We have just completed the Nieuw Amsterdam's maiden transatlantic voyage from Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale. We are veteran cruisers with about two dozen sailings behind us, about a third of them transatlantic. The boarding process in Barcelona was perhaps the smoothest we've ever encountered and our first impression of the ship was equally favorable.

However, as we tried to fall asleep in our cabin on the first night, we kept hearing loud thumping sounds every few seconds, as if a solid steel telephone pole rammed into our cabin and made the walls resonate and vibrate. Even the ice bucket shook with each impact. We called Guest Relations (GR), and a staff member appeared at our cabin a little after midnight and confirmed that the noise we were hearing was from the metal structures outside our cabin. He offered no help other than to explain that the noise is prevalent on decks 5 through 8. We got dressed and went to the GR desk where we complained that the noise was so thunderous that even music from an I-Pod at maximum volume through noise cancelling headphones could not mask it (we were desperate for sleep at this point). The GR people smiled and offered us...ear plugs. How nice of them! The noise finally subsided after 3 AM. The next morning we met with a GR supervisor who insisted that such noises are normal on a ship because a ship's structure must be able to bend back and forth. We protested that we had never heard any such noise on more than twenty ships we have sailed on before, but she remained adamant and largely unsympathetic to our plight. She added that the noise travels throughout the ship and one never knows where it will strike next. She also advised us that there were no other available cabins on the entire ship. We appealed in writing to the captain for some relief from the prospect of spending three weeks with intolerably loud banging in the cabin. He wrote back immediately and made arrangements to move us to another cabin on deck 4 midship which turned out to be wonderfully quiet. We expressed our deep gratitude to Captain Mercer, a charismatic and utterly gracious Brit who was a consummate professional throughout the cruise. We did hear the noise in other parts of the ship from time to time, but not in our new cabin.

Once "Thumper" (as my wife nicknamed the Big Noise) no longer kept us awake, we were able to enjoy the beautiful new ship. Other than colors and motif, it is virtually identical to the Eurodam (on which we sailed in 2008). The food was generally excellent, though desserts are probably the weak point of the Nieuw Amsterdam's culinary team---not necessarily a bad thing when calories from all the other superb dishes pile up on waistlines faster than you can see them coming! Our visit one night to the Pinnacle Grill for dinner was an extraordinary treat--the best premium onboard restaurant in our judgment. The beef surpassed any we had ever had at such steakhouses as Morton's or Ruth's Chris steakhouses. The ship boasts a culinary center where chefs from the various dining venues and the ever charming and talented "party planner" Ashley present lots of demonstrations. Pinnacle Grill chef Brendan Whitaker was a particularly talented presenter. He also possesses an exceptional sense of humor that makes his culinary demonstrations a double treat. Also on board, there are numerous FREE "Digital Workshop" classes every day that are both informative and useful. The ship's gorgeous theatre presented shows on most evenings and films on other nights. The resident male singers in the shows had surprisingly good voices. The shows themselves were just song and dance routines with minimalist sets (except for the last show) that lacked the cohesion of a story line that usually binds the music together. The itinerant entertainers were generally good, some excellent, others mediocre. Read more