First, let me just say, Nieuw Amsterdam is our favorite ship now. We’ve sailed Eurodam, Oosterdam and Noordam. All great ships but this one is awesome! The artwork and décor is very nice. The ship is in fantastic shape and the crew was wonderful. Take a close look at the large mural of New York that is outside the Manhattan dining room, (across from Adagio) you will notice something quite clever.

Fort Lauderdale embarkation was slow but normal. The time we could board was pushed back from 11:15 to 11:45. I’m not sure why. The staff handling things were very nice and pleasant. There were no free refreshments that I noticed but there were vending machines in the waiting area. The seats were comfortable enough and the A/C was working well. We had used the VIP Bags-service. They picked up our luggage from the carousel at the airport and it was in our cabin when we got on board. I had never used this service before and was a little nervous but they were great! Communication is very good and it is a very reasonable price for the convenience you get.

We had cabin 6053. It is a signature Suite. It is close to the forward elevators which makes getting to the Crow’s Nest and gym pretty easy. In the Signature Suites, the large screen TV on the wall behind the sofa is actually a plus in our book. Sure, you can't watch it from the sofa now but it frees up a lot of space on the counter top and where the DVD player used to fit, not to mention you now have two more power outlets available. On the minus side, we didn't get any personalized stationery this time. I don't know if it was just an oversight or a permanent cut-back. Everything else in the cabin was great. No plumbing issues. For some reason though,, one of the A/C vent covers was completely blanked off with packing tape on the inside. After I removed the cover and stripped off all the tape the room cooled right down which was a good thing because it was miserably hot outside. I never did notice anyone smoking anything on the verandas. Read more