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Just off the Nieuw Amsterdam

GulfShoresCruiser

By GulfShoresCruiser,
in Holland America Line

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GulfShoresCruiser

GulfShoresCruiser

Posted
Posted

Well, the 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam ended yesterday. We had a fantastic trip and I will now attempt to provide my review/comments:

 

EMBARKATION We flew down the evening before. Stayed at the Courtyard Marriott FLL. Easy non-stop flight (thank you Southwest!) and used the hotel shuttle. Signed up for the 10am hotel shuttle to the ship. It left right on time and they were very organized and efficient with a herd to deal with. At 11am we were at the ship. Walked right up to the check in desk and we were boarding group lucky 13. Boarded at 11:50 and were enjoying the Mariners Lunch at noon.

 

ROOM We were in 4155 balcony. Great room. Quiet. Room stewards were always on it. Soli was the best. I never understand how they know when we are not there but the service was always completed and they were great about it.

 

FOOD We ate most meals in the MDR. Food was the best ever. Great soups and different appetizers. Service was great. We did the "anytime dining" and most of the time, we asked to be seated "where you want us" and had some some great table mates.(more on the table mates later)...On formal nights, we did a table for two with no problem. We did the free Tamarind lunch on one of the sea days and that was very good and very different. It was dim sum along with a few other surprises. All good but different. We ate a burger and fries from the dive in. That's a great new addition. Burger was fresh and tasty. The special sauce on the fries was good also. You get a buzzer after you order and by the time you go in to lido and get your salad and drink, your buzzer goes off and your freshly made burger and fries are ready. Lido was good the couple of times we went for lunch. Had fun with the Indian food day and enjoyed the salads. Good Mexican BBQ on the deck the night of Cozumel. Great fajitas. The Mariner brunch was actually at lunch and I believe they had an earlier brunch because there are so many. Got our tiles and enjoyed champagne and a great fish dish. Breakfast was in the MDR most days but a couple of days we ordered in and ate on the balcony (with fresh flowers on the tray). That worked out well on dis-embarkation day. We don't go to any restaurant that charges a fee but manage to take in a variety in dining.....But the MDR is definitely the best. BTW, HAL is doing a much better job of enforcing the dress code. I saw them send away a guy in a tank top at lunch and the short pants folks were sent back to their room to get on long pants for the Mariners Brunch. Also, I saw the coats ready to give out on Formal Nights but the men were all in a suit and tie or had on a coat. Maybe only a few tuxes. Nice job HAL is doing keeping the dress code standards upheld. I think it's important and it's one of the many reasons why we like HAL.

 

ENTERTAINMENT Funny comedian one night. Saw the dance/singing show one night and it was good...just not our thing much anymore. Adagio were great in the Explorers Bar a few evenings. Learned to make a Jamaican Jerk chicken dish in the Culinary presentation. The chef was a hoot. Participated in the interdenominational church service Sunday. It was led by the Catholic priest. Went to the Crow's Nest for a few happy hours. The Cuban Mojito being our favorite and the drink prices are very reasonable (I think it was $6.95 for the first Mojito and the 2nd one was a buck during happy hour) It's a great place to be for sunset...or anytime for that matter.

 

 

PORTS HMC is still the best port of call EVER. Beaches were in great shape. Weather was perfect. The BBQ was not as good as I remembered. We were one of 6 or so ships in the Caymans. We walked around the port. I took notice of the "no lines" at HAL for the tender while the other ships seemed to have a chaotic scramble to board their tenders. Throughout the cruise, HAL did a great job of doing all they could to keep us from standing in lines. There were not any. Cozumel is "under construction"...The entire town center was having road work done. You can tell Mexico is spending $$$ on the tourist areas of Cozumel. Enjoyed a few Mexican drinks in the town. Key West was a nice day. We walked Duval to the southernmost spot for a picture and then toured the Truman vacation home. We have been to these ports many times so it was more about the ship and relaxing rather than the shore excursions.

 

SERVICES The ship was spotless. The gym was busy with all equipment working. We like the thermal suites and bought the pass for the week and wore it out! ($249/couple). All the jets and sprays and steam rooms worked. We went morning, noon and night! I saw nothing out of order. Nice deck lounges were plentiful anytime we needed them on the high deck above the crows nest.

 

A NOTE ABOUT OUR FELLOW PASSENGERS Delightful conversations at dinner and very much enjoyed the chats with our table mates from Canada, Britain and all over the USA. Young and old...and yes, young....one of the best dinner chats was with a couple w/one in medical school and the other in graduate school. That's always a lot of fun. Every now and then, we would run up against what I would call the HAL SNOB....This is the person at dinner who complains about 1) the food 2) the cutbacks 3) why it's not what it used to be 4) the room steward not coming when they wanted 5) blah blah..... To find out what's real or not with these complainers, I conducted a test.....I would ask them about their favorite Italian restaurant back home and then when they would tell me how good it was, every time they would tell me about a time it was not good and how they "told them off" about it. I would also ask them where they lived and my unofficial survey indicated that 100% of the complainers were from the Northeast USA (or Florida by way of the northeast USA). I ignore them. HAL should also. I also watched two officers in the Lido observe a passenger who chose to use his hands instead of the tongs to sort the muffins in search of the one he wanted. The officers pounced on him and asked him to please use the tongs and they tossed the muffins that he touched. They are all over health and safety in spite of some of us!

 

DISEMBARKATION We chose the last to leave option and that was around 10:30. Their were only 3 immigration inspectors so I think the time to get off was later than they would have liked. Again, HAL did not call us until the lines were reasonable and we took a $11 each shuttle right outside the door to the airport. And now we begin the unfriendly experience of re-entering the real world.

 

It was another great HAL cruise. I think it's number 5 for us and we look forward to filling up our Mariner stars.

 

Ask away if you have questions.......Time to plan another one!

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trout62

trout62

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Posted

Sorry to hijack the thread, but I'm just too lazy to do my own review. I was on the same cruise including same hotel the night before (5th HAL cruise but first in 4 years) and concur with OP on just about everything but will add:

 

- The Courtyard FLL has it down cold. We did the 1:00 (last) run and we were in the room by 1:30...it was that fast.

 

- We had 7132 (corner aft) and everything was in very good shape except the cushions on the loungers. They were trashed. I mean seriously falling apart shot.

 

- The vibration is real, it is constant (even in port) and it is everywhere. Though it really didn't bother us that much, I could see how others could be annoyed by it. No, it is not just normal vibration that "ships have" as one poster said. If you put your head underwater in the pool, you can hear a constant high frequency "tap, tap, tap". This is a mechanical issue that hopefully will be fixed at the upcoming dry dock.

 

- Yes, the entertainment is slipping, imo, though we were blown away by Island Magic (steel drum quartet on steroids.) We really enjoyed their Q&A, which brings me to...

 

- What happened to enrichment talks? I thought I remembered HAL having more educational opportunities throughout the week. I'm not talking where to buy tanzanite or rent jet skis, how to fold towels or make mojitos. I'm talking serious, stimulating discussions on local history, culture, nature, etc. Heck, they didn't even do the Q&A with the ship's officers. As an engineering nerd, I love that stuff. Based on the attendance at the Q&A with Island Magic, I think those types of activities would be well received.

 

- And on the nerd stuff, RCI does an extended "back stage pass" tour of the ship (galley, engine control room, etc.) Again, I love that kind of stuff and wish HAL would offer similar, something more than the standard galley tour.

 

- Smoke? Non-issue for the most part though I'm not as sensitive as some. They claim the casino is nonsmoking with limited machines available for smokers, but yeah, the casino is pretty bad, imo.

 

- Soot? Non-issue on our balcony though I heard reports of soot on the back pool deck.

 

- Food? Agree with OP. It was better than I remembered, especially Canaletto. That was MUCH improved imo. Pinnacle still very good, Tamarind always a pleasure. We did the Master Chef's Dinner and it was amazing. A very nice evening. Some say Saturday (last night) makes it feel rushed? Well, maybe, but we found it a nice way to wrap up the trip.

 

- Booze? We did the mixology classes (3) and fell in love with Novie (misspelled, but that is how she pronounced it – Novie like movie). I don’t drink wine (much) but the wife suggests if you want to buy a bottle of wine, buy from Canaletto, not Pinnacle (better selection in her opinion and less $).

 

- Neptune Lounge? Coffee is still the best on the ship. Jersey (Philippines) was awesome, Carolina (Chile) not so much. She gave us incorrect or inaccurate information on at least 3 occasions and where Jersey was soothing, Carolina was stressful…could be a cultural thing, could be an experience thing.

 

- Laundry? Perfect and extremely fast. Items submitted in the morning were back in the afternoon. Did not remember such fast turnaround.

 

- LGBT? Really? Do they need a scheduled meeting every single night at 7:00? And in the Silk Den, our favorite haunt? Not to sound like a prude, but there did seem to be a larger clientele of this nature than I remembered (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Not sure if there was a group on board or if HAL is actively trying to cater to that demographic.

 

- Ports? Same as OP, been there done that but found a few fun restaurants…Paradise in Cayman (free wifi), Machete in Cozumel (free wifi) and Santiago’s Bodega in Key West.

 

- Spa? For 10 years I have joked about “sitting on the heated stone chairs”. This time I did it (weekly thermal suites package) and was glad I did…that was probably my favorite thing on this cruise. On minor annoyance…after sitting in the big mega Jacuzzi thing, I like to jump into the Lido pool. But the side door into the Jacuzzi area could not be opened by the thermal suites card. So, you had to go the long way around past the elevators. Weird.

 

- And is it a requirement to be snooty to work in the spa? Maybe this good ole boy from Texas isn’t their usual customer. Whatever.

 

- Weather? Wow, in 15 or so cruises I have never seen such consistently flat calm seas. Even Jazzy commented on this during Bingo (don’t judge me…this was a cruise of trying new things for the wife and I…we lost but had fun).

 

In summary, this was a great week. Our past few cruises were RCI due to the convenience of driving to Galveston and NOLA, but this week reminded us why we really prefer HAL.

 

Trout

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trout62

trout62

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Oh, one more thing that was interesting...

 

As I mentioned, we tried our luck at Bingo. The Mariner lunch was right after and in my frenzied excitement over the stimulating competition, I had forgotten long pants were required.

 

As I approached the MDR, the fellow dressed like the lobby boy from The Grand Budapest Hotel discretely reminded me that shorts were not permitted and I promptly went to change.

 

I actually appreciated that and was glad HAL tries to maintain a certain level of decorum.

 

Trout

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envy4u

envy4u

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Not sure if this was to me, but for which venue? Doesn't matter because I can't remember any, but Mrs. Trout might...

 

Trout

 

Thought there was only one on each ship. Maitre d for the anytime dining room on the N.A.?

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MobyandDick

MobyandDick

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:eek:

- LGBT? Really? Do they need a scheduled meeting every single night at 7:00? And in the Silk Den, our favorite haunt? Not to sound like a prude, but there did seem to be a larger clientele of this nature than I remembered (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Not sure if there was a group on board or if HAL is actively trying to cater to that demographic.

Trout

 

Unfortuntely we live we live in a world where not everyone is welcome at any time at any place. There are parts in the world where 'being gay' is not appreciated and persons are not allowed to be open with their chosen lifestyle. Therefor HAL graciously dedicates one half hour per day per day to welcome anyone who is part of the GLBT society or is fan/supporter who publically wants to contribute. This humble gesture means a lot to many gay or non-gay cruise passengers.

Apparantly the GLBT community did not complain about you being there as everyone who attended has shown more manners than you ever will have.

Please first think before you write such comments, your descrition is rude and unconsiderate.

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trout62

trout62

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Posted
:eek:

 

Unfortuntely we live we live in a world where not everyone is welcome at any time at any place. There are parts in the world where 'being gay' is not appreciated and persons are not allowed to be open with their chosen lifestyle. Therefor HAL graciously dedicates one half hour per day per day to welcome anyone who is part of the GLBT society or is fan/supporter who publically wants to contribute. This humble gesture means a lot to many gay or non-gay cruise passengers.

Apparantly the GLBT community did not complain about you being there as everyone who attended has shown more manners than you ever will have.

Please first think before you write such comments, your descrition is rude and unconsiderate.

 

I'm not sure what in my comment was rude or inconsiderate. I would have been equally miffed at 7 consecutive meetings dedicated to two headed, heterosexual midgets (with all due respect to the THHM community).

 

I think my point was the LGBT community IS welcome on this and most cruises and if that community wants to blend and fit in, that's fine. Why the need for special events?

 

Trout

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Jules2307

Jules2307

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I think my point was the LGBT community IS welcome on this and most cruises and if that community wants to blend and fit in, that's fine. Why the need for special events?

 

 

You really can't assume that everyone else on the cruise was ok with the LGBT community or assume that every person, who identifies as LGBT, didn't face some sort of discrimination, either overt or passive on your cruise.

 

Just an anecdote, on our cruise (Zaandam in November), friends of ours began chatting to a couple from Wisconsin. The wife was middle aged, the husband was older. Our friends told them they had never heard of Wisconsin (they're Australian) and the couple BOASTED about the Matthew Shepherd murder happening in their state. They then went off for a good 20 minute rant about how vile and disgusting homosexuals are.

 

Everyone else on our cruise that we met were lovely, cultured, polite individuals but had a person who identified as LGBT been standing behind them during that conversation, I could understand why they'd feel they needed additional support from people they knew wouldn't judge them.

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NoWhiners

NoWhiners

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Posted

 

- The vibration is real, it is constant (even in port) and it is everywhere. Though it really didn't bother us that much, I could see how others could be annoyed by it. No, it is not just normal vibration that "ships have" as one poster said. If you put your head underwater in the pool, you can hear a constant high frequency "tap, tap, tap". This is a mechanical issue that hopefully will be fixed at the upcoming dry dock.

 

 

Trout

 

I meant to post about this on my thread but I forgot. We were on the two weeks from Mar 1-15. One night we ate in the Lido and met the mechanical engineer HAL had brought onboard to fix the vibration issues. He said it was due to harmonic frequencies due to ship design and that he was trying to identify where they came from and was using software to balance them out. It seemed like the vibration got a lot better the next day, but now it sounds like it's back. NA will be going to dry dock very soon and will get new azipod ( I think that's how you spell it) engines, which everyone hopes will help with the vibration.

 

Still was a great cruise!

 

ML

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trout62

trout62

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I meant to post about this on my thread but I forgot. We were on the two weeks from Mar 1-15. One night we ate in the Lido and met the mechanical engineer HAL had brought onboard to fix the vibration issues. He said it was due to harmonic frequencies due to ship design and that he was trying to identify where they came from and was using software to balance them out. It seemed like the vibration got a lot better the next day, but now it sounds like it's back. NA will be going to dry dock very soon and will get new azipod ( I think that's how you spell it) engines, which everyone hopes will help with the vibration.

 

Still was a great cruise!

 

ML

 

While I certainly don't claim to be a marine engineer, I am however an engineer for a large multi national that makes motors from huge (like in hydroelectric plants) to tiny (like the motors in Dremel tools) as well as the attendant vibration monitoring hardware and software.

 

Since the vibration was still evident while the ship was in port and since the azipods obviously don't run in port, I don't think the azipods themselves are the problem. The azipods are electric engines and are pretty darn quiet (think Tesla). They do of course have bearings and other moving parts that could be making noise if damaged, but I think it would sound different.

 

But the ships have HUGE diesel / electric generators that burn diesel to generate the electricity to run the engines as well as the rest of the ship. I suspect the noise is coming from these.

 

Regardless, I am sure they will eventually identify the source of the vibration and correct it.

 

Trout

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