Lower your expectations!

Item: Nieuw Amsterdam
Rating: 2.8
Author: pltexas

Nieuw Amsterdam Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage

pltexas

Contributor Level: Purser

81 Days Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 31

Overall rating:

2.8 out of 5

Sail date: August 10, 2021

Ship: Nieuw Amsterdam

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 7023

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 3 years ago

Review summary

Had high hopes for our first cruise with Holland America but we were sadly disappointed in pretty much everything starting with our stateroom where we found the trash hadn’t even been emptied (rotten fruit pits, etc), pillow smelled so bad they kept us awake, first meal was pork tenderloin, served almost raw. Went down from there. Unless you paid to upgrade your food, it was all pretty terrible and Entertainment was dull.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

2 out of 5

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Ship tip

Lower your expectations! I don’t know if it’s just growing post pandemic recovery pains or if Holland has always been like this - it was our first cruise with them. The staff was not all that friendly, the entertainment was minimal and low quality and the food was horrible unless you want to pay to upgrade to decent fare.

Thumbs up

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

This was the best part of the cruise - the free valet service off the ship.

Traveler Photos

Runny eggs, waffles that are brick hard and raw pork were just some of the fare encountered.

15 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

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KatsCruises 3 years ago

I'm so sorry you had a bad cruise. Out of the 6 Cruises I've had with Holland America, I've yet to experience a bad cruise. The food was always good, the staff was wonderful, the stateroom is always clean and the entertainment was nice. You can always contact guest services if you are unhappy and they will do their best to rectify the errors. We spent 14 days on the Amsterdam in Alaska in September 2019, and had a fabulous time.

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jojo625 3 years ago

Sorry to hear of your disappointment with your cruise. Our experiences with HAL have been quite the opposite. Stateroom, all staff, food everywhere and entertainment have always been above our expectations - really wonderful. Hopefully your next cruise whomever its with, is a great experience.

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javawoody 3 years ago

Sorry cruise didn't meet expectations. HAL has always been one of my favorites

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christine1234 3 years ago

Sorry to hear that you did not enjoy your cruise. We sailed on The Nieuw Statendam in February 2020 and it was one of our favorite cruises. I was looking forward to another HAL cruise, someday.

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RetiredRay 3 years ago

Must be post Covid startup, food was great when we went, although I do agree the entertainment was weak and they had no backup for a couple of sick staff that had a lot of folks wasting time for events that never happened.

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AuntPinkie 3 years ago

Appreciate your review of a recent sailing! Sorry it didn’t meet your expectations. ⛴

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jam37 3 years ago

We went on HAL in 2009 and everything was excellent. We took dance lessons, played trivia, the entertainment was terrific as was the food. I am very sad and a bit worried to hear this as we are booked on a 12 night on the Nieuw Amsterdam in December.

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cruiselover1977 3 years ago

I was on Holland also and it was horrible... the food was horrible except the lunch at the buffet bc we had custom made salads and those were amazing. The shows were horrible!!!! And most people sat reading or doing puzzles. Nothing for anyone who wants to be busy and active. But shows were bad and most nights showed a movie . Mine was March 2019. Before covid. I will try Holland when I'm much older.

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mabsback 3 years ago

I’ve always found Holland American to be nice. It more for a much older crowd in my experience. However maybe it’s just because they have a new crew and are not up to par yet. We personally love this cruise line.

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daisydoozy 3 years ago

So sorry! Hope your next cruise is much better.

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izrgreen 3 years ago

Sorry you didn’t have a good experience.

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CruzeFan 3 years ago

Hopefully you at least enjoyed the ports.

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profile 3 years ago

Thanks for sharing.

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Curt34 3 years ago

Thanks for the review. Sorry the cruise didn’t meet your expectations.

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