Nieuw Amsterdam Review
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Background Info: As my title says, this cruise was to celebrate my 50th (actually in September but starting early) birthday. Booked this cruise back in October and have been counting down ever since. I've been on 10-15 cruises lost count and have been on one other HAL ship, Maasdam, very nice but smaller and I must be truthful, on a gay sponsored cruise so that was a bit different. Also picked this cruise for the itinerary and the fact that the ship was new. Also never been to the Med, so all ports were new to me. Our itinerary was Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Liverno (Florence), Civitavecchia (Rome),Messina,Nafplion,Katakolon,Corfu,Dubrovnik and Venice.
Ship: Very beautiful and understated, not as glitzy as other lines such as the corporate owner Carnival. Staff is extremely friendly and nice, I think more than other cruise lines. I lost my camera about half way through the cruise and one of the staff found it and returned it to lost and found. When she (Evangeline from the Sea View pool) saw me at the pool she told me she found it I gave her a big hug since I had taken some 500 pictures already and was very upset about losing it. She was one of the highlights of the trip! One of the others was Tom the tour guide. What a great guy and gave some great advice on what to do on shore. Loved the narration coming into Venice! Also have to mention a bar attendant name Boozie Boozie (his last name) at the Sea View pool, this is a guy that loves his job and is excellent at it. What a great personality and makes everyone laugh.
Stateroom: Loved the stateroom. Our cabin was on the port side which seemed to the side we docked each time, love to watch the docking process. Lots of storage and I travel heavy meaning lots of clothes and I had plenty of room. They even had two drawers under the bed which I never used! Even had enough room to store the luggage under the bed and in the closet. Loved having the tub for more room for showering, rare on a cruise unless you have a suite. Also loved the containers in the shower for shampoo, conditioner and loved the shower gel. The baloney was very roomy and used it every morning when having coffee. Very fun way to not lose your stateroom key, HAL makes you insert the key in a pad by the door to turn on the electricity, good way to save energy as well.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom
HAL has great and especially the new Nieuw Amsterdam. I am not a light packer so I had alot of stuff. Didn't fill all the closets and didn't even use the drawers under the bed which was a nice touch. Would have liked a switch to turn on or off the speaker in the cabin for annoucements, had to open the door to hear the cruise director and others at times. Great baloney, I think a bit bigger than others above us.