Mediterranean Explorer -- Noordam (20 June -1 July 2014)

We just had tea, coffee and ice water with lemon plus cookies. The ice water was timely as Palermo had been hot. But we were expecting 50-60 people, which may have been a factor. Ron attended our M&G as did David Darden, the Event Manager. (He's a total doll) I never met JJ, the Beverage Manager, but his assistant was there making sure all was well.

When you call the Seattle number ask for Dylan Paschke. He's the NODM person. He was really helpful in contacting the ship. Do send the relevant staff an invite once you are on the ship. And it never hurts to to write a thank you note. But you know all that. Our M&G wasn't fancy, but staff later said to me that it was one of the nicest groups they'd had. The best part for me was watching people making connections.

Edit: my camera is just a small Sony point and shoot. I do edit some in Photoshop, just for resizing, minor color correction and cropping.

Thank you for your kind comments. Noordam is a beautiful, well-loved and well-run ship. As I've hinted before sometimes the ship isn't the disaster..................................

 

The bus tour began inauspiciously with a "panorama" of Palermo

 

 

............................................

Took that same trip as an escort before you boarded. That's the Fincantieri yard in Palermo you're looking at where most of HAL's Vistas have spent, or will spend, some time

"J.J." the BM, just went on vac. The new BM is Ivan

Took that same trip as an escort before you boarded. That's the Fincantieri yard in Palermo you're looking at where most of HAL's Vistas have spent, or will spend, some time

 

"J.J." the BM, just went on vac. The new BM is Ivan

Ooooooppps. Too late to change that to "auspicious." Sorry I missed you on the tour.

I'm sure my reaction to Palermo was colored by my spectacular day in Naples. It just seemed very rundown and seedy. As we say, ymmv.

Ooooooppps. Too late to change that to "auspicious." Sorry I missed you on the tour.

 

I'm sure my reaction to Palermo was colored by my spectacular day in Naples. It just seemed very rundown and seedy. As we say, ymmv.

Palermo is Sicily; there's the difference ;) Nice pics, btw

Lovely pictures and a very readable, interesting review. Thank you.

We just had tea, coffee and ice water with lemon plus cookies. The ice water was timely as Palermo had been hot. But we were expecting 50-60 people, which may have been a factor. Ron attended our M&G as did David Darden, the Event Manager. (He's a total doll) I never met JJ, the Beverage Manager, but his assistant was there making sure all was well.

 

When you call the Seattle number ask for Dylan Paschke. He's the NODM person. He was really helpful in contacting the ship. Do send the relevant staff an invite once you are on the ship. And it never hurts to to write a thank you note. But you know all that. Our M&G wasn't fancy, but staff later said to me that it was one of the nicest groups they'd had. The best part for me was watching people making connections.

 

Edit: my camera is just a small Sony point and shoot. I do edit some in Photoshop, just for resizing, minor color correction and cropping.

Thank you, shrimp. I have been in touch with Dylan Paschke. He is very helpful...you're right. I have my list ready for them to do the invites, and I will take your suggestion and send them to the staff as well. Thanks for the head's up!

Took that same trip as an escort before you boarded. That's the Fincantieri yard in Palermo you're looking at where most of HAL's Vistas have spent, or will spend, some time

 

"J.J." the BM, just went on vac. The new BM is Ivan

Thanks for pointing out Fincantieri yard, Copper. Just as I imagined it would look like.

Wonderful review, Shrimp, and beautiful photos.

I can never read enough great things about the very special Noordam. :)

Thanks for sharing with us.

Thanks for all those wonderful photos and your review. This brought back memories of trips to some of these places during my teens - about a hundred years ago.:o And Mondello was just as seedy back then - I don't think it ever did have better days.

. . . And Mondello was just as seedy back then - I don't think it ever did have better days.

Thanks for the reassurance concerning Mondello. I was beginning to think I was just a whiner.

With Apologies to Cole Porter... Tunis in a nutshell

"It's too darn hot

It's too darn hot

I'd like to sup with my baby tonight

Refill the cup with my baby tonight

. . .

But I ain't up to my baby tonight

'Cause it's too darn hot

It's too darn hot

It's too darn hot" --from Kiss Me Kate

Call me a wimp, but I am learning as I age (not always gracefully) that I don't do well in heat. Naples and Palermo were warm, but 100 degrees Fahrenheit were "too darn hot" for this baby. So I sent my husband off on the shorex by his lonesome.

I did venture off the ship to their cruise facility, Goulette Village, full of shopping stalls, and much else. The shopping wasn't great, but the whole set-up including restaurants, a spa and a big plaza was nicely done. The language was French. Had fun explaining to a persistent young woman that I did not wish to have my feet nibbled by tiny fish. Had a very pleasant chat with a HAL security guy who was keeping an eye on us. After trying to find the Italians who I was told were looking for me, I retreated to the ship.

Goulette Village from the ship

Camel rides were 5 euro for a short ride. Having ridden a camel once at the Bronx Zoo I can attest that they are smelly, dirty and have a rough ride. I passed.

One of the shops. It was mostly tourist wares, Quality was not high.

The plaza with the beautiful Noordam as backdrop

A gentleman in costume playing the Oud.

Some of the stall owners were in Tunisian dress. When I explained to one bright-eyed older man that my husband would kill me if I bought any more earrings, he said he'd be my husband LOL. All of this in French. He was kind of cute.

Two beauties.

My husband had a good, if hot day touring in Tunis and Carthage. I had a good day too!

Love the pictures & reviews! Thank you for taking the time to do this. Noordam is my favorite....can't wait to board her again in Oct!

Love the pictures & reviews! Thank you for taking the time to do this. Noordam is my favorite....can't wait to board her again in Oct!

Are you staying on for the transatlantic voyage? If so, join our Roll Call!

Are you staying on for the transatlantic voyage? If so, join our Roll Call!

Unfortunately not :(...travelling with friends and they don't want to be gone that long. I peek in at your roll call now & then and you all will have a blast...looks like so much fun!

I would love to add yours but DH didn't want to be away that long either!

Thank you for the lovely review, I will be on the Noordam in Oct. for the Rome to Barcelona leg and can hardly wait. Thanks for so many lovely photos.

Terri

Thanks for the review and great pics. We are on the Noordam for the 37 day Transatlantic - Rome to Ft. Lauderdale. Our son was in Palermo for the building of one of HAL's ships a few years ago. Looking forward to seeing the shipyard and bringing pics back for him.:)

Thank you all for your kind comments. I hope those of you sailing on her soon enjoy her as much as we did.

Lazing in Livorno

OK so Noordam is hard to leave ;) The 9hr bus transfer to Florence was more than I wanted to do. And we have 3 energetic days coming up, so I chose to lay low for another day. I sent DH off to Firenze clutching his map and our Ufizzi tickets. He had a long, wonderful, hot day. I had lunch at Pinnacle.

A number of passengers took the shuttle into Livorno and reported that it had its charms. This was my view.

Watching the weather change from our balcony.

I was walking the Promenade Deck when I noticed that our #15 tender was out and about, testing, I am sure, for tender operations at Calvi the following day

Tender being hoisted up from the water after its testing.

Eventually I ran into a portion of the deck that was blocked for this exercise. Next image is of the tender crew getting off before the tender was hoisted further into it's full-up position. This exercise was both an interesting event to watch and very reassuring as to ship's procedures.

We are on the Noordam in mid September, so following your Review with great interest. Given the current thread trashing the Noordam, can you tell us how you found her a mere 4 weeks ago?

One thing I would like to clarify is :-

The 9hr bus transfer to Florence was more than I wanted to do.

Do you mean the whole day was a 9 hr trip, as my memory of transfers to Florence were about 2 hrs each way and that was from La Spezia which is further away than Livorno?

Keep the review coming, it's a great read :)

Cheers

Mike

We are on the Noordam in mid September, so following your Review with great interest. Given the current thread trashing the Noordam, can you tell us how you found her a mere 4 weeks ago? ... Do you mean the whole day was a 9 hr trip, as my memory of transfers to Florence were about 2 hrs each way and that was from La Spezia which is further away than Livorno?

 

Keep the review coming, it's a great read :)

 

Cheers

 

Mike

I wouldn't give much credence to the current thread. Noordam is a beautiful ship with a very proud crew. The HAL product is comfortable (mmm those beds...) and of good quality. We did have some staff changes during our cruise, and some bumps (tendering to Toulon, which was beyond HAL's control). I will have some mild quibbles here and there, but then, that's to be expected.

Yeah, I realized that sentence was ambiguous after it was too late to edit. It is 90 min plus each way to Florence, then you're on your own. What I meant to indicate was that a 9 hour day, with three big days ahead, plus the humidity was not a good mix for me. So I chose to stay "at home."

Edit: Since I have the chance to toss in a few extra pictures here I thought I'd share some of Noordam's wonderful art.

I don't know what ship this was of, but I couldn't resist the multiple images.

There were a number of items, including this fishie that supported the nautical theme.

Thank you, it's good to know things are up to scratch :)

Looking forward to seeing how it stacks up to the Celebrity product.

Thank you, it's good to know things are up to scratch :)

 

Looking forward to seeing how it stacks up to the Celebrity product.

You might be interested in my trip report on Celebrity from a HALite.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1996340

We travelled on the Solstice in 2012 and were lucky enough to get one of the wonderful S1 Corner suites, it was a great experience. Hoping HAL can come close :)

We travelled on the Solstice in 2012 and were lucky enough to get one of the wonderful S1 Corner suites, it was a great experience. Hoping HAL can come close

Just remember to take this glass with you.

Out and about on ms Noordam

Despite the entertainment of being in a busy shipping port I did make the effort to take some pictures inside the ship. One of the pleasures of HAL's ships is the varied and intruiging artwork throughout the ship.

The Seaview Pool in a busy port.

One of two beautiful chalices

The side elevators. I love the tracery on the glass.

Chairs in The Pinnacle Bar.They seem to have been banished from the restaurant since Zuidy. One of our cruising friends refers to them as "medieval torture devices disguised as seating."

Awaiting the start of lunch service in The Pinnacle

Thank you so much for you wonderful review and lovely pictures. We board the Noordam on August 25 and I am really looking forward to it.

Terri

My lunch, with a side of attitude

First let me say that the food was excellent. I was unoriginal and had pretty much what I had ordered on Veendam, except for the dessert. We had eaten an evening meal in Pinnacle on Zuiderdam so I was relieved to see that the chairs had been banished (see previous post as to their current location.) and the faded Kodachrome mural of famous food paintings had been replaced by a simpler gold Asian look. In fact Noordam's Pinnacle was smashing.

Now I want to tread carefully. On Zuidy we were seated with the masses in the big room, while what I took to be the "upper-crust" of passengers walked behind us to be seated next to the windows. Well I was seated in the window section for lunch. Not sure whether it was because we were in a Signature Suite or there were so few people for lunch. It was lovely out there.

As to the service I would have to say it was formal -- and inconsistent in terms of timing and attitude. It put me on edge a bit, but hearing them mispronounce the champagne I ordered was a small inner satisfaction. Meh.

Northwest five onion soup -- I don't remember the red on top, but it was still delicious

Crab and shrimp cake -- a perfect small lunch yum.

Orange and lime panna cotta --that's vanilla bean flecks I was told. Smooth & fragrant.