Could have been better

Nieuw Amsterdam Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 84

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Nieuw Amsterdam

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: March 26, 2017

Ship: Nieuw Amsterdam

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 1110

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

The Pros:  the food and the service and the showers (great water pressure and temperature controls, tv and movie selection in room

The Cons:  small vanity section in cabin, no plug outlets in bathroom(!), bed layout not good, lack of enough cubby spaces in closet, not enough lighting in closets, not enough live entertainment in evenings or other activities onboard. I was bored. Costs for everything onboard were high.  This is definitely an older person's ship. Many times in the evenings the ship seemed overly quiet and almost empty! The few bars onboard other than at pool areas were either empty or almost empty early evening. Not enough promos onboard in those areas to attract more people. I was shocked. 

For me personally, I can't recommend this ship for a more active and gregarious person.  It was disappointing. My third time on HAL, but will definitley take another cruise line in the future, sorry to say. 

Lastly, while our cabin was comfy and had a tub, it was right BELOW the galley, so it was rather noisy the first couple of nights after 4am, to the point where we complained. We were offered other cabins which were inadequate or too late in the cruise to change. We were finally given a small credit at cruise end for our inconvenience.  The front desk staff were very gracious and really tried, but the cruise was completely full, and these cabins came up through cancellations.

 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
See last comment above. It is right below the galley, so lots of early morning noise with rolling carts and banging around. I don't recommend this unless you are a heavy sleeper, as it will disturb your sleep!

Ship tip

If you like quieter ships with little live entertainment, it is ok. I would not sail on this ship again. It was geriatric city, and I'm over 60 myself, but it was way too quiet.

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

5 out of 5

Grand Turk Island

1 out of 5
No town to speak of at ALL, very poor island. Kind of depressing really.

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5

Philipsburg, St. Maarten

5 out of 5

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (Private Island)

5 out of 5
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