How is Nieuw Amsterdam with kids in tow?

My family is debating on doing a Thanksgiving cruise on the Niew Amster. We will have children in tow ages 8, 11 and 13. We wil have 3 seperate families going together and only 2 of those kids willbe in our room. Was wondering if anyone has been on this boat before with kids and had any input? I know Holland is not geared as much towards the kids as some of the other lines. My wife and I have both been on the westerdam and the Zuiderdam before , however that was 10 years ago and without kids. ...

Also does anyone have any pictures or info on the balcony room setup for the quad? Cant seem to find any for this ship online.

Thanks in advance for any info

Nieuw Amsterdam is a beautiful ship and will be perfect for you younger family members. Many younger passengers during the holidays. You should have no worries. You can look for various cabin photos by ship and by cabin number on "HalFacts" and hope they show a quad. Her sister ship the Eurodam will have similar cabins, if you can't find exactly what you are looking for on the NA herself.

BTW for future reference in the land of ship lore- we sail do on "ships"; not boats. Makes a captain's skin crawl when they hear their massive seagoing vessels carrying several thousand passengers called boats. One explained it this way - if the ship goes down, you take a boat, and if the boat goes down you swim.

My children did their first HAL cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam when they were 7 and 9, then had another one on the Eurodam when 10 and 12. We had a verandah and basically a queen sized bed sleep 2, a Pullman bed above it sleep 1, and a sofabed that sleep 1. Prior to those cruises they had done Royal Caribbean and Disney. Solely from the variety of onboard activities perspective, yes there is less thing to do for kids when comparing to the other more family- oriented lines, but my children still had a great time and enjoyed it. We enjoyed the value we get from a HAL cruise to the Caribbean (3rd /4th passenger pay zero cruisefare even for Christmas / New Year sailing), and the feeling of a more sophisticated product compared to other Royal Caribbean.

We've sailed several times with our two kids in quad cabins and we find they are perfectly comfortable for our family. In the past, we've had balcony cabins, and thankfully, the quads we choose are in the aft of HAL ships and have a little deeper balcony than others, which is great when more than 2 are out there. The bed above the large bed was no trouble to us and we were able to pull it down/push it up out of the way when needed. We have only sailed on Celebrity and HAL and one Carnival when they were small, so I can't compare with the big ships with tons of kids activities. However, my kids just prefer to hang with us and do things together - which I am very happy to do. The kids club seemed fine, though my kids never really participated.

Thanks for the info thus far. Looking at a price of about 2600 with the current sale. That includes the free grats and 50 obc. A litttle more than I usually like to pay for the four of us. In the past I have been lucky enough to find the deals were 3rd and 4th passengers were free. This Cruise that doesn't apply though. I believe the third and fourth person rates were about 300 each. Still not a bad price though. Just got back from a Spring break MSC cruise with the kids which we ended up paying 2400 for, and that was with Kids Sail Free. Like I said, for a Thanksgiving cruise I guess 2600 really isn't that bad.

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To answer your title question: How is the Nieuw Amsterdam with kids in tow?

It doesn't slow the ship down at all. Usually goes about 18 knots, with or without kids in tow.

Ha ha.....you got my pun.

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Ha ha.....you got my pun.

 

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Now explain why you call her a boat? :rolleyes: