David Thrower  

Age: 41 to 50
Occupation: Travel Agent
Number of Cruises: 3 to 5 Cruises
Ship: Amsterdam
Sailing Date: October 18th, 2000
Itinerary: One Night Pre-Inaugural

This is my review of the 1 Night Sailing of the brand new Holland America ms Amsterdam October 18-19, 2000 "cruise to nowhere".

This was the first Holland America ship my wife Paula and I have sailed on.

We parked at an off site parking lot and within 5 minutes of arrival were shuttled to the Black Falcon Terminal in Boston, MA.

There was no porter service for this cruise as it was only an overnight and everyone should have had a small enough bag for carry on.

Because of luncheon and inspection that was held on the ms Amsterdam earlier the boarding was delayed about 60 minutes.  Once the boarding started at approximately 3:30pm it went fairly quick.

The Atrium is just beautiful and is the first thing you see when you board the ship.  Once on board 4:15pm we went right to out cabin which was a standard outside stateroom.  This was larger than most deluxe staterooms I have been on other cruise lines.  There is lots of storage space with a safe and 2 locking drawers in the bedside tables.  There was a large pullout couch which can accommodate 2 additional guests. The bathroom was large with a tub/shower and complete with a hair dryer, soaps, shampoos and skin lotion.

At 4:45 we finished the lifeboat drill we went to a welcome cocktail party at 5pm held by the local DSM in "the Ocean Bar" which was spacious and very comfortable.

At 5:30pm had a welcome reception in the main lounge "Queen's Lounge">which had a balcony so it will accommodate the quests with good views of the stage.

At 6:30pm we went to dinner in the beautiful La Fontaine dining room. The meal was one of the best we have had on a cruise ship.  I wanted a fair sampling so for an appetizer they had a cold seafood combination plate which was real good with smoked salmon, a chilled grilled sea scallop, a portion of a king crab leg, a jumbo cocktail shrimp, a chunk of lobster tail and spoonful of caviar. Paula had a crisp salad with ranch dressing that was very good. The soup was beef broth French Onion soup which was very good and for the main course was a good sized Filet Mignon topped with mushrooms and pate and was excellent and cooked the way I asked for it.  The waiter

and busboy were very good and made sure our food was delivered hot.  I did not indulge in any dessert, but had a real good cup of coffee. Paula had the flour free chocolate cake which she said was very rich and delicious.

After dinner we returned to the Queen's Lounge for the 9pm show which was a nice mix of music from different broadway shows.  The dancers/singers put on a good show.

After the show we toured the ship and visited all of lounges which were all set up so the seating was spread out enough that one group would not be talking over other group to hear each other. This was a great idea and I applaud Holland America for this.

The internet cafe is a nice way to check your email while at sea and adjacent to that is the Java Bar where you can relax and have a cup of coffee, tea ar maybe a nice cappuccino.

The Ocean Spa Gym looks like it has all of the latest exercise equipment available.  Outside the gym is a massage spa and a beauty salon.  We didn't get a chance to go inside.

The Lido Pool is real nice with the sliding dome cover over it.  Along with the pool is a small wading pool and 2 whirlpools.  On the aft of the Lido deck is the outside Seaview Pool which is also good sized.

There are 2 more restaurants which is the Lido restaurant where the buffets are heal and is the largest of the 2 and the Odyssey Restaurant which is the optional small dining room.  Also if you just want a hot dog or a burger there is the Terrace grill in the Lido Deck.

The casino was not opened, but was good sized and had just about all you would want in a casino.

There is a small video arcade which has quite a few machines.

There are ample stores in the boutique and shopping arcade areas.

After our tour of the ship we called it a night around 12:30am.

The next morning we had our breakfast in our room and the service was great and even the toast was still very warm.  We finished right before they called for 9am disembarkation.

As there was no need for customs the disembarkation process was real quick and we only had to wait 5 minutes for the shuttle to return us to the parking lot.

The staff was very impressive in all area of the ship.  Everyone had a nice smile and seemed to be sincere.

I cannot say enough about this ship except I am sure you will have few if any complaints when you sail this ship.

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