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Nieuw Amsterdam post dry dock 3 day cruise review


GulfShoresCruiser
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Thanks for the review! We are sailing on NA in May, so love reading everything we can about her. Hubby and I will also be travelling with our 2 20-somethings. Great to hear that yours loved NA and HAL. I have been concerned, as our kids' only other cruise experience was RCL -Anthem of the Seas.

 

I do not believe that refurbishment of all cabins was in the plans for dry dock...just the suites.

 

Thanks again!

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Do you know if the Veranda cabins have been refurbished- new carpeting etc.?

 

Many thanks for the information on the updates. I'm also interested to know if they've updated/refurbished the verandah cabins as I've booked three in a row for our family in February.

 

Only refurbishment of suites was in the plan!

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My observations of the new Crow's Nest......

 

The bar is now the explorations cafe and when I was there, everybody was ordering coffee drinks.

 

The old exploration's cafe area is now the shore excursion desk.

 

The library area now has the interactive screens and coffee table travel books.

 

There were an abundance of board games for folks to use and the tables were full of folks playing clue, scrabble and monopoly.

 

The lounge chairs are still around the windows and were always full.

 

There are two huge TV's in the front at the window telling geographic info and ship info in real time.

 

I hope that helps.

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  • 2 months later...
Just off the NA Saturday before Christmas. We (w/the wife and our 20 something kids) were on the short 3 day cruise to Nassau and HMC. The timing was perfect for us....gave us a chance to be with the "away from home" kids before Christmas and we earned enough mariner points to join the 3 star crowd next cruise!

 

Embarkation: Simple. Easy. We stayed in Ft Pierce the night before and picked up son at FLL at 10am. We were in the Park n Fly Lot in 10 minutes. At terminal 26 at 10:30. Boarding group #1. No lines. Think we boarded at 11:30.

 

Cabin: First time in a suite. We booked two guarantee Signature Suites w/assignments 2 weeks out. Ended up with deck 6-mid ship. Great location. Next to each other. The room steward opened the connector between the balcony. Cabins were fantastic. All new furniture and fixtures. Yuge TV. Everyone used the jetted tubs. That was a hit. Room Stewards were always on it.

 

Ship: New carpet throughout. All new furniture. In great shape. Very clean. Crow's Nest had comfy lounges and the kids enjoyed the interactive location screens and the coffee table books. Many folks were playing board games. The Crow's Nest is much busier now with the varied things going on. I think the gym equipment was all new as well.

 

Food: Tamarind was on night one. The daughter enjoys sushi so she got her fill. Excellent service and we all enjoyed. I got the filet and it was seasoned perfectly and cooked as requested. MDR for the other two nights. We had anytime dining and walked up to the kiosk around 6pm and never waited for a table. Food was also very good. Service was good. We spent probably an hour and a half at dinner. Enjoyed the no rush experience and every course! At embarkation, we ate lunch in the MDR. Calm and good. So much more civilized than the lido at embarkation. I notice that the staff directs everyone to the lido and only those of us "in the know" enjoy the embarkation lunch. Had the cannonball at the dive in for lunch one day. Dive in sauce on the fries. Tasty. Lido was great for eggs benedict one morning. And the always good bread pudding at lunch. We had in cabin breakfast on dis-embarkation day. Easy to order and the trays were delivered at the beginning of the requested time. I liked being able to just check one box to get the egg platter.

 

Entertainment:

The millenials enjoyed the casino. Daughter's first time at the black jack table. The dealer was good w/her. Son took away $90 from the roulette wheel. Fun times for them. BBKing on night one was excellent. Great singers and band. Did Billboard two evenings. The kids enjoyed the atmosphere and the tunes. Lincoln Stage was full when we went by....We missed that but see that it's very popular. Comedian one night in the theatre. Funny and not crude so appreciate that. We did the test kitchen demo of salmon. We left with good info and the kids actually wanted to go to that and were serious about taking home the recipes. Shocking.

 

Ports:

Walked around Nassau. It is what it is. Did the Queens steps, walked by Parliament, toured the beautful old Anglican Church, did the shops and the straw market and finished at a bar along the dock. Went back to the ship for lunch midday. HMC is paradise as we picture it. No lines for the tender. Just walk on. Went out at 9am and back at 1pm. Our favorite beach spot is the hammocks further down the beach. Then when we are done, we walk to the end and then to the beach BBQ and then back to the ship. The chickens are still there! Island is in great shape. No weather damage at all.

 

Overall:

The NA is in great shape. It was good to be on her post dry dock. The new features are winning us over more. Billboard, Lincoln Stage, Crow's Nest are all positive for us. I think what was interesting was the reaction from our kids. While in Nassau, we were sharing the port with 3 other Carnival ships. The kids saw the chaos...in particular, folks trying to hold up the drunk girl who, in our opinion, needed the ER while going through the Nassau ID check, and they commented that "I get it now, why you sail Holland". They will be the future HAL passengers and they were totally entertained, well fed and enjoying the journey!

 

If you have a question about the NA, let me know.....Problem now is how to convince the Mrs. that we can't always book a suite! Good times.

 

Do you have any pictures of the newly refurbished Signature suites?

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