10Day Noordam Review w/pics 11/27 Southern Caribbean

[rebeljohn]

OK………….It’s time to post my review of our Thanksgiving, 10 day Southern Caribbean cruise aboard the Noordam. I will post in several installments tonight, and include some pictures as well. Our cruise adventure began on May, 2, 2008, when I booked this cruise. We originally booked an outside cabin, but later upgraded to a balcony when the prices dropped. We chose this particular cruise for two reasons: #1 it was a HAL cruise,, and #2, we loved the itinerary. Four of the ports would be new for us. We immediately joined the already flourishing CC roll call, and I started planning for our ports. As usual, the Port-of-Call section of CC made my job easy. We called two of our friends that we met on the Maasdam in 2005, Don & Laurie, and asked them if they wanted to join us. They did! We called another cruise friend, Bob, that we met on the Century a few years ago, and he also booked the cruise. Two local friends, Rich & Christy had expressed an interest in joining our group, and they booked too. Rich had cruised before, but his wife Christy, had never cruised. She was a little nervous about cruising, but she became a believer, after 10 days on the Noordam. Rich was anxious to try out his new motorized wheelchair on a cruise ship. It worked perfectly for him during the cruise.

So……..here is our group on formal night…………

L-R………Bob, myself, Phyllis, Rich, Christy, Laurie and Don.

 

PRECRUISE STUFF:

We left our home in North Carolina, on Tuesday, Nov. 25th at 7PM. I work second shift, so we couldn’t go anywhere until I could leave work. There were four of us, with luggage, aboard our specially equipped van, designed for wheelchair users. We drove about four hours that evening, and spent the night near the SC, GA border. The next day, we drove 9 hours to Ft. Lauderdale, where we arrived at our hotel, the Marriot, Ft. Lauderdale North. I had secured this hotel through Priceline a couple of weeks before, for $55 per night. We had 3 rooms booked. Definitely a Four Star hotel, IMHO, although Priceline gave it 3.5 Stars. Here are four of us in the hotel lobby………..

 

The next morning, we drove a short distance to the port, and here was the first view of our ship…..

[rebeljohn]

EMBARKATION:

I dropped off our luggage, along with my 3 passengers at the cruise terminal at 11:45am. I parked the van in the parking deck, and walked over to the ship. The porters had already taken the luggage, so we followed Rich(in his wheelchair) to get in line. The line was REALLY long! The computers had gone out earlier, and some of the passengers had been standing in line for an hour or so. One of the HAL ladies with the red jacket, told us to go over to the left, where special needs passengers were being directed. We went right through, and were on the ship in 15 minutes. Now, before anyone gets upset about us boarding with Rich, let me tell you that we had tried to get in the regular line and let Rich and his wife board, but the lady insisted we stick together as a party. So we did…………

The only items we took with us were two small carry-ons, and two cases of adult beverages on our small hand truck. You’ve got to love HAL’s liberal wine policy. It saved us quite a few bucks on the cruise. Upon entering the ship we were informed the rooms would be ready after lunch. It was a little after noon, so we went to see if our room was ready. It was. And, there was a nice gift that Rich had sent to me through ship services. CIGARS!!!

We dropped off our stuff in the room and headed for the all important first meal of the cruise at the Lido buffet.

The Lifeboat drill was held just before sail-a-way.

Check out the head gear worn by the Lido attendants on Thanksgiving Day…………………

[rebeljohn]

CRUISE CRITIC PARTY:

Our Cruise Critic Meet & Greet was arranged by board member, MSteve. It was held on our first day at sea at 10:30 am. We had 55 to attend. Several of the ship’s officers, as well as the Cruise Director, Drew, attended. Hors d’oeuvres were served, as well as cookies, and the all important FREE drinks, which included Mimosas, Champagne, whisky sours, etc. A very nice party indeed!

[rebeljohn]

CABIN:

We had room 6006……………..

A balcony cabin, second room from the front on the port side, Upper Promenade. Being on the front, I felt more motion than I normally do than when we have rooms in the middle of the ship. Bonine did its job, and I never felt sick.

Cabin Steward was BamBang.

He did a phenomenal job all week. He greeted us by name each time that we met him in the hallway. He knew our schedule, and we always returned to a clean room whenever we left. A different towel animal and chocolates awaited us each evening. The fridge was emptied of its contents upon our arrival, and we used it to keep our wines nice and cold.

SHIP & CREW:

The Noordam is a great ship, in great shape. She was easy to navigate, and I thought the layout was fine. Crew were always cleaning, washing, polishing, etc. Towels and lounge chairs were always plentiful. Chairs around the pool filled up quickly, but the upper deck always had a lot of empty chairs. This was also the first ship where I did not use the pool. I dangled my feet in the cool water, but never took a swim in one. Don’t know why, just never did. I never smelled any sewage odors, like I have on other ships. We did not donate to the Casino. I usually put 5 dollars in a slot, but never did on this cruise. There were plenty that made up for my lack of participation. My favorite room on the ship was the Oak Room. Three of us in our group are cigar smokers, so a visit there each evening was mandatory. We were serviced there from the Crow’s Nest bar. They had a couple of cigar ashtrays available, as well as the standard cigarette ashtray. If the room became too smoky, there was a door leading to the deck that could be opened if needed. The Noordam is only one of two ships with the Oak Room remaining. We talked to several of the crew and some of the dancers there, that dropped in for a quick cigarette. The Noordam crew was quite friendly. They smile a lot. When I had exhausted our wine glass supply in our room each day, I would hit the bar staff up for more. They would hand them over with a smile.

MEDICAL EVACUATION:

A little excitement occurred on our second sea day. A lady severely injured her eye, and needed expert medical attention ashore. The Captain made the announcement to clear the aft deck so a medical evacuation could take place. Fire crews deployed hoses, the aft decks were cleared, and the lady was hoisted safely aboard a Coast Guard helicopter from Puerto Rico. According to staff(and ship board gossip), she had injured her eye when she fell on a music stand, while trying to see what had happened to a lady that had just fallen and injured her wrist. I hope everything went OK for her…………….

[rebeljohn]

ENTERTAINMENT:

We were a little disappointed in the show lounge entertainment on the Noordam. Now, it wasn’t bad, by any means, but was below par for what we had experienced on other HAL ships. The singers and dancers are all talented. Anybody that can dance and keep up with the ship’s motion at the same time is an expert in dance. The shows just weren’t entertaining for us this time around. Maybe we are just getting used to the same routines….I don’t know. The one bright spot was the comedian, Frank King. We enjoyed his humor, and he grew up in our city. A lot of the places he described, we had been to. We heard the band, the HAL Cats, but did not listen to them a lot, so I am guessing there were OK. They sounded fine when we heard them. Other reviews had reported that they repeated a lot of songs on the cruise, but I couldn’t tell you if they did or not. Our bright spot each evening was the Piano Bar. The pianist, Larry Steele, was getting off the ship when we did. He had been on for only a few weeks.

He wasn’t the best piano bar player, but he was very friendly, and held a music trivia contest each evening at 9pm. Our group won most of them, mostly due to my wife. She plays the piano at home, and knows a LOT of different songs. We won so many DAM prizes, that we had to redeem our DAM dollars for a DAM duffel bag to haul the DAM stuff home in. DAM key chains, towels, glasses, playing cards, hats, etc. Guess what our friends are getting for Christmas?!? We did not sit by the pool a lot, so we did not participate in any pool side activities. We did attend several of the trivia contests, and a couple of the mixology classes. My wife and Christy attended a few of the dance classes, and enjoyed them. I had never knew what had happened to Eddie Munster after the show ’The Munsters ‘ went off the air, but I found out on this cruise. He became a Cruise Director! Our cruise director was Drew Murdock, a dead ringer for Munster boy.

 

He was a great CD. He was always around, and doing all sorts of different things. One of his assistants said that they were sort staffed, and they all had to wear many hats during this cruise. I’ll give ‘em all an A. No complaints with the CD and his staff. One of our travel partners, Don, won the Noordam Super Star title, a Karaoke contest held during the cruise.

SMOKING, CHAIR HOGS, and SMUGGLIN’ BOOZE:

The three big sins of cruising! ………Well, I’m guilty of two out of the three. Chair hogging isn’t my thing. I prefer a lounge chair away from the noise and crowds, so I can nap peacefully in the sun. Chair Hogs were present, as they are on all cruises. Just doesn’t concern me as much as it does others. Smoking. I am guilty as charged. I love a good cigar! But I love them ONLY where permitted. I smoked them in the Oak Room, open decks, and my balcony. I was fortunate to have Bob, my neighbor in cabin 6008 to join me on occasion out there. My neighbor in room 6004 was hardly on his balcony, so I never heard a word from him. We did get a smoking questionnaire at the end of the cruise. Not a lot of middle ground in the questions. Smugglin’ Booze. Guilty again. Yeah, I know, I brought a CASE of wine on board. You would think that was enough, but I did manage to bring aboard a fifth of Coconut rum and a fifth of Vodka for mixing drinks. Finding mixers on HAL is not hard. While they don’t have juices in the dispensers, juices are available at the two ice cream stations. Orange juice, cranberry juice, and apple juice is available. Just ask for it. The juice dispensers are right behind them. If they are closed, room service will bring it to you. If you prefer pineapple juice, like I do, just get a few glasses and bring them back to the room for consumption later. The glasses fit nicely in the door of the in-room fridge.

FOOD and DINING:

Ah yes………..FOOD! The top item for most cruisers, including myself. It was GREAT! I’m not a picky eater. If the presentation wasn’t quite centered on the plate, I wouldn’t be the one to know, or care. If the meat was 2 degrees off from serving temperature, I’ll never notice. You get the drift, I am no gourmet passenger. I’m easy to please. I tried a little of everything at the evening meal. Seafood, beef, lamb, pork, you name it. It was all good, and cooked like I had ordered. It was pretty too. Vegetables and desserts displayed so nicely that you hated to mess them up by eating them. We had most everything that I had expected. Lobster, steaks, duck, escargot, shrimp cocktail, chilled soups. You know, standard cruise food at the evening meal. All wonderful! The only complaint I would have, is that a lot of food gets wasted if you want to try more than one entrée. On a few occasions, I would have liked to order just the extra meat, but no, they bring you the whole plate, complete with the pretty vegetables, and sit it down with the other full plate you are already devouring. We had early seating each evening, table 107 for eight, at 5:45 pm, lower level of the dining room. Most of level one, we were told, was for ‘As You Wish Dining’, or whatever they call the NCL knock-off dining option. We never had the same people eating at the same tables around us each night. Our service from our waiter, Doody, and his assistant, was OUTSTANDING!!!

One of our table mates, Christy, drank a LOT of tea, and it took a lot of sugar to sweeten it to her Southern tastes. The second night, he brought a large bowl of sugar(in packets) just for her, and made sure it stayed on the table each night until she had her sugar fix.

We ordered Cappuccino, each night with our dessert, so, after the third night, he’d just bring it out, without us ordering it. One of the perks for having the same waiter each evening. Lido food…….mostly good, and servings were hot, fresh, and plentiful. Lots of choices in foods……..pizza, burgers, Asain food(sushi-yummy!), pasta, etc. Plenty for every taste, unless you eat dirt. Didn’t see any of that around. Speaking of dirt, the areas where the food was served was spotless. And they had those hand sanitizer dispensers everywhere. Some of the areas, were selve serve on the buffet, like the sushi bar, but they served you at other areas. And YES, there WERE trays in the Lido. I ate a Ton of ice cream on board. They had at least four different kinds each day, as well as soft serve. All the fancy stuff to go over the ice cream too, like sprinkles, syrups, etc. We ate breakfast only twice in the Lido, all the other mornings, we ordered from room service. Our room service food was hot and delivered on the late end of the time scale. Delivery times were scheduled in 30 minute increments, from 6 am until 10am. Pinnacle Grill. We ate there on Sunday night, Nov. 30, at 5:30 pm. We were the first ones seated for the evening, and the place never became full while we were there. Our travel agent had given all in our party a free ticket for the evening. Otherwise, I would not have spent $30pp for the experience. Yes, the food was great, no, take that back, it was AWESOME! I opted for the 20+oz porterhouse. It was, by far, the best meal of the cruise. Cooked to perfection, too. Now. Here is my only complaint about the place. You can’t perform the same gluttonous tactics that you do in the main dining room without hearing, “ That will be an extra charge, Sir” When I ordered the super size porterhouse, I asked if a lobster tail could be added. “ That will be an extra charge, Sir” I didn’t ask how much. I didn’t really need it anyway. When a tablemate asked if the surf and turf option of a fillet with prawns(why don’t they just say big shrimp. Yeah, the gill structure is different, but who cares) could be a fillet with lobster, he replied, “That will be an extra charge, Sir”. When another tablemate wanted to try a second entrée, we all said in unison, “That will be an extra charge, Sir”. The waiter just smiled. The Pinnacle Grill was a nice experience. Not worth $30 for me.

[rebeljohn]

SHIP SHOPS AND SERVICES:

We took a lot of photos with the ship photographers, and bought about $150 worth. We thought they did a nice job, and weren’t too pushy about having your picture made. They were accommodating when we wanted a group photo or too. We didn’t buy anything else on board except for liquor. The ship states that they will match any price found advertised on shore, as long as they have the same item in stock. The attendant told me a picture of the ad would be enough. I took pictures on shore and showed them to the attendant on the last day at sea, and he replied, “ No problem”. Example. A liter of Crown Royal on board was $19.95. I found it on shore for $15 per liter. He sold it to me for $15 per liter, just as he promised. I like that! Keeps me from having to lug the bottles back from shore, and keeps the revenue on the ship.

SEA DAYS:

A Sea Day, is, well, a sea day. Hal offers a lot to do on those days. Not as much as Carnival does, nor do they do the ‘exciting stuff’ like the hairy chest contest, king of the ship, etc. One of the activities listed was a ‘Vow Renewal’ . I countered with my own activity, and suggested we renew our membership in the ‘Balcony Club’ She liked the idea, too.

We found plenty to do. Trivia contests mostly, and relaxing out by the pool

and napping on a lounge chair on some sparsely populated part of the upper deck. We had three of these. Day 2 and 3 was a sea day, as well as the day before our final day at Half Moon Cay.

ST. KITTS:

We did not plan much to do on this island. We spent the day browsing the city of Castries. The ladies shopped, we smoked cigars and had a couple of drinks. The temps were in the low 80’s, and partly cloudy. The wife liked monkeys, so I gave one of the locals a couple of bucks so she could hold them, and have her picture made with them.

 

[rebeljohn]

ST. LUCIA:

We had planned to go to Rendezvous Resort, but the steady rain that day, kept us from going. It pretty much rained ALL day, hard at times. We found a bar near the ship, smoked a couple of cigars, and went back on board.

[rebeljohn]

BARBADOS:

Two months prior to the cruise, we booked a three hour snorkel tour with Shasa Catamarans. This was the highlight of our cruise! We were met at the gate and driven to a beach

where 8 of us boarded the small catamaran. Unlike the BIG chartered cats, that motor you over to the snorkeling site, our Captain, Jason,

deployed the main and jib sails, and we actually SAILED to our snorkeling destination. We saw a lot of fish……………

And then we moved over to the area where the sea turtles were. We saw several, many UP CLOSE…..

I would recommend this tour to anyone! For $60pp, transportation to and from the ship was included, as well as snorkeling gear, drinks, and Jason as your snorkeling guide.

After we returned to Bridgetown, we did a little shopping, bought some rum , smoked a cigar, and returned to the ship.

[rebeljohn]

MARTINIQUE:

Of all the stops in the Caribbean, this place is not like the others. Just like going to France, I was told. Must places do not take dollars, only the Euro, or a charge card. We were thinking about taking a tour with a cabbie, but the prices changed our minds, so we spent the day exploring Fort-de-France. We walked over most of the city, and visited many of the shops and markets. Since we had planned to buy several bottles of famous Martinique rum, the clerk at the House of Rhum let us sample the many rums, and we bought 8 bottles between the two of us(Rich and I). We plan to have a rum tasting at our house for some of our friends later in the year. You can’t buy those rums here…………..

We did not purchase any food while in Martinique, but we had a few drinks, and yes, a few cigars, before returning to the ship. The weather was HOT that day. It felt good to get back on the air conditioned ship.

[rebeljohn]

TORTOLA:

We have been here before, so this time, Rich and I treated our wives to a Royal Swim with the Dolphins at Dolphin Discovery. I booked the swim with them online, about 3 months prior to the cruise. The regular price of the Royal Swim was $139pp, but booking early discounted the price to $119pp. I think it sells for $189 on the ship’s excursion list. We arrived about one hour before their swim time of noon, 12pm. We didn’t know it, but this was the day that they moved 8 of the dolphins to another center. It was amazing watching the transfer of the dolphins. Pictures were forbidden during this process, but I didn’t see anything that I thought might have qualified for bad treatment of the animals. Cameras and video were allowed for the swim, and we took plenty of pics and video. We bought the video that they took($50), because they obviously had the best angle of the action. There were only 5 participants during their swim with the dolphins, and they were allotted more time than normal with the dolphins. Both said it was an ‘experience of a lifetime’, just as they had advertised.

After we returned to the port area, we did a little shopping, and, yes, smoked a cigar, and bought some rum from Pusser’s store, and returned to the ship. Weather was partly cloudy, and in the low 80’s that day.

[rebeljohn]

HALF MOON CAY:

What can I say about Half Moon Cay. A beautiful beach, powder-like sand, and water so clear you can see forever under the water. The water was a little cool, but the sun was beating dwon that day, and the temperature was around 80. An awesome day at the beach!

It was a little crowded, as the Westerdam was there too.

We had a BBQ lunch, and spent most of the day swimming, feeding the fish, and relaxing on the beach. A great stop to end our cruise with.

DEBARKATION:

Yes, the sad day arrived. We ate our last meal,

and headed off the boat. We were called to debark at 10am, and it took less than 5 minutes to find our luggage and get in the customs line. I was over the limit of our 2 liters, we had 13 bottles, but the officer waved us on. The only bad part of our trip happened when I returned to the port area with the van. The handicapped ramp deployed prematurely, and the ramp hit the tire of a limousine, and bent the ramp on the van. Oh well, that’s what insurance is for. No one was hurt, but it took a while to get the ramp back in and the door closed for the 13 hour trip home.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

This was our favorite HAL cruise to date. It was our 4th cruise with HAL, and our 16th cruise overall. Taking the trip with friends made the trip even more enjoyable. Our friend, Rich, found the ship was very accommodating with his mobility issues. We also found that he could go most anywhere in port towns with his motorized wheelchair. There were ramps and access points for most places on shore. My review, of course, is my own opinion, made from observations and first-hand experience aboard the Noordam. If you want to see all ouf our cruise pictures, you can use this link:

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/569139417ruSMIf

I’m sure I left out some stuff, but I’ll post more if anything else comes to mind. We try to cruise each year around Thanksgiving, and we will be planning our cruise for next year in the coming months. Could be HAL again………who knows……………………

[twinkletoes4445]

Wow, what a wonderful review! Thanks so much for posting such a detailed report, and for posting the pictures. We're going to be on the Noordam in a few weeks and we're SO excited. I believe I am going to bring along some Euros for Martinique.

[babyher]

Very nice review and pics.

 

Thank you for sharing

Glad you had such a great time. :)

[rangeley]

Thanks John for the great review. We will be on the Noordam in January. Also for the first time we will be in the front of the ship. I have been very nervous about the motion up there, and you confirmed my fears. But I will try to make the best of it. And I know we will have a great cruise.

[norcal2]

This was a fantabulous review. Answered many questions I had about HAL itself. Wonderful pictures and observations. Thank you!

[GmaPajama]

What a nice, in-depth review. Loved all those photos. Thanks so much for posting it!

[rebeljohn]

Thanks John for the great review. We will be on the Noordam in January. Also for the first time we will be in the front of the ship. I have been very nervous about the motion up there, and you confirmed my fears. But I will try to make the best of it. And I know we will have a great cruise.

 

The motion was not bad, by no means........just more noticable than when in the middle of the ship. I get sick just looking at a merry-go-round, and I was OK, so I think you'll be fine...............

[Djptcp]

Hi Rebel John! Great review and loved the pictures. I would say this was our favorite cruise, too, and DH and I are still talking about it. DH wished he had known about cigars in the Oak Room as he would have joined you. I know you had mentioned it on the roll call, but I forgot where you said. Oh well, he smoked them on our balcony. Thanks again for posting the review and photos:D

[mudscraper]

Nice job Rebel.

 

 

Rich

[our turn]

Thanks for your comprehensive review - loved the pictures. We are also from NC - just south of Greensboro.

[Hugahav]

Thank you so much for this detailed, thorough review! I loved the pics, they always add so much to a review, thank you for including them. We'll be on this ship in February for 20 glorious days and we can't wait! Your review has added to our excitement and anticipation. Glad you had a wonderful cruise!

[kruznkanuk]

Thanks for all your work and posting the photo's... way more organized than I am. The B2B was wonderful but means twice as much catch-up on coming home, and now there is the possibility that my family expects Christmas (gifts, baking, decorations, dinner) before too long.

One question I had for you was on the dining table assignment.. we also had early trad dining and I thought that meant you were definitely upstairs. With your table downstairs, did you have the early traditional or did you call every day to reserve it? I had suggested a long time ago to HAL that they could use some lower level tables for fixed seating since there were so many people who wanted it, and they said that was not their policy, so I am just curious if they have become more realistic on that.

We agree with virtually everything you folks found... except for the joys of cigars.....:rolleyes:

[riz]

Hi John.....what a great review.

 

I never made it to the CC meeting....and was sad I missed meeting you but was lucky enough to meet some through the 10 days.

 

Interestingly - we ran into "operation dolphin" in Tortola on the other side of the island and took a few pics....

[RuthC]

Thank you for a very nice review. Especially, thank you for naming some of the entertainers on board.

I'll be back on the Noordam in a few weeks, at some (most? all?) of the same ports, so I was particularly interested in what you did there. I do remember enjoying the dolphin swim. I agree! It's a highlight!

Welcome back to reality.

[mamaofami]

I loved your review and pictures of the beautiful Noordam. I can't wait till January when I'll be on board myself. After waiting all this time, it's next month. Yippee!