Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam Aft Verandah Stateroom Cabin Review
Exterior view of Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam Cruise Ship
Launched in 2008 and refurbished in 2017, Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam is a Signature Class ship – its sister ship being the couple-years-older Eurodam. Only slightly smaller than Holland America's newer Pinnacle Class ships (Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam, Rotterdam), the Nieuw Amsterdam carries just over 2,100 passengers at double occupancy, featuring 1,053 cabins across 11 public decks.
Like most mainstream and premium ships, Nieuw Amsterdam offers interior cabins, ocean-view cabins, balcony cabins, as well as a few classes of suites. And like many other lines, Holland American has its own custom lingo for describing its ships: cabins are "staterooms," balcony cabins are "Verandah staterooms." Our cabin, number 7136, was a VB category Verandah Stateroom, one of the entry-level balcony cabins aboard the Nieuw Amsterdam.
Stateroom 7136 was located on Deck 7, known as the Rotterdam deck. And one of its unique features was that it was an aft-facing stateroom. We were very strategic about our cabin selection. We knew that one of the unique features of Holland America ships is that aft Verandah Staterooms feature larger-than-average balconies. Also, even though aft cabins experience more movement, we were confident Deck 7 would be midship enough that we wouldn't have any problems with motion sickness. And we were right, the movement in the aft was never a problem during our week at sea. We also try to avoid taking elevators on a cruise ship, both because they can be crowded and slow and more importantly because we like to get in the exercise of climbing the stairs. Our aft cabin was only a short distance to Nieuw Amsterdam's rear stairwell. Plus Deck 7 is well-positioned between the Lido Market buffet on Deck 9 and the main entertainment venues down on Decks 2 and 3. For all those reasons, we specifically sought out an aft Verandah Stateroom for this cruise of the Caribbean.
When we first walked into the stateroom, we immediately took notice of the narrow hallway. This is a result of the cabin's large closet unit and the bathroom both being positioned in the entryway area. This layout does help create a roomy sleeping and living area. Once we stepped all the way into the cabin, we discovered ample room to move around and quite a lot of open floor space.
Nevertheless, the Verendah Stateroom felt cramped when we first walked in – and it didn’t help that it was relatively dark in this area. Still, the closet unit offered a decent amount of storage with three separate wardrobe sections – which was fortunate for us, as we tend to overpack even despite our best efforts. Two of the three wardrobe sections feature hanging space for longer clothing items, with fixed upper shelves and collapsible shelves in the middle. And even though there were only about a dozen wood hangers in the closet to start, our amazing cabin steward, Sugar, brought us extra hangers soon after we arrived. One drawback was the lack of drawers: while we were able to squeeze everything on to the open shelves, it would've been nice to have some drawers for our smaller clothing items. Also, the third wardrobe unit was mostly filled up with essentials already placed there by Holland America: the life jackets, small safe, blankets, towels, robes. There was room to fit in some toiletries, hats, and accessories, but not much else.
To the right of the front door is the bathroom. And this is one spot where Nieuw Amsterdam's age shows (and even though the ship is only 15 years old, some of its design reads as even more dated). We were somewhat discouraged when we first saw the bathroom; we definitely had our concerns. It reminded us of a basic two-star budget hotel bathroom – functional and perfectly acceptable, yet small and far from not luxurious. Yet even with its compact footprint, it offered a good amount of space. The bathtub-shower combo was long, but not too high. The amenities in the bathroom were minimalist, though the Elemis products were a nice amenity. The water temperature and pressure were absolutely perfect throughout the cruise. And even though it had the ever-controversial shower curtain, we didn't mind it with the tub setup; we would much rather have had this configuration instead of the narrow cylindric shower units with curtains found on some other cruise lines.
The toilet had a surprisingly good amount of space around it, thanks to the functional and compact single sink. No problems with knee or elbow room. Our only big complaint with the bathroom design is the limited storage space—only a few tiny glass shelves on the side and a little bit of the shelf underneath the sink next to the trash can. The two of us had to find other areas in the cabin to store some of our larger toiletries. There also was no electrical outlet in the bathroom we could use to charge electric toothbrushes, only an electrical shaver outlet over the mirror. Overall the bathroom was plain and simple, yet it was practical and worked just fine for our relatively short cruise.
The main sleeping and living area of the cabin was a decent size as the aft Verandah Staterooms are slightly larger than others in this class.
For our cruise, the bed was in the queen size configuration. Holland America features their signature Mariner's Dream bed and, honestly, it was very comfortable – we slept soundly for the duration of the cruise. Two nightstands are located on each side of the bed, each containing a shelf and a couple small drawers. One drawback to the stateroom, however, was the limited number of outlets. There was only one USB-A port on each side of the bed, but no standard plugs. It surprised us that this area didn't get more of a makeover during the 2017 refurbishment – a US or European outlet by the bed would have made a huge difference.
But what was truly wonderful was all the room around the bed. The space on the right side of the bed was wider than my wingspan, just over 6 feet. And while we didn't need to use that extra space much on our voyage, it was nice to have the elbow room. Overall, furniture is minimal in this part of the stateroom, yet there were a couple nice storage features hidden in plain sight. One being the two large drawers under the foot of the bed– a great feature that adds storage without getting in the way. And there was still plenty of room under the bed behind the drawers for a fewer large suitcases and bags. Another simple but welcome feature are the pair of double-coat hooks on the wall by the closet unit.
Positioned in the middle between the bed and the sitting area was a decently sized interactive television. The channels offered basic cable fare – lifestyle programming, sports, and news. And although we've heard other people rave about the selection of on-demand movies, we frankly did not find the quantity or quality of options all that appealing. We’re film buffs, but ended up watching Marry Me a few times because it was the only title that was even somewhat interesting. A few additional titles to appeal to more indie movie fans would have made the difference.
The interactivity of the television was a nice feature. It offered dining information, like menus and room service, plus entertainment schedules, account statements, and even profiles of key crew members onboard including the ship's captain and the amazing cruise director, Clare. We were barely in the cabin though, so we hardly used the television during our cruise.
Also in the sitting area was a small hybrid desk-vanity unit, a loveseat, and a table. The desk-vanity was deep enough to hold our laptops without taking up too much space (even with the extra-charge wine and bottled water taking up some of the real estate). And this unit is the home to all the electrical outlets in the cabin: both North American and European outlets are provided, plus a couple additional USB outlets. Especially with all our camera and video equipment, the desk-vanity unit mostly served as charging central during our stay.
The mini-fridge was stashed underneath the desk – and, to our surprise, the fridge was not emptied out after the previous JoCo cruise. Our room attendant took care of that oversight immediately, though; it was cleaned by the time we got back from our muster drill check-in. Even with the "Have It All" drinks package, mini-bar drinks are not included – so we didn't use the fridge much.
Directly across from the vanity desk, and next to the bed, is a compact yet extremely comfortable loveseat. This loveseat did not pull out, which is something to keep in mind if traveling with more than two people in this cabin. For the two of us, however, it was the perfect size to sit back and relax.
Of course, the real star of this show is the balcony. The aft Verandah cabins on Nieuw Amsterdam have incredibly deep balconies – with the ship's graduated balcony design, the depth increases as you move towards the bottom. Even rather high up on Deck 7, there was so much outdoor space on this balcony. It was easy to stretch out and have a snooze on the loungers – which may or may not happened during our cruise. And while you could hear a bit of noise from the Sea View adults-only pool deck up above, luckily we were far enough down that we did not get any residual smoke wafting onto our balcony (the Sea View is the designated smokers area, and we found that the second-hand smoke could be quite bothersome up on Deck 9).
After staying in this Verandah Stateroom for a week, we were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed the cabin. Our bathroom, which we immediately dismissed as small and outmoded, turned out to be a perfectly adequate space for our needs. We also discovered out some great hidden features, like the motion-sensor nightlights at the base of the closet. These provided just enough light if you needed to get up to use the restroom during the night, but not so much so that anyone else in the cabin would be disturbed. We also loved the unlimited laundry package available, we sent out multiple bags during our cruise and got them back in less than 24 hours.
Overall, 7136 is a nice, comfortable stateroom. It may be a little dated in its look and it is a bit dark, even at night with all the lights on. There are only a few, relatively dim florescent ceiling lights placed throughout the entire room, and even for such a small space there are some dark corners – which is unfortunate. it does not have the glamour or the modern design elements of some newer vessels out there, yet our Verandah Stateroom offered us a lot of space, it was incredibly comfortable, and it had amazing aft views. We certainly would not hesitate from staying in this stateroom again.
Be sure to check out cabin tour video if you would like to see what our whole cabin looks like!