Nieuw Amsterdam Dry Dock

[Happily@Sea]

I am starting ti think that they are announcing onboard "Nobody post any pictures of NA on Cruise Critic" just to mess with us :D

 

You do realize she has only had the updates since Dec 20th. Even if I took pictures - I don't know how to post them. Maybe some of our picture-taking CCs will be on her soon.

[stickey_mouse]

You do realize she has only had the updates since Dec 20th. Even if I took pictures - I don't know how to post them. Maybe some of our picture-taking CCs will be on her soon.

Probably doesn't help that its schedule is charter-heavy these first two months of 2018.

[Despegue]

I did manage to find some pictures of the Atrium but am unable to upload.

 

Basically, there is NO Rijksmuseum at Sea. The carpets and upholstery seem to have been replaced, as well as the walls, which are now white and modern like on Westerdam.

Carpet is blue with white outlines of the NY skyline.

Wall sofas are black/white checkered.

Seats are grey fabric.

 

 

Overall much nicer than Westerdam, and I have a feeling that the Westerdam Atrium will be a “one-off”

[stickey_mouse]

I did manage to find some pictures of the Atrium but am unable to upload.

 

Basically, there is NO Rijksmuseum at Sea. The carpets and upholstery seem to have been replaced, as well as the walls, which are now white and modern like on Westerdam.

Carpet is blue with white outlines of the NY skyline.

Wall sofas are black/white checkered.

Seats are grey fabric.

 

 

Overall much nicer than Westerdam, and I have a feeling that the Westerdam Atrium will be a “one-off”

Care to share where you found the pictures? Maybe a link will suffice if you cannot upload them.

[*Miss G*]

You do realize she has only had the updates since Dec 20th. Even if I took pictures - I don't know how to post them. Maybe some of our picture-taking CCs will be on her soon.

 

I think part of the joke is that there are absolutely no pictures of the NA... either before or after. (On the CC reviews forum that is. They may be "hidden" in posts however. But we'll never find 'em. lol)

[frankc98376]

I did manage to find some pictures of the Atrium but am unable to upload.

 

Basically, there is NO Rijksmuseum at Sea. The carpets and upholstery seem to have been replaced, as well as the walls, which are now white and modern like on Westerdam.

Carpet is blue with white outlines of the NY skyline.

Wall sofas are black/white checkered.

Seats are grey fabric.

 

 

Overall much nicer than Westerdam, and I have a feeling that the Westerdam Atrium will be a “one-off”

 

Is the crystal skyline sculpture still overhead? Did they remove all of the atrium stairways or just deck one to deck two?

[Happily@Sea]

Crystal skyline still there, I don't know about stairways., too immobile to use them.

[Despegue]

Care to share where you found the pictures? Maybe a link will suffice if you cannot upload them.

 

Instagram (which I normally never use )

Go to search function and type #nieuwamsterdam

Then you need to scroll down until you find pictures of the atrium, dated after 20/12/17.

[frankc98376]

I found this pic of the Atrium at Christmas- still beautiful. So glad they didn't "Westerdam" it!

[Despegue]

That is a pre-drydock picture however...

[stickey_mouse]

That is a pre-drydock picture however...

Because the lower staircase has since been removed, correct?

[frankc98376]

Because the lower staircase has since been removed, correct?

 

Did they remove just the lower staircase from the Atrium or all of them?

[Happily@Sea]

I found this pic of the Atrium at Christmas- still beautiful. So glad they didn't "Westerdam" it!

[ATTACH]413665[/ATTACH]

 

 

That is not this year 2017 - couches are wrong and there was a huge Gingerbread village set-up in the middle of that space.

[rjbean4]

To help everyone out mom and I were on Nieuw Amsterdam for the Holidays and regarding the stairs in the atrium both were removed. So no stairs from deck 1 to 2 and 2 to 3. We know Captain Van Zanne and had the chance to have a nice chat with him one evening. Shared with us some info about the dry dock that had just been completed. Was a 55 million dollar dry dock.

[stickey_mouse]

To help everyone out mom and I were on Nieuw Amsterdam for the Holidays and regarding the stairs in the atrium both were removed. So no stairs from deck 1 to 2 and 2 to 3. We know Captain Van Zanne and had the chance to have a nice chat with him one evening. Shared with us some info about the dry dock that had just been completed. Was a 55 million dollar dry dock.

Impressive! Care to share your thoughts about the refurbished areas?

[maysdot]

I have a number of photos of the Nieuw Amsterdam taken this past week....unfortunately I'm unable to post them as I am told by CC that they are too large and I don't know how to resize them (they have to be much smaller). Just to let you know, the carpeting is beautiful especially up on the 11th floor by the Tamarind and Tamarind bar (purple my favorite) The glass staircase has been removed from the Atrium totally, but the glass NY skyline is still there. The new Gallery Bar (replacing Northern Lights) is beautiful....like a warm living room...with large TV's on the walls and over the bar. All cabins have new furniture on the balconies and updated sofas in the cabins....as well as wall mounted TV's. The new Billboard area is well received...two pianos replacing the Piano Bar located open to the Casino on the new Music Walk area. Will and Ivy are amazing. Check out other ships on You Tube under "Billboard on Board on Holland America". Elevators are also nicely redone...still have day of the week carpets. The screening theater has been renovated with 35 large leather theater style chairs....never got to try them out as I had planned to watch a movie on the last 2 sea days, but nothing was scheduled.

 

I don't know if this is HAL's new policy or just the CD Andy's style, but he made very, very few announcements....never knew when we had been cleared at a port, where the gangway was located or when all aboard time was. Apparently it is now up to the passengers to find all of this out for themselves. There were very few organized activities outside of the usual Digital Workshops and EXC talks and bingo. There were lots of events listed for how to relieve stress (this girl was basically there to set up appointments for massages) have your foot analysis done, etc....you get the picture. We had to miss Half Moon Cay so ended up with 4 sea days on this cruise....most boring cruise I have ever been on. Unfortunately I had to miss the CC Meet and Greet as it was the same day and time as the Mariner's lunch....should have gone to the CC as the lunch was a waste of time.

[lastlook]

Thanks very much for the information on the N.A. updates. You mentioned the TV's in the new Gallery Bar - curious to know what types of programming they carry? Is there any sort of venue that would show major U.S. sports (MLB, NFL, etc.?) I had envisioned The Gallery Bar as a quiet venue, but with TV's on the walls, I wonder what type of bar it is intended to be now that it has replaced the underused Northern Lights?

[mamaofami]

I was told that the atrium had a rotating New York skyline, and since I came from NY I looked for it in the atrium when I sailed right after the dry dock. I didn’t see it. Maybe I missed it , but unless people are talking about the chandelier, I didn’t see it.

[Happily@Sea]

I was told that the atrium had a rotating New York skyline, and since I came from NY I looked for it in the atrium when I sailed right after the dry dock. I didn’t see it. Maybe I missed it , but unless people are talking about the chandelier, I didn’t see it.

 

It is the color-changing chandelier suspended in the Atrium.

[djhsolara]

I was told that the atrium had a rotating New York skyline, and since I came from NY I looked for it in the atrium when I sailed right after the dry dock. I didn’t see it. Maybe I missed it , but unless people are talking about the chandelier, I didn’t see it.

 

 

 

It is the chandelier that people are talking about. NY skyline up and down.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[maysdot]

Thanks very much for the information on the N.A. updates. You mentioned the TV's in the new Gallery Bar - curious to know what types of programming they carry? Is there any sort of venue that would show major U.S. sports (MLB, NFL, etc.?) I had envisioned The Gallery Bar as a quiet venue, but with TV's on the walls, I wonder what type of bar it is intended to be now that it has replaced the underused Northern Lights?

The TV's in the Gallary Bar are all set to the sports channel....that's where everyone gathers for the football games, golf, etc. It looks more like a gentlemen's club with wing chairs and sofas than a sports bar. They had the satellite feed for the football games on Sunday and Monday...and I think that they came through on the TV in the cabin as well. The cabin TV is very interactive....look up the menus for the day, etc. You can even download the HAL Navigator app on you devices. Ask at the desk how to do it.

[mahi mahi]

Impressive! Care to share your thoughts about the refurbished areas?

Just returned from the 10 day Southern Caribbean on Tuesday this week....the ship is stunning after drydock. We missed HMC due to wind and rain squalls so had another sea day which was nice and relaxing. We had a fantastic time....didn't miss the lack of announcements or staircases in the atrium. There were never any lines to exit the ship which was nice, we simply went to the gangway which was always around the corner from guest services shortly after we tied up. Signs at the gangway detailed the times to be back and it was also posted on the daily program. One guy almost missed the ship in Aruba, gangway had been removed when he came speeding up the dock - just like a Carnival departure with passengers clapping and cheering from their verandas! Grand Turk was really crowded with Carnival passengers from the Vista - it was a zoo. Weather was wonderful (a welcome change from frozen Ontario) and food in the MDR was great, never had a bad meal. Service was wonderful throughout the ship. We had been away from HAL for a couple of years due to the smoking issue and a less than great experience on the same ship but were happy to be back!

 

One last note, we were able to watch lots of movies and TV shows for free in our stateroom, something Celebrity and Princess could take a lesson from. Current offerings included Victoria and Abdul, Churchill, Dunkirk to name just a few and TV shows like 6th season Game of Thrones. We thought the entertainment onboard was really good overall - Lincoln Centre Stage was packed every evening, as was Billboard and the EXC talks such as Rum Running in the Caribbean and Real Pirates of the Caribbean. Never had a problem finding a seat in the main theatre either.

[lastlook]

The TV's in the Gallary Bar are all set to the sports channel....that's where everyone gathers for the football games, golf, etc. It looks more like a gentlemen's club with wing chairs and sofas than a sports bar. They had the satellite feed for the football games on Sunday and Monday...and I think that they came through on the TV in the cabin as well. The cabin TV is very interactive....look up the menus for the day, etc. You can even download the HAL Navigator app on you devices. Ask at the desk how to do it.

Great information - many thanks!

[lastlook]

Mahi Mahi: Thanks very much for your insight. How was the BB King group and venue?

Edited January 26, 2018 by lastlook
Did not mention who I was responding to in my reply.

[mahi mahi]

We only caught the tail end of BB King one night so don't really have an opinion on it....let's just say it didn't grab my attention. We intended to see more however it was a matter of timing....we ate early (around 5:45 each night) so our usual evening consisted of Lincoln Centre Stage for their 7 pm concert followed directly by the show in the theatre at 8 pm which was usually an hour. By the time we were out of the theatre BB King was into their performance and we were getting tired! The venue did not seem to have the following on this cruise that we have seen in the past (standing room only). Groups change all the time so I'm sure some will be better than others.