Review of Noordam - Dec 2018 cruise

[aussielozzie18]

I chose the escargots.  Good decision.

[aussielozzie18]

[aussielozzie18]

[aussielozzie18]

[aussielozzie18]

7 minutes ago, BuzzBuzzen said:

Thank you for reporting back 🙂 The cabin with a view photo is beautiful. Cheers Buzz.

Thanks Buzz.  

[aussielozzie18]

First night's towel animal.

[aussielozzie18]

Last photo from first day of cruise.  First time uploading photos to cruise critic.  It's quite easy.  Going to be lots of photos in this review.  Hope that is ok with everyone.

[aussielozzie18]

So, the ports on this cruise were:

Gladstone

Alotau PNG

Kiriwina PNG

Kitava PNG

Conflict Islands PNG

Yorkeys Knob (Cairns)

Airlie Beach

Brisbane

[aussielozzie18]

High Tea in MDR at 3pm.  For one. 

[aussielozzie18]

Since I planned to enjoy the food on board, I needed to do more exercise than just taking the stairs, so Deck 3 offered a walking track which was cheaper than the gym and very popular especially in the morning.

[PerfectlyPerth]

That high tea looks sooo yum !! 

 

Great review so far.

[aussielozzie18]

20 minutes ago, PerfectlyPerth said:

That high tea looks sooo yum !! 

 

Great review so far.

Thanks PP.  It tasted as good as it looks.  

[lyndarra]

7 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Since I planned to enjoy the food on board, I needed to do more exercise than just taking the stairs, so Deck 3 offered a walking track which was cheaper than the gym and very popular especially in the morning.

The Promenade deck is one of the best things about this ship. It's a continous, uninterrupted, walk around the entire ship walk, outside. Still not sure what the convention is on which direction one should walk.

[lyndarra]

8 hours ago, aussielozzie18 said:

Yes, I did enjoy George's talks especially as I visited the Battlebox in Singapore mid-year and his talks on the war in PNG followed on from that.  I must have been on a shore tour for Brian's last talk as I missed it.  What a shame.

Brian's last talk was on the last sea day otherwise I would have missed it if it wasn't.

 

[lyndarra]

Last night I did my review but its not up on the board yet. As usual I forgot stuff. Like the free Microsoft workshops. I have been to these before and they are a great opportunity to brush up one's computer skills such as using Cloud, turning holiday snaps and videos  into movies etc. HAL ships have a dedicated computer classroom with desk top computers all set up for this. I took my Microsoft Surface along just in case there were no screens available. Sorry Apple users, these are not for you.

[aussielozzie18]

52 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

The Promenade deck is one of the best things about this ship. It's a continous, uninterrupted, walk around the entire ship walk, outside. Still not sure what the convention is on which direction one should walk.

I liked that it was outside but under cover.  On Royal, the walking track is on the open top deck and you are exposed to the elements. 

[GUT2407]

Thank you for the time and effort to give us your opinions.

[NSWP]

Great review and pics, thankyou. We are on Noordam 21 April from OPT to Honolulu.  

Things sound pretty good to me, the food looks a bit up market.

 

[lyndarra]

Lozzie, I hope you don't mind me adding bits I've forgotten (in my CC review) to this thread as I think of them.

Another point I remembered is that trivia is held in the Crows Nest. Its a great venue as there is plenty of room. On other cruises trivia buffs have been squeezed into bar areas where you're lucky if you can find a seat anywhere. Not so on Noordam. And, trivia often cooincided with the Crows Nest bar Happy Hour. Buy one drink and get a second one for $2.

Edited December 26, 2018 by lyndarra
spelling typo

[aussielozzie18]

26 minutes ago, lyndarra said:

Lozzie, I hope you don't mind me adding bits I've forgotten (in my CC review) to this thread as I think of them.

Another point I remembered is that trivia is held in the Crows Nest. Its a great venue as there is plenty of room. On other cruises trivia buffs have been squeezed into bar areas where you're lucky if you can find a seat anywhere. Not so on Noordam. And, trivia often cooincided with the Crows Nest bar Happy Hour. Buy one drink and get a second one for $2.

Hi Lyndarra, please feel free to add any comments you like. All info helps other cruisers. I typed a quick review for cc on the train home so this thread is more detailed.  Sounds like trivia on the Noordam is a winner.

[aussielozzie18]

31 minutes ago, NSWP said:

Great review and pics, thankyou. We are on Noordam 21 April from OPT to Honolulu.  

Things sound pretty good to me, the food looks a bit up market.

 

Think you were the one who asked me to report back so glad you are enjoying my review.  I don't normally gain weight on cruises but I gained a couple of kilos on this one because the food in MDR was so good.  

[aussielozzie18]

1 hour ago, GUT2407 said:

Thank you for the time and effort to give us your opinions.

Thanks Gut.  There wasn't alot of info out there on the Noordam so that's why I thought I'd do this plus I get to re-live my cruise.

[Bescotti]

I was on this cruise too but as I was travelling with extended family, didn’t join the roll call this time.

 

One thing on this cruise which I hadn’t seen before on HAL was that they were selling 2 beers for the price of one at the Sea View Bar anytime during the day - not just at Happy Hour. I could not find this advertised anywhere though - just seemed to be word of mouth. One of my party was sorry he only found this out in the second week of the cruise.

[lyndarra]

12 minutes ago, Bescotti said:

I was on this cruise too but as I was travelling with extended family, didn’t join the roll call this time.

 

One thing on this cruise which I hadn’t seen before on HAL was that they were selling 2 beers for the price of one at the Sea View Bar anytime during the day - not just at Happy Hour. I could not find this advertised anywhere though - just seemed to be word of mouth. One of my party was sorry he only found this out in the second week of the cruise.

Didn't know that. I did notice there were beers available there but not on drinks lists elsewhere. Carlton Draught was one. I'm not real keen on Dutch or US beers.

[cheznandy]

Thanks so much for the review and photos, looks like a lovely ship. Have wanted to try HAL, so great info.

Is the Noordam the same class of ship as Ex HAL ships P&O Eden and Aria? If so a nice size.

Getting my cruise fix sitting in a hotel in Canberra, 39c outside😩 so thankyou!!