Noordam with kids - highlights

[qvt21]

Wanted to give a little input as these boards were a source of helpful information for us pre cruise, since we were a little anxious as this was our first HAL cruise, and concerned that it may not be as family oriented as our previous cruises. (We have previously sailed RCCL Freedom, Princess, Celebrity, Norwegian).

 

Bottom line: the attentive and friendly staff (especially the cabin stewards and dining room staff )more than make up for any negatives, and they are the reason we would consider doing this cruise again. The only people that made us feel out of place were fellow passengers ( the demographics on our March cruise was about 80 percent seniors as per HAL)

 

-Club Hal:space is attractive, and the counselors are ok (we've had more enthusiastic and energetic). this is the only line we've sailed where they do not give you a beeper of some kind - so you have to specify where you can be reached. they do not always adhere to the schedule, and one port day, there were closed even though the program listed a half day full of activities.

 

-Cabin: had a balcony quad; the upper berth in our cabin is awkwardly located directly above your head, so you cannot sit up or even elevate your head to watch tv, when it's down... first time we've seen such a strange design. Otherwise plenty of storage space; and most spacious shower/tub on any ship I've been on.

 

-Food: Ranged from average to very good; best grilled sirloin steaks and best salads ever had on any ship, desserts not very good. Nice to have juice always available for kids...not so on other lines. coffee connoisseurs - the dutch roast is mild. The lido buffet lines and set up has been addressed before, and could definitely be improved, there's just no need to wait on one line for an omelette, and then proceed to wait some more on another line, for something else...Sometimes I just wished I could spoon my own oatmeal!!

 

-Entertainment: went to many of the shows, always sat in the last row of the uppermost level of the theater, and left immediately if one of the kids wasn't quiet, but almost inevitably heard derogatory comments from fellow passengers about parents who wouldn't use a babysitter. 2 of the production shows were the usual cruise ship fare and very entertaining, the third "paparazzi" was billed as "artistic stage-noir" and very strange... not my taste I suppose. Jim Curry and the oboist were entertaining, but the magic show was boring...nothing but amateur card and rope tricks. I wished the house band (Meryl and the Hal Cats) played some more poolside, they never played more than an hour a day, even on sea days,, the band was talented (Hal cats).. Meryl not so much. Evening lounge entertainment pretty sedate. A side note..on another cruise line when we attended the sing along at the piano bar, the pianist even played a children's song because of quite a few children in the audience, much to the delight of my daughter and the crowd enthusiastically joined in..... when we popped into the piano bar on the Noordam, we got strange looks and felt pretty unwelcome ... so we left and never went back.

 

Ship : there are some quirky things about the ship...Like having to walk through the reception area of the spa everytime you went to Lido deck from the forward elevators, and having to cross over to the other side to get to the buffet (unless you wanted to walk through a cloud of cigarette smoke by the pool bar). The much ballyhooed culinary arts center is under utilised and functions mostly as a movie theater, a band /comedian or something here at night would have been nice. The explorations lounge is very nice, chairs are comfy but we didn't use it much because you were expected to be quieter than a mouse.

 

Overall a very enjoyable cruise. I'm sure there are other points I wanted to mention for you parents considering this cruise, but can't remember right now due to post cruise blues.

[seasideny]

:( Thanks so much for your imput. We're going on the Noordam next week with our prized posessions. Our boys are very well behaved, and respectful - we are hoping the 'seniors' will be too! We have taught our children to be respectful and accepting of others and we hope others would do the same. After reading the posts for a while now about out of order children I think I expect some disorder from them (after all I'm a teacher) but not from seniors. I show respect for seniors - but I will not tolerate rudeness from them, as I wouldn't from the youth.

On another note, how were the excursions? I especially want to know about what to do in Tortola and San Juan due to the irregular hours. Additionally, some posters have mentioned taking some snacks (croissants) off the boat with them to nibble on - especially for children. Did you see anyone doig that and was it okay to do? I plan on eating onshore but my kids are little more picky. Did you buy anything special anywhere?

Again thank yo so much for sharing your experiences.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

.......

 

-Club Hal:space is attractive, and the counselors are ok (we've had more enthusiastic and energetic). this is the only line we've sailed where they do not give you a beeper of some kind - so you have to specify where you can be reached. they do not always adhere to the schedule, and one port day, there were closed even though the program listed a half day full of activities.

 

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Thanks very much for your review, qvt. Just a couple of observations of my own regarding the pagers and port day schedules. Pagers are provided in the 3-7 age group, automatically if your children are ages 3-4, and by request for ages 5-7. When you sign your children into Club HAL, you are required to tell the counselors where you will be, and your cabin number (at least, this has been our experience.) Port day activities only take place if parents sign their children up the evening before. Otherwise, the Club HAL director assumes no children will be attending for that particular port day session, and therefore no program will take place, even if it's listed as such. (Just fyi; I realize that doesn't help you much now).

 

Hope the "post cruise blues" don't get you down too much.....I assume you know the standard "cure" for those blues?:) (Book another cruise!)

[qvt21]

Couldn't help smiling at your cure for the post cruise blues...I've already started planning the next cruise.

Seasideny... we had not made plans for Tortola because of the late arrival, but after 2 1/2 days at sea we couldn't help ourselves, but go to the beach... especially since the ship was cleared so promptly- by 3:30 we were in a cab. San Juan is little trickier, even though we were in at 7a, one group didn't show up to clear immigration til about 9am,delaying things quite a bit; so we only had time for a brief stroll.

 

One other point I wanted to mention, Though we enjoyed our meals in the dining room, there were times we didn't want to have dinner be a two hour affair and would have preferred to dine in Lido more often. However, the menu there is quite limited (only 3 entrees) and the better dishes are only offered in the dining room.

[rts]

qvt21:

 

Just wondering how old are your children?

Thanks, Rick