Observations on the Nieuw Statendam 10 months apart

[L454S]

Our first sailing on the NS was an eastbound T/A April 2023 with HIA pkg. We found it fit us very well as far as bang for the buck.

 

Fast forward to today, on the current sailing. We are in an aft Vista Suite 7193. First thing we were told with the first drink we ordered was we owed an additional 50 cents because a Pina Colada was $11.50. Seems several of the most popular offerings have this issue, I know......what a shocker.

 

Tried to go online with the W-FI, won't go to most websites we tried. Spent about a half hour with the IT personal and were told we needed the "faster package" to go to any site that has pics or streams. It was recommended to spend another $80 EACH to upgrade. DW paid $40 to upgrade to the "middle pkg". Has been sufficient so far.

 

Not a deal breaker, just observations. The ship is great, dinner last evening was very good in the DR. Music was good in the Rolling Stone and BB Kings on the first night.

 

Yeah, I know.....we probably had the upgraded HIA  last April. Will have to check the paperwork when home to verify.

 

Will post again with more on the current Caribbean sailing.

[Mary229]

It seems that the new WiFi package blocks specific sites and sites coded a specific way. For example I cannot load YouTube but I can go to another popular social media site and view YouTube videos from there - go figure!  Then my workout site is fully available, videos and all but my career training site is available except for its video section.i am on the HIA WiFi package.  
 

 

[ChinaShrek]

18 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

It seems that the new WiFi package blocks specific sites and sites coded a specific way. For example I cannot load YouTube but I can go to another popular social media site and view YouTube videos from there - go figure!  Then my workout site is fully available, videos and all but my career training site is available except for its video section.i am on the HIA WiFi package.  
 

 

Were you still able to make WiFi calls back to the US (if you did this).

[Mary229]

1 hour ago, ChinaShrek said:

Were you still able to make WiFi calls back to the US (if you did this).

I haven’t called but did receive and reply to multiple texts.  I usually FaceTime if I need to call but have not this time. 
 

it does block Apple Music. 

[L454S]

2 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

Were you still able to make WiFi calls back to the US (if you did this).

 

Have not tried yet. Wife's phone now has the "better" pkg. My laptop is hooked up to the included crap, and yes Mary229 is right. What comes with your "HIA" is VERY limiting.

 

In trying to make this post, the page loaded incorrectly twice before being useable.

 

At Half Moon Key today, pretty day and fairly cool and breezy. Have the Rotterdam with us along side. Tendering went on for a long time.

Edited February 26 by L454S

[Ilovesailaway]

How was boarding? Curios about what time your arrived at the terminal, was it crowded, and how long to get on?

I am on next lol

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

Were you still able to make WiFi calls back to the US (if you did this).

I upgraded to Premium and was able to make wifi calls. Rwams and Skype calls also worked fine as did text and email.

[L454S]

Boarding was normal. We got there about 10:45(shuttle from hotel). Went right in and through the process in just a few minutes and then were given a #5 card and go sit down. They started calling numbers about 11:40 if memory serves. We went just before 12 noon. Pretty smooth in my opinion.

 

 

Edited February 26 by L454S

[L454S]

We were planning on going to the Rolling Stone again tonight, we really enjoyed last nights band.

The Nav. App says they will be playing a few sets again tonight. HOWEVER, the printed program(The Daily) says NO live music tonight because of GAME NIGHT in BB Kings. Well $#@*

[Boatdrill]

Just a quick comment about the printed Daily paper.... recently I went through the set I had saved from  an Alaska cruise two years ago. To my surprise, not one had the name of the ship ! Not even the 1st day's Welcome Aboard edition. 

So just curious.....is the name of the ship on your paper copies ?  

 

[REOVA]

1 hour ago, L454S said:

 

Have not tried yet. Wife's phone now has the "better" pkg. My laptop is hooked up to the included crap, and yes Mary229 is right. What comes with your "HIA" is VERY limiting.

 

In trying to make this post, the page loaded incorrectly twice before being useable.

 

I wonder if you can try to make wife's phone a Hotspot and connect your laptop if you will see a difference. (While she is not using it 😉). 

[crystalspin]

15 hours ago, L454S said:

Tried to go online with the W-FI, won't go to most websites we tried. Spent about a half hour with the IT personal and were told we needed the "faster package" to go to any site that has pics or streams.

If IT told you that, there are three possibilities: (1) they don't know what they are talking about, (2) they do know but figured you don't, and were talking it down to lowest denominator, (3) they were trying to make an upgrade sale.

 

The internet is the same speed, the higher the level the fewer sites/types of sites are blocked. This was always true, even before StarLink.

 

ETA: possibility (3) is almost assured. Whether it exists alongside (1) or (2) is the question.

 

Edited February 27 by crystalspin

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing.

[L454S]

14 hours ago, Boatdrill said:

Just a quick comment about the printed Daily paper.... recently I went through the set I had saved from  an Alaska cruise two years ago. To my surprise, not one had the name of the ship ! Not even the 1st day's Welcome Aboard edition. 

So just curious.....is the name of the ship on your paper copies ?  

 

 

No, the name of the ship is not mentioned on the Daily.

 

Turns out the APP was correct in this case as the band in Rolling Stone was there tonight and did another good show.

 

Can't get too exited about the dueling pianos though. Just my opinion.

Edited February 27 by L454S

[L454S]

Just a thought about the aft "Vista Suite" 7193 we got for this sailing. It is a nice cabin, but a suite?

 

Yes you do get double Mariner points, and there are a FEW more square feet of space. However, this in no way compares to a Royal Caribbean Junior Suite, or a Princess Mini Suite on the older ships.

 

This is a nice BALCONY cabin with the same bathroom as the one in the balcony cabin 4191 we had on this ship last time.

 

Not knocking it, it is a nice cabin.......not a suite.

 

The worst cabins so far have been the balcony cabins on the Princess Royal class ships(TA on the Enchanted Princess). Tiny cabin, very tiny bath. Didn't think that was possible. 

[L454S]

Something else we noticed was the removal of the staircase to the casino just outside the Rolling Stone. IMO, that's a plus! Good move.

[REOVA]

Vista Suites are usually just slightly larger than verandas on most ships, just different configuration. Until you get to Neptune Suites (or Signature Suites on ships) there isn't much difference. The Aft cabins are usually smaller but larger balcony. 

[mkl55]

You probably had the same beverage package as your cruise ten months ago.  However, in the meantime a price increase went into effect.  Therefore, beverages that were covered before are now just above the "allowed" amount resulting in the silly overages.  Previously, when beverage prices were raised, HIA minimums were also raised so it went unnoticed.  Under the old pricing, if you chose a beverage that went over the "allowed" amount, you had to pay the full charge.  Now you just pay the overage so perhaps that is why the HIA allowance was not raised.  I still found it quite annoying.  The reason I purchase the package is so I don't have to think about it.  Instead I had all these silly slips to sign and small charges (and the occasional full price charged in error) to look at.  I hope this policy gets reconsidered as it does impact "the feel" of the cruise.

[albingirl]

We sailed the NS 2x, one year apart from each sailing, too.  We noticed the drink prices went up, but more importantly, the passenger load doubled from the pandemic times.

You could really feel the difference, particularly in finding seats in the shade.  We didn't have too much difficulty waiting for dinner since we were lucky enough to have club orange.  Which now appears to be in big demand.  Of course.

[L454S]

17 hours ago, mkl55 said:

You probably had the same beverage package as your cruise ten months ago.  However, in the meantime a price increase went into effect.  Therefore, beverages that were covered before are now just above the "allowed" amount resulting in the silly overages.  Previously, when beverage prices were raised, HIA minimums were also raised so it went unnoticed.  Under the old pricing, if you chose a beverage that went over the "allowed" amount, you had to pay the full charge.  Now you just pay the overage so perhaps that is why the HIA allowance was not raised.  I still found it quite annoying.  The reason I purchase the package is so I don't have to think about it.  Instead I had all these silly slips to sign and small charges (and the occasional full price charged in error) to look at.  I hope this policy gets reconsidered as it does impact "the feel" of the cruise.

 

Yes, agree with your assessment, after a 14 day sailing where just about everything went off in such a smooth fashion to now have these petty jabs is a minus.

 

Heck, when they charge an extra 50 cents for a drink, it is  59 cents with the 18% gratuity.

 

On the good side, the sea day yesterday was hopping. Ship is full and the pool decks were packed. Did a lot of walking the Promenade loop. Band was good again last night and so far, all different music every night.

 

Let's see what today brings at Grand Turk.

[L454S]

This is a picture of our aft BALCONY Cabin on RCI Serenade of the Seas 7176. It is just about the same as our current Vista Suite cabin.

 

Again, not knocking it. It is a nice cabin. Just doing what the title of the thread says....observations.

 

We had sailed for about 7 years with RCI (D+ over 400 pts). Had enough of the cutbacks in everything. Decided to make a move over to HAL and are glad we did. This is only our 3rd sailing with HAL. It's a lot different, we have a lot to learn.

 

Edited February 28 by L454S

[POA1]

On 2/26/2024 at 4:48 PM, Boatdrill said:

Just a quick comment about the printed Daily paper.... recently I went through the set I had saved from  an Alaska cruise two years ago. To my surprise, not one had the name of the ship ! Not even the 1st day's Welcome Aboard edition. 

So just curious.....is the name of the ship on your paper copies ?  

 

I just reviewed the scans of our daily programs from December. They don't say Nieuw Statendam anywhere. I don't see that as a problem, since I did not need to have them devote space to what ship we were on.

[HectorAchilleus]

On 2/27/2024 at 6:50 AM, L454S said:

 

No, the name of the ship is not mentioned on the Daily.

 

Turns out the APP was correct in this case as the band in Rolling Stone was there tonight and did another good sht get too exited about the dueling pianos though. Just my opinion.

I thought the RS rock band was really good on this ship (two weeks ago) as well as on Neuiw Amsterdam in Jan. and on a TA on Rotterdam back in Oct. They really do  great job of a acquiring talent for these venues.

[crystalspin]

8 hours ago, L454S said:

This is a picture of our aft BALCONY Cabin on RCI Serenade of the Seas 7176. It is just about the same as our current Vista Suite cabin.

The full curtain is nice.

[Famgel1956]

So when u r onboard do u go by what the App states or the Daily program? Ty