Hello From Nieuw Statendam! Voyage of the Midnight Sun

[Sea42]

After  a couple years of planning we’re finally on our way to the fjords of Norway! Our cruise last year on the Volendam was canceled 6 weeks before sailing due to the ship being needed for refugees from Ukraine. For us, that trip turned into a 3 week land trip of the Netherlands and Belgium and it was wonderful but I am so glad we were able to be back here this year to sail on the Nieuw Statendam, leaving from Amsterdam. This is our first cruise on a Pinnacle class ship and so far we are enjoying this ship. 

 

We spent one night pre-cruise in Haarlem. Last year we were in Amsterdam and Rotterdam so we thought we’d try something new to us. We only had time for dinner and walking around when we arrived on Saturday. We slept in on Sunday, found a place for brunch and had a short walk. Hotel ML was a nice, central location, with a friendly helpful staff. I had prearranged a taxi for our transfer to the pier. However, I set it up for 12:30 and at 11:30 the street the hotel is on becomes pedestrian only! Our taxi driver walked the block to our hotel to meet us and took our luggage to the taxi.The round trip fare for this service was $130 and the trip took about 20 minutes once we were in the van.

 

We arrived at the port at 13:00 and were in our cabin by 13:30. Boarding was quick and we had all of our luggage in our cabin by 14:00. From what I’ve heard boarding earlier was a little more time consuming so, based on our experience,  I recommend enjoying your pre-cruise city for the morning and arriving at the port after lunch.

After boarding we went to the stand set up across from the Pinnacle Grill to make a few dining reservations. We already had our included reservations for 1 Pinnacle Grill and 1 Tamarind dinner so we booked one dinner each at Rudi’s Sel de Mar and Canaletto and 2 lunches in the Pinnacle Grill. We had no issues making reservations for 20:00 dinner reservations.

 

The rest of the afternoon was spent checking our onboard account for OBC totals and purchasing a wine package for cabin consumption. One change to the wine package since the last time I sailed was that they would only deliver 2 bottles of wine, from the package,to our room at one time. In the past we’d had all of the bottles delivered at one time. It seems like an unnecessary procedure to make multiple trips to deliver the wine over multiple days.

 

Sail away was spent on our aft wrap balcony and it was wonderful! We ordered a couple of cheese plates (yes, there are crackers) and had a beautiful day to enjoy the views leaving Amsterdam.

 

We had dinner in the Pinnacle Grill and it was quite good. We had lobster bisque and mushroom soup for apps and for mains we had tenderloin with lobster dumplings and Alaskan Halibut (huge portion!). Both were delicious. Dessert was chocolate souffle for both of us. I wish I had left more room to enjoy all of it!

 

After dinner it was off to watch 2 sets at BB Kings. I hadn’t seen them since 2021 so it was a lot of fun. Loved listening to covers of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Lou Rawls and Tina Turner. The rest of the playlist was a bit of a blur due to the consumption of adult beverages, I just remember having a good time!

 

We did find out upon boarding that my one and only ship excursion was canceled. In Flam, I had booked the train ride with the downhill hike. Unfortunately, the tour operator canceled due to icy conditions. My husband is doing a different excursion so I will have to come up with something else to keep me out of trouble while he’s gone.

 

I’ll try to keep up posting new adventures. If anyone has questions, I’ll try to answer. If anyone else, who is on this cruise, would like to share their experiences here that would be great!

 

Google pics is being cranky so no pictures right now but hopefully tomorrow when we get to our first port, Stavanger.

[Grandma7]

I am excited to keep up with your post. I will be on Niew Statendam on the November TA. I would love to hear more about the foods you order...like were you able to taste the lobster in your dumplings,did the lobster bisque have much flavor etc. I will be traveling solo, so will not be able to share dishes and try more options . Sorry your tour was canceled and hope you find something interesting to replace it with. Sounds like you are the type to go with the flow and just enjoy yourself! Hope you have fun!!

[kazu]

Woo hoo, Carol!

 

You’re on and after all this waiting, finally able to do it. 👍  So happy for you and all of our roll call.  I hope you all have a fantastic time.

 

I’m looking forward to following along with whatever posts you have time to do.  Every single one is appreciated 🙂  I so wish I was with you as planned 😢 

 

Sorry to hear about the Flam tour, though.  Hoping the train or something alternate will give you some joy there.

 

Have a great time!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Have a great time ..

[singleflyer]

You should be able to book the Flam railroad on your own (or just hop on and pay the conductor once onboard).  I took the train on my own a few summers ago (I wasn't on a cruise, just traveling Europe).  https://singleflyer.com/2019/06/28/norway-in-a-nutshell-in-one-day/

[Sea42]

4 hours ago, singleflyer said:

You should be able to book the Flam railroad on your own (or just hop on and pay the conductor once onboard).  I took the train on my own a few summers ago (I wasn't on a cruise, just traveling Europe).  https://singleflyer.com/2019/06/28/norway-in-a-nutshell-in-one-day/

Thanks for the information but for me the goal was the hike not the train ride.

[Nang]

6 hours ago, Sea42 said:

Thanks for the information but for me the goal was the hike not the train ride.

Have you considered doing the train ride up and hiking down by yourself? I am sure you could source a hiking trail map via the internet.

[ExpatBride]

Have a great trip, I look forward to reading your updates! I'm sailing on NS in July/August.

[Sea42]

1 hour ago, Nang said:

Have you considered doing the train ride up and hiking down by yourself? I am sure you could source a hiking trail map via the internet.

That's a consideration. I'm going to talk with the TI people when we get there and see what their recommendation is. I did learn of a different walk to a waterfall that is my back up plan right now.

[Sea42]

Monday - Sea Day

We spent the day today recovering from last night! We started the day with breakfast at Club Orange. Surprisingly there was a wait for a table at 8:30. It was less than 5 minutes so we survived. The Main Dining room did have a line that went to the staircase but it appeared to be moving quickly. My omelet was made as ordered and was fluffy and light, very good. My husband had the All American (?) breakfast and said it was good but he didn’t care for the hash browns.

 

After breakfast I attended the tail end of M&G, while Randy went to a talk given by one of the ship’s engineers, which he enjoyed. We did have our M&G place and time changed by HAL which was quite frustrating for our organizers! The early time and change of venue may have cut into attendance numbers but there were still over 50 attendees! I did get a chance to talk with others who were on my canceled hike and they supplied me with a back up walk to a waterfall so I’ll be set for Flam either way. Now I just have to think about booking another excursion, I hate to let the included credit go to waste but not enough to take an excursion I’m not interested in.

 

Lunch was in the Pinnacle Grill. That was a first for us and I’m so glad we did it and that we have another booked next week. I had the mushroom ravioli and a brownie w/ice cream for dessert both were great! I did notice later that afternoon that we were double charged for lunch. After a visit to the Neptune Lounge we found the issue. After ringing up the initial bill, we signed the slip and added in a tip. The waiter then rang the lunches up a second time with the tip included. I haven’t seen a correction on the bill yet but I’ll wait until tomorrow and see if it has been taken care of.

 

The rest of the day was spent reading and relaxing in the cabin. It was a formal night and neither of us wanted to get out of our cozy, cabin clothes so we just shared a room service sandwich and chocolate cake. Tomorrow we’ll be exploring Stavanger and it looks like we’ll have a nice sunny, 50F day.

[Sea42]

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qMS3DfHpNr93kTfT6

OK  trying to see if I can add a photo from Haarlem. My laptop tells me Google photos isn't a trusted site so I'll see if using my phone works.

Grrr, I guess I'll wait until I'm on my cell service for photos, sorry!

Edited May 16, 2023 by Sea42

[ejincali]

29 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/qMS3DfHpNr93kTfT6

OK  trying to see if I can add a photo from Haarlem. My laptop tells me Google photos isn't a trusted site so I'll see if using my phone works.

Grrr, I guess I'll wait until I'm on my cell service for photos, sorry!

Pic worked perfectly.  Looks like it was a beautiful day there!

[Sea42]

20 minutes ago, ejincali said:

Pic worked perfectly.  Looks like it was a beautiful day there!

Oh, thank you for the feedback! The weather was perfect in Haarlem and Amsterdam for our sail way! Going through the locks was interesting. We were at dinner in the Pinnacle Grill but had a nice view thru the window.

[Sea42]

Randy and I went our separate ways in Flam yesterday.

He did a HAL excursion Coach & Train. He enjoyed but did wonder why people scramble to get window seats and then promptly fall asleep for the entire ride.?! Anyway, he enjoyed the time spent in Voss (about 1 1/2 hrs). There were many people out and about in traditional dress. He enjoyed a nice lunch for a surprisingly reasonable price.

I recreated the excursion that had been cancelled. I took the train to Myrdal and walked back down to the Blomheller station for the return to  Flam. The first mile was quite steep but no ice or snow on the trail. After that the trail leveled off. It was nice day for a  walk and wish I had planned to meet the train at a lower station as the scenery was much more spring like the lower I went.

From the trainhead at Myrdal 

 

There were so many waterfalls, large and small, it seems like I took a hundred pictures!

Eventually the snow was gone and it was started to show some signs of spring.

All too soon I arrived at the little train station. The walk went much faster than I thought it would! I had book the 4 o'clock train but arrived at the station at about 2. A train came by after about 15 minutes so I hopped on that one.

Blomheller train station (the little yellow building)

I never saw another walker over the 6 mile walk but did see 4 bike riders. I recommend this walk to anyone who does not have issues with steep downhill walking.

Sail away from Flam was gorgeous! We waited as long as we could to go to dinner. 

 

 

Dinner was in CO. I had a yummy salmon with an amber beer glaze and Randy enjoyed the beef short ribs. We both thought that the chocolate whiskey torte was disappointing 😞. 

 

What a fabulous visit to Flam!

 

[Sea42]

And we did dock in Flam which was a happy surprise as we were scheduled to tender!

[Skicruiser55]

What cabin are you in?  It looks like deck 4.  Loving your report - I’ll be onboard in July.

[Sea42]

We're in 4211 and loving it! Gede, our steward is great.

[Skicruiser55]

Just now, Sea42 said:

We're in 4211 and loving it! Gede, our steward is great.

Would you post some pics of the cabin?  We are in 4182 in July 

[Sea42]

Shows on the Main Stage so far

Day 1 Origin Story 

Day 2 Humanity 

Day 3 Violinist  Paul Suha

Day 4 Musicology 

Day 5 Helen Wilding Variety,  Vocals & More

[Sea42]

 

11 minutes ago, Skicruiser55 said:

Would you post some pics of the cabin?  We are in 4182 in July 

[Skicruiser55]

Thank you - the cabin looks wonderful.  We’ll be on Rotterdam.  Is there much vibration/noise in the cabin.  Enjoying your reporting.  

[fusion927]

Love the reporting so far!  Thank You!

 

Quick (hopefully) question... Do you know who is hosting the Trivia and similar activities, and will they still be on board in July?  The last two times we cruised on that ship, Inez was doing those activities and we are hoping she will be in July!

 

Thanks!

 

Mark

 

[Sea42]

13 minutes ago, Skicruiser55 said:

Thank you - the cabin looks wonderful.  We’ll be on Rotterdam.  Is there much vibration/noise in the cabin.  Enjoying your reporting.  

No, I'm not noticing any more vibration or noise from any other cabin we've had, but that is a small sample size. This is the lowest deck we've been on and I did have an aft cabin on NA (deck 7). There is noise from the wake when you're on the balcony though.

Edited May 18, 2023 by Sea42

[Sea42]

6 minutes ago, fusion927 said:

Love the reporting so far!  Thank You!

 

Quick (hopefully) question... Do you know who is hosting the Trivia and similar activities, and will they still be on board in July?  The last two times we cruised on that ship, Inez was doing those activities and we are hoping she will be in July!

 

Thanks!

 

Mark

 

I haven't gone yet but I'll let you know when I have or when we see one of the entertainment staff at BB King tonight.  They have been fun BTW!

[SusieKIslandGirl]

@fusion927Jose is the lead entertainment host and does most of the regular and music trivia. He’s a riot and keeps things moving-he doesn’t drag out every question.

@kazuTruly thought of you today as we had the tour in Alesund. All went well and Paul kept us organized. Thanks for all the original planning you did last year.