Very poor on-board entertainment and activities.

Item: Nieuw Statendam
Rating: 4.1
Author: kentleadbetter

Nieuw Statendam Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

kentleadbetter

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 52

Overall rating:

4.1 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Tropical Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: December 15, 2019

Ship: Nieuw Statendam

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 4103

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 4 years ago

Review summary

I wouldn't recommend this ship unless you want to nap all day at sea or avoid getting run over by a Hover-round. We cruise 2-3 times per year for 35 years, we've been on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Norwegian , Princess and now Holland America and I must say the entertainment and on-board activities were the worst we've ever experienced.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Terrible entertainment. The band in BB King room was good but all others were terrible especially the stage shows.

Children's Programs

No kids

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Marija, Sales associate and Ernie , whiskey tastings went above and beyond in serving our needs. Great people!

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Beautiful ship and the cleanest we have been on.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Our cabin was 4187, it was very nice and had plenty of space.

Ship tip

If you are under 80 years of age don't go. There is nothing to do on the ship but foolishness. One of the activities was towel folding

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

4 out of 5

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (Private Island)

5 out of 5

Beautiful island and beach

Thumbs Up 1

Grand Turk Island

4 out of 5

Ok, not a pretty island though.

Thumbs Up 0

Amber Cove (Puerto Plata), Dominican Republic

3 out of 5

Poor and run down island

Thumbs Up 0

Key West, Florida Did not visit port

High winds kept us from porting

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

4 out of 5

It was average

3 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

Thumbs Up 0

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Red29er 4 years ago

Two years ago we went on RCL Alure of the Seas in late February 4000 adults 2000 kids. We like cruises with out kids & parents. The ship was worn. Buffet was small and over crowded. To big.

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

CruzeFan 4 years ago

We had a similar experience with Holland America as well. The activities and entertainment were either non-existent or very poor. We don’t need water slides or roller-coasters, but do expect more than napkin folding or outdated computer classes during the day and movies 2 nights in the main theater in the evening. We also did not care for the food in the dining room or the fact that you cannot serve yourself at the buffet. There was also no sign to indicate which end of the buffet to start on and people came from both ends or just walked to whatever they wanted and cut the line. We would only cruise HA again if they have an itinerary we cannot find on another line. It will be interesting to see where they go in the future since many of their current passengers will not be cruising in 10 years and they don’t have much to appeal to new passengers.

Thumbs Up 1

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