Review Noordam TA 3/22-4/7

[cabinluvn]

This was our first TA and, hopefully, not our last! We sailed 16 days Ft. Lauderdale to Rome.

EMBARKATION:

Smooth and easy from the port. Arrived at 11 AM and there were no lines to get checked in. Waited until noon before we were all let aboard by group numbers. Went to our room and dropped off our carry ons, called for reservations in the Canaletto and went to the MDR for lunch. Did tour of the ship. DH signed up for the spa package, which he used everyday.

CABIN:

We were in 7089 verendah . It was an upsell from a category G partially obstructed and were happy with the room. It was the cabin just behind the first verendah suites, just off the aft stairway. It was convenient to the MDR and the lido. The only negative was it was across from the maintainence closet and the closet where the ice maker was. There was noise from the steward getting the ice as early as 6 AM. Funny tho...I didn't notice it until the first port day, then I heard it every morning thereafter. I should have said something, but I usually went back to sleep and DH never heard it.

FOOD:

We did the anytime dining, ate around 6:30 and never had a wait longer than 4-5 minutes. We always ate with others and met some fascinating people that made the experience very enjoyable.

The food in the MDR was excellent, as usual. I was less impressed with the dinner food in the Lido. Besides the frustration of finding a table and never being able to get food and be on the same course as DH, it seemed that the food was just luke warm and, of course, the presentation was lacking. I didn't remember not having all the same choices and the MDR, but it seemed like there was a lot less and the dessert choices were few. Breakfast and lunch were great and there was never a lack of choices. We did prefer breakfast in the MDR. It is nice to be waited on and eat at the same time, like I mentioned before.

We got the 11+ Navigator wine package. It was 5 bottles, plus a Chef Rudi cabernet delivered to the room the first day, plus Pinnacle for two, two wine tastings and a gift of HA pewter wine charms. The bottle we had in the Pinnacle we did not finish and it could not be found the next night. The replaced it with a full bottle.

We ate at the Canaletto once. We were not impressed. I think food is better in the Lido...see above for my thoughts on that. We won't go back. Ate at the Pinnacle once and that was so worth it! Food was excellent and the service was spot on. We both had lobster and the creme brule and were stuffed.

THE CROSSING:

Rough seas started on the third day with 12-16 foot swells. The wind was behind us, so the ship just gently rocked side to side. DH has severe motion sickness problems, but did not have any difficulty at this point. There was a storm north of the ship and the captain kept us informed of the direction he was going in order to avoid rougher seas. The swells stayed with us, gradually increasing in height, but the ship handled it extremely well. We eventually had to head to our first port, Ponta Delgata but we had to bypass it due to the rough seas. That meant 9 straight days at sea before we got to the next port. We were disappointed, but one cannot control nature and the captain was not about to put us all in jeopardy just to get to the port. We continued to rock and roll and we were assured once we got into the Mediterranean Sea, it would be calmer...WRONG! Early evening before the last sea day we hit a major storm with 60 mile an hour winds and swells I am gauging to have been 20-25 feet(we weren't told how high they were). Doors to the outside were closed and we were told to keep the doors to the outside in our rooms closed. Plus it rained like crazy. The ship took on the up and down and rocking motion and that is when DH turned that peculiar shade of yellow/green. We slapped the patch on and he slept until it took effect...about 5 hours...and then was fine. The sea sick bags were by the elevators. I think alot of people just stayed in their cabins as the ship was pretty deserted. Next morning on disembarkation I saw a few elderly people with bruises on their faces. I would guess they fell trying to get about as you really had to hold on to something in order to walk. Not good for people with balance problems.

ENTERTAINMENT:

We went to most shows and really enjoyed them. We thought the quality was very good for the most part.

PORTS:

Lisbon: Took a half day tour to Obidos, then walked the city on our own. Rain showers on and off. Found a bistro with free wifi and spend the rest of the afternoon and early evening drinking good beer. Bought a bottle of wine to bring back on the ship. We left port at 11 AM next day, so just hung around the port in the morning.

Cadiz: Got tickets on the hop on bus to the old town. The minute we stepped off the bus, it started to rain and it poured for hours. We got soaked to the bone trying to get back to the bus. Of course, the rain stopped the minute we got to the bus stop by the port.

Malaga: Did the hop on bus again around town and found the cathedral, then walked and ate lunch at a cafe. It started to rain, so we made our way back to the ship.

Cartagena: Nice sunny day. Walked into town, first chance to shop for goodies to bring back. Ate lunch at outside cafe. All around nice day.

DISEMBARKATION:

We had color for later disembarkation as we were staying in Rome for one night before taking off the next day. It went very smoothly, no problems.

Would we do a TA again? You bet! You roll the dice with the weather, especially in the spring. We talked to people who had done this exact cruise before and said the seas were like glass. Nine sea days in a row were a little too many. Six would have been perfect.

When we discussed HA with people who had sailed othere lines, the preferred HA to a person. Count me in with those people!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for taking the time to do a review! Sounds like you did hit a real rough patch one day. Heck they can loose my bottle every night if I get a new one for free :D.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

Sorry you had rough seas and missed a port.

Glad your DH wasn't sick too long.

[indokiwi]

A delightful and concise review. Loved reading it and it wasn't too long-winded either. Thanks!

[Keith1010]

Thanks for taking the time to write this review.

 

Keith

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking the time to write and post your review of your Noordam cruise. Sounds like you had a good time.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[cabinluvn]

I meant to add to my review that we found the Noordam to be in fine shape during the cruise. Some of the carpeting needed replacement due to stains, but there were no glaring signs of aging. The only negative was on the second day there was a strong sewage odor on the aft promenade deck, very strong outside, noticeable inside. It just lingered for about a quarter of the deck and then dissipated. It continued for a couple days and then I could only smell it faintly occasionally on my power walks around the deck. I did not hear anyone mentioning smelling it in the upper cabins

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[kazu]

Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences with us.

 

We do a lot of TA's so I understand when you can't get off. Everyone looks forward to the break although you do have to watch your sea legs;)

 

sounds like a bit of a rough crossing and glad you still like TA's.

 

thanks for a wonderful review and welcome home:D

[496and706]

Hello fellow Noordam TA cruiser! Sorry I didn't get to meet you. Dh and I had a wake up call, then promptly fell asleep until the middle of the afternoon.

 

Dh counted it as 11 days at sea. (Sometimes he counts the day we leave and the day we get to port...) :rolleyes:

 

We certainly rocked and rolled, huh?

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts with those of us who have never done a TA.

[bernie5]

Thanks for your review. I love the Noordam.

[AZNative2000]

From another who is about to do their 1st TA ... thank you for this review. We board Noordam in October for the return to Florida. Sounds like she is in fine shape.

 

Sorry to hear about the rough seas.:(

[JamesEM]

Thanks for your review, too many sea day for me to consider your TA cruise.

[cabinluvn]

My DH thought that six sea days in a row would be too many. We found that so many activities were offered, we had to actually cut back on them after a couple of days as we weren't reading our books like we love to do on vacation. Six days in a row would have been perfect. We would have had sea days after the first port. Our last cruise was a very port intensive cruise with only one sea day and we were exhausted...too exhausted after the port day to do any onboard activities. This was a nice change. I think now we will find cruises with a nice balance of sea and port days if we can. Of course, the itinerary will dictate that, but we will be more aware of the balance. We will be looking at TAs coming east from various ports and planning pre cruise stays in that country as well.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[andeesue]

So appreciate that you took the time to do a review of your TA. Even with the weather variables, you seemed to grab all the gusto possible!

[erewhon]

Enjoyed reading your review.

Thank you.