Noordam B2B Jan 16 thru Feb 6, 2015 Review

[July_Cruiser]

Noordam B2B Jan 16 thru Feb 6

 

We did this same cruise 2 years ago, on Noordam, so we knew pretty much what to expect.

 

Ship: Decent condition. Going into dry dock soon. Some upholstery by Promenade deck atrium is threadbare. Overall, the ship is clean and well kept.

 

Embarkation / Disembarkation: Orderly, efficient and rooms were ready promptly upon embarkation. On turnaround there were arrangements for those of us staying on to go through customs and immediately reenter the ship if we did not want to go ashore in Ft. Lauderdale. The customs officials made an exception, at the last minute, and we were allowed to just stay aboard. We self disembarked the ship at the end with no problem.

 

Fellow Passengers: Mostly an older crowd. Average age around 75 years. People were sociable and friendly. Well traveled and helpful.

 

Mariners Arrival Lunch: Limited menu but good. Prefer to be served as there is no Code Orange anymore. (Avoid getting sick from all the utensil handling of guests in the Lido)

 

Mariners Brunch: Fiasco. We had the first seating at 11:00 for the brunch. Our table ordered quiche but received fish. The waiter simply announced “we’re out of quiche” and plopped down a fish entrée, but not everyone at our table would eat fish. We also didn’t have our Champaign in time for the toast. The brunch was unorganized and not pleasant. We were invited to another bunch on the second leg of our back to back but did not bother to attend that one.

 

Dress: Casual evenings were very casual but guests at second seating looked very nice on formal evenings. Overall people dressed up more on the second half of our cruise.

 

Lido: We enjoyed eating outside for breakfast. The lady that makes crepes, Feby, is so sweet and her Nutella crepes are sweet too! The guys that make fantastic omelets were so nice, especially Paolo. We also enjoyed the deli sandwiches. I never had problems with getting enough meat on my sandwiches from the deli, in fact I had them grill a few of the already made up subs and some of the workers would even ask if you wanted any other meats added before they grilled them.

 

Dive In: We refuse to eat hot dogs and hamburgers on a cruise. However, this dining option offers a grilled chicken sandwich called “the Backflip” which is really quite good! We enjoyed our Backflips with the tortilla chips and fresh salsa that are on the poolside taco bar rather than having French fries with our sandwiches. Great for holding us over until our 8:00 late seating dinner.

 

Pool Area Music: While we enjoyed eating outside in the pool areas, the canned “tinny music” that came over the speakers was quite annoying. One morning, by Lido pool there was a solid half hour of what sounded like someone tapping a brake drum with a hammer non-stop!!! Other times there were other percussion sounds that were playing over the speakers, not music but more like something that should be a background accompaniment to a live musician. The fresh air, seas and sunshine are more than enough entertainment and the canned “music” was annoying. Maybe HAL believes these sounds sell more drinks or something but silence is golden during times when there is no live entertainment.

 

Steel Drum Music: Deborah is awesome at both playing the steel drum and singing. We liked it best when Deborah played from the middle of the Lido pool area by the hot tubs, however one time they set Deborah up underneath to the side and too close to the tables so the sound was way too load in the more confined area and we had to move off the deck those times. Deborah’s singing gives a really nice island sound. I took one of Deborah’s classes on playing the steel drum and she was so nice and patient with us rookies!

 

Coffee & Tea: I believe that the coffee has improved. The tea drinkers were not happy with the new tasteless brand of teabags that replaced the Bigelow teas. Indonesian Tea was nice as they still have the special teas especially Jasmine tea. Dutch Tea had no ice sculpture anymore and the teas were the same tasteless offerings as the Lido but the pastries were still special.

 

Ice Cream: Always good in the Lido and not always as good in the Vista dining room. In the Lido the ice cream was always firm and many good flavors available. Freezers did their job and the experience was so much better than ice cream on the Maasdam that was always melting.

 

Main Dining Room: The Vista Dining Room food was much better that our Maasdam cruise of last year. The chilled soups were actually chilled, not warm. We had more good meals than bad.

 

Waiter 1st portion: The waiter for the first half of the cruise took the order politely and delivered the food efficiently. No personal interaction. Never asked if food was okay or even if it was what we ordered. This waiter was going home soon and I don’t think he cared. He didn’t remove the lobster from the shells, as was normally done on our other cruises. Instead, we removed the lobster tails and placed our shells on our bread plates where they remained until dessert course (very tacky!). Our waiter wasn’t super busy, there were a table of 8 and a table of 6 in this waiter’s area that were empty most evenings of this cruise.

Waiter 2nd portion: Wow!!! This was a pleasant surprise! It was HAL as it used to be – our waiter Doni and his assistant Wayne were both very friendly, attentive, and helpful. The first night Doni asked us our names and called us by name every evening. They acknowledged us when we came into the dining room. On the night we had lobster, the waiter removed the lobster from the shell for everyone at our table. The waiter and assistant were very pleasant and wanted to please, a very different and positive experience that we liked a lot.

 

Cabin 6143: Our cabin Steward, SLAM, and his partner DWE, provided all we needed and wanted without our asking. No problems with our linens, ice, plumbing, or air conditioning. We did leave behind all 42 of our bedtime chocolate squares, the “new” chocolate squares are not tempting in the least.

 

Adjoining Room: Our cabin was an interior cabin with an adjoining room. Even though there are two doors thickness separating the cabins, there is less sound separation between the cabins, hardly noticeable on the first half but new occupants on the second half changed all that. The second couple that was in the adjoining room were constantly coughing all night and even heard them during the day when we would stop by the cabin for things. It was loud enough to keep us awake at times. Their cabin was also an inside cabin so we think the couple was quarantined because they never seemed to leave their cabin, we could hear them taking meals inside their cabin and we saw their “privacy please” card seemed to always be in the door slot. Again, the first couple we never heard anything but them using their ice bucket once or twice and we never heard anything unusual through our other cabin walls.

 

Health of passengers: The captain and the cruise director didn’t remind the guests to wash their hands and cover their mouths for coughs and sneezes as we have experiences on most other cruises. Guests were much sicker for the 2nd part of our cruise. It was impossible to move away from the coughers – there were just too many of them. There were more coughers on the second leg of our cruise than any of the 30 other cruises that we have been on.

 

Tours: We did 2 ship tours. Artist Tour in St. Martin is excellent, our second time doing this same tour. We visited 5 artists with 2 of them being different than the tour we took two years ago, and we were so glad to repeat the 3 other artists that we previously visited. The other ship tour we took was in Samana – beach transfer. It was that tour or stay on the ship. The beach was nice enough but we only had 2 hours on the beach and 1 hour travel each way to and from the beach. We don’t know why the ship even stops in Samana.

 

Missed Port: Antigua was missed, unfortunately, the winds were too strong for this larger ship to make it safely through the narrow passage. However, we were able to visit the Private Island twice and that was fantastic! Great weather both times. On our back to back, the Private Island was the very first day and the very last day of our cruise, a big plus to taking the back to back.

 

Entertainment: Holland America still just doesn’t get it. They need to admit they have an older audience and serve that unique niche. I want to go home with my hearing intact. It sounds like HAL’s objective is to make me go deaf.

 

We attempt to go to their shows. Most of the time we leave because it is too LOUD!!!!! The only show that wasn’t at ear bleed level was “Droom”. We did enjoy the Droom show. We left an evening pianists performance because it was overamplified and accompanied by the “Hell Cats”. This same special pianist did put on a lovely afternoon concert when we skipped the Antigua port. We thought that it was a wonderful show at normal sound levels and with no Hell Cats. (Good riddance to the departure of the Hell Cats from HAL!)

 

B.B. King Blues Club: The first half of the cruise, we attended about every night and they had a lot of people at their shows. The second half of the cruise the volume seemed cranked up and there were maybe 5 people in the Queens Lounge where they played. People seemed to stop in the hallway outside and briefly listen before walking on because the music was too loud. This could be a great addition to the entertainment offerings if only the volume was tolerable. If it gets any louder it would be like the Vista Showroom, GOOD BYE!!! Louder is not better, these B.B. King Blues Club performers are really talented and they could have a much greater draw if people could stick around to listen to them. I’ve never heard anyone complain that they can’t hear the performers, quite the opposite. The main complaint is TOO LOUD.

 

We ended up in the Piano Bar when other venues were too loud. The piano bar is fine. Pianist played well and had a great voice (I believe his name was Michael Sara).

 

We were looking to get out of snow and ice with all this winter weather. We enjoyed sunshine and warm temperatures. We would take this cruise again and recommend it to others. We loved our get away on the Noordam. Twenty-one days wasn’t long enough.

[Crew News]

Thanks for your review.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you form taking the time to write your review.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

We haven't gone to a Mariner's brunch in a couple of years. We just go to the award's ceremony and then do our own thing.

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

[rkacruiser]

Thanks for your comments. I think we met after Muster on the 16th at the Seaview Bar area. Or did we? (I have problems with names.)

 

I have written a review of my two cruises, January 5th through the 26th, and it has been posted on CC. I concur with you: the current management of Noordam is not what it ought to be. Much met my expectations. But, as a 4 Star Mariner, too much did not. For you to have experienced what you did at the Mariner Luncheon is inexcusable. I am not sure, and I am sorry to say this, but "guest-oriented/friendly" does not seem to be in the vocabularly of the current Senior Management Team on this ship. I am writing a letter about this to Mr. Ashford and would encourage you to do the same.

[Skorpora]

Thanks for your review. We are going to be on the Noordam in 2 weeks. What have they replaced the Bigelow with? We were on Noordam last year, and there was the blah HAL Darjeeling tea, Bigelow tea, PG Tips, and Tetley. I'm seriously thinking about bringing my own tea!

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review.

 

Do you hear what will happen to the ship during Dry Dock?

[limace]

We loved that art tour last year, as well! When is dry dock?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[debsjc]

Thank you for your review, we are on the Noordam in a couple of weeks.

 

Can I ask which beach excursion you did in Samana? We are taking the -Cayo Levantado Beach Escape, which is a transfer by boat to the beach. I'm guessing you took the bus excursion to Playa Rincon?

 

Also, how did you find the tendering at Half Moon Cay, were there long lines?

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Lizzie68]

An interesting review, and thank you for sharing it. It really reflects many of the reports we have heard about the Noordam in the past year - most have been mixed, some good some not so good.

[igraf]

Ear plugs are handy. We always bring them to the HAL entertainment venues. In addition to saving our hearing, they send a message.

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

Entertainment: Holland America still just doesn’t get it. They need to admit they have an older audience and serve that unique niche. I want to go home with my hearing intact. It sounds like HAL’s objective is to make me go deaf.

 

We attempt to go to their shows. Most of the time we leave because it is too LOUD!!!!! The only show that wasn’t at ear bleed level was “Droom”. We did enjoy the Droom show. We left an evening pianists performance because it was overamplified and accompanied by the “Hell Cats”. This same special pianist did put on a lovely afternoon concert when we skipped the Antigua port. We thought that it was a wonderful show at normal sound levels and with no Hell Cats. (Good riddance to the departure of the Hell Cats from HAL!)

 

B.B. King Blues Club: The first half of the cruise, we attended about every night and they had a lot of people at their shows. The second half of the cruise the volume seemed cranked up and there were maybe 5 people in the Queens Lounge where they played. People seemed to stop in the hallway outside and briefly listen before walking on because the music was too loud. This could be a great addition to the entertainment offerings if only the volume was tolerable. If it gets any louder it would be like the Vista Showroom, GOOD BYE!!! Louder is not better, these B.B. King Blues Club performers are really talented and they could have a much greater draw if people could stick around to listen to them. I’ve never heard anyone complain that they can’t hear the performers, quite the opposite. The main complaint is TOO LOUD. [end quote]

[MUD]

We were on the same b2b cruise. The sound system in the Vista Lounge did make me deaf. Left after a few minutes of each of the major productions. Dancers were quite energetic but couldn't hear the singers. Sound system a major disservice to the performers. Choice of shows was definately not for this crowd! The sound for a very good violinist was even distorted. Commedians were good.

 

Enjoyed the cruise but objected to the fact that they cut out the persons who explains the islands and gives background. Now all you learn about is the shopping and excursions. The Photo tour on Barbadous was exceptional.

[July_Cruiser]

Yes, we remember you from the informal meet and greet of the 16th. Thanks for replying and for reading our posting.

 

We agree, that the Mariner Luncheon was inexcusable to just dump a different entree without advance warning. It was also strange that we were telling someone about it that was at the later seating of the Mariner event the same day and they both had quiche at 1:00pm. The fish entree was good for us both but surely they had something else to substitute for the person who didn't want the fish!

Thanks for your comments. I think we met after Muster on the 16th at the Seaview Bar area. Or did we? (I have problems with names.)

 

I have written a review of my two cruises, January 5th through the 26th, and it has been posted on CC. I concur with you: the current management of Noordam is not what it ought to be. Much met my expectations. But, as a 4 Star Mariner, too much did not. For you to have experienced what you did at the Mariner Luncheon is inexcusable. I am not sure, and I am sorry to say this, but "guest-oriented/friendly" does not seem to be in the vocabularly of the current Senior Management Team on this ship. I am writing a letter about this to Mr. Ashford and would encourage you to do the same.

[July_Cruiser]

The new tea bags, we nicknamed them "Field & Stream" but it was Fields and something else that I can't remember. I suggest BRING YOUR OWN as a good idea, in fact some others must have done that because we saw a few boxes of brand name teas that were probably left for sharing by other guests at the Lido in the tea area near the end of the cruises. I tried the camomile tea and left it brew for 3 minutes with no color or flavor. Then we tried the peppermint and sometimes it had a little flavor and color and sometimes not! At the Dutch Tea, the bag I opened up had a miniscule amount of tea in the bag! I told the waiter that I needed more tea and he brought hot water so I finally showed him the bag with almost NO tea in it. Once I asked for green tea and when I got it the teabag was actually Bigelow Tea, what a fluke! I had the "Field & Stream" green tea once that was actually okay and someone said the black tea wasn't too bad. Don't expect anything like Lemon Lift or Constant Comment and if they even have Earl Grey he is probably only a Court Jester !!!

Thanks for your review. We are going to be on the Noordam in 2 weeks. What have they replaced the Bigelow with? We were on Noordam last year, and there was the blah HAL Darjeeling tea, Bigelow tea, PG Tips, and Tetley. I'm seriously thinking about bringing my own tea!

[July_Cruiser]

Sorry, I did not hear any details about the dry docking plans.

Thank you for your review.

 

Do you hear what will happen to the ship during Dry Dock?

[July_Cruiser]

Agreed, they have some great singers and dancers from what we saw and we would have enjoyed them more if we didn't have to walk out on them so often! The singers in the BB KING Blues Club deserved BIG audiences! When the lady sang Tina Turner's Version of Proud Mary you would have thought Tina was there herself. The Male Vocalist was so good too that you would go out of your way to go to a concert if he was performing. The lady trmpet player, Crystal, was really fantastic. The bass and lead guitars were awesome! The saxophone player, drummer and keyboard players were all people you would be really impressed with but few guests stuck around to hear what they had to offer.

 

I regretted not purchasing the Barbados Photo Tour before taking the cruise. My wife told me about the photo tour in Barbados, months ago, when I was being a typical husband and not listening! The 8:45 tour was sold out before the end of the prior sailing and we wanted beach time in the afternoon. We decided to sign up for the 12:45 tour that was added but it too was sold out. What else can I say but "Yes dear, I was brain-dead at the time you told me so it is all my fault!!!"

We were on the same b2b cruise. The sound system in the Vista Lounge did make me deaf. Left after a few minutes of each of the major productions. Dancers were quite energetic but couldn't hear the singers. Sound system a major disservice to the performers. Choice of shows was definately not for this crowd! The sound for a very good violinist was even distorted. Commedians were good.

 

Enjoyed the cruise but objected to the fact that they cut out the persons who explains the islands and gives background. Now all you learn about is the shopping and excursions. The Photo tour on Barbadous was exceptional.

[July_Cruiser]

I agree with the ear plugs saving your hearing, but HAL is refusing to get the message!!! We complained about this situation in 2008 on the Zuiderdam and so many others on the CC board have been saying this for years to no avail.

[July_Cruiser]

Yes, we did the Playa Ricon. On your tour you should have more beach time and I believe your beach chairs are included, whereas we had to pay something like $5 each for 2 hours of beach chairs.

 

The large tenders were used on half moon cay resulted in few long lines, we had no problem either time. The first time we visited there was a second ship the Eurodam that was arriving an hour later and we were told that the smaller tenders would be used after they arrived. As luck would have it, Eurodam arrived a half hour later so the larger tenders made a couple more trips to Noordam before the switch to the ship's own tenders. On the return trip, the larger tenders were used because our ship left earlier and they were getting us back quickly so again no long lines.

 

On our second visit the Noordam was exclusive to Half Moon Cay that day, again no problems with tenders and the beach was less crowded too!

Thank you for your review, we are on the Noordam in a couple of weeks.

 

Can I ask which beach excursion you did in Samana? We are taking the -Cayo Levantado Beach Escape, which is a transfer by boat to the beach. I'm guessing you took the bus excursion to Playa Rincon?

 

Also, how did you find the tendering at Half Moon Cay, were there long lines?

[rkacruiser]

Thank you for your review.

 

Do you hear what will happen to the ship during Dry Dock?

 

During turnaround day on my b2b, I was sitting in the Crow's Nest reading when a woman with a clipboard and camera appeared. She started taking pictures of nearly every piece of furnishings in the room. I thought this odd, but assumed it might be for insurance purposes, etc. A little while later, when I was in the Lido area, she was doing the same thing. Knowing it was not any of my business, I asked her if she minded telling me what she was doing.

 

She works for a company that has been hired by HAL to refresh the decor and furnishings of the Noordam while she is in drydock. What she was doing was gathering information that the firm needed in order to make plans for what needed to be done in preparation for the drydock.

 

So, I would expect some, maybe all, areas of the public spaces to be refreshed.

 

I understand that the ship goes into drydock on April 10th. But, my information may not be accurate. But, it definitely is before she re-positions to the West Coast.

[debsjc]

Yes, we did the Playa Ricon. On your tour you should have more beach time and I believe your beach chairs are included, whereas we had to pay something like $5 each for 2 hours of beach chairs.

 

The large tenders were used on half moon cay resulted in few long lines, we had no problem either time. The first time we visited there was a second ship the Eurodam that was arriving an hour later and we were told that the smaller tenders would be used after they arrived. As luck would have it, Eurodam arrived a half hour later so the larger tenders made a couple more trips to Noordam before the switch to the ship's own tenders. On the return trip, the larger tenders were used because our ship left earlier and they were getting us back quickly so again no long lines.

 

On our second visit the Noordam was exclusive to Half Moon Cay that day, again no problems with tenders and the beach was less crowded too!

 

Thanks for the information. I know the day we are at HMC, the Eurodam is in as well.

[PathfinderEss]

Nice review, sounds like you had a good time on the Noordam.