Greetings from the beautiful Noordam & the Med!

[ekerr19]

Hi all -

 

Just wanted to give a quick update - we are back on the beautiful Noordam and enjoying the Med cruise with our kids! The ship is as lovely as we remember it being from the inaugural sailing and Captain John Scott is back on board, as of this sailing.

 

We've seen more than a few familiar faces - it's almost just like coming home, lol!

 

The weather is just HOT, HOT, HOT - no other way to describe it, the humidity is fairly high today - we are in Corfu Greece, a gorgeous port.

 

Looking forward to Mt. Olympus tomorrow - this trip is very port intensive, but such a great itinerary.

 

Tonight we are dining in the Pinnacle Grill and I will report back - so far the service and food in the diningroom has been very good. We do have the leisure dining option, though we are fixed at 8:00pm, upper level and haven't tried it.

 

More later!!!!!

 

Laura

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for reporting in.

 

Looking forward to more reports.

[Namvet4]

Hello ekerr19,

Thank you for sharing.... Sail Well and Enjoy ! :)

[Copper10-8]

From the Prinsendam in Scotland to the Noordam in the Med, hi Laura - hope you're having a great time! Tot ziens!

[Grumpy1]

Thanks for the report, Laura. We will be on Noordam, same itinerary, on 8/19 so we are very interested in your observations.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Laura, so glad you could check in:) I do so hope you and Sonny and the family have a wonderful cruise. With any luck it will cool down a bit and the humidity will go away.

Have a great cruise you deserve it.

[Bill S]

HI Laura! Thanks for the initial report! We will be reading with great interest as we will be sailing on the Noodam in September for her return to NYC!

[dakrewser]

It's about time you were having some fun, Laura - I do hope you get better weather than Jim Hannah had last week, though!

[HeatherInFlorida]

Oh my goodness, stranger! There you are! You had to cross a huge ocean and a salty sea for us to hear from you:D !

 

At least you got safely out of the country, just get safely back in. Have a wonderful cruise and enjoy your family.

[RuthC]

It's great that you checked in, Laura. I'll be looking forward to your reports.

Have a good time. Enjoy and relax.

Oh, and if you would note who's playing in the Piano Bar these days---and how well---I'd sure love to know.

[Darrell6t]

Randall Powell was in the Piano Bar of the new Noordam July 10-20 and he said he would be there until January, if I remember correctly.

[RuthC]

Thanks for the info, Darrell. I knew Kory was leaving the end of June; I like to keep tabs on the various players.

I've heard of Randall before. Heard he's pretty good. Maybe I'll run into him someday.

[Sunshine91]

LAURA!!!!!!!!

 

There you are! You had to get back on that beautiful boat for us to hear from you. You, Sonny & the kids just have THE best time (well, 2nd best ;) know what I mean?).

 

Check in with us here at CC once in a while to let us know how the trip is. Sure you can't be convinced to get on her again in January?

 

For the ride home, pack yourself in the luggage & let Sonny just wheel you right past security ;) :) .

[ekerr19]

Hi again! Yes, I've been a bit absent from the boards lately, sorry - we were just swamped before we left and though I'd hoped to check in, I just didn't have the time!

 

It looks to be a bit cooler so far here today - we will be off to Olympia at about 1:00PM for an excursion - pretty much the only one we've booked so far.

 

We did Croatia and Corfu on our own and we just fell in love with Corfu. We were lucky enough to spend a few days pre-cruise in Rome and took in the Vatican and Sistene Chapel, among a few other things.

 

We ate last night in the Pinnacle, the dinner was fantastic as it had been on the inaugural.

 

Jason (cruise director) has just left, so has Kory from the piano bar. We heard mixed reviews about the new guy from fans of the Piano Bar, but haven't ventured there yet. Toni & the Boy's are still up in the Crow's Nest, but only for two more voyages. We were happy to find that she was still aboard and had fun reminiscing about the inaugural.

 

For this cruise, we booked three balcony cabins - I think they are VC's - all in a row and have opened up the balcony doors between the cabins, which is nice. I will say, I do miss the extra space we had in the Deluxe Verandah Suite, seems Sonny always has something hooked up to an outlet and we are tripping over my shoes, lol! The cabin is pretty nice, it's always great to have a balcony, but I do miss that Neptune Lounge coffee maker! and the free laundry! With the humidity, we've had to do laundry daily, and it adds up.

 

Well, I'll check back later - if anyone has any questions, let me know I'll do my best to answer!

 

I'll have to check out Jim's report from the previous voyage -

 

Laura

[ESLO]

Hi ekerr19,

 

We are due to take this wonderful ship on Oct 14th out of NYC on it's return to the USA.

 

If you can answer my questions after being on it twice already:

1- How are the levels of A/C on board thru out this ship? Is it the same or better since the first cruise? Are there certain parts of the ship that you need a jacket or sweater ex. dining room or show lounge?

 

2- How is the Leisure Dining System working? How is the food in the main dining room? Also in the Lido? Are there certain dishes not to miss on board the Noordam?

 

3- How are the On Boarding Shows?

 

4- How are the shops on board?

 

5- Are there anythings not to be missed about the ship?

 

Hoping you are having a very good time for a second time onboard her. We are looking forward to experiencing a Vista Class Ship for the first time.

 

PLEASE, do take Good Care of her for us!

 

Regards,

:) ESLO

(Ed & Bev)

[cruznon]

Laura,

Great to hear from you! The ship and itinerary sound wonderful! Enjoy the remainder of your cruise and safe travel home.

I've heard Croatia is beautiful...did the ship dock in Dubrovnik?

Hope the weather cools a bit for you.

[jhannah]

Laura, sorry we couldn't meet up while in port. We were off the ship at 8:30 a.m. and the ship was likely empty by 9:00.

 

John Scott was on our sailing, and is a wonderful guy. I so much enjoyed chatting with him during the aviators' session in the Oak Room.

 

Our sailing was terribly hot, too. Europe has had an unusually hot season. But our 3 days in London post-cruise were cool and refreshing.

 

Here you are in Santorini!

[ekerr19]

Hi ekerr19,

 

We are due to take this wonderful ship on Oct 14th out of NYC on it's return to the USA.

 

If you can answer my questions after being on it twice already:

1- How are the levels of A/C on board thru out this ship? Is it the same or better since the first cruise? Are there certain parts of the ship that you need a jacket or sweater ex. dining room or show lounge?

 

2- How is the Leisure Dining System working? How is the food in the main dining room? Also in the Lido? Are there certain dishes not to miss on board the Noordam?

 

3- How are the On Boarding Shows?

 

4- How are the shops on board?

 

5- Are there anythings not to be missed about the ship?

 

Hoping you are having a very good time for a second time onboard her. We are looking forward to experiencing a Vista Class Ship for the first time.

 

PLEASE, do take Good Care of her for us!

 

Regards,

:) ESLO

(Ed & Bev)

 

ARGH! It's been so hard to get logged on today! First to the questions -

 

The A/C is fine in all public areas and in our cabin - in fact I had to turn it down today for the first time. It's been EXTRAORDINARILY hot this week....

 

The leisure dining does not seem to effect us in the least - we show up at 8:00PM (as do most folks) and have not noticed a problem at all - in fact I was wondering this morning why I ever had such an issue with it to begin with.

 

We have not been to any of the HAL production shows, though I have heard they are quite good.

 

The shops are typical, though I bought a gorgeous (and unique) piece a few days ago that I will be wearing tonight - it's formal night.

 

I would say to make sure to check out all the artwork around the ship - especially the art in the satirways (lot's of wonderful Stephen Card artwork) and also the hydrotherapy pool is a must, imo. For those on the same itinerary - our favorite port was Kusadasi (so far) we were so pleasantly surprised, and also the excursion to Ehpesus is NOT top be missedf - one of the best preserved ruins we've seen. Also, the shopping in Turkey is pretty darn good.

 

We are having a great time and I will post more after dionner - I am taking Katie upstairs for her "updo" for formal night...

 

btw - we heard jhannah's voyage (the one before ours) had 635 kids and teens and ours has more - we have not really noticed them too much, except in the hallway of our deck - but more on that later!

 

More in a bit -

Laura

[Slinkiecat]

Randall Powell was in the Piano Bar of the new Noordam July 10-20 and he said he would be there until January, if I remember correctly.

Randall Powell is excellent. I look forward to hearing him again. We enjoyed so much hearing him play and sing in the Crow's Nest on Prinsendam during the 2005 Grand World Voyage.

 

Laura, I hope you find time to tell us more about your trip. I know it's hard when you're having such a great time to think about us, but we'll all be here waiting.

 

Slinkie

[HeatherInFlorida]

Interesting what you're saying about "leisure dining", Laura. Big debate on the board right now about this (again).

 

But if most everyone shows up at 8:00, it's not really leisure dining, is it? Sounds more like they call it "leisure", but everyone sort of reverts to the old "traditional":D . Only problem I'd ever have with "leisure" is people arriving at the table at all different times. Otherwise, works for me!!!

 

Sounds like you're happy, enjoying yourself and relaxing. As it should be! Keep the ship in good shape for Slinkie and Grumpy:) .

[jhannah]

The leisure dining worked for us on our Noordam cruise because we all (including debsea and her DM) arrived within 5 minutes of each other. I often saw folks coming in 15-20 minutes after 6:00 -- when everything always said "doors close promptly at 6:00." I wondered what their poor wait staff did.

[mariner]

Laura,

 

Sounds like life is good.

 

Just curious, since we'll be aboard NOORDAM this winter, how does she compare to the S-dam class ships?

[ekerr19]

Well, we finally made it home! What a trip. Sorry I didn't check back in with you guys before the trip ended - we were super busy and the internet service was sporadic and also very crowded as folks tried to confirm their plans.

 

We have tons of amazing pictures this time - no lost photo card - and Sonny is downloading them all as we speak.

 

We did get caught up in the heightened security measures and we got home about 5 - 6 hours behind schedule, though the worst for us was just losing a few personal hygiene items that we had in our carry-ons. There was so much confusion about what was allowed and what wasn't that I didn't remove any of my make-up etc. (which I always have in my carry-on) and thankfully, none of it was confiscated. My sister was in danger of missing her connection to SFO, so she threw away about $300 in cosmetics to avoid being detained. She missed her connection anyway, sadly.

 

The ship is fantastic and we had no problems getting around - it was filled to capacity but we hardly noticed it except on the sea day where you could not get a lounger by the pool at all. People had no problem putting personal items such as books, suntan lotion etc. for hours on end, which is pretty selfish and annoying. We had a very mixed group of passengers and we met some super folks - we also encountered some very unfriendly ones too.

 

I did not mind the leisure concept in the least - our tablemates arrived about the same time we did most of the time and I think most people were seated by 8:15pm at the latest. I did notice that on casual nights, there were a few men wearing shorts and they were obviously allowed to be seated, but other than that, most adhered to the dress code with the exception of quite a few teens.

 

Highlights:

 

The Pinnacle Grill - exceptional meal and wine - many thanks to our TA who gave us dinner for six!

 

Kusadasi, Turkey - What a fantastic port! We can't wait to return. Some of the friendliest people (though they can be aggressive in the bazaar) and a gorgeous, clean city and port.

 

The Lido - Food and service was fantastic, better than I remember it ever being.

 

The Crow's Nest - All our old favorites, Joseph, Ronalds, Mylene, Albert and the trio, Toni's Boys all helped to make us feel like we never left the inaugural cruise, lol!

 

The Spa - the staff are accomodating and cheerful and Katie's "updo" for formal night was gorgeous (picture to follow) and the prices very reasonable, imo.

 

The HAL cookbook and the Q&A Cruise staff books - both great, but I am especially enjoying the cookbook.

 

The few negatives:

 

The photo kiosk was a mess - the line was ridiulously long everytime it was opened and many folks seemed to have no problem jumping in line regardless of others waiting.

 

When we arrived in Dubrovnik, Katie was not allowed off the ship because she did not have a photo ID - the rest of us all had driver's licenses, but she is only 13 and we were told we did not need passports, so we did not pick them up. When I went back to get her passport, the line at the front desk was so long, it wrapped around the atrium, into the hallway. She ended up staying aboard and I was a bit upset about the misinformation.

 

I was a bit disappointed with the cruise staff, though they had a new CD, I never once saw him and activities seemed scheduled at odd hours and somewhat haphazardly - trivia was always crowded, but I never really saw much else going on, but it could have just been me. Jazzy was still onboard and remembered us, but I think everyone else was new.

 

One night in the D/R, selection wasn't so hot and I ended up with Yankee Pot Roast... not the highest on my list and my Rudi Sodiman dessert left much to be desired.

 

More to come....

[Krazy Kruizers]

Glad to hear that you have arrived safely home.

[ekerr19]

Laura,

 

Sounds like life is good.

 

Just curious, since we'll be aboard NOORDAM this winter, how does she compare to the S-dam class ships?

 

mariner -

 

Prior ro the Noordam inaugural and this past cruise, my only experience on a Vista class was a 7-day summer sailing on the Zuiderdam, which we did not care for in the least. I think some of that was due to the Western Caribbean itinerary and the length (and time of year) of the cruise, which drew so many first time cruisers.

 

I do love the Noordam's decor and artwork. I like the fact that there are old B&W photos of the old (and some new) HAL ships along the passenger hallways now. We really enjoy these and it's a nice touch.

 

I also like the Lido stations, though originally I had mixed opinions about it, but most of the time, people are considerate and don't jump to the front of the station, which was a huge problem on the Zuiderdam cruise.

 

I like the Explorations Cafe and the abiilty to check out books and DVD's with such ease. The number of travel books is really a nice touch - especially for a Med cruise, because we could have left all our guide books at home (and lightened my luggage weight, lol!) and used the ones on the ship.

 

The Hydrotherapy pool is fantastic and we like the spa (and services) on the Vista. The gym is ok, imo - it works for cruising. Our 17-yr. old son worked out everyday in preparation for football and said he never had any difficulties with crowds.

 

The Pinnacle Grill and Bar are lovely and intimate.

 

The negatives (imo):

 

The photo shop & Kiosk are poorly located. It is difficult to get to the dining room for second seating through the crowds of people looking and purchasing photos. The kiosk was poorly staffed and lines to purchase photos were really long.

 

The shops on board - well this has been a pet peeve of mine for a long time, the items are pretty much the same from ship to ship and now even from line to line. HAL now has the same soda cup we got on our RCCI cruise in May, but with the HAL ship and logo on it. We did see some interesting items that were supposedly considered "local" crafts, but nothing near what used to be offered on board. I was in line getting a few postcards and the person ahead of me (a new crew member) had lost one of his bags and had no bow tie - of course, there were none on board in the shops, which never used to be the case - so I lent him one of my husbands until he had the chance to purchase one. The location of the shops (especially when they are having a "sale") makes for some real clogging of people in the hallways.

 

We will definitely be back on the Noordam if we have the chance in the future, though it may be awhile before we are able to cruise again.

 

Overall, I'd have to say that I prefer the size of the S-class ships, though I prefer some of the amenities of the Vista. :)