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

[shrimp56]

Better late than never I guess.

 

Home Again

There usually a back-story to our trips. This time it was my husband's retirement. I wanted to get him out of town as quickly as possible. So we were scheduled to fly out the day after his retirement, boarding Nieuw Amsterdam 2 days later in Barcelona, ending in Venice after 12 days. But several things nibbled at my consciousness, among them that Barcelona to Venice in 12 days was beginning to feel like a sprint. And that asking my husband to shift gears that fast wasn't a good idea for either of us.

 

And then serendipity struck. Noordam had been rescheduled from the Holy Land to the Mediterranean. Prices were right and there was an 11 day that left from Civitavecchia (Rome) 3 days later than the original plan and ended up in Barcelona. BINGO!

 

I have, else-thread, on this board sung the praises of Noordam. We had loved Eurodam and were looking forward to her younger sister, but after a very pleasant holiday cruise on Zuiderdam we were ready to give another Vista class ship a try. On Noordam they pretty much got everything right, from the layout to the color scheme. (Although it did take me a while to get used to the giant lampshades pretty much everywhere.)

 

Crow's Nest/Lido

 

Having recently traveled on Celebrity Century and admired its layout, I was pleased to see similar spatial solutions on Noordam, especially the way Ocean Bar wrapped around 2 sides of the atrium, creating a central gathering space. I also felt that the connecting spaces on Noordam were more open and less linear than on Zuidy. The Explorations Cafe & Library had their own generous spaces on Promenade Deck, returning The Crow's Nest to its full glory.

 

Atrium/Lido

 

The best part of Noordam was her crew. It was clear that everyone from top to bottom took pride in their ship. And it showed:)

 

We got a direct flight from Chicago to Rome, which took the edge off our entry. We were about 2 hours late, but given the alternative that was fine. We didn't get the "capacity upgrade" sometimes offered to Platinum members on American, but drinks were free as a way compensating us for our delay. (Ironically we had a similar delay out of Heathrow on the way home. Our cabin crew was stuck in traffic on the M4! )

 

More soon...

Edited July 25, 2014 by shrimp56

[cococruiser]

Really looking forward to the rest of your review. We board Noordam on 3rd August. Thanks for reviewing !

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[shrimp56]

I hope you will love her as much as we did.

 

All Roads Lead to Rome

Last visit to Rome we learned that all taxis go by the Colosseum. This time we didn't even see it! We decided that the one thing we wanted to revisit on our single day in Rome was Galeria Borghese with the wonderful Bernini marble sculptures and some excellent Caravaggio paintings. So we chose Villa Pinciana within walking distance of the gallery. It is an elegant small hotel with a lovely garden for breakfast, picnics and drinks. It also turned out to be a block or so from Via Veneto, which is lined with 5 star hotels and upscale everything else.

 

 

Our walk to the gallery took us through some Roman ruins and demonstrated, yet again, that traffic and ruins don't mix very well. There were cars of many sizes, but the winners in the parking derby were the small SMART-type cars. We also saw an enormous amount of beautiful wrought iron gates and grilles.

 

 

 

Galeria Borghese is undergoing a facade renovation so instead here are 2 images of inside and outside the garden.

 

 

We had a very tasty dinner at the nearby Lo Stil Novo, a simply decorated restaurant in a vaulted cellar. None of my food photos came out, so here's a general view.

 

[PathfinderEss]

Very nice review so far, can't wait for more of your great photo's.:)

[OVgirl]

Thanks for posting a review of your cruise.

Love your pictures, gives me a "wish we were there" feeling.

Looking forward to the rest of your trip.

[Mtn2Sea]

Thanks for doing a review. Looking forward to your report and photos!

[headhunterke]

The wonderful Noordam is by far my favorite HAL ship as well.

Great review, I really enjoyed it. And it took my mind back to this great ship.

While HAL has a very good crew overall, I also felt that the crew onboard the Noordam took sincere pride in her. Great to see such dedication :-)

[Copper10-8]

NODM rocks! :)

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review/report.

Keith

[POA1]

Really enjoying your review. Thanks!

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for posting.

Love the pictures.

Looking forward to seeing more!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Great beginning.

Looking forward to the rest.

[kazu]

Great review.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share with us.

 

Looking forward to the continuing saga.

 

Loved the Gallery Borghese - can't blame you one bit for returning:)

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[erewhon]

Great photos.

Looking forward to more of your review.

[ozcruizer]

Hi Shrimp,

 

As you may remember, we did the 22 day Venice to Barcelona - just fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. Like you, we loved the Eurodam (Shrimp and her husband were on the same cruise as we were, readers) and the Noordam certainly met our expectations. Thought our cabin was a bit smaller on the Noordam but it was in an entirely different position to the stern cabin we had on the Eurodam, this time a balcony on the starboard side.

 

The Noordam is scheduled to take over from the Oosterdam Down Under in 2015 so who knows, we might just do another cruise on her.

 

Loved your photos - I still don't seem to have the knack of posting them on CC yet :-(.

 

Ozcruizer

[shrimp56]

NODM rocks!

No argument here.

 

Hi Shrimp,

 

As you may remember, we did the 22 day Venice to Barcelona - just fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. Like you, we loved the Eurodam (Shrimp and her husband were on the same cruise as we were, readers) and the Noordam certainly met our expectations. Thought our cabin was a bit smaller on the Noordam but it was in an entirely different position to the stern cabin we had on the Eurodam, this time a balcony on the starboard side.

 

The Noordam is scheduled to take over from the Oosterdam Down Under in 2015 so who knows, we might just do another cruise on her.

 

Loved your photos - I still don't seem to have the knack of posting them on CC yet :-(.

 

Ozcruizer

Hi Ozcruizer. Just wish we'd been on the same cruise again. We're looking at the Noordam Auckland-Sydney cruise in October 2015. Maybe we can cruise together then.

 

Brightly Dawns the Sailing Day!

We opted for a private transfer to the port (Civitavecchia). Romecabs picked us up promptly at 10am in a white dress shirt and a spotless car. We then proceeded to take the same back route out of Rome that our ride in from the airport had used. If you end up going through a run-down area, with scraggly trees and little junkyards don't despair. It seems to be the current taxi route for avoiding the clogged main roads.

 

Once we cleared Rome we enjoyed a sunny, scenic 1 hr ride to the town of Civitavecchia. I thought "Wow. It isn't a 90 minute ride after all." WRONG. It took us half an hour from downtown Civitavecchia to the ship following a road that was a cross between the Minotaur's Labryinth and a bowl of linguini. I had a totally hopeless case of the giggles by the time Noordam came into view and we began the check-in process.

 

Noordam/My obligatory photo of the Marine Lunch summer tartlet. This edition is a bit heavy on the kiwi I think.

 

Hence I remember little of that process. All I knew was that we were home again. Albeit, a much bigger one as we had nabbed a reasonable upsell to a Signature Suite. There was a lot more room for sure, but for us the two things that made a big difference were the separate shower stall and the dining height table on the balcony.

 

 

 

 

We had a very auspicious start to our cruise. At the Mariner's Lunch we were seated with a couple who happened to not only be very sympatico, but live about 20 miles north of us. We ended up having dinner with them several times and expect to see them soon back here.

 

Here, I suppose, is the moment to say that, in a fit of community spirit (or total insanity-your pick)I had taken on the CC Meet&Greet. As a result I ended up emailing with a number of fellow cruisers, all of whom I enjoyed meeting enroute and at the GTG. (My gratitude and thanks to the HAL staff, both in Seattle and on Noordam, for all they did to make our GTG a great success.) But one gracious couple from Naples, Italy wanted to meet us for coffee before we sailed. We ended up meeting between our dinner times (remember they're Italian LOL) for a drink in the Sports Bar, whereby we became part of the World Cup frenzy on Noordam. We hit it off nicely, despite some linguistic barriers and they ended up taking us and another couple around Napoli the next day.

 

Delicious scallop appetizer

 

Reflection of the spellbound World Cup crowd in The Sports Bar

Edited July 27, 2014 by shrimp56

[shrimp56]

Funiculì, Funiculà and Much More

To be fair we didn't take a funicular, but here's a sign for the one in use now. It does turn out that the lyrics we know are not the original ones. Quite a shift in tone. http://www.mamalisa.com/?t=es&p=2351&c=120

 

 

Two views of the harbor. One of the green lighthouse, Portici (Granatello), that greets you on entrance to the harbor. The other of Vesuvius in the morning fog. (At least I THINK it is)

 

 

 

We had planned to take a general tour of Napoli, but when two locals offer to show around there is no contest. So the 6 of us struck out from the ship to take on big, bad Naples. (Even our local friends warned us about no jewelry and keep your bag in front of you) The most obvious building as you walk from the ship through the port to the city is the backside of the medieval Castel Nuovo, another reminder that what looks new to a Napoletano looks pretty old to us, 1279 to be precise. I found the crenellated battlements fascinating, as had the plants that had rooted there.

 

On the left: The Royal Palace.

 

There was a lot of digging twixt the pier and the town. We were informed that this was for the new Metro line, which, due to running into ancient ruins, was much delayed. The process was described to us as "finding" the metro, rather than digging.

 

"Finding the Metro"

 

We finally reached the front of Castel Nuovo, where we saw a wedding party emerge to much throwing of rice. The small auto waiting below was the newlywed's get-away car.

 

 

Coming: Naples Part II

Edited July 27, 2014 by shrimp56

[shrimp56]

From "sfogliatella" to Caravaggio

From the front of Castel Nuovo we walked past part of the Royal Palace, then between the famous San Carlo Opera House on the left and Galleria Umberto on the right.

 

Galleria Umberto

 

On our way to our "snack" break (If this had been a HAL shorex, it would have had the apple symbol), we peeked into the Gran Caffé Gambrinus, well-known BEFORE President Obama ate there.

 

Above: Gambrinus; Below: Side street/ San Carlo facade seen through Galleria Umberto

 

Our snack was "sfogliatella" from Mary's in Galleria Umberto. I have no picture so here's what Wikipedia says:

"Sfogliatelle . . . (singular: sfogliatella), are shell-shaped filled pastries native to Italian cuisine. "Sfogliatelle" means "small, thin leaves/layers," as the pastry's texture resembles stacked leaves." They were according again to Wikipedia, first made in the Santa Rosa Monastery. Thus created near Napoli! They were yummy. More about Santa Rosa later. (The Monastery is now a pricey hotel & spa, about 35 miles SE of Naples)

 

 

The centerpiece of our tour was Galleria d'Italia -- Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano. The building, an early 18th cen. palazzo, had already had a long and complex history of renovations/restorations and occupants before part of the building was purchased by Banca Commerciale Italiana in 1898. To make a long story short (Here's the palazzo's website: http://www.gallerieditalia.com/en/palazzo-zevallos-stigliano/il-palazzo/la-storia use the drop down menu for more detailed information) the Bank eventually owned and then restored the building as you see it today. The offices have long moved elsewhere and the main floor has been turned into a wonderful art gallery which exhibits the art collection developed by the bank.

 

The original banking floor/A floral painting from the galleries

The centerpiece of the collection is the last painting of Caravaggio, titled Martyrdom of Saint Ursula, displayed in what was once the bank director's office. One of our guides, just happened to have worked for this bank until his retirement so we got VIP treatment by the gallery staff as well as a beautiful and informative catalog.

 

Caravaggio Room: ceiling & his last painting, Martyrdom of Saint Ursula

 

After the gallery our gracious local guides and I opted to walk back to the ship, while my DH and the other couple soldiered on to The Royal Palace.

 

At sailaway I went up to The Crow's Nest and there were our guides, by now our friends, looking at the beautiful island of Capri, a fitting close to an exceptional day. What an opportunity we had to see Napoli in the way we did. This shorex gets a 5 star review from me!

 

Capri from The Crow's Nest

Edited July 28, 2014 by shrimp56

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts, along with the wonderful pictures.

[ol3]

what a great review! so nice to read! We are boarding the Noordam 14 august, looking forward to it!

 

also nice to read your positiv reaction specially that someone just post a new review under the title "LIVE from the Noordam-- a Disasterdam"...

seems like a total different ship :-)

[innlady1]

I'll echo what OL3 said...love your review and your fabulous photos. We were on the Noordam in February and will board her in Barcelona on October 19 for the transatlantic. She was far from being a "Disasterdam" then and I'm sure she's still just as lovely!

 

Thanks so much for you travelogue!

Edited July 29, 2014 by innlady1

[nb125]

Another echo here. It is nice and reassuring to read your positive review.

[shrimp56]

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.

 

Time for a (Sicilian) Lemon

What on earth could live up to our wonderful time in Napoli? Not Palermo for sure. I'm hoping that another visit to another part of Sicily would prove more interesting. Sicily is a both a forbidding and foreboding place with sheer rock cliffs, sparse vegetation, and a general dilapidated appearance, at least in the parts we saw.

 

 

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

 

 

Then on to the seaside resort of Mondello, where we learned that the bulk of the beach was private, with only a small crowded segment open to the public. There were fancy houses away from the rather scruffy seaside, but the over all feel was of a small New Jersey shore town that has seen better days..

 

 

The Old Salt Tower/Carnival under lock and key.

 

Coming back to Palermo we drove by Piazza Pretoria with its "Fountain of Shame." Originally destined for a private residence, its placement between two churches was shocking to the city because of its nudity and pagan themes.

 

Piazza Pretoria/ Sicilian bitter oranges used in marmalade

 

There is plenty of evidence of the Moorish 200 yr rule of Sicily in the architecture, especially in the architecture. But even after the Norman conquest you can see the influence in the design of Palermo's cathedral, an interesting mix of Gothic and Islamic influences.

 

 

On the left above is the cart to be used in the July 14 "festino" celebrating Santa Rosa's supposed deliverance of the city from the plague. As with these sorts of festivals it involves relics, pageantry and copious amounts of food and drink. http://www.allaboutcuisines.com/event/festival-santa-rosalia-palermo-sicily

 

Our Meet & Greet was held in mid-afternoon in The Captain's Corner. Despite the conflict with sail-away and the possibility that an afternoon nap might win, we had 60 people! As I mentioned the Noordam staff rocked. They used ropes to enlarge our space into The Crow's Nest so we were more than fine. I think we drowned poor trivia out. (Maybe that's why the CD frowned every time he saw me LOL) It was fun to put faces to names and to watch people making connections.

Edited July 29, 2014 by shrimp56

[innlady1]

Shrimp...if I may ask. What did they serve at your Meet and Greet (I'm organizing the M & G for our TA)? Mark Pells has been known to pull out all the stops for Cruise Critic but he's no longer on the Noordam. I believe the current Hotel Director is Ron Bontenbal.

 

What camera are you using? Fabulous photos! Loving your review.