Mustangs
February 13th, 2007, 12:31 PM
Hello,
Finally getting around to posting our January 17-27 Noordam review.
Overall a very nice cruise on a beautiful ship! Some background : we are a 40 something married couple that has sailed with Holland America before, as well as with Cunard, Princess, Carnival, NCL and RCI. This was our first time on a Vista class ship.
Embarkation :After a seven hour drive from Canada, we arrived at the pier around 1 :30pm. It was a breezy clear day in New York, with temperatures just below freezing, but much warmer than the 20 below weather we left at home. We have sailed many times from New York city, and always enjoy it. We had completed our online information, and we were on the ship within half an hour – very nice!
Cabin : We had purchased a VF balcony guarantee through an online travel agency and ended up with VF – cabin 5134 which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Our last few cruises have been in suites, but since we had left this cruise to the last minute, we were happy with a balcony. Our cabin was located towards the rear of the midship area, and we were fortunate not to have any lifeboats beneath us. The balcony is a bit smaller (not as deep) as the cabins above or below, but worked out well (looking down we could see almost the entire balcony below us – I would not want a balcony cabin on deck 4 midship).
Upon entering the cabin, we were greeted with a beautiful bouquet of roses and a bottle of champagne, part of the ‘Just for Us’ package – more about this package later. The cabin layout is a bit tight, and I don’t know how they fit a third or forth person in. Storage space is at a premium, fortunately there is space under the bed. Speaking of the bed, it was the most comfortable bed we have encountered at sea! The bathroom with tub was nice, but since the Vista class ships are based on the Carnival Spirit class, they should use the Spirit cabin/bathroom configuration as it makes for more room (we have sailed in an 8A balcony cabin which is somewhat similar to the VA-VF’s). Water was always hot, and the A/C worked fine (our cabin steward told us that they had been having A/C problems). One morning, all the toilets in our block of cabins didn’t work for several hours. Fortunately, they fixed the problem by noon.
Our room steward, Turi, was fantastic! He introduced himself to us, and we mentioned that he would be able to clean our room first thing in the morning, as we are early risers. This worked extremely well. Our room was always done by 8am. He even showed us where the ice room was, so that we wouldn’t have to bother him if we required more ice in the cabin.
Ship layout : We found the ship very easy to maneuver, and since our cabin was located midship, it was easy to get to the dining room, the lido and the pool area. The only traffic flow problem that we noticed is the area from the covered lido pool to the front stairs/elevators/Crow’s Nest. You must pass through the spa on the port side only. This area should be looked into, as the spa pool has a tandency to spill over when rough seas are encountered making the passage way extremely slippery. There is also a spiral staircase on the starboard side of the covered pool that takes you up on the open deck behind the Crow’s Nest that only can be used by the bravest on sea days. The Crow’s Nest is one of our favorite spots on this ship. We would go and sit in the large ‘lazyboy’ style chairs before sunrise to watch the open seas, or to see us pull into port. The Crow’s nest is usually very quiet at this time of day, with the exception of one morning when the sound system was blasting away, and the last sea day where we were hitting some rough weather and as the ship would hit some waves, spray and water would cover the windows. The only thing the Crow’s Nest needs is a coffee station in the morning. It is a long walk from the lido restaurant to the Crow’s Nest with a cup of coffee. We generally enjoy several cups of coffee in the morning, but due to the funny washed out flavour we limited ourselves to one. I’m afraid the Noordam gets the ‘worst coffee on a cruise’ award from us – even in the dining room.
Dining : We had a table for two on the raised section in the lower dining room, early seating. Our assistant waiter and wine steward were fantastic. Our main waiter was just ‘so-so’. Food presentation was superb, however we found the menu to be somewhat lacking on several occasions, and a few meals were hit-and-miss. The dessert menu seems to need the most attention. Often, I would order the ice cream or sundae, but they would usually be half-melted because they had been placed in hot dishes.
We usually ate lunch in the dining room as well, as we prefer it to the Lido area. Service is slower at lunch, with the ‘open’ seating. It would take us longer for lunch than for the evening meal, often an hour and a half – felt it was a waste of time some days.
We ate in the Lido restaurant for breakfast. I especially enjoyed the omelette station. However, this is where they need the ‘hot’ plates. Eventhough they would give you a cover for your hot omelette, it was placed on a ‘cold’ plate. Other than that, we found trafic flow around the Lido worked well, and we often would eat in the sheltered area around the aft pool on port days – lovely! We used to love the Holland America chocolate-chip cookies, but they have changed them – disappointing.
Staff : Holland America has a wondrerful staff. This sailing just confirmed that they have the best room stewards. The captain, John Scott, must be the most personable captain that we have sailed with. We ran into him daily, either in the Lido for breakfast or elsewhere, he was always very ‘down to earth’ and approachable. Staff in other areas (Lido, bars) were always super. Our only complaint would be with the front desk staff, as they messed-up a few times. Cruise director Jason Venner did an adequate job, however we found him somewhat long-winded and dry at times.
Entertainment : We attended some of the production shows (had seen one on another HAL ship). Overall very nice. Guitarist Justin Miller was fantastic. We also enjoyed Soul Mystique and Sean O’Shea. Other entertainment on the ship was lacking in our opinion. During the sea days, the Lido pool band Jessie & the Halcats would play one set at noon. There would be nothing until 5 pm when Porto Fino would start in the Ocean Bar, and Emily on the piano in the Crow’s Nest. We like a martini before dinner, but the Crow’s Nest didn’t do it for us on this cruise. The Ocean Bar seemed to be more popular, but we weren’t real crazy about either musical option. The Champagne Strings would play in the Explorer’s Lounge starting at 7 :30. We tried the Piano Bar with Randall one night, but it wasn’t our thing. We only checked out the Northern Lights Disco once, again not for us. We are not Casino people, nor do we play bingo or attend art auctions, so sea days were somewhat quiet. Even three of our five port days were only half-days. Enough said here.
Public Rooms and Ship Facilities : As mentioned above, it seemed to us that the Ocean Bar was one of the most popular areas on the ship come evening. One of our biggest complaints concerned the hot tub hours – they wouldn’t open them until 10am some days (sea days). We usually enjoy the hot tubs after breakfast, but not on this cruise. We usually enjoy the hot tubs before dinner, but with early seating, this became difficult as well (our fault). If they can open the pools at 7am, they should be able to open the hot tubs as well. We spent one afternoon reading in the library/Explorations Cafe, and noticed that they were very busy selling coffee – perhaps they should install a second café in the Crow’s Nest.
Fellow Passengers :There was a fairly good mix on this cruise. Some children, several toddlers, couples in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, but most 50-60+. Not a problem for us, and much better than our last HAL cruise where the average age was 80+. There were three formal nights (one optional), and the dress code was followed by most. I like to wear a sports jacket on casual nights, while I’ll wear my tux or white dinner jacket on formal nights.
Ports :We enjoyed all five ports, however three were only half days. Grand Turk was a first for us – took a taxi to Cockburn Town then back to Governor’s Beach – probably the nicest beach we visited. We have been to Tortola several times, and decided to take a private taxi island/beach tour – very nice. In St. Maarten we rented a car (Arthur’s car rental just outside the cruise port) and drove around the island, spending the morning at a beach near Marigot (and unfortunately were hassled by strange naked man that really gave us the creeps!) In the afternoon we drove through Marigot and then to Orient beach. In St. Thomas we were disappointed to find that we were docking at Crown Point, not Havensight. We had planned to take a ferry to St. John, but were told that it was not recommended as a storm had gone through the night before causing some of the beaches to be closed. Instead, we went to Coki beach, and then took the public taxi back to town for a bit of shopping. In San Juan, we walked to the fortress ‘El Morro’ – very nice.
‘Just for Us’ Package :We decided to try this package after reading about it here on Cruise Critic. It includes 1 dozen roses and a bottle of Mumm Cordon Rouge champagne upon embarkation, 2 bathrobes, one afternoon tea in stateroom, dessert & champagne in stateroom, chocolate surprise on first formal night, table for 2 in the dining room, two 25 minute massages in the spa, dinner for 2 in the Pinnacle Grill and a framed 6x8 photo.
Cards are left in the room so that you can book the massage, dinner, afternoon tea and the dessert/champagne. Upon arrival, we filled out the cards and delivered them to their proper destinations. We decided to get the massages on our first sea day and ordered afternoon tea to follow. The spa could only fit us in during the cruise critic meeting – sorry guys! – first CC get together we have missed since signing-up. The spa prices had increased since purchasing our package, and they did not want to honour this. We eventually came to an agreement – paying the difference as a gratuity. The massage was nice, however, if we take this package again I will give my massage to my wife – she enjoyed it much more than I. The tea was waiting for us in our stateroom afterwards – very nice! We were disapponted in the bathrobes – they are the waffle type, not the terry robes. We asked our room steward about them, and he said that they were now giving the waffle robes only – poop! Our chocolate surprise never appeared, and we didn’t even get pillow chocolates that night because we were supposed to be getting the ‘surprise’ – Hmmm! We reserved the Pinnacle Grill, and asked for a table in the back room. We enjoyed the meal and the service, and the back room is very private, with only one other couple eating while we were there. I don’t think that we would pay for this restaurant, and think that this kind of food should be available in the main dining room. We ran into problems with the front desk concerning the afternoon dessert/champagne. We had booked it for sailaway in San Juan at 1pm. We waited, and waited, and waited. Finally at 2 :30 I called front desk – they were lost, or they had lost the card, or some other excuse. Finally after speaking to someone in ship services, they re-scheduled for the next afternoon at 1pm. Next day, still no dessert/champagne – not impressed. Called front desk again, and they were lost again. Finally got back in touch with ship services and they sent room service with some desserts from the Lido – and the guy expected a tip – not impressed! The final item, the 6x8 photo, went to waste. We had several photos taken during formal nights, and decided on one, but could only purchase it in an 8x10 for $21 while we had a voucher for a 6x8 – not very cool guys!
Disembarkation : The Noordam had been delayed due to rough seas, and it was almost noon by the time we docked in New York. We had opted for express disembarkation, and were able to get off with our luggage by 12 :30pm and back home by 8pm.
Conclusion :We enjoyed this cruise very much. The Noordam is a beautiful ship. Ocean liner she is not, when we hit the rough seas it made us wish we were on the QM2 instead! Overall however, we really enjoyed it (even the rock ‘n roll seas). If we sail the Noordam again, we will try to get the late seating – this will allow us more time to spend before dinner. We also think that Holland America should try to provide more of a caribbean ‘feel’ to the cruise – more live music around the pool area, especially on sea days. And what about sailaway BBQ’s – we only had one! Hmmm! We noticed some cut-backs here and there, we just hope that Holland America is not trying to be everything for everybody, because this is impossible. Finally, will we sail Holland America again? Yes! Perhaps after the three upcoming cruises booked with Cunard on the QM2 and QE2. Thanks!
Alan and Anne
Finally getting around to posting our January 17-27 Noordam review.
Overall a very nice cruise on a beautiful ship! Some background : we are a 40 something married couple that has sailed with Holland America before, as well as with Cunard, Princess, Carnival, NCL and RCI. This was our first time on a Vista class ship.
Embarkation :After a seven hour drive from Canada, we arrived at the pier around 1 :30pm. It was a breezy clear day in New York, with temperatures just below freezing, but much warmer than the 20 below weather we left at home. We have sailed many times from New York city, and always enjoy it. We had completed our online information, and we were on the ship within half an hour – very nice!
Cabin : We had purchased a VF balcony guarantee through an online travel agency and ended up with VF – cabin 5134 which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Our last few cruises have been in suites, but since we had left this cruise to the last minute, we were happy with a balcony. Our cabin was located towards the rear of the midship area, and we were fortunate not to have any lifeboats beneath us. The balcony is a bit smaller (not as deep) as the cabins above or below, but worked out well (looking down we could see almost the entire balcony below us – I would not want a balcony cabin on deck 4 midship).
Upon entering the cabin, we were greeted with a beautiful bouquet of roses and a bottle of champagne, part of the ‘Just for Us’ package – more about this package later. The cabin layout is a bit tight, and I don’t know how they fit a third or forth person in. Storage space is at a premium, fortunately there is space under the bed. Speaking of the bed, it was the most comfortable bed we have encountered at sea! The bathroom with tub was nice, but since the Vista class ships are based on the Carnival Spirit class, they should use the Spirit cabin/bathroom configuration as it makes for more room (we have sailed in an 8A balcony cabin which is somewhat similar to the VA-VF’s). Water was always hot, and the A/C worked fine (our cabin steward told us that they had been having A/C problems). One morning, all the toilets in our block of cabins didn’t work for several hours. Fortunately, they fixed the problem by noon.
Our room steward, Turi, was fantastic! He introduced himself to us, and we mentioned that he would be able to clean our room first thing in the morning, as we are early risers. This worked extremely well. Our room was always done by 8am. He even showed us where the ice room was, so that we wouldn’t have to bother him if we required more ice in the cabin.
Ship layout : We found the ship very easy to maneuver, and since our cabin was located midship, it was easy to get to the dining room, the lido and the pool area. The only traffic flow problem that we noticed is the area from the covered lido pool to the front stairs/elevators/Crow’s Nest. You must pass through the spa on the port side only. This area should be looked into, as the spa pool has a tandency to spill over when rough seas are encountered making the passage way extremely slippery. There is also a spiral staircase on the starboard side of the covered pool that takes you up on the open deck behind the Crow’s Nest that only can be used by the bravest on sea days. The Crow’s Nest is one of our favorite spots on this ship. We would go and sit in the large ‘lazyboy’ style chairs before sunrise to watch the open seas, or to see us pull into port. The Crow’s nest is usually very quiet at this time of day, with the exception of one morning when the sound system was blasting away, and the last sea day where we were hitting some rough weather and as the ship would hit some waves, spray and water would cover the windows. The only thing the Crow’s Nest needs is a coffee station in the morning. It is a long walk from the lido restaurant to the Crow’s Nest with a cup of coffee. We generally enjoy several cups of coffee in the morning, but due to the funny washed out flavour we limited ourselves to one. I’m afraid the Noordam gets the ‘worst coffee on a cruise’ award from us – even in the dining room.
Dining : We had a table for two on the raised section in the lower dining room, early seating. Our assistant waiter and wine steward were fantastic. Our main waiter was just ‘so-so’. Food presentation was superb, however we found the menu to be somewhat lacking on several occasions, and a few meals were hit-and-miss. The dessert menu seems to need the most attention. Often, I would order the ice cream or sundae, but they would usually be half-melted because they had been placed in hot dishes.
We usually ate lunch in the dining room as well, as we prefer it to the Lido area. Service is slower at lunch, with the ‘open’ seating. It would take us longer for lunch than for the evening meal, often an hour and a half – felt it was a waste of time some days.
We ate in the Lido restaurant for breakfast. I especially enjoyed the omelette station. However, this is where they need the ‘hot’ plates. Eventhough they would give you a cover for your hot omelette, it was placed on a ‘cold’ plate. Other than that, we found trafic flow around the Lido worked well, and we often would eat in the sheltered area around the aft pool on port days – lovely! We used to love the Holland America chocolate-chip cookies, but they have changed them – disappointing.
Staff : Holland America has a wondrerful staff. This sailing just confirmed that they have the best room stewards. The captain, John Scott, must be the most personable captain that we have sailed with. We ran into him daily, either in the Lido for breakfast or elsewhere, he was always very ‘down to earth’ and approachable. Staff in other areas (Lido, bars) were always super. Our only complaint would be with the front desk staff, as they messed-up a few times. Cruise director Jason Venner did an adequate job, however we found him somewhat long-winded and dry at times.
Entertainment : We attended some of the production shows (had seen one on another HAL ship). Overall very nice. Guitarist Justin Miller was fantastic. We also enjoyed Soul Mystique and Sean O’Shea. Other entertainment on the ship was lacking in our opinion. During the sea days, the Lido pool band Jessie & the Halcats would play one set at noon. There would be nothing until 5 pm when Porto Fino would start in the Ocean Bar, and Emily on the piano in the Crow’s Nest. We like a martini before dinner, but the Crow’s Nest didn’t do it for us on this cruise. The Ocean Bar seemed to be more popular, but we weren’t real crazy about either musical option. The Champagne Strings would play in the Explorer’s Lounge starting at 7 :30. We tried the Piano Bar with Randall one night, but it wasn’t our thing. We only checked out the Northern Lights Disco once, again not for us. We are not Casino people, nor do we play bingo or attend art auctions, so sea days were somewhat quiet. Even three of our five port days were only half-days. Enough said here.
Public Rooms and Ship Facilities : As mentioned above, it seemed to us that the Ocean Bar was one of the most popular areas on the ship come evening. One of our biggest complaints concerned the hot tub hours – they wouldn’t open them until 10am some days (sea days). We usually enjoy the hot tubs after breakfast, but not on this cruise. We usually enjoy the hot tubs before dinner, but with early seating, this became difficult as well (our fault). If they can open the pools at 7am, they should be able to open the hot tubs as well. We spent one afternoon reading in the library/Explorations Cafe, and noticed that they were very busy selling coffee – perhaps they should install a second café in the Crow’s Nest.
Fellow Passengers :There was a fairly good mix on this cruise. Some children, several toddlers, couples in their 20’s, 30’s and 40’s, but most 50-60+. Not a problem for us, and much better than our last HAL cruise where the average age was 80+. There were three formal nights (one optional), and the dress code was followed by most. I like to wear a sports jacket on casual nights, while I’ll wear my tux or white dinner jacket on formal nights.
Ports :We enjoyed all five ports, however three were only half days. Grand Turk was a first for us – took a taxi to Cockburn Town then back to Governor’s Beach – probably the nicest beach we visited. We have been to Tortola several times, and decided to take a private taxi island/beach tour – very nice. In St. Maarten we rented a car (Arthur’s car rental just outside the cruise port) and drove around the island, spending the morning at a beach near Marigot (and unfortunately were hassled by strange naked man that really gave us the creeps!) In the afternoon we drove through Marigot and then to Orient beach. In St. Thomas we were disappointed to find that we were docking at Crown Point, not Havensight. We had planned to take a ferry to St. John, but were told that it was not recommended as a storm had gone through the night before causing some of the beaches to be closed. Instead, we went to Coki beach, and then took the public taxi back to town for a bit of shopping. In San Juan, we walked to the fortress ‘El Morro’ – very nice.
‘Just for Us’ Package :We decided to try this package after reading about it here on Cruise Critic. It includes 1 dozen roses and a bottle of Mumm Cordon Rouge champagne upon embarkation, 2 bathrobes, one afternoon tea in stateroom, dessert & champagne in stateroom, chocolate surprise on first formal night, table for 2 in the dining room, two 25 minute massages in the spa, dinner for 2 in the Pinnacle Grill and a framed 6x8 photo.
Cards are left in the room so that you can book the massage, dinner, afternoon tea and the dessert/champagne. Upon arrival, we filled out the cards and delivered them to their proper destinations. We decided to get the massages on our first sea day and ordered afternoon tea to follow. The spa could only fit us in during the cruise critic meeting – sorry guys! – first CC get together we have missed since signing-up. The spa prices had increased since purchasing our package, and they did not want to honour this. We eventually came to an agreement – paying the difference as a gratuity. The massage was nice, however, if we take this package again I will give my massage to my wife – she enjoyed it much more than I. The tea was waiting for us in our stateroom afterwards – very nice! We were disapponted in the bathrobes – they are the waffle type, not the terry robes. We asked our room steward about them, and he said that they were now giving the waffle robes only – poop! Our chocolate surprise never appeared, and we didn’t even get pillow chocolates that night because we were supposed to be getting the ‘surprise’ – Hmmm! We reserved the Pinnacle Grill, and asked for a table in the back room. We enjoyed the meal and the service, and the back room is very private, with only one other couple eating while we were there. I don’t think that we would pay for this restaurant, and think that this kind of food should be available in the main dining room. We ran into problems with the front desk concerning the afternoon dessert/champagne. We had booked it for sailaway in San Juan at 1pm. We waited, and waited, and waited. Finally at 2 :30 I called front desk – they were lost, or they had lost the card, or some other excuse. Finally after speaking to someone in ship services, they re-scheduled for the next afternoon at 1pm. Next day, still no dessert/champagne – not impressed. Called front desk again, and they were lost again. Finally got back in touch with ship services and they sent room service with some desserts from the Lido – and the guy expected a tip – not impressed! The final item, the 6x8 photo, went to waste. We had several photos taken during formal nights, and decided on one, but could only purchase it in an 8x10 for $21 while we had a voucher for a 6x8 – not very cool guys!
Disembarkation : The Noordam had been delayed due to rough seas, and it was almost noon by the time we docked in New York. We had opted for express disembarkation, and were able to get off with our luggage by 12 :30pm and back home by 8pm.
Conclusion :We enjoyed this cruise very much. The Noordam is a beautiful ship. Ocean liner she is not, when we hit the rough seas it made us wish we were on the QM2 instead! Overall however, we really enjoyed it (even the rock ‘n roll seas). If we sail the Noordam again, we will try to get the late seating – this will allow us more time to spend before dinner. We also think that Holland America should try to provide more of a caribbean ‘feel’ to the cruise – more live music around the pool area, especially on sea days. And what about sailaway BBQ’s – we only had one! Hmmm! We noticed some cut-backs here and there, we just hope that Holland America is not trying to be everything for everybody, because this is impossible. Finally, will we sail Holland America again? Yes! Perhaps after the three upcoming cruises booked with Cunard on the QM2 and QE2. Thanks!
Alan and Anne