Review - Nieuw Amsterdam 'Magic of the Mediterranean' Sept 13-Oct 7

[Tobysmum]

Hi all

Firstly a huge thank you to all on CC (roll calls and forums) who helped me in the 18 months prior to taking this cruise. I avidly read all the reviews, so it seems only right that I should write one on our return:)

This was our first time with HAL, having cruised twice with Princess and once with Cunard. My (our) thoughts are subjective, as my cruise experience may well differ from others on the same cruise. So here goes....and apologies for lack of brevity - I'm just not a bullet point type of person!

The shipThe NA was about the right size for us, and we never really felt crowded (apart from breakfast times at the Lido when the entire ship seemed to be looking for a table!) All the fittings and furnishings were in great condition, and maintenance seemed to be a constant task carried out throughout the voyage. It was nice to have 2 pools, especially as the roof could be closed over the middle one when the weather was bad. Loved all the framed photos lining the hallways, especially when my DH found one of the NA II which had been the troop carrier that had taken his dad to war in Italy. There were certainly enough seats at the various bars and nooks throughout the day and evening (that may have been due to the fact that our cruise didn't seem to lend itself to drinking and carousing!) The infamous vibration that is talked about was definitely there, although not in our cabin. We felt it most in the Signature shops, particularly the jewellery area. In fact one time the floor was actually bouncing! We actually felt it when we were walking through the lower deck corridors, mid ships.

Our cabinWe started off with 4138, which was a typical verandah layout. Lots of storage, and after I asked for more coat hangers, great hanging space. We didn't actually use the drawers under the bed, but thanks to CC I remembered that they were there if I needed them. Despite our many attempts to 'do the right thing' and recycle our towels (at least after our morning shower, ready for our pre-dinner one!) we gave up as our 2 stewards kept giving us new ones. I'm never as clean as when I go on a cruise! No problem asking for tablets of soap, and the shampoo seemed ok. I took my own conditioner - just in case! The hair dryer was great - I had expected one of those ones that click onto the wall, but it was a handheld dryer with enough power for my short hair. The flat screen tv was great, and I remembered to disinfect the remote control before we used it (thanks again to CC members!).

Now for the 'not so good' bit. From the get go, our cabin would fill with fumes. It wasn't all the time, but when it did it got right down into your stomach and made us feel quite ill. We mentioned it to the front desk and asked if someone from engineering could come and investigate. After a couple of times of asking, a Guest Relations lady came and acknowledged that yes, she could smell it, but she didn't know where it was coming from. May be somewhere near the air-conditioning vents? She advised us to keep the verandah door open if it was a problem!! Fine on good days, but not so good in a howling gale. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a constant problem, and as we were on a very port intensive cruise (24 days and 3 sea days!) it was only a problem when we wanted to relax inside. Anyway, we were eventually offered another cabin of the same type on deck 8 - under the Lido. Well, I hadn't spent 18 months choosing my location and deck to be suddenly under the Lido, with any noise issues that may have had so we decided to stay put - better the devil you know than the one you don't!

Our cruise visited Venice twice (after first 12 days, and then at the end of our trip, I think we were on a Collectors Cruise) and after the first Venice visit, we had a sea day. The fumes were so bad that we couldn't stay in the cabin, as when we sat on the verandah and came inside again we could hardly breath. So down to the front desk again, politely putting our case and we were offered another cabin. The ship had emptied out a bit so a bit more available I think.

Cabin # 2 - 6085. Now some of you may be already ahead of me:p As we were shown into the cabin I mentioned that it seem to be bigger than our original one - yes madam, its a suite!! Needless to say, we took it:D Trouble is that now we're spoilt - huge bathroom with double sinks, full size bath and separate shower, desk and dressing table, large sofa that converted to a bed, and large verandah with 2 lounge chairs and a big table! Whats not to like?! We thanked the front desk very much, and they moved our things the next day when we were on shore. However, we were never given an explanation of why and where the fumes were coming from originally. It seemed to be diesel related, and seems to be an engineering fault, or at the very least a design problem.I wonder if anyone else has experienced it?

As a footnote, we were actually given a very substantial credit off our final account, and a very nice letter apologising for our problems. However, still no reason given for the cause of the problem.

FoodMost nights we ate in the MDR, with Anytime Dining. No problems there, as we met some great people. When asked for our table preference we always said - put us anywhere you like! So we had tables of 4, 6, 8 and 10. All good fun. A couple of nights, after we'd made some new friends, we booked a table specifically for a time and number which worked well. The MDR service was pretty consistently good, although the wine selection was pretty average IMHO. We felt that Princess and Cunard had offered more variety of meals, as there were certainly days when our choice was pretty much down to one! Travelling for 24 days may have had a bearing on that as things did repeat a bit on the menu. There just didn't seem to be much imagination shown in the dishes on the menu.

We ate in Canoletto a couple of times and loved the food, although the service at times seemed to be on training wheels! The Maitre D was great though. Loved the lasagne:)

We tried Tamarind for dinner one night, and that was excellent. Great service, food and ambience.

We didn't try Pinnacle as we really didn't feel like having a dress up dinner when we didn't have to, and as we had to get up early most mornings, the MDR suited us.

We had a room service breakfast one morning which was good. Came on time and everything that we'd ticked was there.

We ate breakfast in the Lido most mornings as it suited us to get up early, have breakfast and get off the ship. The MDR would have been too slow. Selection for B'fast was quite good, although I found the boxed cereals a bit uninspiring. I felt like I was back at kindergarten when I saw Fruit Loops! The only time I saw good quality muesli was on the last morning when some packets suddenly appeared! Where they had been hiding I have no idea!. Wasn't really impressed with the quality and selection of fruit either - given that we had seen lovely fruit and veg in markets all around the Med. it hadn't made its way onto the ship. Small bowls of 3 types of under ripe melon and a token grape don't make a fruit salad in my opinion.

I loved the salad bar, and had no problem with someone serving me. Im all for preserving a great level of hygiene. Once I realised that I could ask for salad dressing in a small side bowl, instead of having it drawing the salad it was all good!

There were pre-made sandwiches - and I can definitely state that they were NOT refrigerated. Just sitting out during lunch.

No trays didn't seem to be a problem as the staff were always there to help if needed.

The staff in the Lido were lovely - always smiling, courteous and willing to help.

EntertainmentThe song and dance shows in the Showroom at Sea were all great, although a bit loud! I know that they weren't to everyones taste but I really enjoyed all of them. My only issue would be that they were mostly repeated during the second 12 days. There was magician and contortionist (pretty average), a pianist (ok but not spectacular) and 'Dancing with the Stars' which was good for a laugh. There was a comedian but we didn't see him

BBKing Blues Band was fantastic, although the audience didn't really appear until their last set - I think most people went to the shows first. Once again, they repeated all their songs in the second 12 days.

Tried the karaoke once - supporting a fellow cruiser! - and it was a soulless room. Seating was all around the side and not a great deal of it.

Adagio were to put it simply - boring. The violinist was particularly great and as my DH is from a musical background I accept his comment that she was of high school standard. Whenever we walked past on the way to somewhere we could see people sitting with glazed eyes and half asleep!

Our Cruise Director was Dave (can't recall his last name) and he was very good. Although I did think that he had a hard road to travel at times as it was hard to get people engaged at night. He ran a couple of game shows, and hosted Trivial Pursuit. His co-host was Joel, a young NZer who has a long way to go before he gets to be a Cruise Director I think!

Tom, our Destination Specialist, was ok. He have talks before each port, and was available for questions for a couple of hours prior to the port and portside. We spoke to him a couple of times and he wasn't exactly super friendly. It would have been useful for the destination talks to be have been available on the tv but for some reason they weren't. Not everyone could make the talks in person.

Ports, TenderingI won't go into the individual ports as it would take too long, but the tendering process was great. Much better than Princess. No preference was given to those booked on ships tours, and it was first in for a ticket, best dressed. We docked at exactly the time stated and the vessel seemed to be cleared quickly and we could get off as soon as we wanted.

Life boat drillI'm not sure that I'd like to experience an emergency using this method! Big groups of people assembled in front of 3-4 crew members, who then proceeded to call out cabin numbers and names. All this went on while people were still finding their group, and walking in front of the crew. Passengers talked, and all in all it was bit of a mess. Not sure what a solution might be - maybe scanning our cards?

[B]Embarkation and Disembarkation[/b]All went really smoothly, particularly getting off the ship. It was great to be able to wait in your cabin before getting off instead of congregating in lounges as on Princess. Made the whole process quite easy.

SmokingWe don't smoke and were a bit apprehensive about HAL's policy. Yes, there were times when it wasn't great on the back deck of the Lido as the areas for smokers seemed to creep into most of the deck. We don't gamble so the Casino didn't worry us, except to say that it was a nuisance to have to walk through it to get to the showroom. Interesting that when they had a smoke free Casino night, it was packed!! We were lucky that we didn't have smokers either side of us in our cabins, but we did have a friend who wasn't actually able to use her verandah at all during 24 days due to smokers either side.

The IncidentI've included this as it had a huge impact on the passengers for the 1st 12 days. At 7.15 on about the 6th day out we encountered a major squall which totally broadsided the ship. We were in our cabin, DH in the shower! The ship started to lean/list and continued to do so for 4-5 minutes. The scary thing was that it didn't right itself but continued to lean at an alarming angle. There was chaos in the MDR, Lido and Tamarind. Glasses, plates, meals, people all slid to the floor. The Captain was dining in Tamarind and sprinted to the bridge (we know because we had friends dining there at the time). Friends in a cabin on the low side deck 6 watched the sea get closer and closer to their balcony railing. You can imagine what it was like in the MDR with the huge glass windows filling with water. The Captain came on the speakers after about 5 minutes and said that we'd encountered 65-70 knot wind gusts, and he turning the ship to run with the wind. You could feel the NA straining to turn, and finally we got back to upright and the stabilisers were deployed. More announcements followed, calming everyone down, and then we went to dinner. It was a Gala night so there were many 'refugees' from the Lido who weren't able to eat there - broken glass and plates everywhere so the dress code was relaxed!! The staff were great - and although clearly flustered managed to get our meals out to us.

The next day the whole ship was full of 'where were you when the ship tilted...'!! The Captain made himself available by walking around the back of the Lido and answering people's questions. The one question that he could answer satisfactory was how did it happen in this day and age. Clearly the radar picked up the storm, (we could all see it approaching) so why wasn't the ship moved so as not be broadside on to the wind? It makes you realise just how vulnerable these huge slab sided vessels really are - goodness knows how the Allure of Seas would have coped. The angle of the lean/tilt was confirmed as 14 degrees, which doesn't sound much but its pretty scary when you're experiencing it. Thoughts of the lifeboat drill come to the surface.

Well, thats pretty much it - so sorry its so long winded but I do tend to write stories! There is so much more to say and Im happy to answer anyone's questions about anything I've missed.

Would we cruise HAL again?We're not brand loyal, and are pretty much itinerary and price driven. Travelling from Australia makes our trips pretty expensive to start with. I'm not sure that we would do HAL again, and thats down to the smoking policy. Although we are lucky and could use our verandahs, others were not and I don't want to take that risk again. I didn't like half the back deck being given over to smokers, so as this is entirely my problem (and DH) we would look at lines that are smoke free.

We loved the ship, crew and experience - just the smoke we didn't like!

Thanks again to all on CC - the Roll Call was fantastic, we made some great friends, and the tours that we and other organised and went on were wonderful - and so much cheaper than HAL's:D

Jill

[Lizzie68]

Thanks for reporting back. That is an excellent review. The "incident" must have been really frightening, but it is reassuring to know the ship can deal with something like that. It is a shame about the smoking and how it spread from the few smoking tables on the aft lido. Usually it is not too bad out there at all if you avoid that side. Thanks again.

[erewhon]

Thank you for reviewing your cruise.

That was a scary experience to haver the ship tilt so badly.

Sorry your friend was not able to use her balcony due to smokers.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Copper10-8]

...........................................Our Cruise Director was Dave (can't recall his last name) ...............................Jill

 

Dave Shea

[puppycanducruise]

Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

Glad you were okay after the "incident".

[cruise_z]

Thank you for your review! It sounds like overall you had a nice cruise.

 

The Incident sounds pretty scary! There are a couple of videos on youtube showing what happened.

 

This one below shows the deck area around one of the swimming pools. Can't believe how much broken glass there was!

 

Edited January 6, 2016 by cruise_z

[RMLincoln]

We were on the same cruise for the back half, 12 days from Sept 25 - Oct 7.

I can confirm there we had some diesel fumes in our cabin but only mildly annoying, balcony room 8126.

The showroom was very loud! As was the BB King lounge (low ceiling).

The Adagio stings are usually a favorite for us - not this time, they were embarrassingly poor.

I thought the shore excursion staff did an above average job and they were very busy on this port intensive itinerary.

I agree that the fruit was very disappointing - no trays or bowls of fruit, just the little saucers with three pieces of various fruits - and being allergic to melons they made it difficult... but my guess is that someone decided it saves money. There were fresh fruits available but then you'd have to peel or prepare the fruit.... while your food got cold.

We didn't have any issues with smoke and found the ship so much better than being on land in most European places.

MDR was usually good but not always, although the service was always friendly if not always as polished as in the past.

 

Thanks for the detailed review, I enjoyed revisiting our cruise. m--