Having been with Celebrity twice and Royal Caribbean I chose a 7 day cruise with Holland America having been told of their five star standards we didn't  particularly get off to a good start as we had an overnight at Barcelona and was left waiting for our shuttle bus (Aero City Shuttle) which was not only late but uncomfortably hot (air-con not working) not any fault of HAL as we booked as a package with a Internet Travel company anyway we finally got on the Nieuw Amsterdam around 1 pm on Sunday I Will have to say a very nice ship we had an inside cabin which was nice and spacey it has 2 pools 1 for adults very well laid out plenty of Sun loungers The main Restaurant The Manhattan has two floors we had the as you like dining option - I will warn you i read a review on here which was a lot of help it gets very crowded around 8 pm and you could be waiting for a table for up to 45 mins we booked in most nights around 7 which was ok and we dined with different people which was nice no complaints there the food was excellent as I had read and the service was ok as well which leads me to the title No Wow factor the entertainment was very average Cantare a four man (opera -Il Divo style) was average to say the least and appeared in 3 of the other shows I watched is that all they had ? As for the other show it was embarrassing didn't stay for the last night singer so cant pass an opinion The other Bars seemed dead after 11 pm the best group on the ship (Neptune Lounge) packed up at 11.30 and Rachel and the Hal cats the less said the better also the Casino was small only 1 Roulette wheel which was crowded with 6 people round it and very little activities during the day going on the Cruise Director Jon has got an easy life !! cant fault the Stateroom attendant or the cleanliness of the Ship just cant find a reason to go back to HAL after going on the Eclipse (Celebrity) .