Noordam Review 8/15

[avalon1025]

I boarded the Noordam on August 15th, for a 10 night Mediterranean cruise round trip Rome. Ports of call were Dubrovnik, Corfu, Santorini, Kusadasi, Messina and Malta with two days at sea.

 

Embarkation: After spending 2 nights at the fantastic St Regis Grand in Rome, I was all set to join the Noordam in Civitavecchia. Arrival at the pier went smoothly and I was checked in quickly. Embarkation was through a lower deck as there was no terminal so to speak in this port. We entered the ship through a security checkpoint then into a crew area (the area used in ports and tendering and such). No fanfare here, no one was present to direct or welcome onboard. I found and elevator found the Neptune lounge and was approached by the concierge as she thought I was a new crew member who just joined the ship, ah, no, I paid for this. From then on the Concierge staff in the Neptune could not have been nicer or more professional. A highlight on this trip.

 

Suite: I occupied cabin 7077, a cate SA on deck 7 down the hall from the Neptune Lounge. The cabin was perfectly fine and in great condition, except for a sanded and never re-varnished table on the verandah and a iron burn (perfectly in the shape of an iron) burned into the vanity in the bathroom (just a note, for these caliber cabins, they should have a nice granite or marble counter top in the bathroom)

 

My cabin steward, Ari was tops!

 

Spa Well Ness Package: I ordered the spa package prior to joining the cruise, inclusive of some spa treatments, daily slice fruit and a bathrobe. The fruit never arrived as you have to be in the cabin when it’s delivered. So unless you tend to spend your entire cruise in your cabin good luck getting that amenity.

 

The ladies at the Greenhouse Spa were lovely and very friendly

 

Ship: The Noordam was in great condition, but the layout of the ship did not impress me as much as the smaller and more elegant Statendam or Rotterdam class ships. I’m average height and the ceiling felt low, and most public rooms felt as if they were off an endless hallway. Even the atrium is poorly laid out with the uppermost deck of the atrium having no view across to the Ocean bar as the ceiling lowers to meet a lovely crystal sculpture. Overall the ship felt claustrophobic and dark.

 

The mid ship pool went out of service on our last day and the staircase between the Midship pool and upper sun deck was out of service leading to pool crowding, and lack of ability to move from one outdoor area to another with having to get redressed to enter the interior of the ship

 

Food: Food was fair to mediocre. Rarely was there something at dinner that one could say, wow that was great. We opted for “As You Wish” dinning and it just did not work out for us. We were told the ship was quite full and the dinning room was having trouble seating everyone. A once elegant dinning experience on past HAL cruises, has been downgraded to a crowded, noisy experience with either lighting fast service (too fast) or excruciatingly slow service. Again, food never quite hit the mark. By the midpoint of the cruise, we kindly asked to have a set table so we did not have to wait on a line for 15 minutes to get a pager to come back in another 15 minutes, just to eat.

 

More than once our waiters and/or head waiter told us to make sure we noted on our comment card how much we did not like AYW dinning as the dinning staff lost their break between traditional seatings. Note: the up stairs dinning room was calm in comparison.

 

Children: We had onboard what seemed to be 100’s of children on this sailing. I assumed there would be some kids onboard a summer sailing, but where HAL is at fault is not having any security or supervision for the areas that are taken over by children. The midship pool was rendered useless to anyone not enjoying teens and pre-teens jumping , running and splashing in the pool. Even as one child jumped off the dolphin statue and another passenger alerted a crew member, the crew member just looked and walked away. Either HAL does not empower their crew or the crew is not trained to deal with confrontation, but something should have been done to control this unsafe environment.

 

Port: Ports were fantastic and the highlight of this trip. If it was not for the great weather and fine ports, this Noordam cruise would have been even more disappointing.

 

Overall: The Mediterranean is one of my favorite cruise destinations, wonderful ports, great weather, etc. The Noordam could be a great ship, and perhaps is when not so overcrowded with passengers. This cruise just missed the mark; for the price paid I could have been on a smaller more upscale ship in a standard cabin, for that I am at fault. I’ve sailed HAL since the Rotterdam V and will continue to do so, but on their smaller more intimate ships during the off season.

 

Special thanks to the pockets of first rate HAL crew, like Litto in the Crows Nest and Hazel in the Neptune Lounge

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

 

Too bad about the children and AYWD.

 

Glad everything else was great.

[Roz]

Thank you, Avalon, for taking the time to post and present a balanced review of your recent experience on the Noordam. Wow, I would not have expected so many children on such a relatively expensive cruise. The number of children and their behavior, as well as the so-so dining experience would have been a disappointment to me on a cruise of this type.

 

Despite the media telling us about families losing their homes and people eating dog food so they fill up the SUV gas tank, apparently a fair number of families still have enough disposable income to take Mediterranean cruises. :D I wonder if the little darlings appreciate what their parents are doing for them.

 

Question for you - were the families with children mostly American or European?

 

Roz

[JimVrhovac]

Thank you for the review.

 

It is unfortunate that HAL does nothing to correct unruly people around the pools. Guess it will take a major accident and lawsuit to change that....

 

Of course you would not expect the partents to control their brats, As they are on vacation.....

 

Ruth & Jim

[aliaschief]

Many thanks for your unbiased reveiw. We will be sailing on the MS Noordam in October. There have been many similar reviews lately on her but we are very optomistic folks. We are still going to have a good time and we are also aware of some staffing problems this past month.

[tennisobo]

Thank-you so much for your review. We are taking this cruise next summer and I've been hoping for some reviews about this trip.

[hammybee]

Thanks for taking the time to share your cruise with us. As I am sure you have discovered, there is another active thread relative to this same sailing.

 

2000 passengers and no doubt about it, no two have the same experience. I wonder why your Open Seating dining experience was so different from that of poster Koleen. Maybe it's a timing thing.

 

We have sailed in Europe many times on many different cruise lines. Only thing certain is that many passengers cruise to let their kids do their own thing and they certainly do, which often includes sailing in cabins several decks removed from their parents.

 

Your experience sounds rather tame in comparison to some, on other cruise lines. Moral of this story is if you want to avoid most parents who abandon their children, sail when school is in session.

[avalon1025]

the purpose of this reviewwas not to contrdict another passenger on this sailing. It was simply a review to indicate that for the price paid this cruise did not live up to prior HAL cruises. I am sure there are many interpretations of this sailing.

[kalliekae]

I agree with you about Ari! He was our cabin steward in May and was absolutely wonderful!!! Sorry your cruise was not up to standards. Since we sailed the western Med. in May, we had very few children on board and the ship did not feel dark or crowded to us. Most times, the pools were empty or had less than 5 passengers. After reading many posts here, I think that the timing of a cruise definitely affects the quality. Luckily, hubby and I can go in the "off season" when kids are in school.