Nieuw Amsterdam Review
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We just disembarked on Sunday 12/2 from the Nieuw Amsterdam and wanted to share what a great cruise it was for us as a second time HAL cruiser. Many of our comparisons will be with the Eurodam, which we cruised six months earlier.
Embarkation:
We drove up from the Keys early on Sunday 12/25 and stopped at Total Wine for our wine pick up. We found ordering the case of wine online to be the best thing as the store does not open until Noon and there is a group of 40 people waiting to get in. When the store opened it took about 10 minutes for them to locate our case, check the contents and we were out the door. By 12:30 we had dropped off our Avis car at the Hyatt and were on a shuttle bound for the ship immediately after. Upon arrival at 12:45 at the revamped Pier 26 we were whisked to the Suite check in line and in our room by 1:05. Absolutely quick and efficient! The only delay in boarding is the bottleneck caused by the photographers right before entering the ship.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Verandah Suite
We booked the corner aft suite 4176 and as we have stayed at the opposite end on the Eurodam in (4181) were pleasantly surprised not to see any major changes from before. The room is a great space with King size bed and under bed storage, loads of closet space with tons of hangers and good drawer and cabinet space throughout. The one change we noted is that you must insert your key card into a slot next to your door upon entering the room to engage the lights and electric. This is a great energy saving feature however tough to charge any iPods, iPad; unless you were in the room with the keycard in the slot. Our bathroom was spacious with a double sink, shower and separate tub. We also noticed a great touch with the addition of Molton Brown bath products in our room: we received Kadu Plum shampoo, conditioner and lotion in a generous 2.7oz size. This was in addition to the Elemis products already found in the room. In fact we commented on how much quieter our room was compared to the Eurodam during rougher seas as there was not the creaking nor groaning we heard in February.