Post Nieuw Amsterdam Review

[Grumpella]

This was our 13th cruise (6 with NCL, 5 with Carnival and 1 with Celebrity).

 

We just got off the Nieuw Amsterdam on Sunday, November 20th.  This was our first time on Holland America and we had a wonderful time.

 

Food:

The food was better than we experienced on NCL and Carnival, on par with Celebrity's food.  We ordered food from the Navigator App for Dive In and the New York Pizza.  The app lets you know when your order is ready.  The hamburgers and fries were great, the hot dog was way undercooked.  The pizza was very good.  We were not able to order room service from the app or the tv, we had to call for this.  We tried room service twice (no fees, unlike on NCL and Carnival) and the service and food was good.  We ate at the Pinnacle Grill on the last night and the meal was excellent, the waiter brought me 2 desserts as I liked 2 of the options very much.

We ate all dinners in the dining room except for the last night and had breakfast in the dining room when we had sea days.  The Lido buffet was very good and laid out well with the different stations.

 

Cabin:

The beds were great in the cabin, very comfortable.  I didn't think that the ac worked that well, but we did not complain.  We kept it at the highest setting the whole time and were never cold.  There were 3 large closets for storage, however, Holland America used alot of the space for towels, blankets, life jackets, etc..  I did rearrange their stuff to maximize our space.  There were plenty of hangers, not the annoying ones that are anti-theft hangers, which makes hanging clothes difficult.  The room stewards were very good.

 

TV:  The tv had more channels than I had on NCL and free on demand movies.  

 

Tender:  We had a tender for the private island.  NCL lets you order a tender ticket the night before on their app or the tv.  On Holland America, we had to go to the Blues Club at 8 am for tender tickets.  We arrived at 7:45 and received no. 7.  They then called numbers 1 to 10 at the same time so it was very congested leaving the room, going down the stairs and getting on the tender.  They were very large tenders, not the usual life boats.  It took 25 minutes to fill one.  We did not make it to the private island until 8:45, and we were on the 1st or 2nd tender, hard to know for sure.  The Rotterdam was also there that day so it was very crowded. The drink prices are outrageous.  $7.50 for a can of budweiser, then after their taxes, it was $ 10.25.  We are not fans of their tender policies.

 

Entertainment:  We did not do any entertainment on the ship.  We prefer to read books on the balcony.  

 

Islands:  We did not do any shore excursions, we took a taxi to Bajari Beach in Grand Turk, a taxi to Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas and just walked around San Juan as our stop was 1 pm to 10 pm.  There is a Walgreen's just off the ship in San Juan if you need any toiletries.  My husband forgot razors.

 

Wifi:  I ordered the social media package for $ 69.99.  It was very slow at times.  I also could not order until I was on the ship.

 

Extras:  I liked the way the officers were lined up outside the ship when we came into the ports to wish us a nice day, I thought that was very classy.  I also liked the cold hand towels and lemonade when we returned to the ship.

 

Debarkation:  We arrived into port 1/2 late (at 7:30) and were cleared to leave at 8:00.  We were outside by 8:30 with walking off with our bags.

 

We would definitely do Holland America again.

 

 

[MISTER 67]

4 minutes ago, Grumpella said:

This was our 13th cruise (6 with NCL, 5 with Carnival and 1 with Celebrity).

 

We just got off the Nieuw Amsterdam on Sunday, November 20th.  This was our first time on Holland America and we had a wonderful time.

 

Food:

The food was better than we experienced on NCL and Carnival, on par with Celebrity's food.  We ordered food from the Navigator App for Dive In and the New York Pizza.  The app lets you know when your order is ready.  The hamburgers and fries were great, the hot dog was way undercooked.  The pizza was very good.  We were not able to order room service from the app or the tv, we had to call for this.  We tried room service twice (no fees, unlike on NCL and Carnival) and the service and food was good.  We ate at the Pinnacle Grill on the last night and the meal was excellent, the waiter brought me 2 desserts as I liked 2 of the options very much.

We ate all dinners in the dining room except for the last night and had breakfast in the dining room when we had sea days.  The Lido buffet was very good and laid out well with the different stations.

 

Cabin:

The beds were great in the cabin, very comfortable.  I didn't think that the ac worked that well, but we did not complain.  We kept it at the highest setting the whole time and were never cold.  There were 3 large closets for storage, however, Holland America used alot of the space for towels, blankets, life jackets, etc..  I did rearrange their stuff to maximize our space.  There were plenty of hangers, not the annoying ones that are anti-theft hangers, which makes hanging clothes difficult.  The room stewards were very good.

 

TV:  The tv had more channels than I had on NCL and free on demand movies.  

 

Tender:  We had a tender for the private island.  NCL lets you order a tender ticket the night before on their app or the tv.  On Holland America, we had to go to the Blues Club at 8 am for tender tickets.  We arrived at 7:45 and received no. 7.  They then called numbers 1 to 10 at the same time so it was very congested leaving the room, going down the stairs and getting on the tender.  They were very large tenders, not the usual life boats.  It took 25 minutes to fill one.  We did not make it to the private island until 8:45, and we were on the 1st or 2nd tender, hard to know for sure.  The Rotterdam was also there that day so it was very crowded. The drink prices are outrageous.  $7.50 for a can of budweiser, then after their taxes, it was $ 10.25.  We are not fans of their tender policies.

 

Entertainment:  We did not do any entertainment on the ship.  We prefer to read books on the balcony.  

 

Islands:  We did not do any shore excursions, we took a taxi to Bajari Beach in Grand Turk, a taxi to Sapphire Beach in St. Thomas and just walked around San Juan as our stop was 1 pm to 10 pm.  There is a Walgreen's just off the ship in San Juan if you need any toiletries.  My husband forgot razors.

 

Wifi:  I ordered the social media package for $ 69.99.  It was very slow at times.  I also could not order until I was on the ship.

 

Extras:  I liked the way the officers were lined up outside the ship when we came into the ports to wish us a nice day, I thought that was very classy.  I also liked the cold hand towels and lemonade when we returned to the ship.

 

Debarkation:  We arrived into port 1/2 late (at 7:30) and were cleared to leave at 8:00.  We were outside by 8:30 with walking off with our bags.

 

We would definitely do Holland America again.

 

 

Thanks for the review, makes me feel a lot better as we sail on the NA on Dec. 4th, some reviews have been pretty negative. 

[igar39]

This review of Nieuw Amsterdam is refreshing. We sail on the NA Dec.11.  We  are feeling better now.

 

[Wakepatrol]

I don’t understand “Tender Policies” if they used the small ships tenders who knows when you would have made it to the island

[REOVA]

2 hours ago, MISTER 67 said:

Thanks for the review, makes me feel a lot better as we sail on the NA on Dec. 4th, some reviews have been pretty negative. 

NA is a good ship that still gives you the feel of sailing on an ocean liner with a nice prominade deck to walk or sit and read (or visit with new friends), has some more dining and music venues than the "older" ships but doesn't give your the max dining, music and large hoopla of the newer Pinnacle class ships. If your interest is sailing, relaxing and meeting new friends and crew, it's a good ship. Everyone's review is going to be different as many have sailed HAL for decades and want the old back, many like the new, many can make the best of anything and many can't appreciate anything. But sail with no expectations and you'll be pleasantly surprised. 

[MISTER 67]

39 minutes ago, REOVA said:

NA is a good ship that still gives you the feel of sailing on an ocean liner with a nice prominade deck to walk or sit and read (or visit with new friends), has some more dining and music venues than the "older" ships but doesn't give your the max dining, music and large hoopla of the newer Pinnacle class ships. If your interest is sailing, relaxing and meeting new friends and crew, it's a good ship. Everyone's review is going to be different as many have sailed HAL for decades and want the old back, many like the new, many can make the best of anything and many can't appreciate anything. But sail with no expectations and you'll be pleasantly surprised. 

We sailed on the NA right before the Pandemic and sailed 5 times on her sister the Eurodam so we are very familiar with those ships which are our favorites.