My husband and I went on the Nieuw Amsterdam 12 day Venice to Barcelona sailing. Embarkation in Venice was quick and easy. We had mid ship inside cabin # 6073 (category I) that was very nice by cruise ship standards. There was a couch and chair in addition to lots of storage space. Our cabin stewards did a great job of keeping our room clean.

We traveled with another couple and had requested a large table at the late dinner seating. I spoke with the maitre d' when I learned that we were seated at a table for only 4 people. He kindly made arrangements to combine another 4 person table with ours to become a table for 8. The others at our new table were also happy because they too had requested a large table. The food and service in the Manhattan Dining Room were excellent. There were 3 formal nights with special menus, including Surf and Turf on the final one. We also ate in the Pinnacle Grill, Tamarind, Canaletto, and Dive Inn during the cruise. We were very happy with each restaurant. The Lido had a wonderful selection of foods every day plus featured some special events. One day there was a station with exotic fruits and other day offered King Crab legs. There were several poolside dining events including a barbeque that began just as everyone was returning from one of the ports.

This itinerary was very port intensive with only 2 sea days. Our only major complaint was that we felt we could have remained in port longer in Civitavecchia and Livorno. The ship sailed from Civitavecchia at 6:30 PM but the next port was nearby Livorno. Because traveling to Rome and Florence was very time consuming, we really felt rushed. We did our port research from Cruise Critic, TripAdvisor, and Rick Steves. We booked private excursions for Corfu and Monaco, but used HAL's Transfer to Florence in Livorno. The ship had a destination expert on board who had "office hours" almost every evening. He was also on the pier at each stop. He served as a good resource for questions and maps. Read more