Trans Pacific on the Noordam

[ozcruizer]

One reason we did this cruise (10 - 25 October) was that it was on the Noordam (which I really like) and it would be making its inaugural and repositioning cruise to Sydney. We flew to Honolulu to join the ship although most passengers embarked in Vancouver and San Diego.

 

Embarkation was very smooth and fast. We were onboard by 12.30 having lunch while waiting for our bags to be delivered to our room. I usually have a salad for lunch and was a bit disappointed to find HAL had done away with its selection of mixed salads. However, otherwise all was much the same as usual. One thing: I had taken my own teabags after the poor offerings on two previous cruises - I was surprised to see the Bigelow tea has been reinstated, so complaining does seem to work sometimes!

 

Our room was ready for us. It was a balcony room on Deck 8 which I was a little concerned about but there were no problems apart from hearing the odd chair scraping on the Lido end of the aft pool deck. We were right behind the aft elevators and didn't even hear the ding of the bell. Very handy to the MDR. I'm not sure but I think the carpet may have been replaced in the cabins. Same old couch though! No plumbing issues whatsoever so all good in that department. The cabin was very comfy which was nice seeing I spent some time there owing to a cold and cough.

 

I think there have been cutbacks in food but just my opinion. We are not fussy eaters so we were happy enough with the offerings in general. We did not dine in the Pinnacle.

 

As many will know, the Noordam has been in dry dock and there has been a lot of carpeting replaced since our 2014 Med cruise. The Noordam is looking good and is fast becoming my fave ship. One complaint: we found a number of the public rooms very cold - a couple of degrees warmer would have been good.

 

Entertainment was at least watchable and mostly better. The highlight was a show by the Noordam dancers and singers called Ever After - fantastic lighting and effects. Dancing With the Stars is still on the program. There was also a series of excellent lectures on astronomy given by Dr Alan Wright. He had a real following right up to the last lecture as he was very skilled at delivery. There was another lecturer who talked about Pacific history but I flagged before the end, mostly falling asleep!

 

The Captain was Henk Draper. He took part in the Crossing the Equator ceremony as King Neptune and did it very ably. When he made his usual navigation announcements later he introduced himself as King Neptune. He has quite a thick Dutch accent which made us smile.

 

The internet was abysmal for the first few days from Hawaii. I was wishing I had not bothered to take a package. However after Samoa, I actually managed to access it from our balcony and in the cabin - never been able to do that before.

 

We did ship's excursions, partly because there were not a lot of ports (Apia, Suva, Lautoka and Tadine in New Caledonia). We ended up seeing a lot of kava ceremonies but I didn't try it although DH did. The Apia excursion was not the best but the Fijian ones were good. In Tadine we just took the tender ashore and looked around.

 

So there you have it. A lovely relaxing cruise with beautiful smooth seas (although I heard there had been rough seas before Honolulu) - what more could you want?

 

Ozcruizer

[Stratheden]

Thank you for your report. We are sailing on the Noordam on 25th March. Who was your Cruise Director?

[ozcruizer]

Thank you for your report. We are sailing on the Noordam on 25th March. Who was your Cruise Director?

 

Ross McTaggart - a nice very enthusiastic young man from Zimbabwe. Don't quote me but I think he is leaving the ship to visit home soon. If he's continuing on the Noordam, he should be back by then. I think too that I read that Capt Pieter Bos will be taking command in December. Must like this part of the world! A great captain too.

 

Ozcruizer

[ozcruizer]

I forgot to pay tribute to the wonderful crew of the Noordam. Nothing was ever too much trouble for them and I have to say it appears to be a very happy ship. The Front Desk people were also extremely helpful. Which reminds me - you could get a print out of your ship's account at any time. It was in my name but unfortunately I'd had to get a new keycard (carried it next to my phone) and it wouldn't give me a print out although I had done it before.

 

Ozcruizer

[78232]

I enjoyed your review..Thanks for taking time to post.

[scm1848]

We've just started looking at this as an alternative to flying to Australia/NZ. We've been through a hurricane around Cape Horn, an experience we don't care to ever repeat. We are about to embark on a 21 night cruise.

 

My questions: How rough were your roughest seas? Did you get bored with all the sea days? Was this your first trans-Pacific?

 

Thanks for any input on this!!

[pv girl]

Enjoyed your report as I look forward to my first trip on the Noordam "down under". Glad to hear she is in good shape and has a happy crew.

[NW Pacific]

WE also got on Ship in Honolulu, very easy. We were on Deck 7, AFT, had no air conditioning for first 2 days, finally resolved. It was our first "repositioning cruise", we did find that many sea days to be a little too much for us, although time did go by. We did experience a couple of rather rough sea days, may be because we were in the very Aft, we had all the bottles on the dresser fall off during one night, but did not suffer any ill effects physically. There was a respiratory virus going around, you could hear coughing from cabins when walking to our cabin especially at night time, still have mine.

Noordam is a lovely Ship, the crew was very pleasant. the Ports were not the best but we expected this, but something new to look at. I also fell asleep during several of the entertainments, but that could be from the rocking of the Ship. Did think the comedian was good. Our dinners were all in the MDR, and I thought were very good. WE did rent a Cabana in the Retreat (only ones there) so we did not have an issue with finding a comfortable place to relax outside. Weather first week was very warm, then temps. started to decline each day second week with more wind. Arriving in Sydney was very very easy getting off Ship, friendly Terminal staff, zipped right through! Hope this helps some.

[Beejay4016]

One reason we did this cruise (10 - 25 October) was that it was on the Noordam (which I really like) and it would be making its inaugural and repositioning cruise to Sydney. We flew to Honolulu to join the ship although most passengers embarked in Vancouver and San Diego.

 

Embarkation was very smooth and fast. We were onboard by 12.30 having lunch while waiting for our bags to be delivered to our room. I usually have a salad for lunch and was a bit disappointed to find HAL had done away with its selection of mixed salads. However, otherwise all was much the same as usual. One thing: I had taken my own teabags after the poor offerings on two previous cruises - I was surprised to see the Bigelow tea has been reinstated, so complaining does seem to work sometimes!

 

Our room was ready for us. It was a balcony room on Deck 8 which I was a little concerned about but there were no problems apart from hearing the odd chair scraping on the Lido end of the aft pool deck. We were right behind the aft elevators and didn't even hear the ding of the bell. Very handy to the MDR. I'm not sure but I think the carpet may have been replaced in the cabins. Same old couch though! No plumbing issues whatsoever so all good in that department. The cabin was very comfy which was nice seeing I spent some time there owing to a cold and cough.

 

I think there have been cutbacks in food but just my opinion. We are not fussy eaters so we were happy enough with the offerings in general. We did not dine in the Pinnacle.

 

As many will know, the Noordam has been in dry dock and there has been a lot of carpeting replaced since our 2014 Med cruise. The Noordam is looking good and is fast becoming my fave ship. One complaint: we found a number of the public rooms very cold - a couple of degrees warmer would have been good.

 

Entertainment was at least watchable and mostly better. The highlight was a show by the Noordam dancers and singers called Ever After - fantastic lighting and effects. Dancing With the Stars is still on the program. There was also a series of excellent lectures on astronomy given by Dr Alan Wright. He had a real following right up to the last lecture as he was very skilled at delivery. There was another lecturer who talked about Pacific history but I flagged before the end, mostly falling asleep!

 

The Captain was Henk Draper. He took part in the Crossing the Equator ceremony as King Neptune and did it very ably. When he made his usual navigation announcements later he introduced himself as King Neptune. He has quite a thick Dutch accent which made us smile.

 

The internet was abysmal for the first few days from Hawaii. I was wishing I had not bothered to take a package. However after Samoa, I actually managed to access it from our balcony and in the cabin - never been able to do that before.

 

We did ship's excursions, partly because there were not a lot of ports (Apia, Suva, Lautoka and Tadine in New Caledonia). We ended up seeing a lot of kava ceremonies but I didn't try it although DH did. The Apia excursion was not the best but the Fijian ones were good. In Tadine we just took the tender ashore and looked around.

 

So there you have it. A lovely relaxing cruise with beautiful smooth seas (although I heard there had been rough seas before Honolulu) - what more could you want?

 

Ozcruizer

 

Thanks for taking the time to post. We also are on the cruise departing Sydney 25 April so reading this helps the excitement build. We've sailed on the Volendam and Ryndam previously and are really looking forward to experiencing this larger vessel.

[ozcruizer]

We've just started looking at this as an alternative to flying to Australia/NZ. We've been through a hurricane around Cape Horn, an experience we don't care to ever repeat. We are about to embark on a 21 night cruise.

 

My questions: How rough were your roughest seas? Did you get bored with all the sea days? Was this your first trans-Pacific?

 

Thanks for any input on this!!

 

I can only speak from Honolulu onwards, but we didn't experience anything like the rough seas the other poster wrote of although it probably had something to do with being in an aft cabin. Our cabin was right near the aft elevators so we were towards the back of the ship. We did rock and roll a bit some nights but it did not bother us. We had gone prepared for all grades of sea sickness :D but we did not need to take any medication. Perhaps we have truly found our sea legs at last?

 

We had five days at sea after Honolulu which were quite easy to take (we once did 10 days at sea crossing the Pacific many years ago but that is another story) but probably that was enough. I went along with things to do and also attended a number of activities on board.

 

This was our first Trans Pacific in modern times and we had no trouble handling five days straight without a port.

 

I hope this helps you in making a decision.

 

Ozcruizer

[ozcruizer]

WE also got on Ship in Honolulu, very easy. We were on Deck 7, AFT, had no air conditioning for first 2 days, finally resolved. It was our first "repositioning cruise", we did find that many sea days to be a little too much for us, although time did go by. We did experience a couple of rather rough sea days, may be because we were in the very Aft, we had all the bottles on the dresser fall off during one night, but did not suffer any ill effects physically. There was a respiratory virus going around, you could hear coughing from cabins when walking to our cabin especially at night time, still have mine.

Noordam is a lovely Ship, the crew was very pleasant. the Ports were not the best but we expected this, but something new to look at. I also fell asleep during several of the entertainments, but that could be from the rocking of the Ship. Did think the comedian was good. Our dinners were all in the MDR, and I thought were very good. WE did rent a Cabana in the Retreat (only ones there) so we did not have an issue with finding a comfortable place to relax outside. Weather first week was very warm, then temps. started to decline each day second week with more wind. Arriving in Sydney was very very easy getting off Ship, friendly Terminal staff, zipped right through! Hope this helps some.

 

Sorry to hear you had air conditioning issues, NW Pacific. Fortunately our cabin was very responsive to switching it up or down. I do remember another cruise, also through hot climates, where nothing helped and it stayed warm the whole time.

 

I still have quite a cough but seems to be par for the course for me the last few cruises. Did you find many of the public rooms cold?

 

We knew the ports would not be up to what we usually experience but we were looking forward to the sea days. Our last cruise on the Noordam was to the Mediterranean and it was the complete opposite.

 

Ozcruizer