Noordam anyone?

[debmkay]

Hoping to book real soon for the Noordam in November 08 hubby had cancer last year and we had to skip our yearly cruise so want to go on the Noordam this year to Barbados etc any inputs?

[innlady1]

Love the Noordam...As you can see from my signature! She's a beautiful ship. I still haven't managed an itinerary that includes Barbados...and that's on my wish list for sure! Go for it.....you won't be sorry. :D

[mamaofami]

We love the Noordam. She's a beautiful ship. We've sailed on her twice and will do so next January. Everything about the ship is wonderful. You'll love it.:)

[seafun]

And I'm on one of the 10 day itineraries that includes Barbados. :)

Hmm, 3 months from tomorrow to be precise!

I've read some great things about her and seen some beautiful photos taken on board -- can't wait! :D

[aliaschief]

We are sailing on the MS Noordam in October and I can assure that it will be great and we have never sailed on her. If it's HAL it is right for us.

[bermuda triangle]

Four of us sailed on the lovely Noordam in Jan. 08. The ports included Tortola, St. Thomas, Barbados, Dominica, St. Maarten and San Juan. It was an 11 day that left from NYC.

If you have any questions feel free to ask or email me bermudatriangle @ rocketmail . com (without the spaces).

 

Laura

[Howasaur]

Just finalizing Plans for 10 day Seafarer cruise on the MS Noordam Feb. 22,2009. Both of us looking forward to the cruise. We have been on two other Holland Cruise both on the Ryndam. Love Hanging over the railing watching the Ocean go by.

[jrzebird]

If you enjoy the things I do, you will LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the Noordam. She is a beautiful and elegant ship. As you can see from my signature, I've sailed on her that last 2 Januarys. Barbados was on the itinerary both times. The first time we took a wonderful catamaran excursion that included snorkeling and a yummy lunch onboard and all the rum punch or beer or soda you want, as well as a swim to a beach. This year we opted to wander around the area where we docked and then spend the day onboard, swimming and relaxing. I know that there are tons of things to do there, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[SakeDad]

You should LOVE the Noordam! If you are in need of more pictures of her see my Alaska gallery below. LOTS of 'em!:p

[Jade13]

We just returned from Noordam, and while we had a good time because the ports were great (Eastern Mediteranean), the food and service where not up to HAL standards. It was our most disappointing cruise ever. We walked out of the dining room the second to last night because we could not get anyone to clear our table for dessert. We never went back. We had a cabin steward who we liked personally but it was his first week doing guest cabins and it showed. We were on Rotterdam Deck 7 and expected more. We were told they were short crew because they could not get flights because of the Olympics (HAL should know this in advance).

 

We received a black filthy bath mat and the ship was almost out of Elemis products and 3 days I had to call to get a bottle of shampoo and the "Sharp Shower Gel" bottle was filled with green stuff. All I can think is they filled and reused a bottle with something from another port. The hotel Director, Bert, said customs did not release their supplies in Liverno. I had to use a sliver of soap from the sink to the shower since soap was not replaced unless I phoned. One night the turn down was not completed as we received no towel animal and bathroom not straightened.

 

Room Service was perhaps the worst department. We ordered simple cereal and the milk was always warm. We would order 4 boxes of cereal (2 each) and 4 milk (plus the milk with my tea) and only receive 2 milks. Perhaps they were short on the milk as well? One day we did not receive any spoons. I did request the "Sunshine Parfait" from the reg dinning room and while it appeared with an order after 7:30 or when the dining room opened they forgot the spoon. I ordered the cheese platter and it did not come with any grapes. I requested the platter with grapes another day and was told the grapes were not on the menu (although it did show up with red grapes - I had written in green grapes.) We were not ordering cooked foods, these were simple orders, and my DH works in the hotel industry and is a Chef himself.

 

In the dining room the 2nd night he ordered the chicken off of the alternative menu and thought it was good. Two nights later it came dry with no sauce. He asked our waiter and was told sauce was not on the menu. There was no consistency which would be unacceptable where DH works.

 

The last day in Messina we took HAL's "tour" to Taormina and it was the worst cruise ship tour we have ever taken and unacceptable. We had to wait for the guide to get our tickets to the theater and then had 45 minutes to walk around town. I did tell the shore excursions staff, but like many staff members we met, were indifferent.

 

The laundry department lost our laundry which was eventually found. They also ruined a sweat shirt (fortunately a HAL one we could replace) and it had to be damaged out.

 

The dancers and singers just boarded on our cruise and so there was no show the first night and the Finale was the same show from 2007. There was another night were there was no show (well crew show at 11:00pm) and fill in with the Vista lounge being used for an Idol like contest.

 

Hopefully these issues will be addressed before you board. We were on Westerdam last summer and the cruise was near perfect. As a shareholder the inconsistency on Noordam bothers us.

 

The Noordam was our least favorite cruise we have ever taken.

[margaritawoman]

Jade13 I am sorry this was your experience. We are booked on Noordam 10/18/08 the first cruise out of FL after her return from the Mediteranean. We have only cruised HAL once before to Alaska. We had a wonderful time. Before this we had been cruising with Princess. We still like Princess, but thought HAL had alittle bit more to offer. I hope we have not made a mistake with booking the Noordam. This doesn't sound like the experience we are looking for. I would like to here from others who have cruised on the Noordam this summer. Jade13 what type cabin did you have? I really like a good cabin steward. We are not demanding but I like my cabin serviced twice a day, this is the cruise experience I have come to expect. One of the things we liked more about HAL was the room service, this is distrubing that they could not get the little things right.

[ctsally]

I've been on the Noordam for 48 days (three cruises), and I can hardly wait to walk up that gangplank again in November. We've also been on the Ryndam and the Veendam. All of the cruises were top-notch and the service was terrific on all counts.

[Love the beach]

Sorry Jade13 had such a bad experience. We sailed the Noordam with another couple in Jan. 07 and loved it so much that we went again in Jan. 08 & persuaded 8 other couples to go with us. All of us loved everything about it!Food, service , room service & entertainment was absolutely wondeful! Would book her again in a heartbeat!

[Jade13]

Jade13 I am sorry this was your experience. We are booked on Noordam 10/18/08 the first cruise out of FL after her return from the Mediteranean. We have only cruised HAL once before to Alaska. We had a wonderful time. Before this we had been cruising with Princess. We still like Princess, but thought HAL had alittle bit more to offer. I hope we have not made a mistake with booking the Noordam. This doesn't sound like the experience we are looking for. I would like to here from others who have cruised on the Noordam this summer. Jade13 what type cabin did you have? I really like a good cabin steward. We are not demanding but I like my cabin serviced twice a day, this is the cruise experience I have come to expect. One of the things we liked more about HAL was the room service, this is distrubing that they could not get the little things right.

 

We were in a VA on Deck 7 (the deck with the PH's). Our room steward was doing crew cabins where he had 20 that needed to be serviced once per day. When he was moved that week to the Guest cabins he had 15 cabins to service twice daily. We liked him personally and still left an extra tip and felt the issues (such as short supply) were Management issues. Part of the problem was that our last two cruises on HAL were about perfect. Btw, when I asked what happened to my towel animal, I did get an "extra" the following evening on the door handle.

 

We went to the Pinnacle Grille one night and my steak was a piece of fat. I had to saw at it. I did tell the waiter when he asked but was never offered another option. I realized the next night when I was given a steak knife in the main dining room that it was forgotten at the Pinnacle. The cruise was not up to the HAL standards we are accustomed to.

[kalliekae]

I am sorry you had such a bad experience, Jade13. We had quite the opposite when we sailed the western Mediterranean May 9. We could not have been happier with the service. We stayed in an SA cabin and enjoyed the Neptune lounge services and had a super cabin attendant. We ate in the Pinnacle twice; and both times, we had outstanding food and service. The ship is lovely and the entertainment was the best we have seen on a HAL cruise. Everyone went out of their way to make our cruise special. The only negative was the port of Palermo. I would never recommend a stop there, but that has nothing to do with HAL's onboard service. If anyone would like to see pics of our cabin, e-mail me at Ew928@aol.com and I will happily share with you.

[seafun]

I just emailed you about your pics. :)

[LUV2CRUZalso]

Hey Hawasaur!!!!!!! - Join our Roll-call for the 22 Feb 09 cruise when you finalize your reservation. We need some activity on it.

Sorry Jade13 had such a bad experience. Seems strange that "everything" would go bad at the same time on the same cruise. We also will be on the VA deck for our cruise 22 Feb 09. Sure hope all gets remedied by then,

Cheers to All LLL

Denny & Karen ;) :p

[debmkay]

Wow!thanks for the great response everyone! Sorry Jade had such a bad time, must of been disappointing, but we are going to do it and know we will have a great time. Anytime on HAL is a good time. Just trying to figure out October or November.

[Sea Island Lady]

Jade13 - I am so sorry that your cruise was not up to your expectations. I know you looked so forward to it.:(

 

We had a totally opposite experience from your cruise. Hard to believe that the service and food could change so quickly in just a few weeks.:eek: We ranked HAL's food up there with one of the best we have had on a ship.

[rebeljohn]

debmkay.............We are waiting at our first trip on the Noordam late November. Boarding on Thanksgiving day...............Barbados is a new stop for us.................

[mamaofami]

Jade, I'm really sorry to hear you had a bad experience on the Noordam. We sailed on her in 07, 08, and now we just booked for 09. I love that ship!

[m steve]

That goes to Barbados, tortola, st. lucia, martinique and st. kitts. 10 days.

[innlady1]

debmkay.............We are waiting at our first trip on the Noordam late November. Boarding on Thanksgiving day...............Barbados is a new stop for us.................

 

We like going the end of January/beginning of February and therein lies the problem. Every year, they swap out Barbados for another island that particular cruise! Last year, St. Vincent. This year, Grenada. That's OK though...someday we'll get to Barbados!

You will love the Noordam...she's a beauty! ;)

[deluxerider]

My DH and I will be on Noordam Feb 22nd. VA 6149 aft. We're a little nervouse because we've never stayed on the Aft before. However, we're very excited and feel sure we'll love the aft cabin.

[LUV2CRUZalso]

Hey Deluxerider - join our roll-call for the 2:22:09 Noordam Southern cruise. We will also be in the aft for the very first time, this time around. We will be in VA 8110. Hope we can get a meet & greet together aboard ship.

Cheers,

Denny & Karen ;) :p