Overall, we had a lovely time, danced the night away in the B.B. King Blues club, had great meals, thoroughly enjoyed talking to the staff a d other passengers. Slept like a baby as our cabin was in a very quiet location.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
In all fairness, it was the very first ship of the season and the first since the Pandemic, so I guess there were a few learning curves to overcome. The lineups were horrendous.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
The main dining room got off to a rocky start, the line ups were very long to get tables. The host was very disorganized and didn’t really understand how the table assignments worked in the computer. After a few days they brought in a very lovely young lady and from that point on everything rather much smoother. We found the same issue on the Nieuw Amsterdam. One would think that after being in business for almost 150 years, they would have figured out how to seat people in a more orderly fashion.
The food was very good though and the servers attentive.
We did eat at the Pinnacle Grill one night and it was excellent.
We don’t do buffets so I can’t comment on the food there.
New York Pizza
4 out of 5
Had the pizza and salads, both were very good.
Tamarind Restaurant
4 out of 5
The food was better on the Nieuw Amsterdam at this Venue although the service was excellent.
Grand Dutch Café
5 out of 5
We loved the staff at the Dutch café. They almost felt like family by the end of the trip. The food was very tasty and the Lattés were excellent.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
My husband loved the gym, most of the time, he was alone in there.
The pool, I already commented on. Too crowded, not enough room for lounging for the amount of people onboard and we were not anywhere near capacity. If the ship had been full it would have been a nightmare.
As far as other activities on board, I would say boring, same old same old.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
We loved the B.B. King Blues Club, the musicians were top notch.
Really disliked the performers in the Billboard onboard.
The Rolling Stone Rock act was pretty good, but way too loud, it could be heard in the other venues.
The world stage shows were very boring. Needs major improvement.
The quartet in theOcean Bar were good.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
I can not say enough nice things about the staff, they worked very hard to please you and most were very engaging. From cabin stewards to waiters and bar staff they were excellent.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was spotless and very well maintained. The layout however I did not care for. There were not nearly enough lounge chairs, they were only around the pool area which was a small area and they were always « occupied ». I never found any on other deck areas either. We had a lovely large veranda but never had any sun on it. So finding a spot to enjoy the sun was almost impossible. The other thing we found was that they are trying too hard to have too many venues on board, which means that they are always full. Our ship had less than 1600 passengers on board, if the ship was full at 2650 there would have been even longer waits to find tables or chairs. The music walk was fun, but the Rolling Stone room’s music was too loud and could be heard in other venues. There needs to be some separation.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The cabin was perfect, lots of storage room, loved the larger shower with glass door, big balcony. The bed was a bit too firm for me, but overall no complaints.
Ship tip
Most of the excursions we were interested in were already sold out at the time we booked the cruise. Tried waitlisting, but no luck. We also made reservations right away for the main dining room. Highly recommend doing this.
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