Nieuw Amsterdam Review

Nieuw Amsterdam

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam
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sally55
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Apr 2011
Cabin: Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom

Perhaps I was unable to do enough research and should have had different expectations, but this cruise was disappointing in some aspects. The ship is beautiful, tasteful. Our stateroom had a nice balcony but I do not consider it spacious for a cruise ship, and it seemed about the same size as most other outside rooms we walked past while doors were open, even on deck 1, so except for shower gel and shampoo in the bath and 2 bathroobes to use, and of course the balcony, I am not sure what I was paying for. There was a terrible shudder vibration quite frequently in the room which was uncomfortable, rather like sitting on a washer spinning a load out of balance. This waas not rough seas or waves, this was a continual regular, mechanical issue of some kind. Also, though I had online chat with an agent before booking to confirm internet access, there was no mention at that time or any information at all on the web site that explained that besides the one-time connection fee, internet service is buy subscritpiton only and the cheapest rate was $100.00 for 250 minutes! REALLY? And the signal in our room was bad, so when I tried to connect I was frequently disconnected and when I complained to the tech guy onboard about having wasted minutes having to resend email that did not send when the connection was lost he told me that I had to go to a central public space and offered no refund of my minutes used.Food on the Lido buffet was reat most of the time, and unlike a prefvious cruise the fruit and salads were fresh each day and did not diminish in quality or selection. We enjoyed the freedom of dining on the Lido deck and only went to our assigned seating once. We found the menu for the Lido entrees and the dining room was the same so we chose not to get dressed up and ate at our leisure.Smoke was a big issue for us, there is smoking in the casino and some of the bars on that deck, and it was very nasty to us and made it impossible to enjoy one of the nightclubs we really waanted to dance in. I heard other paassengers complain of smoking on the balcony next to theirs that prevented them from being on their balcony but this did not happen to us or I would have been seeking some kind of refund!Disembarkation at port seemed disporganized the frist couple of stops, and the wait for tenders into our first port was nearly three hours long, which is totally ridiculous. We had not booked a ship tour for that stop and those on the ships tours had first priority leaving the ship, leaving those of us wanting to exploreon our own loose 3 hours of shore time! We were also 90 minuutes late docking at the second port, though they claimed that it was the port authority preventing us from heading into the dock.We had a horrible experience on another cruise line many years ago and this was our frist cruise since then. It is a great way to visit so many places but I was disappointed at the amount of extras that are not included on the ship. I was particularly put off when, on our first walk around the ship on embarkation, we walked into the gorgeous spa area only to be told it would cost $300 - per person- to use the spa tubs. Made us feel second class from the beginning. After two days they did get all of the pools and pool deck hot tubs open for everyone to use for free.I was impressed at their attempts to keep everyone healthy, with hand sanitizer stations at the entry to all eating areas and also at the gangway when returning to the ship from shore. All of the staff was fantanstic wiht their cheerful attitudes and wonderful service. We regretted taking one bus tour, the one in Istanbul, since we wasted a LOT of time in traffic on narrow streets with the bus not able to make it down the streets, especially since we could have walked most of the distances between the historic sites we visited.We arranged for independent private guides at 2 locations and would highly recommend this, it is much more efficient, you can maneuver traffice better, adjust your schedule to your whim and it is even cheaper than thee bus tours from the ship. That said, we had a wonderful "Kebab Experience" excursion arranged by the ship in Istanbul.There is also no wa to check your onboard account without going to the front desk for a printout.I hope this is helpful. Some of my frustration is probably my fault.

Cabin Review

Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom

Cabin VD

10034 great balcony, room adequate for two people. Bed was not a king but two twins together without a pad so it was uncomfortable in the middle. Hard to put suitcase away in the closet.

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