Nieuw Amsterdam Review

4.5 / 5.0
963 reviews

Disappointed with Nieuw Amsterdam Mediterranean cruise

Review for the Western Mediterranean Cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam
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ccshern
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Sail Date: Jul 2011
Cabin: Deluxe Verandah Suite
Traveled with children

Just finished a 12 day Mediterranean cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam. It was a total disappointment. The food service was very inefficient. We had to wait in long lines for all three meals since we don't like the slow service in the formal dinning room. Once you got in front of the servers, they gave you very little servings of everything. Once a girl gave me very little veggies, so I asked for more. She picked up three more pieces of string beans and put on my plate....!!!!!

The excursions were ok except one, which prompt me to write this review. We joined the Florence/ Pisa excursion after docking in Livorno. All went well in the morning until lunch time. We were taken to 'SABATINI' restaurant in downtown Florence. There were three groups from the ship. Each group had about 40 people. The restaurant only gave us one young boy as waiter. There were three more waiters busy serving their walk in customers. They whipped pans of pasta and chunks of meat in front of us, while we only had a dry roll in each of our plate. We asked for butter or oil/vinegar but was ignored. After about 40 minutes, the boy started serving a tiny dish of pasta. They ran out for our table. We waited another 20 minutes for a tiny plate of broken lasagna noodle in pasta sauce. We waited another 30 minutes for a meat dish with a piece of paper thin slice of meet with 5 potato wedges and 7 tiny pieces of squash. My eight year old was still hungry after the main courses. My mother asked the waiter if we can order from the menu and he pretended not understanding English. Totally we spent 2.5 hours in the restaurant watch them busy serving other 'paying' customers. We were treated like second class citizens who were there for free food. The excursion costs almost $200 per person!!!!

Our trip to Pisa had to cut short because of the time spent in the restaurant. The tour guide only gave us 30 minutes once the bus arrived in Pisa. This included the time we walk from the bus station to the tower. So basically hi leaning tower and bye Pisa.

Cabin Review

Deluxe Verandah Suite

Large balcony

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