Holland America: Savor the Journey

WOW, after two years of not cruising, how wonderful it was to be on a ship again!! Gary and I started cruising fairly recently, mainly because I tend to get seasick and was not willing to give it a try after my horrific whale watching experience in Hawaii in 2004. A “three hour tour” felt like a lifetime, and I was praying for death. However, I digress…..

My mom convinced me to give cruising a try with her in December, 2016, and we had a wonderful week as roommates on my first voyage. I now love cruising, and so Gary and I took the risk and booked a voyage on the Holland America Nieuw Statendam from Feb 13-23, 2022. We were hoping and praying that both of us would pass our Covid tests and not be mad at one another if one of us tested positive and we had to cancel! God had mercy on us, and away we flew to Fort Lauderdale.

With Covid in mind, we decided to book a room with a balcony just in case we had to be quarantined. After a submitting our paperwork including a health assessment, we were quickly shown to our room. Our suite was lovely, and I took a little time to unpack and get organized as I usually like to do. Mandatory safety instruction is also a part of settling in, so I found my life vest and tried it on so that I would be prepared in case of an emergency!

Embarkation day was also Super Bowl Sunday, so we enjoyed being a part of the festivities after enjoying our first supper at the buffet. Holland America has always been health conscious, and they continue to serve food to us rather than having us handle it.

Gary and I tease that Holland America is the cruise line for introverts and also for “Newlyweds or Nearly-Deads”, although their official motto is: “Savor the Journey”. We are usually among the youngest passengers, and this time there were no visible children or teenagers. With the ship having 854 passengers instead of 2666 passengers, we hardy ever had to wait in line for anything. Over 200 passengers stayed on board from their last cruise and stay on board for several weeks at a time

Here are a few photos of the ship:

Dining Room

The Lincoln Stage where a string quartet would play concerts almost every day

The main swimming pool with a retractable roof and large screen for watching movies.

We loved sitting by the window at the Lido Buffet on the 9th floor. Here is our first breakfast. The omelette station and cinnamon buns were a big hit!

We enjoyed two glorious days at sea before our first destination.