Just Back from 20 days on Nieuw Amsterdam

[1aCruise4wks]

Just completed the 13-day Transatlantic and the follow-up 7-day Western Caribbean aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam. Some quick impressions...

 

The Good...

 

Check-in at Barcelona was the smoothest, quickest ever. I've been on over 25 HAL cruises and this was the best.

 

Bar / Lounge Service was great... they actually provided snacks & hot munchies without begging!

 

Piano Man, Michael Sara saved the day (or should I say nights) for the entertainment aboard. He is so talented. If I knew what ship he was on in advance, it could affect my choice of cruises.

 

7 Days at Sea crossing the Atlantic... I love that sea time!

 

Food - both in MDR and Lido - lots of choices and most of it very tasty!

 

 

The Bad...

 

Sick Ship - Gastro-intestinal illness was rampant and most of the 20 days were spent under "Red Alert". They never actually announced that but that is what I was told when I asked an officer why I had to go to the bar to get a towel at the pool. They "Sanitized" areas of the ship repeatedly including the Casino (first time I've seen that).

 

Show Times - For some reason, the Cruise Director decided to change the show times to 7 pm & 9 pm. This created a fiasco. Many 2nd seating diners either didn't realize that the 7 pm show was for them or didn't want to get ready for dinner that early. So, the 7 pm show started out lightly attended. But, the 1st seating diners didn't want to wait until 9 pm to see a show so they rushed from dinner as quickly as they could. From 7:15 pm to 7:35 pm there was a continuous stream of people crawling through the dark aisles to find a seat and see a part of the show. The CD got on the PA System several times to explain his "plan" because so many people were complaining.

 

Entertainment - The HAL Cats, which is what remains of the Ship Orchestra, was really sad. This was once an 11-piece orchestra that has been trimmed year after year (I guess to save money). This one was down to 5 pieces (Guitar, Bass, Sax, Keyboard, & Drums). The Ship Cast Shows are now using mostly recorded music and the HAL Cats pretend they are playing it. Their performances were totally uninspired and they usually looked bored!

 

Service in MDR & Lido - MDR service was often terribly slow which caused food to be served luke warm / cool. In the Lido, it was often challenging to get someone to clean off a table and then wipe it. When the "Red Alert" restrictions were in effect, the lines were horrible. They often ran out of certain food items at both Breakfast and Lunch. One day at lunch, I was standing in a long line for entrees and an officer came to me and said that there was no line on the other side. I explained to him that I had been there and they didn't have the entrees I wanted. He went to verify my statement and never returned. The long line continued.

 

 

The Ugly...

 

In Lisbon, we (along with many other people) were sitting on the side deck shortly after lunch reading, napping, etc. All of a sudden, water started pouring down on us from above the life boats. Apparently they decided to wash the tops of the life boats but didn't close the side deck or warn passengers that were seated there.

 

Turnaround day in Ft Lauderdale - Normally when you stay aboard from one cruise to the next, you only have to briefly leave the ship to go through immigration. Because of the sick ship, we were told that we needed to leave the ship for at least a few hours so that they could "Super Sanitize" the ship. They offered us a free shore excursion, a bus to the local mall. We declined. They took us off the ship and made us go outside the terminal and return back through the security line. Then we waited with all the new passengers for the ship to begin boarding. The worst of it... when we got back to our cabin, it still hadn't even been made up from the night before. So much for "Super Sanitizing".

 

On the last day of the Caribbean Cruise, shortly after lunch, the ship sailed into a heavy rainstorm. The roof over the Lido Pool was wide open and no one acted to close it. The rains poured down onto all the deck chairs, many filled with lounging passengers, almost all filled with people's belonging. Many people weren't at their lounge when it happened. The staff stood around as the rain poured down for at least 15 minutes. People came back to find their books, magazines, backpacks, cameras, etc soaked. They were many unhappy campers. Finally, the rain subsided and they closed the roof!

 

 

This certainly wasn't my favorite cruise and makes me question whether HAL is still competitive as a quality cruise line.

 

Dennis

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[English_in_Spain]

Although I agree that it was not good to leave the Lido Pool roof open when it was raining, I was amused to hear of the people leaving things on their loungers and returning later to find them wet :rolleyes:

 

It proves they were not in the pool or around the area so they should not be saving chairs by leaving their belongings on them.

 

Perhaps they will learn a lesson from this and not chair hog in future :D

 

[JamesEM]

Thanks for sharing, as for the trip to the mall, DW and I did that tour once, the shops did not open untill noon because it was Sunday.

[KirkNC]

Welcome home, sorry to hear the cruise was less then good. The MDR problems need to be corrected, when we sailed on Princess in June, the one thing they did have down right was dining venue service, best we had ever seen.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home

So sorry that your cruise was not one of your better ones.

HAL tried those 7 and 9 PM shows a couple of years ago -- most people did not like them.

We have been on quite a few cruises when the ship was in Code Red -- the pools weren't open -- library was closed, etc.

[kazu]

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences and impressions with us.

Sounds like you faced some of the issues we did on the Nieuw Amsterdam. :(

We faced NORO on our entire 20 day TA as well and it wasn't fun.

Sorry to hear that you didn't enjoy your cruise.

Welcome home:):)

[brainyblonde]

Contrary to OP, DH and I really like the 7:00 Show before the late dinner seating. We dress, have a glass of wine on the balcony, see the show, then have dinner. If the shows are after the late seating dinner, we have noticed very sparse attendance. Having said that, we usually take 21-37 day cruises. It may be that HAL does these times for shows on the TA's. If that is the case, the passangers I have talked with really like the showtimes. I can see that a short Carribean cruise would draw a different demographic and possibly a different lifestyle.

 

Agreed on the musicians. The HAL Cat were dreadful last spring on the Noordam, the Adagio Strings sounded like a high school group. While we love to watch the "kids" sing and dance in the production numbers, no one truly believes they are singing themselves, do they? It has to be all prerecorded and then lip-synced. If the leads sang as well as they sound on stage, they wouldn't be on cruise ships. Watching the dancers who are seen about the ship in other capacities makes the evenings fun. They workout in the gym, help with HAL excursions, pose in costumes for pictures, adding to the life of the ship.

 

I am still not over paying for my morning cappucino in the MDR. Say it isn't so. An inferior product, puish a button on a machine. It isn't like someone grinds the beans and hand froths the cream. (Like DH each morning.)

 

brainyblonde

[DFD1]

brainyblonde: I agree with your assessment of the HAL cats and the Adagio Strings. Both were less than stellar on our last cruise on Eurodam as well. From our experience these two groups need to either be upgraded or replaced.

 

We just returned from 10 days on the Norwegian Sun. I'm no NCL cheerleader, but the music on this cruise was far superior to that we've found on HAL cruises for the last two or three years.

 

IMO

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for taking the time to share this info with the rest of us.

[catl331]

I am sorry to hear the Adagio strings were not up to par. I have always looked forward to their music. Hope this is a one time thing.

 

I was amused as Eng In Spain about the belongings getting wet on the abandoned lounge chairs!! Tsk!

[PathfinderEss]

Welcome back, sorry things didn't go as well as you would hope.