Where’s Cruise Diva? Aboard Nieuw Amsterdam

Embarking upon a Holland America Ship is like coming home and, in this case, it’s a new home—the newest Signature-Class ship in the fleet, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, which debuted last July. Her highly stylized interior designs and multi-million dollar art collection reflect the glamour and history of the city that was once called Nieuw Amsterdam and is now New York City. In a nod to a tradition that is more than a century old, the newest Nieuw Amsterdam is the fourth Holland America Line vessel to bear the name.

Once on board we quickly settled in and made ourselves comfortable in our oceanview stateroom with verandah. Although there aren’t many drawers for storing folded garments, each closet features drop-down shelves and we found plenty of room to stow everything, including in the deep drawers at the foot of the bed.

The décor is soothing in tones of grey and cream with jewel toned accents. One of my favorite features is the vanity/desk with its lighted magnifying mirror. It’s perfect for those of us who crave lighting and need a bit of magnification to apply mascara.

A big improvement in positioning, and a feature noticed immediately by my husband Mel, is the flat screen television mounted on the wall opposite the bed. The position makes it viewable from the small sofa in the sitting area or the bed.

Our seven-night Eastern Caribbean cruise includes port calls at San Juan, St. Maarten, Grand Turk, and one of our favorite destinations—Holland American’s private island, Half Moon Cay, where we’ll be tomorrow. Oh yes, and we’ll have two days at sea to simply relax. We hope you’ll follow along here in the Cruise Diva Blog.