Observations from Southern Caribbean Wayfarer Jan 12 - 23.

[leanstostarboard]

A few observations on the just completed 11 day Southern Caribbean Wayfarer on The Nieuw Statendam Jan 12 – Jan 24.
-    There were fewer than 1000 passengers on the ship that is rated for about 2700.   
-    Everyone complied with the mask rules – fully masked indoors except when eating or drinking.  (It seemed to me that every time I was in a public place, I very quickly had a drink in my hand, Except for the main stage).
-    There was a nearly full crew, who were always masked.  An occasional crew member would disappear; the word was they tested positive and were quarantined.
-    Quite a few of the entertainment groups members were unavailable. Presumably from failing a Covid test. The Rock Room band often had only 1 or 2 members playing, The Step One Dancers were a person short at least one night.   The BB King group lost a couple of performers but somehow HAL managed to find some fill-ins who were acceptably good.   One night they said they would end the show with auditions from the audience to fill the vacancies….  HAL brought in a number of retired comedians who help fill out the evening entertainment. 
-    A number of the ports were unwilling to take us so we had another sea day.   
-    Some ports would permit going ashore but only to locations that the local taxi drivers knew were government OK.   I stayed onboard. 

 

All in all, these incidents may have limited what the passengers could see or do on any given day; but to my mind not very much.  I had a great time on the ship the crew were fabulous and the service and cuisine was excellent. 
 

[jimmy2x]

Thank you for the review. We will be on the Rotterdam about 13 months from now for 21 days and are very much loose forward to it. Hopefully things will get back to normal by then. 

[jbecker6469]

I had pretty much the same experience on the Dec 12 - 22 Rotterdam sailing.  Never heard of a passenger getting quarentined, but they kept that pretty quiet.  I stayed on board all ports except Grand Turk, then I only went to the port buildings, then back on.  Nice, uncrowded cruise.  Service was excellent, food was a little boring (repeated entrees mostly), but still good.  Will be on the Nieuw Stat Feb 13 - 23 doing the same itinerary.  Going for the sailing, not the ports of call.  Not to mention a few Pina Coladas and some casino time.  I feel safer on board a HAL ship than at my local grocery store!

 

[smlnd]

7 hours ago, jbecker6469 said:

I had pretty much the same experience on the Dec 12 - 22 Rotterdam sailing.  Never heard of a passenger getting quarentined, but they kept that pretty quiet.  I stayed on board all ports except Grand Turk, then I only went to the port buildings, then back on.  Nice, uncrowded cruise.  Service was excellent, food was a little boring (repeated entrees mostly), but still good.  Will be on the Nieuw Stat Feb 13 - 23 doing the same itinerary.  Going for the sailing, not the ports of call.  Not to mention a few Pina Coladas and some casino time.  I feel safer on board a HAL ship than at my local grocery store!

 

Sign in on the Feb. 13 NS Roll Call. Two Cruise Critic get togethers planned, day one and two.

[bhwestgrove]

We’re on the Rotterdam now and the Rolling Stone RR will be closed tonight for the third night in a row (hasn’t opened since boarding on Sunday.) Last nights production show was canceled and replaced by a comedian. Fortunately BB Kings and Billboard Live don’t appear to be impacted and the classical quartet has been wonderful as usual. Still plenty to do onboard. 

[wiscfamily]

20 hours ago, leanstostarboard said:

A few observations on the just completed 11 day Southern Caribbean Wayfarer on The Nieuw Statendam Jan 12 – Jan 24.
-    There were fewer than 1000 passengers on the ship that is rated for about 2700.   
-    Everyone complied with the mask rules – fully masked indoors except when eating or drinking.  (It seemed to me that every time I was in a public place, I very quickly had a drink in my hand, Except for the main stage).
-    There was a nearly full crew, who were always masked.  An occasional crew member would disappear; the word was they tested positive and were quarantined.
-    Quite a few of the entertainment groups members were unavailable. Presumably from failing a Covid test. The Rock Room band often had only 1 or 2 members playing, The Step One Dancers were a person short at least one night.   The BB King group lost a couple of performers but somehow HAL managed to find some fill-ins who were acceptably good.   One night they said they would end the show with auditions from the audience to fill the vacancies….  HAL brought in a number of retired comedians who help fill out the evening entertainment. 
-    A number of the ports were unwilling to take us so we had another sea day.   
-    Some ports would permit going ashore but only to locations that the local taxi drivers knew were government OK.   I stayed onboard. 

 

All in all, these incidents may have limited what the passengers could see or do on any given day; but to my mind not very much.  I had a great time on the ship the crew were fabulous and the service and cuisine was excellent. 
 

Hello, and Thank you for the update. We are on the Nieuw Statendam. We are on this ship next week. You mentioned a "number " of ports were unwilling to take us. How many ports were you not able to get off at? What were the ports?

Thanks!

[Corby114]

My family of three returned from Holland America’s Nieuw Statendam ten day Caribbean sailing to Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Dominican Republic, Turks and Caicos and Half Moon Cay Bahamas. Our first stop Curaçao we arrived five hours late due to an azipod issue involving a leaky seal which is causing water penetration to enter the main bearings. The ship can’t sail at full speed because of the azipod issue. Eventually the ship will have to be taken out service and enter a dry dock to have the seal replaced. We didn’t miss any ports of call on this sailing which started on January 2nd and concluded on January 12th.