For our recent 7-Day Western Caribbean cruise on Holland America’s Nieuw Amsterdam, we booked a Category VF verandah guarantee.
We were assigned to the verandah stateroom #4031, located on the forward section of Deck 4, the Upper Promenade Deck. Here’s a look inside.
Here’s the view when you enter verandah stateroom #4031. The luggage protector is in place on the end of the bed for unpacking your luggage when it arrives. Meanwhile, the daily program and other important information is there for you.
Notice on the table, there is a wire basket. It has a form inside to check which fresh fruit you’d like delivered to your cabin.
Here (above) is the view from the window/verandah side of the stateroom looking back. The bathroom door is open. We appreciate the two sturdy hooks on the wall, and the reading lights by each side of the bed. Now, if they’d just add electrical plugs to each bedside….
As with most cruise ship cabins, the only electrical plugs are over on the desk. This area is also the location of the lighted make-up mirror, the ice bucket, and the mini-fridge (hidden in the cabinet.) All of the on board booklets and paper clutter this area. Two important pieces of paper (above) contain our complimentary Signature Beverage Package cards since we booked during the Explore 4 promotion last fall. (You always want to check all of that paper in your cabin carefully, before tossing it in the recycle part of the trash can.)
To keep all of our devices charged despite the lack of plugs, we bring along a Portable Travel Power Strip with USB Charging Ports.
The television is small, but we heard that those are being replaced in the upcoming dry dock.
Verandah stateroom #4031 is a connecting cabin (see the door above.) We generally do not like connecting rooms, but we did buy a guarantee rather than purchasing a specific stateroom. We were pleasantly surprised, however, that we heard no noise from next door on either side of our cabin, or from the hallway, or above or below. It was a very quiet room.
Here’s a close-up view of the window and door to the verandah. There is a black-out liner and full curtains to pull at night or when you don’t want the sunshine streaming in your cabin (such as when you need a later afternoon nap.) The verandah door has a lock and key, and you have to turn the key multiple rounds to shut and/or open the door.
Stepping outside on the verandah, there is a chair and small table to go with the bigger chair and foot rest. This verandah is much larger than the one we had when we’ve sailed in the Spa Verandah staterooms on Decks 10 and 11 on the Nieuw Amsterdam.
Back inside stateroom #4013 here’s a look in the bathroom with a shower/tub. Notice the three containers of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel in the shower (very convenient), and the adjustable shower head (that makes very tall people like Mr. Jones happy.)
The sink is a little cramped, with one shelf belong and several small glass shelves above. We wish there was a container of hand soap here. Instead, there is a nice bar of soap, but it tends to get slimy pretty quickly.
Our bottom line on the Holland America Line Verandah Stateroom #4031 on the Nieuw Amsterdam:
- This cabin is convenient to the Promenade Deck only one deck below, for easy access to the outside wrap-around promenade walking deck, the showroom, and the other activities on decks 3 and 2.
- The room was very quiet and peaceful.
- The verandah itself is significantly larger than those we’ve had on Spa Verandah Staterooms located on Decks 10 and 11.
- The “wall” of this verandah is made of steel rather than clear material, which means you cannot see through it (although we did not consider this to be an issue.)
- We did not use the verandah much on this cruise, because we booked a Cabana Club retreat.
Have you sailed in a verandah stateroom on Holland America Line? If so, what did you think? Please share your thoughts in comments below.
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