Nieuw Amsterdam Review

4.5 / 5.0
963 reviews

ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!!!

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam
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Go Go Go!
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Mar 2011

Our week on the Nieuw Amsterdam was everything we hoped it would be! We are in our 40's and this was our 8th cruise - 1st with Holland America. Sailed previously with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, NCL, and Carnival. EmbarkationWe drove in from the west of Florida on Sunday morning arriving at the terminal at 10:45 am. We parked our car at Park-N-Go (very highly recommend!! Make a reservation online, print and pay as you exit -$5.99 a day versus almost $20 a day at terminal. Shuttle picks you up at your car and promptly takes you to the terminal). Door to the terminal opens at 11:00 am. Straight through security - we packed wine, alcohol, soft drinks, etc - if not blatant, I don't think they care. Filled out our health forms, showed our passports, and we were sent upstairs to a holding area. Waited about 10-15 minutes, and our group number was called. Walked onboard at 11:40 am - deck 3. Luckily, they told us that we could go straight to our cabins. We carried our luggage onboard, so we were completely unpacked and having lunch by 12:15 pm.CabinWe had a forward verandah cabin on the 7th floor - absolutely wonderful! The closet is divided into three sections. Shelves can be adjusted to give more hanging space if needed. One closet section has the safe in it. Lots of hangers. There are two drawers in each nightstand plus a large drawer at the end of each bed. We stored our suitcases under the bed. Vanity stool has storage underneath plus there is storage above the sofa. Vanity/desk has a make-up mirror and corner shelves for the blow dryer, etc. Vanity/desk also houses the refrigerator, which we had our cabin steward empty, and we filled with our own items. Great reading lights next to the bed. We brought a little clock and were glad we did. Verandah is heavenly. Bathroom is spacious for a ship and so nice to have a small bathtub! Three small glass corner shelves above the bathroom vanity plus a large shelf underneath the sink. Cabin was very quiet. Beds were wonderful. Plenty of storage space as well as living space. CrewCrew is mainly Indonesian, and there truly could not be a nicer, happier group of people. Always so polite with such beautiful smiles. I cannot speak highly enough about how wonderful these dear, extremely hardworking people are. Ports of CallWe really cruised for the ship, not the ports. Half Moon Cay is beautiful. Grand Turk's cruise center is very nice and so convenient. Nice pool and beautiful beach right there - no taxi needed. Been to Grand Cayman a couple of times, so stayed onboard. Costa Maya was kind of desolate and depressing. We brought our laptop and jumped onto an unsecured connection in each port - right from our balcony in Grand Turk!EntertainmentWe thought the entertainment was great! Loved all of the nightly shows (8 & 10:15pm) Comedian, Rondell Sheridan, is hilarious!!! Heard he is not a regular, though. Singers and dancers - especially the four members of Cantare - were great. Cruise director can even sing! Andy James, the magician, was great! Beautiful foursome of strings could be heard on the way to dinner each night. Loved the Showroom at Sea. DiningWe had a lot of wonderful meals! Some items better than others, but overall very good, and I have five extra pounds now to show for it! Celebrity food may be a little better. Coffee was terrible - wish we had brought some flavored creamers. We had anytime dining and never had to wait.Spa/FitnessWe never had any treatments, but they sure were busy. Exercise room was great except annoying that they charged extra for yoga and spin classes. We walked each morning outside on deck three - three times around is a mile. Lots of people doing this all day long.EmbarkationSad day. We carried our bags off the ship. Quickly through customs, met immediately by a Park-N-Go shuttle, delivered directly to our car - all by 7:45 am.OverallSuch a great week!! We appreciate upscale cruising as well as an upscale clientele. We do not like party ships - Holland America was perfect for us! There were definitely people of all ages on the ship. A good amount of children and teenagers, but they were all very well behaved. Holland America is our new favorite cruise line!

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