Live from the Nieuw Amsterdam 2.12.23 Sailing

[misguy]

We are onboard and today we are on our way to Aruba, arriving at 5:00 PM and staying till 10:30.  The ship has one azipod with a damaged bearing which is limiting it speed.  We were not able to tender at Half Moon Cay, the water was too rough.  They tried twice an hour apart to see if they could make it work, but if you had been abled to get on the tender it would have been a miserable trip to shore.

 

We are having a good cruise, though I will say the food in the main dining room has been average for the most part.  This is our 19th cruise since the pandemic and we have sailed on Princess, NCL, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Virgin Voyages, and Celebrity.  So far nothing we have eaten has stood out as being better than any of the others.  There is no longer a night where they serve lobster, and several of the other lines still do.  

 

We ate at Canalettos, and the food was good, but I don't know that I would rank it above any of the specialty Italian restaurants on other ships.  We have Tamarind and the Pinnacle grill later this week.  I will post pictures and links to menu's later today.  

 

The ship is moving quite a bit and the internet is not great even with the best package.  

[misguy]

One of the best values we have seen onboard, is the Mixology Class in the Ocean Bar.  You learn to make different drinks and then you get to enjoy them.  It is $15.00 and you get 4 drinks in the class.  That is $4.25 per drink.  We didn't buy the drink package, and my wife usually sits and shares my drinks.  

[goldsmip115]

I am anxious to hear about your experiences as we board on Sunday for two weeks.  It’s disconcerting to hear about the poor internet connection.

[misguy]

If the ship was moving less, that would make things a little better, but the best I have had so far was 1Mb up and down.  

[misguy]

We are in Aruba, we arrived about 4:30 and it was shortly after 5 when they started letting passengers off.  We docked a long way from the terminal, the captain said about 500 meters.  The wind was howling, so we elected to stay onboard.  It is giving me a chance on catching up.

[misguy]

Sitting still at the dock in Aruba, the speed check said 1.7 Mbps down and 1.4 Mbps up.  So ok for email and text, but not good for streaming or live content.

[Hooked!]

Thanks for your reporting! I sail the NA next month, and there hasn’t been much posted about her recently. If possible, could you let us know if Lincoln Center Stage performances are still happening/listed in the daily program? 

 

[kelliebiz]

I’ll enjoy following along with you, as we’ll be aboard in two weeks. I hope they get the propulsion repaired soon. 

[lizinindy]

We are currently on board (second week). Steaks in Pinnacle were unusually tough and good luck finding anyone who can cook a rare steak—except Tamarind! Overall a wonderful experience-but we’re always happy to have sea days. Those who would have enjoyed beach time at Bonaire (canceled stop due to limping azipod) were no doubt disappointed to get to the substitute Aruba too late for beach visits. Really, today in Curaçao is the only stop on this cruise that was meaningful. $50 compensation for missing Half Moon is all you’re gonna get for your one useful stop cruise.

Dining room is fine but s l o w. You can get almost the same menu in the Lido. And (TMI here)—- why no toilet brush in the bathroom?

[misguy]

Today is the first of our two sea days on the way home.  The ship is still moving a lot, the seas have been high for almost all of this cruise.  Yesterday we were in Curacao, and the ship docks in the channel past the swinging bridge.  I would agree with service in the dining room has been slow and sometimes we have felt like they forgot about us.  I would say that there seems to be a real staffing issue.

 

My wife said that at breakfast this morning, the waiters forgot to bring her toast, and another gentleman was waiting for a second cup of coffee, and finally one of the managers came and brought coffee and her toast. 

 

We have been treated very well by the staff, and I will have a lot of videos coming about the ship.  The internet is so slow that it is impacting my ability to get things completed.  

 

From the ship to get to the shopping areas, you can go out the gate and it is about 2 blocks up a little hill and then down a couple more to reach the shopping areas.  We went and toured Sandals yesterday morning, and the wandered around town for a little while.  The day had a little rain early and then it was a beautiful afternoon.  

 

The show last night was a comedian, who had performed a couple of nights earlier.  There were a couple of recycled jokes, but most of the show was original  He is pretty funny, but a little racy.  The individuals that we talked to who were on the second week of a 14 day cruise said that the shows were exactly the same for both sailing. 

 

I am working on scanning all of the dailies, and the coverting the menus to pdfs and will have all of that available pretty quickly.  As soon as I do, I will post a link here. 

[misguy]

On 2/15/2023 at 7:10 PM, Hooked! said:

Thanks for your reporting! I sail the NA next month, and there hasn’t been much posted about her recently. If possible, could you let us know if Lincoln Center Stage performances are still happening/listed in the daily program? 

 

Yes they are listed and they are happening daily, I think.  

[misguy]

I will have to say that I am very impressed with the dining in Tamarind.  We had dinner there and it was far and away the best meal we have eaten on the ship.  We go to Pinnacle grill tomorrow night and so we will see how they stack up.

 

My wife and I attended different wine tastings, and I will say that I learned a lot and was glad we went.  I will have videos from both I will post.

[goldsmip115]

Thanks for that update. We have Tamarind booked for 6 nights, Pinnacle Grill booked for 4 nights and Canaletto for 4 nights.  We may change it up depending upon how we find Pinnacle Grill. It used to be excellent. I remember the days of Sterling Beef.  Loooong gone.

[goldsmip115]

How are the Azipods performing?  Do you think this has impacted the stabilizers on the ship?

[2flacruisers]

Are you still at sea?  How are things going....

[mahi mahi]

I am getting a little worried for our March 19 cruise given the issue with the azipod.  This is deja vue for us....same thing happened in February 2020 and NA had to cancel our cruise and head to the repair shop to fix an azipod.  They emailed us that we had been rebooked on a different ship with a different itinerary for the same week.  We ended up on the NS a week later.  Thankfully we had booked our air through HAL and they covered the change for us.

 

What are the chances????

[misguy]

We just got off the ship yesterday, and I will answer a few questions.  First we found both Tamarind and the Pinnacle grill to be excellent.  We love our food and the service.  

 

The azipod issues seems to be stable, but the ship will have to operate at a slightly reduced speed which will affect the itineraries.

 

I am working on putting together all off the documents, menus, and food pictures together to create an in depth series on the sailing.  If you have any questions, please post them here and I will try to answer them.

[iluvthe-c]

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Edited February 20, 2023 by iluvthe-c
wrong topic

[Florida_gal_50]

5 hours ago, mahi mahi said:

I am getting a little worried for our March 19 cruise given the issue with the azipod.  This is deja vue for us....same thing happened in February 2020 and NA had to cancel our cruise and head to the repair shop to fix an azipod.  They emailed us that we had been rebooked on a different ship with a different itinerary for the same week.  We ended up on the NS a week later.  Thankfully we had booked our air through HAL and they covered the change for us.

 

What are the chances????

Thanks for that information.  I thought I'd remembered and issue with the azipod on this ship previously.

[cwtravel]

Is the BB King band still on board and is the NA (Signature class) keeping BB Kings?

we are considering the NA for a Christmas cruise and Daddy Warbucks who is paying for his entire family loves BB King and would not be happy with the RS Rock Room.

 

Thanks!

[wdw1972]

4 hours ago, cwtravel said:

Is the BB King band still on board and is the NA (Signature class) keeping BB Kings?

we are considering the NA for a Christmas cruise and Daddy Warbucks who is paying for his entire family loves BB King and would not be happy with the RS Rock Room.

 

Thanks!

Pinnacle ships have Rolling Stone Rock Room and BB Kings.  Signature ships have BB Kings.  Vista ships have Rolling Stone Lounge (not Rock Room).

 

Sue/WDW1972

[brnowl]

On 2/20/2023 at 6:23 AM, mahi mahi said:

I am getting a little worried for our March 19 cruise given the issue with the azipod.  This is deja vue for us....same thing happened in February 2020 and NA had to cancel our cruise and head to the repair shop to fix an azipod.  They emailed us that we had been rebooked on a different ship with a different itinerary for the same week.  We ended up on the NS a week later.  Thankfully we had booked our air through HAL and they covered the change for us.

 

What are the chances????

I am following this on the roll call.  After our two covid cancellations we took a cruise last September and ended up losing ports that were our main calls because of Hurricane Fiona.  Maybe those of us from southern Ontario are jinxes! 🙄

 

[mahi mahi]

1 hour ago, brnowl said:

I am following this on the roll call.  After our two covid cancellations we took a cruise last September and ended up losing ports that were our main calls because of Hurricane Fiona.  Maybe those of us from southern Ontario are jinxes! 🙄

 

We are definitely a jinx!  I tell people "do not travel with us - it will not go well"

[Raintree]

On 2/15/2023 at 10:04 AM, goldsmip115 said:

I am anxious to hear about your experiences as we board on Sunday for two weeks.  It’s disconcerting to hear about the poor internet connection.

What are the lunch options on embarkation day when embarking in Ft. Lauderdale?  Thank you.

[snellbaker]

On 2/20/2023 at 10:26 AM, misguy said:

We just got off the ship yesterday, and I will answer a few questions.  First we found both Tamarind and the Pinnacle grill to be excellent.  We love our food and the service.  

 

The azipod issues seems to be stable, but the ship will have to operate at a slightly reduced speed which will affect the itineraries.

 

I am working on putting together all off the documents, menus, and food pictures together to create an in depth series on the sailing.  If you have any questions, please post them here and I will try to answer them.

Did you ever get the documents, menus, etc together?