Just off Noordam

[innlady1]

I can only report on my cabin. Did not visit any others and the elevators positively were banged up and the color scheme is 1990's i.e. carpeting, furnishings. Still had a GOOD time

 

 

I must say, HAL chooses the ugliest carpets in the hallways! We loved the carpeting in the Lido on the NA and in other public areas...but the hallways are the "same old, same old HAL".

Edited November 6, 2013 by innlady1

[496and706]

She was in drydock in March 2013.

[mamaofami]

There is another thread running now live from the Noordam. They had nothing bad to say about wear and tear on the ship or that it looked shabby.

[twentyknots]

We're planning a cruise in March-April 2014 for our 20th anniversary and want to return to the cruising experience we were accustomed to until we began to cruise on Carnival a few years ago. We have cruised on Maasdam, Zuiderdam, and Oosterdam and loved them all. We especially liked the availability of ballroom dancing to live music. Does the Noordam have venues for ballroom dancing?

[sail7seas]

We're planning a cruise in March-April 2014 for our 20th anniversary and want to return to the cruising experience we were accustomed to until we began to cruise on Carnival a few years ago. We have cruised on Maasdam, Zuiderdam, and Oosterdam and loved them all. We especially liked the availability of ballroom dancing to live music. Does the Noordam have venues for ballroom dancing?

 

 

Noordam is the fourth sister to Zuiderdam, Westerdam and Oosterdam. Where you danced on Oosterdam, will be available on Noordam. :)

 

[twentyknots]

Noordam is the fourth sister to Zuiderdam, Westerdam and Oosterdam. Where you danced on Oosterdam, will be available on Noordam. :)

 

 

I guess I was wondering if HAL had stopped providing live music for ballroom dancing since we haven't cruised HAL in 7 years.

[RuthC]

I guess I was wondering if HAL had stopped providing live music for ballroom dancing since we haven't cruised HAL in 7 years.

Head to the Ocean Bar, and you should find a decent selection of music for your ballroom dancing.

[wishful thinking]

Do you happen to know who the 'front' singers are in the 2 Halcats bands?

[musicnana]

Thanks for your candid observations.

 

My spouse and I will be traveling on the Noordam on March 10th and we were happy to hear about how good the cruise went for you.

Would like to know when the formal nights are. I tried to get the information from the personnel at HAL but they said it was up to the captain as to when the formal nights would be.

I would appreciate your help with this.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks OP for your review of the Noordam. Sounds like you had a good time in spite of the chipped furniture.:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

OP

We were away when you posted your review.

Thank you

[Krazy Kruizers]

My spouse and I will be traveling on the Noordam on March 10th and we were happy to hear about how good the cruise went for you.

Would like to know when the formal nights are. I tried to get the information from the personnel at HAL but they said it was up to the captain as to when the formal nights would be.

I would appreciate your help with this.

 

Someone reported recently that either their 10 or 11 day Noordam cruise -- which was scheduled to have 3 formal nights -- was changed to 2 formal nights.

So you may not know until you are on the ship and actually read your "On Location" program or the "Explore" for your cruise how many formal nights you will have and when they will be.

[Wakepatrol]

Just spent two weeks on the Noordam Christmas and New Years .

 

Had zero issues, a fabulous cruise and the ship is looking good.

[igraf]

We have always found the HAL ships to be in perfectly acceptable condition. Never as bad as some people describe. I guess a little scratch or wear here and there just doesn't diminish our enjoyment of gorgeous Alaskan scenery or the romance of the sea.

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

 

I was on the Noordam last month and found the ship to be in great condition. Our cabin was a little dated but condition was fine. A few toilet flushing issues occurred but were soon fixed.

 

All the public areas were in good order and maintenance seemed to be constantly ongoing. I even saw the ceilings being scrubbed at one point.....

[SparklingBlonde]

I too am recently off the Noordam (dec 16 thru 30). I have to say we smelled the sewage smell in various places thought the ship. It was very localized though. We often noticed it on our deck (deck 4) walking to our cabin from midship to aft. We were in a VD balcony (4163). I do not know if people smelled it in their rooms but we definitely smelled it on a regular basis in the hallway by those rooms. Once you made it past the aft elevators it went away. It didn't smell in the hallway outside of our room or in our room but I can see how people experienced this in the rooms and others did not. Also a few times while in port we smelled it while in the sea view pool (also midship).

[lastlook]

We were just aboard the Noordam over New Year's and I thought the ship was in great shape. We were in a Signature Suite and everything was in very good condition. We did have a couple of minor flushing issues the last two days (delayed flush), but otherwise everything was fine (no problem with cabin temp.) I thought our cabin's carpeting could have used a shampooing to freshen the look of it, and maybe an extra scrubbing of the bathroom floor, but those two things did not detract from the overall great cruise experience.

 

We had 8 p.m. fixed seating in the MDR and were satisfied with all of our meals. We had an excellent waiter and assistant, as well as a very good wine steward. Very satisfied with our week on the Noordam.

[Sirius88]

We just got off the Noordam this morning and don't really have any major complaints. I guess if your looking for some peeling wall paper or scratched surfaces you would notice it but I didn't at first until we were joking about some of the complaints I had read of the ship and how minor they seemed to us. As was already mentioned, shabby is a subjective term.

 

We didn't have any flushing problems although I did hear two people say they had issues a couple times, although they were resolved later in the day. Our cabin temperature was perfect for me, Fiancee was pretty cold at night but that's normal.

 

We are pretty young compared to the average age on the cruise (mid 20's) and really had a great time. Loved Mario, the Cruise Director. Benji, the comedian/juggler mentioned Mario being in the top 4 for a best cruise director award across all cruise companies. I don't know if that was true or not but I wouldn't be surprised, although the fact he's only been doing it for 3 months was surprising. Loved the BB King Allstars. If anyones cruising when they are on board I would certainly recommend seeing them. We went every night for as many show times as we could and loved every second of it. Game shows were all hilarious mainly due to Mario and Jeremy (Game show host).

 

Can't really comment on the food as it was much fancier then what we usually eat at home as were always on the go. It was always warm and cooked the way we ordered it. Honestly didn't notice much of a difference in the food quality between the Pinnacle and MDR, but again, that may just be my lack of gourmet dining. Had a laugh when I ordered the 'Steak tartare' appetizer in the Pinnacle and was served 3 sliced tomatoes with a balsamic dressing. Overall I'd say the food was very good, to me anyways.

 

We did Luggage direct and would do it again everytime from here on out. Even if our flight was earlier (5pm today) I'd do it just to skip the checked bags line up at the airport. Disembarkation was pretty quick as we got off at 730am, probably took about 20 mins from when we left our room. Embarkation on the other hand was pretty slow compared to what I've read here. Arrived at 11:30 and checked in by 12pm. They had just started boarding guests with tags numbered #1 when we got through and we had #29.

 

Only thing I would complain about if I had to was the in room breakfast wasn't correct many times. We always ordered a coffee and tea and a couple times only got one. Or didn't receive any condiments. I suppose we should have checked it over when they delivered but either way whether we told them at the time or called down, it took a while to receive the rest of our order. Also took a long time for them to remove old trays. Didn't bother me much aside from the one day when we had 2 trays in our room until 3 pm.