MS Nieuw Amsterdam. Oct. 23-30 Cruise: The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

[sandij]

Thanks for your review, we sail on NA in January and are looking forward to it. I don't understand the talk about not seeing the captain, I prefer to think that he is driving the ship and not socializing. We always have fixed seating for the MDR, and like getting a larger table. We see each other all day and know what we did on each island so we like to talk to others to hear their experiences. About your missed ports, you really need to look at the time of the year, it was hurricane season and no one can plan on where or when they will strike. You'd really be complaining if the captain had sailed into a dock because of the high winds.

[Sundagger]

Just off the NA, same sailing and we had a wonderful cruise. The only problem was my sunglasses and a coupon for a free photo went missing from our cabin. (See thread "Theft on NA")

 

So sorry to read about items missing from cabins, another person had a gold bracelet taken from the cabin. I would hate to think the stewards are responsible but they have the keys and sometimes leave the doors open while they step away to get supplies, this leaves the cabin open to other passengers. With 2,000+ people on the ship no telling who is a thief.

 

My only comments on our cruise survey was to open the Main Dining room more to reduce the crowd in the Lido. I also commented on the pre-made sandwiches, please go back to custom made sandwiches.

 

Missing ports does not affect our cruise, we are not beach people and enjoy just cruising. The invisible Captain issue does not bother us as long as he is doing what he is hired to do and on this cruise he did, safety first for the passengers.

 

I was a group leader for 26 folks, many first time HAL cruisers and they all were very impressed with the food, service and ship. Some of them said never Carnival again after a bad experience last year. We will never cruise Carnival, HAL is our cruise line and we appreciate all they do to make a cruise special, especially for us seniors.

 

It's somewhat surprising that two reviews/commentaries are so very different from two other reviews/commentaries all for the same cruise. I suspect that you and yasou (separate thread) have the same attitudes that I do and I would probably have enjoyed your cruise also.

 

It's not completely surprising since I was on a Mexican cruise some years back that also had contrasting opinions. One person posted that her cruise was completely ruined by being in Code Red the whole cruise. When I and another cruiser read that, we proceeded to contrast our experience with that of the OP in that thread, item by item. We both enjoyed most aspects of the cruise.

 

IMO, HAL hits the right notes for a more refined (sedate?) cruise than many other lines. I'm obviously in disagreement with other posters, but to each his own. I personally like the direction HAL is taking with the Koningsdam and am very anxious to begin my cruise on it on Nov. 13th.

[GlennG]

We spent 19 days on the NA this month, so I'll chime in here. We booked this cruise after benching HAL for several years because of the declining service and quality. We chose this one not because it was HAL, but because the timing, departure port and itinerary was what we were looking for, so we decided to take a chance on HAL again. I was hoping for an improvement in HAL's product, but unfortunately we found it no better.

 

The NA is built on the same hull as the Vista ships, but they have stuffed in a few dozen more cabins and up to 190 more passengers without expanding the public areas or dining facilities. On our cruise the private cabanas were rarely used, which meant there was even less real estate available to accommodate the extra passengers.

 

We also had the Phantom Captain - heard but not seen.

 

The food overall was passable, but not much better. We found the Lido food a bit better than the MDR. We had the open dining option, and found that we had to go at around 7:45-8:00 pm to avoid waiting. This was okay because we like to eat late anyway. However, by that time things were starting to thin out, and on a couple of nights it was apparent that they wanted us out of there so they could clean up and close down. The MDR service was actually better than what we've had before, even though the waiters do not work with an assistant any more.

 

The Lido does not have enough tables for the number of passengers. Tables were not cleared promptly when vacated, which made the problem worse. We also had trouble finding a table and almost always ended up outside. Even then I usually had to clear a table and set it myself. Most mornings there were no coffee cups available at the coffee station. When I asked the head waiter to have the cups replenished he said they don't stock them at the coffee station because they serve coffee at the tables. Doesn't work if there are no tables cleared. Almost every morning I had to search for a simple coffee cup! Ridiculous!

 

The Tamarind was excellent. The Canaletto was very good. Didn't try the Pinnacle, but were shocked by the upcharges, and the upcharges on the upcharges.

 

The entertainment was mediocre at best. Not even close to what we've had before on HAL.

 

Embarkation in Vancouver was slow. Disembarkation in Fort Lauderdale was a complete clusterfumble, but not by HAL. US CBP was causing mega delays. Some people stood in line for up to three hours. It took us almost an hour to get through and that was with Nexus.

 

My overall impression: HAL is now a full-fledged mass market line. If you want a cheap cruise this is the place to be. If you are more experienced and discriminating, there are better options out there. Yes, they're more money, but for some of us it's a better match.

 

We won't be cruising with HAL again. Sorry, but them's the straight goods.

 

We have only sailed once on the Nieuw Amsterdam, and that was several years ago. While the overall experience was satisfactory, we, too, noticed the crowding on the Lido Deck. Compared to the Vista class ships, there are more people chasing too few resources (i.e. serving stations, tables, loungers, etc.). The congestion is partly caused by cabanas that have been placed on the Lido Deck. In short, we prefer the Vista class ships to the Nieuw Amsterdam. I guess we value the more generous space on the Vista class ships.