Hopefully "Live" Noordam 28 Feb - 10 Mar

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful review and great pictures.

Thank you for taking the time to do this.

Have a safe travel home.

[Mtn2Sea]

As we did on our last cruise, we got breakfast through room service on our last morning. This nice feature provided by HAL allowed us to avoid the rush of the Lido. I met up with our cabin steward for the last time and he told me he was leaving in about 10 mintues to fly home. Needless to say, he was very, very happy, which contrasted with our sadness in knowing we were also leaving the ship. We were scheduled to leave 9:15 to 9:30 and our number was called at 9:10. In going to Deck 1, we only saw 2 or 3 other passengers. When we go to the ship's checkout point, we saw others leaving, but certainly not a big crowd. We located our luggage, found a porter, and began standing in our only line so we could pass through the immigration check point. Although the line was somewhat long, it moved pretty quickly and we were out the door painlessly. While DW waited at the curb, I went to the parking garage to find the car. The ship left from Pier 26, but returned to Pier 21. Fortunately, I reoriented myself quickly and found the car without any problem. After paying the $150 ransom to the parking attendant, I quickly got back to DW and loaded the luggage. After making a quick stop at an art supply store in Fort Lauderdale, we began our trip north. We stopped in Orlando for the night in order to visit DW's cousin and will continue home today. I'll do a wrap-up when I get home and settled back in. Until later.

[POA1]

Really nice job with your review and particularly your photos. Thanks so much.

[Mtn2Sea]

Honestly, I am sad to see your cruise come to an end! I've enjoyed all of your posts and beautiful pictures. Dh and I will be on the Noordam for a Med cruise in June and this thread has gotten me SO excited. It's a lovely ship, one that we've not been on yet. Thank you so much for taking the time to bring us along. I know that these reviews are a lot of work and it's much appreciated. Have safe travels home!!

 

Have a great cruise. We also sailed the Noordm in June out of Rome. The weather was wonderful for us. Hope you also have smooth sailing as well.

[Mtn2Sea]

First, let me say we had a great ten days on the Noordam. The following comments reflect my personal opinion and/or preferences. Because we were recently on the Ryndam in December, I will make some comparisons between the two ships. Although we experienced a minor issue with service here and there, we felt the stewards were, as usual, friendly and hardworking. Service in the MDR at lunch on embarkation day was a little slow; however, being on vacation, that didn’t bother us. One night we had a terrible table because it was located next to a steward’s station, with the main walkway leading to the back half of the dining room between the station and our table. While I hope we don’t get that particular table again, we were able to see up close how hard the dining stewards work. I found the food in the MDR to be very good. As I found on the Ryndam, I usually didn’t debate between the entrees on a menu because generally only one of the selections appealed to me. I was, however, happy with what I chose. Now, with the desserts, I did have to make a decision, since I’m not the type to order two of them. We ate in the Pinnacle one night and found the service to be top notch, better than the Ryndam. I would like to see them bring back the old menu, but such is life. I had the 10 ounce filet, which was more than enough food for me. While it was very tender, I didn’t think the steak had that much flavor. The only problem I had with the chocolate soufflé was its size – too small! This was the best soufflé I’ve had on any ship. I had the soufflé in the Pinnacle on the Ryndam, which was good, but nothing like the one I had on the Noordam.

We had no serious complaints with the cabin (8127), which was a VA on the Navigation deck. The glass window next to the balcony door was cracked when we started the cruise, but was replaced while we were on an excursion. Fortunately, the tape on the crack was clear and didn’t really detract from the view. If we had not just been on the Ryndam, I probably wouldn’t make the following comment. I do feel the cabin was a little tired in appearance, but that did not affect us. Our VA cabin on the Ryndam obviously had been updated recently, which made us feel we were on a newer ship, even though the Ryn is older than the Noordam. The only thing that comes close to a complaint about our cabin, and would bother some people, was its location. We were in the aft part of the ship under the deck surrounding the seaview pool. We could hear chairs being moved around. The sound never woke me up or caused me a problem when I was going to sleep, but it was somewhat noticeable throughout the day and evening. We booked a guarantee eight days before departure and received our cabin assignment just a couple of days before we left. Overall, I like the Navigation deck. Our cabin on the Ryndam was also on the Navigation deck, but just a little forward in comparison. We were under the rear portion of the Lido and never heard any noise from above. We also noticed our Noordam cabin was a little smaller than the one we had on the Ryndam.

We found the individual entertainers to be excellent, one of whom we had seen on the Ryndam. We only went to one show by the ship’s performers. Although we found that performance to only be okay, we didn’t avoid the other performances; we just got busy with other things. We spent a number of hours in the Piano Bar. While Barry from Boston is very entertaining and we enjoyed our time in the Piano Bar, we found Jamm, who was on the Ryndam during our cruise, has a better voice. Barry, however, is better at engaging the crowd.

We had never visited three of the six ports of call. Half Moon Cay is always a favorite and I wish the ship could have stayed later. While we enjoyed our tour of Grand Turk, there’s not a lot there. For the most part, Grand Turk should be considered primarily a beach day. Our Bonaire tour was also nice, but again not a lot to see. Bonaire is known for its diving/snorkeling. We enjoyed our tour in Samana. I somewhat regret that we didn’t take the whale tour, but the reviews I read weren’t that great. Many of the bad reviews concentrated on the small tour boat and rough seas. We had perfect weather on the day we were there. We talked to someone who did the zip line excursion and he highly recommended it.

We were in Curacao and Aruba in December, but we did different things, so we enjoyed our time there.

On the last full day, we purchased a future cruise deposit, so now we “have to” start searching for our next adventure. Happy sailing!

Robert

[Shebba]

Awesome review. I've enjoyed it so much! Thank you!! DH and I can't wait to board the Noordam in June for our next adventure.

[erewhon]

Great review, Thank you.

Hope we will have an opportunity to sail on Noordam while she is "down under".