Lackluster on NIEUW AMSTERDAM

[eroller]

26 minutes ago, DENIE said:

Thanks for the review!  We are back on HAL (Koningsdam) in December.  Our last prior cruise on HAL was on the Oosterdam in 2010, which we really enjoyed.  We've been mostly on Celebrity in recent pre-Covid years, and finally our first Oceania (Riviera) cruise this past June.  We loved it!  But i is a bit different product. Will be interesting to see what this one brings.  It is the Mexican Riviera out of San Diego.

 

I'm a fan of Celebrity and Oceania as well.  I took my honeymoon on Oceania's RIVIERA and absolutely loved it.  The cuisine was out of this world!  The atmosphere is subdued but even they had far more live music than this last HAL cruise and better shows in the lounge. 

 

As I mentioned in my review, I'm certainly not writing off HAL because of one so-so cruise.  In fact there were many good things about it as I pointed out.  Also I think this cruise was a bit of an anomaly since it was supposed to be a full ship charter that fell though.  Perhaps that explains the lack of entertainment options.  I know when I sailed on NIEUW STATENDAM in 2019 I loved the experience, and had none of the complaints from this last cruise.  The food was great and plenty of live music and decent production shows.  So I"m not sure what happened but I'm not sure this was typical HAL?    

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I think for us, HAL is the last call in the mass market.  As long as specialty dining remains cheap, and we can eat in the MDR at least half the time, we'll work with it.  If the mattresses ever get worn out and I can't sleep, we're done. 

 

We did a Celebrity cruise 3 years ago, and the food wasn't great due to ingredient shortages, especially vegetables.  It actually felt great to finally get to Hawaii, where I had access to vegetables in port!  The last night of our cruise, the buffet got frozen mixed veggies, likely in port, hurray!  I realize things have improved, but not without a higher price tag.

 

Oceania is on our radar, and I've got a future cruise certificate with Azamara.  Viking River could be an alternative as well.

 

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by Stateroom_Sailor

[DENIE]

20 hours ago, eroller said:

 

I'm a fan of Celebrity and Oceania as well.  I took my honeymoon on Oceania's RIVIERA and absolutely loved it.  The cuisine was out of this world!  The atmosphere is subdued but even they had far more live music than this last HAL cruise and better shows in the lounge. 

 

As I mentioned in my review, I'm certainly not writing off HAL because of one so-so cruise.  In fact there were many good things about it as I pointed out.  Also I think this cruise was a bit of an anomaly since it was supposed to be a full ship charter that fell though.  Perhaps that explains the lack of entertainment options.  I know when I sailed on NIEUW STATENDAM in 2019 I loved the experience, and had none of the complaints from this last cruise.  The food was great and plenty of live music and decent production shows.  So I"m not sure what happened but I'm not sure this was typical HAL?    

FWIW, I forgot to clarify - we will be on the Koningsdam.  But really appreciated your thoughts, as I know a lot of the features of the ship are the same.  🙂

[richstowe]

Thanks eroller . Great review . We got a scary low price for our cruise in 2 weeks on the Nieuw Amsterdam . Given the price, I'm not surprised by cutbacks . Unlike NCL and RCI, it appears CCL continues to drop their pants to fill their ships .  

Your Flickr pictures are fantastic. I was searching for an image of Lido deck cabanas which we booked . Any info ?

Does anyone know if HAL still offers South-East Asian food ?  Also how do you receive the free Mariner Cocktail ? Is there a coupon in the cabins ?

[coachmouchet]

Our family is a huge fan of Holland America.  We are taking the Nieuw Amsterdam during Thanksgiving break.  I know that some people complain so much about the lack of activities on HAL, however, this is fine with me.  I like a relaxing laid-back cruise.  If I wanted action 24-7, then I book a different cruise line.  As for Celebrity, we had a very bad food experience!  Holland is WAY better than Celebrity when it comes to food. (At least with my experience).

[Cruise Suzy]

19 minutes ago, richstowe said:

Also how do you receive the free Mariner Cocktail ? Is there a coupon in the cabins ?

 

Yes

[REOVA]

Great review and good points. We are 5* and have been on many HAL ships (fav was Prinsendam) and  have done Grand World Cruises, on which HAL supposedly goes all out on. But on 2020 GWC is when we noticed changes (aside from how it ended) for the worse since we could compare apples to apples. (HAL didn't have music at the pool anytime during the past 5 years of the Grand Voyages which has been a complaint of many.) Even before the shutdown, HAL had planned to change the entertainment by changing agency, getting rid of the World Stage house band and singers and doing Cantare and Step One Dance instead. I agree the production for these have been cheapened.  But also if you've seen the shows on one ship, they are the same on another ship next cruise so we have to skip them. And if your cruise is longer than 7 days, there's a good chance it will repeat on that cruise. We did VoV in July on Zaandam and it was treated as 2 - 17 cruises with repeats of entertainment,  although they did have an Ocean bar band. Some nights, as stated, members of the band or piano bar played with dancers but it wasn't "entertaining cruise experience" but itinerary focused, which we knew.   As we know Carnival has been "consolidating" brand operations for years to be more efficient (while losing the details that made HAL what it was). They have no reason to cater to 5 Star when they can be more profitable with larger ships, shorter cruises and new passengers.  They are advertising "longer voyages" more which sell out due to us ole time mariners, but haven't kept the "experience" of old. We cruise for itinerary first and then relaxing on the water. While we enjoyed the music venues on Pinnacle ships, we like the old maritime feel of the smaller ships, not being on a floating hotel. HAL crew have said (although many are new) they enjoy the smaller ships to get to know the passengers and vice-versa. They look and feel rushed and stressed on the larger ships. We don't eat in MDR on the big ships due to size and noise level.  Club Orange is worth it if you are not Neptune suite on Pinnacle ships (not needed so much on older ships) where you can enjoy a personal, quiet and speedy (if needed) meal. Pinnacle Grill now up charges if you want more than 1 appetiser. I got 4 thin (4") stalks of asparagus for a side and the bacon appetizer only hung halfway down. We are going back to Eurodam after 10 years for more comparison but not expecting much other than smooth sailing, walking and relaxing on the promenade deck, bringing our own books to read, and hoping ro see familiar crew. 

[RD64]

If there is one person who’s opinion I respect on these boards it is that of ERoller. I had the opportunity to meet ERoller on the Rotterdam VI commemorative transatlantic in 2011. If I remember correctly he first sailed on the Leonardo da Vinci of the Italian Line back in the 1970s (when he was a child of course). He has more cruising experience than most people , on probably every cruise line that has existed in the last 40+ years. 
 

 

[2Long2NxtCrz]

I appreciate such a balanced review. We've yet to sail on HAL. I booked our first cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam for next August to Alaska. I'm hoping that the entertainment shakes out and there are more options on that cruise. We just got off the Discovery Princess (our first Princess cruise) and the varied live entertainment was lovely. We especially enjoyed Take Five their dedicated jazz venue with a jazz trio every night. I really hope that I booked the right line.

 

We love music and I hope that your HAL experience is more of an anomaly than the rule moving forward.

[eroller]

16 hours ago, richstowe said:

Thanks eroller . Great review . We got a scary low price for our cruise in 2 weeks on the Nieuw Amsterdam . Given the price, I'm not surprised by cutbacks . Unlike NCL and RCI, it appears CCL continues to drop their pants to fill their ships .  

Your Flickr pictures are fantastic. I was searching for an image of Lido deck cabanas which we booked . Any info ?

Does anyone know if HAL still offers South-East Asian food ?  Also how do you receive the free Mariner Cocktail ? Is there a coupon in the cabins ?

 

I’m sorry I don’t have any info on the Cabanas.  The free Mariner cocktail cards were waiting for us when we arrived in the cabin.  Just present at a bar to redeem.  
 

Glad you enjoyed the pics!  

[eroller]

7 hours ago, RD64 said:

If there is one person who’s opinion I respect on these boards it is that of ERoller. I had the opportunity to meet ERoller on the Rotterdam VI commemorative transatlantic in 2011. If I remember correctly he first sailed on the Leonardo da Vinci of the Italian Line back in the 1970s (when he was a child of course). He has more cruising experience than most people , on probably every cruise line that has existed in the last 40+ years. 
 

 

 

Why thank you that is quite an accolade!   

[esimon]

so very well balanced thanks -  wondering if 5 days effects entertainment?    the food was disappointing but yes - budget cuts -   I love your attitude 

[eroller]

On 11/10/2022 at 7:02 AM, esimon said:

so very well balanced thanks -  wondering if 5 days effects entertainment?    the food was disappointing but yes - budget cuts -   I love your attitude 

I’m not sure how much the 5-day short cruise impacts entertainment on HAL?  It certainly doesn’t on other lines, even those that don’t specialize in short cruises.  

I think the bigger impact was the 5-day cruise was originally scheduled to be a full ship charter, and the cruise directly following was a full ship charter (with its own entertainment).  My

guess is that HAL just decided to wing it for this one-off short cruise and not really focus too many resources on it (ie $$).  

[tallyho8]

I've been on about 60 cruises on 6 different cruise lines and 10 of them have been since the pandemic ended with 4 of them on HAL. The pandemic hit all of the cruiselines in the pocketbook and the first thing they cut down on was expenditures on food. Even though the cutdown, I have had good meals on all 10 ships I have sailed on since the pandemic. Out of the last 4 on HAL I enjoyed the Rotterdam and the 2 seven day cruises on the Koningdam the most due to the fact they had the Grand Dutch Cafe. I was still very pleased with my last cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

Entertainment in all has been very good, especially in the Rolling Stone Rock Room, B B Kings and the Lincoln Center Stage.

 

The few short 5 day cruises I have been on always seemed like they had less entertainment and fewer good food choices than the longer cruises, not to mention larger and rowdier crowds than the longer cruises.

[Naismith]

2 hours ago, tallyho8 said:

Entertainment in all has been very good, especially in the Rolling Stone Rock Room, B B Kings and the Lincoln Center Stage.

But to be fair, those may vary depending on how long the ensemble has been performing together.  I was stunned at the quality of the Lincoln Center Stage quintet on my last HAL cruise.  But apparently it was their last cruise together at the end of a 4-month contract.  They admitted that they only get a week or so to rehearse before their first performance, and were better at the end than the beginning of their tour.

[buffet24]

On 11/7/2022 at 1:56 PM, deck chair said:

It's too bad that management of HAL has orchestrated these cutbacks.  Perhaps they should name their latest ship the CUTBACKDAM.  That would be fitting. 

I think DAMCUTBACKS rings better...😁