Nieuw Amsterdam

Great Cruise for people who have never been to Alaska

Great cruise...but the promised short excursion was fake news...read the fine print!!! Cruise.com listed Holland American Line as the vendor, but on board no body knew of the bonus short excursion offer, at the end I was holding the bag with the rotten eggs (worth $150); the Guest Service office on the ship stonewalled me, gave me no written proof that I had talked to them...just a huge disappointment!!

Holland America line was good. The ship was nice, not too big and definitely kept up to date. They offer the best offshore activities and make it easy to book and get to. Taku glacier helicopter was breathtaking. If I had to pick one I would definitely pick it. Worth every penny. SPA great for couples! First class train in Skagway was scenically great and not too long.

cruise processing was good flowed pretty easy. Instead of having you stand in line to wait they had seats and processed as you came into facility. The Nieuw Amsterdam is a nice ship, rooms are great very spacious and comfortable. The staff was too laid back, had to ask for service on many occasions. Seating in the dining room on the lido deck was always an issue and the activities and shopping on board were scares. Audience is older.

We received cabin 5100 right by the mid ship elevators so we were concerned about noise. We rarely heard any noise. I am a light sleeper and had the best sleep of any cruise I have ever been on. We were in a perfect location. We took the elevator up to deck nine and was right at the Lido Marketplace. We were just above the life boats but looking out the window there was no obstruction at all. Also the elevator right by our room was broken the entire cruise so there was no privacy issues either with people seeing us on the balcony. This was my 24th cruise (1st with Holland) and by far my favorite cruise ever. Alaska is breathtaking and I highly recommend cruising there. My only complaint was the entertainment. The singers on this ship simply were not talented. The singers in BB Kings were far better in my opinion. This is the one place that needs improvement and the one thing that would make me hesitate to book this ship in the future. Other than that we LOVED every moment of the cruise. Food in lido was delicious. I had maybe one or two things that I did not care for. Loved the salad bar, so many options to choose from and it made eating health easy.