Nieuw Amsterdam

Great holiday cruise!

Jan 6th, 2020

Wonderful cruise once again on Holland America. Have never found a reason to change to another cruise line.

Wonderful Cruise

Jan 6th, 2020

Great cruise. 7 days is never long enough so we did a back to back cruise and celebrated Christmas, our anniversary and New Years.

Inside Passage

Jan 5th, 2020

For Americans, staging through Vancouver is a hassle—clearing customs four times, and probably a connecting flight—but the reward is the scenic Inside Passage. Round trip means that cabins on both sides of the ship are equally attractive.

Luxurious and beautiful cruise

Jan 4th, 2020

Lovely cruise. HAL is the best. Not for the drunken party crowd and no water slides, but elegant ship with impeccable service.

HORRIBLE NEVER LEFT THE DOCK

Dec 23rd, 2019

SHIP NEVER LEFT FORT LAUDERDALE SHIP NEVER LEFT FORT LAUDERDALE SHIP NEVER LEFT FORT LAUDERDALE SHIP NEVER LEFT FORT LAUDERDALE

As usual a great cruise with Holland!

Dec 15th, 2019

This was a very relaxing cruise as my husband was recovering from surgery.

1st Cruise to Alaska

Dec 13th, 2019

Wonderful cruise with our family. Three couples in rooms side by side. We were able to open up the partitions on the balcony so we could share the balcony together. Enjoyed the whole trip.

Very Disappointing

Dec 3rd, 2019

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.

Save your time and money

Dec 3rd, 2019

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.

Clean Ship

Dec 2nd, 2019

All already said. Really, I can’t submit without 50 characters? Okay, cut and paste coming. I was expecting more. There wasn’t enough for picky eaters. The pizza left much to be desired. The wait staff in the main dining room was not up to par, but perhaps it’s because they mostly cater to an older crowd. We had our kids and grandkids and the wait was horrific and too much for young kids. We did try to get their food first, but only happened once. I told the waiter first thing that if they don’t put the kids orders in first and get them in reasonable time, all these tables around us will not have a good dining experience. That worked, but it was the last evening when we had charge of the grandkids and the parents had a specialty dinner planned. The buffet didn’t have enough variety either. They were great on Sushi and Asian, if you eat that. It was all clean though and the wait staff at the buffet was awesome, no matter when we were there and no matter how messy the kids were, which the baby spilled something every day! I must say, the Thanksgiving Turkey on the buffet was the best turkey I ever had. They did us right for this day. The dining room was a zoo, so just couldn’t put the kids through that and to my surprise, they rocked the day with their Tday buffet.