Nieuw Amsterdam Review

First Time on Holland America Line

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Nieuw Amsterdam
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abarbstar
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Cabin
Value for Money
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Additional details

Sail Date: Mar 2015
Cabin: Large Outside Stateroom (fully obstructed views)

My husband and i have always been very loyal to royal before this cruise, and since we tried hal, we are switching! We have been on every cruise line except disney ( too many kids ) and are at the diamond plus level at rccl. This nieuw amsterdam ship really impressed us- as old time veterans, we expected a nice cruise, but were blown away by the service, quality of the food and how organized the cabins were.

I had a wonderful time, had brought my i pad with lots of books to read but only got through 2 of them, there was so much to do everyday. I loved the manhattan dining room, we had as you wish seating and were able to request a large table and keep it for the whole 2 weeks. We had different tablemates for much of the cruise, made it really interesting and we got to meet a large cross section of passengers who we really enjoyed. the food was far and above any other cruise lines, including celebrity. We loved eating in the dining room for breakfast, where they had the best fresh made to order omelets and giant croissants! I ate fresh baby asparagus spears at least once every day! The service was impeccable, we loved our waiter and how special he made us feel. My husband had happy birthday sung to him on his birthday in phillipino, a truly amazing experience- also got a birthday card from the captain- wow, that has never happened on any other ship in the 40+ times we have cruised. The best thing also about the ship was the piano bar. Jimmy Mattox really packed them in every night, he was so good, they kept moving him to larger venues whenever they could.

The rest of the entertainment was also good- i liked all the acts, especially the steel pan group, Island Magic. They truly were magical with all the classical music they played on those instruments. I have never heard anything like them before! The choices each night for entertainment rivaled the larger ships, always something happening till the wee hours. I was expecting the mature crowd to be rolling up the sidewalks at 9 pm, but that didn't happen- even on the last night of the 2 week cruise, the ship was hopping at 11:30 pm!

Cabin Review

Large Outside Stateroom (fully obstructed views)

Cabin HH

Loved the spaciousness and the wall of 3 closets. I had clothes for 3 weeks with, because we were on another weeklong cruise before we got on the HAL one. It was nice to have a bathtub for a change, the bed was perfect ( on other ships I always had to have them bring me an foam "egg crate" to put on top of the mattress ) and the storage was plentiful. I brought an outlet strip with and that worked out perfectly for charging all our devices. Our cabin steward, Ronny, was the Best- our room was always cleaned before we came back from breakfast each day. We especially appreciated that the drapes were on two tracks, so you could open the main ones but leave the sheers closed for privacy. Loved the basket of fresh fruit on the coffee table every day...

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