I just returned home from the February 13 - 20 sailing of the Nieuw Amsterdam, and I thought I would pass along some of my thoughts on this sailing while they were still fresh in my head.
First, this sailing was an RSVP charter of the ship, so this experience was somewhat different than your normal HAL cruise. But, hopefully some of my observations about the ship, crew, and port destinations will be of value. As background, my partner and I are 52 and 49 respectively. That seemed to be the general demographic of this cruise. Some older, some younger, but a real good mix.
Pre-Cruise