In a Nutshell: The elegant MS Nieuw Amsterdam is a ship designed for this decade. It reflects how cruise ships have evolved from a medium of transportation to a hospitality vessel. The seven day Eastern Caribbean “holiday” cruise exceeded expectations. HAL is working hard to keep up with the competition, trying to appeal to the budget cruiser who is looking for a bargain. The food in the main dining room and specialty restaurants is of high quality. Most personnel is professional and courteous. HAL has focused in bringing aboard top-notch musicians. The company can make some minor improvements. Food servers at the Lido and the Tamarind are subpar compared to other restaurants. Bartenders across the ship – receive an automatic 15% tip on every purchase – are rude and inefficient (and especially at the Lido). And on a full ship, personnel can be overstretched. Guests can see them running around and working hard. But there is only so much their employees can do at one time. It seems that they don’t have enough employees in this big ship, and as a result, quality suffers at times.

Overall, sailing the MS Niuew Amsterdam is a vacation worth living. A ship for these times, made for different types of guests who want to be entertained and want to enjoy the pristine waters of the Caribbean (in this cruise). With a few improvements in customer service HAL could easily surpass other similar cruise companies within their category.

Embarkation at Port Everglades Read more