My Short Review of my Nieuw Amsterdam Thanksgiving Cruise

[SmokinActuary]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am not one to post long reviews so let me cut to the chase"

 

Embarkation: Smooth as silk

 

Condition of the ship and stateroom - Excellent

 

Room Stewards - Efficient but a bit anonymous

 

Lido Dining -

 

Food was inconsistent, some great some poor. Wait was far too long. Biggest complaint was during breakfast, my daughter was told that there were no bagels left. My MIL found out and complained and the manager chastised the attendant to NEVER say that to a passenger when they are readily available in stock. But something similar happened twice again.

 

Also while I recognize the tendency of passengers to take more food than they can eat and a lot goes to waste, the servings being doled out at the Lido bordered on the ridiculously small. You just had to ask for more for everything. :-)

 

MDR:

 

We did not have fixed seat dining but we never had a wait. The service was excellent and timely. An obvious downfall of AYW dining is you do not get to know the staff that well but this did not matter much at all.

 

The Food is the MDR was inconsistent also. The first night I was served a fish dish that was bad. It had a terrible fish reek that everyone at the table commented. It did seem that the fish was past its prime. There was no problem exchanging it for something else.

 

The first formal night was simply stupendous and the chefs did not miss a trick.

 

Otherwise the other items that I had there were fair to average.

 

Tamarind Grill - We went there twice and the food was excellent as well as the service. I highly recommend this venue.

 

Retreat Cabana - We rented the family cabana for the week and was this ever worth it. Our stewards Tyler and Michael were wonderful. We would do this again in a heart beat.

 

Entertainment - not that we saw that much, but we felt what we saw was professional but uninspired. This is not really a big deal for me.

 

Teen Programs - My 13 year old daughter had a great time and she was at the Loft most evenings and the sea days

 

Main Office Personnel - Exemplary

 

One thing I did notice over the last time I was on HAL was that the demographic definitely leaned towards the older. I guess it was due to only a partial week off from school.

 

Another thing as compared to my last HAL cruise was a bit of slippage in the food in both quality and service, but I wouldn't take that as gospel as I try not to put stock in just two samples of a line as it could just be the luck of the draw.

 

Overall I think there are areas that need work but I would recommend this ship to people. I loved the colors and the New York theme and there are still those special moments when you realize how good some of the people who work for HAL really are.

 

And besides as my MIL said after we spoke about some short comings of our trip - "Anyone who can't enjoy themselves with this has something wrong with them"

 

 

P.S. - I REALLY wish HAL ships had a better selection of beer. One or two Pacific Northwest microbrews would be nice :D

[SmokinActuary]

Oh and I didn't notice a particularly festive set up for Thanksgiving. There was a turkey dinner (real turkey, no roll).

[Himself]

Thank You for your review. I once did a Thanksgiving cruise and found the turkey to be excellent. I think I was on the Volendam or the Rotterdam.

[SmokinActuary]

Oh and I forgot to add that disembarkation was a breeze and I wish the pools were open later than 7PM.

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review.

[portofrome]

Thanks for the review.

[VermeulT]

Thanks for your review. I was on the Westerdam the same week and would say DITTO to your thoughts on the food & service. I like your MIL's statement too.... still had a great time.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review.

 

Kirk

[ninkb]

I appreciate the information, and your style. You get to the point, don't linger over the inevitable small disappointments, and leave us with the good thought that those of us fortunate enough to enjoy vacationing on a Holland America ship are FORTUNATE!

 

We are looking forward to enjoying this ship when it again sails the Mediterranean. :) A happy HAL customer.

[cruiseapril]

Enjoyed your short review. Looking forward to experiencing the Tamarind on our next cruise.

[Typhoon1]

Room stewards should be anonymous. Meet them on Day One. See them on the final day.

 

In the interim they provide you with outstanding service.

[Boytjie]

Room stewards should be anonymous. Meet them on Day One. See them on the final day.

 

For the most parts ours have always been visable and available, and I like it that way.

[SmokinActuary]

They were pretty efficient but sometimes a little slow in making up the rooms not that it mattered much.

 

On my previous cruises I had more of a connection with my room stewards. Don't know why that was the case, it just was.

[SmokinActuary]

Oh and I forgot to add that Polar Bear Mom pulled off a wonderful Meet & Greet.

[m steve]

with the stewards names in the cabin. Also there could be a card on the table for fixed dining with the servers names as sometimes it's hard to read the name tags or understand the name.

[jbhcw]

Thanks for your review! Also kudos to Nancy and Rowland for the great meet and greet...it was fun! Wish we could have reversed the days for HMC and done the M&G on Monday...but HMC was a perfect day for us:)

 

Our cabin stewards were Dani and Ivan...and they did a fantastic job...dining room steward was Puta and he was so understaffed the first night or two...I felt sorry for him..first dinner was hours and hours long...but things improved and he did a super job dealing with us switching tables all week.

 

Gede who was the server at the table where most of the kids were did origami for the kids all week...and I know he was rushed...they all were..it seemed like they did everything at a half run at all times!

 

To me the ship was beautiful...loved loved the aft pool as they have modified the steps in the pool to make it a bit easier to get in and out.

 

We enjoyed the Tamarind and would love to eat there again.

 

And last but not least...we did not see a lot of shows..but Hilby - the Skinny German Juggle Boy was hilarious...funny for the adults and the children too. We saw both shows..tried to buy a dvd for the kids but he ran out....so ordered it from Amazon for them for Christmas!!

 

All in all it was a great cruise for us....now I can just dream of my next Hal cruise!!

[gelo7]

Enjoyed your review.

[sail7seas]

Oh and I forgot to add that Polar Bear Mom pulled off a wonderful Meet & Greet.

 

 

DH and I also were on Nieuw Amsterdam's Thanksgiving Cruise and agree with lots OP wrote.

 

We enjoyed Thanksgiving Dinner and think they did a very good job with it. No way that was 'turkey roll'. I like dark meat and DH white and we each got very generous portions of moist, tasty turkey, stuffing (dressing), gravy etc It exceeded our expectations.

 

I also want to really thank Nancy and Rowland. They did a fantastic job on the M & G. I didn't expect to attend yet they welcomed me warmly and I didn't feel uncomfortable attending without having signed up in advance.

 

We enjoyed our cruise but agree there is some room for improvement.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your report.

[GeriatricNurse]

Thank you for taking the time to write your report.

 

KK, where have you been? :)

[Typhoon1]

For the most parts ours have always been visable and available, and I like it that way.

 

Most are that way. However, once I inform them of our needs on Day One, we might run into them in the hall or delivering laundry.

 

They do an outstanding job of tending to our needs once informed. If I ever need something, just pick up the phone.