Up next in 10
Holland America Nieuw Statendam Ship Tour And Review. 6 Things You Need To Know
282 views
Jan 28, 2025
In this video you will discover the 6 key things you need to know about Holland America Nieuw Statendam cruise ship that went into service in December 2018. I tour the ship and review things like the details of the ship, what the main innovations and focus areas are (Music Walk venues, Dining options and Excursions Central), accommodation options ranging from inside to suites, fitness and recreation facilities, entertainment venues and options and bars and lounges. This is the second of the Pinnacle Class ships in the fleet and has many updated and new venues. Note: I travelled as a guest of the cruise line before making this video Check out cruising merchandise like T-shirts at my store at https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/store Support the channel by booking your next cruise and for the best deals on CRUISEDIRECT.COM: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/CruiseDirectYT Consider becoming a Tips For Travellers Patron. Find out more at https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers Follow Tips For Travellers on: - Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge - Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers - Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
You're about to see and discover everything you need to know about Holland America new Staten Dam cruise ship
0:06
Hi, I'm Gary Bemage and this is another of my tips for travellers. This is the sixth ship within the Holland America fleet to have Staten Dam in its name
0:15
The first dates right back to 1898. At the time of recording, there were 14 ships in the Holland America fleet
0:22
And this is the second of the three Pinnacle Class ships. So the Pinnacle Class is a new range of ships which was brought out by Holland America
0:29
and the first was the Conning's Dam. The second is the new Staten Dam. The third pinnacle
0:34
class ship will come into service in 2021. The layout of the ship and the look of the ship is very
0:38
similar to the Connings Dam. It holds 2,66 guests in 1,377 state rooms. And the new
0:48
Staten Dam took its first paying passengers in December 2018. The second thing I want to take you
0:54
through is what are the innovations and what's new on board? Well, Honda America focuses on three key
0:59
things. They focus on exploration and excursions and destinations, food, and very importantly, they focus on
1:06
music. One of the big innovations is the music walk. So the music walk consists of, first of all
1:12
the Lincoln Center Stage. This is where you have classical concerts and various classical
1:18
recitals. Now, Lincoln Center Stage is held in the same venue as BB Kings Blues Club
1:23
BB Kings Blues Club is one of the most popular of all of the music venues, and you have a nine-piece
1:30
band, and they perform incredible music a number of times during the course of the evening
1:35
A little bit further along on the ship are two other venues, one of which is the Billboard on board
1:41
So Billboard on Board has two pianists, and they will run during the course of the evening various shows
1:47
which might be British Invasion or One Hit Wonders or Request shows
1:51
Then opposite that is the new edition, which appeared for the first time on New Staten Dam
1:57
which is the Rolling Stone Rock Room, and this is a phenomenal new venue where, not surprisingly
2:03
they play rock music. All of those partners, they screen and vet the musicians before they come
2:08
on board, so each of them are very much linked to their original host. Further along from
2:13
this is the World Stage. This is an amazing venue, so it's almost in the round
2:17
And what Holland America have done on New Staten Dam is move that focus more into
2:21
music. So instead of having the more traditional production shows, they have a lot of guest artists
2:26
So for example, on the cruise I was on, they had the Spanish Rumba Kings, they had an opera singer
2:30
and all of the shows are now related to music and dawn. So after music, the other thing that
2:35
they focus on is exploring and destinations. And like some of the other Holland America ships
2:42
up on the Crowsness is EXE Exploration Central where you have the shore excursions desk and these very innovative interactive screens where you can go you can flick through the various ports of call you can then look at maps you can get various information Also up there by the way is also the Explorations Cafe which is a partnership with the New York Times So let take a look at the dining options Well first of all you have the main dining which I really love the look of this It just felt very different And of course this is where you can have breakfast lunch and dinner They have fixed
3:15
seated dining in the evenings, although you can also have anytime dining. Of course, one of the
3:20
most popular things on board cruise ships and I really liked it on Newstamdam, which is the Lido
3:26
markets. This is the buffet restaurant. What I liked about it, they now have various stations which
3:30
focus on different things. So breakfast, you'll have one station, which is perhaps the healthy options
3:35
or the bread and pastries options or where they cook you omelets. So then the stations, of course
3:39
adapt based on lunch and dinner. Two other venues that are included within the fair is
3:45
dive-in. Dive-in is on the pool deck. It's the burger hot dog restaurant. Really good burgers
3:50
I really liked it here. Very, very popular, particularly at lunchtime. The other venue is the
3:56
New York deli and pizza. Fantastic pizzas where you can either order off menu or you can create
4:02
your own and decide what toppings you want. Another venue that's free for food is the Grand Dutch
4:08
Cafe. This is a really popular meeting point. Now, you do have to pay for the speciality teas and
4:14
coffees at the Grand Dutch Cafe. If you want free tin coffee, you just go up to the Lido Market
4:19
up on deck nine. So that's the food that's included within your fare. So what are the
4:23
specialty dining options? So you have the pinnacle grill, which is the steakhouse. Now
4:27
what's great on New Staten Dam is Rudy's Sal de Mare. So this is the more seafood-based
4:33
restaurant. And this now has its own venue. So on some of the ships, it becomes a pop-up
4:38
restaurant on some evenings. But on New Staten Dam, it's its own restaurant. Incredible seafood
4:43
Now, my favourite speciality restaurant is Tamarin. Tamarind is a pan-Asian sort of fusion restaurant with incredible food
4:50
Now, what's great on New Statenam, they now have a standalone sushi bar, which is Alicat, called Nami sushi
4:57
If you like Italian, they have Canoletto. This operates in the evening, and it's actually a subset or a little section of the Lido Market, and the evening becomes Canoletto
5:06
A new dining venue was first introduced on board New Statenam, and this is called Club Orange
5:11
Club Orange is a place where people in sweets or anybody can then pay to become a Club Orange member
5:18
And it costs at the time of recording $50 per person per day. There's a whole lot of other amenities built into that
5:24
But you can then eat your meals in Club Orange. It has an adapted menu from the main dining room and they do have some special dishes which are only served in Club Orange
5:34
Another very popular spot is the gelato station which is on the pool deck There you can buy either gelato or you can buy other popsicles made of gelato Because of the focus on food another feature on New Statendam
5:46
like many of the Honourer America's Test Kitchen. And this is where they have cooking demonstrations
5:53
So let's talk about accommodation, the range of options that you've got on the New Statendam
5:57
Now, as I mentioned earlier, it holds 2,666 guests in 1,377 staterooms. You do have some solo cabins
6:05
and then you have a range from inside cabins through to big palatial suites
6:10
So let's start, first of all, with an inside cabin. So here's an example of an inside cabin
6:14
Pretty decent size. The other great thing they've introduced are family suites
6:19
So this is an example of a family suite. You can actually hold five people. So you have a double bed
6:23
You have a double sofa bed. And there's actually another bed which comes out of the roots. They have two bathrooms
6:27
You have one bathroom area which has a bath in. So if you've got young kids, you've got a bath
6:31
Another one which has a shower area. so you can actually be bathing and showering at the same time
6:36
So you can actually get ready and out much quicker. In terms of numbers, the main class of cabin are veranda cabins or balcony cabins
6:44
These are a pretty good size, actually. Many of them will have a sofa bed, you have the desk area, and you have a bathroom
6:49
Now, the bathroom I also really liked. It has a nice big shower area, which is, I guess, almost the size of a bath, and Elemus toiletries, so pretty premium
6:58
After the veranda state rooms, you start going into suites. I'm going to show you three examples of sweets
7:03
first of all is the Vista Suite. So here is an example of the Vista Suite. So this is I guess
7:08
is really the entry level into suites. And again, it's a great-sized room. You then have a
7:13
signature suite. Signature suites are one of the more popular types of suites. And here's an example
7:18
of what a signature suite looks like. And again, as I mentioned, these have showers, not bars
7:24
If you want to go up to the next level, you have a Neptune suite. And again, these are
7:28
pretty popular and they are spread around the ship. This is a much bigger suite. And
7:33
And this is probably one of my favorite types of sweets. Then above that, you have the big suites, which unfortunately I didn't get to see
7:40
which is the more sort of owner suite. So what about fitness and recreation
7:45
In terms of swimming pools, there's two, first of which is the Lido pool, which is in the center of deck nine
7:51
This also has a roof which can cover over. So if the weather's not great, the roof can be covered over, and you can swim all year round
7:58
And this is also where they'll have movies in the evening on the big screen. On the back of deck nine, you have the C-Vee
8:03
pool, which is much more open. So particularly if you're in nice warm climates, it's a great place
8:08
to be out. If you do want some peace and quiet, one of the things that you can do is you can
8:13
pay to go to the retreat. This is a very beautiful area. It's very private. It's very secluded
8:18
It's very exclusive. One thing I really liked about this ship, like all Holland America ships
8:23
is it has a promenadeck that goes the entire way around If you walk around it three times you do a mile And a lot of people will do that walk particularly on C If you want to do something a bit more active up on deck 11 you got a running track and you also got a sports court where you can play things like basketball Of course there is
8:40
the greenhouse spa and the fitness center, which is a good, decent size with a good wide range of
8:46
equipment. And also they do have exercise class where they can do things like spinning. So what about
8:50
entertainment and activities and other things to do? Now, of course, you'll have a daily program
8:55
which will have a wide range of activities from quizzes, competitions, deck games, all that kind of stuff
9:01
They have a casino, it's a pretty big casino. So at the time of recording, you could still smoke in the casino, which is not something that I'm a big fan of
9:07
You have a whole range of shops, which sell everything, of course, from branded merchandise, jewelry, perfume, alcohol, the usual stuff you'll find
9:16
Pretty big shop area. There's quite a big art gallery where you can obviously buy artwork
9:21
The other thing that's very interesting across the whole ship is the huge range of online
9:25
So the decor and the look and the feel of the ship is quite traditional, it's quite refined
9:30
But the artwork is much more quirky and there's some really interesting pieces
9:34
Like other Holland America ships, they have a partnership with Microsoft and they have a very large digital workshop
9:39
If you're traveling with children or teenagers, there is Club Howe. There are three separate clubs from the very young ones, the sort of tweeny ones up until about 12, 13, and then there's a teenagers one up till the age of 16, 17 years old
9:52
There's also of course the Photoshop. It's a partnership with Fuji films and what's great about it now is you can also take your own photographs that you might have taken on your
9:59
iPhone or on your camera. You can go there and you can also then create your own product. The next thing I want to
10:04
talk about our bars and lounges. There's blend, which is an area where you can learn about wine and
10:09
you can actually learn how to blend your own wines. Linked to that, there's also a place called
10:14
Notes, which has a huge selection of whiskeys and again they have different whiskey tasting
10:18
events. Another popular place to meet before meals is the ocean bar which is sort of on the way to the dining
10:25
room or it's near Rudy Saldemere, new the Pinnacle Grill. Then of course at the pools, you have
10:29
the Lido Pool and the Sea View Pool bars. But most of the bars are really linked to the music walk
10:35
venues. The Pinnacle class is the new generation of Holland-America ships, which are really designed
10:41
to provide a much more modern cruising experience. As I've shown you on the new Saturn Dam
10:46
there's quite a lot of introductions and new things that have been introduced for the very first time
10:51
The overall look at the ship, it's a really an interesting mix between sort of a traditional feel
10:54
and a modern feel. And so although some of the decor is more traditional, the artwork is very funky and different
11:00
so it has quite a nice mix to it. I'd love it if you watched many more of my tips of travellers videos
11:06
because you'll get much more inspiration advice and tips on how to make so much more of your very precious travel time and money
11:12
whether it's on land or at sea
#Cruises & Charters