Nieuw Amsterdam.....Just back

[MISTER 67]

Just a few words on our 11/30 cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

Shipshape: Ship is 10 years old but in great shape.

Cleanliness: Never been on a dirty HAL ship and the NA did not disappoint.

Service: As always, excellent.

Food MDR: Very good, no complaints, loved the Wienerschnitzel, the Ossobuco and the Sole. All the Pasta dishes were very good.

Food in Lido Buffet. Again very good especially the soups. I don't eat much at lunch, just soup and a sandwich or a salad with soup.

Entertainment: Excellent in BB Kings, Billboard Onboard and Lincoln Center. As far as the Mainstage, they had an excellent comedian on the second night, first night was a talk by Rachael our cruise director with some stories on the Caribbean. She was back on night 5 with a talk about the history of HAL. Both talks were very informative but this should have been held on sea days in the morning or afternoon, not a night when you expected to be entertained. On night 3 they had a dance show called Humanity, after 3 minutes we walked out. Very dark and boring. No entertainment in the Ocean bar which was packed every night for Happy Hour, how much would it cost to have a piano player at Cocktail times?

Grand Cayman: Because of an undertow it was impossible to load passengers on to the tenders. The Captain tried everything he could do maneuvering the ship to other locations in harbor, no luck and and we spent the rest of the day at sea. Announcement was made that there would be open bars all over the ship with free Wine, Beer and Sodas from 1pm to 2pm, some took way too much advantage of the situation packing beer and soda into backpacks and saw one couple winding up with 8 glasses of wine each. Every passenger received a 50 dollar onboard credit and a 20 dollar refund for port charges, very fair but I'm sure some still complained.

Only complaint was the thermostat in our cabin, way too cold at 70 degrees and when we tried to get it up to around 75, the heat would come on. Could not find a happy medium.

Embarkation was very smooth and boarded the ship at 11:40, just in time for lunch in the Lido. We do the early walkoff (2nd couple off) and left the ship at 7:15 and were in our car in the garage by 7:30 for our 2.5 hour drive to home in Sebring Florida.

Will be happy to try to answer any questions.

 

 

Edited December 8, 2019 by MISTER 67
Omissisions

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review!

[cat shepard]

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

[SanDiego Single]

Thanks so much for your review!

[SumoCitrus]

I've been seeing a lot of good reviews lately. Thanks for this one!

[DeeniEncinitas]

She is our favorite HAL Beauty!!

We did her inaugural out of Venice and have done 3 more Med cruises on her and 2 Caribbean cruises. Thank you for your review and enjoy your continuation on her👍
Denise😊

[grest]

For what it's worth, we really enjoyed Humanity and the second show, Stages, later in the week.

[ivanidea]

I haven't a clue what Humanity was about, but enjoyed watching the dancers and listening to the music.  Entertainment seemed fine to me.  Sadly, didn't get to see many talks, since they usually clashed with something.

 

Free bar was disappointing, regarding the quality of the wines on offer - couldn't drink too much of the cheap red wine full of sediment, but it was a nice bonus.  It was good the refunds were done automatically, with a little extra for our inconvenience.  Just a pity we could not go ashore and buy our favourite rum from St. Pedro's castle.

 

Couldn't fault the service from our wait staff, wine waiter and room stewards.  On par with Cunard.

 

The food quality was excellent, although the selection was limited.

 

Disappointed in the Gala evenings, since it felt like I was the only man who made the effort (at least for 2nd sitting).

 

Only one shuffleboard court, and no deck quoits (I enjoy the traditional deck games).  

 

This was our first HAL cruise, and based on our experience, we do plan to cruise HAL in the future, since they will be returning to Tampa next year, which is convenient for us.  Even driving to Fort Lauderdale is a reasonable option for more destinations.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

 

Sorry about missing Grand Cayman.

 

Nieuw Amsterdam is one of our favorite ships.

[calebandjess]

We’ll be doing our first HAL cruise on NA in June (12-night Mediterranean), so it’s good to read positive reviews! Did you tender any poets, besides the one you missed? I’m interested to know how tendering was handled. Tickets, or just show up and line up?

[MISTER 67]

27 minutes ago, calebandjess said:

We’ll be doing our first HAL cruise on NA in June (12-night Mediterranean), so it’s good to read positive reviews! Did you tender any poets, besides the one you missed? I’m interested to know how tendering was handled. Tickets, or just show up and line up?

Tendered in Half Moon Cay but we stayed on board. Our experience with 22 HAL cruises is that tendering has always been quite painless, pretty sure on this cruise is that you didn't need tickets for Half Moon Cay as there were not typical shore excursions like in a place like Grand Cayman.

[MISTER 67]

3 hours ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

Thank you for your review.

 

Sorry about missing Grand Cayman.

 

Nieuw Amsterdam is one of our favorite ships.

Not going to lie to you, we very seldom get off the ship anymore as we've been to GC over 20 times so it was like getting a bonus when they gave us the OBC and port charges refunded to our account. We did get off in Falmouth, never been there but have done most of the excursions down through the years out of Ocho Rios and Montego Bay so we just walked around all the shops in the port area which was very nice.

Edited December 9, 2019 by MISTER 67

[Despegue]

4 hours ago, ivanidea said:

I haven't a clue what Humanity was about, but enjoyed watching the dancers and listening to the music.  Entertainment seemed fine to me.  Sadly, didn't get to see many talks, since they usually clashed with something.

 

Free bar was disappointing, regarding the quality of the wines on offer - couldn't drink too much of the cheap red wine full of sediment, but it was a nice bonus.  It was good the refunds were done automatically, with a little extra for our inconvenience.  Just a pity we could not go ashore and buy our favourite rum from St. Pedro's castle.

 

Couldn't fault the service from our wait staff, wine waiter and room stewards.  On par with Cunard.

 

The food quality was excellent, although the selection was limited.

 

Disappointed in the Gala evenings, since it felt like I was the only man who made the effort (at least for 2nd sitting).

 

Only one shuffleboard court, and no deck quoits (I enjoy the traditional deck games).  

 

This was our first HAL cruise, and based on our experience, we do plan to cruise HAL in the future, since they will be returning to Tampa next year, which is convenient for us.  Even driving to Fort Lauderdale is a reasonable option for more destinations.

Thank you for your contribution.

You mention that you were disappointed with the Gala evenings due to fellow passengers not “doing the effort”.

please note that on HAL, there are no Formal nights like on Cunard, and tuxedos or formalwear is not at all the norm. ( personal note: thank God. I wear a formal uniform for work, I do NOT want to do so in my free time).

Tuxedos are not even worn on weddings in most of Continental Europe ( the ship is Dutch), for most gentlemen, enjoying their holiday, a tie is already doing a lot of effort and according the etiquette of the evening.

[wdw1972]

I should know the answer to this, but I don't.  Have the Nieuw Amsterdam staterooms been updated to include the extra electrical outlets and the usb ports?  Is the tv still the clunky corner unit or is it a flat screen on the wall now?  My last time onboard was 2016 or 2017, so I'm hoping it's been updated like the Eurodam.

 

Thanks, and thanks for the terrific review - well done.

 

Sue/WDW1972

[unclerich]

We were on NA in November. At least in the Neptune Suite, outlets are updated to include USB ports.  TV was flat screen on wall.  Ship was fine. We had no problems, though friends in a Signature Suite had to be moved due to non-functioning toilet for > 2 days. Thank goodness there was an available cabin for them.

For us, in the Caribbean, the retreat cabana makes the cruise!

[fatcat04]

8 minutes ago, wdw1972 said:

I should know the answer to this, but I don't.  Have the Nieuw Amsterdam staterooms been updated to include the extra electrical outlets and the usb ports?  Is the tv still the clunky corner unit or is it a flat screen on the wall now?  My last time onboard was 2016 or 2017, so I'm hoping it's been updated like the Eurodam.

 

Thanks, and thanks for the terrific review - well done.

 

Sue/WDW1972

We were on this last February (and will be back on next month) in a balcony cabin on deck 4 and there was a USB port by each nightstand and the TV was a lovely big flat screen. The outlets however were still limited to those on the desk as before.

[wdw1972]

1 minute ago, unclerich said:

We were on NA in November. At least in the Neptune Suite, outlets are updated to include USB ports.  TV was flat screen on wall.  Ship was fine. We had no problems, though friends in a Signature Suite had to be moved due to non-functioning toilet for > 2 days. Thank goodness there was an available cabin for them.

For us, in the Caribbean, the retreat cabana makes the cruise!

Love the Retreat cabanas, and rarely sail without one.  This time I will, as this is an "extra" cruise squeezed in as a true solo (no travel buddy in her own stateroom, sharing the cabana) between a couple 10 & 11 day cruises.  Just got off Koningsdam last Wednesday, where we enjoyed the Retreat.  We will have it booked for the 11 day Nieuw Statendam next December.  So, the NA cruise is intended as a quick, cheap getaway 😉 

 

Sue/WDW1972

[fatcat04]

Thank you OP for the review. We will be on her in just a few weeks now. She was so great last year, we booked her again this year! 🍾🥂

[wdw1972]

2 minutes ago, fatcat04 said:

We were on this last February (and will be back on next month) in a balcony cabin on deck 4 and there was a USB port by each nightstand and the TV was a lovely big flat screen. The outlets however were still limited to those on the desk as before.

Thanks - this tells me what to expect.  I'll bring a power strip without surge protection, or just use the USB port.  Most of what I have that needs charging can be via USB.

 

Sue/WDW1972

[erewhon]

Thank you for reviewing your cruise.