Thank you HAL Cruise Critic Board

[Orsino]

I wanted to thank you all for the great information on this board. We sailed last week on the Nieuw Amsterdam and the advice and pointers on this board were very helpful in making a great cruise even better.

 

Thanks to IRL_Joanie for her post in the thread about Reserving Cabanas on the Nieuw Amsterdam, and to everyone who offered opinions about the Cabana Club. We had a very relaxing week thanks to the Cabanas. We loved it!

My note about Sorrento (it is the cabana farthest from either ships edge, right next to the stairs): Looking at the layout, I probably would have chosen Sorrento last. As it was, I had asked for one of the cabanas facing the ocean since we love views of the ocean. We didn't get what we asked for, and I'm so glad we didn't. Sorrento was perfect. Both sides of the cabana have good views of the ocean. The views may not be as expansive as cabanas closer to one side, but the view is balanced for both guests. The main downside for Sorrento is its location relative to the stairs. You can see people going up and down the stairs and they can look in. It isn't too much of a problem though, since the stairs are not high traffic.

And the note about airflow was spot on. I ignored this advice with my request for a side cabana, but lucky for me HAL ignored me. Air flow on a hot sunny day is very very welcome.

On the flip side, we had one very windy day. In that case the enclosed cabana would have been ideal.

 

I also thank those that posted information about the Master Chef Table Dinner. We were able to make a reservation (we went directly to the Pinnacle Grill when we got onboard), but unfortunately not enough people signed up and the dinner was cancelled. Even so, I'm glad we knew about it and knew what to do to try and get it.

 

I also appreciate the many reviews of Le Cirque. Thanks to those reviews we knew to order the lobster salad, and we were not disappointed.

 

One piece of information I managed to miss on the boards was the fact that Nieuw Amsterdam was going into dry dock after our cruise. I'm glad I missed that info, since it would have worried me prior to my cruise. Of course, all that worry would have been misplaced, since I was actually surprised when I heard about the upcoming dry dock while on board. I thought the ship looked great.

[IRL_Joanie]

Absolutely awesome to read how happy you were with NA:)

 

I actually had to go and see what I'd said about the cabanas because I did not remember posting anything....WOW!! Great to see that my 2011 post helped you have an awesome cruise:)

 

Joanie

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad you had a wonderful cruise thanks to the information from this site.

Sorry that you didn't get to try the Master Chef's dinner.

[ger_77]

Welcome home. So glad you had a great cruise - isn't it nice to have someplace where you can get information before sailing?

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[sail7seas]

So happy you had such a good experience on Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

Welcome Back,.

Did you book another cruise? :D

 

[Ricktan]

Is the Master Chef table not filling up a common thing?? We are really hoping to enjoy it on our upcoming cruises.....

 

 

Tanya

[Orsino]

Did you book another cruise? :D

 

We signed up for a future cruise, but did not select one yet.

 

Is the Master Chef table not filling up a common thing??

Apparently, Yes.

Master Chef Dinner

[POA1]

Is the Master Chef table not filling up a common thing?? We are really hoping to enjoy it on our upcoming cruises.....

 

 

Tanya

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam three weeks in the fall. Two of the weeks it filled up right away. One week it didn't get enough people.