The Snootiest Ship in the DAM fleet!!

[IRL_Joanie]

This is my review of the Nieuw Amsterdam cruise November 25 through 2 December 2012.

 

It is subjective as all reviews are, as we aare all different and like/dislike many many things. So with that said;

 

Pre-Cruise:

We arrived in Ft Lauderdale on Thanksgiving Day, 22 November 2012, 3 days before our cruise date of 25 November because we decided (1) The flights on South West Airlines were cheap. (2) We wanted to start our cruise mode early. *As an aside, we rented a car for usage during our extra days in Ft Lauderdale.*

 

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Lester's (I'd called them months ago to make sure they would be open. The food is absolutely some of the best I have ever eaten!!

 

Embarkation:

 

Embarkation was so smooth and impressed me more this time than any other. We were at the Port by 10:30 and on board the ship in what seemed like 10 minutes, but I know it cannot have been because they don't open the ship until 11:30, right? And I had to pick up my Scooter at the Special Needs at Sea Kiosk in front of the Terminal......

 

Budi our Room Steward met me as I started to enter my cabin and took care of me the entire cruise!! His work taking care of me was awesome and I loved his attention!!!! About 1/2 way into the cruise Budi told me he liked doing things for me as he missed his mother and family and helping me made it easier on him, which made me feel like some one special. I must add here that I went on this cruise against my doctors advice. I have a multitude of health problems that have cropped up on me since May 2012, to include a Compression fracture of the T7 vertebrae (Thoracic spine), which translates to a broken back, Buerger's Disease and 2 major allergies going on that meant taking heavy doses of prednisone over a 6 month time frame, which also caused many more problems, to include forcing me to use oxygen 24/7, which was a good thing because I did not smoke 99.99% of the time. I still am smoking very little and rally do not miss them at all (well rarely).....Needless to say, I was hard pressed to get out of my stateroom and verandah and roam the ship. For me the ship is the reason I cruise, I can vegetate and do not have to worry about anything!!

 

Prior to Sail Away from Port Everglades I called the Neptune Lounge and asked to meet with my Life Boat Captain in order to show how nearly impossible it was for me in my scooter and broken back to get to the Drill. The young Lady, forgot her name sorry, called me about 5 minutes later and told me that since I had been on 9 cruise s with HAL previously, did not have to attend the drill, but also asked that I re-familiarize myself with the drill via the TV and the Life Vests themselves, which I did. Hubby also told the Crew Member (Lifeboat Captain?? and he told him he'd already been notified and not to worry.) Apparently, the Staff Captain decided that my ailments were not good enough and I received a letter the next morning directing me to a 5:00 pm Make Up Drill on the Promenade Deck under Life Boat 1 and that if I was not there I would be put off the ship at the next port........I called our concierge and talked to Gilbert and he arranged for a Crew Member to come and get me in a Ship manual wheelchair and take me to the drill. He said I was to stay in my stateroom and the crew member would get me at a little before 5 pm....NOT!!!!!!! 5 pm came and went (along with the AC) and no one came except Gilbert who was coming to check our AC problem (Which also affect ALL of the Aft Wrap Staterooms.) When he saw I was still waiting he called his supervisor and THEY made sure I got to the Drill. Even with the Wheel Chair it took 3 crew members to get me over that freaking arch that separates the inside from the promenade. BUT I made it!!

 

Moral is: Crew does not communicate and I will get as close as possible to my station and sit there and wait until someone notices me and assists me in getting out there. This is not only my problem but also the problem of most of us who are in wheel chairs and scooters......I will no longer assume that a crew member will be there in an emergency situation on the Nieuw Amsterdam:(

 

I did get to the Lido aft once for a very short time and decided I was happier in my stateroom, SC 6175 (my favorite staterooms on any ship are these awesome aft wrap around staterooms! These are my Penthouse!!!) I also got to the Crow's Nest for the M&G to meet all of my fellow CC family. I was very very disappointed that NOT ONE of the Ship Officers or Crew felt the need to drop in and say hello, not even the Event/Party Planner or Cruise Director:( Oh well, their loss as the CC members who were at the M&G are AWESOME PEOPLE!!!

 

Luggage arrived 5 minutes after I did!!

 

I did see a couple of the HAL Shore Reps that I have seen and talked to on previous cruises out of Port Everglades, which is a good thing because a new company has taken over Shore/Port Operations and we were all worried about our favorites losing their jobs. According to one of the ladies, the new company gave them first choice to remain or not. She said many had chosen to re retire and enjoy life at home with their loved ones.

 

The Ship:

The first time I cruised on Nieuw Amsterdam in November 2010, 4 months after her inagural cruise, I could not put my finger on why I felt less than happy/comfortable with her. This cruise I figured it out!!!

 

The Nieuw Amsterdam is a Snooty Ship!!! From the ship itself to the Captain and most of the crew it exudes snootiness, with a couple of exceptions being, Gilbert in the Neptune Lounge and Budi, our Chief Stateroom Steward. It was like the ship and the people manning her thought themselves above all others and had their noses in the air (if a ship can have its' nose in the air), As an example, once hubby thanked an one of the crew who wa polishing omething for doing a great job in what he and others did to keep all of us, the guests, happy and thankful, that young man looked back at my hubby and gave him a look as if to say *What the Hades else do you expect? Weare the best and you are nothing to me." This seemed to be typical on the Nieuw Amsterdam....I will not say never will I sail on her again, but will say that I will do my best to avoid this SNOOTY ship!!! I Hope y'all understand what I mean as I cannot explain it any better.

 

OK, now for a bit more details on the ship:

 

Stateroom SC 6175:

 

Awesome to be in it, just disappointed in the small size of verandah which I knew was smaller than the Vistas, but this cruise sealed my dislike of the tiny verandah as opposed to the Vista ships. There was 1 major problem for 5 hours on 26 November. Let me tell you that it was horrific and I cannot imagine what someone in an inside stateroom would go through........Gilbert, one of our Concierges did bring us a fan, but it was not really that effective for a stateroom layout such as ours.

 

Stateroom Stewards: Budi and his Assistant were absolutely the best Room Stateroom Stewards we have ever had!!!

 

Food:

 

I did not eat in any of the Dining Venues, only because it was as I wished:) Hubby did eat in the Pinnacle Grill, Main Dining Room and the Lido. We had In Room Dining every morning and all was perfect!! I did not care for the one All American Burger from the In Room Dining Service, it was tasteless. We also had one formal night (I think it was the 1st one) In Room Dining (Not the White Table Cloth one, just regular) and it was wonderful, meat was blue just as I love it and fr the first time in years I had no complaints about my steak:) The rest of my meals hubby would go to the Lido and get me 2 or 3 slices of HAL's DELICIOUS pizza (I LOVE HAL PIZZA!!! I love my pizza without red sauce and that is exactly how they do it) and a bowl of Spaghetti Carbonara or for some lunches, nachos!!!

 

Entertainment:

 

I did not attend any. I made my own by sitting on th verandah watching the world go by or watching movies on TV.

 

Disembarkation:

 

WOW!!!! How smooth can you get?????? We were off the ship at 9:20, luggage loaded onto a Porter's cart and on to the Westerdm right across the street for the 2nd leg of this vacation by 9:35:)

 

Summary:

 

All said and done, this was a good cruise for me. I believe that if my health had been better I might have enjoyed it more, but who can say for sure???

 

She is a beautiful DAM ship and though I did not care for her, please do not let me turn you "off" of this ship.

 

Joanie

[sail7seas]

Thanks, Joanie.

Sorry you left Nieuw Amsterdam with feelings of negativity. Your observations were interesting.

I fully agree we were happy to see Shore Ops ladies who have done great work for HAL for years......getting us and our mountain of luggage on and off the ships. These ladies are brilliant at their work!!

Hope your health improves and you feel better soon.

 

[cruz chic]

Thanks for your review Joanie. It was really nice to meet you and I appreciate the M&G for the sail away and in the Crows Nest that you arranged. I've already stated many times that this cruise was just off. I was on the ship for 2 weeks. There were workers on the ship that were amazing but most of them just didn't seem to care. I ran into probably the most rude server I've every met in my life on that ship (Lido). That said, I was on that ship in February and they made me feel so special. I just can't get over the change. There has to be some problem coming down from the top on that ship.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review, you would think the crew would have communicated better but glad you still had a good cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you Joanie for your review.

There was a thread about handiccapped people and lifeboat drill, etc. It may have been while you were away. I always worry about what will happen should there be a real emergency and none of the elevators work. I can't get down the steps to my lifeboat and even though they claim they are aware of who all is handicapped on the ship, what will happen to me if no one shows up? (Just like they forgot about you for the drill.)

Can't wait to read your review of the Westerdam.

[Lead_pup]

Joanie,

 

Thanks for your review and hope your health issues improve ...

 

My wife and I will be on the Nieuw Amsterdam beginning this weekend - Dec 23rd through Jan 6th - in the same cabin you were in (6175)!! Curious what the 5 hour problem on Nov 26 was and whether the AC problem ever got fixed (was it ship wide or only aftwrap)?

 

Steve from Calgary

[aliaschief]

Thanks for sharing. I will say,I never had any snooty vibes from our January cruise on Her.

[IRL_Joanie]

Forgot one of the best exeriences of everything leading up to this cruiise, sorry:(

 

Saturday, 24 November was a day tthat I'd really been looking forward to for weeks!!

 

As many of you know, I love to cybertalk via Cruise Critic email and phone my friends on Cruise Critic alot:)

 

Well, as soon as Kazu booked her cruise on the Westerdam we made plaands to have lnch togetheer with our wwonderful hubbies at Bimini Boatyard, which was reccomended by Sapper1:)

 

What a wonderful lady Jacqui is!!!! Loved meetiing her and Jose and hope someday we can cruise together!!

 

know the font is not my normal, but I am on my Tablet in bed and I just caannot get my fat fingers on the optios like Bold, Fonts, etc.

 

Joanie

[catl331]

We did the East Med. cruise on this ship and loved every minute. No rude staff at all. I hope things have not changed for the worse.

[IRL_Joanie]

p

Joanie,

 

Thanks for your review and hope your health issues improve ...

 

My wife and I will be on the Nieuw Amsterdam beginning this weekend - Dec 23rd through Jan 6th - in the same cabin you were in (6175)!! Curious what the 5 hour problem on Nov 26 was and whether the AC problem ever got fixed (was it ship wide or only aftwrap)?

 

Steve from Calgary[/quote

 

Steve you will love the stateroom as soon as you see it and go out onto the verandah!! Do not let my ppreference for verandah space/size keep you from enjoying the cruise. I think my disaatisfaction with the Nieuw Amsterdam is the verandah size as opposed to the same location on the Vista Class ships:)

 

I have no idea what the A/C problem was. It lasted a mere 5 hours and worked perfectly after that one incident:)

 

Joanie

[cmdchiefthom]

Joanie,

 

Thanks for your up-beat review. I can't imagine how you felt doing everything you could do to comply with the muster drill requirement and getting a bad girl letter from the Staff Captain.:mad: I do hope things change aboard the NA before I arrive on-board the end of March in 7132, another wrap-around suite, the only ones we book now. I admire your outlook on the NA, and we'll see if she's "snooty" when we board her soon.;)

[Himself]

Joanie: I did an Eastern Caribbean on this ship in Feb of 2011, I did a b2b on her late in January and I did a 7 day last November. I never experienced the snootines you complained of and the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Amsterdam are my two favorite ships. I have not done the Noordam but I really don't care for the other Vista ships.

[coka]

Thank you for writing about your trip. Will you be reviewing the "toot-iest" ship, aka Westerdam next? :D. How cool to do a back to back. Someday I will get to that too!

 

coka

[Lead_pup]

Thanks for your quick response.

 

Have been in the same cabin on the Zuiderdam and know what you mean about the difference in verandah depth toward the aft. Not as big an issue for us.

 

I'll write back after the cruise and let you know if we got the same vibe regarding snootiness during Christmas and New Years. Should be interesting ... from a different post, it appears the Dec 23-30 portion is oversold.

 

Steve

[sail7seas]

Joanie.....

 

Who is currently Hotel Manager and Captain?

 

When we sailed Nieuw Amsterdam, we had a Captain who isn't usually there and a HotMan who is no longer with HAL.

 

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Joanie.

[momatibm]

I've not been on the Nieuw Amsterdam, but on the Eurodam we experienced an entirely different vibe compared to our other cruises -- we wrote it off the to fact is was a 7 day cruise and therefore a different clientele. Even the officers agreed with us when we commented on it. It may have the same effect on the crew -- quick cruise vice extended so they don't have time to get to know you better.

[cruz chic]

Joanie.....

 

Who is currently Hotel Manager and Captain?

 

When we sailed Nieuw Amsterdam, we had a Captain who isn't usually there and a HotMan who is no longer with HAL.

 

Vincent Smit was the Captain. He left the day we did (Dec 2). The hotel director was Don Habets.

[IRL_Joanie]

Thank you for writing about your trip. Will you be reviewing the "toot-iest" ship, aka Westerdam next? :D. How cool to do a back to back. Someday I will get to that too!

 

coka

 

Yes I will be doing my review of the Westerdam a.k.a. in my eyes as "The Besterdam!!" She is my 2nd favorite ship:) Favorite being Zuiderdam, as if you could not see that by the Future Cruises in my signature.

 

Father, I was not complaining, only stating that is how we felt on her. It was as if they felt their S%^$ did not stink. I still loved the cruise!!

 

As Lorekauf said, "that this cruise was just off" And she was on for 2 weeks.

 

I love being on a cruise and feel even now that the litle things that I found disappointing or "Off" did not keep me from enjoying the ship, far from it!! I was on the ship for complete and total relaxation. Heck, I never got off the ship at any port, nor did I want to, just wanted to vegetate:)

 

Joanie

[IRL_Joanie]

Joanie.....

 

Who is currently Hotel Manager and Captain?

 

When we sailed Nieuw Amsterdam, we had a Captain who isn't usually there and a HotMan who is no longer with HAL.

 

 

I do not know who the Captain was. And do not know who the Hot Ma was for Nieuw Amsterdam. I can tell you it was Ron Botnbal for the Westerdam, an old friend:)

 

Judy are you talking about Captain Turner? I Liked him:)

 

Joanie

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks Joanie for your review of the Nieuw Amsterdam. I'm waiting for your review of the Westerdam, have a feeling it will be very different. I knew you and I would get along, meat blue, that is the only way to have it. :D:D

[0bnxshs]

Thanks Joanie for your very unique and informative review. My father has a number of medical issues and I have tried and tried to convince him that not only can he fly but can also cruise with his issues (as have his "staff" of physicians.) He wouldn't even have to fly to FLL as he lives in Florida. But he is convinced that there is no way a cruise ship will accommodate him as he feels he needs. Perhaps reading your review to him will help to convince him otherwise, your trouble with the muster drill notwithstanding. So again, thanks for writing this from your unique perspective.

 

On another note, we are sailing with both Jacqui and Bobbie on the Prinsendam in May 2013. We already seem to be fast friends via the roll call and offline communications and I can't wait to meet them and everyone else on our cruise together soon.

[JamesEM]

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us, DW and I are doing a B-2-B on the Nieuw Amsterdam in Oct/Nov.

[Boatdrill]

Apparently, the Staff Captain decided that my ailments were not good enough and I received a letter the next morning directing me to a 5:00 pm Make Up Drill on the Promenade Deck under Life Boat 1 and that if I was not there I would be put off the ship at the next port....

 

Just so there is no misunderstanding, the letter you received is given to all passengers who miss the pre-sail life boat drill; such as late arriving passengers who board after the drill.

 

Since the Costa Concordia, life boat drill attendance requirements have become even more strict. The Staff Captain was doing his job, and should be thanked for his concern. Safety First !

[kazu]

Forgot one of the best exeriences of everything leading up to this cruiise, sorry:(

 

Saturday, 24 November was a day tthat I'd really been looking forward to for weeks!!

 

As many of you know, I love to cybertalk via Cruise Critic email and phone my friends on Cruise Critic alot:)

 

Well, as soon as Kazu booked her cruise on the Westerdam we made plaands to have lnch togetheer with our wwonderful hubbies at Bimini Boatyard, which was reccomended by Sapper1:)

 

What a wonderful lady Jacqui is!!!! Loved meetiing her and Jose and hope someday we can cruise together!!

 

know the font is not my normal, but I am on my Tablet in bed and I just caannot get my fat fingers on the optios like Bold, Fonts, etc.

 

Joanie

 

aw shucks:o It was our pleasure to meet the two of you Joanie.

 

And thanks for the review - very interesting