Nieuw Statendam 2018 Cruise to Florida

Overnight it was a bit windy. At 11pm the ship was rocking and when we woke up, the ship was circling off the entrance to the Nassau harbor. While we were the first ship to arrive, the pilot wasn't willing to come out at the scheduled time. Once he was on board we proceeded into the harbor, rotated 180° counterclockwise and backed into our berth just after 8:30am. We were shortly followed by the Disney Wonder and then the Carnival Victory, and RCCL Enchantment of the Seas. Later in the day, the RCCL Mariner of the Seas joined the lineup. We planned a self guided walking tour for the day starting with a walk to the Queens Staircase and Fort Fincastle. The fort is also marked by a large water tower. We approached the fort using Prison Drive and missed the staircase. However we used it to go down. We then walked through the main part of town using Bay Street and out to Fort Charlotte and Fort Stanley. It about 3 miles between Fort Fincastle and Fort Charlotte

We woke up to a little rocking motion of the ship. As soon as Angela turned on the bow camera, I could see significant wave action and the bow flag was stretched out tight. The Oosterdam was directly ahead of us. After showering I went out on deck 11 and could see large waves breaking against Half Moon Cay. The Oosterdam rotated into the wind as we approached, and we, too, did the same. Then I saw the Oosterdam slowly head off; shortly thereafter we did the same and the Captain came on announcing we would be unable to land. In his later Ask The Captain session he further clarified how hard it was for him to decide to cancel the port call. He also noted that the supply vessel was also unable to land. So we ended up having a slow sea cruise today on our way to Nassau, our next port of call. We've been on other cruises which have missed ports and the Cruise Director and his staff have to scramble to add additional onboard programming. Personally, I decided to use my 5 Star Fre

We woke up at our normal time and enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in a crowded Lido. The impact of 2800 guests is being felt in the Lido. I confirmed it with a conversation with a food services supervisor that we've known for several years.  It was a very light schedule today. Lance and Monica from Exc Excursions gave a joint presentation on Half Moon Cay and Nassau. We followed that with a small Cruise Critic Meet & Greet and Mariner reception and luncheon. We did an art walk and ended up in the Crow's Nest when the little Prinsendam passed by on our starboard side. Then a few minutes later we were on a collision course with the Koningsdam (the Nieuw Statendam's sister ship). It altered course and it passed closely by on our Port side with the exchange of horn toots. These encounters were very cool for HAL cruisers. We even put together a cool photo collage shown at the top of this blog post and are having it printed on aluminum. After a nice Gala

Around 5am the Nieuw Statendam slipped into its berth at Terminal 26. At least that's what was announced, as I was fast asleep. All but around 270 guests were departing today and disembarkation started at 8:20 following HAL's customary color coded system. Since we were in-transit guests going on for 4 more days, we didn't have to wait for a color to be announced and could leave any time or even stay on board if we wished. For guests staying onboard, they had to assemble in the BBKing venue so HAL could get down to a zero count of guests onboard. Then the ship would be crawling with USCG and other inspectors and certifiers. Later one of the cooks confided that the inspectors really liked the chicken in the Lido. We didn't have anything planned except that I wanted to find a swimming suit and there was a Ross department store nearby. However a cruising friend, Larry, called me and volunteered to pick us up and play tour & shopping guide. So we mad

After today, we have one more day at sea. Today was pretty laid back with only a few big group activities. The first one for us was the coffee chat with a representative from the company responsible for procurement and placement of all the art around the vessel. Second, and the most important lecture of the cruise, was Captain Albert's 1 1/2 hour presentation on the history of Holland America Line. He spoke confidently and without notes the entire time and received a standing ovation. The afternoon session was another coffee chat, this time with Drake, the host of America's Test Kitchen. Dinner tonight was in the Pinnacle Grill with friends, William & Carolyn. It was wonderful! The Knights presented a terrific World Stage concert entitled Showmen. Later we enjoyed the dueling pianos along with treats from the chocolate surprize. Once again our clocks get set back again tonight. 

Today is our last day at sea and the schedule is pretty light. All but a couple hundred passengers are departing tomorrow and we get a whole new set of passengers joining us. Throughout the day the seas were extremely calm and we finally saw some land in the afternoon along with several other vessels. As darkness came, we joined a parade of two other ships (Caribbean Princess and Costa Deliciosa). All of the ship were well lit and formed an impressive parade. During the day the big events were the Ask the Captain session followed by Robin Ross speaking on Pirate Radio and street art. In the afternoon, Don Mings gave his Pirates of the Caribbean presentation in the small lecture room on Deck 12. It was an overflow crowd.   After a light dinner in the Lido, we watched a set at the dueling pianos before watching the 9pm inaugural performance of Stages by the Step One dance team. Normally HAL does not put on a major stage show on the last night of the cruise, but it

Today was a laid back Sunday. We had a major schedule conflict at 9am with an interview of our Cruise Director as opposed to attending the interdenominational service. The interview won out and it was very interesting to learn about Ross, his passion for flying both fixed and rotary wing aircraft as well as his exploits with his dogs and how he deals with a long distance marriage. Robin Ross followed with his program featuring interviews with American artists. It was very good. At lunch we had an extensive and good chat with a lady traveling solo (her husband is an airline pilot for Delta). The only afternoon lecture covered the slave trade and Angela won the giveaway pen and ink drawings by the speaker. Both before and after the lecture, I walked a mile under warm and sunny skies. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner in the Caneletto (Italian themed restaurant) before watching a special Director's cut of the Humanity program. It helped me understand the dance routine. We capped the

We're past the halfway point in our trans Atlantic crossing. Overnight there were harsher seas and a bit more motion. It wasn't enough to keep me awake and I continue to pretty much sleep through the night. Lance, our EXC guide, was the subject of the coffee chat with Ross, our CD. It was fun and interesting. One key factoid was that for every guest on this size ship, there are 300 other passengers on the same schedule. It's why we tend to see the same people every day. He was followed by Robin Ross presenting on Havana. It certainly increased our itch to visit. After a sushi lunch we watched another America's Test Kitchen presentation by Drake on cheese sandwiches and turkey soup. It was so delectable, I wanted to rush the stage for a taste! Don Mings presented his almost hour long session on the British expansion. It was filled with interesting side bar comments. While we walking our mile up on deck 11 with its view of a mildly wavy ocean and blu

Today started just like any other day. But it turned out to be anything but just like any other day. After our customary LIDO breakfast, we attended the coffee chat where a female third officer was interviewed. Following that, Robin Ross presented a talk on visiting Cuba. His simple message was go! Today was the Mariner Reception where normally medallions signifying attainment of cruising levels of cruise days are presented. However, there were no medallions to be presented. Oops, the medallions were sent to the Bahamas in error and couldn't catch up with the ship. So photos were taken with the sample medallions and the real medallions will be mailed to the recipients. That had to be pretty embarrassing for the CD.   The Mariner lunch was really good and we were able to sit with four friends that we have previously cruised with on 3 different sets of cruises. Don Mings presented his talk on French Colonialism and I finished my Joshua Quinn thriller, and I photographed a nu

Today I'll start with a little postscript from yesterday's blog post concerning the Hotel Director's coffee chat. He was asked about the dogs on board and what special things gave to happen with them on board. He noted that there are 5 service dogs on board. In order to get a service dog on board, it requires advance permission and written documents from Doctors indicating the need. A special department then makes all of the further arrangements. On board there is a special two grassy box setup on the Promenade Deck (#3), port side forward. Special sanitation procedures are in place including two times daily cleaning of the relief boxes. The dogs we have seen are well behaved. The second item to come out of Don's chat was that HAL changed their sourcing of fish. The fish now is flash frozen and when it's thawed on the ship, it's as if it were fresh. From what I see at the Distant Lands sushi at lunch and at the Sushi Restaurant, it's re

Overnight there was a bit more motion to the ocean, but I'm finally sleeping full nights which is good. The clocks were rolled back an hour again last night. Our first event was the coffee chat with the hotel manager, Don, who was also the hotel manager on the rollout of the Koningsdam. It's was an interesting chat. $7.5 million was spent on startup furnishings like cutlery, napkins and the like. Additionally he noted the food cost for 2100 passengers for a week was $200,000 or about $13 per person per day. He estimated the waste food at about 4%. These coffee chats help bring insight into things one otherwise might not know. Afterwards, Robin Ross presented an EXC talk on the history of Reggae music with lots of sound clips. It was really good and his experience of 10's of years as a DJ was invaluable in the presentation. He's grown on me as a speaker. Atlys (corrected spelling from prior posts), the string quartet, performed a matinee on the Lincoln Center Stag

Overnight the internet problems seemed to be fixed. We'll see if it stays fixed. The front desk even called back with a follow up if I found the internet problem fixed. This first sea day started with a coffee chat with the Cruise Director, Ross, and the Staff Captain who is from Belgium. He was also the staff captain on the Koningsdam and recently passed muster to become a captain when there is an opening. He had some cool banter responding to comments from the chief engineer who commented in a previous chat that all the deck crew does is stare out the window. We also learned that the life raft covers lost overboard during the Cartagena drill were not recovered by the divers. Following the chat, Captain Albert gave a full house presentation on the Golden Years of Cruising from 1900-1960. He spoke without notes for almost an hour giving much detail about how cruise ships developed and why. It was impressive and he'll be speaking again later in the cruise on

The ship slid into its berth in the early morning darkness at 7:45am as we were eating breakfast. We met our little group of 3 other couples in the Dutch Cafe before heading off the ship to find our driver, Daniel. He showed up a few minutes later and took us in a wonderful trip along the west coast of Madeira Island, to the north coast, and back to the ship using the valley that runs north and south. Along the way we had a light lunch at a bakery, and sampled some liquors and wines along the way. We had been to many of the places on a previous visit. He explained a truism about Madeira: if you are not going up, you are going down. The roads are generally very twisty and going sharply up and down. Plus there are hundreds of tunnels. Back at the ship, we headed back to town to find some super glue for a nativity scene project Angela is working on. At one store, they happened to have a tube for their own use, but sold it to us. We walked back to the ship and reboa

On this first Sunday of the cruise I was finally able to get 8 hours of sleep. After breakfast, we headed down to the Hudson Room to attend the interdenominational service that I didn't know whether or not I would be a volunteer leader of. On the elevator I met Bill, a pastor from Florida, who was also headed there and prepared to preach and lead the service. I deferred to him and we both didn't know if there would be hymnals there or not. Fortunately there were! We had 40-50 in attendence which was pretty good. After church we attended Lance's presentation on The secret language of Ships  ( all about markings and flags). Following a light lunch, we joined other 5 Star and President's Club members for the first presentation by Drake of America's Test Kitchen on the World Stage. While it was good, the real stage set will be loaded once we reach Fort Lauderdale.   I spent the remainder of the afternoon backing up yesterday's Canon camera Malaga pi

I slept a bit longer today waking up around 5am. The Captain brought the ship in so smoothly we never felt the docking process. After a nice Lido breakfast, we went to the World Stage which was our assembly point for our HAL shore excursion to Mijas (pronounced Meehaas) which is a white village built on a hillside about 45 minutes out of town. Once there, our guide, Antonio took us on a 35 minute walking tour before turning us loose to wander around on our own. Four high points of the trip stand out: First, we could see the north coast of Africa. Second, we toured the town's very small bullfighting ring. Third, they have cute donkeys which are used as a means of transportation. Fourth, it's a cute, neat, and very walkable little town.   We returned to the ship where we ate a quick lunch to be able to go back for more ( which we did ). The long pier was stocked with many vendors and we saw all of them. Then on the main drag we walked at least a mile away a

We've been to this port several times before so we elected to sleep in and explore it on our own. There was one little problem: I had booked a private shore excursion here but mentally associated it with our next port of call. So we missed it and for that I apologize profusely to those I caused a delay. It's the first excursion we've missed in over 365 days of cruising. But back to our day. Getting off the ship we walked to the very lovely pedestrian mall that runs for at least a mile through the heart of the city to Plaza España. There was a very large sailboat in the shipyard across the bay from us. Later we learned its worth $500 million, has a sister ship, and both are own by the same Russian billionaire. We shopped (found some 12 packs of Coke Zero) and ate and enjoyed the sights along the way noting all we remembered from our previous visits. We continued walking in what formed a giant square around the hilltop fort that defines the port area of

Jet lag continues to be an issue for me and I was wide awake at 3am. The ship has been amazingly smooth and quiet even in this 10th floor forward SPA cabin.   Breakfast in the LIDO was quite nice. The lines were short and I got my eggs cooked to order (over broken). On this ship the accompanying mushrooms and English Bacon are at another station so I'll need to readjust my routine. Our Cruise Critic gathering at 10am was well attended by around 100 people out of 200 who signed up. It was a good chance to put screennames and faces together. Our first lecture was delayed by 1/2 hour due to technical difficulties hooking up the presenter's MAC. Eventually a PC was used to save the day. I'm sure the technical staff will get this sorted out. The first speaker was a radio host who spoke about the various people he had interviewed. Jet lag got in the way of enjoying this lecture. After a very nice sushi lunch in the LIDO, Orlando Ashford, President of HAL spoke on the cha

Boarding day was finally here. I slept most of the night with the exception of 1-3am. We started our day by walking up to the market to do a little shopping before returning to our B&B to enjoy a leisurely breakfast with some other passengers who are sailing on the ship. We checked out of the B&B and walked 10 minutes to the port shuttle pickup point. After a brief wait, a shuttle bus came and soon we were transported to the cruise terminal to begin the boarding process. At the terminal we made our way upstairs for our first time checking in as 5 star Mariners. We were initially given a boarding group number 15, but that was taken away by the check in person. We didn't have to get new photos taken, and we were escorted over to the VIP lounge where we met up with Sherita who we had traveled with before on the Zaandam. She was keen on being the first one on the ship, and when the boarding door opened we were off like a shot and she got to be #1 paying pa

For those curious about how I am doing with jet lag, let's just say I woke up at 2am local time and stayed awake until 9pm. And paraphrasing one of my YouTube video creators who says at the end of every video, "I had a good day, and I hope you did as well." Our day started with meeting at breakfast another couple going on the cruise who are staying at our B&B. We enjoyed conversing with them and met them several times around town later in the day.   One of my favorite cruise resources are Tom's Port Guides. These free downloadable PDF's include walking tours, history and other port information. Google is your friend to find them. Using the guide, after breakfast we set out to see the sights noted in the Civitavecchia guide. We didn't follow the order presented in the guide, but started with a tour of the open air market located a few blocks from our B&B. It's open only in the mornings until noonish and includes lots of fresh produce, flower

I love it when a plan comes together! We have been planning this trip for a couple of years after sailing the last voyage of the old Statendam cruise ship as part of a cheap round the world trip that we did in 2015. A few years later Holland America or HAL (our preferred cruise line) announced that the second ship in the Pinnacle class would be named the Nieuw Statendam. So we thought it would be a good bookend to sail on the first voyage of the new ship after sailing on the last voyage of the old ship. In between in 2016, we also sailed on the Christening Cruise of the first Pinnacle class ship, the Koningsdam, and really enjoyed the festivities associated with sailing on a new ship.   We quickly booked an inside cabin in the Spa area (#10008) and began the planning and anticipation. Since this cruise starts in a port we've been to several times and only stops 3 times in Spain and Portugal at ports we've visited previously, we didn't need to focus on pla