Noordam March 8-19 REVIEW

[Freedom55]

Noordam - March 8 - 19 review

 

Embarkation:

Everything went very smooth. We arrived at the pier earlier than we expected (about 10 a.m.) and dropped the luggage at the front of the terminal. The others went to get our "spot" while I parked the van. After the canine inspection I was into the lot. I took the escalator down to the terminal level and the others were waiting with a "Number 3" in hand. While we were waiting, Carol (cruzerwannabe) and Paul and Debbie (dhoney) and Larry showed up from their incoming flights. We boarded at about 11:30 and waited in the explorers lounge until we could get into our rooms. HAL had juice and cookies set up for us (a nice touch). We got into the rooms at about 2 p.m.

 

The ship:

Our cabin VA 4174 was a nice size with a great aft balcony. Terry (iceguy) and Laurie and DEbbie (dhoney) and Larry were next to us on either side so we could open the partitions for a triple wide balcony. The only complaint that we had about the cabin was the closets. They were cramped and hard to get into. We realized later that this is a unique problem with the larger aft cabins. Carol (Cruzwerwannabe) and Paul had a cabin around the corner (4172) and it had plenty of closet room. Beacuse of all the pre-hype about the magnificant beds I was expecting something fantastic, but found the best just to be the same as we had on Princess, no better no worse.

 

The ship is beautiful, but NOT my favorite ship. The bars are all located in hallways and are not nice little hideaway spots. The Queens lounge is too small for a "secondary showroom". Most of the other ships we have been on have a larger version of a second venue. The indoor pool always had a bit of a "stuffy" feeling to me so we spent a lot of time at the aft pool. However it was nice to be able to enjoy the indoor pool area on the rough ride home. Explorations was the best room on the ship. Even though I don't go on the internet on vacation (never will!) and I don't usually read books on the ship, it was still that comfy cozy spot that I look for on a ship.

 

The staff

10 out of 10 for everyone! The entire staff is amazing. They work so hard and have a smile on their faces (even in the face of extreme rudeness). You will not find a better group of people to serve you anywhere.

The Ports

 

Tortola: Basically a waste of time because of the late arrival. We walked to Pusser's and had a "Pain Killer" (Thanks to JoiseyGoils!). I found the port kind of skuzzy! If we had time to take a tour I am sure there are beautiful places on the island.

 

Dominica: A great port! We took a tour with Reyno that we had done before. It was well worth the encore! We went to Mr. Nice, The Emerald Pool and Trafalgar Falls. Very Nice

 

Barbados: Never rent a car in Barbados! We did. WE spent the day (a fun one!) mostly lost. We went to Harrison Caves which was too busy when we got there. We would have had to wait about 2 hours to get in. Then we tried to go to the Atlantic coast but never quite made it. The roads have no markings and the towns have no markings! Argggggh! We finally arrived at a beach that was in site of the ship and had a nice swim. Like I said we had fun, but did not see much of significance!

 

St. Maarten: We took a ships tour. The explorer catamaran and Island drive. It was well conducted and lots of fun. The Catamaran had free drinks (not just rum punch) and our tour guide was very good. WE visited Simpson Lagoon, Margot, Orient Beach, and the sites along the way to each.

St. Thomas: WE went on our own to Sapphire Beach and then did some shopping on the return trip. A nice beach day, good snorkeling, and nice beach lunch.

 

San Juan: I took a self guided walking tour of San Juan, mostly to the El Morrow area. It was very nice and very hot! My wife did some shopping. Since we had to be on board at 12:30 there was not much time. I would like to see more of San Juan.

 

The Food:

 

The dining room food was great. No complaints at all. Well presented, well prepared. I only had one meal I didn't like (The Maple encrusted Salmon - too salty!) All of the soups are fantastic. cold and hot!

I Liked the lido for lunch and breakfast except for the rude people who continually butt in. It was nice to get thing made to order for you for breakfast and I relly enjoyed the Asian station at lunch. Dinner in the Lido is another story however. We only tried it one day but it was horrible. You have to go down the buffet line and pick out your starters then go to a waiter and order your entree, give him your room number and go sit down and wait for it to be brought to you! My advice" on HAL go to the doining room for dinner! My advice to HAL- make dinner in the lido the same as lunch A BUFFET!

 

Entertainment:

This is where HAL really failed us. We had Traditional dinner at 8 p.m. The Main shows are scheduled at 7 and 9. Our only choice would have been to get ready for dinner in time for the 7 p.m. show, This defeats the idea of late dinner. We wanted to be able to return from day trips and have some relaxation time before dinner. So we missed almost all of the main shows. We did see the shows scheduled late (The Phillipine show at 10:15 and the Indonesian at 11:15) They were good!

I found the rest of the scheduled events pretty sparse. THis is a very quiet ship with not much to do. I guess that is what HAL wants.

Just my opinion, but the Hal Cats are pretty bad! I also thought the cruise director Adam, was pretty bland. You could have recorded his talk once and just listened to it back over and over. HOWEVER! we did make our own fun and we were cruising with great friends, so we made our own party! (,ostly on the aft balconies!

 

CC meet and Greet

 

Thanks to Carol and Pat for doing a great job in putiing this together. WE had a great time in the explorers lounge on Sunday. It was great to meet some of you again and again on the ship and in port!

 

Summary

 

We did have a great time. Any cruise is a good cruise! We learned that we will not cruise from New York again because of the risk of high seas and the wasted days in colder weather. We also, sadly, will not cruise on HAL again, at least until I am 70 maybe. It was just too laid back and we much prefer Princess.

[hammybee]

Thanks for making the time to share your cruise with us.

 

 

What's up with the 7:00 and 9:00 P.M. shows? Perhaps the intent is to drive those seeking later entertainment into venues more likely to generate revenue, kind of like the real world.

 

Princess is the only mass marketed line I have yet to sail. How does their evening entertainment differ from what you experienced on HAL?

[jrzebird]

Thanks for making the time to share your cruise with us.

 

 

What's up with the 7:00 and 9:00 P.M. shows? Perhaps the intent is to drive those seeking later entertainment into venues more likely to generate revenue, kind of like the real world.

 

Princess is the only mass marketed line I have yet to sail. How does their evening entertainment differ from what you experienced on HAL?

 

There must have been some major changes since we took the exact same cruise in January, because our shows (except the first and last nights) were at 8:00 and 10:15. The first night there was only 1 late show, and the last night there was a show at 6:30 and another around 8. I made neither, but attended all the others.

[tooalto]

We were on this same cruise and also found the show times a little difficult. After our first 4 cruises with HAl, we had our own little routine. Early dinner at our table for 2, wander around, go to the 8 o'clock show, donate to the casino then finish off our evening in the Explorer's Lounge. With the new show times, our routine was all messed up. Finish our early dinner, which is now earlier (we don't mind as we are very early risers), kill time until the 9 o'clock show then back to the cabin. I much prefer the old show times. Even if the shows are just run of the mill, which on this cruise they were not, we just enjoy them.

[rocks]

Hi!

I was on this cruise also & had a wonderful time.

The show times were different then normal-but I don't do shows, so it didn't bother me-but heard lots of complaints about that.

I will attempt to post a link to my photos.

rocks

http://2waterdogs.smugmug.com/gallery/4572280_2UKGp/1/269511661_bNhtY

 

This one is all of my sun setting photos:

http://2waterdogs.smugmug.com/gallery/4550096_Ur4vm/1/268116704_JAgfa

[rocknrobin]

Rocks - loved the pix - makes me want to go tomorrow! Guess we have to wait 'til 01/09 - but oh, those photos brought back wonderful memories. Thanks for sharing...

[patnjohn]

Let me add this to the other comments. Don't book a balcony mid ship on deck 5. The life boats are just below you. You could walk off your balcony & be on the top of the lifeboat. Really obstructs your view.

[dforeigner]

Thank you for taking time to write a review.

[dr1ce]

Rocks--great photos. I was on the Noordam just before you. Thanks for sharing! :)

[Freedom55]

For my pics - click in the signature or go to the blog.

 

SEND YOUR PICS TO ME FOR THE BLOG

freedom55@gmail.com

[mamaofami]

Thanks for posting all those pictures. I loved seeing the islands I haven't been to, like Barbados and Dominica, and of course nothing compares to the pictures of the beautiful Noordam. Looks like you had a great cruise.

[Mr Veendam06]

Thanks nice review .I was on the 2/16/08 cruise also 11 day .Reading the reviews before and after our cruise on the 2/16 i think we had the best weather on the Noordam this winter .LOL looking at your pictures is like looking at mine !! I wish she was coming back to NYC next winter .

[BillPatrice]

Noordam - March 8 - 19 review

 

 

The ship:

Our cabin VA 4174 was a nice size with a great aft balcony. Terry (iceguy) and Laurie and DEbbie (dhoney) and Larry were next to us on either side so we could open the partitions for a triple wide balcony. The only complaint that we had about the cabin was the closets. They were cramped and hard to get into. We realized later that this is a unique problem with the larger aft cabins. Carol (Cruzwerwannabe) and Paul had a cabin around the corner (4172) and it had plenty of closet room. Beacuse of all the pre-hype about the magnificant beds I was expecting something fantastic, but found the best just to be the same as we had on Princess, no better no worse.

 

.

 

It was nice to see how the trip went after the sailing we were on. (2/26 thru 3/8). My wife and I were in the same cabin 4174. Did you have the same cabin steward "Ilyas". Very quiet but did all that was asked of him including having ice twice a day. If you would like to see pics of the cabin when we were aboard go to http://cruise.bwatts.org and click on photos then cabin VA4174. We liked the bed which was larger than in the normal VA Cabins it was a king size and very comfortable to us.

I do have a request of you - I may have left my watch which was in a plastic bag. It may have fallin out of my bag either under the bed or behind the sofa. Did you by any chance see it..

We did leave something on purpose and I am curious if you found it. I left a mp3 cd disk in the DVD player with some music on it -- Did you notice it.

We did love the veranda and spent every evening before bed on it

 

we enjoyed our trip and am looking forward to sailing with HAL again....

[doone]

I was on the Veendam a few weeks ago and I didn't like the new show times either. We always enjoyed before dinner cocktails and appetizers and enjoyed them at the Crowe's Nest, but were unable to do this if we wanted to go to the show with the new show times. We liked the shows after dinner, with the earlier show times, it made for a long night as there wasn't much going on after dinner.

 

On my cruise, I noticed HAL to be alot quieter than it has been in the past, I attributed this to my cruise being a 14 day cruise, longer than I usually cruise, but maybe not, interesting.

[CarolineInToronto]

Thanks for sharing your photos... I'm getting exceedingly excited about boarding Saturday!!!

 

Caroline

[headusher]

Freedom, Looked at you pixs. Great stuff. Was Paul napping in some of those pixs? I'll shoot him an e-mail & find out, LOL. And as always you & Chis were looking superb!! I guess you now know why I said the things I did about HAL after two cruises on the Massdam. The sidewalks were pulled in about 10 evey night on our last HAL cruise. Many times the only crowd we would see were playing name that tune with the piano man. As for the show times - it is quite frustrating when you have a late dinner assignment. We ran into the same issue & missed most of the shows also. I think they did this so the older crowded can get to bed early. Butting in at the buffet is a 'right of passage' on HAL cruises.

 

Anyway I'm glad you & the gang had a nice time. Looking at your pixs made me sad that we're not cruising this year. But we will be on the high seas next Spring!!!

 

headusher

[Freedom55]

Some rocking and rolling videos are posted here!:

http://picasaweb.google.com/freedom5...arch2008VIDEOS

[Jade13]

Thanks for making the time to share your cruise with us.

 

 

What's up with the 7:00 and 9:00 P.M. shows? Perhaps the intent is to drive those seeking later entertainment into venues more likely to generate revenue, kind of like the real world.

 

Princess is the only mass marketed line I have yet to sail. How does their evening entertainment differ from what you experienced on HAL?

I know a group that cruises at least once a year on HAL, Princess and Celebrity or Azamara (this year).

 

Their favorite line is Princess. My understanding is that the Theatre uses live music (vs canned). They also like the Elite perks which include unlimited free laundry and internet (which is now only x minutes). With that said I believe they really enjoyed the specialty entertainment on HAL last summer in the Med which included Justin Miller.

 

Btw, we have not been on Princess either but a very good chance in the next two years for the Panama Canal. They are the only line I have found so far doing a 10 night full transit. Plus the two ships that do this itinerary, Island and Coral Princess seem to get really good reviews.

[ecormier]

Hi!

I was on this cruise also & had a wonderful time.

The show times were different then normal-but I don't do shows, so it didn't bother me-but heard lots of complaints about that.

I will attempt to post a link to my photos.

rocks

http://2waterdogs.smugmug.com/gallery/4572280_2UKGp/1/269511661_bNhtY

 

This one is all of my sun setting photos:

http://2waterdogs.smugmug.com/gallery/4550096_Ur4vm/1/268116704_JAgfa

 

Hi Pat.

 

Great photos! Randy and I will be on the Noordam on May 9th! We were on her last year from Seattle, RT Alaska. She's an amazing ship!

 

Cheers, Betty

[NoNoNanette]

Oh, Betty!

 

How I LOVE your wine quote. :)

[rocks]

Hi Pat.

 

Great photos! Randy and I will be on the Noordam on May 9th! We were on her last year from Seattle, RT Alaska. She's an amazing ship!

 

Cheers, Betty

 

Hi Betty!

OOOHHH how I would LOVE to be on the same cruise again with you & Randy!! We just HAVE to work on that harder!

I hope you guys have a WONDERFUL time & that you will tell us all the details when you get back.

The Crew on the Noordam is GREAT! I will e mail you a photo of my Best Bartending Buddies & if you happen to see them, please tell them HI for me.

Have a GREAT time! :D

Pat