The Happy Wanderer---tackles the Noordam!

[bepsf]

Bear in mind that Ruth describes arriving on a bus which pulls in on the lower level - all those folks have to schlep up the elevators to the waiting/check-in/embarcation area.

 

If arriving by car or taxi, one drives up the ramp to the second level.

 

Instead of going straight into a maze to stand in line for check-in (like in FL or Seattle), embarking passengers have to get a card with a number, then wait in the sitting area before their number is called (ever so quietly) to be allowed to go through security & then enter the maze :confused: If you dont know that they're handing out cards/numbers - you could be sitting there all day. At least the water and hot chocolate served is free - if you were able to notice that the nice little man off to the left was even there amidst the chaos...

 

Good Job, Ruth - enjoying your Chocolates?

How are the seas tonight?

[Copper10-8]

Hey Ruth C; have a great time and an awesome cruise with lots of chocolates!:)

[RevNeal]

Good Job, Ruth - enjoying your Chocolates?

 

There used to be a Chocolate on her pillow. Now it's being digested. :D

[RuthC]

Yesterday began and ended with two---very different---very nice parties.

Blue Whale did a marvelous job organizing and arranging our Cruise Critic get-together. Now, I didn't do a head-count, but there must have been forty people putting faces (and IRL names) to screen names.

There was much laughter and chatting. The Cruise Director (very easy on these old eyes ;) ) Jason Venner found time in his schedule to socialize and answer questions. He truly seemed to enjoy our company; I know I enjoyed his.

It was a good party. Thank you, Dorothy, for making it happen. :)

The evening started with the traditional Captain's Welcome Aboard party. There were the usual opportunities forformal photos---I counted four (including with the Captain), the customary introductions of Department Heads---accompanied by the customary music, and the expected wine, cocktails, hor d'oeurves, and the good nuts.

Most guests were dressed at least to code before dinner---the few who were not seemed to scream out "look at me!". After dinner, sadly, was another story. It seemed many people---men especially---changed to the most casual of outfits. The effect is not what I'm used to. :(

Old business:

Please, let me clarify! I am absolutely having a good time. Yes, I was super-stressed about getting to the bus station on time, but after that it became a matter of "roll with the punches".

No prime rib for lunch? O.K. There was rotisserie chicken which I not only love, but was probably better for me anyway. (No, didn't see meatloaf.) And prime rib was on the menu for Wednesday night's dinner.

Embarkation was a nightmare, but I knew I was there. It was just a matter of "hurry up and wait". Brian, sorry about my discription not being thorough. I did take the elevator to the second level. It was from there that people were told to go upstairs, then come back down later. And no, there were no numbers given out. That would have made it better, IMHO. As it was, when we were called everyone came running at once then stood. And stood. And stood. And....

The nightmare of that day's disembarkation carried over to our arrival. I have been told that people will be brought in from Seattle to "show NYC how to do it" when we arrive home. Hopefully the natives can learn.

It's a beautiful day and I'm inside. :confused:

Bye.

[localady]

RuthC-

Great to hear you had such a nice get-together and that you are enjoying your time!! You are correct, Jason Venner isn't hard on the eyes and this girl is pleased to see that you are still noticing!!! Please say hi to Jason from the Veendammers 'Bag Lady'!

Continued Calm seas and blue skies!:cool:

[bepsf]

Ruth--

Embarcation sounds much worse than I'd imagined!!!

When we boarded, I saw some familiar faces from boarding in Seattle - I guess their training didn't stick!!!

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise!!!

:(

[jhannah]

It would certainly be in HAL's best interest to train these NY port folks. They have this wonderful new ship, and they're "showcasing" its new home port. So the process of getting on and getting off needs to set the tone.

[tomc]

I'm wondering how Ruth is doing ... and at the same time, I'm watching "A Night To Remember" on TCM. Not a good combination.

 

Women and chocolates first!

[dsawyer]

Hope they get the kinks smoothed out by next sailing. :eek:

[cruzlover56]

They handed out numbers on the 3/4 sailing but had no paging system to announce them, so maybe that's why they abandoned the numbering scheme?

[ekerr19]

Ruth - Thanks for your reports... sorry to hear about embarkation. We had the smoothest (imo) we'd had for awhile, we got to the pier a bit later than usual as our flight from Denver had been delayed 4 1/2 hours (we sat at the gate!) and got to NYC at 1:30am... we decided to sleep in! I will say that the pier staff didn't have a clue what we were supposed to do - we had Suite priority check-in, but she had to call someone to find out where we were supposed to go. :confused: but after that, we breezed through.

 

We also thought the porters at the pier were excellent - (a far cry from those in FLL), not only were they abundant and most accomodating - it was always with a smile (our experience anyway).

 

Keep the reports coming... I hope the ship is everything you expect and more - as two people who are not big fans of Vista class, I will say my DH & I were mightily impressed. :)

 

The chocolates in the Pinnacle are the absolute best - hope you get the chance to have a few. :D

 

Oh, and btw - Jason was very "easy" on these eyes too, lol! ;)

[AAAAmerican]

Porters in NYC are LongShoreMen, Union people which actually care and are Americans not imported.:D Tip them well. If you need help ask them they know more than the people the Cruise Lines hire...:eek:

 

These wonderful Americans are not efected by P&O being sold to the UAE firm recently. P&O manages this facility, as the US Coast Guard (USCG) and Customs Services handle security here as always .

 

 

This URL may help you to see more :(\:)/)

 

http://www.nypst.com

[RuthC]

Which is what the Noordam is for these ten days. So I thought I'd talk about the ship itself. I'll start today with my personal "home"---my cabin.

Glad I'm not doing a "share" :eek: this time---that's all I can say. This time an outside was surprisingly cheaper than an inside, so I booked an HH guarantee, and was assigned to a G. The location is pretty good---I'm on Upper Promendade, two cabins down from where the ship bends in. The forward elevator is close---as is the show lounge, Explorations cafe, and Piano Bar :D ! Food is a long way away; this may be a good thing. :rolleyes:

But once you enter, the cabin is---shall we say---compact. The vanity in the bathroom has no space to spread out, and the medicine cabinet wasn't made for those of us who take a lot of medicines. It's much smaller than on the R-class ships. Thank goodness there is a shelf under the sink. The best news is that the tub is an "at home" height. I can climb in/out!

I have two full closets---one of which can be converted to shelves; plus the closet with shelves and safe (self-determined, 4-digit code type).

The desk is long, and the TV/DVD player is up on a ledge, so there's full use of the surface space. Which is needed! Under the desk is the fridge and---no drawers! None. Nada. Zilch.

Who designed this? Not a woman, that's for sure. I want to empty the fridge to store my make-up. Chilled underware, anyone? (Hey, that's not a bad idea!)

There are drawers under the beds---which has ample clearance to store my closed suitcase (that's a first). The headboard is toward the forward end of ship; this means no headboard/window shelf for more storage. My "window" is floor-ceiling non-sliding non-doors. The top of a lifeboat is the bottom half of my view.

That's a pretty good start for today. I'll talk about the ship again some time---and more about the ship's public areas, too.

Right now it's time to hike off to lunch.

[tomc]

RuthC wrote:

I want to empty the fridge to store my make-up. Chilled underwear, anyone?

 

Bathrooms on the Noordam are tiny,

Hardly enough room for my heinie.

My undies on ice,

Y'know, it feels nice;

But my buns are starting to get whiney.

[the2ofus]

Another TomC classic! Thanks for a laugh, Tom. And thank you RuthC for the update. We've all been complaining about the lack of drawer space on the Vista ships ever since the Zuiderdam made her debut. You would think HAL would have gotten ithe message by the time the fourth ship came off the assembly line:mad: Not mad, just plenty irked.

 

Maybe it's a european thing, that people pile their underwear on shelves instead of drawers? Guess I'll plan to carry an extra shoe bag so can stuff underwear in the pockets in the closet next time I sail on a Vista.

[dsawyer]

I pack all of my underwear and folded clothing such as shirts, shorts and tops in the 2 & 1/2 gal ziploc bags. Keeps them all together in the suitcase and in the cabin storage area. They fit nicely on a shelf.

 

Now I do need a couple of drawers for my makeup, etc. Too bad HAL doesn't have those on the vista class ships.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Ruth, thanks for the update! So good to hear from you :). Thank goodness they've at least gotten the TV off the desk/vanity!!! Between that and the tray with glasses, ice bucket, etc., there was no room on the Oosterdam for anything!

 

The drawer space is pathetic absolutely. So I got a great little printed fabric thingie with a hangar on it that has several see-through pockets down it. It folds up for packing and I hang it in the closet with my underwear ... works great!

[kryos]

But once you enter, the cabin is---shall we say---compact.

And I thought it was just me. I don't have a lot of cruising experience, but it seemed to me that the cabin I had on the Zuiderdam was much more "compact" than the ones I had on the Amsterdam and the Rotterdam. Both of those cabins, at least to me, seemed spacious by comparison. I even shared a cabin (insides always) on the Rotterdam, and never felt cramped.

 

But the award for the tightest cabin I ever had was on Celebrity ... my Zenith cruise last December. I could actually lay across the bed, stretch out my arms, and have my feet touching one wall, and my arms almost reaching to the other. Of course, I got that cruise dirt cheap (high $300's for a five-night cruise ... including port charges, single supplement and gratuities) ... so I really had no right to complain. I just never thought a cabin could be that small ... but I guess the crew has it worse. They have to share it. :(

 

By the way, aren't there drawers in the nightstands? That's where I put my undies when I was on the Zuiderdam ... and even on the Zenith.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Aussie Gal]

Ruth,

 

Have just tuned in. Have been missing for a few days due to the Commonwealth Games being held here.

 

Glad to hear you arrived safely on board. I am amazed that your cabin is so small and there is not enough room to put things! Perhaps the Vista Class isn't for us after all. I do like the roomy cabins of the S Class.

 

How is the food and entertainment? I look forward to reading your next instalment.

 

Jennie

[seabourndt]

yes we are all enjoying watching the games on tv in england too. great memories of fantastic melbourne which i visiterd last december. was on a ship called the FUNCHAL which unfortunatly broke down in egypt so flew to ayustralia instead on the ship. had a couple on the ship who live in melbourne near the racecouse who showed me a fatastic time, the opening ceremony was greeat. the work in the pistol club where they are doing the shooting.

 

apart from that i like hal done 2 cruisess on her already the noordam in april from n yk to rome is my next. i have a balcony cabin who iam sharing i had an aft ciorner last year to meyself which was imense.

dave

[Flyingfish]

WHAT, no drawers! Where does all that stuff that you put in them go? Is there a drawer under the desk? This tight room configeration means DH and I will be closer than usual. Not too shabby. Ruth, I am so jelous we're not sailing with you. It's the "being at sea" that matters. Keep up your excellent posts, we're all sailing with you in spirit.

[PrincessYoga]

I have been watching as well. When is the gymnastics on? Sorry for highjack...I am loving the reviews of the Noordam

[RuthC]

Since Grand Turk is a new port for most of us, I thought I'd tell you a little of the stop there. It was said that they get rain about fifteen days/year---we were lucky :rolleyes: enough to be there on one of them.

This port can definitely be described as "unspoiled": there's not much there to see and do. The natives were very excited to have us there, and proved to be excellent hosts. First, it's a long, long walk from the mid-ship gangway, down the pier, through a marketplace, and to the street. The marketplace has some stalls where the natives sold craft-type goods---there were lots of beaded necklaces, straw bags---and a Margaritaville. Loud! There's a lovely beach and a pool area.

HAL chartered out the hop-on/hop-off bus; it makes for good transportation to the town (over 2 miles away). In town there's an Anglican Church and several more craft tables. The buildings are reminiscent of Bermuda---so is the friendliness of the people.

longtimecruiser and I hopped off in town for a while, then hopped back on to go out to the lighthouse at the northern end of the island. Unforunately, we weren't able to do much there as that's when the sky opened and let loose with a fury.

Back in town we found a Radisson ship docked alongside. We had an early sail-away and a long afternoon at sea.

(There was a request for information on the dune buggy shore excursion; I don't have any info yet, but will try to get it and post.)

 

Old business: yes, there are drawers in the nightstands. They are quite a bit narrower than the ones on the S- and R-class ships, though. They sure don't hold much! Certainly, don't plan to store a lap-top in one of them.

[sail7seas]

Thanks for all your posts, Ruth. They're great and I'm enjoying them very much.

 

I'm still GREEN.....

 

Hope you continue to enjoy that gorgeous ship. Have a great time.

 

[Aussie Gal]

I have been watching as well. When is the gymnastics on? Sorry for highjack...I am loving the reviews of the Noordam

 

 

The Gymnastics were on Thursday and Friday and there are more this week. We are going to the final of the Rythmnatic Gymnasticis on Sunday.

 

Sorry Ruth for that. :o

 

Keep on having a great time. I am sorry it rained on you in Grand Turk. I should send some of our great weather over to you. :)

 

Jennie