14 Nights Wild British Isles: Belfast Evening Stay Cruise

Relaxing time cruising the Bahamas

The perfect relaxing vacation to get away from winter. Our first Holland cruise and it does skew older but we were looking for serenity over roller coasters. The ship is not too big and offers great entertainment. We especially liked the dualing pianos at Billboard lounge. We opted for the bus service from Miami airport and traveled same day from home. Everything was smooth. It was not very full either. More people should take advantage of it. Embarcation was fast and smooth. Since we were arriving at 1:30 the crowds had dispersed. Our room was ready right away. Stewards were awesome and made us feel at home. First day was at half moon cay. I rented a kayak and paddled about on the gentle lagoon. Dining in the main dining room was probably the least we'll executed of all the places we ate. It is not bad, it is just the specialty dining was that incredible. Morimoto's popup is not to be missed. The sushi bar is excellent. And the there is Rudi's which we liked so much we dined here twice. Be sure to order the escargot. The lido buffet can be a longer wait for omelettes or salads so off times may be easier. Food is great there so no worries if you are wanting a pool day vs dressing up. Entertainment at Billboard was our favorite. The performers had a great banter as well as played incredibly well. They had a deep repitoire playing a variety of songs in their multiple shows.

Great week on Nieuw Statendam!

This was our third cruise on Holland America and it continues to deliver very good value in our eyes. We have also sailed multiple times on ach of Carnival, Princess, Celebrity and NCL. We are in our 40s with 2 kids aged 11 and 14. No doubt that the fellow cruisers tend to be older, with very few kids on board. That said, the combination of excellent live performances (BB King Blues Band is absolutely fantastic, Rolling Stones excellent), good food all around (diverse buffet, good salads, good dining room experience), fantastic service (the staff was one of the better ones we have witnessed on all our cruises - good vibes could be felt throughout the week), interesting "extras" (the Lido fanfare for Mardi Gras was very fun), very nice cabins, pristine ship, excellent embarkation/debarkation, .... I would like to add that despite the few kids on board, there is a very nice room for teens called the "High Score" with multiple free games, including some pinball machines. No nickel and diming here. Well done HAL! Only drawback I would say is that we didn't particularly care for the few shows by the resident singers and dancers. That said again, the excellent BB King and Rolling Stone bands made up for that. We also enjoyed the comedian Frank Townsend very much. As you can hear, we were very pleased with our week and warmly recommend the Nieuw Statendam!!!

Loved Nieuw Statendam!

This was my first time on a Pinnacle class ship and I really enjoyed it. We were in a balcony Category VD room on the 5th floor and it was very spacious and plenty of room for all our stuff for this 7 night Caribbean trip. We used it as a getaway from the cold and it fit the bill. The weather was perfect every day with highs in the low 80's and low humidity. No rain and lots of great sunsets. We really enjoyed all the live music but it's not perfect. We listened to Zach and Grace, the two piano players in Billboard On Board each night and while their vocals aren't the strongest, they have a fun banter between them and play lots of great tunes. Our favorite music show were two solo performances. One by Levi, the pianist from the Rolling Stones Lounge and Mike the sax player. They did a pre-dinner show and killed it. The other was Aaron, a guitarist with the Rolling Stones Lounge that also did a pre-dinner solo. HAL should have those two acts every night! Claire the cruise director was awesome. Our main dining room waiter Gerald was excellent and always had our drinks ready for us and got us out in time for the late shows. We occasionally had to wait for open seating around 7:15 PM but never more than 10 minutes. The food at both the main dining room, the Lido and room service were all very good. The desserts at the Lido for lunch could be improved. They need more good chocolate desserts! They also had food after 10 pm but we didn't go there since we were still stuffed from dinner. We also liked the Dive In for burgers and hot dogs and I think they have the best French fries at sea (so crispy!). The pizza at the NY Deli place was also good. We got that to watch the Super Bowl on the big screen by the pool. Afternoon tea was also very nice with sweet and savory goodies and good tea served in the dining room. The entertainment they brought on board was excellent. The comedian Jose Sarduy was so funny and the Brazilian guitarist, Diego Figuieredo was so talented and very personable. Also embarkation and disembarkation were a breeze. We were on and off in minutes. No lines/waiting. All in all we had a great cruise. So much so we booked another cruise on the Nieuw Statendam this summer for Scotland and Ireland!