]

7 hours ago, Wishing on a star said:

3.  FOOD....   Man, I sure wish you had been on a longer cruise, as I feel your feedback on the food would really be truthful and objective.   We just came from an AWFUL experience with the food and dining cutbacks on Princess.   I mean, it was pretty bad.   (After having a wonderful experience with dining on the Coral Princess a couple years ago).  

My problem was all of the food was over cooked, over 'processed', seemed to have tons of MSG, fillers, etc...    Some was inedible, some was okay, and I am hard pressed to think of one main menu item I had that was well prepared decent quality food.    I am not talking just soups, gravies/sauces....   Even basic potato sides were so salty, MSG, over processed, that I couldn't really eat them.  Think, what would come out of big pre-processed trays from Campbell's soup...

 

I would love to hear if any of the foods you had left you with that kind of impression?

I would appreciate more detailed and honest feedback!!!!

 

 

[lovelights]

We only ate at the buffet. We loved it. They had such a large selection. My husband made the comment several times, that everything he ate was seasoned perfectly. But was kinda worries us is that just because you get good cooked food on one ship, doesn't mean you'll get good food on another ship with the same cruise line.

 

We've been on Princess, NCL, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and MSC, and all ships have their good and bad. But it's important for us to be able to eat good food, and I've never heard any complaints about HAL's food before. We went on MSC Divina and loved the food, yet went on MSC Seaside and absolutely hated the food. We went on HAL and did not like the entertainment at the theater, but when on MSC and absolutely loved their production shows.

 

Shows and food can be a touchy subject IMO. What someone might think as a bad show, someone else might have loved it. There was some food on the Nieuw Statendam that my husband didn't like, but I did, and vice-a-versa.

 

I'm sure someone on this board could possibly let you know how the specialty restaurants were, or the MDR.

 

Here's some food photos, and these are all of the buffet.

[lovelights]

4 hours ago, Nymich said:

lol I saw this guy too

LOL

 

Did you see the service dogs? Or, the potty area on the Promenade deck? I was walking past the desserts, and seen the one dog sniffing at the desserts. His nose was actually on the counter area. As I was passing by, I kept looking and walking, and almost ran in to the back of my husband that was walking in front of me.

[lovelights]

3 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

OP: thanks very much for adding the lovely photos to your review.  Your beautiful stateroom reminds me very much of a Celebrity S-class ship (my favorite ships to date). 

 

One question for you (or anyone else): I see that the safe is directly above the mini-fridge.  That's how Celebrity does it too, and I've found that the heat generated by the fridge motor makes the interior of the safe pretty hot, far too hot to risk putting any electronics, memory cards, etc. in it.   I'm just curious to know whether you found that the safe in your cabin got hot.  (Not anything I'd base a cruising decision on, I'm just curious.)   

 

Thanks.

 

[lovelights]

We only put our passports and money in the safe. I don't even know if my camera would have fit in it, and I always kept my cell phone out on the night stand. Either there, or I had it with me. We really didn't have to open it much, because we only had Nassau and the private island to go to, and we didn't make it to the private island anyways. My husband was the only one that used it, and he said that when he took the money out to go to Nassau, it didn't seem to feel warm inside.

 

The mini fridge kept everything ice cold. We had taken 6 Aquafina waters, and 2 bottles of wine. (We ended up only spending $2.00 at Nassau, and that was on 2 bottles of water). I told my husband when we got back on the ship, that I was going to make sure that I never book a cruise again that has the private island and Nassau on it, because if you don't make it to the private island, and you make it to Nassau, you don't get any port fees or taxes credited back.

 

I can't believe we paid $105.00 per person for taxes and fees just to go to Nassau, yet I seen Holland America itineraries that goes to 4 places, and the total taxes and fees are only like $140 - $160 per person. I have no plans to book a cruise that has Nassau on the itinerary.

 

Ok, I got off subject..... sorry about that. lol

 

[Turtles06]

1 minute ago, lovelights said:

We only put our passports and money in the safe. . . .

 

Thanks for your reply.    (BTW, I see that often when you quote and then respond to a comment, you do it in two separate posts. Just an fyi that you don't need to do that -- just hit the "quote" link, which will open a reply box and insert the quoted material, and then just type your reply under the quote. ) 

[lovelights]

2 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Thanks for your reply.    (BTW, I see that often when you quote and then respond to a comment, you do it in two separate posts. Just an fyi that you don't need to do that -- just hit the "quote" link, which will open a reply box and insert the quoted material, and then just type your reply under the quote. ) 

I know. I noticed that I kept doing it, but I couldn't find this little area here to type at first, so I was hitting "submit reply", and I hadn't replied yet. Sorry about that. I looked to see if I could go back and remove those, but don't know if I can now, because I didn't see a delete button. 😮

 

[lovelights]

Here's some  photos of the BB King's Blues Club.

[Nymich]

1 hour ago, lovelights said:

LOL

 

Did you see the service dogs? Or, the potty area on the Promenade deck? I was walking past the desserts, and seen the one dog sniffing at the desserts. His nose was actually on the counter area. As I was passing by, I kept looking and walking, and almost ran in to the back of my husband that was walking in front of me.

Thankfully I missed the potty area.  I did see a blind man who had a black service dog. I also saw the dog you are talking about but not in the Lido..

 

 

 

 

[ski ww]

Thanks for posting enjoyed all your pictures. That guy in the bath robe I see others have posted pictures of him also. 

[canadian-nurse]

Thank you for your review!!! I have one question for you. Do you know which terminal the NS was docked in at Port Everglades? I am asking because we have a big lifted pick up truck that needs surface parking or at least 7’3” clearance in a parking garage. 

[lovelights]

4 minutes ago, canadian-nurse said:

Thank you for your review!!! I have one question for you. Do you know which terminal the NS was docked in at Port Everglades? I am asking because we have a big lifted pick up truck that needs surface parking or at least 7’3” clearance in a parking garage. 

We parked a Midport Garage. NS, I believe, was at terminal 26. It's easy to get to. You just go straight, after you get through the security gate. It was really tight inside the garage. You can't get to the surface parking at the top (Level 6 or 7), unless you drive through the inside of the entire parking garage. We got there around noon, and had to park at the very top level. We could see our vehicle from our balcony.

 

We were driving a Terazza, which is long, but not tall, and it felt like we were going to hit the top. I don't remember what the clearance was.

[Sea42]

21 hours ago, lovelights said:

😉

 

 

Not as bad as the man we had on our Med. cruise that walked around the Lido wrapped in a blue tarp! I want to say he had it tied off with a rope?!? I so wish I had a picture!

[canadian-nurse]

1 hour ago, lovelights said:

We parked a Midport Garage. NS, I believe, was at terminal 26. It's easy to get to. You just go straight, after you get through the security gate. It was really tight inside the garage. You can't get to the surface parking at the top (Level 6 or 7), unless you drive through the inside of the entire parking garage. We got there around noon, and had to park at the very top level. We could see our vehicle from our balcony.

 

We were driving a Terazza, which is long, but not tall, and it felt like we were going to hit the top. I don't remember what the clearance was.

 

Oh gees. That sounds yucky!! I’ll have to look at alternatives!!! Thanks for the heads up!

[Fouremco]

Bathrobe is a very generic term used for an item that today serves a multitude of uses. Considering the fact that there are very few baths on the NS, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the original meaning of the word. The Lido Market shares its deck with the fitness centre, the spa, the hydro pool, hot tubs and two swimming pools, all areas where coverups of this nature are pretty common, so it's quite understandable that one is going to see the occasional passenger crossing through on the way to or from these other areas. Some might even stop along the way for a bite.

 

While I personally wouldn't use one outside my cabin, a white terrycloth robe doesn't offend my sensibilities as much as some of the flimsy, see-through "coverups" that I frequently see in the Lido Market.   

[beachbunny6]

4 hours ago, canadian-nurse said:

 

Oh gees. That sounds yucky!! I’ll have to look at alternatives!!! Thanks for the heads up!

 

There are two off-site parking areas near the port with shuttles to the ships and back.  Both have fences and gates and security.  They have availability to store larger vehicles.  They are Park 'N Fly and Park'N Go.  You can reserve online.  

 

Also, I believe there is a surface lot to the west of the Midport Garage, between Terminals 19 and 18.  Perhaps you can check with the port to see if there are any size restrictions there.  It is not too far from the terminals.  

 

Nieuw Statendam was, indeed, at Terminal 26.  However, HAL also uses Terminals 21 and 19, too.    Just before you travel, you can check which terminal you will be boarding at on the port website.  Go to http://www.porteverglades.net and choose Cruising in the orange bar at the top.  Then go down to Ship Schedule and click on it.  It will open the grid which shows all the ships for 7 days at a time.  If you need to find out more than 7 days in advance, at the top right of that grid is a box that says Query.  Fill in the date and the ship name, and find it that way.  Just understand that you cannot do it 2-3 weeks before, because the info is not there that far in advance.  

 

There's also parking information about the port on that same site.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Bon Voyage!

~Barbara~

Edited December 26, 2018 by beachbunny6

[canadian-nurse]

Thank you so much! This is very helpful!! 

[MogeyMan]

Bathrobe is a very generic term used for an item that today serves a multitude of uses. Considering the fact that there are very few baths on the NS, I wouldn't put too much emphasis on the original meaning of the word. The Lido Market shares its deck with the fitness centre, the spa, the hydro pool, hot tubs and two swimming pools, all areas where coverups of this nature are pretty common, so it's quite understandable that one is going to see the occasional passenger crossing through on the way to or from these other areas. Some might even stop along the way for a bite.

 

While I personally wouldn't use one outside my cabin, a white terrycloth robe doesn't offend my sensibilities as much as some of the flimsy, see-through "coverups" that I frequently see in the Lido Market. 

 

Exactly this. I walk thru the LIDO on my way to the hydrotherapy suite.  In my bathrobe. I don't eat or sit down, but it's just the easiest way to get there. What else should I do?

[Wishing on a star]

HAL newbie here....  

On which ships are the Lido and the spa/hydrotherapy suites in close proximity????