Set-up: My first cruise ever was HAL in early '90s but after two HAL cruises spread part by many years, I'd come to believe that Holland America was not competing hard enough with the likes of RCL and Celebrity for me to revisit their ships again. So why the Nieuw Amsterdam for a xmas cruise? Long story but I admit it was against my will. I was not expecting much.

Reality: Overall *the* most friendly staff I can remember on any of the 20+ cruises I've done. I prefer bigger ships but there were many surprises on this new ship that left me with exuberance and a recommendation that--again, if you like mid-market ships under 100K tons--you need to try HAL Nieuw Amsterdam.

Food: I'm the husband of a professional restaurant critic so I have had LOTS of experience with dining out, plus I've done a good share of cruising (120+ days). In the main dining room, the food surpassed by expectations. It was consistently above average for mid-market. In the Lido, again it was very good and had a lot of special touches (fresh squeezed orange juice, fresh ingredients, variety). But it is the specialty restaurants that deserve special mention. The Tamarind (pan asian) was excellent in service, decor, and food. Loved it!! The Pinnacle was also superb, we ate there for both their Le Cirque night and one regular night. My comparison these days for midmarket cruising are the high-end restaurants on the Allure of the Seas. The two on the Nieuw Amsterdam were not quite up to inventiveness of a 150 Central Park, for example, but you're nuts if you don't try these two if you're on this ship and you enjoy good food and service. You'd be spending 2x to 3x as many $$ for the same meal on land. Read more