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Nieuw Amsterdam Review

cobalt206

By cobalt206,
in Holland America Line

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cobalt206

cobalt206

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We just got off the NA in San Diego and had a very nice cruise. As usual, the service was outstanding.

 

Embarkation in San Diego was a breeze and the terminal is small and basic.

 

Our signature suite was well appointed and the cabin stewards Sandri and Heru were awesome.

 

The adult seaview pool turned into the kids pool. I heard there were 400 kids onboard, way more than we’ve ever witnessed onboard a HAL ship but it is Spring Break. There simply was not enough room in the Lido Pool to handle the volume of kids. Unfortunately, that made the aft pool kind of crazy and not very adult friendly. It seems like very few people realized the aft pool is for the adults and there is less signage than in the past. We decided to stay onboard the ship in Mazatlan and had a great relaxing day at the Seaview pool as most got off the ship.

 

We had three dinners at Tamarind, three at Pinnacle Grill and one on our balcony. Tamarind was excellent as always but the Pinnacle was well below expectations on all three dinners. We’ve always been fans of PG and typically eat there multiple times on every cruise. I’ve always regarded them as on par with our top steakhouses in Seattle. Our first two dinners the quality of the beef was really not good. Grainy filets and grisly Rib-eye and Porterhouse. Decided to try seafood on last night and that was an even bigger disappointment. My wife’s Halibut was dry and not flavorful. My Scallops were cold and bland. I would have expected better in the MDR. I let the Maitre D’ aware of our overall experiences after our third underwhelming meal. He was apologetic and offered new meals that we declined. I brought this up as we prefer HAL for their fine dining as well as we are stockholders. I’m hoping this was simply an anomaly but three dinners in a row is not a coincidence. Hopefully they can get this corrected soon. This is our third HAL cruise in the past 12 months and we had nothing but good experiences in the Pinnacle in the two prior cruises (Oosterdam and Eurodam).

 

Disembarkation went smoothly and was well organized.

 

Overall this was a good cruise that could have been much better. Our allegiance to HAL may have taken a little hit even though we just got to 3 star Mariner status. I would be interested to know other people’s opinion on Pinnacle  Grill. Anybody else see a decline in quality or did we just catch them on an off week?

 

 

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c-cruise

c-cruise

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Thanks for the review. We are doing this same itineray on the NA in a few weeks. Never sailed from San Diego so glad to hear the embarkation/disembarkation went smoothly. Good to hear that there were a fair number of kids onboard. We cruise with our kids and its nice when there is a bit more of a family atmosphere on HAL.  Agree about the seaview pool - people need to respect adults only areas when posted as such. We've only done PG a few times, but never been that impressed by it. I'm more of a Dive In guy though so as long as I can get a burger by the pool I will be happy. 

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Roz Great Review Rare

Roz

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Thank you for your review.  I'll be on the NA 3 wks. from today. 

 

I've been underwhelmed by the PG on any ship I've sailed on.  I sometimes book a Neptune Suite when I can get a good price.  The last I did was on the Eurodam.  Breakfast in the Pinnacle, which is something I look forward to, was disorganized and chaotic.  If someone can't get a raisin bun and a cup of coffee to my table in a reasonable amt. of time without tripping over the other waiters, then I question their ability to serve me a steak cooked to my preference.  

 

I rarely if ever complain to the concierges about anything, but I did mention something to one of them, and asked if there was  new staff in the Pinnacle.  She told me others had the same complaint, and she was going to mention something to the Food & Beverage Manager.  The next morning the "Dutch Army" was in the Pinnacle overseeing operations.

 

On my upcoming b2b cruises, I have Tamarind booked one night, and may try lunch again in the Pinnacle, but I'm not going to waste my time and money on dinner.

 

Roz

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SJSULIBRARIAN

SJSULIBRARIAN

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In my opinion, the smaller the ship; the better the Pinnacle Grill. I think it may have something to do with the ratio of servers to passengers. The smaller the ship, the better the ratio. I was on the NA 3 weeks ago and planned to eat in the PG three times; I cut it to twice as the service was not that good (it was the first week of the new menu) and the food portions were smaller - which I don't mind- but the quality was not that good. So I ate in the Tamarind 5 times and never had a complaint. 

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cobalt206

cobalt206

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2 hours ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

In my opinion, the smaller the ship; the better the Pinnacle Grill. I think it may have something to do with the ratio of servers to passengers. The smaller the ship, the better the ratio. I was on the NA 3 weeks ago and planned to eat in the PG three times; I cut it to twice as the service was not that good (it was the first week of the new menu) and the food portions were smaller - which I don't mind- but the quality was not that good. So I ate in the Tamarind 5 times and never had a complaint. 

Well, if the Tamarind can consistently achieve excellence on the larger ships, why can’t the Pinnacle Grill?

 

We almost switched our reservation on the last night from Pinnacle to Tamarind but we thought there’s no way possible to get three bad meals in a row on the same cruise. Shame on us for giving them a third opportunity.

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Himself

Himself

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I was recently on the NIEUW STATENDAM and had a great meal in the PG.  I was on the NA in November and had two great meals in the PG.  I  will be on the NA in June and hope I have a good experience in the PG.

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