Statendam
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This page records our impressions of the Statendam, and Holland America (HAL).  Rather than just write a usual review, this is a list of random thoughts and impressions that we gathered during the cruise.  They have not been altered (apart from the spelling and grammar!) after we got home, hence these are our actual thoughts and experiences at the time of the cruise.

  • Best embarkation ever (apart from a taxi driver in Hong Kong who dropped us off with luggage in the wrong place) - only 20 minutes after starting to queue, we were in the stateroom, and our suitcases were only 5 minutes slower.
  • The cabin - better appointed than most other ships.  Nice flat screen TV and DVD player, but why does it only play region 1 disks?  Still, that can be sorted after a quick web search.
  • By the way, in such a high tech room why can I not check my online account via the TV?  Could it be that they do not want me to know how much I am spending?  After all, bar prices and shore excursion prices seem significantly higher than on previous cruises ...
  • The bathroom - it has a small bath - great joy for Kate who hates showers.
  • Cleanliness - whilst the room can in no way be described as un-clean, it is not quite up to the very high standards of previous Celebrity and Princess cruises.
  • Food - very good so far.  Meals in the main restaurant have had plenty of variety, and are of excellent quality.  Lots of room in the Lido, even at peak times, and sufficient variety.  Rather strange for a cruise ship that at some times of the day (say, around 8pm if you miss set dining due to being ashore) the only option is room service.
  • Evening shows - oh dear - a lot of energy and enthusiasm from the cast, but who put together those arrangements?  Many songs were played at double speed, many were badly juxtaposed with other inappropriate songs, they were in the wrong key for the singers, the taped background music was badly balanced with the singers, some of the costumes are very unflattering (to say the least) ...  It's unfair to a talented cast to give them such material.
  • The overall quality of the 'shipped in' evening entertainment has been excellent - not a dud amongst them.
  • I have spotted 2 pieces of broken plate glass so far on board.
  • Is it just me, or is there a higher degree of customer-grumbling than on previous cruises?
  • The bar staff are good, with an excellent memory for names and preferences.  In fact, overall all of the service crew have been excellent.
  • Is "a shallow water incident" a euphuism for "we just scraped the bottom of the riverbed" ?
  • Trivia can get very competitive on board this ship - still, the "Second Guessers" managed to beat the mighty "HAL 9000" a couple of times (we don't talk about the other times!)
  • There seems to be more ship announcements than I have heard before, but apart from the calls to Bingo nothing too grating.
  • This is not a party ship - by midnight, it's quiet almost everywhere.
  • Dis-embarkation was an absolute mess, with a distinct lack of communications - first, they tell you that you can't get off until after 8am because of Japanese customs, then when you keep your luggage with you and walk down the gangway with it yourself at 7:15 (no announcements having been made at all), customs are waiting for you with a smile and an "Enjoy your day, sir".  When you have a 9:45 flight from an airport 30 miles away, this is critically important.
  • $160 per person for an airport transfer in Osaka?  When a taxi only cost me $93 (¥11,000) including tip?  Are you trying to rip me off as I go home, hoping I won't notice?

Reading the above back, it appears that there are a few negatives.  We don't want to give the wrong impression - the cruise has been very good, with the up's far outweighing the down's.  None of the above points in themselves would have been sufficient to cause us not to book this cruise had we known about them in advance.  Perhaps our expectations are now higher, perhaps HAL are starting to take some of their customers a little bit to much for granted, perhaps HAL are trying to nickel-and-dime their customers a little too much or perhaps someone's eye is not quite on the ball enough for what is sold as a 5-star product?

In summary, would we cruise with HAL again?  The answer would be a qualified yes.  If the itinerary interested us, and was sufficiently off-beat (i.e. not the Caribbean, the Mediterranean or Alaska) to attract the more active travellers who want to see the destinations, and are not just looking for a floating hotel, we would have no hesitation.  However, on overall balance, our favourite cruise line so far is still Celebrity, and all other things being equal they would be our first choice.