My Impressions of my Noordam cruise 12/6/13

[Copper10-8]

Of course! Thank you Copper 10-8! (And we wish you a happy holiday season; it was such a pleasure to meet you on the Statendam!)

 

Likewise Marney and have a happy holiday season also; we've got some nice weather down here;)

[Cruising-along]

One more very disappointing thing.....NO DESSERT EXTRAVAGANZA! Not kidding, they did not have it. I always love this activity. Some of you are misinterpreting my leaving HAL. I simply enjoy meeting people and the activities is where I used to bond with other passengers. Now all I have to meet folks is trivia. On the other line that I like, they have all those things. Plus they have the cooking and computer classes. To me they really try to satisfy everyone. I plan to keep my last three cruises on HAL because I am very close to 5 star and gold medallion status. Plus, I want to cruise with my favorite HAL employee one more time. The Noordam transatlantic cruise I want to keep because I will be sailing with some friends I have met on previous cruises. Plus I did the transatlantic on another line and want to see how HAL does it. I did not mean to ruffle any feathers, it is simply how I feel.

 

Lynn, anyone who knows you understands. I am disappointed we may not cruise on HAL together again (maybe on Celebrity some day though) ;)

 

We don't all love the same things. Trivia and the activities you enjoy never appealed to me, but I get why they're important to you and that's all that matters.

Edited December 19, 2013 by Cruising-along

[IRL_Joanie]

Lynn, anyone who knows you understands. I am disappointed we may not cruise on HAL together again (maybe on Celebrity some day though) ;)

 

We don't all love the same things. Trivia and the activities you enjoy never appealed to me, but I get why they're important to you and that's all that matters.

 

EXACTLY!!!

 

Joanie

Edited December 19, 2013 by IRL_Joanie

[Cruisinetta]

Thank you Carolyn and Henry. I hope to see you again on a Celebrity cruise. OR join me on one of my next three cruises. Want me to bug Henry? LOL

[Cruising-along]

Thank you Carolyn and Henry. I hope to see you again on a Celebrity cruise. OR join me on one of my next three cruises. Want me to bug Henry? LOL

 

:D:D Be my guest :D:D

Looking at your future cruises, the only one he might be interested in would be the TA, but it comes too soon after our Celebrity/HAL 3-week European cruises.....so I think I know what he would say. ;)

[love_the_sea]

I am certainly not a Holland America expert but would like to share my two recent experiences: I was on a 22 day cruise on the Noordam (2 11 day cruises B2B) Barcelona to Athens. Since it was so port intensive I never went to any of the activities, but looking back through the On Location guides there was a wide variety of activities every day. Our cruise director was Shane and he was very personable in the evenings. Overall I was quite impressed with the service on the ship....all the crew seemed very happy and genuinely eager to please. The first half of the cruise we ate in the Main Dining room (open seating). We found the food very good to excellent and the service was very good. The second part of the cruise we ate in the Lido (I had a bad cold) and the food was good and the service was very good. We had dinner one night in the Pinnacle Grill and the service was excellent as was the food. We had a Dessert Extravaganza each segment. The entertainment was outstanding. The production shows had lavish costumes and sets. There were 4 principals and as I recall, 12 other dancers/singers.

Then, for Thanksgiving week I did a 7 day cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam out of Fort Lauderdale. The ship itself was beautiful and in great condition. The service was good, the food in the MDR was very good to excellent, but the entertainment was only fair to poor. I was so disappointed after being so impressed with the Noordam. The singers and dancers were talented (four male singers did a show one night called Cantare which was touted as being voted Best at Sea...it was very good, but I wouldn't have voted it Best at Sea), but were never utilized well and it was a small group. This was surprising as the theater itself seemed larger than on the Noordam. There was no Dessert Extravaganza (though I didn't miss it!).

Both ships had a lot of Microsoft tech classes (which I fully intended to attend, but never made it), cooking/entertaining classes, and Spa programs.

 

I feel that Holland America continues to give good value for my money and the service is as good or better than any other line I have sailed including Regent. I really enjoy the mid-sized ships.

[serendipity1499]

I actually had decent service. While waiting to get off the ship yesterday, a lot of people complained about the service. That's where that comment came from. When I am on a cruise, I like to have fun and to me fun is meeting people via the silly games. I cruise solo and love to meet people. I am not saying the cruise was awful, I am saying I would have liked to watch less tv and have more to do besides going to the "donation center". As for going on three more cruises, I am very close to 5 star and gold medallion. I also want to cruise with my favorite hotel director one more time and the third cruise is with friends I have met on other cruises. I absolutely loved the ports we went to. Had a blast. If I were to grade this cruise, I would give it a C-.

In all our cruises we have never played games or collected Dam $$$., so won't miss them but completely understand that to some cruisers especially solo's they would be important.. However I wonder if the reason was because not many people showed up for the games.. On one 28 day cruise, believe it was the Prinsendam many years ago they had games & a special party for everyone during a sea day on deck..they had different booths & I did collect a few Dam $$ but gave them away...We don't go to cooking classes, use the pool or take internet classes either..Our idea of fun would be to sit out on the Prominade deck with a good book or take in a movie..On our last 68 day cruise I read approx. 28 books..The Librarian got to know us & after a couple of weeks never had to show ID, as she had all of our info..LOL :D BTW did you build the Ryndam that is on display in the pool area? I't beautiful & every time we passed it I wondered if it was your handiwork!!

 

 

 

If I based my reviews on comments overheard from other guests, I would never have been on the second HAL cruise after our Zaandam Alaska.

 

[i'm sorry, but this has to be said... We heard a lot of Australian and Canadian accents on the Alaska cruise and everyone seemed thrilled. BUT the Americans were constantly complaining and seemed to be very unhappy about almost anything. We had a broken lifeboat after the muster drill and that delayed our departure from Vancouver... one American guy was very loud and verbal about that. He was "gonna sue" blah, blah, blah... Later in the same cruise, we had to skip Tracy Arm. Same loud American... He was "gonna sue" blah, blah, blah... How did I know he was American? The accent was Texan. Plus he thought it was necessary to mention that he was from Texas to almost everyone he had a conversation with. Did I mention he was loud?

 

So when I overhear complaints, I listen to see if I can identify the accent. Coming in and out of Tampa on the Ryndam even though not much can be done if the inspections slow down the embarkation, everyone in that very long line was complaining. That didn't ruin the cruise for me or send me to a different cruise line AFTER I get to my next Mariner level. [/color]

 

SNIP.

 

QUOTE]

[Your post is offensive to me!!! :(:( I was brought up to not be biased about people due to their Race, Creed ,Color or Linguistic traits..

 

Lumping together all people of one ethnicity is prejudiced..

 

BTW, My Mom was an American & My Dad was a Canadian from Toronto..

 

Betty [/b]

Edited December 19, 2013 by serendipity1499

[Sage]

I'm sorry to hear that things are declining, but then they have been for a while. We are having to turn to Princess in order to cruise to Hawaii. After DH's illness, he wanted to go to Hawaii, and HAL just wasn't doing it when we wanted to go. So we will try Princess then on to Crystal, which we dearly love.

[Cruisinetta]

[Your post is offensive to me!!! :(:( I was brought up to not be biased about people due to their Race, Creed ,Color or Linguistic traits..

 

Lumping together all people of one ethnicity is prejudiced..

 

BTW, My Mom was an American & My Dad was a Canadian from Toronto..

 

Like......CLICK!

Edited December 19, 2013 by Cruisinetta

[Love the beach]

Re: The Dessert Extravaganza....on our back to back cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam last Feb/March we had the dessert extravaganza on the first week but not the following week....could it be that they are alternating weeks?? These were 2 seven day cruises.

[nana51]

Being a proud Canadian living in San Diego I have to differ with the comment on rude Americans. On the whole Canadians live up to their rep as friendly. However I know many rude Canadians and many many sweet, kind, friendly Americans. How about we don't judge people by anything other than their actions, not their color, religion, or where they live.

[headhunterke]

Re: The Dessert Extravaganza....on our back to back cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam last Feb/March we had the dessert extravaganza on the first week but not the following week....could it be that they are alternating weeks?? These were 2 seven day cruises.

 

I think that could very well be the case. Last year in November, I did a 14 night B2B on the Nw. Amsterdam as well. And only the first week, there was a Dessert Extravaganza. Could be I totally missed it, but normally the cruise director mentions it about 4-5 times a day when there will be one :D

[innlady1]

Kris,

 

Well I was on board your cruise NOORDAM and the one cruise before too!

 

I dined on 15 of the 21 nights in Canaletto. Most enjoyable and the waiters in Canaletto I made comments that it was a higher standard than Pinnacle!

 

Overall NOORDAM is a great ship. And the following was Nw AMSTERDAM was even a notch higher!

 

Stephen

 

Were you a guest lecturer on board, Stephen? That would be very cool! We would love to be there if that were the case...

[KNOT2L82SAIL]

Being a proud Canadian living in San Diego I have to differ with the comment on rude Americans. On the whole Canadians live up to their rep as friendly. However I know many rude Canadians and many many sweet, kind, friendly Americans. How about we don't judge people by anything other than their actions, not their color, religion, or where they live.

 

Well said.

[Copper10-8]

Being a proud Canadian living in San Diego I have to differ with the comment on rude Americans. On the whole Canadians live up to their rep as friendly. However I know many rude Canadians and many many sweet, kind, friendly Americans. How about we don't judge people by anything other than their actions, not their color, religion, or where they live.

 

Brilliant statement, thanks! Rocket scientists come in all sizes and shapes and from all over the globe