My wife and I took a back-to-back ("Collectors") cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam, from March 6 - 20 and I would like to share our thoughts and observations in hopes that others may benefit from them. So that you have a better understanding of our perspective, here's a little background on us: we're in our early 50s, love cruising on Holland America, and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. This was only our second cruise, which doesn't exactly make us experts in all of this -- and since all of our cruise experience is limited to HAL we admittedly don't have the benefit of knowing what life is like aboard other cruise lines. However, I think we picked up ample information on this recent cruise to make a written review worthwhile.

Overall, our experience on the Nieuw Amsterdam was so good that I'm not certain that five stars is enough. While there are certainly some things that Holland America could do better (and I'll get to those shortly), I think it would be unfair to slam the cruise line for accidents and petty nuisances. I also can't (and won't) whine about issues that clearly fall into the category of personal preference. The positives on this cruise were almost overwhelming: great food everywhere and at all times -- including the Lido. Excellent service from the cabin stewards, a sparkling clean ship, and super entertainment. It was the vacation trip of a lifetime.

So, now that I've gushed about how great it was and we've got all that behind us, let's go over fine points: Read more