This was our third Holland America cruise and our first on ms Nieuw Amsterdam. We were on a 14 day collector cruise which basically is a 7 day cruise and then back to Fort Lauderdale to change some passengers for a second 7 day cruise.
We booked the cruise with Holland America and then transferred the booking to Vacations to Go to take advantage of their on-board credit. On arrival in our stateroom our on-board credit was confirmed in the form of a welcome gift from vacations to Go. Our stateroom was guaranteed as N we were more than pleased with the one assigned. It was on deck 4 just one above the Promenade deck and gave easy access to the dining room and entertainment and presentation areas, most of which were on decks 2 and 3.
The cabin stewards were excellent and immediately brought us an ice bucket for the champagne we had brought on board to celebrate my wife's birthday. We also were able to store the rest of the wine we brought on board in the seat in front of the desk which kept it out of the way, battened down and easily accessible. Because Holland America allow passengers to bring wine on board we have fallen into the habit of having a "wine" hour just before dinner.
We go for inside cabins because my wife suffers from motion sickness, we like to sleep in and they are half price. The new ships are building smaller inside cabins but they are fine for sleeping. Not so much if you want to spend a lot of time in your cabin.