Noordam 10/31-11/10 Review

[trufflelab]

About Us: Couple in our mid 40s traveling with our DS 14 years old and DD 9 years old. Our first time on a cruise. We were traveling with my 2 parents, My sister & her two children who are the same age as mine. My Aunt & Uncle.

 

Leaving NY: We had no problem because we arrived early before 12 pm. We were # 32. The poor lady that was trying to make annocements had a hard time because her microphone was broken so she had to scream and people could hardly hear her. Those who arrived later had to wait on really, really long lines because of some sort of glitch (computer glitch??).

Leaving the Noordam: No problem.

 

The Ship: Very handsom ship. Nicely decorated. Looks much better in person then it does on the internet. All entertainment areas, our room, everywhere was really nice.

 

Entertainment & Activities: Was good, not great. It was great if you were over 60. Some of it was a little campy. Some of it reminded me of that scene from Dirty Dancing when the sister was singing in the talent show. Could use a little more entertainment for us middle-age people and children. We heard a lot of people complaining on board and off the ship about the entertainment. People wanted to kidnapp the DJ from Margaritaville on Grand Turk and bring him back on board. He played a lot of games for the kids as well as the grown-ups. Not to mention good music.

 

I'll start with what we liked. We really liked the That's Vegas Show towards the very end. The four main singers also did a few Broadway hits together in a separte show Broadway Moves to Queens. That I really enjoyed. The first show, If Walls Could Rock arragement was a little off and way too much fast dancing. I felt like I was watching my son's fast action video games. I do have to say that the dancers are really good though. I honestly thought they would drop any moment.

 

Impressionist Carnie was good. I'm sure most people under 45 had no clue who he was impersonating. I did, because I was involved in theater and hung out with a lot of musicans and artist. Not to mention that my Italian father tells the same jokes he did. It was like listeng to dad.:D

 

Other family members really, really liked comedian Jim Labriola. I missed him. :(

I also missed Sally Jones who I heard was really good. So I missed two good entertainment shows.

 

Other family members thought Magician Phil Hitchcock was ok.

 

I was soooooo looking forward to hearing kettle drums on a ship going to the carribean. The one guy that was playing with the band near the pool looked like he was held back from really playing those steals. You could barely hear him. :( More music needs to be near the pool please!

My family thought that there could have been more pool games for the kids and especially for the teens.

 

My family enjoyed the kitchen tour.

 

The art on board is beautiful. I did the art tour with the i-pod. Unfortunately it only covered most of the first 2 floors. I would have loved to hear about the history of other pieces of work on board. Maybe more could be added.

 

CLUB HAL & THE LOFT: There were less then 40 kids on board this cruise. A lot were really young so they were not in Club Hal. There were maybe 3-4 kids in the club when my daughter and neice were there including them. My daughter loved Club Hal. Yanna (not sure how to spell her name) was good with the kids. My DD loved being there and doing the activities. She received a few things to take home.

The Loft was another story. The few teens (maybe 4-5) that were on board were hiding somewhere. My son really wanted to meet some kids to hangout with. He was really bored most of the time on the ship. Not sure if this is the cruise for teens.

 

FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD: Foodies this is the cruise for you. I tried lots of new food on this cruise that I never had. I tried the chilled soups and they were great. I had the Asian buffet three days in a row asking for a spoon of everything and actually liked everything. DH & I ate at the Pinnacle one night and loved everything. No complaints here.

 

A lot of people who were used to fix sitting were complaining about the Any Time You Wish Dinning. We had no problems except one formal night when my mother did make reservations for all 12 of us to dine together and the reservation was lost, forgotten or whatever. That was a disapointing.

 

The Staff: The staff was great! These men and women are such hard workers. They work over 12 hours a day and always have a smile on their faces. They are always polite. One woman was so obnoixous to one of the waiters that my son gave her a look of disgust. I don't know how they do it. Our cabin stewart, Hery was great he was there when you needed him. He had to put up with my very mess disorganized son.

 

Fellow Passengers: Met some really nice people on board. Matt & Kitty you are great! It was a pleasure meeting you. One older man gave us a face as we were looking for a seat near the pool because we had the kids with us. He made it clear that he did not want kids near him. I was told by several people that my kids were well behaved. They did not splash all over the pool like other kids. They did not run up and down the halls pressing the elevator buttons like other kids. I am not one of those parents that believe that kids could behave however they want. I try to teach them to respect others. However sometimes they do have to be kids.

[hammybee]

Thanks for sharing your balanced perspective of the cruise.

 

Just curious here, do you home school? Most children/teens are in school at this time of year which is why there were so few onboard your cruise, any cruise, especially one longer than 7 days. Those who cruise at this time of year tend to do so, to avoid cruising with children.

 

We were on the Noordam this past May, in ALaska, and everything was skewed towards the average age, about 40 something with the occasional campy scene out of Dirty Dancin, you mentioned.:)

 

Passengers from the Noordam over the President's Day week early this year, reported as many as 400 kids onboard. Timing is everything.

 

Teens are the hardest to please and many seem to prefer to hide out, instead of hanging out.

 

If you cruise again, and do so during predicatable school breaks, you are going to see a huge difference, regardless of which cruise line you sail.

[happy cruzer]

Hi, Truffle

 

what did you think overall? was the cruise what you expected? would you do it again? I would have thought HAL would be a good match judging by the different ages in your group?

[barante]

Trufflelab -- Congratulations! We have taken seven cruises (four Celebrity, two Norwegian and once on HAL's Noordam) and the Noordam is the tops. In fact we will repeat our this year' cruise in March. We hae been to all these ports several times before and most of them are forgettable. But as long as it's warm and nice, who cares. For us the Noordam itself is a destination.

We just loved the ship. Recent movies in the lounge and on TV, which also had TCM. Enough to do always if you wanted something to do. And I loved the Exploration Cafe's library. Absolutely, totally wonderful.

I am a 64-year-old male and my demands are small. But the Noordam fulfilled all our expectations and then some. From singing happy birthday to my wife (the day before; I was meaning to talk to the maitre d' about organizing singing the next day). She was as surprised and pleased as I was. (It was done the day before because the following night was a formal and they don't do singing then).

We also liked the leisurely pace of dining every evening at our table for two, with the same wait staff. Since we don't drink, we never ordered anything other than sodas, but the wine steward would stop by every evening just to chat.

Overall, our Noordam experience was the most relaxing vacation ever that we had taken. And the afterglow lasted for weeks. Both of us had more energy, a better focus on life.

Trufflelab, if this was your first cruise vacation you were lucky to experience some of the best in the business. As you pointed out, there is lots of uneveness in the entertainment effort, but overall the Noordam product is pretty damned good. For dining, for example, we don't expect culinary heights, but the Noordam did provide some wonderful dishes. Our yardstick was would we happily pay $XXX for this meal in a restaurant. Every evening we felt we would and congratulated one another because everything was included in the price of the cruise.

[Freedom55]

 

Fellow Passengers: Met some really nice people on board. Matt & Kitty you are great! It was a pleasure meeting you. One older man gave us a face as we were looking for a seat near the pool because we had the kids with us. He made it clear that he did not want kids near him. I was told by several people that my kids were well behaved. They did not splash all over the pool like other kids. They did not run up and down the halls pressing the elevator buttons like other kids. I am not one of those parents that believe that kids could behave however they want. I try to teach them to respect others. However sometimes they do have to be kids.

We have cruised with Matt and Kitty before. You are right they are Top Notch!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome home.

 

Sorry that the teen program didn't work out for your son.

 

So -- do you all get to eat dinner together that night? Or were you divded among a few tables?

[Nonniroc]

HammyBee - No my children are not home schooled. We just took them out of school. My parents had booked this cruise last December. My sister jumped on board a month later. My husband was talked into going in March-April. We have had a tremendous amount of serious illnesses in the family for the past 5 years so we figured life is too short. How often do the kids get to travel with their grandparents? This was our first time. So we figured family first school second.

Believe it or not even though I have kids myself I rather not travel with a massive amount of kids on board. I read on CC several cruises where there were well over 800 kids on board and it seemed like a fiasco. Unfortunately a lot of kids these days are not well behaved. I live in LI and most kids are raised by people other then thier parents and they just don't know how to behave anywhere and their parents think its ok. I came from the city and it's a different planet out here on the island.

Maybe in a few years we'll look into other cruises.

[trufflelab]

Happy Cruzer - Over all I think the cruise was good. Would I choose to do this cruise ship with my kids again?, No. By our selves sure.

The entertainment was ok. Being that I did theather and hung out with a lot of musicians and being from NY, we are just used to really good entertainment. Like I said I really did like some of it. I really am not hard to please. For families there was not enough. There could be far more games (I was the one who was winning the pop triva, then lost because I couldn't make out the movie voices) now that was fun. I had a blast and I didn't need a drink to do it. Over all there was not much for kids or teens. Now granted teens are hard to please. My 9 year old is so easy to please we could have left her in Club Hal and she would have been just fine.

 

The one thing that bother our group was that the information we received for Club Hal was that the staff was suppose to stay there untill 12 am. You would be charge per child after 10 pm (no problem), but my sister was told that no one would be staying in Club Hal to take care of the kids. Now how can we go to a show that doesn't start till 10 pm?? Which is why we missed quite a few shows. We were lucky that my parents were avaiable one night, but they didn't come on a cruise to be our babysitters. They wanted to hang out with us.

 

A lot of people that we ran into on & off the boat were not happy with the entertainment. They were making it well know nice and loud. They wanted to kidnapped the DJ at Margaretaville and bring him on board. The kids and adults as well were having a blast with his games that the dj had.

I really think more pool games could have organized on board. I organized my kids parties and many, many games that the kids talked about for weeks.

[ekerr19]

Is it Nonniroc or Trufflelab posting??? Or both of you.... I'm confused. :confused:

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Is it Nonniroc or Trufflelab posting??? Or both of you.... I'm confused. :confused:

 

Thank you, Laura. Wasn't it Nonniroc who contributed this thread?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=659779

 

 

 

Karin

[trufflelab]

Barante- I loved the food. I love trying new things so this cruise was up my alley so to speak. My husband was not crazy with the menu in the Vista, but then again he is a meat & potato kind of guy. He loved the midnight buffet most nights. He loved the Lido.

I loved Exploration Cafe's library also. I'm an information junkie.

 

 

Freedom 55- Matt & Kitty are great, really nice people. I also met Lynn with whom I had a really nice dinner with. We exchanged e-mails. I met another gentlemen whose name I forget who also does metal detecting as a hobbie. I also met Barbara who was really nice and a couple of other people.

 

 

Krazy Kruizers - Did we all get to eat together? We could never be accomendated. We did need to be divided because we were a party of 12. For most nights we did not eat together. We ate in smaller groups because some of us did different things.

 

My mother who booked a really expensive deluxe suite did make reservations for one of the formal nights for all of us to eat together, but that was messed up. So our kids had to sit two tables away. Thank God they were well behaved. This was disappointing.

[hammybee]

HammyBee - No my children are not home schooled. We just took them out of school...........

 

Curious why you choose to respond to my question to the OP, Trufflelab.

 

Did you just out yourself?

[trufflelab]

Is it Nonniroc or Trufflelab posting??? Or both of you.... I'm confused. :confused:

 

 

It is Trufflelab. I'm over mom's house because DH is working.

[ekerr19]

It is Trufflelab. I'm over mom's house because DH is working.

 

So your Mom is Nonniroc?

[grsnovi]

I think its great that you put family over school - not that school isn't important but it really only teaches you where to find things you'll need later in life (after you learn the basics). If you are an attentive parent making sure that the three R's are covered ought to be cake.

 

It has to be hard filling the entertainment card. While I suspect that HAL will keep certain acts busy, they likely also want to book new talent and probably work with agencies. I know during our June cruise there was a terrible act that only played one show before the ship decided not to inflict them on any others.

 

I doubt that there are live auditions for the line - they are likely booked based on a relationship with a booking agency (of course I could be totally wrong).

 

In any event, there will always be clunkers (beyond the: "what works for you doesn't always work for me" syndrome).

[abrauns783]

we also found the CD did a poor job with the daily program. The pool deck NEED a steel type band. there where just to few activitys come during the day. The eveing show ranged from very good (Justin Miller) to just fair.

 

We also found the food to be very good but the service was a little off on a few night.

[BronxPirate]

I was just browsing cruises and came across this board. I was on that Noordam cruise! At first I was worried because at age 51 I was looking at mostly what looked like 65 and above on line to board the ship in N.Y.

But you know what? I had a great time and as a matter of fact I couldn't begin to explain it. I met a lot of really nice people, old and young and also had a great time making a fool of myself!:D I entered the Noordam Superstar Challenge ( a takeoff of American Idol) and made it to the finals due (not to my singing) to my stage antics. The whole ship was great and the people ( guests I met because of the show) were fantastic. I thought the service was also great as was the food. There were down times where they could have had a little more happening but I was never bored. Hey! I was a star after all:D The cruise directer "Trevor" was outstanding. Considering he lost two helpers along the cruise due to family emergencies he did a great job.

[cruisinbulldog]

The pool deck NEED a steel type band. .

 

Agree.. The Halcats only played a hour or two at lunch time, than at sailaways.. A good steel band in the Carib at the Lido or aft pool would be nice.. Think mood..:rolleyes:

 

Bulldog

[cyd6020]

Thanks for sharing. I'm looking forward to cruising on Noordam next March and it's before Spring break, so I'm looking forward to a relaxing vacation! :)

[trufflelab]

I was just browsing cruises and came across this board. I was on that Noordam cruise! At first I was worried because at age 51 I was looking at mostly what looked like 65 and above on line to board the ship in N.Y.

But you know what? I had a great time and as a matter of fact I couldn't begin to explain it. I met a lot of really nice people, old and young and also had a great time making a fool of myself!:D I entered the Noordam Superstar Challenge ( a takeoff of American Idol) and made it to the finals due (not to my singing) to my stage antics. The whole ship was great and the people ( guests I met because of the show) were fantastic. I thought the service was also great as was the food. There were down times where they could have had a little more happening but I was never bored. Hey! I was a star after all:D The cruise directer "Trevor" was outstanding. Considering he lost two helpers along the cruise due to family emergencies he did a great job.

 

Tom? Rock star Tom? The man who sang Stairway to Heaven? You were funny as anything. Unfortunately that was the only Superstar Challenge show I caught. I had to leave early to participate in the Name that Tune in the Northern Lights so I missed the end. Hal did not provide babysitting after 10 p.m. which is one of the other main reason why I missed a lot of shows. Over all I did enjoy what I saw. Being a music buff I just wanted more music near the pool.

 

I also made a few friends and we are going to keep in-touch via e-mail.

 

The food and service, you're on Holland America, of course it's great!

 

Like I said I would take this line again with my husband or people my age, but I would leave the kiddies behind.

[BronxPirate]

Tom? Rock star Tom? The man who sang Stairway to Heaven?

 

 

That be me!!!:D What amazes me is that you would know my name! Funny how crazy that whole show got. All I did was go on a cruise just expecting to relax; I could never have expected to have half the ship calling my name everywhere I went or asking me to "do a little something!" :eek:

 

Funny stuff.....what a fantastic time.

I'll cruise HAL anytime.

[trufflelab]

Tom that's what happens when you're a rock star. :D

[CruiseLunatic]

Hi Marion (T-lab),

Thanks for the nice words. I really enjoyed visiting with you. During the first part of the cruise, when it was so rough, you were always there with your chin up and trying to rally the troops. Sadly, we didn't see you much the last couple of days or before we got off the ship. Best to you and your family. It was indeed a pleasure. If Lill is out there - HI!

Matt

[BronxPirate]

Tom that's what happens when you're a rock star. :D

 

[trufflelab]

Hey Matt

I was looking for you and Kitty also and couldn't find you. I was hoping to see the two of you eating cheeseburgers in paradise. Grand Turk was beautiful. :p We spent the whole day there. The following day I did the art i-pod tour by myself and met a nice fellow metal detectorist.

We were all just going about our own thing the last day.

 

- Oh I thought of Kitty today. I was looking through the Wirless Catalog www.thewirelesscatalog.com and there is a sweatshirt & t-shirt just for quilters with the saying "Fat Quarters are not a body part". She might like that.

 

So did you get to go scuba diving on any of the islands?

~M