Just back-Statendam Hong Kong to Osaka

[Marbella]

Many thanks to all on this board for your assistance with this very adventurous trip. Still feeling jet lag but I know Rev Neal is anxious for some comments. ;)

 

We spent a few days pre-cruise at the Marco Polo Hong Kong. Excellent hotel and an excellent location. Hong Kong is as wonderful as I thought it would be and I would not hesitate for a moment to go back to visit this beautiful and exotic city.

The Ports of call were all excellent. A suggestion within our group was to delete Dalian, China and add another day to Osaka. I would probably second that suggestion.

This was our second HAL cruise, the first being on the Amsterdam when it was quite new. We enjoyed the Statendam, particularly for it's size. Our outside cabin was quite adequete and very quiet and clean. The room was made up most days by mid morning.

The service in the dining room for dinner was exellent. I would say the food ranged from good to a few items being excellent. I have not seen any mention of the fact that the ship was in red alert for the entire length of the cruise. This did impact the lido dining the most. The staff were always pleasant and eager to serve.

Room service for early am coffee and a couple of hot breakfasts was excellent.

The Pinnacle dining room, on the other hand was quite a disappointment. We dined there twice and all eight at our table agreed that the service and food we received in the main dining room was so much better. The wine steward was actually quite rude and brusqe. We were somewhat disappointed the first time there and decided to give it another try, but it was worse on the second evening.

 

The crew, for the most part is very gacious and accomodating. On this cruise, the entertainment staff were also involved in serving in the lido at times and could not have been more gracious.

 

There were two areas where HAL really "dropped the ball". One was embarkation. In short, it was a nightmare. Yes, it was delayed due to extra cleaning and sanitizing because of the stomach virus that went around on the previous cruise, but it was handled very badly. We did express check in, which was handled very effeciently, but that is where it ended. Check in was supposed to be at 1 pm. There was a line up of several hours that snaked through the Ocean Complex mall located at the passenger terminal. At one point, afraid that some passengers were going to get into a big arguement about line jumping, we left the line, went and had lunch and returned to still find a lineup, albeit much shorter. We boarded shortly before 5pm!

Disembarkation, on the other hand was excellent. Our colour was called and our bags located within minutes of entering the cruise terminal. But the embarkation--what a way to start a cruise!

The other area that was a major disappointment was pre ordering items for our cabin. I received a lot of help and suggestions from this board and I have to tell you I will never preorder again. Whether it was this particular ship, or the port of Hong Kong--I don't know. Dealing with the front desk staff over the non delivery and wrong delivery was frustrating and very time consuming.

We are extremely patient people and made allowances for the extra time involved in the extra cleaning of the ship, but by the 3rd day and 3rd time of being told "Let me look into this and get back to you" , our patience was running thin. I was somewhat prepared for a weak front desk staff, but I honestly resented the time standing in line to deal with something which should have been taken care of the first time.

I'm sorry to end my short report on a negative tone, but a company like HAL should handled the two items in a much better fashion. On a much more positive note, the Statendam is a lovely ship. The itineray is excellent. My DH and I even agreed that we would sail this same itineray again.

 

Any questions, please ask. I am so thankful for all of the advice I received here when planning this cruise! :)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome home. Hope those couple of glitches don't keep you from sailing HAL again.

[Marbella]

I noticed in another post by a passenger on this cruise, the comments about the fire alarms going off one evening. The problem was on our level, just down the hall from our cabin. We were told it was caused by a passenger smoking in his cabin.

[RevNeal]

Thank you so much for your review. I enjoyed it!

And thanks for thinking of me. :D

[Marbella]

Rev Neal,

 

A special thank you for the advice you gave me regarding cameras. My DH purchased a Fuji E900. He did ask at several places in the Toronto area about your camera model but unfortunately it does not seem to be available here. He purchased the camera at a local, family owned shop and they have been very helpful.

We were with a small group for all our shore excursions and he became known for the amount of pictures he took!! He is now anxious to learn about downloading them onto a disk etc. (you can tell I know little about digital cameras)

 

Thanks again! :D

[RevNeal]

You're welcome. I will look forward to seeing the photos when you get them posted online!

 

The Olympus 7070 is no longer in production. :( I wish it were. It was an excellent balance between the features and abilities of an SLR and the ease and simplicity (and economy) of a point-and-shoot.

 

The next time I buy a new camera I'll probably just go all-in and get a full-fleged SLR. The price is high, but I take enough photographs to warrant the expense.

[obriendan]

Thanks so much for the review. Pleased to hear you had such a good cruise and that it is a great itinerary.

 

We will do this itinerary on the Statendam on March 22, 2007. Just a few questions that come to mind at the moment:

 

1. Were visas required at any of the ports? If so, how did you obtain them.

 

2. Did you do HAL excursions or make arrangements on your own? I’ve read on another thread that many people have used TravelChina for excursions to Beijing and the Great Wall. Are you familiar with them?

Thanks

[Marbella]

 

1. Were visas required at any of the ports? If so, how did you obtain them.

 

2. Did you do HAL excursions or make arrangements on your own? I’ve read on another thread that many people have used TravelChina for excursions to Beijing and the Great Wall. Are you familiar with them?

Thanks

 

To answers your questions:

 

1. Yes, a visa is required for China. Our TA arranged this for us, but in the meantime go online for the Chinese consulate serving your area and you can obtain some info from that site. This was an area where HAL was not as helpful as they might have been, so I would definitely take the initiative and fully investigate on my own. (or with your TA). Also make sure you have a photo copy of your passport "photo page".

 

2. This was a fully escorted cruise with all of the shore excursions pre arranged. The company used was Jade tours. I have heard many good things about China Travel. I think it's a very good idea to use proper tour companies in China. In Dalian, Nagasaki and even Osaka, it is not as important. My one complaint with the tours in China was the obligatory trip to the 'Friendship stores' which are very nice and very over priced and contrary to what is written and stated, they will drop the prices, especially when they realized they weren't getting many sales.

 

The Jade tour rep's, for the most part, were very good and our bus was usually one of the first to leave port each time. The coaches were also extremely clean and very comfortable.

 

If I can be of any more assistance--please ask!

[obriendan]

Marbella,

 

Thanks so much for your response! I may have other questions at a later date.