Nieuw Amsterdam Western Carib 11/27 - 12/4

[VACruiser123]

Just off the NA from a 7 day cruise to Western C. This was our 26th overall, second HAL, and first post world meltdown. Overall I would say that this cruise seemed very HAL to us. The ship was in great shape, the service staff was very friendly (well pre-masks at least) food was good...and the entertainment was pretty poor.

1. Embarkation/Debarkation -  Could not have been faster or easier...literally the only time you were not walking was for them to scan your passport. It was under 15 minutes total to embark and get to your room and the keys were waiting at the room. Took less than 10  minutes to depart. Cruise lines have this figured out at this point.

2. Ship - No complaints. She is in excellent shape overall and other than the TV remote being worn out, everything worked. We were in a Balcony cabin and it was pretty normal except the storage seemed lacking in this design from other balcony cabins we have had in the past on other lines. One note on this ship is that the only 110V outlet is at the desk. So if you need 110V at the bed you WILL need an extension cord. The wife still appreciates having a tub so a plus to HAL for having them in balcony cabins. This is a nice size ship and at 2/3's full for this trip it was roomy. For gamblers you will appreciate that they are using shoes for Blackjack and not the CSMs...although payout is 6/5 on a blackjack.

3. Food - Well two avenues here. First the food tasted really good other than an inedible rib eye in the Pinnacle Grill (the worst meal of the week). The food EXECUTION I would say is excellent. The menu I would say is OK to good...not great. The serving sizes are small, which we like. The Lido buffet food was both very good and had a decent variety. It was uncrowded and seating was easy to get at this level of passenger loading. The Pizza is good, not great and I would rather there was a by the slice option with bigger pies...but that is just me. The burgers were good at the Dive In. Now the miss - The main dining room is now a three course event...yes you can order more appetizers but the intent and pace is for three courses...and that is not "fine dining"...it just isn't.  The food was good but we are a long way from the five courses that was standard even a few years ago...I count that as a loss. Also they are obviously cutting costs and in some ways it is a little silly. For a table of five we were presented daily with a table setting that had all of two pats of butter. Did we get more when we asked? Yes...should we have had to keep asking for more each day? No I don't think so. Is it minor? Of course it is but it is one of many little things the industry is doing...little things eventually matter when they are taken in aggregate. Also I am a big NO on eliminating everyday items and having Ala carte additional cost items in the main dining room. To me that is a major move away from that cruising value proposition of have having "near fine dining" included in your fare.

4. Entertainment - Well the quartet was really good I thought and the Jazz band and Piano players were very "cruise average". The dancers could dance...and the main shows were horrendous. They were easily the worst main shows we have ever witnessed at sea. There was no "story" to the shows...Just music being played over the sound system and the dancers dancing...was pretty much a waste of time. The comedian was good and he kept it pretty clean. As was the case on our other HAL cruise, the trivia events seemed to be the best attended and the most fun. I did see several people all dressed up for the Orange Night...we did not attend.

5. Ports - Falmouth was cancelled due to weather and looking at the port when we sailed by there was NO way it would be safe to attempt to dock at that inboard berth with 30+ knots of wind coming off the island towards the pier...that was a good call. The private island was great and Grand Cayman was Grand Cayman...but more expensive now. Nassau is whatever...I am not a huge Bahamas fan.

Final note - the cruise started with the crew unmasked and life as normal and happy as ever..for all of two days and then the crew was forced back into masks...they were miserable and distraught at the decision. I also think it significantly altered the experience for the worse seeing all those masks everywhere. At least there was almost no mask wearing among passengers...MAYBE 5-8%...so that was appreciated at least but those poor crew. Anyway I don't think we will be back until masks are dead and buried forever except for passengers that want to wear for whatever reason...too depressing.

 

So that is the way I saw it...HAL is still very much HAL...just somewhat diminished, as are all the lines in all likelihood. I am worried that the cruise industry is kicking the tires on the US Airlines business model of "We are not making money so we need to treat our customers WORSE!"....but time will tell...their existence may depend on decisions they make in the next 2-3 years.

[Naismith]

Totally agree about the fragility of the cruise industry.  Very serious concern.

 

Curious as to which crew members told you that they were miserable?  I admit that I tended to talk mostly with the Indonesian crew, but among the Indonesians I did not get that vibe.  And when I look at the Facebook feed of my friends in Indonesia, people are masked there as they attend holiday parties and school activities, so it seems part of kehidupan sehari-hari, everyday life. But a lot of Asians became accustomed to masking during previous epidemics that missed North America (e.g., SARS) and also when the air quality is not great, which happens regularly in all the big cities.  In my visits to Singapore, Taiwan etc. in pre-Covid times, I don't think I ever went a day without seeing someone wearing a mask.  

[VACruiser123]

13 minutes ago, Naismith said:

 

 

"Curious as to which crew members told you that they were miserable?..."

This was mostly Food and Beverage staff. I don't know if they are Indonesian,  Malaysian, Thai, Filipino or some other Asian locality. That and body language (and example of many being the server working in the Pizza place that had to sit  back rapidly and yank the mask down appearing to be almost faint and getting their breath back.  They were not happy about it...were some??? Probably but I did not hear that from any of them.

[12cruise2]

We are on the same cruise; no complaints heard from staff re wearing masks.  They don't want to be sick either, per the doctor on board.