Noordam

[travel09]

Returning to cruising after a large break,HAL passengers of the past,many very enjoyable cruises, until we discovered Viking...Looking now at a Noordam cruise through the Pacific, reading slightly negative reviews of recent times..Understanding that there are always people who find fault, but just interested in an update from very recent times.Do they still offer interesting things on board,[a number of sea days] Cooking classes etc,and in general are things fine.?

Appreciate any recent information.Thank you.

[tupper10]

We were on her for 2 weeks this September for an Alaska cruise. The staff was wonderful and the ship was fine. They were putting in the new library during our cruise.  We don't really care about big production shows and enjoyed the performers that they had except for one singing group - they had them twice and we didn't bother with their second show.  I know they had trivia, wine tasting etc but we don't really do those things.  We were on this trip to look at the scenery so I headed to the crows nest when it was cold out and to the promenade deck when it was warm enough to hang out there.  The casino seemed very busy,  as did the bars at night.  One of the bars had a good piano player - better than the dueling pianos.   The one thing we both missed was Lincoln Center  - they had no classical music at all during our cruise. 

[OlsSalt]

Noordam was fine, lovely ship - was also on the recent Alaska-Coastal Calif cruise. How many sea days are you talking about?

 

HAL ships do remain more low key and best for the "self-contained" traveler.  That is their unique signature. 

[Dutchman48]

1 hour ago, travel09 said:

Returning to cruising after a large break,HAL passengers of the past,many very enjoyable cruises, until we discovered Viking...Looking now at a Noordam cruise through the Pacific, reading slightly negative reviews of recent times..Understanding that there are always people who find fault, but just interested in an update from very recent times.Do they still offer interesting things on board,[a number of sea days] Cooking classes etc,and in general are things fine.?

Appreciate any recent information.Thank you.

Was on the ship 40 days last spring on a Pacific Crossing had one stretch of 6 sea days. Found plenty to do. Ship and crew were great.

[travel09]

Thank you all, we are fine with sea days,crossing the Indian Ocean etc, and no problems ,we are not for the riotious cruising style.! Prinsendam was our all time favourite, on several cruises of a very good length.One should not be influenced by negitive reviews of course..! Reassured greatly by you all.!

[SeaSickCecil]

Hi travel09, I'll answer your specific question since no one else did 

"Do they still offer interesting things on board,[a number of sea days] Cooking classes etc,and in general are things fine.?"

No more cooking classes, no more America's test kitchen cooking shows (and I really miss those, so much fun and sometimes yummy tastes).

On our recent Kdam cruise activities were coloring for adults and other crafty things, lots of trivia (we do like that) and not much else.  No guest lecturers talking about the ports or history of the places we were visiting.  A couple of scripted info shows where the not a real CD read from the teleprompter and had no independent knowledge of the material and movies in the main theater (Barbie, which was cute).  Still love HAL because I'm fine with sitting and doing nothing but watching the ocean go by, but do miss some of the more 'enriching' experiences which apparently they now only have on the extended super voyages (or whatever they're calling them...plus 35 days.)

I'm sure someone else will chime in from their own experiences.  

[OlsSalt]

There were a number of "game shows" with staff/officers on our recent Noordam cruise- late 2023. Some excellent naturalist talks,  as well as onboard National Parks experts during Glacier Bay in Alaska.