There are a few non-food, non-drink oriented, public spaces on ship.
We found a few lounges on board that made for excellent quiet spaces, places to read, to relax away from the crowd, or to have a quiet conversation without the someone always asking if you would like to order something.
Located between the guest services and shore excursion desks, the three-story Atrium is the hub of the ship. The design is modern with lots of chrome, white and dark purple, a comfortable place to sit when waiting for the desks to open. It’s also a nice backdrop for photos.
This is a private room set aside for guests staying in Deluxe Verandah or Penthouse suites, the Neptune Lounge offers concierge services. But as we weren’t in these rooms we didn’t tour the lounge, which is only accessible with designated key cards.
Holland America says the lounge has worktables, a large-screen television, library, sofas and chairs, refreshments, and WiFi for a small charge.
For kids age 3 to 12, Club HAL offers supervised activities and diversions. Some of the activities included pirate treasure hunts, hands-on pizza making, storytelling, craft making, ice cream sundae parties and a farewell pajama party for small kids. Xbox and Wii tournaments were scheduled along with relay races, scavenger hunts, foosball, karaoke disco parties
Teenagers can hang out in the adjoining Loft and participate in supervised “mocktail” mixology classes, late night sporting competitions, yoga, hip hop classes. Adults are not permitted.
Nieuw Amsterdam has a small art gallery with contemporary art pieces for sale.
The Holland America Line is noted for its quality collection of antique and contemporary art displayed on-board, and this is especially true of the Nieuw Amsterdam, with a collection that showcases the historic connections between New York and Amsterdam. A vast mural by Harald Vlugt dipicts the historical links between New York and Amsterdam and there are works by Andy Warhol, Richard Estes and Roy Lichstenstein, plus photographs of celebrities taken by paparazzo Ron Galella. Also noteworthy is the chandelier hanging in the Atrium, creating an abstract vision of Manhattan’s skyline.
The 36-seat screening room plays recently released movies on DVD and offers free popcorn. Additionally, Ship Flicks has a huge catalog of movies for delivery and in-room viewing.
This small room on Deck 2 is full of PCs for digital workshops, all of which are free to guests. Classes include photo editing and posting, blog production, videos, scrapbooks, PC safety and maintenance and staying connected (through instant messaging and webcams). The 60-minute classes are oriented to those who are fairly new to computing. Reservations are taken on-board.
Three small meeting rooms are found on Deck 3: Hudson, Half Moon and Stuyvesant. The walls of the rooms slide out to create one large venue. Otherwise, the Hudson Room is used primarily for religious services (Christian and ecumenical services).
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