I had my first voyage or cruise trip ever with Holland America Line. They graciously invited me for a 7-day cruise in late April 2023. The ports of call were: Barcelona, Spain; Villefranche-sur-Mer (Nice), France ; Livorno, (Pisa and Florence) Italy; Florence, Italy; La Goulette (Tunis), Tunisia; Palermo, Italy; Naples, Italy and Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy. Also there was one sea day. Fantastic itinerary, right?
This particular trip is on the Nieuw Statendam ship. It was built in 2018 and is the second in the line of their Pinnacle Class ships with approximately 1,036 crew members onboard. The Nieuw Statendam’s godmother is Oprah Winfrey. The design draws inspiration from the elegant curves of musical instruments. When not relaxing in well-appointed suites or staterooms, guests will have many dining and entertainment options—from the French seafood fine dining restaurant Rudi’s Sel de Mer to Nami Sushi to the Rolling Stone Lounge, B.B. King’s Blues Club, and the visually stunning two-level World Stage.
I stayed in a Verandah room, which has a balcony with expansive views to the ocean. I must admit, many months later from this trip, I miss watching the painted morning sunrises (seen below) and smell of the fresh ocean as we sail to the next port.
Back to the cabin. I’ve posted a brief video tour of my verandah room 6036 (click play, below). The room had great natural light. There’s decent space to have two adults residing throughout the voyage that I have not felt like I’m on top of my roommate and there is space for a couch and small coffee table set near the balcony. There’s lots of storage to hold my week’s worth of clothes, shoes, accessories, electronics and its chargers, and whatever small items I’ve brought from home. (If anyone who has traveled with me knows I do not pack light.) The bathroom was on the small side but it does not feel claustrophobic and there’s a good amount of shelving to place my makeup and toiletries. The brand of choice for Holland America’s shampoo, conditioner and wonderfully creamy body lotion was the award winning British skincare brand Elemis.
I should have note, every late afternoon the crew distributes the next day’s activities so every passenger can check in on a sale that a shop might have, the spa is letting you try out a treatment on certain times of the day, trivia night is holding at one of the bars one night, or a themed dinner so you can plan accordingly.
We were welcomed to our room with tasty bites of Bresaola, dried fig, balsamic vinegar and goat cheese open faced sandwiches and mini red velvet and caramel cupcakes. The best way to start of any occasion, a bottle of delicious dry Prosecco.
Walking around ship’s aft (the back) has its charms since there’s a pool and hot tub located there. Looking at the long stream of bubbles trailing away to the horizon as it churns toward its next destination feels pretty surreal.
My favorite place to spend most of my time that is not in my verandah stateroom or eating, it would be at the Greenhouse Spa. Every time I go there, I feel relaxed especially after going to the dry heated sauna then lie on the heated ceramic lounges and doze off for a half hour or so with a view of the glittering ocean or port. It’s worth spending the extra money and time to relax there. It is also a popular add-on item for the week-long spa pass.
As you know, I’m all about the food besides the beautiful destinations that we’re heading off to. Holland America’s Nieuw Statendam overall does not disappoint. I’ll start from the casual dining and work my way through the fine dining restaurants of Nieuw Statendam.
My mornings and mid-afternoons depended on The Grand Dutch Cafe throughout this trip. This cafe is located across the reception area where you can get assistance with a crewmember (e.g. WiFi issues, general billing questions, etc.). It’s a lovely cafe space in shade of cobalt blue and accented with polished silver furnishings. There’s a nook from the lobby where there are tables by the window with a view of the promenade deck. This cafe was a godsend when I need that cup of caffeine and the lovely ladies make solid cups of pour over coffee, espresso and cappuccinos. During the mornings, they serve fresh baked Palmier cookies (delicious!), regular and chocolate croissants (good) and cakes (didn’t have a chance to try it, alas). We have enjoyed their afternoon snacks (or meal depending upon your state of hunger) of satisfying split pea soup and broodje kroket, a sandwich of fried veal ragu in buttered roll with mustard on the side.
The Dive-In restaurant that’s found on the Lido Deck near the Lido Pool area was a great place to a stop for gourmet burgers and hot dogs. I have eaten there twice and surprised by the quality of the burgers and they were made to order. What’s even better is that you can specify the temperature of your burger. “The Gainer,” a burger with a mound of crispy frizzled onions, topped with chop-chop lettuce salad and sliced tomato on a toasted brioche bun with Dive-In Sauce was a favorite of mine. When it comes to their hot dogs, I have enjoyed the “Jack Knife”, a bratwurst sausage, curry ketchup, curry powder sprinkle, crusty roll, and Dive-In Sauce. The sausage had a wonderful snap on the bite and the hints of curry throughout the hot dog really made it delicious. Scroll through the slideshow of what we ate at the Dive-In.
We did try out New York Pizza. As a native New Yorker, I cannot say it is a New York style pizza but I liked that it’s fresh baked pizza and it tasted very good. Chewy, thin-ish crust. The toppings were good and flavorful and it’s heavy on the cheese, which I didn’t mind.
Sidebar about the non-alcoholic drinks available at the ship: I have a small gripe about the fact Holland America has not gotten on the trend of creative non-alcoholic drinks or low alcohol drinks, which have been increasingly popular in recent years. My roommate and I are trying not to consume too much alcohol for various reasons and it’s relatively disappointing that we were stuck with water, soda or non-alcoholic sweet mixers of pina colada, a virgin mojito, and strawberry and mango daiquiris. The staff tried to accommodate but it has its limits since it’s not what the ship has in stock.
Back to the food programming…
I have dined at the Lido Market for all my breakfasts, certain days for lunch and/or dinner. Lido Market is the ship’s buffet style restaurant. Breakfast was solid. I adore their cooked to order eggs in any style I wanted that day, may it be omelettes with any topping(s), scrambled eggs or just a simple fried egg. Their large spread of cheeses, charcuterie, smoked and cured fishes were good. Their insane spread of fresh baked breakfast pastries, bread puddings, doughnuts, and pies is awe inspiring what the kitchen churns out.
Lunches and dinners when I do manage to eat there were good as well. I love their salad station where I can choose what I want in a salad. I like their stir fry station where a duo or trio of cooks cooking your protein and/or vegetables of choice to order. Interestingly, they have the roast meats station operating. Each day they would rotate a different roast like pork tenderloin or roast beef. There were portions of sliced maki sushi and they were fine.
The few dinners I ate were satisfying. While similar to lunch, they change the menu slightly so it does not feel redundant. They also have themed nights like steak dinner or seafood bake to change things up.
Fine Dining at Nieuw Statendam:
Most fine dining restaurants at Nieuw Statendam have an additional cost. The only fine dining restaurant that does not cost extra is the Main Dining Room. Even though it does not cost extra, this restaurant was fantastic. There’s a few occasions when I felt I should have made more time to eat here at lunch or dinner. (I have eaten there twice for dinner during this trip.) The service was great. The execution of the food surpassed my expectations even though their kitchen is churning a very high volume of dishes. (The restaurant has the capacity to seat 1,212 at a time). Dressing up for Gala Night (that’s the first time I ate at the Main Dining Room) was fun to boot.
Dinner at the French seafood-centered restaurant, Rudi’s Sel de Mer was wonderful. The restaurant’s color theme was leaning toward red with accents of brown and beige. Our waiter was friendly and professional. The food was delicious and everything was cooked just right. The restaurant’s amuse bouche was an adorable and tasty two-bite, fish-shaped puff pastry filled with smoked trout. If you do like soufflé, you should get their baked to order Salzberger Nockerel for 2, an Austrian style soufflé) with berries.
Dinner at Canaletto, their Italian restaurant was very good and found near Lido Market. My waitress was sweet and was intrigued that I photograph my food, which I thought it was funny. Anyway, the restaurant had great views since it’s flanked by windows. The fare was solid. I really enjoyed my very tender and flavorful Osso bucco Milanese, which was the special of the day and the restaurant’s very light take on the tiramisu and it’s served in a clear cappuccino cup.
When I had dinner at the Main Dining Room, a neighboring table chatted with me to talk about the various restaurants within the ship. The wife of that neighboring table commented that Tamarind was very good so that got me and my friend excited. Tamarind restaurant is the ship’s pan Asian restaurant found toward the higher floors of the ship. The wait staff at Tamarind was friendly and professional, like all of the other restaurants we’ve dined. The menu reads like it’s leaning heavily on Thai flavors so I had some idea of what to expect. The dishes I had were fine but it did not have the Thai flavors it stated, alas. The Thai beef salad lacked the sweet, sour and spicy complexity that I was hoping for. The crispy duck was fine but I don’t understand why the kitchen chose udon noodles for the drunken noodle part of the dish and the textures of the noodles does not exactly match the duck. The Thai citrus scallops was arguably the better dish of the evening.
Dinner at Pinnacle Grill was my one of my least favorites overall, sadly. The restaurant is a dark and moody with plush velvet and table set with white tablecloths like one would expect for an upscale steakhouse style restaurant. The waitstaff was charming and service was very good. However, the food was not exactly up to par. I know I have high standards but the tasty crabcakes were bite size (akin to an amuse bouche) instead of feeling like it’s an actual appetizer and my bone-in rib eye steak was overcooked despite requesting it medium-rare. The lamb chops were fine but we did like the plating. The baked Alaska served was not good; the cake element was dry and the ice cream was impenetrable cutting with my knife and my friend’s crème brûlée had a perfectly glass-like brittle caramel top but the custard was overcooked.
Moving onto the destinations, namely the ones I have participated in a total of three shore excursions at Livorno, (Pisa and Florence) Italy; Florence, Italy; La Goulette (Tunis), and partially at Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy. Shore excursions are tours that have been curated by the cruise and these activities may range to a drive into a city and drop you off to roam for a certain period of time to an all-highlights driving tour. Since I have always been the kind of traveler who likes to plan her itinerary, I chose shore excursions where the tour guide would give us historical background of the city we are in and let us roam on the remaining time that we have.
My tour guide at Livorno was great. She knew her facts but made it entertaining with light humor. Her partner/driver was good too as he drove to the two cities (Pisa and Florence) with good time. She kept our group organized and was clear as to where are the meeting points are and the time we should reconvene.
The shore excursion for Tunis wasn’t as good as I was hoping for since our tour guide didn’t have good time management. The excursion was set for three hours. One hour was wasted waiting at the parking lot for whatever reasons that she and her driver was not able to depart sooner. Then there was traffic and her timing of telling the group of historical facts was off that it prevented us from breaking out into our independent exploration. In all, my group had 45 minutes of exploring which is not much. I’ve made the best of it by speed walking to the city’s amazing Municipal Market that was a 15-minute from the meeting point in the maze-like Medina. Took some photos, bought some bags of Tunisian red tea, and dried dates and hustle my way back to the Medina. I did make it in time and serendipitously find a local cookie vendor within the Medina and bought a small box of his sweets and eat it on the ship with coffee from the Grand Dutch Cafe.
The final shore excursion at Civitavecchia was a mix of a highlights tour and city drop-off to the center of Rome to conclude the cruise trip. I admit that I left the tour after the stop to the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls since I had made plans the rest of my day. My tour guide was very good, organized and she was understanding of my request to depart early. Anyway, the actual stop of the mentioned basilica was simply astounding. I’ve visited a fair amount of cathedrals in Europe and this one was arguably one of the most beautiful and moving (and I am not even a religious person). Slideshow of the photos below.
While I do have many photos of the other cities that this cruise has stopped, it’s my independent exploration so it’ll be separate posts. To those who follow my Instagram and have seen my Stories, Reels and posts earlier.
In all, as a long time cruise skeptic, Holland America Line has changed my perspective on cruising. I ate well from the ship’s restaurants. I have enjoyed the various entertainment that was offered. I love the spa lounge area and felt relaxed after a long day of exploring a city. Service was excellent from every crewmember I have encountered, especially the two housekeepers who took care of me and every request I had from requesting an extra towel to weighing my duffel bag in a moment’s notice as one of them came prepared with a handheld luggage scale. I understand why the loyalty exists and I would definitely consider to come back for a future voyage.
For the slideshow of all of the cruise-related photos and videos, please scroll below.
