"Live" from the Noordam T. A. 2013

[496and706]

HOMEDAM!! :(:(

 

 

Got to see some of the stuff getting prepped.

 

CANDY! Very good news about "your" oak room. "They are taking off the doors go to the outside." straight from the guy who is going on vacation for 2 months as of a couple of days ago.... Shane. He says hi.

 

 

 

 

 

I am beyond exhausted. We just got in from Rome after spending 2 nights there. It's a 9 hour flight to Toronto.

 

Just before our ride showed up the other morning, they were hoisting a small front end loader thing onto the 9th deck. There were construction workers all over the place. white plastic on all the carpeting in and around the spa area. The spa closed at 5 p.m. the night before disembarkation. We were on 8 just under the spa entrance and they had the ceiling ripped out of the spa and electrical wires hanging down every where and they had guys on for 3 or 4 days previous putting up little permits regarding fire safety something.

 

So Shane is gone for 2 months. Anja is gone to the Veendam. A lot of the MDR guys seem to be going to other ships.

 

ZZZzzzz... Catch up to y'all later.

[indokiwi]

The other thing that occurs to me is that this coming dry dock is after docking in Rome. Next March Noordam with be in Ft Lauderdale. Surely new cabins are more likely to be fitted at the Italian shipyard Fincantieri :confused:

 

 

Nope, HAL uses the Freeport Bahamas shipyard all of the time for big dry docks along with Palermo, which is where the Noordam should be (according to a Dining Room Steward we met on the Volendam who is there now) and not Fincantieri outside of Venice. The Rotterdam came out of Freeport from her "retreat" makeover (yuck). With shipping these days, they can pre-fab cabins, etc and ship them over to another dry dock facility...it's a lot cheaper than moving the entire ship over to Italy where the labor and dry dock costs are probably much more than in the Caribbean.

[496and706]

La bella Noordam is in Polermo right now.

 

 

They are loading a back end loader/Bobcat onto the ninth deck for a reason. They are making a mess of the beautiful ship even before it was empty.

[Copper10-8]

Nope, HAL uses the Freeport Bahamas shipyard all of the time for big dry docks along with Palermo, which is where the Noordam should be (according to a Dining Room Steward we met on the Volendam who is there now) and not Fincantieri outside of Venice. The Rotterdam came out of Freeport from her "retreat" makeover (yuck). With shipping these days, they can pre-fab cabins, etc and ship them over to another dry dock facility...it's a lot cheaper than moving the entire ship over to Italy where the labor and dry dock costs are probably much more than in the Caribbean.

 

Didn't know if you knew;) but both the shipyards at Marghera (Venice) and Palermo, Sicily are Fincantieri yards; two of the eight they own in Italy. Kembali:)

You're right about the Freeport yard which seems to be the yard of preference for HAL ships. Having said that, Noordam was in Palermo last year, Oosterdam in 2009 and Zuiderdam in 2008

[496and706]

I was so tired when I posted last night that I forgot one of the things Shane told me.

 

 

 

Day of the week elevator mats!

 

 

So, in conclusion...

 

The stay in Ft. Lauderdale was great. Dh and I took advantage of Total Wine and the Publix next door and had a Five Guys burger. On an impulse I grabbed a huge piece of blue poster board and a big black marker because I had an idea for sailaway, seeing as nobody on the roll call seemed to be interested in a sailaway party.

 

Embarkation was fast and easy. No lines. (We sit in the hotel lobby for an hour and people watch.)

 

We were welcomed back before we were halfway up the gangway. (It's gotta be Mike's hair.) Got my spa package. Didn't get any soda or beverage cards.

 

Had a great sailaway. People standing on balcony beside webcam waved and pointed, so I guess they saw what my sign said. ("Thanks Lou and Dave")

 

So, time for some sea days. We had 11 in a row! Rough seas, numerous changes to the route due to a large storm that was "following" us. There was more than enough to do and eat, so no big deal for us. But there was a lot of grumbling overheard at various venues around the ship. On the day that the Captain announced we were not going to Ponta Delgada, Matt from the bridge had a huge crowd waiting for him at 4:30 when he made his daily navigational mark on the map in the library. A lot of the very loud and verbal complaints seemed to think the Captain was just doing this to skip a stop. Poor Matt. He held his ground, stayed extremely polite and re-answered the same questions over and over for almost an hour. I do believe that this ruined the cruise for everyone that didn't realize that you can't dock a ship safely in rough seas and high winds. The computers were busy that night. We had a notice in our mailbox that our tour on Ponta Delgada was refunded. That is a great reason to book shore excursions through the ship. No grumbling from us.

 

We continued to have rough seas and wind and rain with the worst wind on the last 24 hours before Rome. There were motion sickness bags at all the elevators and I grabbed a green apple just in case. I ended up not needing it.

 

We had an amazing time. Ship happens. (So does weather.) Obviously a lot of cruisers aren't aware of this, which was too bad for them. Unfortunately a lot of people love to verbalize to anyone about how awful their cruise was because (gasp) it was windy and the seas were rough. Guess what... all 3,000 other people on the ship have the same conditions as you.

 

Conclusion. Great trip, great food, the best crew ever, the best room stewards ever, ever, ever. (We were on 8 forward, port side) I have my sea legs and my land legs.

 

Rome hotel Victoria was absolutely lovely. Great breakfasts, great location. Went to the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, threw a coin and went to see the Vatican museums and the paintings that we missed last time. Took a 9 hour plane ride and got home to discover that not a single fish missed us.

 

Best cruise ever! Now it's time to unpack and do laundry.

[lvz2cruz]

I have loved reading your review.

 

We will be on Noordam in early June and love all the good things you say about the crew.

 

Is this Shane the CD? Do you know exactly when he comes back?

[496and706]

Shane will be back in 2 months. He's off for drydock plus 6 weeks. He is the CD.

[lvz2cruz]

Shane will be back in 2 months. He's off for drydock plus 6 weeks. He is the CD.

 

 

Thank you!!

Hopefully we will meet him.

[startwin]

I was so tired when I posted last night that I forgot one of the things Shane told me.

 

 

 

Day of the week elevator mats!

 

 

So, in conclusion...

 

The stay in Ft. Lauderdale was great. Dh and I took advantage of Total Wine and the Publix next door and had a Five Guys burger. On an impulse I grabbed a huge piece of blue poster board and a big black marker because I had an idea for sailaway, seeing as nobody on the roll call seemed to be interested in a sailaway party.

 

Embarkation was fast and easy. No lines. (We sit in the hotel lobby for an hour and people watch.)

 

We were welcomed back before we were halfway up the gangway. (It's gotta be Mike's hair.) Got my spa package. Didn't get any soda or beverage cards.

 

Had a great sailaway. People standing on balcony beside webcam waved and pointed, so I guess they saw what my sign said. ("Thanks Lou and Dave")

 

So, time for some sea days. We had 11 in a row! Rough seas, numerous changes to the route due to a large storm that was "following" us. There was more than enough to do and eat, so no big deal for us. But there was a lot of grumbling overheard at various venues around the ship. On the day that the Captain announced we were not going to Ponta Delgada, Matt from the bridge had a huge crowd waiting for him at 4:30 when he made his daily navigational mark on the map in the library. A lot of the very loud and verbal complaints seemed to think the Captain was just doing this to skip a stop. Poor Matt. He held his ground, stayed extremely polite and re-answered the same questions over and over for almost an hour. I do believe that this ruined the cruise for everyone that didn't realize that you can't dock a ship safely in rough seas and high winds. The computers were busy that night. We had a notice in our mailbox that our tour on Ponta Delgada was refunded. That is a great reason to book shore excursions through the ship. No grumbling from us.

 

We continued to have rough seas and wind and rain with the worst wind on the last 24 hours before Rome. There were motion sickness bags at all the elevators and I grabbed a green apple just in case. I ended up not needing it.

 

We had an amazing time. Ship happens. (So does weather.) Obviously a lot of cruisers aren't aware of this, which was too bad for them. Unfortunately a lot of people love to verbalize to anyone about how awful their cruise was because (gasp) it was windy and the seas were rough. Guess what... all 3,000 other people on the ship have the same conditions as you.

 

Conclusion. Great trip, great food, the best crew ever, the best room stewards ever, ever, ever. (We were on 8 forward, port side) I have my sea legs and my land legs.

 

Rome hotel Victoria was absolutely lovely. Great breakfasts, great location. Went to the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, threw a coin and went to see the Vatican museums and the paintings that we missed last time. Took a 9 hour plane ride and got home to discover that not a single fish missed us.

 

Best cruise ever! Now it's time to unpack and do laundry.

 

Yes we definitely saw your sign and all of us on the sailaway thread were waving back:D - and wishing we were with you! Thanks for a great report.

[Candy]

Shane will be back in 2 months. He's off for drydock plus 6 weeks. He is the CD.

He's not just the CD... he's AWESOME! He's very personable and accessible... you'll see him everywhere, but he's not 'in your face'.

 

Kathy - thanks for the greetings and update on my Oak Room.

 

Candy <-- thinkin' about 12/6/13

[SophiePrincess]

We have just booked this last minute cruise. Are any other cruise critic members going to be on board. Mary Lou---Sophie Princess

[OHCruiser]

We have just booked this last minute cruise. Are any other cruise critic members going to be on board. Mary Lou---Sophie Princess

 

Check the roll call for that cruise here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1818954