Nieuw Amsterdam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This cruise was enjoyable, for the most part, and service was excellent. However, if you are at all leery of taking a cruise because of Covid, DO NOT TAKE THIS ONE. Holland America talks a good game concerning Covid precautions, particularly when it comes to mask wearing. In fact, “masks required” signs are everywhere, but the rule was never enforced, and passengers knew it, despite complaints from a number of passengers (according to guest services).

Great trip. Will utilize holland America, again. With covid, felt guests and staff did the best we all could to be safe.

Ship was only about 60% capacity. Nice not to wait in lines, poolside chairs readily available. We like sailing on the smaller cruise liners vs the Huge Megaships.

Our cruise was just what the doctor ordered very relaxing.

Overall this was a great cruise! Very relaxing, great food, just not a ton to do

I had a wonderful time and the food was excellent!

We have been sailing with Holland America for nearly 30 years and have come to love the Grand Voyages and other longer cruises. It had been nearly 7 years since we took a 7 day Caribbean cruise and it was disappointing compared to our most recent cruise - the circumambulation of So. America 2with 4 days in Antarctica. We realize that this was an incredibly cheap cruise but still the repetitive, blah menus were shocking, No evening turn down service with a chocolate was greatly missed - who wants to step over wet towels from a late morning shower all day and night until room service the next morning? A displayed, printed menu outside the Ding Room was greatly missed (yes, we know we could look at it on the Navigator), Daily printed world news was greatly missed. The 2 movies shown were at least 25 years old. Desserts in the Lido were terrible. Desserts in the Cannellito were not good compared to past visits. The new New York Pizza station was good except they kept leaving the cheese off our pizzas (when there are only 4 toppings - cheese, sauce, onions and chickens, forgetting an ingredient seems odd). No early evening music. Terribly overpriced photos and highly overpriced internet on a per photo or per diem charge on longer sailings. An absent Maitre D in the Dining Room. The cruise is very, very cheap.

The last cruise for Holland in Alaska this year. The ship was missing a few items that you would not expect. Who would think that they would run out of pepperoni for pizzas? That was the worst of it. Great ship

It was a fantastic experience... I would do it again...

Alaska is a cruise of a lifetime that you’re going to want to repeat. Put it at the head of your bucket list!

It was restful, fun and most of all great without alot of unruly kids with drunken parents. The staff was phenomenal!!! Food was exceptional both in presentation and taste. Shows were entertaining. Cabin was wonderful bed extremely comfortable. I can't say anything but good things about it. My husband on the other hand was disappointed that there was no duck hunt on the cruise. (On our honeymoon cruise they hid rubber ducks all over the ship that you had to find and he missed that, yes it was a Holland America cruise, it was just a cute fun thing to do. And no, even though I wanted to, I did not strangle my husband because he complained about no duck hunt every other day on our Anniversary cruise) Seriously he had a great time too, he admitted it was better than he expected and he loves cruising on Holland America too.

My cruise on the "Nieuw Amsterdam" was exceptional! The ship was magnificent, the food was fantastic, the entertainment was excellent, and the service was impeccable! I can't wait to return to this phenomenal ship!

Beautiful weather, nice ship and attentive crew. Food was excellent esp. in Tamarind, but drinks are way too pricey. Lincoln center stage was an unexpected pleasure.

We booked this cruise because they listed pickleball as an activity. Not true. No nets for pickleball, equipment broken.

I had a great time. It was very relaxing and the food and entertainment was great.

Enjoyed the cruise and understood going into it that the clientele may have been much older. Activities were geared towards older crowd. Would like to see more variety for the other 25% to enjoy.

I feel that they put money over satisfaction. Need more staff to wait on people. I would have rather they cancel cruise then go on only 1 engine. They could not put stabilizers out due to slow speed so very rough ride. Skipped the 1 port I really wanted to see, Turks and Cacios . It was the main reason I chose this cruise line. Never again.

Would not go back on holland America anytime in the near future. Been on many holland America cruises in the past, major corporate change and not for the better.

Surcharges There are now four specialty restaurants in addition to the specialties within the Pinnacle (e.g. Rudy’s Sel de Mer) There is an additional charge for steak, lobster, cappuccino, and Tazo Tea. Overcrowding The number of passengers on the newer Holland America ships has increased from 1800 to 2100 with the number of crew and officers cut from 1000 to 836. These cuts stress waitstaff and cabin stewards who have to wait more tables and attend to more cabins. The quality of service is diminished because of errors and inordinate wait times for tables. Cutbacks Affecting Quality of Cruise Elimination of cast shows, live bands (HALcats) in the bars, exploration team, expert lecturers, travel team, library, meaningful trivia prizes instead of pins, “dam” brand hats, aprons in shops, toothpicks and after-dinner mints/ginger in dining room. There are no dance classes. There is a paucity of activities and horrific scheduling with attractions opposite one another or religious services during dinner. Holland America/ Carnival are saving money and turning off repeat passengers in favor of a boisterous drinking and gambling crowd. Gifts with strings attached from the shops and spa gave us a $50 discount respectively for our anniversary only on expensive massages, not use of facilities, and expensive items in the shops. A gift is something given freely for an occasion. Horrendous entertainment director Mandy ignored requests to slow down so that passengers could write answers to music trivia. She ignored questions and got very snippy with passengers. She had NO interpersonal skills always insisting she was right even when she was offensive. Combining cruise director and travel director eliminated information about what passengers could do on their own. There is no longer a gathering place in the mainstage to disperse tours. Passengers are sent far away to search for the tours on their own. There was no club soda or Coke at the welcome cocktail party. Flat water and brown water were served as non-alcoholic drinks. Casino and bingo were played in port raking in the money. We were not given the option of making reservations for a set time for dining with one waiter and one wine steward. Instead, we had “dine as you wish,” which turned into “dine as we wish.” When I called to make reservations, the genius David told me, “You cannot make dinner reservations between 5:45 p.m. and 7:45 p.m. because that is dinner hour.” Aside from an insufficient number of waiters, packets of Equal and Sweet and Low are not served with coffee or tea. Passengers must specifically ask for them. Ketchup in the Dive-In is rationed. Unsatisfactory Accommodations We booked an ocean view cabin but were forced to keep the curtains shut for “navigational purposes.” This directive rendered it a virtual inside cabin at a greater cost. Abysmal Information and Communication The A to Z catalogue does not list how to get general announcements from the monitor. The on-screen menu does not direct passengers to the bow camera. I sent an email, got a message, got a call, and got a note asking me to call Guest Services for the information because no one had told anyone else that I had gotten the answer to the question. I returned a book from the book club a week ago after the book talk. Mandy called me a week later to return the book. No one in Guest Services indicated when it was returned and the cabin number. The captain and cruise director claim they are grateful for repeat passenger business. If so, this list of what Carnival and Holland America have done to curtail features leave MUCH to be desired. Many people are unhappy with these nickel and diming policies and plan to take their business elsewhere. We are no longer treated as guests. Instead we are cash cows to be milked for everything. The amenities we have previously enjoyed with this line are gone. It is a bare bones operation now, and we feel as though we are being given bargain basement treatment. We enjoyed the shore excursions we booked.

Was a great cruise. Loved everything about it. The staff was probably my favorite part. They were awesome.