Noordam Cruise - Teriffic

[MOcruiserman]

I just returned from Vancouver after ending my Alaska cruise on Saturday, Aug. 22. The seven day cruise on the Holland American MS Noordam took us to various places in the Tongass National Forest, which is a temperate rain forest in Southeastern Alaska (which they call the Panhandle).

 

First I'll talk about the ship. It's funny how people can have such widely diverse opinions about the same thing. For months prior to the cruise I worried about the negative comments I saw about how the Noordam was "a tired ship", the food was terrible, the service was terrible, etc., etc. I'm glad to report that the naysayers were completely wrong, at least in my opinion.

 

The ship was beautiful, both inside and out. I never noticed any worn carpeting, as some people have reported. To the contrary, everything looked brand new. The staff were constantly cleaning and polishing. Our stateroom was small but very nice, with an extremely comfortable bed. My wife wasn't crazy about the food but she's rather picky. I tried almost everything (except beef, pork and veal which I don't eat) and was rarely disappointed. Some items were superb (fresh squeezed orange juice, all the Asian food, all the Italian food, most breakfast foods, the desserts, the "Dive Inn" sandwiches). We both loved the Canaletto - great Italian food and, for $10 per person, an incredible bargain.

 

The evening entertainment was somewhat of a mixed bag. We had an incredible juggler the first night, excellent singing and dancing on nights 2 and 5, and a hilarious comedian, Kevin Jordan, on night 4. Nights 6 and 7 were Recycled Percussion and Dancing With the Stars - not my thing. (No show on night 3, due to the afternoon arrival time at Juneau). The musical entertainment I attended in the lounge areas were the BB King band (great music but too loud for the room it was in), the classical duo (excellent), and the piano bar (Michael Sera, a good musician but kind of low on energy). There was also a funny quiz show (like Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me) with Kevin Jordan, Cruise Director JT and Show Host Chris.

 

Some highlights of my daily activities were a beer tasting (Alaskan craft beers), cooking shows, art shows, a movie (Tomorrowland), and talks about the various sights we would be seeing.

 

Southeastern Alaska is a beautiful area, lots of mountains covered by huge pine trees. The port towns, Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan, are unimpressive, with the latter two consisting essentially of shops for cruise ship passengers. But the excursions were great. At Juneau we went whale watching (saw many humpbacks, including one who breached several times) and the Mendenhall glacier. At Skagway we went on the White Pass railroad, which goes to the top of a 2500 foot mountain. Spectacular views and not to be missed. At Ketchikan we went to the Saxman (Tlingit) village and learned about this ancient culture. Then we saw a lumberjack show which featured six very talented young men performing feats of ax throwing, chopping, climbing and log rolling. All the excursions were very worthwhile. But the highlight of the trip was probably day 5, when we went to Glacier Bay. 300 years ago the entire area of the Bay was filled with a huge glacier. The glacier has since receded, leaving the Bay and smaller glaciers in the surrounding mountains. The remaining glaciers are still very impressive. I don't know how long they'll be around so I'm glad I got to see them.

 

Finally, a word about Vancouver, where the cruise began and ended. A lovely city with a beautiful park. And inhabited by very friendly Canadian people. I strongly recommend the hop-on hop-off bus tour.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

We were on the Noordam in November for 21 days and didn't find anything wrong with the ship.

[Fouremco]

Thanks for the review, friendly USA person. :) We've not been on the Noordam for a couple of years, so it's good to hear that she's still a pleasure to sail on.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for posting your comments.

Glad you had a good cruise.

[canadianbear]

Great review, thank you! We were on the Noordam in April/May for the Panama Canal cruise and loved the ship and staff.

 

Glad you also enjoyed my hometown of Vancouver. Love coming back to our home port.

[kftw]

Thank you for your review.

[RuthC]

Thank you for posting your thoughts on this cruise. Happy that you had a good time in one of my favorite places.

Especially thank you for mentioning the entertainment on the ship, and naming some of the entertainers. It's nice to keep track of who is out there these days.

[shelnj18]

We were on the same cruise and really enjoyed it. We got off in Skagway so your review filled us in on stuff we missed. I agree with you on Skagway and Juneau. Too many gift shops..and because it was so windy in Skagway there were no other ships in port so I thought it looked like a ghost town. Glad you had a good time!

[SilvertoGold]

Great review, which I really enjoyed reading.

 

Was there much calving and ice in the water in Glacier Bay? Any whales, dolphins, porpoise, otters?

 

Glad you liked Vancouver too!

[Crew News]

Thanks for your review. I hope things you learned here on CC contributed to your cruise experience.

[AECrowell]

for your review of the Noordam. We'll be seeing her in March for the 14-day New Zealand cruise, and I too have been a little worried about the negative comments I see! Did you try the Main Dining Room or the Pinnacle for dinner? Just wondering how they stacked up...

[MOcruiserman]

We were on the same cruise and really enjoyed it. We got off in Skagway so your review filled us in on stuff we missed. I agree with you on Skagway and Juneau. Too many gift shops..and because it was so windy in Skagway there were no other ships in port so I thought it looked like a ghost town. Glad you had a good time!

 

Thanks. The wind was terrible that day and I was concerned, frankly, that the wind would blow the White Pass railroad right off the tracks! But fortunately it didn't happen.:)

[MOcruiserman]

for your review of the Noordam. We'll be seeing her in March for the 14-day New Zealand cruise, and I too have been a little worried about the negative comments I see! Did you try the Main Dining Room or the Pinnacle for dinner? Just wondering how they stacked up...

 

We ate in the main dining room only once as I'm not a big fan of lengthy dinners. But the food and service were very good.

 

About the poor reviews, I can understand someone not liking one or two food items but there are so many to choose from - just order something else! I think some people just want to be the center of attention all the time and can't accept the fact that they're on a ship with 2000 other passengers who also deserve attention from the staff. The Noordam is a beautiful, well run ship, as you will see.

[MOcruiserman]

Great review, which I really enjoyed reading.

 

Was there much calving and ice in the water in Glacier Bay? Any whales, dolphins, porpoise, otters?

 

Glad you liked Vancouver too!

 

Yes, we saw the Margery Glacier (Glacier Bay) calving and there was plenty of ice in the water.

 

I saw lots of whales and an otter. No porpoises, though.

[SilvertoGold]

Yes, we saw the Margery Glacier (Glacier Bay) calving and there was plenty of ice in the water.

 

I saw lots of whales and an otter. No porpoises, though.

 

Thanks. Sounds as if you had a great cruise with all the bells and whistles!

[Quitwhin'n]

We were on the same cruise for the first 3 days and agree for the most part. The best part of Juneau and Skagway was talking to the locals who happily filled us in on their colourful history and gave us tips on what to do & where to eat & shop. We avoided the Princess owned shops and tried to buy local.

The female singer in the BB King lounge was excellent and I agree, it was very loud there. Our cabin was on the deck below the lounge and you could hear the music pounding.

Food, drink and service in the main dining room at dinner was stellar, great tasting and fast, which brings me to our absolute worst experience, The Pinnacle Grill.

Over 3 hours of extremely bad service & mediocre food not to mention a horrible table location (reservations made weeks before). I can honestly say, I would never, ever step foot in this restaurant again, let alone pay extra for the privilege.

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[erewhon]

I just returned from Vancouver after ending my Alaska cruise on Saturday, Aug. 22. The seven day cruise on the Holland American MS Noordam took us to various places in the Tongass National Forest, which is a temperate rain forest in Southeastern Alaska (which they call the Panhandle).

 

First I'll talk about the ship. It's funny how people can have such widely diverse opinions about the same thing. For months prior to the cruise I worried about the negative comments I saw about how the Noordam was "a tired ship", the food was terrible, the service was terrible, etc., etc. I'm glad to report that the naysayers were completely wrong, at least in my opinion.

 

The ship was beautiful, both inside and out. I never noticed any worn carpeting, as some people have reported. To the contrary, everything looked brand new. The staff were constantly cleaning and polishing. Our stateroom was small but very nice, with an extremely comfortable bed. My wife wasn't crazy about the food but she's rather picky. I tried almost everything (except beef, pork and veal which I don't eat) and was rarely disappointed. Some items were superb (fresh squeezed orange juice, all the Asian food, all the Italian food, most breakfast foods, the desserts, the "Dive Inn" sandwiches). We both loved the Canaletto - great Italian food and, for $10 per person, an incredible bargain.

 

The evening entertainment was somewhat of a mixed bag. We had an incredible juggler the first night, excellent singing and dancing on nights 2 and 5, and a hilarious comedian, Kevin Jordan, on night 4. Nights 6 and 7 were Recycled Percussion and Dancing With the Stars - not my thing. (No show on night 3, due to the afternoon arrival time at Juneau). The musical entertainment I attended in the lounge areas were the BB King band (great music but too loud for the room it was in), the classical duo (excellent), and the piano bar (Michael Sera, a good musician but kind of low on energy). There was also a funny quiz show (like Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me) with Kevin Jordan, Cruise Director JT and Show Host Chris.

 

Some highlights of my daily activities were a beer tasting (Alaskan craft beers), cooking shows, art shows, a movie (Tomorrowland), and talks about the various sights we would be seeing.

 

Southeastern Alaska is a beautiful area, lots of mountains covered by huge pine trees. The port towns, Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan, are unimpressive, with the latter two consisting essentially of shops for cruise ship passengers. But the excursions were great. At Juneau we went whale watching (saw many humpbacks, including one who breached several times) and the Mendenhall glacier. At Skagway we went on the White Pass railroad, which goes to the top of a 2500 foot mountain. Spectacular views and not to be missed. At Ketchikan we went to the Saxman (Tlingit) village and learned about this ancient culture. Then we saw a lumberjack show which featured six very talented young men performing feats of ax throwing, chopping, climbing and log rolling. All the excursions were very worthwhile. But the highlight of the trip was probably day 5, when we went to Glacier Bay. 300 years ago the entire area of the Bay was filled with a huge glacier. The glacier has since receded, leaving the Bay and smaller glaciers in the surrounding mountains. The remaining glaciers are still very impressive. I don't know how long they'll be around so I'm glad I got to see them.

 

Finally, a word about Vancouver, where the cruise began and ended. A lovely city with a beautiful park. And inhabited by very friendly Canadian people. I strongly recommend the hop-on hop-off bus tour.

 

Was interested to read your Noordam cruise review, as we will sail on her later this year.

Thank you.

Yes, Vancouver is a beautiful city.

[loraine]

We are boarding the Noordam Sept 5. Your review was very helpful. Getting excited!

[Keith1010]

I enjoyed your review.

Keith

[auntjoy036]

My Mom and I were on the same cruise as the OP. I thought it was great too. We ate mainly in the Vista dining room, occasionally the Lido or room service. The food was very good. The service, both in dining venues and in our cabin (Heri and Gun), was beyond excellent. We did not attend the evening shows, our failure to adjust from US eastern time. We took Holland/Allen Marine's whale watching excursion out of Juneau. We saw several whales, including breaching and twirling in the water. Our port side verandah cabin had a great view of Margerie Glacier. We saw and heard some calving. Overall a terrific experience.

 

Vicki

[madera1]

Thank for the review. We have never been on the Noordam but will be in January so your description of the ship and services is greatly appreciated.

 

 

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