Nieuw Amsterdam Review (12/5-12/19)

B2B (12/5-12/19/10)

Took a taxi van from airport – our driver was great (the best) offered a flat rate for 4 people.

Embarkation – arrived 1:30pm. All facets of the process were easy and enjoyable, all smiles from port staff – no lines, no waiting! Cabins were spotless and ready upon our arrival.

Way too much luggage arrived shortly thereafter and we unpacked prior to muster drill. Muster drill less chaotic then last year as we did not have to wear life vests. No names or cabin numbers were called and did not have to attend muster drill the second week. Basically could have skipped this all together but we prefer to play by the rules.

Aft cabin was smaller than what we are used to (HAL deluxe suite) but manageable. Stay organized and will not be an issue. Deck size was fine and accommodating. There was no clock in the room except the one on the phone.

Main Dining Room Food overall was consistently good to great. Canaletto was fabulous - cotton candy was a surprise and a great treat. Tamarind offered a nice change. The NA Pinnacle Grill was the best food and service we have encountered out of nine prior cruises. Slice - pizza not so good – the crust was soggy…

The ship overall is lovely, public areas very comfortable.

All HAL staff members were amazing.

They are all pros in dealing with very rude and impolite people. Honestly, would it kill folks to say please and thank you to those that are falling over backwards for them?

Entertainment was good to great. Loved the NYC show and the magician. Piano Bar featured an outstanding musician, David Seering. David preformed above and beyond expectation. Lots of fun!!

Spa and exercise areas nice.

Ship Movement - apparent rocking especially at aft of ship. Our cabin was on Deck 8 aft – 5:30am wake-up call via banging of Seaview pool deck chairs. No worries on our part though as we are early risers.

Ports –

Week one –

Half Moon Cay great, great, great as always.

Grand Turk, beautiful on dock side however we walked to the other side and it was full of washed up garbage. So very sad and disturbing. I will post pictures on the picture board.

Old San Juan – The forts were great. Both are amazing feats of engineering.

St. Maartin – Golden Eagle cancelled due to bad weather. Sad to see homeless dogs being yelled at by restaurant personnel. Beautiful place but not a favorite stop.

Ft. Lauderdale had to clear ship prior to next cruise. Left ship, met with US Customs and we were back on ship in less than an hour. It was fun.

Week two –

Could not stop at Half Moon Cay or Grand Turk due to weather.

Grand Cayman – Went on Rays, Reef and Rum tour with Native Way. This was one of the highlights of our cruise. Will be posting review on Grand Cayman board.

Costa Maya – beautiful water however the port area was just awful (IMHO). Vendors extremely aggressive. Vendors would hug and touch us while shopping. Vendors also starting out high on pricing of items then lowering while running after us. Very uncomfortable experience especially with the armed guards on every corner of shopping area. There was also a dolphin in a small pool area. This was very sad to see. Spoke to a gal that went to town and she advised her family experienced the same.

Disembarkation – a breeze.

Overall a wonderful cruise – we are booking another. Thank you HAL!!! Any questions please feel free to ask, will do my best to assist.

Welcome Home.

Glad you enjoyed your 2 weeks on the lovely Nieuw Amsterdam -- we were on her for 2 weeks right before your cruise.

They were working on the oven at Slice for the pizzas on our cruise. We tried it -- ours was like eating carboard.

Our SA Deluxe Suite did have a clock on the wall in the cabin.

I was also on the 12/12-12/19 cruise with you and here are my thoughts. PG was great for dinner....food and service. Tamarind was really great too. The Cannaleto was booked so I couldn't go there. Service in the anytime dining room (2nd floor) was terribly slow the whole cruise and the same for breakfast. The waiters were not very friendly either other than one night at dinner. We did note this on our survey at the end of the crew. The shows were pretty good (Canatare was very good) but the two female vocalists were not good at all...the worst voices for female leads on all my cruises. I thought the piano bar guy was good but I didn't like his voice as much as others have but he his a fantastic piano player. The movies need to be shown somewhere other than the screening room as there is not enough room in there. I loved the ship and there was lots of storage space in my balcony cabin. My cabin stewards were very good...better than most I have had. We were disappointed in missing HMC and Grand Turk but that is life. The vendors in Costa Maya were a bit bothersome but I actually liked that port (just a beach port for me). No problems with embarkation or disembarkation. I can't wait for my next cruise.

Nancy

Thank you for the review.

We were with you the first week 12/5. 3 families (6 adults + 6 kids).

No time to post review. HMC was fab as always. Food OK, nothing outstanding. BBQ cooked for the masses but OK.

We did MDR every night. Food often more salty then usual. We did room service for breakfast 3x. Every time something was missing and we didn't bother calling for it since it would take forever. We just ate the extra cereal boxes that was in the room. Example, 4 of us in the room. I order the Japanese breakfast and didn't come so I didn't get breakfast to eat so just ate a box of cereal, no time to wait for more food since we were leaving for a tour. One time ordered 3 bowls cottage cheese and nothing came so called and they brought 3 bowls of cottage cheese 10 mins later but it was the size of what jam came in, tiny tiny ramkins. Every room service order was missing stuff. My sister next door had almost double order of everything. Oh well...

room steward was ok. nothing extra or special so we didn't tip the usual $100 extra cash we usually did. Stuck to the $11/day/person.

waiters in MDR were ok. family went to cupcake tea and said it was OK. same type of batter used for their normal cakes.

digital class was great. bought new camera right before and got a few tips. no chance to try out more classes but wanted to. fills up really really quick. must be there at least 20 mins prior to class.

night shows were good. I like the 4 male singers El Cantero I think they were called. Three singers were good, the other was so/so.

I like having plenty of sea days to relax and the 2 beach days (HMC and Turk).

Being stranded in FLL for 2 extra days were a bummer. I know, some say it is a good thing but missing work, school and our home committments were difficult. any other given time would be great but that time was not.

Missed the last night in MDR (long nap with little son) but heard there was no master grand dinner with the waiters put on a show. that's ok with me.

Canletto. food not that great and took forever. Won't go back to that again. had better food in italian restaurants back home.

Their breads and buns are the best. Morning pasteries are delish.

We brought 2 boxes of sodas w/o problems. Just taped on a luggage tag.

We bought 4 bottles of wine but they only charged us $18x3 bottles.

Club Hal was enjoyed by the kids.

Hello Seavoyage,

We are currently in the process of doing research for a trip on Niew

Amsterdam we have previously alway gone for Aft Cabins on Celebrity

Ships which are tier, so you have part shade on those warm days

and some privacy, could you please advise the style of the aft

rooms on N.Amsterdam, are they staggered ? if you have any photos

that would be great.

Mrs Blue Sky

thank you for the nice review on the Nieuw Amsterdam--The sister of the Eurodam. I am glad you enjoyed your time on her. Grand Caymen is one of my favorite stops in the Caribbean. Again, thanks and have a Happy New Year.

Hello Seavoyage,

 

We are currently in the process of doing research for a trip on Niew

Amsterdam we have previously alway gone for Aft Cabins on Celebrity

Ships which are tier, so you have part shade on those warm days

and some privacy, could you please advise the style of the aft

rooms on N.Amsterdam, are they staggered ? if you have any photos

that would be great.

 

Mrs Blue Sky

Here's a photo I took while we were anchored at Costa Maya. I also heard that if you took the taxi to the town ($3 each way) there was a beautiful beach there, not much at the port unless you were shopping for souvenirs. We had open seating and ended up with a great waiter and thought the food was excellent. We loved the ship and had a great cruise. We were deck five midship and never felt any motion. Friends were on deck ten forward and felt a lot of motion.

Hello Seavoyage,

 

We are currently in the process of doing research for a trip on Niew

Amsterdam we have previously alway gone for Aft Cabins on Celebrity

Ships which are tier, so you have part shade on those warm days

and some privacy, could you please advise the style of the aft

rooms on N.Amsterdam, are they staggered ? if you have any photos

that would be great.

 

Mrs Blue Sky

Hi Mrs. Blue Sky -

We were on deck 8 directly below Seaview pool deck. The Seaview pool deck extends beyond balcony on deck 8 and deck 8 afts are fully covered (private). Aft's are not staggered and tiered only slightly (unlike Celebrity) and can only see very small portions of decks below 8.

The room itself is average size and about 3 ft longer in length than the balcony rooms on port or starboard sides. The width is the same. We know this; as we had travel companions in same class cabin on port side.

The bathroom is very small (there is 1 sink, the toilet is next to that and the tub and shower right next to that. 2 People can fit but it is a crowd. There is a space for toiletries above sink area and below sink area. There are no electrical outlets except on vanity area next to balcony door/window.

I travel pretty heavy (4 large suit cases plus 2 carry on) luggage fit under bed with the life vests (kept accessible) nicely. The storage in cabin was adequate for all of our clothes. Bed was King (2 twins) (not sure why they call it a queen). We also had a small fridge, safe, two night tables as well as 2 person loveseat with small table and upright chair. There are 2 hanging closets and 2 closets with shelves (however one is convertible as I recall.)

This cabin was fine for me and DH for 14 days. We are very organized and therefore did not experience cabin fever :). We would book this room again. I do have pics will put up after holiday - trust this may help in the interim. Any other questions please advise - happy to help!!

Happy New Year!

Hello Seavoyage,

 

We are currently in the process of doing research for a trip on Niew

Amsterdam we have previously alway gone for Aft Cabins on Celebrity

Ships which are tier, so you have part shade on those warm days

and some privacy, could you please advise the style of the aft

rooms on N.Amsterdam, are they staggered ? if you have any photos

that would be great.

 

Mrs Blue Sky

Mrs Blue Sky I took lots of photos of the aft and posted them here (Bottom of the page) http://abqreunion2008.com/Nieuw_Amsterdam/index-2.html Just left click on the photo you wish to see and it will open to full size. Photos taken December 2010

Joanie

Thanks for the review!

Thank you for all the posts and comments on Aft Cabins have been

a real help to us, and the photos are great just what we were looking

for.

Happy New Year,

Mrs Blue Sky