Lucky with great weather
Nieuw Statendam Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 95
7 Night Norse Legends (Amsterdam Roundtrip)
Sail date: June 23, 2019
Ship: Nieuw Statendam
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
We had a few hiccups early on the ship but overall turned out to be a great cruise. We loved the well thought out cabins and bathrooms. The public spaces had gorgeous and interesting art. It was a lovely itinerary to enjoy the beautiful and awesome nature of Norway.Embarkation
Arrived at cruise terminal at 12:30pm via public trams. My boarding pass said to board at 1pm. It took about 2 hours to actually get on the boat. We were seated and waiting for 2 hours and missed the Mariners welcome lunch. The lady who checked us in had no idea why we were waiting so long. At least that gave our bags ample time to make it to our cabin.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The food was fantastic as always. Not sure if we’re getting jaded but didn’t feel as excited about the MDR menus each night. We enjoyed breakfast made to order at the N.Y. pizza cafe above the pool (bagels and bfast pizzas were great). We loved the Grand Dutch Cafe for a quick snack or simple sandwiches for lunch. It was our second time trying Pinnacle Grill and we enjoyed it much more than our first experience onboard the Veendam. Late night snacks at the N.Y. pizza were good, too. Hot dogs from Dive In were yummy.
Onboard Activities
We were gifted a weekly spa pass which we took full advantage of. The spa is gorgeous and big enough that only one night felt a little crowded.
Entertainment
Musicians the first night were talented but sing selection was slow/felt like tempo dragged. We didn’t decide to see them again. Magician was a surprise hit bc my husband loves slight of hand over showier illusions. The comedian was good when he was being funny but his singing got too long and the show dragged.
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Barely felt any motion in our aft cabin. Good size bathroom and felt like there was ample storage space everywhere. We actually discovered a cabinet on our last day that we hadn’t even used. Balcony was the usual size and great to relax on.
Ship tip
Explore the ship. Enjoy some poffertjes (small Dutch pancakes) at the Grand Dutch Cafe for no extra fee. We spent a sea day going up and down each stairwell just to see the ship’s art collection, which we loved.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Even smaller village of 250 people! We were surprised we couldn’t find independent excursions and then we showed up and understood why. It almost feels like the ship is an imposition on the town. We booked a 9am excursion to hike the town. It’s not super necessary as we saw lots of other cruise passengers on the hike but we got a lot of fun info from our tour guide. The hike is short we were done maybe around 11am. We walked around the town a bit more and ate lunch outside the “tourist center” before meeting up with our second excursion to Urnes Stave Church. The tour guide was excellent - the stave church was pretty cool but a pretty short part of the tour. A lot of the time is spent driving. The waterfall we stopped at was really picturesque.
Not much to do in this 450 person town. We rented electric cars from an independent site (2 hours) and it was perfect for driving to the waterfalls and back (only 30 min away but we spent about an hour there walking around and taking pictures) (7:30-9:30). We walked around the yellow trail, which takes you around some old Viking burial mounds (in some poor farmer’s field) and there are a bunch of little turnoffs. Take them and you’ll come onto this little cliff where you can look down into the port. Got back on the boat around 11:30 or so to eat lunch and warm up in the spa.
Great little port. We decided to go up the funicular and then hike up to the radio tower. There were definitely some inclines but nothing you couldn’t do in normal sneakers. Basically carriageways almost the whole way up. Great panoramic views from the top and a flock of sheep to keep us company. Loved the view from up there and hiked back down with plenty of time to wander the fish market and shops in Old Bergen. We didn’t have time to go to the museums but since we lucked out with clear skies decided the hike would be worth it.
We did the all day troll road tour through an independent company. I think it’s the same tour though that you can book through the ship as well. Only 3 people on our bus were not from our ship. Was a long day of driving but well worth the sites. Would 100% recommend the troll tour - the lunch stop seems a bit long compared to how much time you get at the troll road plateau but I guess the tour companies get a commission or something from the lunch stop.
We arrived in Amsterdam on Thursday morning before our cruise left on Sunday. It was a lovely walkable city. We enjoyed riding the teams around as well. Definitely worth spending some time in - do a walking tour, take a canal boat. If you want to see the Anne Frank house, book the tour online a few months in advance.
Disembarkation
Traveler Photos
