Quick review of N Statendam

[Banditswife]

We spent 14 days on board the N Statendam - 11/26-12/10.  Had a great time, met some great people. 

*We were assigned cabin 1082, main deck 1.  We had wonderful cabin stewards that took good care of us for all 14 days.  Serviced our cabin twice per day. The cabin felt small, but was sufficient for our needs.  Plenty of storage space, hangers, towels, pillows.  Loved the larger shower.

*Room service- only ordered 1x, but it was on time & delivered with a smile & correct.

*MDR- only ate here 2x for dinner & 2x for breakfast.  I felt the menu choices for dinner were extremely limited compared to the last time sailing HAL, service was good, but a bit slow IMO.  Breakfast choices were better & a bit faster, but we chose to eat most meals on Lido.

*Lido service was great, more choices & much faster.  Pleasant wait staff, always offering to pour lemonade, coffee or water.  But slow when ordering anything from the bar.

*HIA pkg- we are not big drinkers, but loved the convenience of ordering specialty coffee, soda & water.  We did try a few cocktails that we wouldn't normally purchase.  The HIA made it easier to try new drinks w/o worrying about the cost.  Loved the mango Mojito & Miami Vice.  Shore ex credit was a nice savings, 2 specialty restaurant dinners were a plus- more on that later.  Internet was horrible as I had read on here prior. Was told if I had an I phone it would have been better, but could not receive or send texts.  Social media & email worked ok, but was spotty at times.

*Tamarind- we enjoyed our dinner there, hubby ordered something not on the menu & they happily provided.

*Pinnacle- we were not as pleased w/ Pinnacle,  service was just ok, food was good, but not worth the extra cost IMO.  We did order an extra appetizer & were charged the $7 plus gratuity.  I find it odd that we could order as many sides as we wanted with no extra charge-no biggie, we knew about the extra charge for appetizer going in, so no surprises.

*Grand Dutch Cafe- loved, loved this place.  Service was always great, food was good too.  Ordered the parfait a few times for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch & Bosche Bol (spelling) for a snack once.  Always delicious & served with a smile.

*Tours- we did only HAL sponsored tours since we had that credit.  Some good & some bad.  I won't go into any specifics since quality of tours is not really in HAL's control.  I will mention them in my after cruise survey.  But 1 thing I would like to mention.  The shore ex credit is just that- you can spread it out over more than 1 tour & just pay the difference, doesn't have to be used on 1 tour.  We had a total of $200 credit per person & used it for 4 tours, just paying the difference when cost totaled more than $200.

+++ over all, we had a great cruise, loved the ship & crew.  We enjoyed it so much, we booked NS for next April.  

[ski ww]

Thanks for the review, we will be on her in July, something to look forward to.

[albingirl]

Thanks alot for your review.  One thing that I found odd, like you, is the fact that you can order as many sides as you want in Pinnacle, but the extra appetizer is an additional 7 dollars.  So, I guess you can order 10 sides if you are really hungry and forget about the appetizers.  Remarkable accounting by the Seattle folks.

[Florida_gal_50]

I just love how the front desk blames the passengers for problems. Yes everyone should have an iPhone or don’t expect things to work 🙄.  Bravo front desk.  I had an iPad and couldn’t get into my bank account with that.  

[Ellencruise]

For sure, internet accessibility terrible, oh well, we are supposed to be on vacation I guess!

[Florida_gal_50]

1 minute ago, Ellencruise said:

For sure, internet accessibility terrible, oh well, we are supposed to be on vacation I guess!

I admit I'm addicted to being connected.  Being on holidays doesn't change that.  It's more stressful for me to be not connected. I have no problem with people that are able to put technology away but I'd like the same understanding.

[Banditswife]

internet- yes guest services did blame it on my phone choice, I have a newer Android.  But over the course of 14 days, had to have guest services "fix" my issues.  It seemed like every time we left the ship, had to be fixed again.  I partly blame myself, cuz I am tech challenged- LOL  But I was upset that I couldn't send or receive texts to/from my pet sitter, that was something I had planned on being able to do.  Ended up using instant messenger, which I dislike using, but at least I was able to check in w/ sitter.

Edited December 11, 2022 by Banditswife

[rodndonna]

4 hours ago, albingirl said:

Thanks alot for your review.  One thing that I found odd, like you, is the fact that you can order as many sides as you want in Pinnacle, but the extra appetizer is an additional 7 dollars.  So, I guess you can order 10 sides if you are really hungry and forget about the appetizers.  Remarkable accounting by the Seattle folks.

 

We were a bit surprised that there was no charge for extra appetizers in the Tamarind (I had thought is was new rule for all speciality dining). I asked if we could order 3 and the waitress said we could have as many appetizers as we wanted. 🙂

[Banditswife]

14 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

We were a bit surprised that there was no charge for extra appetizers in the Tamarind (I had thought is was new rule for all speciality dining). I asked if we could order 3 and the waitress said we could have as many appetizers as we wanted. 🙂

yes, so many things they do are like "really??"  Having the HIA pkg, I found it odd that sometimes they wanted my signature others not.  Some servers allowed 2 drinks at at time, others not.  One server told me we could have up to 15 non alcoholic drinks + up to 15 alcoholic drinks for a total of 60 drinks for our 2 person cabin- seriously?  I did not test this though, so not sure.

[Florida_gal_50]

4 minutes ago, Banditswife said:

yes, so many things they do are like "really??"  Having the HIA pkg, I found it odd that sometimes they wanted my signature others not.  Some servers allowed 2 drinks at at time, others not.  One server told me we could have up to 15 non alcoholic drinks + up to 15 alcoholic drinks for a total of 60 drinks for our 2 person cabin- seriously?  I did not test this though, so not sure.

Uggggg.  They should know better about the drinks. I would not have tested that theory either.  One of the funniest things I’ve heard on cruise critic was someone that bought club orange.  They asked how big of an upgrade they could get.  They had a balcony at the time I think. The person from hal said they could get the penthouse.  This person hung up and called back at that point.  I said you should have just rolled with it.  Imagine if you got bumped up to the penthouse?  What a great story!

[Florida_gal_50]

28 minutes ago, rodndonna said:

 

We were a bit surprised that there was no charge for extra appetizers in the Tamarind (I had thought is was new rule for all speciality dining). I asked if we could order 3 and the waitress said we could have as many appetizers as we wanted. 🙂

Don’t give them ideas 😛.  While I probably wouldn’t have a second app at the pinnacle I almost always have 2 at the tamarind.  The portions are not terribly large there.  I never order the steak there as I don’t care for it.  That is probably larger.

[rodndonna]

20 minutes ago, Banditswife said:

yes, so many things they do are like "really??"  Having the HIA pkg, I found it odd that sometimes they wanted my signature others not.  Some servers allowed 2 drinks at at time, others not.  One server told me we could have up to 15 non alcoholic drinks + up to 15 alcoholic drinks for a total of 60 drinks for our 2 person cabin- seriously?  I did not test this though, so not sure.

 

The signature thing (for inventory control) being new, we were that not surprised it varied (and expect it may continue to do so). At the bars we could order 2 at once (they actually suggested we do that and prefer it) while at dining it was always both cards required.

I assumed they modified the rule to 2 drinks per card at the bars to help reduce the effort  required where they are dealing with so many orders. When dining, it is not really an issue so they maintain 1 drink per card rule.

 

The 15 non-alcoholic and 15 alcoholic drinks per person was definitely a mistake or misunderstanding. 

[REOVA]

1 hour ago, Banditswife said:

internet- yes guest services did blame it on my phone choice, I have a newer Android.  But over the course of 14 days, had to have guest services "fix" my issues.  It seemed like every time we left the ship, had to be fixed again.  I partly blame myself, cuz I am tech challenged- LOL  But I was upset that I couldn't send or receive texts to/from my pet sitter, that was something I had planned on being able to do.  Ended up using instant messenger, which I dislike using, but at least I was able to check in w/ sitter.

What cell service do you have? Texting generally uses cell service. My texts wouldn't go through either since I had airplane mode on when on ship but didnt have problems with wifi in Carribean. My DW would have problems with her old Iphone because she would switch off airplane mode and wifi in port and forget to put both back on. But I did connect with various wifi apps to message or call when needed.  I don't use Apple products but maybe that's all the staff knows. Still odd for them to say that. 

 

[donandmelissa]

3 hours ago, REOVA said:

What cell service do you have? Texting generally uses cell service. My texts wouldn't go through either since I had airplane mode on when on ship but didnt have problems with wifi in Carribean. My DW would have problems with her old Iphone because she would switch off airplane mode and wifi in port and forget to put both back on. But I did connect with various wifi apps to message or call when needed.  I don't use Apple products but maybe that's all the staff knows. Still odd for them to say that. 

 

If you have an iPhone, you can use WiFi to text other iPhones through an Apple exclusive platform called iMessage. It is integrated with the iPhones operating system. But you can’t use it on an Android phone, nor can you use an iPhone to text an Android phone over WiFi  

 

You can text on an Android over WiFi but both the sender and the recipient have to have WhatsApp.  We always make sure to establish before the cruise how we are going to communicate with the people we need to text when we are on the ship (pet sitter, our kids, etc). Most of the have iPhones, which makes it easy. We use FB Messenger for the others. Hope this helps. 

[REOVA]

29 minutes ago, donandmelissa said:

If you have an iPhone, you can use WiFi to text other iPhones through an Apple exclusive platform called iMessage. It is integrated with the iPhones operating system. But you can’t use it on an Android phone, nor can you use an iPhone to text an Android phone over WiFi  

 

You can text on an Android over WiFi but both the sender and the recipient have to have WhatsApp.  We always make sure to establish before the cruise how we are going to communicate with the people we need to text when we are on the ship (pet sitter, our kids, etc). Most of the have iPhones, which makes it easy. We use FB Messenger for the others. Hope this helps. 

Correct. If not using an IPhone or IMessage, she tried to go through cell (SMS). OP didn't have an Iphone and was trying to text from Android (which uses cell) through wifi. She ended up using a wifi based messenger (which she said she didn't prefer). My Android can text all of my family (who all have IPhones) using cell SMS/MMS off the ship (green text). On ship we also use FB Messenger, Whatsapp or other communication apps. That was her frustration with trying to text from Android. 

[Banditswife]

In my review above I forgot to mention floral arrangement.  We went to guest services to order an arrangement for our cabin on the 1st evening or next morning of our cruise, can't remember exactly, but early on in our 14 days onboard.  Guest services pulled out a book w/photos- none of which looked like what I had seen online beforehand & most of the names didn't match what I had seen either.  So I just told guest service person I just wanted a small mixed arrangement, I wasn't picky.  We paid $29.99 for what they listed as 7 stems.  About 1 hour later, our room steward knocked on our door holding a huge vase full of beautiful flowers.  About 3 roses, 4 carnations plus a whole lot of other stems.  I could not believe how lovely & large it was.  Maybe they had an abundance that would wilt soon.  Most of the bouquet lasted all 14 days.  As flowers began to droop, I just pulled them out & tossed them.  Kudos to floral dept for a job done well above my expectations.

[Guardsy]

After 35+ years of cruising, I found the NS one of the overall best ships I have ever been on.  Easy to navigate, just the right number of venues.

[swin26]

“Tamarind- we enjoyed our dinner there, hubby ordered something not on the menu & they happily provided”

 

I am curious, what is it you ordered off menu?

[HALcruiser2001]

On 12/11/2022 at 7:14 PM, donandmelissa said:

If you have an iPhone, you can use WiFi to text other iPhones through an Apple exclusive platform called iMessage. It is integrated with the iPhones operating system. But you can’t use it on an Android phone, nor can you use an iPhone to text an Android phone over WiFi  

 

You can text on an Android over WiFi but both the sender and the recipient have to have WhatsApp.  We always make sure to establish before the cruise how we are going to communicate with the people we need to text when we are on the ship (pet sitter, our kids, etc). Most of the have iPhones, which makes it easy. We use FB Messenger for the others. Hope this helps. 

 

I have Android/Verizon and can call and text over WiFi without any app other than the phone and messaging apps.

[HALcruiser2001]

On 12/11/2022 at 3:36 PM, REOVA said:

What cell service do you have? Texting generally uses cell service. My texts wouldn't go through either since I had airplane mode on when on ship but didnt have problems with wifi in Carribean. My DW would have problems with her old Iphone because she would switch off airplane mode and wifi in port and forget to put both back on. But I did connect with various wifi apps to message or call when needed.  I don't use Apple products but maybe that's all the staff knows. Still odd for them to say that. 

 

On a modern Android all you need to do is enable WiFi calling.    It will by default use wifi for text if your service provider supports SMS/MMS over wifi.

[AFNavigator]

On 12/11/2022 at 6:05 PM, Banditswife said:

yes, so many things they do are like "really??"  Having the HIA pkg, I found it odd that sometimes they wanted my signature others not.  Some servers allowed 2 drinks at at time, others not.  One server told me we could have up to 15 non alcoholic drinks + up to 15 alcoholic drinks for a total of 60 drinks for our 2 person cabin- seriously?  I did not test this though, so not sure.

 

On 12/11/2022 at 6:32 PM, rodndonna said:

 

The signature thing (for inventory control) being new, we were that not surprised it varied (and expect it may continue to do so). At the bars we could order 2 at once (they actually suggested we do that and prefer it) while at dining it was always both cards required.

I assumed they modified the rule to 2 drinks per card at the bars to help reduce the effort  required where they are dealing with so many orders. When dining, it is not really an issue so they maintain 1 drink per card rule.

 

The 15 non-alcoholic and 15 alcoholic drinks per person was definitely a mistake or misunderstanding. 

Yes definitely a mistake...15 is the limit regardless of alcoholic or not for the SBP package.  We're on the NS right now and my card went over by 1 one day due to coffees, sodas, waters, alcoholic drinks combined (bought some sodas coffees for son).  Luckily the 1 over was just a soda.

[MISTER 67]

On 12/11/2022 at 12:20 PM, albingirl said:

Thanks alot for your review.  One thing that I found odd, like you, is the fact that you can order as many sides as you want in Pinnacle, but the extra appetizer is an additional 7 dollars.  So, I guess you can order 10 sides if you are really hungry and forget about the appetizers.  Remarkable accounting by the Seattle folks.

Yep, HAL needs to get their act together, are they going to go out of business if you get a second appetizer.

[HALcruiser2001]

1 hour ago, AFNavigator said:

 

Yes definitely a mistake...15 is the limit regardless of alcoholic or not for the SBP package.  We're on the NS right now and my card went over by 1 one day due to coffees, sodas, waters, alcoholic drinks combined (bought some sodas coffees for son).  Luckily the 1 over was just a soda.

How did you know you went over?

[Banditswife]

2 hours ago, swin26 said:

“Tamarind- we enjoyed our dinner there, hubby ordered something not on the menu & they happily provided”

 

I am curious, what is it you ordered off menu?

He ordered some type of stir fry w/eggs, shrimp & crab

[swin26]

39 minutes ago, Banditswife said:

He ordered some type of stir fry w/eggs, shrimp & crab

Thank you