14 Nights Eastern Mediterranean: Rhodes Overnight Cruise

Wonderful ship and great service

We had an excellent and epic cruise on board Holland America’s Nieuw Statendam for a 14 day wild British cruise visiting Scotland, Ireland, and Dover, England going out of Rotterdam, Holland We booked two cabins for this cruise. They were both category VH partially obstructed veranda on deck four. The service was excellent from checking in to check out. We boarded the ship and there was no long lines. All we have to do is just show our passports and we had a boarding card and we were boarding group too and it really wasn’t that long to board the ship. When we got into our cabins, they were beautifully designed. We loved the shower and the beds were very comfortable during our stay, especially the balcony was very nice to spend the day outside and get some fresh air. Food was really good. We ate in the dining room every night of our cruise. No complaints about it. The buffet food was exceptional as well as lunch in the pinnacle Grill and it was worth it. Special thanks to our housekeeping, assistance, Frederick, and his partner and then my parents housekeeping, personnel, Andre, and his partner they really did a good job for us and we appreciate all the dining room, waiters and staff and crew who went above and beyond to provide service for us during this trip This was only our second time on this ship since we sailed on in 2023, but we really had a fun time and we will be back at her in the very near future

Nieuw Statendam was great!

We just finished a 14 night "Wild British Isles" cruise round trip from Dover on Nieuw Statendam and really loved it. We're 4 star on HAL so we love HAL in general (especially the unlimited free laundry!) but the NS seemed to really up their game. The service was top notch, the food was great, the entertainment was good and the live music (other than being a little too loud for my tastes) was also quite good. Even the internet was pretty decent. But the itinerary was amazing. Had never been to Scotland so loved all the ports there. Hate that we missed the Orkney Island and Isle of Man but got to go to Inverness and try to see the Loch Ness monster and that was fun. Also had several stops in Ireland. Wish we could have skipped Rotterdam (how is that a British Isle??) and maybe spent an extra night in Edinburgh but it was still a great trip. The embarkation and disembarkation was the fastest we've ever experienced (5-10 minutes and we're on/off). Karlijn the cruise director and Dan the entertainment director were both really good. Our room stewards were great as always. Funny thing about our cabin, we went with a Category VD Guarantee balcony and a few weeks before the trip it got assigned and we ended up being upgraded to a Category VA which was a handicap accessible room. It was a great location and the room was HUGE! But we felt bad having it since we don't need the accessibility so first thing we went down to the front desk and said if a wheelchair person needs it, we'd be glad to go to a different room. But they never contacted us so we really enjoyed the extra space. The automatic door took a little to get used to since it stayed open for like 7 seconds before closing but it was all good. Bottom-line is, if you're soon going on the Nieuw Statendam, you'll love it! By the way, if anyone wants to see lots of food pictures, menus, pics of our cabin and lots of pics from each port, feel free to check out my travel blog where I did daily updates as follows: https://thewanderingitalian.com/

Holland America Sails an Excellent Ship

I was on back-to-back cruises commencing on May 18th from Rotterdam. I arrived two days prior to sailing and took the train from the Amsterdam airport directly to Rotterdam. Then a taxi took me to the Hotel New York which was an excellent choice for embarkation. I had upgraded from an interior cabin to a window on the midship of deck 1. This turned out to be a very convenient location and the window was a delight. This cabin had good storage. The North Cape, Norway, was an excellent excursion. We had good weather and saw reindeer on the bus ride. Other ports in Norway were good, even though we encountered some rain. Another highlight was our stop in Queensferry. The winds were blowing around 21-25 knots as we were anchored. This caused some delays with the tenders going ashore. We opted to make our own way via taxi to tour the Royal Britannia Yacht (taxi fare each way was approximately 35 pounds). Touring the yacht was an excellent decision and we also had a lovely lunch on board. The ship had the usual music venues that Holland America is know for. On the main stage, there were 2 acts that stood out: Tom Crosbie, a winner of a Penn & Teller show, and Chris Richie, a singer/entertainer. The food was very good with the Main Dining Room and the Lido buffets serving varied and tasty selections. The ship was very well maintained. Crew members were all friendly, well-trained, and efficient.