LIVE Review March 19, 2023, Nieuw Amsterdam, "Friends Who Cruise Together"

[LVinTennessee]

Just getting my post set up before next week and thought I'd give a little background information.

 

Four ladies are headed to the Caribbean for a 7 night cruise! We are in our late 40's/early 50's. One of us has cruised on Holland once (2018), two of us have never cruised with HAL, and one of us has never ever been on a cruise so I think we will have some interesting perspectives. I, personally, have never been to any of these ports. Here's the itinerary:

 

March 19 - Fort Lauderdale

March 20 - Half Moon Cay

March 21 - At Sea

March 22 - Amber Cove

March 23 - Grand Turk

March 24 - At Sea

March 25 - Freeport

March 26 - Fort Lauderdale

 

Our husbands will drop us off at the airport and then we will fly to Fort Lauderdale on Saturday, March 18. We are staying at the Riverside Hotel and plan to eat/shop/tour around Fort Lauderdale for the day. Maybe we will take the water taxi - if you have any tips for that or stops we should make, I am all ears.

 

We are using South Florida Elite Shuttles to haul us to the port on Sunday morning.

 

We are so stinking excited and have really enjoyed planning for this cruise! We booked the cruise the very end of January and have been texting daily about what we're packing, the woes of trying on bathing suits in winter, which excursions we want to take, etc. 

 

I will start posting regularly when we get to Fort Lauderdale. The countdown has begun - 6 days, 10 hours, 51 minutes.

 

Cheers,

Sunny

[Moriah]

I am booked on this cruise as well, so perhaps we will meet on board. Meeting a friend in Miami on Thursday and of course headed to ship on Sunday. Hoping for great weather for our sail away from Port Everglades! On my last Caribbean cruise on Rotterdam we had such high winds that the port was closed , our sail away was in the middle of the night instead of 4 PM, and we missed HMC altogether! I have a feeling this upcoming cruise will have no such problems. Smooth and sunny is what I am envisioning!! Are all four of you ladies sharing a stateroom or suite? 

[LVinTennessee]

We have two balcony rooms.  Could not get side by side since we booked late, but we are on the same deck. 

[Sea42]

What a fun way to spend time with your friends! I hope you have a great time!

[Rubyfisch]

Have an amazing trip! I'm thinking of booking my first Holland America cruise and look forward to reading about your trip.

[Iamthesea]

If you have not already stayed at the Riverside Hotel, you will love it and the surrounding area.  Right in the middle of the Las Olas shopping district. Fun place to be!!!

 

Do take a water taxi to see the sights.  Get a 24H pass and you can do a day tour of homes, and take a night tour to see the lights.  No need to get off.  We take the water taxi whenever in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I will be interested to hear how you and your girlfriends like being on a HAL ship.  Although my DH and I have been on HAL a few times, my adult children have not.  My oldest daughter is almost 42, and the youngest is 38.  I have been thinking of doing another girls cruise with them.  They have only cruised Celebrity with me (girls cruises) and a variety of other cruiselines with the whole family.    I would worry that there would not be enough for them to do at night.

 

Have a great time!!! 😎

Edited March 12, 2023 by Iamthesea

[oakridger]

6 hours ago, LVinTennessee said:

Riverside Hotel

 

Your trip sounds so fun!  I love the Nieuw Amsterdam and I also stayed at the Riverside Hotel at the end of October 2022 for 5 nights between NA and Rotterdam cruises.  I love that hotel and will stay there for sure the next time I'm in Ft. Lauderdale!  I spent some quality time at the Golden Lyon Pub at the end of the day a few evenings.  Good place to people watch and the bartenders were friendly.  I wasn't able to go on the water taxi because of a knee injury but will for sure the next time!

 

I'm looking forward to your posts and the perspective of your friends too!

 

~Nancy

 

P.S.- I was born in Oak Ridge Tennessee, thus the Cruise Critic handle.

[Haljo1935]

Have not stayed at that hotel, so I have no insight to provide on it. But I did return recently from 14 days on NA - it was lovely; hope you enjoy it.

Due to weather, we could only go to HMC once and had other port cancellations and changes. No fault if the ship, just Mama Nature doing her thing.

B

Snag Thermal passes for the week if you're able and do visit deck 12 for some great views and solitude. It's not on the deck plans and no elevator goes there, but it does exist - grab your favorite coffee or drink from Exploration Central then take the steps up to 12 and enjoy!!

If you're a bacon lover - be sure to get the Candied Bacon in Pinnacle Grill.

Enjoy your cruise!!

[LVinTennessee]

One more “this is a first” tidbit - the 4 of us have traveled together before, but we have never cruised together before.

[Denise T]

Looking forward to your review. I will be on the NA at the end of May going to Alaska. I am going as a group of four-me, my sister, my brother, and my sister-in-law. This will be our first time traveling as a foursome. 

[LVinTennessee]

We left a super cold and windy Asheville to head to a sunnier location!

Flight was a bit bumpy, but we had a smooth, safe landing. Met a lot of friendly people going to other various cruise lines. 
 

Ahhh! The For Lauderdale temps were perfect at 83. 

 

 A man approached us in baggage claim offering us a ride (and gave us his card), but that seemed sketchy. We took an Uber to The Riverside Hotel. Luckily we were able to get an Uber to take the 4 of us and our 7 suitcases. 
 

We were able to check in early to our corner balcony room. We have a great view of the river and can see the cruise ships in the distance. The hotel is great and smells nice and clean (and is clean). 

 

We ate at Tommy Bahamas for lunch.  To be continued….

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by LVinTennessee

[LVinTennessee]

Continued for 3-18

Ate at Tommy Bahamas. Service was kind of slow but the food was really good. Ahi Tuna Wonton tacos, fish tacos, chicken mango salad, and coconut shrimp is what we ordered and we ate every bite. 
 

Then we strolled the River Walk (I enjoyed seeing all the pooches being walked) and drooled over some of the boats (me - my husband and I would like to buy a live aboard boat and do the Great Loop or maybe just sail up and down the ICW), and then we boarded the water taxi. 
 

We enjoyed the scenery and dreamed of living in one of the houses, and we enjoyed the sunset as we motored to stop 9 where we ate at Shooters. It was sort of spur of the moment and found out that they weren’t taking any walk ins. But we got a table at the bar easy-peasy with no waiting. We ordered the charcuterie board with fruit, a shrimp cocktail (6 plump shrimp), and the veggie sushi roll. Enough for all of us to share. 
 

We took an Uber back to the hotel and settled in for the next day. 
 

Tobecontinued for 3/19 - embarkation day! 
 

no time to edit. We are currently sitting and waiting to board the ship. Doing thisquick - on the fly! 

[Denise T]

Great pictures! Looking forward to the rest of your review. 

[2flacruisers]

Enjoy ladies! 

[Hooked!]

Sounds like a great start! Thanks for taking us along. 

[Iamthesea]

"We left a super cold and windy Asheville to head to a sunnier location!"

 

Hi Sunny,

Ever since you first posted, I thought you looked familiar.  Then I noticed you were from TN, same as me.  Now I see that you flew out of Asheville, so you must be from the Tri-Cities.  I could be way off base.🤗  I recently moved back to Kingsport from Johnson City after living in JC for 30 years.  I still cannot quite place you, but thinking we had children that went to the same elementary school years ago.  Anyway, I will be enjoying your review this week.  Have a great cruise!!!

[LVinTennessee]

Hello Iamthesea - maybe we know each other! Sunny is my cruising alias. I will be posting a picture soon and you will hopefully be able to figure out if you know me. If your child(ren) went to a private school in JC then there is a good chance we know each other. What a great mystery!

 

cruise related - we have had a GREAT embarkation day. Will post more LATE this evening. I’m burning the candle at both ends. 😉

[LVinTennessee]

Embarkation Day 3/19

 

Our shuttle service with Elite went very smoothly. They called me to confirm our hotel pick up time at 10:30.  At 10:16, he called to say he was 2 minutes out and that he would be in a black sprinter van. We arrived at the port and a porter promptly unloaded our bags. Things went so smoothly and efficiently that I had zero time to take pictures. Before we knew it, they called group 16 and we were on the ship! 
 

The crew has been so friendly and genuine. I love all of them!

 

we went to our rooms (sea passes were at our door), watched the muster drill on the tv then reported to our muster station. The arts and craft lady, Rose, was our safety person and she gave us a little preview of what classes she would be teaching (because I asked). 
 

next we ate lunch at the MDR. I got the tomato bisque and the club sandwich and both were the perfect temp, perfectly seasoned and so yummy! The other gals got the Southwest quinoa bowls. We skipped dessert. 
 

next we went to our lido cabana which has been a big hit with my group. A couple of us went to the excursion desk to reserve a clamshell for HMC. After touring the spa and thermal suite for the first time ever, I booked a spa service and the thermal suite because it was half off and a great deal in my opinion. then the rest of our group took the tour and one more lady booked it too. I think I will give a review of their later (the service we got). 
 

then we did the sail away party at 3. We did not depart until 4 because 2 people had not completed the muster drill and had to be tracked down. Two of us enjoyed dancing on the sea view deck and then met a super nice couple - Laura and Michael - that we enjoyed chatting with. 
 

around 4:45, we started getting ready for dinner for 5:15 seating. Based on comments here, I was worried about the food quality. Another gal and I ordered the Jerk Pork Tenderloin and it was delicious! Again perfect temp and flavor and seasoned. The other two gals ordered salmon. I can’t remember their review of it. They will share pics with me later because they didn’t get the internet package. Our servers were wonderful. Two gals are gluten free and were impressed that they were brought two varieties of bread. 
 

we split up at this point for various appointments/demos. More on that later. Then we met in the Ocean Bar to play “Majority Rules,” and we won! We got a little charm bracelet as a prize. 
 

Next up was Billboard On Board for the dueling pianos. This couple was fantastic! One friend requested a song and they played it/sang it - Islands in the Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. In my opinion, they knocked it out of the park on every song. I can’t wait to go back. 
 

afterwards, we walked around the casino a little bit just watching. 
 

we’re in bed now, getting up at 7:00 am and plan to be in line at 8:00 to tender to HMC. No plans except to have an excellent beach day. We have our fingers crossed that it doesn’t rain (which is on the forecast). 

one more thing - we have had a lot of ship movement. Not sure if it was rough seas or if something is wonky with the stabilizers. None of us have gotten sea sick though. 
 

Right now, I don’t have an option to add pictures so I will try again tomorrow. 

[oakridger]

Thanks for getting "us" started on "our" cruise!! 😁   Have a fun time at HMC tomorrow!

 

~Nancy

[Denise T]

Thank you for the review of embarkation day. Can't wait for the pictures. 

[colliece]

9 hours ago, LVinTennessee said:

 

Next up was Billboard On Board for the dueling pianos. This couple was fantastic! One friend requested a song and they played it/sang it - Islands in the Stream by Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers. In my opinion, they knocked it out of the park on every song. I can’t wait to go back. 

 

We enjoyed Rose here and Al were a great team, she is very new but we did not enjoy the Billboard singers, did not think they were great, they they did try very hard.  They did switch the Cruise Director as Claire departed with us, she was fantastic. The BB Kings band was really good and as very fun every night.  Was a very fun cruise.  

[LVinTennessee]

3 hours ago, colliece said:

 

We enjoyed Rose here and Al were a great team, she is very new but we did not enjoy the Billboard singers, did not think they were great, they they did try very hard.  They did switch the Cruise Director as Claire departed with us, she was fantastic. The BB Kings band was really good and as very fun every night.  Was a very fun cruise.  

Our cruise director is Kimberly and she is full of energy and upbeat. The couple at the  dueling pianos is Brady…and I can’t remember the lady’s name but they are a couple in real life (if I understood it correctly). They also sang “Shallow” duet by Lady Gaga. Phenomenal!

[LVinTennessee]

The other ladies are taking food pictures but can’t share them with me yet. 
 

3/20 - Half Moon Cay - I’ve never been here. 
 

our room service showed up at 7 am promptly and was hot and delicious. My bacon was crispy - just the way I like it. 
 

we were in a short line by 8 am to take the tender to HMC. It was a bit overcast. 
 

this is my first time to the Bahamas. The water is absolutely lovely! We went straight to the water sports area and someone took us to our clamshells. We got in the water which was chilly, but not horribly cold, and we enjoyed ourselves. On the beach, we sunbathed and read our books before lunch. 
 

lunch was jerk chicken, Pasta salad, potato salad, fruit salad, and cole slaw. Everything was excellent! Our whole group thought so. There were also options for hamburgers, hot dogs, and fish. 
 

it started to rain while we were eating and it seemed to have set in so I headed back to the ship. One person stayed on the island and waited out the rain. Took a shower to warm up then went to hang out in the cabana and then going to adult coloring at 2:30. 
 

all of my photos aren’t loading between my phone and iPad. So I will have to do a photo dump later. 
 

p.s I enjoyed the island chickens and their babies! And there was a pretty gray bird in the bushes singing so sweetly and I got it on video. Maybe I will be able to share it after I get home. 

[2flacruisers]

Looking forward to your future posts...we and some friends will be cruising on the ship next Sunday...looking forward to having a fantastic time!

[canadianbear]

Just found your thread and am happily following along now.  The Riverside is our favourite hotel to stay at when we cruise from Ft Lauderdale.  There are so many great restaurants within walking distance. 
 

What fun having a girls cruise!  Looking forward to more photos and adventures you’re all having.