Nieuw Amsterdam Med 8/31 - 9/12 Long Review

[jandlwilson]

We are a couple in our early fifties and have cruised with most of the major lines over the years. We traveled with friends of the same age who are first time cruisers, our 24 year old daughter and her 78 year old grandmother. We booked two staterooms that were the lowest level balcony guarantee and one inside guarantee and received aft balcony cabins 6177 and 6179 with adjoining balconies and an inside cabin directly across the hall. We were very pleased with our assignment and the fact that they were able to keep us together. This was our first time on Holland. Our most recent cruise had been on Celebrity Solstice and we found HAL to be similar in many ways to Celebrity.

The staterooms were spacious with plenty of storage. The beds were comfortable and we especially enjoyed being able to open the balcony partition between our two cabins for even more space. Our cabin stewards were very friendly and kept our room tidy. We had one small issue with the air conditioning not keeping the room as cool as we like and after a couple of days they were able to make an adjustment and the temp was comfortable for the remainder of the cruise. Since the ship is new I am sure they are still working out some of the small issues. I pre-ordered two bottles of liquor, a wine card, coffee card and specialty dining reservations and all were in our room when we arrived. The only issue was that the wine card that I ordered was for 20 glasses and the card was for 10. One visit to the front desk and this was taken care of. It does seem that they are phasing out the cards as they had some trouble locating a 20 glass card but we found them to be a good value for wine by the glass.

We were assigned anytime dining which worked well for us as we were in port until late afternoon most days. This was our first time without scheduled dining and we were very pleased. We usually arrived in the dining room around 7:00 p.m. and never encountered any wait. We especially enjoyed the fact that the Lido had many of the same entrees as the main dining room and when we did not feel like dressing for the dining room we still felt like we had an excellent dinner. The food in all venues was among the best we have experienced on any ship. We dined in Tamarind for our daughter’s 24th birthday and thought the meal was wonderful. If the cruise had not been so port intensive we would have definitely visited this restaurant again. The seafood lunch buffet in the Lido on the last sea day was especially good.

The entertainment on board was enjoyable. We did not attend a show every night but the musicals were entertaining as was the magician. We spent some time in the piano bar and enjoyed having drinks in the evening in the various lounges but usually were in our cabin by 11:00 each night.

We are all non-smokers but had no issues with the smoking policy on the ship. We never noticed any scent of smoke with the exception of a very small section of the aft pool dining area or the casino. We did not book any of our shore excursions with HAL. I am sure they were excellent but we prefer small group sightseeing. I used my research on this site and booked private excursions for our group of 6 at all ports and we were very pleased with all.

I can only think of one thing that I was not pleased with and that was the internet service. I purchased the smallest package which was $50 +. I had a notebook and attempted to connect and spent about 20 minutes logging into one site. My patience wore thin and I never attempted again. I managed to get by without and wished I had not wasted the money.

Ports:

We spent one night pre-cruise in Venice at Hotel Olimpia. It was very easy and inexpensive to take the airport bus to Piazza Roma, $3 euro. Our hotel was just a few steps away but over one small bridge. We dropped our luggage, picked up our Vaporetta passes that we had pre-purchased and started our sightseeing immediately. The public transportation in Venice is very easy to navigate and you can go to many of the outlying islands with your Vaporetta pass. We boarded the ship the next day but decided to spend the entire day in the St. Mark’s area since the ship was in port for the night. We did not come back to the hotel to pick up our luggage until around 4:00 p.m. We took the People Mover and at the late hour there was no line for check in and in fact they took our luggage and it made it to the room as soon as we arrived. We freshened up, had dinner at the Lido pool deck party and went back into Venice for an evening gondola ride. We chose the Rialto area but asked the gondolier to take us off the Grand Canal into the smaller back canals. The People Mover runs until 11:00 p.m. so we used this on our trips to and from the ship. We were not leaving Venice until 1:00 p.m. on our final day so we spent the morning at the Church of the Frari and wandering around the canals for one last time. We stopped at the Coop in Piazza Roma to pick up wine, cokes, tonic etc. and boarded the ship for sail away. It was the most memorable sail away I have ever experienced with tour guide Tom narrating our departure.

Dubrovnik was the next port and one of our favorites. We left the ship, grabbed taxi’s for $10e and were in town in a few minutes. We wanted to start our walk on the wall early and were glad we did as it became more crowded as the day went on. The views were remarkable, the sea was sparkling and the sky was bright blue. We finished around 1:00 p.m. and had a great lunch in a lovely outdoor café on a small back street in town. After some shopping and wandering the town we decided to take the cable car to the top of the mountain. Note that it does not run continuously, only once every half hour so plan accordingly. We really enjoyed the views. Quick cab ride back to the ship.

After wonderful weather up to this point we were not as lucky in Corfu. We had pre-arranged for a rental car with Corfu Sunrise and they met us at the port. I had mapped out a route for our day but the highlight was to be a beach visit at Paleokastritsa. It did not rain but it was not a good beach day so after a nice drive we had lunch at a restaurant on the hill above the beach and then decided to take a drive to the monastery. The road trip was quite an experience as it narrows to one lane in a few areas and the traffic is very heavy. The scenery was great but it was very slow when we started the drive down.

We did not have any plans in Argostoli and again the weather was not great so we just walked into town and rented a car and started our drive to Assos. We had to turn around just before getting there due to the low cloud cover making visibility very low.

We had a pleasant surprise in Santorini as we were scheduled to arrive at 11:00 but docked just after 10:00 a.m. It is very important to pick up your tender tickets as soon as the announcement is made as the line can get long. We were on tender #6 and were in line for the cable car in a few minutes. The line was long but it moved quickly. After a quick walk around town we started to look for the bus station to Oia. We met a private mini bus who asked if we needed transportation to Oia. He drove us for $5euro each and we were the only passengers. We arranged for a pick up at 3:00 p.m. and he was there promptly. We walked around Oia, took many photos and had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the sea.

We enjoyed the ship on our one full sea day with our next stop in Sicily. This port was a pleasant surprise. We had a full day van tour booked in advance with Mario Astone. He was an excellent guide taking us Forza d’agro where the Godfather movie was filmed, to Castlemola and the final stop in Taormina. He had special bakery treats for us as well as cold drinks available. We spent time shopping and touring the Roman theatre ruins in Taormina. Mario recommended a great restaurant where the locals eat and we enjoyed an excellent lunch of pizza and wine. Mario made our day memorable and I would not hesitate to give him a recommendation. He will reply promptly to your emails and his address is marioastone@tiscali.it.

Our next port was Naples where we had a day tour booked with AP Tours. Vittorio was our driver and again we were very pleased. We started our day in Pompeii and AP Tours arranged for our guide. I can’t imagine touring this site without a guide. Our guide was so knowledgeable and fortunately the skies were overcast so we were not overcome with the heat. After Pompeii we started our drive along the Amalfi coast. The weather was not perfect as it was very cloudy but there was no rain. I am sure this area is even more impressive on a clear day. Vittorio made several stops at scenic areas and we spent some time shopping in Positano. We had a late lunch reservation high above Positana at La Tagliata and lunch was plentiful and tasty and the views from our table overlooking the city were breathtaking. Our plan was to take the ferry from Sorrento back to the ship. Vittorio checked several times on the ferry schedule during the day as the seas were choppy and he suggested that he drive us back to Naples. This was out the way for him as he lives in Sorrento and could have easily dropped us off and not had to drive another 45 minutes to Naples and back home. We enjoyed our drive back to the ship discussing the U S as Vittorio is visiting in December for the first time. I hope his experience in the U S is as wonderful as ours was in his hometown.

Rome was next on the agenda and again our guide was at the port when we walked off the gangway. We used Rome In Limo and our guide was Mauricio. He gave us so much history and info on the sites we would be seeing and made sure that he knew exactly what we wanted to do for the day. I can’t even begin to list all of the sites we visited for quick photos and a short history lesson but Mauricio kept us on schedule to see as much as possible in our one day in this great city. I can’t think of any major site that we were not able to at least take a quick look but of course we would love to come back and spend more time. He recommended a great restaurant and told the owner we needed to be served as quickly as possible so we could continue our tour. We had a 2:00 p.m. reservation to tour the Vatican with a private guide that Rome in Limo arranged. Katherine was our guide and her knowledge and insight provided us with an overwhelming amount of detail in the time we had. Her English was perfect and in fact several times our group of 6 had quite a few others listening to her presentation.

Next port was Livorno and a busy day in Florence. Again we booked our tour with Rome in Limo and our driver was Clara. We could not imagine that our luck would continue with such perfect guides but again Clara was great. We headed out from Livorno to Florence but we told Clara we wanted to drive thru Tuscany. We had a beautiful drive and made a stop at a local store where we were the only customers. We sampled olive oil and wine and purchased some great gifts to bring home at very good prices. The owner ran out to the van after we left to give us all a small cookbook of local recipes. Florence was very busy but Clara navigated the streets with ease and dropped us off at several stops, again giving us all the history and info about the buildings and artwork. We told her we wanted a quick lunch stop to save more time for sightseeing and she took us to a local “stand and snack” sandwich shop where we had three sandwiches on great Tuscan bread and three glasses of wine for $12 e. She told us where to get the best and some of the lowest priced gelato and even the “secret” spots to use the restroom facilities! Our day came to a close with our visit to the Accademia to see the David. The line was long but Clara had made our reservations in advance and was able to walk us straight in where we purchased our tickets and were in the museum within a couple of minutes. On the drive home Clara offered her I Pad to our daughter who really enjoyed the drive home catching up with her friends on facebook.

We had a final day at sea and arrived in Barcelona at 6:00 p.m. We had pre-arranged through Barcelona Day Tours to have an evening tour of the city and a full day tour the next day. The driver was the only one who was not at the pier when we arrived. A quick text to the company and we were messaged back that he was in traffic and he arrived within minutes. He took us to an overlook of the city, Las Ramblas for a stroll and as evening approached we were able to see the Gaudi buildings and cathedral under the lights. We ended our evening at the fountain show which was very impressive. The driver dropped us off at the ship and told us he was not scheduled to be our driver the next day. We disembarked at 9:00 a.m. with our luggage and when we left the terminal, again no driver. A quick text and found out the driver was on his way and it turned out to be the same driver. He arrived within a few minutes, loaded our luggage in the van and we were off. Our plan was to see the countryside and Montserrat. We headed out of the city and stopped at a Cava winery, Freixenet. We really enjoyed this tour. We were the first tour of the morning and ended up with a private tour for the 6 in our party. We then headed to Montserrat. It was Sunday and a beautiful summer day so it was very crowded on the road to the monastery. We stopped in traffic about a mile from the top and did not move for some time. Our driver suggested that we could walk to the entrance and he would meet us when he was able to get in the gates. Evidently due to the limited parking they control the number of cars that are allowed in at one time. Some of our group walked and others stayed in the van. We spent an hour or so walking around and by that time our driver had arrived and we were ready to head back to the city to finish with some sightseeing. The driver took us to Parc Guell and made sure we saw more of the city including some of the nicer residential areas. He dropped us off at our hotel at the end of the day.

We chose the Radisson located near the airport as we had a very early flight out the next day. The hotel was clean and modern with what appeared to be mostly cruisers staying there. There are no area restaurants and the hotel restaurant facilities were not adequate for the number of people with no other options for dinner but we managed.

This trip was fantastic from start to finish. We loved the Nieuw Amsterdam and the crew and staff were among the best we have experienced. I apologize if this is too long but I could not have planned this trip without the reviews of others so I wanted to pass along any info I can.

[ariawoman]

Thanks for the review! I'm on a very similar itinerary on the NA on 10/6 so I found it informative :-)

 

Glad you had a great cruise and after reading your review I'm even moreso looking forward to mine!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

 

Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

[onthegogirl]

Sounds like a wonderful cruise. Thanks for taking the time to post.

[DFD1]

Excellent review. Beautifully written and fun to read. Thanks.

[GeriatricNurse]

We are a couple in our early fifties and have cruised with most of the major lines over the years. We traveled with friends of the same age who are first time cruisers, our 24 year old daughter and her 78 year old grandmother. We booked two staterooms that were the lowest level balcony guarantee and one inside guarantee and received aft balcony cabins 6177 and 6179 with adjoining balconies and an inside cabin directly across the hall. We were very pleased with our assignment and the fact that they were able to keep us together. This was our first time on Holland. Our most recent cruise had been on Celebrity Solstice and we found HAL to be similar in many ways to Celebrity.

 

The staterooms were spacious with plenty of storage. The beds were comfortable and we especially enjoyed being able to open the balcony partition between our two cabins for even more space. Our cabin stewards were very friendly and kept our room tidy. We had one small issue with the air conditioning not keeping the room as cool as we like and after a couple of days they were able to make an adjustment and the temp was comfortable for the remainder of the cruise. Since the ship is new I am sure they are still working out some of the small issues. I pre-ordered two bottles of liquor, a wine card, coffee card and specialty dining reservations and all were in our room when we arrived. The only issue was that the wine card that I ordered was for 20 glasses and the card was for 10. One visit to the front desk and this was taken care of. It does seem that they are phasing out the cards as they had some trouble locating a 20 glass card but we found them to be a good value for wine by the glass.

 

We were assigned anytime dining which worked well for us as we were in port until late afternoon most days. This was our first time without scheduled dining and we were very pleased. We usually arrived in the dining room around 7:00 p.m. and never encountered any wait. We especially enjoyed the fact that the Lido had many of the same entrees as the main dining room and when we did not feel like dressing for the dining room we still felt like we had an excellent dinner. The food in all venues was among the best we have experienced on any ship. We dined in Tamarind for our daughter’s 24th birthday and thought the meal was wonderful. If the cruise had not been so port intensive we would have definitely visited this restaurant again. The seafood lunch buffet in the Lido on the last sea day was especially good.

 

The entertainment on board was enjoyable. We did not attend a show every night but the musicals were entertaining as was the magician. We spent some time in the piano bar and enjoyed having drinks in the evening in the various lounges but usually were in our cabin by 11:00 each night.

 

We are all non-smokers but had no issues with the smoking policy on the ship. We never noticed any scent of smoke with the exception of a very small section of the aft pool dining area or the casino. We did not book any of our shore excursions with HAL. I am sure they were excellent but we prefer small group sightseeing. I used my research on this site and booked private excursions for our group of 6 at all ports and we were very pleased with all.

 

I can only think of one thing that I was not pleased with and that was the internet service. I purchased the smallest package which was $50 +. I had a notebook and attempted to connect and spent about 20 minutes logging into one site. My patience wore thin and I never attempted again. I managed to get by without and wished I had not wasted the money.

 

Ports:

We spent one night pre-cruise in Venice at Hotel Olimpia. It was very easy and inexpensive to take the airport bus to Piazza Roma, $3 euro. Our hotel was just a few steps away but over one small bridge. We dropped our luggage, picked up our Vaporetta passes that we had pre-purchased and started our sightseeing immediately. The public transportation in Venice is very easy to navigate and you can go to many of the outlying islands with your Vaporetta pass. We boarded the ship the next day but decided to spend the entire day in the St. Mark’s area since the ship was in port for the night. We did not come back to the hotel to pick up our luggage until around 4:00 p.m. We took the People Mover and at the late hour there was no line for check in and in fact they took our luggage and it made it to the room as soon as we arrived. We freshened up, had dinner at the Lido pool deck party and went back into Venice for an evening gondola ride. We chose the Rialto area but asked the gondolier to take us off the Grand Canal into the smaller back canals. The People Mover runs until 11:00 p.m. so we used this on our trips to and from the ship. We were not leaving Venice until 1:00 p.m. on our final day so we spent the morning at the Church of the Frari and wandering around the canals for one last time. We stopped at the Coop in Piazza Roma to pick up wine, cokes, tonic etc. and boarded the ship for sail away. It was the most memorable sail away I have ever experienced with tour guide Tom narrating our departure.

 

Dubrovnik was the next port and one of our favorites. We left the ship, grabbed taxi’s for $10e and were in town in a few minutes. We wanted to start our walk on the wall early and were glad we did as it became more crowded as the day went on. The views were remarkable, the sea was sparkling and the sky was bright blue. We finished around 1:00 p.m. and had a great lunch in a lovely outdoor café on a small back street in town. After some shopping and wandering the town we decided to take the cable car to the top of the mountain. Note that it does not run continuously, only once every half hour so plan accordingly. We really enjoyed the views. Quick cab ride back to the ship.

 

After wonderful weather up to this point we were not as lucky in Corfu. We had pre-arranged for a rental car with Corfu Sunrise and they met us at the port. I had mapped out a route for our day but the highlight was to be a beach visit at Paleokastritsa. It did not rain but it was not a good beach day so after a nice drive we had lunch at a restaurant on the hill above the beach and then decided to take a drive to the monastery. The road trip was quite an experience as it narrows to one lane in a few areas and the traffic is very heavy. The scenery was great but it was very slow when we started the drive down.

 

We did not have any plans in Argostoli and again the weather was not great so we just walked into town and rented a car and started our drive to Assos. We had to turn around just before getting there due to the low cloud cover making visibility very low.

 

We had a pleasant surprise in Santorini as we were scheduled to arrive at 11:00 but docked just after 10:00 a.m. It is very important to pick up your tender tickets as soon as the announcement is made as the line can get long. We were on tender #6 and were in line for the cable car in a few minutes. The line was long but it moved quickly. After a quick walk around town we started to look for the bus station to Oia. We met a private mini bus who asked if we needed transportation to Oia. He drove us for $5euro each and we were the only passengers. We arranged for a pick up at 3:00 p.m. and he was there promptly. We walked around Oia, took many photos and had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the sea.

 

We enjoyed the ship on our one full sea day with our next stop in Sicily. This port was a pleasant surprise. We had a full day van tour booked in advance with Mario Astone. He was an excellent guide taking us Forza d’agro where the Godfather movie was filmed, to Castlemola and the final stop in Taormina. He had special bakery treats for us as well as cold drinks available. We spent time shopping and touring the Roman theatre ruins in Taormina. Mario recommended a great restaurant where the locals eat and we enjoyed an excellent lunch of pizza and wine. Mario made our day memorable and I would not hesitate to give him a recommendation. He will reply promptly to your emails and his address is marioastone@tiscali.it.

 

Our next port was Naples where we had a day tour booked with AP Tours. Vittorio was our driver and again we were very pleased. We started our day in Pompeii and AP Tours arranged for our guide. I can’t imagine touring this site without a guide. Our guide was so knowledgeable and fortunately the skies were overcast so we were not overcome with the heat. After Pompeii we started our drive along the Amalfi coast. The weather was not perfect as it was very cloudy but there was no rain. I am sure this area is even more impressive on a clear day. Vittorio made several stops at scenic areas and we spent some time shopping in Positano. We had a late lunch reservation high above Positana at La Tagliata and lunch was plentiful and tasty and the views from our table overlooking the city were breathtaking. Our plan was to take the ferry from Sorrento back to the ship. Vittorio checked several times on the ferry schedule during the day as the seas were choppy and he suggested that he drive us back to Naples. This was out the way for him as he lives in Sorrento and could have easily dropped us off and not had to drive another 45 minutes to Naples and back home. We enjoyed our drive back to the ship discussing the U S as Vittorio is visiting in December for the first time. I hope his experience in the U S is as wonderful as ours was in his hometown.

 

Rome was next on the agenda and again our guide was at the port when we walked off the gangway. We used Rome In Limo and our guide was Mauricio. He gave us so much history and info on the sites we would be seeing and made sure that he knew exactly what we wanted to do for the day. I can’t even begin to list all of the sites we visited for quick photos and a short history lesson but Mauricio kept us on schedule to see as much as possible in our one day in this great city. I can’t think of any major site that we were not able to at least take a quick look but of course we would love to come back and spend more time. He recommended a great restaurant and told the owner we needed to be served as quickly as possible so we could continue our tour. We had a 2:00 p.m. reservation to tour the Vatican with a private guide that Rome in Limo arranged. Katherine was our guide and her knowledge and insight provided us with an overwhelming amount of detail in the time we had. Her English was perfect and in fact several times our group of 6 had quite a few others listening to her presentation.

 

Next port was Livorno and a busy day in Florence. Again we booked our tour with Rome in Limo and our driver was Clara. We could not imagine that our luck would continue with such perfect guides but again Clara was great. We headed out from Livorno to Florence but we told Clara we wanted to drive thru Tuscany. We had a beautiful drive and made a stop at a local store where we were the only customers. We sampled olive oil and wine and purchased some great gifts to bring home at very good prices. The owner ran out to the van after we left to give us all a small cookbook of local recipes. Florence was very busy but Clara navigated the streets with ease and dropped us off at several stops, again giving us all the history and info about the buildings and artwork. We told her we wanted a quick lunch stop to save more time for sightseeing and she took us to a local “stand and snack” sandwich shop where we had three sandwiches on great Tuscan bread and three glasses of wine for $12 e. She told us where to get the best and some of the lowest priced gelato and even the “secret” spots to use the restroom facilities! Our day came to a close with our visit to the Accademia to see the David. The line was long but Clara had made our reservations in advance and was able to walk us straight in where we purchased our tickets and were in the museum within a couple of minutes. On the drive home Clara offered her I Pad to our daughter who really enjoyed the drive home catching up with her friends on facebook.

 

We had a final day at sea and arrived in Barcelona at 6:00 p.m. We had pre-arranged through Barcelona Day Tours to have an evening tour of the city and a full day tour the next day. The driver was the only one who was not at the pier when we arrived. A quick text to the company and we were messaged back that he was in traffic and he arrived within minutes. He took us to an overlook of the city, Las Ramblas for a stroll and as evening approached we were able to see the Gaudi buildings and cathedral under the lights. We ended our evening at the fountain show which was very impressive. The driver dropped us off at the ship and told us he was not scheduled to be our driver the next day. We disembarked at 9:00 a.m. with our luggage and when we left the terminal, again no driver. A quick text and found out the driver was on his way and it turned out to be the same driver. He arrived within a few minutes, loaded our luggage in the van and we were off. Our plan was to see the countryside and Montserrat. We headed out of the city and stopped at a Cava winery, Freixenet. We really enjoyed this tour. We were the first tour of the morning and ended up with a private tour for the 6 in our party. We then headed to Montserrat. It was Sunday and a beautiful summer day so it was very crowded on the road to the monastery. We stopped in traffic about a mile from the top and did not move for some time. Our driver suggested that we could walk to the entrance and he would meet us when he was able to get in the gates. Evidently due to the limited parking they control the number of cars that are allowed in at one time. Some of our group walked and others stayed in the van. We spent an hour or so walking around and by that time our driver had arrived and we were ready to head back to the city to finish with some sightseeing. The driver took us to Parc Guell and made sure we saw more of the city including some of the nicer residential areas. He dropped us off at our hotel at the end of the day.

 

We chose the Radisson located near the airport as we had a very early flight out the next day. The hotel was clean and modern with what appeared to be mostly cruisers staying there. There are no area restaurants and the hotel restaurant facilities were not adequate for the number of people with no other options for dinner but we managed.

 

This trip was fantastic from start to finish. We loved the Nieuw Amsterdam and the crew and staff were among the best we have experienced. I apologize if this is too long but I could not have planned this trip without the reviews of others so I wanted to pass along any info I can.

 

 

What is the 'People Mover"?:confused:

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[jandlwilson]

The People Mover is new monorail that runs between Piazza Roma and the port. It is very nice, easy to use and a convenient way to go from the port to the area where you can hop on the public water taxi. The cost is $1 e each way and tickets are purchased just as you enter the station.

[ksc1984]

This cruise is on our "shorter" bucket list . Thank you for your wonderful review.

[sail7seas]

What a fabulous review. I so enjoyed reading it and really thank you for posting such an inclusive review of those wonderful ports.

 

Nieuw Amsterdam and her crew sound great.

Welcome Back.

[Sherry H]

Thanks for your review.

We are going to be in the Mediterranean on the Nieuw Amsterdam next April.

[jjb415]

Your itinerary sounds fantastic. Thanks for posting. :)

[CruisingWalter]

Thanks for the great review. Wife and I will be on the same cruise next September. VERY helpful information!