Nieuw Amsterdam Review

HAL and Nieuw Amsterdam: Classy and Traditional

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam
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shipnc
10+ Cruises • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Aug 2012
Cabin: Deluxe Verandah Suite

BACKGROUND This cruise was actually not our original choice. We have enjoyed river cruising lately and had planned on taking a French river cruise with land stays at Paris and Barcelona at the beginning and end. However, as we started totaling up the costs of the river cruise, even with a sub-water level room, it appeared that an ocean cruise might be a better value. Sure enough, due to the Costa effect or the economy or whatever, we found great values on Mediterranean cruises and opted to go that way. We booked this cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam because it was a new ship, we like the traditional nature of HAL and we liked the itinerary that included many interesting ports PLUS some days at sea. The trend these days seems to be to cram as many ports as possible into the itineraries, but we always enjoy sea days, and you NEED them to recover from the rigors of sightseeing! Since we had allocated about 15 days for the original trip, we decided to do a pre-cruise stay in Venice.

VENICE -- PRE CRUISE Lufthansa is our airline of choice whenever feasible. The airline offers direct service to Munich out of Charlotte, our home town, thus bypassing the horrors of Philadelphia, New York or Newark. What's more, it's a top notch operation where you actually get some service aboard and the flight attendants are younger than you. Our flights were right on time, and we arrived at Marco Polo airport shortly after noon local time. While waiting for the bags to arrive, I wrestled with the automatic ticket vending machine to get tickets on the ATVO express bus to Venice. I wouldn't call it user friendly, or it might have been my jet lagged fog, but after numerous attempts I finally procured the tickets. (There are also ticket machines next to the bus stop outside the terminal and the bus driver can help with the machine.) There are basically 5 ways to get from the airport to the Piazalle Roma, which is the entryway to Venice and terminal point for vehicles. You can take the ATVO bus which is a nice, air conditioned Greyhound-style bus with plenty of bag storage space below. This is what we opted for at a price of 6 euros each. You can take a cab at a price of about 50 euros. You can also take the city local ACTV bus, but bag storage is minimal and it makes stops. It is part of the city transportation network, however, so a multi-day ticket is good for it and the vaporettos in Venice, making it the cheapest option. There is also an Allilaguna Boat option but its destinations are limited -- San Marco and the cruise ship piers come to mind. I think the fare is around 16 euros. Finally, there are the water taxis which are the fastest and most convenient and can take you closest to your hotel, but are also very costly -- over 100 euros plus bag fees.

I did a lot of pre-cruise research on hotel locations since I knew Venice was a tough place to get around with luggage. I narrowed my search to an area near the Piazzale Roma, which is the arrival square for public transportation and near the people mover that takes passengers out to the cruise ship piers. I reasoned that a hotel in this area would enable us to walk to our hotel and then back to the people mover when we started our cruise. I did realize the challenge of toting bags, so I limited my choices to hotels that were well reviewed by Trip Advisor and within a 15 minute walk of the Piazzale Roma. The Hotel Canal Grande, right on the Grand Canal, met these requirements, and that is where we booked.

Cabin Review

Deluxe Verandah Suite

Cabin SA
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