First HAL Cruise-Underwhelmed by Nieuw Amsterdam

[mescat4]

did 18 days on the NA in April, TA FLL to Barcelona. than came back on QM2. Food in MDR and Lido on NA much better on NA than QM2. Didnt feel disturbed by either lighting or color scheme in NA MDR, Service with AT not personalized but convenience of eating when you want to makes up for that in our opinion.

Also , as Lido offers the same menu as MDR for dinner it is an attractive option.

Also, the Lido on the NA never felt crowded as the Kings Court on QM2 and the Lido staffing levels on the NA were higher than on QM2(more chefs).

[SwissMyst]

......

You mentioned in passing your unfavorable impression of Naples. We have arranged with a private tour operator for an excursion covering Pompei, Herculaneum, and Vesuvius. We anticipate that it will make for a very full day. Are we likely to escape the unpleasantness of Naples itself?

.....

 

The trick to Naples is to turn left when you get out of the port area and not right. Rick Steves has a great walking route for Naples for cruise ship passengers in his Mediterranean Cruise Ports book and shares our own high enthusiasm for this sadly under-rated city. We go back every time we can. http://www.ricksteves.com/plan/destinations/italy/naples-sorrento-amalfi-coast.htm

 

Stick with his route and you may find a very surprising and even elegant city hidden amid all its ugly post WWII reconstruction and some fabulous food and street markets and people watching.

 

Plus an hour hydrofoil ride from the port area to the very charming and oft used as a movie-set island of Procida is another hidden treat for the Naples port stop. If you like to walk, going to Procida and walking out to the Scarebo restaurant (or use the local bus or taxi) I bet will win you over to this port stop completely. http://www.procida.it/scarabeo.htm

[Scrapchick]

Hmmm.... We're going on the NA for 24 days in July and your review is troubling... Many of the reviews on the home page have been glowing recently. I think yours is going to turn out to be more accurate. We've been on HAL cruises that were great, and HAL cruises that were terrible, so I've become fairly reluctant to consider HAL again in recent years. My husband has booked us on the ship for 24 days and I hope things have improved in the dining and entertainment areas by then, but I doubt it....

 

Thanks for your honest and very balanced review and for responding to many of the comments. I always feel I know what I am going to get with Princess and Celebrity, my other two favorite lines, but with HAL it is so hard to predict if it's going to be a great experience or merely an average one... I find a lot of it depends on the captain and the CD and they set the tone for the cruise. However, dining cutbacks are out of their control and it will be interesting to see if our experience matches yours...

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review. We sailed on the NA in Feb and had a marvelous time. We had anytime dining but did not experience the problems you did, however that was before this new runner system was put in place. HAL is not known for its entertainment, we usually only go to a few shows on any cruise. I also appreciate how cruising on multiple lines can open up areas that become complaints because you have a different perspective. I am experiencing that with Princess in our cruise next week, in that case it is the inability to prebook specialty restaurants ahead of time.:rolleyes:

[TheCalicoCat]

After this port intensive cruise, this was the night folks were looking to enjoy the ship, have a couple drinks, and stay up later. However, there was nothing to do. And I do mean NOTHING. This would have been the night to have a pool party, maybe a late night comedian, maybe the HAL Cats playing. Something. But no. Nothing. We ended up going to bed at 11 out of shear boredom.

 

I'm an early riser; therfore, I got to bed early at 9, do you think that I will have a similar experience since I got to bed early?

 

Thanks for not bashing the food - that is so subjective. & I have heard similar things about the timing in the MDR, so I am already probably going to avoid it for the most part. (I am going to AK & am not sure that I want to invest the time in MDR dining - even if it were stellar.)

 

My husband & I are in our early 40's for what it is worth & will be travelling with our 3.5 year old son (Who goes to bed even earlier;)).

[Aquahound]

Service with AT not personalized but convenience of eating when you want to makes up for that in our opinion.

 

But what you say right there was a shortcoming I found on NA. The personalization shouldn't be compromised. I always book the Open Seating option on all my cruises. On all my cruises where I had dining at my time, the servers still introduced themselves, went over the chef's suggestions, refilled water glasses, and prompty cleared dirty plates, and added the little touches I mentioned earlier, like taking the time to remove my wife's lobster from the shell. In other words, there was no lack of service in the anytime dining that would normally be in the fixed dining. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if this is the norm for HAL, I really think they should take measures to correct it. The first time cruiser may not notice it, but coming from other lines where the service is better, it is very noticable. Again, I only hope it's a current NA issue, not HAL.

 

I'm an early riser; therfore, I got to bed early at 9, do you think that I will have a similar experience since I got to bed early?

 

Thanks for not bashing the food - that is so subjective. & I have heard similar things about the timing in the MDR, so I am already probably going to avoid it for the most part. (I am going to AK & am not sure that I want to invest the time in MDR dining - even if it were stellar.)

 

My husband & I are in our early 40's for what it is worth & will be travelling with our 3.5 year old son (Who goes to bed even earlier;)).

 

If you rack out that early, you shouldn't have a problem. You can eat dinner and catch the 8:00 show.

 

Thank you for noticing I did not bash the food. You are 100% correct that food is very subjective. To be honest, I didn't have a problem with the food. In fact, other than the soups, I thought the food was pretty good. We even ordered room service dinner one night and I thought the steak sandwich was pretty good.

 

Another great experience was the free Tamarind lunch. It was a fixed menu, but we loved every course.

[Aquahound]

Having been an <almost> loyal Royal, I thought your "name" looked familiar. I will be going on HAL for the first time, too, next summer for a B2B on the NA which includes your itinerary. Glad to see a review by someone who has cruised a lot on my favorite line. Itinerary is definitely the reason we've booked with HAL. My parents cruised on the Zuiderdam with this (almost) same B2B itinerary 4 years ago and enjoyed both the ship and itinerary. After deviating from Royal in April for the first time since '84, I came to realize that each line has something special to offer, and from now on I'll be choosing my vacation by itinerary and price. In this case, itinerary. Nobody else seems to be able to come close, especially with an overnight in Istanbul. I was a bit concerned about "nightlife" and entertainment, but with all of the running around we'll be doing in the hot July sun, and only 3 sea-days in 24 days, I might be turning in at 11:00, too. ;)

 

In no way, shape, or form should you let my review deter you. The fantastic itinerary more than makes up for the shortcomings aboard the ship. You are experiencing the same thing I did when I booked my cruise. No other cruise line could compare with the itinerary.

 

Being a RCI cruiser, you should know, as I did, that there will be no "wow" factor on NA, and the entertainment, frankly, is a joke compared to RCI. But the ship is mostly very pretty, except that dam dining room. We found the staff very firendly and attentive.

[bigeagle12]

We are in our mid-50's and felt the same way about HA.

 

The highlights of our cruise were:

1. We did love the Ryndam. Compares more to RCI's Radiance class - certainly not Voyager, Freedom, or Oasis class.
   
2. Thought the MDR and buffet food were better than RCI and Princess.
   
3. Also did open seating for dinner and had exceptional service.
   
4. Got to make our first visit to Key West :D
   

Didn't like:

1. Lack of activities.
   
2. Shows reminded me of high school productions.
   
3. Ship shuts down before midnight.
   
4. Went to casino first night at 11:30 to play blackjack and they were already closing the tables :rolleyes:
   

We probably will not cruise with HAL again for a while. But if just the 2 of us with no kids or grandkids, we would consider another if the itinerary is good.

[Aquahound]

Being the optimistic joker I am, I could only laugh when I found this out. $40 per person for a one time dip in the thalasotherpy pool? REALLY??!! :eek: Are they aware it's free on Celebrity M Class ships? Luckily, the spa girl who gave me the news was a former Celebrity staffer who agreed with me. I guess it was a good way to keep the pool from getting crowded, but come on.

 

Folks, I'm very sorry to keep going on with little things, but as this thread goes on, things keep coming to mind I forgot to mention. After one of our long ports (Rome, maybe??), they set up a dinner buffet topside. The weather that night was in the low 60s and it was windy. Low 60s and wind - I'm a S. Floridian. That is cold to me. However, I'm sure even northerners would have found it a little uncomfortable for eating. Some super genious decided to set up the buffet on the cabana deck instead of the covered Lido deck. Perhaps it was to actually get use of a deck no one else used, who knows. Anyways, we walked out there, about froze, saw the wind blowing everything around, and promptly returned to our room and ordered room service dinner.

[SwissMyst]

.....

We probably will not cruise with HAL again for a while. But if just the 2 of us with no kids or grandkids, we would consider another if the itinerary is good.

 

You hit on HAL's strength - its itineraries. Choice gets down to where you go or how you go, really. Sometimes it is a trade-off for the price. HAL is travel value for us because we love where they take us, more than how they take us.

[Aquahound]

Atrium:

 

 

Aft Pool:

 

 

Underway:

 

[Aquahound]

 

 

..and in Argostoli, Greece:

 

[Aquahound]

 

 

[kazu]

Very, very nice pics Paul - thanks for posting and sharing them:)

[BoughtMyPoints]

I also cruised the inaugural season and I thought the ship magnificent, apart from their positioning of the casino. It helped that I had a balcony stateroom, just lovely.

 

If service standards have declined in the MDR, sounds like it is a race to the bottom. Not only am I accustomed to HAL's service, I live in south east Asia and quickly establish a rapport with the sevice staff. Yes, there were times when everybody felt that way!

 

I think the big news is that they're (still) offering lobster!

 

Well, as someone who has experienced Nieuw Amsterdam II, III and now IV, I thought the new ship a vast improvement on III, though not offering the caviar that they still provided FOC in the 1980's!

 

No matter how lively a ship is, it's a struggle for me to stay awake after finishing dinner circa. 10 p.m..

 

My biggest complaint was having the (Moldovan) string quartet play in a walk through lounge. Just dreadful. That said, I was crestfallen that I left it too late to book the following week as a b2b.

 

I thought the food still quite good. Excellent steaks though the prime rib was surpassed (incredibly) by MSC's Poesia!

 

We went Thanksgiving week and the soporific reputation of HAL proved an advantage as there were well behaved children on board.

[SwissMyst]

......

We went Thanksgiving week and the soporific reputation of HAL proved an advantage as there were well behaved children on board.

 

Thatzzzzzzzzzz why some of us still choozzzzzzzz HAL. :p

[Aquahound]

I also cruised the inaugural season and I thought the ship magnificent, apart from their positioning of the casino. It helped that I had a balcony stateroom, just lovely.

 

I think the big news is that they're (still) offering lobster!

 

My biggest complaint was having the (Moldovan) string quartet play in a walk through lounge. Just dreadful.

 

We went Thanksgiving week and the soporific reputation of HAL proved an advantage as there were well behaved children on board.

 

I want to address these points you made because for the most part, I agree with you.

 

Other than going up or down a floor, there was no way around the casino and the sports bar in the casino. We all know what that means. Smoke! It would have been nice to have a side hallway on the port side that by-passed the casino.

 

Yes, they did have lobster. It was a half tail that was served with a cut of steak. The lobster had some sort of flavoring added to it that was pretty good. I can't remember what they called it.

 

I agree about the string quartet location. It was a walk-through lounge (Explorer's Lounge) and the stage was right next to where folks came walking through after leaving the dining room. Folks walking through, not intending to be rude I'm sure, were often boisterous before noticing the ladies playing. On that floor, there was no other way through than through this lounge.

 

One of the best things about this cruise experience was the passenger compliment. We all know a bad bunch can sour a cruise, but this group was fantastic. It was mostly Americans and there were large groups of Brits and Aussies, and small groups of Asians and other Europeans. Mostly everyone, except for the few usual buttheads, were very friendly and very courteous to one another. We made a lot of friends on this cruise. :)

[Boytjie]

Anywho, they were telling me they were also disappointed with the Nieuw Amsterdam. They said they had just done a cruise on a sister ship (Eurodam, I think??). They said it was a night and day difference, not necessarily about the activites, but about the service, especially in the MDR.

 

Our most recent cruise was on The Nieuw Amsterdam and before that two cruises on the Eurodam. There was too much time between them so I would not compare them for service (different staffs) and our charters has its own entertainment, so that is not a valid topic. But, I do prefer the Eurodam's color schemes over the NA's. I did not think the MDR is too bright, I am just not a fan of that color of red on the NA. :)

[BoughtMyPoints]

May I go back and add something to your comments on Venezia?

 

That same cruising season, we embarked on a transatlantic crossing on a different line out of Venice.

 

The cruise port has become absurdly busy, even with some upscale ships docking closer to the Piazza San Marco. Now Port Everglades can cope with a similar number of mega ships docking. Venice? There's not much margin and the Venetians don't seem too bothered. That people mover system is next to useless for most cruise passengers.

 

Yet, despite the chaotic nature of embarkation, it all turned out great as we had arrived several days early (due to the understandable lack of frequent flyer seats to/from VCE) and 1 stroke of good luck : our lastminute.com hotel had a cruise port shuttle bus depart from there and the affable cruise line rep. invited us along!

 

In our terminal, I distinctly remember purchasing something to drink during the long boarding process. Anywhere else in the world, I'd go for the free libations.

 

We were blessed with fantastically good weather for late November. The departure from Venice, past the Piazza San Marco is a truly great cruise experience, comparable to sailing to/from Saigon or departing from Hong Kong. Well, we all have our favourites!

[TheCalicoCat]

Being the optimistic joker I am, I could only laugh when I found this out. $40 per person for a one time dip in the thalasotherpy pool? REALLY??!! :eek: Are they aware it's free on Celebrity M Class ships? Luckily, the spa girl who gave me the news was a former Celebrity staffer who agreed with me. I guess it was a good way to keep the pool from getting crowded, but come on.

 

That is why I always tell first timers or people looking for the "best" line - what you don't know won't irritate you.

 

Since you knew that you could have a similar experience for the rate of the cruise elsewhere, having to pay for it here irritated you... I have never been on Celebrity & will be on my first HAL sailing this time next week, so I would not have known that my $40 could have been included in Celebrity. (Meanwhile, Celebrity is not going to Glacier Bay & HAL is, so I chose Glacier Bay over any ammenities on board.)

[Aquahound]

Another side note because I have seen a lot of conversation about post-Concordia life boat drills across the boards. I applaud the way the Cruise Director announced the life boat drill. He said in a very sure voice "If you refuse to attend the life boat drill, you will not be allowed to sail." He said this several times, almost as though addressing someone specific.

 

Otherwise, the drill went as usual. No life jackets.

[LindaM]

Congrats on posting the first review that didn't get a single flame. I believe that was due to it be well thought out and written.

 

HAL doesn't have entertainment that would appeal to people your age. We cruised other lines until we got into our fifties!! Although, we have had a good time dancing in the Crow's Nest---and it has been very crowded!! We have found the last night of a cruise to be very quiet, as people are packing.

 

I agree with your perception of Anytime Dining. The service we have experienced is exactly as you described. We just accept it, because don't like to commit to a specific dining time.

 

One of the perks of HAL is being able to bring on wine. We also brought on beer in Norway, without question. (We were trying to get rid of our Norwegian money.) Princess also allows this, but they have a stricter smoking policy, if you are a smoker.

[Petronillus]

Congrats on posting the first review that didn't get a single flame. I believe that was due to it be well thought out and written.

I concur wholeheartedly. I have found the members of the HAL board to be a pretty congenial lot. OP's observations were fair and calmly expressed -- plainly in the spirit of genuine constructive criticism. Plus, it looks to be the case that he's had a lot of fun in engaging the contributors to this thread and in sharing his magnificent photos!

 

We have found the last night of a cruise to be very quiet, as people are packing.

 

and people are in mourning. . .

[Aquahound]

Congrats on posting the first review that didn't get a single flame. I believe that was due to it be well thought out and written.

 

HAL doesn't have entertainment that would appeal to people your age. We cruised other lines until we got into our fifties!! Although, we have had a good time dancing in the Crow's Nest---and it has been very crowded!! We have found the last night of a cruise to be very quiet, as people are packing.

 

I agree with your perception of Anytime Dining. The service we have experienced is exactly as you described. We just accept it, because don't like to commit to a specific dining time.

 

One of the perks of HAL is being able to bring on wine. We also brought on beer in Norway, without question. (We were trying to get rid of our Norwegian money.) Princess also allows this, but they have a stricter smoking policy, if you are a smoker.

 

Thank you. I took off my flame suit yesterday and feel pretty safe now. I know it's hard to portray on a message board, but despite my complaints about this ship, I am still the type of person who tries to enjoy myself. I'm not the type to grab someone's ear on board and whine and complain about everything. We actually ran in to a few of those people and actively avoided them the rest of the cruise. No need to make things worse, right? ;)

 

I really wish dancing was an option in the Crows Nest on our cruise. It was such a nice venue with great views, but the only entertainment up there was a solo female guitarist who only sang low volume ballad type music. It was good for easy listening with a drink or capuccino, but not to dance.

 

The wine policy definitely is a plus for wine lovers. As I said earlier, it is not a scale tipper for me, rather, I found it a nice touch. Here is a pic of a Greek white wine we enjoyed while leaving Santorini:

 

[Arwen]

Thanks for your balanced and objective review! My hubby and I have sailed with HAL on 10 cruises, one on Celebrity, and the most recent, a one week Mexico cruise with Princess.

 

I am 61 yrs old, hubby a year younger. While we are "old" ;), we really do enjoy all sorts of entertainment and music. You are closer to my daughter's age, so I understand the differences between the wants or needs of the older generation and the younger :p

 

That being said, HAL generally appeals to an older crowd on the longer cruises. The one week cruises, like the Alaska itineraries tend to attract families and people of all ages. It has been quite a while since I did the Alaska cruise, but it was years ago and I enjoyed everything about it.

 

The fact that HAL has an older crowd on the longer cruises means that they appeal to that crowd almost exclusively. This has been a complaint of mine, though minor. I may be 61, but I love Reggaeton, Salsa, techno, etc, music. In other words, not to insult anyone here....Lawrence Welk style music is not our thing. I do realize that it is for that generation and perhaps even many from ours. I have written on HAL's survey to please include something that is a bit different in the music/entertainment area that would allow for something other than slow ballroom dancing :D

 

Also, on port intensive cruises, most older people have less energy after a long port day. I know when we were on our Med Cruise with HAL this past Nov., that after 12 hours in Cairo (3 hour bus ride each way), that going for entertainment that night was out of the question. Also, so many of the shore excursions require getting up early, too.

 

If you had a sea day before getting into your final port for disembarking, HAL does shut down most of everything because people are busy packing, etc.

 

On the one week cruise with Princess in March, the food, entertainment, age demo was a stark contrast with HAL. But then comparing a long port intensive itinerary with a fun filled, easy going cruise is like comparing apples and broccoli. :cool:

 

And, yes, I have noticed that the dining room stewards are really pushed to service a lot of tables. The last time we cruised, the asst. Dining Room manager "lost" my special diet menu :mad: This happened on another HAL cruise as well. I believe it had to do with all the staff being overwhelmed and cost cutting.

 

We will be taking another cruise in Nov. with Princess. I specifically chose the itinerary (a back-to-back) because of lots of interspersed sea days to allow relaxation and fun between ports.

 

My hubby and I agree that generally HAL has the corner on the market for the best itineraries, but score less in the area of entertainment and food (which has gone downhill, IMHO).

 

By the way, we found the longer Southern Caribbean cruise with Celebrity a blast compared to HAL's B2B East/West Caribbean itinerary. Celebrity won hands down for the entertainment and food.