There is something with us and noisy Holland America Line (HAL) cabins. We've had four cabins on three different HAL ships, and each one of them has made for fitful sleeping. Of course, it's too early to tell if the creaking and groaning taking place in the ceiling overhead will take a toll, but I just find it noteworthy that, out of nearly 70 cruises, we've only had cabin noise issues on one Celebrity cruise (until we were immediately moved) and all four HAL cruises. Jinxed? Perhaps, when it comes to cabins, but in all other ways we've had a most promising first day on the Nieuw Amsterdam.
Despite disembarkation instructions that indicated we'd be off the Royal Princess at 11:30am, last and final disembarkation was called at 11am. Except, sitting where we were, what we heard over the PA was indecipherable and we actually walked off with the in transit (back to back) cruisers. Ours were nearly the last suitcases left in the terminal, which certainly made them easy to find. G was livin' large today, and solicited the assistance of a baggage handler who saw us through ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and to the taxi stand. $10 and 7 minutes later we were delivered to the Nieuw Amsterdam, at a different pier in Port Everglades.
Check in went smoothly and by 12:05am we were walking into our balcony stateroom. It's tight...we'd prefer less clutter on the vanity and no love seat and chair in the cabin (and extra floor space instead) but the balcony itself is nice and fully covered and large enough for a cushioned wicker chair and wicker ottoman as well as a very small table and second chair.
We were docked such that we had a wonderful view of the ocean, and I would have happily stayed here all afternoon, but G wanted to take advantage of our Mariner (HAL's loyalty program) perk of lunch in the dining room on embarkation day. He was right; the chunky chicken mango salad was delicious and service was actually fairly good (shocking; along with noisy cabins, slow dining room service has been an HAL hallmark for us).
Back to the cabin to unpack our large suitcases that had been delivered in our absence, we immediately ran into trouble. The storage in the cabin isn't nearly as user friendly as in our inside cabin on the Royal Princess. The closets have doors (but there really isn't enough room for the closet doors to be opened and it certainly precludes a second person passing by). There is no room under the bed for the large suitcases (we're using the love seat to open one on, with two crammed inside the closet). Simply put, we're wedged in here pretty tightly. For a 7-night cruise with 7 nights worth of luggage it would be fine; for a 7-night cruise with months' worth of luggage, it has the look and feel of four people in an inside cabin.
Muster drill was at 3:45pm; on HAL, passengers muster by standing outside on the open Promenade Deck, but without carrying a life jacket. I don't enjoy the standing-while-attendance-is-taken-cabin-by-cabin part, but not having to take a life jacket back to our cabin immediately afterwards afforded us the opportunity to walk around the upper decks of the ship as sail away began. It was a thrill to first watch the Royal Princess sail away, followed by us.
It was funny; cruise friends Jenny and Bill boarded the Royal Princess today, and as they were sailing out of Port Everglades, I phoned her from our ship. Her first words: "Does the elevator situation get any better?" A little, maybe, but let's just say we're loving the many and quick elevators on the Nieuw Amsterdam (just over 50% as many passengers as the Royal Princess with the same number, faster and LARGER elevators on a smaller ship). Hello, Princess, so you see a possible issue here?!?
Jenny told me that it had already been announced that, due to a bad storm moving in, the Royal Princess would be skipping Princess Cays tomorrow and instead substituting Grand Turk later in their cruise. Ruh-roh. HAL's private island of Half Moon Cay is on Little San Salvador island in the Bahamas, only about 15 miles from Eleuthera, where Princess Cays is located. Was the Royal Princess canceling on a note of caution, and partially due to the issues they had had with tendering disorganization last week, or were we on the Nieuw Amsterdam going to find out, but not until tomorrow morning, that the storm was preventing us from tendering to Half Moon Cay? We had all evening to wonder about it, but I can tell you that this ship was rocking and rolling tonight, and we began to resign ourselves to a sea day tomorrow.
Despite our plans to dine exclusively in the buffet on this cruise, two meals down and both have been in the Manhattan Dining Room. We were given a lovely table for four for just the two of us, had decent service, a wine steward (on Princess the waiters have to act as sommeliers too), and a view of a beautiful sunset over Miami from our table. Very nice!
After dinner, we wandered the shops until - no, not a string quartet- but at least a violinist and pianist played "sophisticated classical music" starting at 7pm. Pure heaven. When they took a break, we headed up to the Crow's Nest, a glass-fronted lounge at the top front of the ship to listen to a guitarist (another favorite on HAL) and chill. It's 10pm, and we're ready for bed.
It's been a busy 24 hours!
Photos 1-2: our standard balcony cabin (equivalent to a deluxe balcony cabin on the Royal Princess). We booked this cruise after final payment had passed and prices had started to drop to fill the ship; we're paying less for 7 nights in this balcony cabin than we paid for 5 nights in an inside on the Royal Princess. Life is good!
Photo 3: our first ever bathtub at sea! The bathroom is actually large enough for one person to brush heir teeth while the other towels off after a shower. I'm not usually a fan of showering in a bathtub (spoiled princess that I am), but the extra space this bathtub affords is a nice change of pace.
Photos 4-5: our balcony. Plenty of room for two people. This standard balcony cabin is similar to a deluxe balcony cabin on the Royal Princess with a larger balcony and much improved bathroom. Nice!
