Review: Holland America Nieuw Statendam ship 2023

Our first Holland America Line cruise a couple of months ago was great.

So as soon as we got home, we started to search for our next trip with HAL.

And that turned out to be a 4 week journey with Holland America Line’s Nieuw Statendam ship in the Mediterranean Sea, starting in Athens, Greece and ending in Rome, Italy.

We asked our cruise travel agent at home for a quote, which was close to 12K.

Included: crew appreciation, taxes and fees, flights, transfers to and from the airport and ship, cabin selection, and the Have It All package with daily 15 complimentary drinks up to $11 per drink per person, internet connection for 2 devices, 3 dinners in a specialty restaurant, $200 credit per person to book excursions, and $50 onboard credit per person.

As we are returning guests, our travel agent was able to get us an extra $100 onboard credit per person.

We definitely loved our previous cruise on the Rotterdam, which is a sister ship of the Nieuw Statendam.

How are the cabins, the entertainment, service – but most of all: how is the food on board?

Were there differences between the 2 ships?

What did we think of our second Holland America cruise on the Nieuw Statendam?

Let’s see!

We paid for our trip on board the Nieuw Statendam ship and didn’t get or ask anything in return for this review.

Video

We made a video of our cruise on board the Nieuw Statendam.

You can watch it here:

Transfers

We left Brussels Airport at 7am in the morning.

Our connecting flight at Vienna Airport was on time and brought us to Athens Airport as scheduled.

As we had only one hour in between flights, we were happy to see that our suitcase had also made it. Just to make sure was had packed 2 hand luggages with essentials.

We left the baggage area and stepped into arrival hall B of Athens Airport, an immensely busy and crowded hall. It took us some time to find the HAL representative. He crossed our names off a list and told us to wait in an area a little further until other passengers had landed. No confort here!

About 40 minutes later, our group was complete and we headed to the transfer bus.

The Nieuw Statendam at the Piraeus cruise terminal is a 45 minute drive away.

Boarding

Another HAL representative gets on the bus and tells us how the boarding process works and where to go.

We drop off our luggage first.

If you don’t have printed out and attached your HAL luggage tags at home, just state your cabin number or show your boarding pass and a staff member writes it down on as many tags as needed before attaching it to your luggage.

As we have already have our boarding passes on our HAL Navigator app, no need for us to stop at the next counter. We walk straight into the checkin hall. Another staff member immediately scans our passports and takes a photo for our cabin keys.

We walk further down the hall, go through a security check, and back outside where a shuttle bus is waiting for arriving HAL guests.

Some time later the bus leaves and brings us to the Nieuw Statendam that is docked a little further.

It is 3pm, and our rooms are ready.

We head to level 7, Schubert deck, to check out our stateroom and get our keycards that are waiting there for us.

It is about 30 minutes ago since the transfer bus dropped us off at the cruise terminal.

Flawless checkin and boarding process again, well done HAL.

We step into our cabin, pocket our room keys and take a quick look around.

No surprises here, it looks very identical to the one we stayed in on the HAL Rotterdam ship.

We make a little video and a couple of pictures for this blog post now that the room still looks tidy.

While doing that, there’s a knock on the door. We meet Wahyu who introduces himself as our main cleaner and housekeeper here on the Holland America Nieuw Statendam ship, together with his colleague David.

A couple of minutes later our luggage arrives as well, but we decide to unpack later.

What to do next?

We head to the Dive In restaurant near the pool to have a late burger and hot dog lunch and enjoy the Greek sun.

Let our 4 week cruise trip on the Nieuw Statendam begin!

Cabin

We are staying in room 7004, a large ocean-view stateroom located on deck 7 right underneath the bridge of the Nieuw Statendam.

This room doesn’t have a balcony, but a large window that is facing forward.

We deliberately chose this room, and while writing this blog post in the middle of our cruise trip we can so far say that we really don’t miss the balcony or the wider view that our cabin had last time.

Compared to cabins of other cruise companies we have traveled with (such as Silversea and Regent), we have stayed in, this cabin is a little smaller.

There is no separate dressing room here, however there is plenty of storage space.

In the hallway is a door leading to the bathroom, the other side of the hallway wall contains a built in wardrobe and cupboards. After that comes the bedroom and small lounge area with couch, small coffee table and a desk with chair.

Bedroom and lounge

Did we feel comfortable in this cabin?

Absolutely, it was absolutely perfect for the two of us.

Just like its sister ship the Rotterdam, the cabins are decorated with grey, white and beige colors, soft yellow lights. Apart from a couple of details, the cabin was almost identical.

The bed was good, the mattress was between soft and firm, with comfortable pillows. Our double bed consisted of 2 single mattresses put together and covered with a thick double mattress protector and a double fitting sheet.

The lounge area next to the bed is small but comfortable.

It contains a couch, table and desk with chair.

Dressing and mini bar

The small hallway leading to the bedroom is lined with storage space and drawers on the right side.

Two wardrobes with clothes hangers, a laundry list and bag, and shelves underneath.

On one of the shelves we also found 2 HAL beach towels, and 2 bathrobes.

In the cupboards next to it is a safe, a mini bar and 3 more large drawers.

We thought that there was enough room for our clothes during our 28 day cruise on the Nieuw Statendam.

The mini bar is stocked with plenty of drinks.

Also provided are a bottle of still water, an ice bucket, cork screw and a small bottle of red wine.

Drinking glasses and wine glasses are in the cupboard above.

These drinks (even the water) in your room are not free, even if you paid for a drink package. They are not included and will be charged to your room account if you open them.

Which is a bit weird though.

We had the Signature drinks package, 15 drinks per person for drinks up to $11. But because the drinks in the room are not included, we would have to bring drinks from the bars on the ship to our room like bottled water. How stupid is that?

Bathroom

What to say about the bathroom?

It is bright white and very clean.

The shower was nice, not spacious but still comfortable. Great water pressure and temperature – just perfect.

The bath products are fragrant and good. You can find the shower gel, shampoo, hair conditioner, hand soap and body lotion in separate dispenser in the shower and near the sink.

Also provided are kleenex, 2 glasses and a shower cap, no other bathroom amenities. You can find the hairdryer and makeup mirror in one of the drawers of the desk in the lounge area.

The towels are large and soft and changed twice a day if you put them on the floor.

Overall the bathroom is just what you expect of a cruise cabin bathroom, not spacious but still comfortable enough without giving you the feeling of being cramped. It is well thought out.

Electric sockets

A very useful thing to know of you travel: do you need to bring an adapter or not?

What electric sockets are there in a Nieuw Statendam room?

On each side of the bed is a USB charging port, and a US type B outlet.

The desk outlets are 120 volts and 220 volts. They have US type B outlets with 120 volts, and 220 volts outlets with European round prongs.

It also contains a USB charging port.

In the bathroom is a type C European 2 round prong socket, compatible with a US type A 2 pin plug.

Housekeeping

During our Nieuw Statendam cruise housekeeping would stop by twice a day.

In the morning from 8am onwards, and a turndown service in the evening during dinner.

Towels placed on the flor would be replaced by fresh ones.

Bed sheets were changed every other day as well.

Our housekeepers Wahyu and David were super charming and professional. Every time we had a question or an issue, somehow we would always be able to find at least one of them in the hallway to help us out.

At one point our TV decided to give up on us. We mentioned that to Wahyu and he took care of the problem while we headed out for dinner.

Excellent job!

Room service

You can order food 24/7.

The full room service menu is available on your TV.

Choose from a selection of sandwiches, salads, sweet treats, burgers, hotdogs and steaks. Some items come at an extra cost.

Complimentary in suite breakfast is also available from 6am until 11am.

Fill in the request form, choose a time slot and put it outside your door before 2am.

Start your day in your room with a selection of pastries, yogurt, fruits, jam and butter, vegetable frittata, bagel and lox, coffee, tea, juices and a hot American breakfast (eggs, bacon, hash brown and sausage).

We didn’t order in room breakfast during our trip.

Have It All package

This package was part of the cruise promotion we booked, and it includes shore excursions, beverages, specialty dining and wifi.

• $300 per person shore excursion credit
• Signature Beverage Package: 15 drinks up to $11 per person per day
• one complimentary dining for 2 at the Pinnacle Grill, Canaletto and Tamarind specialty restaurant
• promo Wifi Surf Package for 2 devices

Is it worth it?

Yes, definitely.

It is the second time that we have the Have It All package and we really enjoyed it. Money well spent!

If we are not mistaken, this package costs $55 per person per day.

We did use the excursion credit to book 3 excursions, enjoyed the included wifi connection (when it worked) and loved our dinners at the specialty restaurants.

Wifi was OK, not great. Twice during our cruise was the connection down for at least 24 hours. It is a bit hit and miss.

The coolest thing for us in the Have It All package were the included drinks. It was so easy to order any drinks during the day without having to worry. A specialty coffee during or after breakfast, a soft drink, glass of wine or beer during lunch. A cappuccino in the afternoon, a couple of glasses of wine during dinner and a few cocktails while watching a show afterwards.

Plenty of wines by the glass and cocktails under $11 that you could choose from.

And if you happen to order a drink that is above $11, you only pay the difference – for example a $15 glass of wine will cost you $4.

Right before going to bed we would also order bottled or canned water to take to the room, which also counts as an included drink in the package.

Reception

The reception area on the Nieuw Statendam is located on deck 3.

The queues here were always quite long every time we walked by.

Here you can link a credit card to your room key for extra expenses.

Even if you have an all inclusive package or are adamant not to spend one penny more on board the Nieuw Statendam, you will be charged $16 per day per person for staff gratuities.

Navigator app

The Navigator app on your smartphone is an easy tool when you are on board.

On it you can find lots of information about the Nieuw Statendam ship, daily program, onboard activities, entertainment, check the restaurant menus, opening hours of bars, restaurants, shops and such.

You can make restaurant reservations or book excursions.

Your online statement is also available: it shows you what expenses you have made so far. However that statement was very confusing, making us head down to the reception a few times to get some clarification. At one point a staff member printed out our statement to walk us through it, and the reception printout was way more comprehensible and detailed than the one we could see on our account.

Why use 2 different systems for staff and guests?

Restaurants

The Nieuw Statendam has quite a few restaurants to offer.

For some you need a dinner reservation and/or pay extra.

The dining fee for French restaurant Rudi’s is $49 pp, Italian restaurant Canaletto is $29 pp, Pinnacle Grill is $45 pp, Thai Tamarind is $39 pp, and sushi restaurant Nami is $39 pp.

A service charge of 18% is added on top of that.

Breakfast

For breakfast there is a choice between the à la carte breakfast at the Dining Room restaurant (open at 8am, last seating 9:30am), the buffet breakfast at the Lido Market restaurant (open at 7am, last seating 10:30am), the New York Deli & Pizza (open from 7:30 until 11am) or the Dutch Cafe.

The busy Lido Market buffet has it all: pastries, fruits, yogurt, cold cuts, smoked fish, breads, cold cuts, salads, juices, smoothies, eggs made to order, pancakes, waffles, crispy bacon, mushrooms, tomatoes, hash browns, sausages, baked beans, roasted potatoes, fried chicken…

The crispy bacon here is phenomenal.

We also loved the omelettes that are freshly made on the spot, with your choice of extra ingredients such as cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, spinach and such.

The eggs Benedict however were not good at all, reheated poached eggs that were rock hard in the end and cold hollandaise sauce.

Loved the fried chicken, excellent seasoning and very tasty juicy meat!

We would very often go to the Dining Room for breakfast as well.

Their a la carte menu is delicious, and if you want to enjoy your breakfast in a more quieter area then this is where you want to go.

Here as well staff will bring you hot and cold beverages while you browse through the breakfast menu.

Eggs any style, with extras such as mushrooms, hash browns, superb crispy bacon, tomatoes, beans, sausages, etc. Pancakes, waffles, smoothies, granola, yogurt, porridge, pastries, bread basket, fruit platter…

The eggs we ordered were always cooked to perfection.

The à la carte eggs Benedict here were a true delight, so good.

Also a great breakfast option we loved was the Asian congee, bento and the Indian aloo and parata breakfast.

The New York Deli & Pizza is also a place on the Nieuw Statendam where you can grab a bite to eat in the morning.

It is located on deck 10 overlooking the swimming pool.

A freshly made breakfast bagel with fried eggs, cheese and ham – or a smoked salmon bagel.

Other breakfast options here: fruit salad, yogurt, juices, a bagel with jam or peanut butter, cereal, or from the griddle: pancakes, scrambled or fried eggs sausages, bacon and hash browns.

Definitely a good place for a quiet cup of coffee or tea and a savory morning bite.

Lunch

There are quiet a few options you can go to for lunch, depending on how hungry you are.

The Dutch Cafe, the Lido Market lunch buffet, the à la carte Dining Room, the Dive In Burgers & Dogs, The New York Pizza & Deli and the Pinnacle Grill.

The Lido Market buffet has it all: a large salad bar, cheeses, charcuterie, sushi, bread and sandwiches, a carving station, fried chicken, fish and chips, vegetable and potato side dishes, a pasta and Asian cooking station, tacos, curries and a large choice of sweet desserts, fruits, pies and tarts.

We loved the delicious lamb curry and noodles, or black pepper beef.

The meat at the carving station was great as well: roast chicken, crispy pork belly, brisket, steak, roast beef… Excellent meat!

The buffet sitting area would often be very busy, we would take our plates to the back of the restaurant and sit outside in the sea view pool dining area.

The a la carte lunch at the Dining Room is only open on sea days and has the same menu every time.

You can enjoy meat, fish, soups and salads.

And the daily lunch menu: starter, main and dessert.

It is open for lunch from 12pm, last seating at 1:30pm.

We went once and tomato soup, fried chicken, fish of the day (sea bass) and croque-monsieur.

The fried calamari was excellent on the Rotterdam ship last time, however here it was very greasy and chewy.

On sea days a complimentary high tea is served in the afternoon from 3 until 4pm in the Dining Room.

You get a selection of savory sandwiches and sweet treat such as cupcakes and scones, and a cup of tea.

Also on sea days we would stay around the main pool and grab a bite to eat there.

We had a fantastic time at Dive In, especially with their freshly made burgers.

The burgers were juicy and delicious, and the fries were excellent too.

It is the perfect place for a late lunch or afternoon snack.

Although the hotdogs were also delicious, the burgers were even better.

If you’re looking for another lunch option, you might want to try New York Deli & Pizza again.

They offer a variety of options including sandwiches, pizza, salads, and fruits. The sandwiches are freshly made on the spot, and we particularly enjoyed the Reuben and the Club sandwich.

The best thing about this place is the ‘make your own pizza’ option where you can choose what goes on top of your pizza, including sauce, meats, vegetables, and more. Although you can just pick up a slice of pizza that is in the window, we found those pizzas to be a little chewy.

Assembling your own pizza from scratch was much better. The pizzas are excellent!

Also, don’t forget to try their complimentary self-service lemonade, iced tea, and ice water.

The Dutch Cafe on deck 3 is also a place where you can grab a sweet or savory bite.

The food on the menu is Dutch: expect things like veal kroket, pea soup, matjes herring, bitterballen and cakes.

The food here was OK, but nothing more.

The famous Dutch veal kroket and bitterballen were a little better here than on the Rotterdam ship. But again half of the offered drinks were not available.

This is the place we liked the least.

It is not cozy at all, located opposite the reception area lots of people walk through it.

You can get free ice cream at the Lido buffet in the afternoon, classic flavor such as chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.

If you are looking for more refined flavors and ice cream toppings, go to the The Gelato bar near the swimming pool on deck 9 where you can order ice creams ($3-$4,75) and milkshakes ($5,50-$6,50).

Dinner

Included in our ‘Have it All’ package was a complimentary dinner at the Thai restaurant, the steak restaurant and the Italian one.

All the other evenings we went to the a la carte Dining Room for dinner.

You will be asked if you want to sit with other people or if you want a table just for you. A table for 2 wasn’t always immediately available especially when it gets busy during dinner. However we never had to wait more than 10 minutes to be seated.

Dinners were always excellent here.

You can choose between 6 starters, 6 mains and a couple of desserts.

The menu changes daily.

Starters always included French onion soup and caesar salad. And dishes such as beef carpaccio, smoked chicken and remoulade, smoked salmon, caprese salad, Greek mezze, beef tartare, shrimp cocktail.

The mains that were truly amazing were the prime rib, beef wellington, veal tataki, lamb shank, shrimp and grits, beef tenderloin, turkey and stuffing, steak and fries and the salmon. Every fish dish we ordered was spot on: a perfectly pan seared fish fillet with lovely vegetables.

So good.

We had been spoiled by the qualitly of food on our previous Silversea cruises and were very curious to see how HAL would do food wise but we loved it here.

Desserts were good as well.

Classics such as millefeuille, baked Alaska, panna cotta, Dutch apple pie, ice cream and fruit crisps.

There is also a different cheese board each evening, but the cheeses were all very average. Great room for improvement here.

On the Rotterdam ship the drink service during dinner service was so slow, but not here on the Nieuw Statendam. We would order a double glass of wine or 2 different wines at the same time.

The choice of wines was good, you can get quite a few wines per glass under $11. Our drinks were included in our package.

If you are looking for other dinner options, you can also to go the Lido Market. They offer a buffet-style dinner that is the same as the à la carte menu in the Dining Room. And you can always count on the salads and pasta station, the Asian corner and the meat carving station with plenty of choice of potato and vegetable side dishes.

Alternatively, New York Pizza and Deli is also open for dinner until 11pm. They offer a variety of options including sandwiches, pizza made to order, salads, dessert and fruits.

By the way, when it is movie night at the main pool, this place also offers complementary movie snacks such as crisps, pretzels and chcken wings and such.

If you don’t feel like going out for dinner, you can always have dinner delivered to your room by using room service.

Specialty restaurants

Then there are the restaurants you have to pay extra for, and make reservations beforehand.

The Pinnacle Grill ($45pp) is the steak and seafood restaurant.

The New York strip was excellent, cooked to perfection again, and the Berkshire pork chop was juicy and full of flavor. Excellent sides to choose from such as asparagus with hollandaise sauce, mushrooms and spinach. The mash was buttery and good, the fries however were just OK.

Again enough wines by the glass to choose from that are included in our drinks package.

Our waiter Roberto was great.

Our dinner here was complimentary, but would we come back a second time on our own expenses?

No, not because it is not good enough. It is just that the meat in the Dining Room is absolutely splendid as well. So we don’t see why we would pay extra for a steak dinner when that epic prime rib served in the DIning Room is just out of this world.

We had been looking forward to our dinner at Tamarind ($39) which serves Thai food.

We loved it on our last cruise.

And the Nieuw Statendam didn’t disappoint because the food was again excellent.

The krupuk and dips were tasty.

Loved the lamb, beef salad, tempura, chilli prawns, and zippy fruit desserts.

Everything was delicious, from start to finish.

Flavorful fresh ingredients, perfectly seasoned and cooked.

Service here was again great, very professional and super attentive.

Absolutely perfect, so we booked a second dinner here for the next week and were just as amazed by the flavours and quality. Definitely worth the money!

Also located in the Tamarind restaurant is the Nami sushi bar.

It has a a la carte menu, no fixed charge here as you simply pay for the freshly made sushi and other dishes that you eat.

Also included in our Have It All package is a dinner at Canaletto ($35), the Italian restaurant.

It is located right next to the Lido Market buffet.

Not surprisingly you can find Italian classics here such as antipasti, burrata, ossobuco, pesto pasta, pasta vongole, sea bass and tiramisu.

The food that we ordered was great: bean soup, beef carpaccio, sea bass with mediterranean vegetables, and the gnocchi with short ribs. Well seasoned, very fresh ingredients, generous portions.

The Italian cheese platter for dessert wasn’t Italian at all, apart from the parmesan cheese. The announced gorgonzola for example was just a generic blue cheese.

Other than that we had an delicious dinner here, staff was very attentive.

The restaurant itself isn’t very cozy though, it is located next to the Lido buffet and dining room which made it quite noisy we thought.

On this cruise we didn’t eat at Rudi’s Sel de Mer ($49), the French restaurant.

We did go there on our last cruise, check out here what we ordered and how the plates looked.

Bars

The Nieuw Statendam has several bars.

We liked the Explorations Cafe panorama bar and lounge a lot, especially during sail aways. The view from up here is great when the ship is on the move.

It is open from 6:30am until midnight.

It can get pretty busy on sea days when there are boardgame events or painting classes.

People would come here often to read, play cards or knit and enjoy a cup of coffee or a cocktail.

As of 5pm it is quieter, when people get ready for drinks and dinner.

We would often enjoy a glass of wine here around 6pm.

Shops

You can find several boutiques on the Nieuw Statendam that offer clothes, accessories, jewelry, handbags, cigarettes, liquor, wines, chocolates, crisps, and other small snacks.

They also sell toiletries and other essential items such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, feminine hygiene products, medication and sunscreen. The boutiques are open when the ship is on the move and usually until 11 pm.

Any item you purchase is added to your guest account linked to your room key. If you linked a credit card to your room key, your bill will automatically be settled the day before or on the morning of disembarking.

Swimming pools

The Nieuw Statendam has 2 heated swimming pools, both on deck 9.

The the main pool and also the largest one is located in the middle of the ship, under a roof that can be opened and closed depending on the weather.

It also has 3 jacuzzis.

All around it are plenty of sun loungers. Rolled up fresh bath towels are placed on them in the morning by the staff for you to use.

On deck 10 overlooking the swimming pool are comfortable outdoor couches and more sunbeds.

On each side are tables where you can sit to enjoy your burger from the Dive In shack on the same level or a pizza from the NW deli one floor up.

We would often get food from the Lido Market buffet (also on the same level) and eat here as well.

The bar staff here is attentive.

The other heated swimming pool, called the Sea View pool is located on the same level, at the back of the ship.

This is also the area where smoking is allowed on one side next to the bar.

We would sit here often to eat lunch from the buffet next door because it is much calmer to sit here.

Shore excursions

The shore excursions desk is located at the entrance of the Explorer’s Cafe bar and lounge on deck 14.

Since we had $300 per person shore excursion credit, we booked our excursions about a month ahead of our cruise.

We went on 4 HAL excursions.

They were great, well organised with plenty of information about the meeting and departure time.

One excursion was cut short due to the conflict in Israel and cancelled, we were fully refunded as well.

To get to shore, you could most of the time get off and walk into town on foot. On 3 occasions tenders were used to bring you to the port, which always went fluently.

At times the Nieuw Statendam would be docked somewhat far from an interesting city.

The excursion staff wasn’t always informed or wouldn’t give any extra information about whether HAL would provide (free) shuttle buses or if the port would take care of that and at what cost – or if the only available option was to use public transport or local taxis.

Self service laundrette

There is no self service laundry on board.

If you need your clothes washed and pressed, you gave to use the laundry bag that you can find in your cabin’s wardrobe.

Live entertainment

Lovely entertainment on board the Nieuw Statendam!

The BB King Blues Club band was amazing, excellent singers and top notch musicians playing classic rythm and blues songs. They would play 3 sets per night, 5 days a week.

Perfect place to sip an after dinner drink.

The group has very talented singers and musicians. The singer was amazing with is voice full of soul and fantastic sense of rhythm. A special mention also for the young clarinetist who was absolutely astonishing.

Right next door to the BB King Blues Club are 2 other music venues.

The Billboard Onboard where 2 pianists play classic hits together.

And right opposite The Rolling Stone Rock Room.

That is where we would spend most of our evenings.

The British band ‘Trust Me, Jack‘ was absolutely amazing. Elliot, Tom, Carl and Jordan are very talented musicians, playing perfectly executed covers from The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Janis Joplin, Whitesnake, Cream, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tom Petty and so on. American singer Alicia was in charge of keyboards, she made a great addition to the band, great voice too.

Their cover of Wipe Out by the Surfaris was absolutely epic and set the entire room on fire. Same for their Jimi Hendrix covers, these guys really are TOP NOTCH.

The Rock Room was definitely our favorite place on the Nieuw Statendam to sip a drink and enjoy music before going to bed!

The World Stage is an absolutely state of the art theatre and offers entertainment during the day and in the evenings.

A dance group, opera singer and illusionist were performing during our cruise.

Even though it wasn’t always our cup of tea, there sure is enough entertainment to keep you busy.

Spa, sports and other entertainment

• gym
• board games room
• casino
• pickleball
• table tennis
• running track
• music trivia
• art auction
• evening movie at the pool

The Nieuw Statendam doesn’t have a library, which is a great miss.

According to a crew member there are plans to add a library to the ship in the future.

Passengers

The average age of most of the passengers on board the Nieuw Statendam was between 50 and 75 years old.

Most of them were couples, a handful of families with adult kids and a few solo travelers.

More than half of the passengers on board were American.

Dress code

During the day there is no dress code.

On most nights the dress code was casual: nothing fancy, even a t-shirt was perfectly fine.

We had 4 dressy or gala evenings where gentlemen had to wear something with a collar to dine at the Dining Room: a shirt, even a polo shirt was alright. T-shirts not allowed.

People who dined at the specialty restaurants tended to dress a little fancier even though that is not mandatory.

We did see people wear fancy dresses and suits or dinner jackets with or without tie but that certainly isn’t necessary.

WIFI

We had wifi included in our Have It All package.

The connection on board the Nieuw Statendam was at times very fast and at other times super weak.

It had its ups and downs during our 28 day cruise where there was no connection twice for at least 24 hours.

Medical center

About two weeks into our cruise, we received a leaflet in our cabin.

The medical centre announced that a bunch of people were showing gastroenteritis symptoms, a contagious tummy bug that causes cramps, fatigue, vomiting and diarrhea.

Everyone on board was from then on asked to wash or disinfect hands as much as possible. Hand railings, elevator buttons and pool showers were cleaned multiple times a day. No individual coffee pots on the breakfast table, no bread baskets during dinner. No self service at the buffet restaurant.

Fortunately we were not affected.

Would we book again with HAL?

Absolutely.

The food on board the Nieuw Statendam was great.

Staff is very polite and friendly.

We have found our cruise company when it comes to the prize and quality ratio.

Would we recommend HAL and the Nieuw Statendam ship?

Yes, we would.

The Nieuw Statendam is a lovely ship, modern and spacious.

We can’t wait to travel with HAL again.

Pros

• comfortable cabins
• very attentive staff
• excellent housekeeping by Wahyu and David
• delicious food
• excellent drinks and wines

Cons

• hit and miss wifi.
• although the food was indeed delicious, there is never the possibility to eat local dishes from the ports where we went: no Turkish or Greek cuisine at all. We missed something as the SALT restaurant of Silversea very much.
• no library.
• sometimes very long wait for an elevator.

We paid for our trip on board the Nieuw Statendam ship and didn’t get or ask anything in return for this review.