Jena, Noordam Review

[GayleArc]

Jena, Just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed your Noordam review. You seemed to hit it right on. We really enjoyed meeting you and Judi.

Hope you are feeling better. Gayle & Joe

[doverite]

Jena, Just wanted to let you know how much we enjoyed your Noordam review. You seemed to hit it right on. We really enjoyed meeting you and Judi.

Hope you are feeling better. Gayle & Joe

 

Please direct me to Jenna's review - thanks.

[dougnewmanatsea]

The review is here.

 

Just a note: the author is Jana, not Jena or Jenna :) .

[LizB1]

Hi Jana...we also enjoyed your Noordam review and thought you did an excellent job.

 

As Gayle said, it was nice meeting both you and Judi.

 

Liz

[valwood]

I agree - an excellent review of the Nordaam. I am a little surprised that no-one has mentioned the paint which continually flaked off the superstructure of the ship throughout the April 5-15 cruise. The first morning of the cruise we thought it had started to snow again but discovered it was flakes of white paint.

 

Paint Flakes on balcony

 

I was on the Navigation deck and by the end of the cruise when looking over the edge of the balcony one could see thick white paint in the gutters of all the balconies on lower decks.

[ejbmorr]

Valwood-

Just a thought about what was causing your paint flakes. On the maiden voyage of the Noordam, the paint flakes on the verandahs came from 1 inch diameter pipes that ran the length of the ship at the point where the cabin wall met the verandah ceiling.

At the time of that cruise, the pipes were disconnected at some of the joints, bent in some places and were dripping water, often right over where the door from the cabin opened onto the verandah.

We decided that they had something to do with the run-off water that accumulates on the verandahs. I think that the gutters were supposed to drain into those pipes. They were obviously still having some initial problems with the pipes at the time of that 1st cruise. There was white flake-paint everywhere and the pipes had bare spots and chunks of paint barely hanging on them.

Perhaps they had repaired the problem with the pipes by the time of your cruise so that it wasn't as obvious what was causing the paint chips.

[fecombs]

Jana,

 

Thanks for the review. It was a wonderful birthday gift.

 

Great review, as usual, but where is your name. They need to give you credit for such an indepth and informative report.

 

Have a great day - God Bless and take care

Fran

[Jana]

Happy birthday, Fran!

 

Thank you all for your kind words. There are a couple of typos I have to get corrected, but it's nice to know that most of you think that my assessment is fair.

 

I feel a little bad about being so harsh on the cabin hallways, but just thinking of them makes my head start hurting. Did any of you "suite folks" wander down the passageways of where we "regular folks?" went to sleep?

 

Val, I noticed the paint flakes on the balcony before we set sail, while the verandahs were being hosed down. Judi and I were in 6153, which is the last room before there are no bathtubs. That pipe ended at our room. I was wondering what it was; I figured it had something to do with hot water and that the selected paint didn't hold up with the temperature. But that makes no sense, since showers have hot water too, and that pipe did not go beyond our room. I'm surprised that we didn't have more hunks fall down on us while we were sailing.

 

As to how I'm feeling: Well, the antibiotics (I took every one of them, for 10 days) worked well and I got better. Obviously there were a couple of resistant bugs that decided to procreate, and last weekend I got sick again. So sick that I had to bow out of my next trip, Wind Surf in the Med, I was supposed to leave on Friday. Weeping about it just stuffed me up and made my ear hurt so I'll take these new antibiotics and catch up on work that is late anyway and buy a new lawnmower blade and do some gardening.

 

Judi got sick the last couple of days on the cruise and then got better, but when she got home it hit her like it had hit me. I feel so bad, I don't know what I had, but I gave it to her... and she is barely over it now. She was a caring and giving roommate; obviously, so was I. Unfortunately, what I "gave" her, no one wants.

 

My biggest regret in being sick was missing time with all of you. So we'll have to do it again some time. OK?

 

Jana

[dougnewmanatsea]

Jana,

 

You had to bow out of the WIND SURF cruise and nobody thought to ask me to replace you ;) ?

 

Seriously, I'm sorry to hear you weren't feeling well, and hope you feel better now!

 

The cabin corridors on the Vista-class ships are pretty ugly, though I don't think the other ships have much nicer corridors. I think the Vista ships may have stronger lighting though, which makes them look more "institutional".

[Jana]

Jana,

 

You had to bow out of the WIND SURF cruise

 

YES! Ain't it a b*tch?

 

sigh...

[dougnewmanatsea]

YES! Ain't it a b*tch?

Why do I get the impression that you were really looking forward to that ;) ?

 

Seriously, I'm sorry to hear that... I've always wanted to try one of the Windstar ships myself, and of course the Med is always a lot of fun.

[kaleighsgram]

Jana, Dave and I enjoyed your review. You sure have a way with words. We're glad you're feeling better. I was surprised to hear that slim Judi had a hard time with the drawer under the bed. I thought it was just old arthritic me. It was good meeting you. We'll HAVE to sail again. I have 150 name tags left over.

Pat

[Jana]

Pat,

 

You were a lifesaver with the name tags! That was a great party, really, we had so many people and so many staff! And a VIP from headquarters, too (Erik)! I wish I had taken more photos.

 

Yes, Judi had a hard time with the drawer at the foot of the bed. I didn't notice one under the sofa.

 

I will say, though, that the balcony was terrific, even if it does have that icky fake teak. It's really big compared to other ships [standard] balconies, and both of us could really stretch out out there with coffee and books etc.

 

I'm looking forward to traveling with Judi again; hopefully we'll both stay healthy next time. Her birthday (a BIG ONE) is in November... maybe we should start planning now to use the rest of the name tags!

 

jana