Noordam Cabin assignment

[sassyf]

Just received an assignment to SY 5002...ALL the way forward. Need to know if this is good or bad. Anyone with info ?? Are we stuck with a lot of motion and the anchor going up and down noise?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Was this an upgrade?

 

Don't know your itinerary - but the only time you will hear the chains / anchor is when the ship is anchored and docked at the pier.

[KirkNC]

Yes being forward will make you feel the impact of head seas more, it should not be too bad unless the seas kick up. Being forward will not make any difference in a following or beam sea. Cruise ships seldom drop their anchor so that should not be a problem but you might get noise when they tie up from the large mooring lines. We were in an aft cabin once and every port we got to hear the lines going out. Again not a big problem as it was usually 6 or 7 in the morning and I am awake then anyway.

 

Hope you enjoy your cruise, the Noordam is a fabulous ship.

[sassyf]

This was proposed to me by my TA as an upgrade, but since we were SZ guarantee and went to an SY, I think this is more of a lateral assignment.

Also, this is a handicapped cabin which we did not request nor do we need. We've been on Noordam before in SS mid-ships and loved it. Just don't want to be miserable for 10 days if I can do something about it beforehand.

[FrankNJ]

Or as my wife refers to it "Our favorite ship cabin of all time ".

Feel better now ? First of all the room is big , as big as a deluxe suite . That is because it is a handicap accessible room . The bathroom is also huge , but the downside is , to make room for the roll in , walk in shower , there is only one vanity sink instead of the two in all the other superior veranda suites . Also the veranda is smaller , only the size of a standard veranda room , but this was really no big deal .

The best parts of this room were the front facing picture window , one of only a couple on the ship and the access to the open bridge area with benches at the front of the deck 5 is only a few feet from your room and if the weather is good they'll open it for you to go out there .

 

As far as the motion of the ship , I have to say it was one of the smoothest rides we ever had , this was the caribbean in March 2010.

There was no noise from anything anchors or otherwise that I recall it was very quiet up there and you are the first balcony forward on the deck so minimal sound from other balconies. The Noordam is a great ship with a great crew . Enjoy.

 

We also got the room as a guarantee , we did not take it away from a handicapped person.

Hal assigned it to us a few days before we sailed .

[JJ33328]

The picture window and the bow view sounds cool, the only thing that might weird you out about it is the handicapped roll in shower. It's a long walk to the dining room though. I'd take it if it was offered.

[sassyf]

Thanks so much for responding...while the picture window is nice, the fact that the veranda will be smaller than what I had on our previous cruise is

not making me happy...I practically live out there

 

Here goes another email to the TA....many, many thanks to all of you for responding

[KAKcruiser]

It's true that the cabin in bigger but rough seas could make for a very unpleasant trip. I agree that you should try to get it changed.

[jtl513]

purplenorway had this to say about the cabin:

 

Stateroom

 

Two days before the cruise, we checked our cabin number online to find that the Upgrade Fairy had made a visit! We went from a verandah to a superior verandah category. We had stateroom 5002 at the very front of the ship. It is a handicap accessible cabin.

 

The cabin was very spacious! There was an open space by the door with tons of closets. We could pull a giant curtain across this space and use it as a dressing room.

 

There was a big counter area with drawers and a huge window looking out to the bow. You may want to know that the cabin only has one outlet. This may cause battles when you wish to charge your electronics.

 

The bathroom was enormous! There was a deep tub/shower with lots of bars on it (helpful when it was a bit rocky). There was also an open shower by the toilet so a wheelchair could roll in. The counter space by the sink was the smallest I’ve ever seen. Barely enough room to set down the product you are using! Thanks so some Cruise Critic research, we were expecting this and brought over-the-door organizers to hold our stuff. This was a lifesaver. There were four hooks on the door and there’s also a small cabinet by the sink.

 

This was an SY category, but the verandah was probably the same size as a regular verandah cabin. There was a door to the bow right next to our cabin. It was almost always open, even when we were sailing. We called this our “semi-private balcony.” We were usually the only people using it. At night, it was very dark and the stars were incredible! Never have I seen such stars!

 

Being right at the bow, it was pretty rocky. Sometimes the ship would slam down on the water or it would feel like we were surfing. It was usually quite windy as well which made it a challenge to open our verandah door.

 

Our cabin stewards were excellent! We enjoyed this cabin!

 

(from http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1109304)

[Candy]

There are photos of Zuidy's 5001 which should be very similar to Noordam's 5002 on page

 

Zuiderdam 5001

 

Candy the ZuiderPrincess

[sassyf]

Hey Candy...thanks for the link....checked for Noordam and there were no pictures of 5002 but never thought to check Zuidy. It is now evident that the balcony is smaller than what we had for SS category in 2007.

 

I'm definitely not a happy camper at the moment !!