Photo review Nieuw Amsterdam 24-n Med cruise July 11 2014

[Laurino]

Day 20, July 30, Civitavecchia, continued

We continued toward 'Bagnaia'. The skies were overcast and we had heavy rain during the drive and when we arrived... We waited it out in the car park and then it was fine.

 

We were headed for the fantastic gardens of Villa Lante (admission 5€):

 

The Villa itself is not important and most of it is closed anyway:

 

Continuing through the gardens, uphill, following the water trail:

 

How about al fresco dining on a stone table with a built-in water channel for chilling drinks etc:

 

Following the water stairs uphill:

 

And finally arriving at the source/spring:

[Laurino]

Day 20, July 30, Civitavecchia, continued

We bought some snacks in a supermarket and in a bakery, and had a picnic between the stops. The region is hilly and sparsely populated, the roads were a bit narrow and winding, but the scenery was beautiful and we even saw old Roman aqueducts along the roads.

 

We drove toward 'Bomarzo':

 

Our last stop was Parco dei Mostri or Sacro Bosco (admission 10€), in the valley just below Bomarzo. The park is known for it's moss-overgrown, surreal and huge stone sculptures:

 

 

There's even a leaning gazebo:

 

I found the park interesting, but not beautiful and not my cup of tea.

 

We drove back to Civitavecchia and took the free shuttle back to the ship. We had a beautiful sunset:

[Laurino]

Day 21, July 31, Livorno

Oh I forgot to mention, yesterday during our garden visits around Viterbo, we had like 5 other visitors at most while we were there. It was wonderful to escape the crowds! However today we would face the crowds again. We had been to Florence before and it's quite a distance away, so we chose a trip to Pisa instead. Yet again a very large port. The port provided a shuttle for 5€ (return ticket) into the city center to just behind the Piazza Grande. From the Piazza we took city bus #1 (1,30€) to the train station 'Livorno Centrale'. We took a train to Pisa (about 3€), it was only one stop and took about 15min. In Pisa we took city bus, the line is called 'LAM Rossa' (1€, in a four ticket booklet), to get to the 'Campo dei Miracoli'. I'll easily admit that the trip was a hassle and took a while...

 

The Campo dei Miracoli is crowded with tourists but offer four fantastic sights: the Cathedral, the Baptistry, the Leaning tower and the Camposanto (a ceremonial graveyard). Also there a couple of museums. The Cathedral is free to visit, but you have to claim a free ticket for it. We chose a three sights ticket (about 8€) and skipped the tower, since you have to pre-book or stand in an immense line to climb it.

 

 

 

The Cathedral was beautiful:

 

The Baptistry was not interesting, because there were no decorations whatsoever inside the dome etc.

 

The Camposanto was an unexpected and unpopular (yay!) gem, with nice frescoes and sculptures:

 

 

We reversed our complicated trip (don't take bus #2 in Livorno!) and got back to the ship.

[Laurino]

Day 22, August 1, Monte Carlo

The port was changed from docking to tendering, a minor nuisance. We had been in Monte Carlo before, it's visually fascinating but also quite boring, so we were going to Menton in France for some leisurely shopping and swimming.

 

Some views of Monte Carlo:

 

 

 

 

Menton is our favorite place on the Cote d'Azur. It has a picturesque and dramatic old town, kind of wedged between Monaco and Italy. From the tender pier we took the 'Bateau bus' (about 3€) which traverses the harbor. We walked to the train station. It's tunneled into the hills, so you walk in underground galleries to get there. The train to Menton took about 15min (cost about 2€) and it was absolutely packed, both ways.

 

Shopping in Menton:

 

On the beaches in Menton:

[Laurino]

Day 22, August 1, Monte Carlo, sail away

We returned to the ship. Time for some more ship photos.

 

 

Again there was a nice bbq around the sea view pool, it was a French theme this time:

 

 

 

[dateacher]

Thank you for posting such a wonderful report. So many of the things on your ship were the same as our recent trip on the Volendam, it makes your report extra special.

[Laurino]

Day 22, August 2, Marseille

It was our first time in Marseille, but we have been to many places in Provence before, so we had originally planned to just explore the city. However we had also booked the 'Behind the scenes ship tour', which was scheduled to this port day at 2pm, so we would have a short trip.

 

Approaching Marseille:

 

View from our berth:

 

Again it was a very large port and I think we were docked almost 7km from downtown. At the end of the pier, outside the fence and very close to the ship, there was a free shuttle bus provided by the port. Since it didn't start running until 9.30am (we arrived 8am) and HAL didn't mention it all, not many passengers noticed the shuttle. Also it was a Saturday and I think the shuttle only runs like Thursday-Sunday. The shuttle terminates at the smaller cruise terminal 'J4' which is outside a large transport hub 'Place de la Joliette' in the northern part of downtown, also right next to the brand new shopping center 'Les Terrasses du Port'. From Joliette we took the metro (with a change at 'Saint-Charles') to 'Vieux Port' (the old port).

 

We checked out the area around Vieux Port:

 

 

It wasn't really that interesting. We took bus #55 back to Joliette and explored the shopping center 'Les Terrasses du Port'. We returned early to the ship, to have time for a quick lunch and to freshen up for our ship tour.

[Laurino]

Day 22, August 2, Marseille, ship tour

We had always wanted to do a ship tour, but have found the 150$ pp cost prohibitive. However this time we decided to go for it, a once-in-a-lifetime thing. It was very interesting and fun, especially my partner thinks it was one of our top experiences during the cruise.

 

We met up 1.55pm in the Piano bar. We were 11 participants, actually no Americans. We were hosted by Astrid van de Ven (onboard marketing manager) and she was great. Apparently only 7 ships in the fleet offer ship tours and nowadays only on port days because of security. We had a short introduction in the bar and then we started with the Showroom. Everywhere we went we got a 'local' guide from the respective management team in charge.

 

In the Showroom we had a look at the stage machinery and stowed away sets. We visited the dressing room and spoke to the cast. The cast work hard for four weeks ashore to learn all their shows for the entire contract period, then they board the ship for the first time and often have a show the same evening.

 

Next we went to the Tailor shop. The tailors sew all the uniform jackets, slacks and skirts onboard, only shirts are purchased.

 

We headed for the laundry, it's down on C deck!

Tagging guest's laundry before washing:

 

Tumble dryers:

 

Washing machines, doing three loads at once:

 

Mangling napkins:

[Laurino]

Day 22, August 2, Marseille, ship tour, continued

 

Pressing laundry, the machine to the left is a steam press:

 

The main crew corridor, nick-named 'I-95', along A-deck:

 

We headed for the Engine control room (engine rooms are off limit). There are 6 diesel engines with generators, two azipod motors and three bow thrusters.

 

Next we went to the recycling center. All waste is sorted. Metal, glass and cardboard is shredded/compacted and sold ashore. The crew gets the profit. Refuse is incinerated onboard and the ashes are offloaded ashore. Even pressurized gas is extracted from aerosols, quicksilver is extracted from fluorescent tubes and silver is extracted from photographic liquids. Waste water is purified with bacteria and UV light, solids are incinerated and the water is discharged. Fresh water is either bunkered or produced by desalinization of sea water in a low pressure system.

 

The marshaling yard on A-deck, with fork lifts for handling luggage and goods on turnover day:

 

The bakery bakes every bread onboard, only bagels and toast is purchased. The bakers works in shifts and produces thousands of dinner rolls etc per day, with only one oven.

 

There's also a pastry bakery in the main galley next to the MDR. We were treated to some sparkling wine as we toured.

[Laurino]

Day 22, August 2, Marseille, ship tour, continued

 

These are freight elevators to move goods from A deck to B deck, where the store rooms are:

 

We even passed by the morgue, if empty it's used by the florist. HAL purchases fresh flowers for approximately 1million $ per year for the fleet. There are beautiful flower arrangements everywhere onboard. I think there's about 20 large arrangements, 40 medium and hundreds of smaller (on all dining tables etc).

 

The dry storage:

 

Cold storage:

 

Notice that the store rooms were almost empty, since there was only 2 days left of the cruise.

 

Next we headed to the main galley, next to the main dining room. There was also a free galley tour earlier in the cruise. Besides cooking for the MDR, the main galley also prepares appetizers and desserts for the Lido buffet. The room service kitchen is also in there.

 

Appetizers being prepared for the evening:

 

 

Soup and sauce section:

[Krazy Kruizers]

More wonderful pictures including the ship tour.

[Laurino]

Day 23, August 2, Marseille, ship tour, continued

 

Oops, Marseille is day 23 of course, I misspelt in the previous posts.

 

Our final stop was the bridge. Here we also got to meet captain Edward van Zaane, ask him questions and pose for photos with him (taken by a photographer).

 

 

On the bridge wing:

 

Navigational charts:

 

In the Safe room (inside the bridge), fire suppression systems, watertight doors etc safety systems, are controlled:

 

We ended our tour in the Pinnacle bar, where we had complimentary hors d'oeuvres and drinks, and could ask our host Astrid van de Ven anything about the ship:

 

The tour was great and had a very nice ending. It took almost three hours in total! We got goodie bags with: a folder with ship info and a picture of the ship, a HAL cookbook, crew show DVD, the HAL booklet 'Driving the ship' and an ugly HAL pin. The photo of us with the captain was delivered the next night.

 

It was also our last formal night and we ended the perfect day with our second and final dinner in the Pinnacle grill. Now we only had one port and two days left!

Edited August 14, 2014 by Laurino

[Laurino]

We ended the tour in the Ocean bar, not Pinnacle bar. Sorry, must be tired :o

[Bimmer09]

Great photos from the ship tour! I've done 3 of these with Princess and enjoy them immensely. On Princess the tour includes the mooring room where they tie the ship up or drop anchor and the inside of the funnel assembly (unlikely given HAL's funnels) as the Princess funnels are so huge. What was the cost of the tour?

 

Thanks for these!

 

Norris

[Wakepatrol]

What an incredible job you did with the amazing photos and review. Thanks for taking us all along.

 

I appreciate your effort and time doing this:)

Edited August 15, 2014 by Wakepatrol

[Laurino]

Great photos from the ship tour! I've done 3 of these with Princess and enjoy them immensely. On Princess the tour includes the mooring room where they tie the ship up or drop anchor and the inside of the funnel assembly (unlikely given HAL's funnels) as the Princess funnels are so huge. What was the cost of the tour? Thanks for these! Norris

 

Thank you, Norris! No we didn't get to see anything on the upper decks, besides the galley and the bridge. Have you toured 3 different ship classes on Princess, or do you simply enjoy the experience? ;) Was there any significant differences between Princess and HAL (if you can discern from my photos and description)? The cost for the HAL ship tour was 150$ pp.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Looks as though you all were treated to a cocktails after the ship's tour.

[Bimmer09]

Thank you, Norris! No we didn't get to see anything on the upper decks, besides the galley and the bridge. Have you toured 3 different ship classes on Princess, or do you simply enjoy the experience? ;) Was there any significant differences between Princess and HAL (if you can discern from my photos and description)? The cost for the HAL ship tour was 150$ pp.

 

The Princess ships were all Grand Class (Crown, Diamond and Ruby) so much the same. I enjoyed meeting the Officers and talking to them and learning from them. Your HAL photos are similar to what I would have seen on Princess although we were not allowed to take photos or video. A ship's photographer came with us for group shots with the Officers. The Bridge was usually last except on my favorite ship the Diamond where we started there and the Captain spoke for 50 minutes (Italian Capt. with excellent English and boundless enthusiasm)

 

My father was a ship's captain so I have been on board ships since an early age and am fascinated by ships off all kinds. It's in my blood.

 

I am sailing on Princess' smallest ship (Ocean P) in 5 weeks in the Med (Venice to Rome) and may take the tour there. It's a 3 to 4 hour time commitment.

 

I cover the ship's tours in writing in my reviews on CC. They also include the Photographer's workshop and the Print shop and mention the goodie bag delivered after the tour.

 

Norris

[Laurino]

Day 24, August 3, Barcelona

We arrived at our last port after lunch, but we would stay overnight and disembark tomorrow. We had never been to Barcelona before.

 

The port was crowded, with us to the far right and then (I think) Serenade of the Seas, Liberty of the Seas and of course Norwegian Epic:

 

Again this was a large port. Our terminal was very posh. We used the shuttles called 'Blue bus' (3€ return ticket) that took us to the Columbus monument at the end of 'Las Ramblas' boulevard. We simply walked up Las Ramblas and towards the 'Barri Gotic' (the old town) centered on the gothic cathedral.

 

'Placa Reial', next to Las Ramblas:

 

The cathedral charged a hefty fee, so we were put off and skipped it. It felt crowded everywhere, I think I was tiring from so many ports and my patience was wearing thin...

 

We walked towards 'Placa de Catalunya' (which may be considered the center of downtown) and had a look in the 'Corte Ingles' department stores. My plan was to go to the 'Montjuic' hills & parks, so we bought some picnic food with us. We took the metro line #L3 to 'Paral-lel' and changed to the funicular going up the Montjuic hill.

 

Coming up to Montjuic was so nice! No crowds, slightly cooler than downtown, fresh scent of pine from the woods and parks etc... We had our picnic in one of the parks and gazed at the view:

 

We walked uphill to the Olympic stadium (summer olympics 1992). It was kind of sunken into a valley, so we entered from the street but were high up from the arena floor. We hadn't planned to visit, but it was free and it was actually great to see it. The stadium had a museum too, but we didn't go there. Notice the olympic torch:

 

Outside there was a huge plaza with a spacy communications tower:

 

There are a couple of museums up on Montjuic. I had planned to visit 'Poble Espanyol', an outdoor museum showcasing different Spanish traditional houses etc, but it was too hot and I was a little out of spirits. There's also a large art museum up here, housed in a very imposing building with terraces and large fountains all the way down into the city:

 

The fountains are called 'Font Magica' and apparently there's a light spectacle and jeux d'eau in the evenings. I had intended us to stay here until dark and see the show, but we had done everything too quickly, it was way early still and we were missing our ship! Sadly all the water jets were turned off during daytime. We walked down the terraces to 'Placa Espanya' and took the metro #L3 to 'Drassanes', which is on Las Ramblas and close to the Columbus monument, where we could catch the 'Blue bus' back to our ship.

 

We made our last visit to the MDR, and had the 'International dinner', which is done on the final evening. There's a special menu with different sections from around the world. It was our first time and we enjoyed it.

[Laurino]

Day 24, August 3, Barcelona, continued

I had already done the art tour (with iPod) previously in the cruise. This evening I also took the opportunity to photograph some of my favorites among the numerous art works onboard.

 

There was a samurai armor outside of the Silk den:

 

There are large Czech glass sculptures in the Lido restaurant:

 

I like that there's many ship models onboard, this one is actually a coffee brewer:

 

A little library diorama, cleverly fitted with mirrors:

 

I liked this writing cabinet, with almost sgraffito-like decor:

 

These small sculptures outside of the Pinnacle grill were interesting, but I was amazed when I learnt that they were made of porcelain:

[Laurino]

Day 25, August 4, Barcelona, disembarkation day

We had stayed overnight and now it was sadly time to disembark. Yesterday evening we got very confused, because we saw many new staff we didn't recognize in the MDR and we could no longer find 'our' cabin stewards... Either I'm nuts or they took the opportunity to switch staff the day before the hectic turnover day. I almost felt like a stranger onboard... a bit sad. We left an envelope (addressed to our stewards, Kamal & Bary) with some extra tips in our cabin, I really hope it was delivered to them?

 

Anyway disembarkation is smooth on HAL since you can wait in your cabin until it's time to go.

 

Some of the staff (incl the CD Mario Vines) were lined up in the terminal, a nice touch:

 

We had booked a HAL transfer to Placa Catalunya, where we planned to store our luggage at 'Locker Barcelona'. We were going to see 'La Sagrada Familia' and stroll in the 'Eixample' art deco district. I had pre-booked La Sagrada to a 10.00-10.15am slot (15€!!) and was a bit worried about making that time with a transfer as opposed to DIY. But we really didn't want to lug our bags on busses and metro this time, also the metro was incredibly hot all of the time and had stairs everywhere. We were to disembark at 8.45am. We found our bags quickly but our transfer bus didn't leave until almost 9.30am. The traffic took forever and we left our bags at Catalunya at almost 10 o'clock! Now I was really stressed out! We took the metro, which was crowded, we changed lines but had to detour because of a line closure. We got to La Sagrada Familia at about 10.25am, 10min past our slot... Luckily they let us in anyway, without waiting. I was glad for our reservation, since the lines were immense.

 

Facade of La Sagrada Familia:

 

The interior was amazing and I was totally unprepared for the utterly beautiful modern stained glass windows:

 

 

 

[Laurino]

Day 25, August 4, Barcelona, disembarkation day, continued

After La Sagrada Familia, we took the metro to 'Diagonal'. We were to stroll down 'Passeig da Gracia' (the city's chic shopping street) towards Catalunya, look at the famous art deco houses on the way and have lunch etc.

 

Gaudi's (same architect as La Sagrada) famous apartment building 'Casa Mila' was of course covered in scaffolding. But we got a good view of the art deco city block called 'Illa de la Discordia':

 

I had expected more art deco or at least handsome buildings along the street, but there were lots of ugly 70:s office towers. We had lunch in McDonalds, unfortunately, but the McCaffe is nice. We also mooched some free wifi in the Apple store at Placa Catalunya.

 

We picked up our bags from 'Locker Barcelona' close to Placa Catalunya and took the Aerobus #A1 (to airport terminal 1) (5,90€), it was smooth and took 35min to the airport.

 

There would have been a non-stop SAS flight to Copenhagen, but it departed about 8.20am - we could never had made that and we also wanted to do some sightseeing. So we had booked a Lufthansa flight at 4.45pm to Frankfurt, and then a SAS flight on to Copenhagen. We had already checked in, but the lady in the bag drop upgraded us to business class for the first segment. It was a treat and a nice gradual weaning from the excellent service of HAL... Also Lufthansa is greatly superior to SAS, even if only flying in economy.

 

Terminal 1 in Barcelona airport was really impressive with it's one massive roof covering everything:

 

 

We were on time to Frankfurt but our SAS flight was late. However we arrived almost on time in Copenhagen, got our bags without problems this time and catched the train home to Helsingborg. Our great vacation was over!

[POA1]

Great review! I'm really enjoying the photos and commentary. My only regret is that I waited so long to start reading.

[Laurino]

Final thoughts

Time for a summary of the cruise:

 

Cruise

One of our best cruises. No problems getting bored just because of a long cruise. Maybe too many ports to 'take in', some more sea days could be nice.

 

Embarkation & disembarkation

Very smooth, no lines. It's great that the cabins are available directly upon embarkation and that you can stay in your cabin when waiting for disembarkation.

 

Ship interiors & HAL

We were very happy to return, after trying Celebrity and Princess, and still finding HAL an excellent choice. HAL and Celebrity are now our favorite lines, we were not so fond of Princess. Nieuw Amsterdam is a beautiful ship. The ship is very elegant with its art deco touches. We really like Celebrity's Solstice class modern ships with lots of light, and HAL's Signature and Vista classes are darker but also more elegant and you can really feel HAL's history in the ship models and photographs and paintings. It's very nice with all the artworks and fresh flowers onboard. Nieuw Amsterdam was much more modern and elegant than Zuiderdam. The ship is very tidy and cleaning and maintenance is being done constantly.

 

Cabin

We had cabin G4074, a partially obstructed OV. Excellent cabin since it's the same size and configuration as a verandah cabin, has a very large window and is located higher up. The view was acceptable, I'm glad we didn't choose a more obstructed H or HH (though I haven't experience those). There's lots of storage. There could have been better lighting into the wardrobes and we would have liked black-out curtains for sleeping. It's nice to have a sofa group, but there was a chair that was in the way all of the time, it wouldn't fit under the desk because there was a too big stool there. HAL's beds are wonderful. The bathroom wall finish is a bit boring, but it's nice to have a large shower area in the tub. Princess bathrooms and showers were minuscule with clingy shower curtains. The Solstice bathrooms are wonderful however. I thought I had chosen a good cabin location, on top of the shops, but unbelievably we could here the disco two decks below.

 

Staff

All Indonesian and Filippino staff are so wonderfully friendly and always greet you, they provide excellent service. When at home again, we found our selves walking about and smiling to strangers to their surprise... The officers are great too. I'm not so fond of the eastern european staff (Pinnacle grill) or the spa staff, they former seem surly and the latter stuck-up. Our lost bag (airline's fault) and any request we made was dealt with perfectly. If we spotted a problem like a not working elevator door, or a broken electrical outlet, we would call the Front desk and the next day it had already been fixed by the technical department. I think enforcing of dress codes and pool rules are necessary. Guest would walk shirtless in the Lido, jogging on the promenade deck, no jacket nor tie on formal night in MDR, t-shirts on smart casual night in MDR, kids wild i Lido pool, kids also in sea view pool, wear anything in public rooms and the Showroom etc. The guests dressed much less smartly or formal than even on our previous HAL Alaska cruise!

 

Dining

Main dining room: beautiful room, quick and efficient meals served by proficient servers, no waiting time for seating, fantastic food.

Lido restaurant: wonderful cooked to-order hot breakfast, wide selection for lunch, restricted dinner service. Longer hours in the evening is needed. Afternoon tea/snacks would be nice. Stations work, but when they're split to several zones/lines more signs/velvet ropes could help the flow. On location BBQ's outside were nice.

Slice pizzeria: awful. For comparison, Princess had fantastic pizza.

Dive-in grill: great improvement, both service and menu. Great burgers and fries.

Tamarind: fantastic service, great food. A bit fussy with the condiments, tea etc. A bit complicated for us that don't usually eat with sticks and porcelain spoons.

Pinnacle grill: fantastic steaks, nice with varied amuse-bouch. A bit restricted menu otherwise.

Didn't try the Canaletto or room service.

 

Outdoor decks, pools

I preferred the Zuiderdam's top deck layout to Nieuw Amsterdam, the cabanas on NA are in the way and it feels a bit complicated to get to the upper observation decks. It would've been nice with a forward outside viewing area without glass screens, since the bow is seldomly opened. I prefer the Lido pool because there's some shade, but it was taken over by the kids. I love the wide, teak floor promenade decks of HAL and find it extremely annoying that Celebrity's Solstice class lacks them. HAL's promenade deck is also better than Princess'.

 

Entertainment

Music: I really liked BB King's Blues club, the Adagio duet was great (even though they used to be a quartet), solo guitarist Gina in Crow's nest was good. The HAL cats were versatile, but didn't care for their singer Vivienne. Didn't go to the disco.

Guest performances: we had a comedian (good), a mime 'Ofer' (terrible), a mime/magician (good), a duet juggling/magician/comedian (great), a pianist/singer (good), a male singer (ok), 'Siobhan ...' singer/comedienne (great). Missed the 'star' pianist and maybe someone else. I can't remember the names... I should've paid more attention.

Shows: 'Cantare' (4 male leads, music show) was great. I don't like the musicals they put up, 'NYC' was acceptable, but 'It takes 2' and one more show (forgot the name) were bad.

Movies: the Screening room was comfortable. Sometimes they showed movies and the world cup soccer finals in the Showroom. I like the idea of complimentary rental DVDs for the cabin, but I always got the scratchy unplayable discs, so I gave up.

Didn't do dancing or 'Dancing with the stars at sea'.

 

Activities

The 'Behind the scenes ship tour' was fantastic, and one our best experiences. I liked the culinary arts center with shows such as cooking, flower and crafts shows/classes. I missed lectures on geography & nature, art, culture - like the ones we had in Alaska. Celebrity had these even in a Caribbean route, however Princess had nothing/very little. We never used the Spa, Gym, Casino or Art gallery. The library is well stocked and very nice, but noisy with the coffee shop and activities in the Crow's nest.

 

Ports of call

Many fantastic ports, feels as I've done the entire Mediterranean. The stops with huge commercial ports (Piraeus, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Marseille, Barcelona) are a hassle for us who like to DIY. Our favorite port was Istanbul, followed by Venice. Our favorite DIY excursion was from Civitavecchia, to the renaissance gardens of the Lazio region.

 

Any questions?

Thank you for all the positive feedback! Please ask any question about the cruise! Unfortunately I don't have the daily programs, so I can't provide scans.

[Vict0riann]

Thanks for all the great information and photos. I have a question - when you say you wished you had had black-out curtains in the room, were they just the semi-sheer ones you had? Usually they have full length plastic (rubber?) liners, so the room is darkened, if not completely black. We take along a few clips to keep them closed at night. Was your sleep disturbed?

 

We're looking forward to seeing the changes to the Sagrada Familia since we were last there. You seem to have been so well prepared for all your travels. You must be a great planner!