onboard Statendam --28 days ...

[Stakeout]

onboard the Statendam.. awaiting to set sail from Ft Laud...

 

so far... ship is in a code RED.. Noro Virus outbreak on the previous sailing from SD... what a pain... everything is shut down... no self serve at the Lido...

 

let's just put it this way this is NOT the Maasdam...

 

already they screwed up my Sailfishing trip in Puerto Quetzel, Guatemala (that I did last year on the same trip on the Maasdam.. along with four other offshore trips).. they say they THINK it has been canceled.. I called HAL from the ship.. they say it's still good..they know nothing about it being canceled...... nobody knows what they're doing onboard... geez 28 days of this... wow....

 

I think this ship needs that 'masked rider on a white horse'.. FIRMIN...

[HALFans]

onboard the Statendam.. awaiting to set sail from Ft Laud...

 

so far... ship is in a code RED.. Noro Virus outbreak on the previous sailing from SD... what a pain... everything is shut down... no self serve at the Lido...

 

So sorry to hear this. Not a very auspicious start.:( Let's hope things get better soon! At least if there aren't any NEW outbreaks the Code Red won't last very long.

 

Best wishes!

[TCF]

Go to the Logo Shop....where you should find a delightful young woman working there by the name of Lady...yes Lady....she was born the year Lady Diana got married and parents being parents, well you get the picture. Lady will brighten your day ...and your cruise by the sound of it...with just her beautiful smile!

She did exactly that for us almost every day for 36 days on the Veendam last October!

Tell her that Tom and Deb in Vancouver wish her well....and tell her to email us!

Hope your cruise gets a lot better.

[Yaya&Papu]

Just got off in SD on 6 Feb. We did not have any Noro or code Red. Sorry to hear that you do. Look for Widi in the Lido with coffee = should be port side this sailing. He is a fantastic person, very friendly and a great memory for names.

Nyron in shore excursions is not the greatest. Our excursions thru them were not so good. Do as many tours as you can, NOT using HAL.

[lizf]

Stakeout- Sorry to hear of your problems on the Statendam. We got off in San Diego, on Feb 6th, and our trip was badly affected by a virus that started and seemed to spread the first week after we left Ft. Lauderdale. I expected we might go into some sort of confining of some guests before we got to San Diego but they never did. I really was very glad we got off when we did. We didn't get the Noro, but signs were there that I thought it might happen onboard. The stewards were assigned many rooms to clean and they were on a dead run all day long. I felt very sorry for them but they never complained, they never even had time to say more than a word or two in passing. Could they have done more? I don't know. They cut out some of the things they used to do when they cleaned the room.

 

We spent a lot time in our cabin to avoid being around the coughing and hacking going on but you just couldn't avoid it. Both my husband and I got that virus but I overheard people complaining of other things too. The medical people were diligent in their attempts to help us with emergency kits that really helped lessen the sore throat and coughing. I thought they tried to stayed on top of it as good as I've seen any medical staff do on a ship. The nurse asked about other symptoms which is as much as she could do. It was just an unfortunate situation that the passengers wouldn't stay in their cabins when they got sick.

[Iris5383]

onboard the Statendam.. awaiting to set sail from Ft Laud...so far... ship is in a code RED.. Noro Virus outbreak on the previous sailing from SD... what a pain... everything is shut down... no self serve at the Lido...nobody knows what they're doing onboard...geez 28 days of this... wow....

 

Are you wishing you would have stayed home? :(

[dizzy1949]

Geez, you're scaring me! :eek: We aren't sailing on the Statendam until June(Alaskan cruise) so I hope all the germs are gone by then :). This will be our first cruise with HAL. What is your general opinion about the Statendam - cabins, food, entertainment, etc. Obviously you won't be able to tell until you guys are out of "quarantine". Thanks for any info and advice. Hope all's well soon.

[Stakeout]

we just don't like to b!+ch and moan when we get on a ship..serves no purpose except to mess up a cruise.. all I'll say is that the Statendam has its problems.. the list is very long... the least of which is the germs/virus...I'll just highlight a few choice ones that affected us...

 

my better half probably guessed right on this.. it almost appears to be a training ship for the 'rookie staff'...

 

they wound up canceling 5 offshore fishing trips on me... one in Huatalco on the first part going to SD... then they canceled Cabo .. after giving me a ticket at the beginning... when I went down to get on the tour that morning.. 'what fishing trip' ????....as I held the pink envelope with my ticket... evidently they had no idea it was a good tour... turns out they never canceled it...it wasn't even on their list of tours.... heck I was trying to even see if I could get my wife on the same charter... I went over to the mainland on a tender with the Shorex Mgr Nyron who had no idea what was happening... yop.. the shore agent canceled it... I only booked it last August...

 

it was still up in the air with our Puerto Quetzel Guatemala sailfishing trip( I did it last year on the Maasdam Canal trip) which I had also booked online last July ... again the Shorex mgr gave me about 5 excuses ..might have even been more ... about why it was canceled... I called HAL again in SD..they knew nothing about the cancellations... my best guess is that the tour company raised the price and HAL wouldn't honor it... that is almost a certain having talked to the Captain I used last year on shore at the docks..

 

speaking of SD... all transient passengers--those staying on a back to back-- were told by letter to be at the lounge by 9am.. what a fiasco as we got into SD late because the ship had trouble pulling the anchor off the bottom in Cabo.. I kid you not... an hour and a half trying to free the anchor ... when we got to the lounge.. it was chaos...there were also people who were non-US citizens.. somehow they put us in that same fiasco...all trying to get thru immigration... there was a lot more to this but it's not worth getting aggravated over it again... not nice.. NOT one staff member to control the line was present... and this was right outside the main office near the elevators... both my wife and I went to the office and spoke to a supervisor on three occasions.. they could care less.. all they had to do was put a couple of staff( out of the 600 onboard) out there for crowd control... people were just cramming their way .. pushing... shoving... breaking thru the line.. it took us over 1 1/2 hrs to get thru that line as we were trying to get off in SD to meet some friends for lunch

 

all in all out of the 37 cruises we've done on HAL ships this was the worst run ship of the fleet... I won't even get into the quality or lack thereof of the food in the dining room.. it was almost like we weren't on a HAL ship... cutbacks are a b!+ch...

 

then .. and this is a first for us ... the PORT ENGINE crapped out as we were sailing southbound offshore of Costa Rica... lost power completely ..we went from 19 kts to 11 kts using one engine... went 34 miles and they repaired it.. only to go out again an hour later....Captain made the announcements.. at the time it sure didn't look good for us completing our trip ... they finally got it repaired... I have a handheld GPS

 

the Statendam will never see us again...

 

HAL has definitely cutback...

 

p.s. as far as the Noro Virus on this cruise.. it started on the previous leg from SD before we boarded in Ft Laud.. lasted about three days on our 28 day trip... plenty of people with colds though.. other than that... no problem with it..

[Stakeout]

Are you wishing you would have stayed home? :(

 

wishing we would have been on the Maasdam like we did last year rather than this one... just a bit disappointed with the quality of the ship

 

heck my first ever 'cruise' was on the General John Pope.. Oakland Army Terminal-SF Bay to Vietnam April 1967.. and I'm still cruising...:eek::D:p:cool:

[cruz chic]

wishing we would have been on the Maasdam like we did last year rather than this one... just a bit disappointed with the quality of the ship

 

heck my first ever 'cruise' was on the General John Pope.. Oakland Army Terminal-SF Bay to Vietnam April 1967.. and I'm still cruising...:eek::D:p:cool:

I with you on this one. The Maasdam is a much better ship then the Statendam in my opinion. The times I've mentioned any problems on the ship you think I called someone's mother a name:eek:. There seemed to be a number of people sick on the Statendam in November '08 as well.

[Stakeout]

I with you on this one. The Maasdam is a much better ship then the Statendam in my opinion. The times I've mentioned any problems on the ship you think I called someone's mother a name:eek:. There seemed to be a number of people sick on the Statendam in November '08 as well.

 

we're trying to get on the Maasdam for the April 24th cruise but it's sold out.. tried everywhere including the HAL Cruise Consultant I called yesterday... doesn't look like any openings between now and then...

 

starting in January 2010 the Maasdam will take over that Canal route that the Statendam is doing now... we like the full trip thru the Canal.. we board in Ft Laud.. last year's 30 day trip on the Maasdam had flat seas as soon as we came out onto the Pacific side.. this year as we heading up that coast we hit 18-27' seas 69 kt winds overnite and into the morning until we pulled into Huatulco... here's a couple of pics of the Statendam's TV info channel that morning around 5am..- and a few more I took that AM a lil' while later

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_1248-1.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_1239-1030109.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_1249-1nogodecksign030109.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_5737-1LidoPoolwaves730am030109.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_5729-169kts0700030109.jpg

[Half Hitch]

Hey Stakeout,

Those photos of the 18-27' seas are wild. What was it like trying to move around the ship in those conditions? Do they ever have to close down the dining room when seas are way too high?

[RuthC]

Do they ever have to close down the dining room when seas are way too high?

Not in my experience. When the Rotterdam was in 45' seas for 38 hours, over two evenings, we had dinner in the dining room each night.

Since everything had been toppled over (including people in their chairs) when "The Wave" hit, service was difficult that first night. We talked the steward into passing dishes, instead of bringing them to each person in turn.

The second night we arrived to find the tables not completely set. Dishes, silverware, and glasses were placed when needed. That way they didn't end up broken on the floor again!

[Stakeout]

Hey Stakeout,

Those photos of the 18-27' seas are wild. What was it like trying to move around the ship in those conditions? Do they ever have to close down the dining room when seas are way too high?

 

I was up early as usual heading up top deck aft to take some sunrise pics... it was 'quite different'... every now and then the 'big wave 'would make the ship rumble a bit... I didn't check out the dining room for breakfast... by the time we got into Huatalco the seas calmed down...that was around noon that day...

 

I took a few very short videos off one of my digital cameras.. haven't gotten around to editing or uploading any of them yet...

 

I can tell you.. it was a hoot trying to get outside onto the Lido deck-aft starboard side from the boo-fay at 6am...couldn't go but about 10-15' outside the door.. winds would blow you around... the Port side was just about impossible to get out on.. too much spray even up on the Lido deck--11 decks up... I then went to the bow..passing by the Lido 'indoor' pool that I took a few pics of with my Canon SLR... seems the 'seas' were up even in that pool as you can see in the pic... went out on the sports deck--Deck 12-- behind the Crow's Nest... same thing there...

 

it sure did thin out the lines at the Lido that morning... a lot of folks were 'bouncing off the walls' trying to get around...

 

added a lil' bit of flavor to the trip

[cruz chic]

The worst seas I've been through were 30 foot waves. That was between Vancouver and San Diego in Oct.07 if my memory is correct. It was just brutal. There wasn't many people coming to the dining room.

[cruz chic]

we're trying to get on the Maasdam for the April 24th cruise but it's sold out.. tried everywhere including the HAL Cruise Consultant I called yesterday... doesn't look like any openings between now and then...

 

starting in January 2010 the Maasdam will take over that Canal route that the Statendam is doing now... we like the full trip thru the Canal.. we board in Ft Laud.. last year's 30 day trip on the Maasdam had flat seas as soon as we came out onto the Pacific side.. this year as we heading up that coast we hit 18-27' seas 69 kt winds overnite and into the morning until we pulled into Huatulco... here's a couple of pics of the Statendam's TV info channel that morning around 5am..- and a few more I took that AM a lil' while later

 

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_1248-1.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_1239-1030109.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_1249-1nogodecksign030109.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_5737-1LidoPoolwaves730am030109.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_5729-169kts0700030109.jpg

Thanks for the pics...very interesting. It's good to hear the Maasdam is taking that route over in 2010. Wish it was this fall:D.

[Stakeout]

Thanks for the pics...very interesting. It's good to hear the Maasdam is taking that route over in 2010. Wish it was this fall:D.

 

here's a few very short videos from that same morning.. the first two are on the Lido deck aft ... the last two are on Deck 12 behind the Crows Nest up front.. if you don't have broadband they may take a while to load

 

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/?action=view&current=StatendamnorthboundPacific030109-1.flv

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/?action=view&current=StatendamnorthboundPacific030109-3L.flv

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/?action=view&current=StatendamnorthboundPacific030109-2C.flv

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/?action=view&current=StatendamnorthboundPacificoffMexico.flv

 

...and what it looked like a couple of hours later as we approached Huatulco, Mx

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_5764-1fogafterhighwindsHuatulco.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_5768-1fog030109.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_5790-1afterhighwindsthenfogHuat.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/IMG_5798-1HuatulcoMxBay11amapproach.jpg

[maha123]

I have to say that we got on the Statendam in San Diego on March 6th and thought that this was one of the best cruises that we have done with HAL.

I respectfully disagree with some of the comments made by Stakeout and I know that we are all entitled to our own opinion so I just wanted to give you some of mine.

We boarded after you so we didn't have a problem with the germs/virus, for which I am very grateful and feel very bad for anyone who has to go through a Code Red.

We definately did not feel like we were on a 'rookie staff' training ship. We thought that the staff were wonderful in all of the areas that we frequented, some of which were the Main Dining Room 8pm seating, Lido for occasional lunch, both Pool areas, excursion office, Spa, Casino, Crows Nest, Show Lounge, daily activities, Pinnacle Grill, Neptune Lounge.

We had no problems with the excursions that we booked on-line before our trip and one that we booked onboard. I found Nyron to be very helpful for what we needed. I realise that we did not book any fishing excursions and that seems to be where you had your problems, which is really a shame especially when you thought that you had it all booked.

I do agree with you that you do notice that there have been cutbacks, but I think that it is across all HAL ships and not just the Statendam, we thought that the food was pretty good, not as many choices maybe as there was in the past but enough to be able to make a choice at dinner times. There was not one evening when we looked at the menu and said that there was nothing that we liked or could eat, and we never ordered off the "Available Daily" part of the menu.

We thought that it was one of the best run ships in the fleet, we thought that Captain Frans Consen was also one of the best, he kept everybody informed when we were having propulsion problems which didn't really impact any of the passengers, there was some shuddering and we did slow down and it got very quiet, but overall it was no big deal, not sure why you even thought that it didn't look good for us completing our trip?

We have only done 13 cruises on HAL and have over 150 days and definately do not agree that it is the "worst run ship of the fleet".

The Statendam will see us again, we loved our trip :).

[Iris5383]

maha123 - thank you for the opposing viewpoint. For sure not everyone experiences things the same.

 

stakeout - I really liked your videos and photos. The sea was WILD that day. Would loved to have been there!

[sahara1]

Stakeout could you repost your photos. I am on the Apr 17 Statendam cruise.

[SDHALFAN]

I have to say that I agree with Maha 123 on this one. I was on the Statendam February 6th - March 6th of this year and I had a great cruise. Sure there was a Code Red called but it's really not that much of an inconvenience, unless of course you are one of the unfortunates who contracts the virus. As far as the colds go: it seems that virus was brought on board in Fort Lauderdale since there had been no sign of colds up until that time.

 

I can understand the frustration in San Diego on March 6th re the immigration procedures and the lack of staff; also the remark about a training ship for the rookie staff, however you have to understand that there was a huge turnover of staff once the ship got to San Diego on March 6th (including the Captain and the Cruise Director.) I was onboard just this past Friday (as a guest) for lunch and many of the people I had hoped to see again had left the ship in Fort Lauderdale or San Diego to go to other ships or because their contracts were up.

 

I have sailed on all the S and R class ships, except for some reason the Volendam, and have 419 days sailing with HAL and I wouldn't hesitate to sail on the Statendam again.

 

Valerie

[Stakeout]

Stakeout could you repost your photos. I am on the Apr 17 Statendam cruise.

 

oops.. sorry 'bout that.... I moved some pics around into a new sub- album...forgot about that these were posted.. you got broken links.. mea culpa...

 

here they are again.. in one album

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y25/Stakeout/Statendam%20Canal%20Feb%2020--Mar%2020%202009/enroute%20to%20Huatalco%20Mx%20high%20winds%20seas%20030109/

[Stakeout]

I have to say that I agree with Maha 123 on this one. I was on the Statendam February 6th - March 6th of this year and I had a great cruise. Sure there was a Code Red called but it's really not that much of an inconvenience, unless of course you are one of the unfortunates who contracts the virus. As far as the colds go: it seems that virus was brought on board in Fort Lauderdale since there had been no sign of colds up until that time.

 

I can understand the frustration in San Diego on March 6th re the immigration procedures and the lack of staff; also the remark about a training ship for the rookie staff, however you have to understand that there was a huge turnover of staff once the ship got to San Diego on March 6th (including the Captain and the Cruise Director.) I was onboard just this past Friday (as a guest) for lunch and many of the people I had hoped to see again had left the ship in Fort Lauderdale or San Diego to go to other ships or because their contracts were up.

 

I have sailed on all the S and R class ships, except for some reason the Volendam, and have 419 days sailing with HAL and I wouldn't hesitate to sail on the Statendam again.

 

Valerie

 

the staff..overall even with a lot of rookies...was NOT the problem except for the front office and the lack of any supervision with the incident at SD immigration where they wouldn't get off their butts to do anything..

 

cabin steward was excellent.. as were our DR steward and asst DR steward... had them all for 28 days.... those folks are always excellent.. Dining Room Manager superb.. sailed with him many times before he got promoted .. and H-M TEO .. well he is TEO.. and everyone loves TEO

 

the SHIP was the problem.. it's falling apart... look at it close.. I don't mean the library or internet cafe.. I mean around the rest of the ship... I spend my time by the Sea View Pool most of the day..actually on the Lido deck overlooking it.. I'm up at sunrise taking pics every AM... fell behind this Canal cruise only took about 4200 this time around.. 4800 on last year's Maasdam 30 day Canal cruise... so I get around and look .. closely.. probably too close...

 

e.g.... I put my foot up on a shorty pedestal to steady myself against the railing taking sunset pics one evening on the sports deck behind the Crows Nest .... the pedestal just fell over..rusted off... it stayed like that for at least four days before anyone moved it.. it's a rust bucket .. almost laughable...

 

it goes on and on and on... you couldn't get me back on that ship... and the worst part.. it takes over the Maasdam's run in the Caribbean starting in the spring of 2010.. 'what a revoltin' development this is' ( BTW that's a Wm Bendix quote from The Life of Riley-- TV Show in the 50's for those not aware)

 

like I said.. we very rarely complain onboard.. not worth it.. have to be serious incident to do it...it'll just ruin your trip otherwise... we just do our thing.. make the best of it.. enjoy the cruise and the travel.. then move on ..

 

BTW.. we've been on the Volendam 14 times over the years until it moved on to the Pacific 2 years ago.. overall it was our favorite ship...

[Old As Dirt Mom]

.......

 

the SHIP was the problem.. it's falling apart... look at it close.. I don't mean the library or internet cafe.. I mean around the rest of the ship... I spend my time by the Sea View Pool most of the day..actually on the Lido deck overlooking it.. I'm up at sunrise taking pics every AM... fell behind this Canal cruise only took about 4200 this time around.. 4800 on last year's Maasdam 30 day Canal cruise... so I get around and look .. closely.. probably too close...

 

e.g.... I put my foot up on a shorty pedestal to steady myself against the railing taking sunset pics one evening on the sports deck behind the Crows Nest .... the pedestal just fell over..rusted off... it stayed like that for at least four days before anyone moved it.. it's a rust bucket .. almost laughable...

 

it goes on and on and on... you couldn't get me back on that ship... and the worst part.. it takes over the Maasdam's run in the Caribbean starting in the spring of 2010.. 'what a revoltin' development this is' ( BTW that's a Wm Bendix quote from The Life of Riley-- TV Show in the 50's for those not aware)

 

like I said.. we very rarely complain onboard.. not worth it.. have to be serious incident to do it...it'll just ruin your trip otherwise... we just do our thing.. make the best of it.. enjoy the cruise and the travel.. then move on ..

 

...

 

The Statendam goes in for major overhaul/renovation March 26-April 3, 2010, so hopefully she'll be in better shape for her Caribbean run in 2010. I'm very envious of the sheer number of cruises you have managed in your lifetime! I have yet to cruise any of the S-class vessels, so it's interesting to read the various viewpoints. Thanks.