Nieuw Amsterdam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The service on this ship was perfect. Our rooms were always ready whenever we returned during the day, the meal choices were amazing and delicious, the staff were friendly and caring, and the entertainment variable and excellent.

 Hypnotic...the only way to describe the staff. Although attentive and friendly, the robotic and practiced interaction lacked any passion beyond the routine of the expected.

 The entertainment at night in the main show room was repeated with boring and too loud recorded music,lackluster themed shows, weak vocals and uninteresting dancing...again and again and again. After four nights of this we skipped the shows and enjoyed the piano bar. The BB King themed night spot was a waste of valuable space and the style of music totally inconsistent with the demographics and interests of the average passenger on Holland American. Stick with the piano bar.

 The food in the main dinning room lacked quality, variety or imagination and was so bad it had to be returned on two nights. My wife chose to leave hungry rather than eat the lousy food. Room service is a better choice.

 The Nieuw Amsterdam was anything but new as it shook and vibrated like no other ship we have ever experienced and the amenities showed age and a lack of maintenance. Choose another ship.

We really enjoyed our cruise with your ship and crew. We were blessed with upgrades due to our Club 21 , which were great. Your staff was wonderful in every area that we used or visited and it made us feel so welcomed and special. We can't say enough about the Casino staff. The Pit Boss was great and the dealers were a lot of fun. There was two young ladies that worked in the Casino and their names were Gloria Mesias the Casino Host and Claudia Moreno the Slot Attendance. These two ladies were amazing to us and the rest of the people. They were so personal and professional and just sweet! From your food to your entertainment, it was perfect to our needs and we really enjoyed the cruise and will be back again! Thank you, Selwyn & Tami Jones - Alaskans

All in all we did like the cruise.  We asked for a balcony & they were sold out; but I thought the lady said we could get a floor to ceiling window room.  Maybe I misunderstood but we just got a big picture window.  I will never go on another cruise without a balcony.  Also was surprised about the age of the people on the cruise.  The food was excellent - didn't care for the entertainment.  We did like the Island steel band (not sure if that is the correct name) that played one night.  

Not like the great HAL cruse in Alaska last summer. Which is why we decided to book HAL again.

First the good: The Nieuw Amsterdam is a beautiful ship. The cabin crew is great and will do anything they can for you. I suspect the cabins, which were adequate, are the same as any of the HAL ships.

The bad: The rest of the crew is OK but lacked the enthusiasm the Alaskan cruse had. The food was also OK but nothing special. No bold flavors and quite bland with no real identity. The entertainment was put together for the Lawrence Welk crowd. They did have a nice blues and steel band, but you kind of wander who they they were playing for.

This cruse was definitely for the geriatric crowd.

We had been on a cruise on the Oasis of the Seas a week prior to this cruise, so we were looking for something quieter, just wanting to relax.  The ship is in amazing condition and it's very clean.  The food was very good and dress codes were enforced on this cruise, unlike the Oasis trip.  The only negative is the entertainment.  The shows were not to our liking and the small movie theater was always full.  There were lots of nice bars on the ship and the entertainment in those was good.  This particular sailing, though we experienced no illness, was code red for Norovirus.  They took the sanitation to levels I've never experienced in 22 cruises.  It wasn't a bad thing, but did cause some inconveniences.  For example, you couldn't get yourself a drink of water, it had to be given to you.  Also, hot tubs were closed during code red (duration 4 days).  All in all, it was a nice cruise and we came home well rested.

Ok so first of all I will say that the cruise itself was pretty good. The evening entertainment was a little boring and there wasn't that much to do on the boat but it was relaxing. The food is good and you have a few different dining options and I wished I could have eaten more.

I took the cruise in January of 2015 but I am writing this review January 2016. The reason it has taken me so long to come to a conclusion is because I had trouble with a purchase made through the ships guidance. I was promised many things in person and guaranteed many things which I unfortunately did not get in writing because I trusted them too much and had a "guarantee" of sorts which really doesn't count for anything. I spent multiple hours of phone calls and emails only to get the run around each time. I was promised calls from supervisors on specific days and times and then when the day came, nobody contacted me. In the end all they said was that nothing could be done and the issue was never truly resolved. I am disappointed with their business practices and they have lost a customer for life. 

If you take the cruise, enjoy the cruise but know that not all the people working on the ship are working with the cruise company. They have their own interests at heart and will scam you if you give them the chance. The cruise company will not do anything for you either because business is business. Take my advice and don't buy anything without a statement in writing and read the fine print.

We did the 7 day cruise over New Year.  The verandah room was very comfortable, the service was friendly and very attentive.  Room service breakfast are a plus.  Overall food is quite good at all venues.  For the upgrade options, pinnacle is definitely worth it and Tamarind was also a nice option.  Half Moon Cay, the private island in the Bahamas is beautiful, best beach in the itinerary by far.  Overall, we enjoyed this cruise and the Nieuw Amsterdam and would recommend Holland America.

The cruise was alright in spite of the fact we hit high winds and could not be tendered into our first port, Half Moon Cay. You cannot control the weather. The ship was nice but I prefer bigger ships with grand atriums.  The staff was excellent, food was good. I feel that the ship lacks entertainment and things to do especially when you cannot go to port for three days.  The showroom entertainment was absolutely awful; however,  the Island Steel Band and the group in the Queens Lounge were very good. Even though food was good, I prefer buffet style with many selections, not cafeteria style where they ration food and you have to constantly have to ask for more. The main dining room was very good and service was excellent. We hand anytime dining and were always seated quickly. The rooms I feel  could be a little more soundproof.  I realize you cannot control the rudeness of the big mouth in the hall at 7 am but I should not have to hear my next door neighbor through the walls.

This was our first Holland America cruise.  All in all it was ok.  Would I cruise again on HAL, not too likely.

Now for Cruiser.com.  I am very disappointed.  A few days before we left I had seen that the prices had dropped substantially from what we had paid.  Upon inquiring about this I was told that the manifest had already been turned in but that the ship would be notified for an upgrade and that I should then speak to the office upon boarding.  I did just that and lo and behold there was nothing from Cruise.com.  Therefore, we received nothing even though the ship was not full.  I later learned that there were people who booked directly with Holland America who saw what I did and when they went to the office received REFUNDS in cash for the room price difference because of the direct booking.  So lesson learned, book directly with the cruise line.

This cruise was the first “collector” cruise we’ve taken and the fourth on HAL. We’ve cruised on several other lines including Celebrity, Princess, Norwegian and Carnival. Celebrity and HAL are our favorites, as they seem to fit the more classic, classy and laid back cruise experience we prefer. Previously on HAL we were on the Zaandam, Zuiderdam and Noordam and enjoyed them all.

Who is HAL & the N.A. going to appeal to?

Middle-aged to older cruisers or vacationers looking for a quieter, laid back classic cruise experience with warm, friendly service and a professional staff on one of the world’s most experienced cruise lines. Plenty of fun or just plenty of relaxation – you’re choice.

Itinerary & Ports:

The itinerary was interesting as it was basically two cruises back to back starting in Ft. Lauderdale and doing the Eastern Caribbean for a week, followed by a return to Ft. Lauderdale then out to the Western Caribbean for a week. Ports included Grand Turk, Half Moon Cay (private island), San Juan, St. Thomas, Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Key West. We were scheduled to stop at Half Moon Cay twice – once on the return during week one and once on the outbound to the western Caribbean on week two.

The ports all provided a good range of things to do and see. We’d been to St. Thomas before but being there on a major US Holiday (Thanksgiving) is to be avoided. Many things were closed and the shop vendors all seemed to have been forced to stay open for cruise passengers. Overall not a great experience on that day.

Grand Turk has a small shopping village and a beach at the pier but otherwise you need an excursion or tour to really see anything. It’s not a walk-off and wander stop so much. We hiked El Yunque rain forest when we stopped in San Juan and loved it. Bring rain gear! It’s a lot of fun and the sites are beautiful. Mayan ruins shouldn’t be missed in Cozumel or the beautiful Mexican Riviera beaches.  Grand Cayman’s dolphin encounter was a lot of fun but the gem for me is the Turtle Farm. It’s been expanded over the years and you can easily spend a day there. Key West never disappoints  - something for everyone.

I’m not sure I’d do this kind of back-to-back itinerary again. The stop back in Ft. Lauderdale felt a little odd and an unnatural break in the flow of the trip – it felt a bit like once cruise stopped and another started. Though we loved being on the ship for two weeks I think we’d both prefer a continuous itinerary every if shorter like a 10 or 12 day.

The Ship:

The Nieuw Amsterdam is what’s considered a mid-sized ship. It was clean, well kept and very nicely appointed with artwork celebrating New York City history and the various incarnations of the ships in the HAL fleet that have borne the Nieuw Amsterdam name over the years. Aside from the usual business of the Lido Restaurant the ship doesn’t feel crowded.

We could always find a seat by the pool, in the lounges, at the shows etc. The wrap-around Promenade deck is something we really enjoy. It’s great to grab a chair and read, listen to music or just watch the ocean go by on what’s a nice quiet deck closer to the waves. We found plenty of nice lounges or quiet places to sit insides, lots of open air decks outside to suit our mood each day.

Stateroom:

Out stateroom was well maintained and with the exception of the temperature, it was very comfortable. We had the temperature control to full cold for two weeks and don’t think it ever got below 68-70. If you like it warm you’ll be fine but we found it hard to stop sweating enough after showering to get dressed in formal wear comfortably, and sleeping at night was an exercise in kicking covers off.

Otherwise the room appointments were spacious and nicely laid out (we had a verandah cabin on the Upper Promenade deck port-side aft). Stateroom attendants were exceptional, as we’ve come to expect on HAL. Kept the room tidy and always friendly, asking us how we were doing, what we needed etc. The verandah was especially roomy – no hitting the furniture with the door on the way in or out.

Dining:

Dining was a bit of a mixed bag. By far the best food we’ve had on the five cruise lines we’ve been on was on Celebrity. HAL seems to have upped their game a bit over the years but could still use some improvement.

My wife is vegetarian and has a specific food allergy; she found the vegetarian options, while providing a reasonable number of choices, unimaginative and frankly boring. The dining staff was awesome and worked with her every day to do everything they could to make it more enjoyable for her.

I am not vegetarian and have no food allergies; for me the options were reasonable in number and the food quality, while not what we experienced on Celebrity, was still very good. Dishes were varied each night so you usually had a chicken, fish and red meat option, often a pasta dish, always one vegetarian option on the main menu. I should mention there was a separate vegetarian menu with more options as well but the vegetarian menu was the same for the entire cruise.

We were on for two weeks and the menu essentially repeated itself after a week, so it could have used more variety in that regard. We’ve been on cruises over 12 nights before and never had a repeating menu before.

The only specialty restaurant we tried was the Tamarind – the Asian restaurant. It was reasonably priced at if I recall $20 each. You ate a lot and the food was noticeably more varied and of better quality than the main dining room. We prefer the main dining room since we enjoy the nightly coming of our waiters, but I’d recommend at least once doing the Tamarind in a 7-day trip. Lunch is served as well and is slightly less expensive.

Lido dining was typical of most lines - bustling, a bit busy but with a wide variety of choices every day. Lunch had an International station that rotated Indian, Japanese, Indonesian and predominantly Asian cuisines and included sushi most if not all the time. It was a solid choice that we used most of the time. A pasta station and Mexican station were daily staples that were both good. A carving/sandwich station, salad stations and other hot food stations (we didn’t try them so I don’t recall what they were) were also available so the choices gave you plenty of options. Quality was very good and service, as it usually is all over a HAL ship, was very good to excellent.

The Dive-In Grill by the Lido pool was surprisingly good. My wife had a Portobello mushroom burger that was good enough she tried it more than once. They have a variety of burger, hot dog and French fry options – it was probably the best grill of its kind we’ve had on any ship.  Rather than have you stand in line they give you a pager so you can wander a bit until it buzzes and your order is ready, though that was generally a short 5-10 minute wait even when they were busy.

Pizza station by the aft pool was very good. The pizza chef there when told about my wife’s food allergies made us custom pies – very much appreciated! Their stock options everyday was varied and usually had at least 4-6 choices.

Coffee and tea (for a fee) in the Explorer’s Café were very good. I’ll admit I’m a coffee snob and don’t much dig the standard coffee served in the Lido on most ships, but even that wasn’t bad on the Nieuw Amsterdam. The library is next to the café and is a great place to sit, relax, read and drink coffee. The library was the best stocked we’ve ever seen.  Nice job HAL! If you forgot to bring books or load up the Kindle, you’ll still be fine.

Gym:

We used the fitness center quite a bit and found it well stocked with a variety of equipment. Free weights, machines of all shapes and sized, stationary bikes (recumbent and upright), spinners, yoga area and plenty of treadmills were to be found there. We never waited to use anything. Aside from a climate control issue – we found it a little warm and without enough air movement – it’s a solid fitness center with a nice view outside from the equipment around the perimeter of the room.

Embarkation and Debarkation:

Great and probably the most seamless we’ve ever had. We were on the ship within 15 minutes of getting to the pier and our luggage was at the room with plenty of time to unpack before the lifeboat drill and explore the ship. Debarkation day we were allowed to hang out in our rooms until our group was called, room service was provided and once our number was called we went down and were off the ship in less than 10 minutes. HAL really has their act together getting you on and off without a hassle.

Overall Comments:

We had a great time; I’d recommend HAL, the Nieuw Amsterdam and Caribbean itinerary and we’d certainly consider doing it again in the future. We tend to match the cruise line we like based on demographics, your fellow passengers, the style and size of the ship (while not opposed to big ships – we’ve been on Celebrity’s Solstice class ships twice – we have to interest in the Gargantuan of the Seas or anything carrying 4000-5000 people not to mention Crew) and what overall experience they cater to.

We’re not into flowriders, zip lines or rock climbing at sea. The hard drinkers on some cruise lines don’t appeal much to us either. We’ve settled on Celebrity and Holland primarily as our favorites (Princess occasionally as well). HAL has always been a solid choice and doesn’t disappoint. If the above sounds good to you and you haven’t already, give them a shot. I think you’ll be pleased with the experience.

Service great but there was a slight language barrier for non typical situations.  My wife is gluten free and they would give us a menu of the next days meals and she would select so they would cook anything gluten free for her.  Food was very good and had no problem with anytime dining.  Specialty Pinnacle restaurant was exceptional.

Room was balcony on upper promenade.  Very large with balcony @ 25% larger than normal.  Bath also had a tub which was great compared to the usual transporter style shower.

Would have given 5 stars but entertainment was really lacking across the board.

Passengers were not  older  as we expected but ran the entire age spectrum and the ship was still rocking at midnight.  We love to dance and were able to all nights except formal night when only had 1 hour of dancing entertainment.  BB King Blues band was great and played 5 nights in their own theatre with dancing.

Last year I gave Holland America a try on the Eurodam.  We had a room that did not have functioning air conditioning and it was miserable and they really did not care.  This year we decided to try them one more time on Nieuw Amsterdam and while the air conditioning was not great, it was better than the previous year.  My main complaint is that they left us waiting for a tender in line over an hour on Half Moon Cay.  This wouldn't have been so bad but the next day in Grand Cayman they left us in a line for over two hours with no water, place to sit or protection from the sun.  This is supposed to be a vacation.  I have a very bad back and standing in the same place is torture for me.  I can't imagine trying another cruise on them any time soon.  They really do NOT care about their customers.

I've only been on two other cruises and found this ship to be lovely.  Cabin was clean and kept up each day..Crew very helpful/friendly/food excellent and the shows were high quality.

The ship was great, enjoyed our room.

The only thing was that we went on most of the shore excursions and had to get up EARLY  most mornings . Food good, people and crew very good. 

We have cruised on 4 different ships, including this one. This ship was the worst of the 4. The food was 

marginal at best, and the help was not the friendliest. Our cabin boy was very nice, and a couple of people on the Lido food area were also nice. The ship was very clean.

i ended up in the emergency room on the ship, and I must say, the nurses and the Dr. Were wonderful. 

Alice Nelson

I was very disappointed with the food in the dining room. I have cruised for over 100 days with Holland America and have always enjoyed the choice and quality of food in the dining rooms.  In fact, I cruised on the Nieuw Amsterdam in the Caribbean the first year it was put in service and the food was excellent.  I hope this experience will not be repeated on future Holland American cruises.  The dining room staff were excellent. The cabin stewards were also very good.  The shore excursions were good except for the night gondola ride in Venice.  We paid $129.00 for a 30 minute gondola ride, water bus ride and a long walk from the water bus to the gondola.  Extremely overpriced!!  The entertainment was not good in the theatre.  The ship is very nice and the staff were all pleasant and helpful. 

The service was great and the staff all so helpful and fun to be with.  

The cruise was very comfortable with no rocking of the ship.  We felt we were in a hotel room!  

The ports were we stopped at were historical and so interesting!  This trip was a trip of a lile time!

First of all booking through MaryAnne and was really easy! Had no problems getting to the cruise line terminal. We rented a car from Avis and had them take us over to the docks. Processing in and waiting to board took a little time but it was ok. When we boarded the Nieuw Amsterdam, we went to the front desk to see about an upgrade. For a nominal fee we went from an inside room to a cabin (1070) with an unobstructed view. We were immediately met by Endgamn, our steward, who went in search of our luggage. We rented a cabanah overlooking the lido pool and really enjoyed it. Ed and Julius were really outstanding! At two o'clock every day they brought us champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. They also brought water and fruit and were truly outstanding!

The food on board was also very good. Two times we went into the main dining room in smart casual attire. We reserved a table just for two and enjoyed it. I do not enjoy dressing up so we ate a lot in the lido. The food us the same regardless of where you eat. We did eat at the Tamarand and it was good. We also ate at the Canaleto but didn't really enjoy it. 

While on board we did the stroll of San Juan, got off in St. Thomas and did the bbq at Half Moon Cay.

Oh our Thanksgiving day meal was really good and we didn't have any yucky family members hanging around. 

This is was a great cruise for relaxing! I strongly recommend it.

Holland crew members always have smiles on their faces and there to help.

The Tamerind is the best kept secret-food and service superior

Safety is the main concern of the crew and officers.

They welcome suggestions to improve service.

The rooms are the largest of any ships we have been on.

I would prefer that there was no smoking in the casinos even tho they have desinated places in the casino where smoking is permitted, the smoke can still be smelt.

We had a wonderful time. The ship is beautiful and very well maintained. The crew was extremely friendly in every department. The food was excelent. The ship is easy to find your way around. The cover on the Lido pool lets you go about what ever you are doing if it happens to rain or if it is very windy. We would definatly go on the Nieuw Amsterdam again.