Noordam 9/2-9/9 quick review

[barbon2]

Hi,
Returned from the Noordam today. As you can see it is 3:00 am Philadelphia time, but my body is still on West Coast time. Anyway, thought I would post a quick Noordam review and will go into further details tomorrow.
The ship was clean and beautiful. The food and service was excellent. This experience was so much better then the Oosterdam in Dec. it was like being on an entirely different cruise line.
The staff entertainers were excellent. Julie Barr was good, the group Fun Fun Fun was just fair and we did not go to the illusionist show.
Did the helicopter and glacier walkabout. Cannot tell you how wonderful it was. Not to be missed. Did the Neets Bay bear watch by floatplane. The floatplane ride was majestic, again, do not miss it. We saw two bears in the woods, and finally one came out and spent some time in the stream so we were quite happy with this excursion. Did the ATV's in Sitka, it was pouring, but a lot of fun. Would also recommend this excursion. The weather was much nicer when we went in May 4 years ago, and from what we were told May is the better month weather wise. Also, there was much more snow covering in Glacier Bay in May then in Sept.
Took an SY cabin this trip, after the awful experience in Dec. did not opt to pay the extra $$$ for the SB and concierge service. The SY cabin was quite large and we feel that it was quite sufficient. Probably will not do the concierge level suite again.
Anyway, going to try and get some sleep, will post more tomorrow.
Barbara

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome home.

Glad you had a great trip.

[FlorenceItaly]

Barbara,

Welcome Home! Great to see your review as I was looking for it. I am so glad you had a wonderful cruise.



Marie

[hammybee]

Sounds like you had yourself quite a week. Thanks for checking in.

[mamaofami]

I'm so glad to hear the Noordam is still showing people a great time! Way to go.:D

[caviargal]

We also had a wonderful experience on Noordam in May. She is a beauty! Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[INSIDERS CABIN]

Barbon, Glad you liked it --we did too. Same cruise. Also tried SY port side. We were back at 9 last night, but I am still mulling over the review while I start the unpacking and mail sorting! In contrast, we had exceptionally good 2 prior cruises on Oosterdam,so I am also comparing. We went to the 2:30 Saturday FUN ! FUN! --they were just great as the Beatles, especially in the Sgt. Pepper uniforms. We saw one of the group afterwards, told him they peeled back the years and took us right back to the 60"s! That perfomance was one of the best we've ever seen on board any ship! BAck to peek into the progress in the laundry room........

[earl_m]

Welcome home!! glad you had a good time!

[RuthC]

Welcome home. Hope some of that junk mail is tossed and the bills organized while you begin to wind down.

Isn't the Noordam one beautiful ship! Even thought it's too big for my taste I still love that ship and enjoy my time on her. Never took her to Alaska, though. Must have been nice.
Looking forward to your review :) . (but first, laundry. :( )

[INSIDERS CABIN]

Thanks--isn't the laundry nice on board? All wrapped in a basket! (or hanging up). My presentation definitely needs an upgrade!

[theodoron]

We will be going on the Noordam in December in SY suite. Looking forward to the trip. Thanks for the review. Get some rest with smiles:)

[toodycat]

Welcome home. We just cruised on the Noordam 8/26. It is a beautiful ship and Alaska is gorgeous country. Glad you had a good time.

[OHCruiser]

We were on the same cruise--our first on HAL.:D

We've also done Alaska as "independents" on the Alaska Maritime Ferries, so the new things we saw on this trip were Glacier Bay and Sitka.

As for the ship, we LOVED it. Our cabin steward, Ade, was wonderful--we had early dinner and the room was always refreshed and turned down when we got back. Our dining room stewards were super--Iyan and Andy--and the food was wonderful. Both of us are on diets and we ate well by any standards, but the choices were easy and I didn't gain an ounce--yay!!!!

We went to all of the shows and thought that overall, they were excellent. Julie Barr did an adult late night show that had people laughing so hard they fell out of chairs. The illusionist was excellent, especially given the fact that the seas were a bit rough during his performance.

Disembarkation was so smooth and orderly--the luggage was all lined up according to color (unlike the massive luggage mountains we've found on other cruises).

Time was too short in Ketichikan, but we did the crab feast and boy, dungeoness crab at 11:00 am is now my favorite brunch!

Sitka was wet, but that's not news, and very enjoyable. We plan to return and spend some significant time there in the near future.

The captain of the Noordam is a very likeable and personable guy. His
Q& A session was really funny.

No "hard sells", really, anywhere on the ship--just a clean, comfortable environment with very pleasant crew members.