Nieuw Amsterdam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Overall, this trip filled the need for a cruise. We are grateful for every cruise we have been on but as the cruises add up as well as the years, we often get spoiled with the service offered by some lines as well as not offered by others. HAL was about as good as we had expected, but lacked in some areas. Lacking were the MDR and Lido eating areas. It appeared that the ship had basically 1 week of menues and tried hard to disguise it with different names for the same product. I was impressed with the captain's concern for the passengers well being. He cancelled 2 ports which we may have had to go on other lines. We believe his call was spot on and thank him for his judgment call. As usual our cabin stewards were excellent and they were basically out of sight most of the time, but able to be reached when necessary. Room service was awesome for being on time always coming at the beginning of the allotted time. Food was warm and beverages (hot) were not the best but were still palatable. The adult only pool was dirty through the entire trip and during the beginning was an ash collector for the smoke stacks. Actually, the whole back deck area was often showing a residue of ash from the funnels. This seemed to clear up through the cruise, but the pool still needed a major cleaning in order for it to be swimmable. Again, I said I would be hard with my judgment calling, and that is what it was, my judgment only. Will we ever sail HAL again? Possibly, but not for a couple of years. With just a little polish, HAL could become the premium cruise line it once was. That would be a blessing as it is sad that Celebrity seems to have the premium slot to itself.

Love the cruise experience. Being my first time, it was awesome. Tours were great and informative. The tour guides had a great sence of humour. The ship was very clean and love the towel animals on the bed daily. So cute. Thanks.

We were very nervous, never having been on a cruise before and actually never considered one either. However we shouldn’t have worried. The room was really comfortable and well placed if you like a quiet location, we did. My only comment would be that if you were taking this ship to a sunny location it had a very small balcony, on an Alaskan cruise it didn’t matter because there wasn’t much sitting outside! There was plenty of storage and electric points, both for 240v and 110v and also for USB’s The staff on board, at every level, were friendly and helpful and certainly appeared to be happy in their work. We were open dining in the restaurant and ate there several times, we never had to wait for a table, service was excellent and the food was lovely. We ate in the lido several times and again large selection at every meal. We only had breakfast there once and there was an excellent choice. We had room service most mornings, it was always nicely cooked and on time. We went to a couple of the shows which we found a bit cheesy but they were ok. There were some good information sessions and we enjoyed those. We were lucky and had excellent weather which I’m sure helped with our enjoyment. We didn’t do many tours because we were already booked to travel to see glaciers after the cruise so didn’t see the need for the additional expense. Overall, a very well run and organised ship and if we ever do another cruise then Holland America will be our fist choice.

our trip was so emotional as it was our "bucket list" the embarkation was really fast and the staff were so caring...our room was the CLEANEST that I have ever been on! our staff member that did our room everyday was exceptional the food at the specialty dining was rather good also...disembarkation was exceptional also....as I have 2 fractures in my back this routine that you have is one of the best..... I certainly will sail with Holland America and have told as many people that I have contact with the same.....thank you for helping our experience one that we will never forget...

This was my sister’s 3rd trip to Alaska with Holland America and my first. We were fortunate that the weather was absolutely beautiful so we has a marvellous 7 days of touring, photos and a great time overall. We were both so pleased with the Nieuw Amsterdam and all it had to offer so we highly recommend it.

This was my bucket list, so we did tours we would never do otherwise and it was sad that we ended it on a sour note in Ketchikan. Highly recommend Alaska. The Glaciers and the forests are indescribable and photos really don't do it justice.

Embarking and disembarking was very smooth and organized. We went early about 1030 and explored the ship early. I think we avoided some of the crowd that way

This destination and cruise line exceeded our expectations. Highly recommended.

Great cruise with excellent food. Very mellow and relaxing. Great coffee for a cruise ship! Especially at Explorations cafe. Our Salted Caramel latte was excellent. Test Kitchen demos were very informative and the speakers kept it interesting. Saw lots of whales from the viewing decks. Overall beautiful ship. We enjoyed it!

I really wish these three ports were not all about diamonds and more about Alaska and it's history. The cruise itself was perfect. The singers and dancers of the Neiuw Amsterdam were incredibly talented, comedian, meh, and the illusionist...WOW! Very doting staff, loved every minute.

I was not impressed with the food on the ship. Very bland and tasteless, the best food item was what you had to pay extra to enjoy.

Beautiful weather, friendly staff, beautiful ports of call, good excursions. Overall pleasant experience. More available activities on sea day would have been fun.

It was Ok. Not what we expected. Everyone was helpful and we had a wonderful time.

No Good. Excursion office did not give the lower price back 110% when we found cheap rate for KAtchikan Float plane rate by $20 at TripAdvisor.com Never use cruise Excursion office . I prefer the trip advisor, They have better rate.

Balcony suite was FANTASTIC! Steward was also FANTASTIC! Food was good. Coffee was NOT good. Bath soap was harsh. Towels were hard and smelled funny. Embarkation and debarkation was well organized. Overall a WONDERFUL cruise -- A DREAM COME TRUE -- and I hope very much to get to do it again!

The service was outstanding and it was obvious that this company knows what it is doing. Food was fabulous, the vow renewal ceremony was sweet and meaningful. It didn’t hurt that we were blessed with unusually fine weather. My biggest complaint was the constant upselling. It was annoying having everything be a sales pitch. Other than that things went pretty well without a hitch throughout the cruise.

Wonderful. Holland America is first class. Only thing I did not like was the sales pressure at the spa to buy their products. I realize they have to but one lady really put the pressure on. I was not comfortable

Nice ship and one that would consider using again.

This was a very enjoyable cruise. I almost wish we hadn't booked Lido deck cabanas so I would've wandered around on the ship and enjoyed different entertainment more. However, it was an amazing amenity that we enjoyed very much. Great to have dedicated deck space for the cruising days and a nice private space for the 5 of us to hang out (our verandahs were ok but it's cold in Alaska in open sea air!). Would definitely do it again with more hiking in port and maybe even to try the White Pass Rail trip. A little rough seas on day 4 (after leaving Glacier Bay) and we all ran out of the second formal dinner early to lie in bed.

Enjoyed the cruise overall though we expected better in certain areas. Just above average as far as cruise ships go though it should be said, we are booked on the Nieuw Statendam, a Pinnacle Class sister-ship being built next year. A week in the Caribbean ahead of the main purpose for our trip to Fort Lauderdale FLA, to sail the Celebrity Edge back-to-back. Should mention I like to play Blackjack and on any other ship, the casino has $5-$10-$25 tables. On the Nieuw Amsterdam, the casino only offers 2 Blackjack tables. A $5 and a $6 🤨! ridiculous.