I wasn’t planning a dance cruise over the New Year time frame as I thought my foot would still be slowly healing from my toe fracture surgery in July. A quiet Dec 31 with my family seemed the most sensible plan. But when my friend called and said “ let’s dance in the New Year on a Caribbean cruise” the song from Cabaret popped into my mind and wouldn’t go away. After a few days of listening to myself belting out “what good is sitting alone in your room, come hear the music play” I figured the only way to change the refrain was to book the cruise. Sure enough it worked and instead my singing switched to "let me be a dancin' fool”. Quickstep anyone?

The Nieuw Statendam is an elegant ship and it's a pleasure to walk around and observe the design and the decor. She is the second in the new Pinnacle Class of Holland America cruise ships. The first was the Koningsdam. The Nieuw Statendam has been in service for about a year and the third ship the Ryndam is due to launch in 2021.

Embarcation in Honolulu as efficient and fast. Since most passengers were continuing on from the previous leg of the cruise,  only about a quarter of the total guest complement were embacing.

In under 30  minutes I was inspecting my cabin, my suitcase was already delivered and I had met the two stewards responsible for my cabin. Unlike on all my previous verandah cabins on other ships there is a full bath. As I discovered the next morning the shower was hot with great water power and the water didn’t spray all over the floor!