Review Nieuw Amsterdam

[bandit and babycakes]

Just returned good cruise but not great. After 2 dozen or so cruises my first Holland.

 

Likes

 

Food is the best ever. Really really good. Lido lots of choices of food. Tub in bath in all but inside cabins. Full promenade deck, glass elevators faster than others. Adult pool in back nice size great no kids. Chairs on balcony comfortable. Beds very comfortable. Nice lite makeup mirror in cabins. Easy to find things on ship. Nice dining room, not a lot of motion on ship. We were lucky had a great staff in dining room.

 

Just ok

 

Shows, all the young people do a good job but way too many productions and not enough variety, Holland known for its serrvice I found only ok had better on other lines. Sometimes the staff looked at you and said you want What!! Salt and pepper, sweeter like it was a bother for them to get it. Should have already been on table.

 

Dislikes

 

Showroom poorly designed too many seats do not have a good view, either columns in way or too far on the side to actually see unless the performers are right out front on stage. Ship is wayyyyy to narrow, glass stairs too small and narrow, no atrium to really speak of. Felt very closed in. Times in ports are odd too early and then leave early. Lounges are too small for them to host the game shows which are always fun, not too many people can get in there and they are held right after 1st production show so you either miss the main perfomance and get a seat in the lounge or you might be able to run fast and stand in the back.

NOT enough activities when at sea. Very boring. Cabins too much hanging space not enough drawers. Dining room 1st seating way to early 5:30. Heard alot of noise in hall way from cabin staff as early as 7 am and heard people on both sides of us talking. Not much installation. Bingo was "nursing home bingo" almost fell asleep. Last morning we left a small hand held game on the table and had the privacy sign out while we went to eat breakfast. When we came back the $8 game was missing.

And most of all very very rude people. Yes we are seniors but would never talk and treat people the way so many did.

 

So thats my take. I know there will be others to differ with me that is why their are so many cruise lines.

 

Holland is like any other line Good point and Bad points.

 

Hope this might help others considering what cruise line to spend their money on.

[sail7seas]

Thanks for your review.

We sailed Nieuw Amsterdam two weeks over Thanksgiving and experienced some of what you say,,,,, and some not.

 

Appreciate your sharing your comments. :)

 

[George C]

thanks for the review

[kazu]

Thanks for your review. I am surprised by your missing game - that seems very strange. sorry you did not have as good a time as you would have liked;)

[Himself]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[HALrunner]

I was on the NA Jan 8-22. It seemed like a lot of the port days were pretty short compared to previous cruises. The first few were even shorter than advertised. I wonder if this has to do with going slower between ports to save money on fuel? Less time in ports means more time (and money) to spend on board. Hmmmm.

[elycelynne]

Thanks for your review!

 

I agree about the early port times and the lack of variety in the mainstage entertainment. The singers and dancers were all very good, but there came a point where I said "enough, already" and didn't even attend the "It Takes Two" show on Saturday night. (This was just for the first week as I wasn't on for the second.) I also agree that the last place you'd want to be seated is behind a post!

[erewhon]

Thank you for this review of your cruise.

[andeesue]

Always interesting to read reviews, so thank you for your efforts.

 

Irritating about the missing item from your cabin. Did you mention it to the steward(s)? Only reason I ask, is a friend's camera was missing from her cabin (on another line) and when she asked stewards, it magically appeared. Of course, a camera is more valuable (well, at least monetarily)...

 

Welcome home.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your review. I do appreciate your perspective. We will be on the NA in a few weeks. I actually enjoy slow sea days, maybe play trivia or bingo, go to a cooking class or just relax and read.

[cmdchiefthom]

Thanks for your review. Sorry about your missing game.:(

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

[xjust4fun]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review. We will be on the NA in the fall for 37 nights. I hope that HAL will make a few changes by then.

[tcook052]

Felt very closed in.

 

I can agree as I was on the CEL Solstice a few months after being on the Eurodam and to me while bigger the Solstice has a much more open and spacious feel that was much more to my liking.

 

Thanks for the review. :)

[Yodalicious]

Have to admit 3 cruises never tried the lido except for a sandwich for lunch why serve youself when you have full service for breakfast and dinner?

[tcook052]

Have to admit 3 cruises never tried the lido except for a sandwich for lunch why serve youself when you have full service for breakfast and dinner?

 

FWIW I ate at the Lido a few nights on recent Ryndam cruise and it's mostly convenience as I can eat at my own pace and not wait for everyone to be served. After a shore excursion some nights I also just wanted to wolf something down without getting a little more dressed up to dine in MDR. I like the Lido.

[Richie2pies]

Have to admit 3 cruises never tried the lido except for a sandwich for lunch why serve youself when you have full service for breakfast and dinner?

 

Because I don't want to spend the time it takes to be served. Some dinners take 2 hours. Most of the time the same food is served in the Lido as the MDR. I don't understand why some people feel they must be served.

[Boatdrill]

...after being on different HAL ships, the NA is the best: service, food, interior design (colors, not necessarily lay out). All outstanding.

And it was the first time on HAL that I didn't miss being on Crystal.

 

The NA is a classy ship, and the passengers (most of them) acted the same. Tell tale sign: last night of the cruise, guests still dressed nicely for dinner and the evening, instead of wearing their grubbies because all of their other clothes had been packed.

 

Loved the NA - it's a beautiful and well run ship with a happy crew - and rebooked onboard for next year.

[edmusic]

We sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam last March and thought the big productions shows were fantastic. I'm in the Performing Arts business and so I know what 'good' is when it comes to musical shows and I thought they were top notch. The first night, we got there right at show time and found two seats unoccupied so we rushed right to them only to realize why they were unoccupied - right smack behind a support column! Missed half the show visually, but taught us to get here early the rest of the week, which we did.

[Boytjie]

Thanks for your review. We will be on the NA in less than three weeks so it will be interesting to see what we experience. I will write a review.

 

 

Ship is wayyyyy to narrow

 

 

She is panamax width, same as the majority of cruise ships out there right now.

[josie724]

Because I don't want to spend the time it takes to be served. Some dinners take 2 hours. Most of the time the same food is served in the Lido as the MDR. I don't understand why some people feel they must be served.

 

Everyone has their desires for what makes "their" vacation special. If being served is one of them so be it.....no skin off my nose.

 

I have to say. We were on the NA for 6 nights in Jan, and we ate at the MDR 3 nights out of the 6. We had open seating, we did not share our table with others, it was just the two of us. But I never found the service too slow and dinner NEVER took 2 hours. As a matter of fact one night when we entered the dinning room we were given a pager, and we were sat in about 15 minutes. NO PROBLEM for us. The dinning room manager came over apologized for the wait, and gave us a complimentary glass of wine.

[Aruba]

Thanks for your review. We will be on the NA in less than three weeks so it will be interesting to see what we experience.

Be sure to go to Tamarind (if you like Asian food)! We went to Tamarind 4 evenings on our New Year's cruise on NA. Every night was outstanding and, apart from dessert -- the "mango cloud" which is to die for -- I never had the same thing twice. The menu is posted somewhere on CC if you're interested.

[slstauber]

I too was on this cruise for both weeks. This was my 22nd cruise, and I too have done most of the other lines and except for the short time in the ports I have to disagree with the original post. This cruise was on a beautiful ship with great staff and passengers. After doing a Royal Carribbean cruise in December I decided that it will be either HAL or Celebrity for any future cruises. When you find the best why change? I feel sorry the original post had a "not so good" cruise but other than the ship, who could complain with 14 days of sunshine and warm weather? It was a GREAT cruise.

[stormy65]

We were on the same cruise and loved it. We had anytime dining and after the first night we found out a waiter we had on our Alaska cruise was now on this ship, so we had the maitre d' sit us at his table and we sat at his table every evening. We never had to wait after a few days he just told us to just go ahead and get seated. The food was always great. We sat with different people every night, which was fun to meet new people. The service was great. We only ate in the lido twice for a sandwich. Went to tea several times, my favorite. Our room stewards were great. We had all you can do laundry and it always came back with in 24 hours. The ship was always clean the workers really friendly. My only complain was there was not enough funny shows. I know Holland caters to an older crowd, but there could have been more shows like the marriage game, or Liar Liar. The juggler was great. I wish there were more comedy shows. The first week I think we were the youngest ones on the ship at 46. For the Western Caribbean there were a lot more younger people. Over all we had a great time. We thought 7 days wasn't long enough so we did 14, now I don't think 14 is long enough, so 20 next time. LOL :)