I'm Gary Bembridge of Tips For Travellers. I'm going to take you on a tour through
Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam cruise ship. It came into service originally in
2010 but in 2017 December it went through a big refit. And during the
course of this video I'm going to tell you what I like about the changes that have
been made but since I last travelled on it. I'm going to start by talking
about entertainment and focusing on some of the big innovations there. The
most exciting one of all is what's known as the Music Walk. This is a series of
four different and varied venues. First of these is known as Lincoln Center
Stage. This is a partnership with the Lincoln Center which is one of the
world's leading centers for Performing Arts in New York. In here you have
classical concerts and various recitals. A little bit further along is BB Kings
Blues Club. You have the BB King's all-stars band. It's an eight piece band
and every single night they have a number of shows. The third one, and
probably the most popular of all of these, is Billboard Onboard. Here you have
two pianists and singers facing each other and each evening they do a series
of shows around different themes. They banter with the audience and it's a
really good fun venues. Then of course you have what's known as the Mainstage.
This is the big theatre where they hold the production shows and have guest
entertainers and during the day they may have some enrichment lectures here as
well. Another introduction is a great new bar: the Gallery Bar. It's a really
interesting venue with crazy art. It's quite vibrant. There's great cocktails
and drinks here. Another bar of note is up on deck 11, which is the
Tamarind Bar which is just opposite the Tamarind restaurant. There are of course
other little bars dotted around the ship, such as of the pool areas. Also
in entertainment of course you have the casino, which is really exciting because
it's changed quite a lot since the old incarnation with lots of new machines and
lots of gaming tables. The next theme I want to talk about is
Explorations Central (EXC Central) because this has been turned from a bar into
this new venue. It's the real heart of where
everything to do with destinations tours happens. Up here you have what is the old
shore excursions desk area, where you can obviously go and get advice about tours
and book tours. But there's a whole a lot of other features in here. You have
these interactive tables where you can find advice, tips, history and
information about the ports that you're visiting. There's a library with lots of
destination guides. There's also an interactive screen where they have a
question of the day where you can go and put in your answers and then compare
with what other people have said. You have a lot of seating area where people
obviously like to sit and look out across the bow of the ship, and then you
have the EXC cafe which is the Explorations Cafe, which is the old partnership with
the New York Times. The third theme of things I'd like
to talk about is enrichment. The first of these is America's Test Kitchen and
this is held in the venue that's used for BB Kings Blues Club in the evenings.
During the course of the cruise there will be a series of demonstrations
cooking demonstrations. The other thing which is very popular the Digital
Workshops which are a partnership with Windows and Microsoft. They have a
wide range of activities in here ranging from how to do email, using software and
Q&As. Let's take a look at dining. First of all the dining venues that are
included within your fare. Obviously there's the main restaurant, the main
dining room, which is on two levels and they have either in the evenings fixed
dining (so you have two fixed dining times and you have your same table and same
serving staff) and then they also have anytime dining where you can basically
either book on the day or two a head or you can just pitch up. You
can have breakfast, lunch or dinner there. The other very popular venue is the Lido
Market, which is up on deck 9. This is a huge sprawling buffet area and although
it's a buffet you are actually served by the staff. It is very popular. You can
have breakfast, lunch and dinner here. There is a pizza place out by the pool
deck and is also a burger place called Dive Inn which is also on the pool deck
area. Again very popular. Of course you can get room service 24 hours a day.
In terms of speciality dining there are four main
specialty dining options. The first of all is Pinnacle Grill, which is the steak
and seafood restaurant. This is something that Holland America are very proud of and so is
the Nieuw Amsterdam. There is a extra charge for that and that's (at the
time of recording) $35 per person. On the Nieuw Amsterdam they have Tamarind,
which is probably my favourite of the specialty restaurants. It is kind of
an Asian fusion place that's up on deck 11, and again there's a charge for that
and the charge up here is (at the time of recording) $25 per person. Then you have
Canaletto, which is an Italian restaurant. It's actually a little space within the
Lido Market area which in the evenings becomes Canaletto, and that has a charge
of $15 per person. Then also in the Pinnacle Grill is the once a cruise
seafood night which is called Rudy's Du Mare and the charge of this is $45
per person. The next range of things I want to talk about is fitness and
relaxation. On board the Nieuw Amsterdam there are two swimming pools.
First of all in the center you have the Lido pool and this has a roof that
closes over. Then at the back you have what's known as the Sea View Pool, not
surprising because it's out the back. This is the adults only pool. There are
also the Cabanas. On warmer cruises these cabanas can be hired. It's a great
space where you can hire a cabana for the whole day and it's a little bit more
calm and quiet. There's also a very large fitness center which has both free
and paid for classes. In my view the fitness center is fine but is probably not
as modern and updated as other parts of the ship. Then also there's a spa which
is called Greenhouse Spa. In terms of shopping, which is the next thing I
want to talk about, there is a shopping arcade with lots of choices of shops:
jewellery, watches, clothes, Holland America merchandise, cigarettes and alcohol. If
you're traveling with kids there is the Club HAL, which is designed for kids of
different ages. In terms of other facilities, which is the next thing I
want to talk about, you obviously have Guest Services (as you would expect),
you have Future Sales desks and then you have one of things that is also very
popular and always busy which is the Photo Gallery which is a very large space
where you can go and buy the various photographs that have been taken of you
during the cruise and they sell camera supplies.
So what about accommodation on the Nieuw Amsterdam? As you'd expect there
is everything that ranges from suites to inside cabins. But the main cabin on
board is one like this, which is a balcony cabin. The bulk of cabins on
board in terms of the numbers are balcony cabins like this. It's a good decent
sized room. Very comfortable bed. Space to sit and relax and actually if you have a
third person there's a sofa bed there. A nice little balcony and chairs.
The Nieuw Amsterdam post 2017 is, I think, a very stylish ship. I like
the look of the ship. It has a nice sort of traditional feel to it. It does feel it
harks back to a lot to the heritage of Holland America. Overall I
like the feel of it. It's got a nice flow to it. I have been on the ship
before and I really like the changes that have been done to it. One of the
things I'd love you to do, if you enjoyed this video, is watch many more of my Tips
For Travellers videos and get more travel inspiration, advice and tips.