What’s new on the Nieuw Amsterdam
By Robert N. Jenkins
The recently launched Nieuw Amsterdam is the 15th ship in Holland America Line’s fleet, with no more on the drawing boards. Looks like they saved the best for last.
Sailing from its home port of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the 2,106-passenger ship emphasizes HAL’s historical ties to New York – named, of course, Nieuw Amsterdam by the Dutch explorers who purchased it.
Onboard this vessel, architects and designers have installed Big Apple reminders ranging from an actual New York City Checker cab to black-and-white paparazzi shots of celebrities to wonderful, one-of-a-kind, paintings and ceramic murals.
The formal dining room, the Manhattan, boasts peach sherbet-colored walls accented with Deco stripes and curves. Even elevator doors borrow their design from the Chrysler Building’s Art Deco façade.
Above the three-deck atrium hangs a massive acrylic sculpture whose spires call to mind Superman’s icy Fortress of Solitude, but actually it is the Manhattan skyline, as reflected in its riverfronts. Lights shining on the handcarved, 3,000-pound piece of plexiglass sculpture change hue every four or five seconds, from emerald green to turquoise to violet.
A twin to 2008’s Eurodam, the Nieuw Amsterdam cost a reported half-billion U.S. dollars to build and furnish. CEO and president Stein Kruse says the vessel is designed to be “soft and beautiful and elegant.’’
Holland America calls these twins its Signature Class, as in Signature of Excellence, the line’s motto for the $525-million worth of upgrades it has invested in existing ships since November 2003.
The goal is to be the leader of what the industry terms premium class cruise ships – not the mass-market, hustle-bustle floating cities that carry twice this many passengers, nor the ultra-luxury class that carries a fifth this many but at several times the per diem cost.
The upgrading program is to “keep the brand fresh and relevant,’’ Kruse told travel media just after the Nieuw Amsterdam sailed in July from its birthplace, the Fincantieri shipyard, a few miles from Venice. But this ship was built with the advantages from the past seven years of upgrades: from higher thread count in the sheets on the Euro-top mattresses to a new cabin type.
The 56 Spa staterooms have wooden floor mats in the bathroom, yoga mats, a soothing palette of earth tones in the décor, and a tiny, trickling fountain on the bureau. Similar touches are elsewhere in public spaces. The Lido deck, for instance, is the opposite of most ship’s pool areas, evoking the serene rather than the boisterous.
Cabanas, for rent by the day or by the cruise, are located by the main pool and on a deck overlooking it. Curtained for privacy, the cabanas feature thickly cushioned, oval chaises big enough for two, plus a table and chairs. The bar staff comes calling regularly.
A spectacularly simple fountain dominates one end of the pool – an inverted, squared-off U, with nine fountains at its base, squirting at different heights and at different times. The word for water is on the sides of this sculpture in more than 100 languages. A string ensemble plays at the opposite end of the pool from the fountain. The pool itself has a four-foot-wide shelf just below water level—a cooling, lounging spot.
Holland America has long been noted for decorating public spaces with antiques reflecting the centuries of trading history of the Dutch East Indies Co. But on the Nieuw Amsterdam, priority is given to more recent pieces of art. A collection estimated at $3-million, for instance, includes works by Andy Warhol, Richard Estes and Roy Lichtenstein.
Passengers can borrow a free, 39-minute, iPod tour of the ship’s art and antiques collection.
As for space, the Nieuw Amsterdam has Holland America’s largest-ever gym, better seating for improved sight lines in its main showroom, three separate-by-age play spaces for youngsters ages 3 to 17 (that’s where the Checker cab is), and a much-larger cocktail lounge that fills one deck of the atrium lobby.
A word on dining: Nieuw Amsterdam features a popular Pan-Asian restaurant, the 142-seat Tamarind, with its adjacent bar, the Silk Den. The tables in the Silk Den face floor to ceiling windows, to take advantage of its location on the uppermost deck.
While meals in the Lido deck and Manhattan dining rooms – and 24-hour room service -- are included in the fare, lunch in the Pinnacle Grill is $10, dinner is $20. The grill has its own galley and serves a better grade of beef than in the other rooms; service is on Bvlgari china, Riedel stemware and Frette linens.
The Tamarind menu offers entrees such as sea bass with a hoisin-lime glaze, baked snapper in rice paper, Wasabi soy beef tenderloin and red penang curry coconut chicken. Lunch at Tamarind is complimentary, while dinner is $15.
Itineraries: The Nieuw Amsterdam sails from Fort Lauderdale on weeklong Caribbean voyages, until March 27, 2011, when it will sail to Europe for Mediterranean trips.
From Fort Lauderdale, the eastern itinerary calls at Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos; San Juan; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; and the cruise line’s private Bahamian island, Half Moon Cay. Western itineraries stop at Half Moon Cay; Grand Turk; Georgetown, Grand Cayman, and Costa Maya, Mexico.
Fares: Ticket prices depend on cabin size and location on the ship, plus date of sailing. For more information, contact a travel agent or the cruise line, at 1-877-932-4259 or www.hollandamerica.com.
Freelance writer Robert N. Jenkins has sailed on more than 50 cruise ships.
