Noordam – October 20/13 Mediterranean and Tran-Atlantic cruise
We love cruising and we particularly love cruising on Holland America ships. We'd had a lovely long cruise in the spring and did not plan on this holiday but the magic word 'Sale' appeared and we could not resist. We have taken more than a dozen trans-Atlantic cruises in the past so there had to be new (to us) ports of call to tempt ...
Just got back yesterday from my 26 day med/transatlantic cruise. Overall it was great cruise except for a few rough nights coming across the Atlantic. Was disappointed with the activities onboard during days at sea. Can see why some name this ship the BoringDam. The food was just average. Did eat several times at the Pinnacle grill and it was well worth the extra money that it costs. Highly ...
This was our 1st cruise so cannot compare to others - however a few points that may assist future cruisers on this ship & line.
On Service: Could only class as average. The cabin and floor staff are Indonesian - nothing racist here, but sometimes requests get lost in translation. ie they never got the room service right [ which they promote you to use] tea & milk - no milk! On reqest for milk, 2 ...
My wife and I generally choose a cruise because of the ports visited and not the ship, however we did find the Noordam was a poor choice compared to other ships we have been on. Our verandah stateroom, 4016, was poorly positioned, jutting out from the decks above, resulting in coffee spills,wine spills, cigarette ash, etc from above. At times the verandah was unusable because of smokers above and ...
Being our second cruise and reading the positive reviews of HAM & the Noordam, we were looking forward in anticipation of at least the same standard ( if not better ) as our first cruise ( Dawn Princess 14 days Melbourne- NZ -Melbourne). While we did enjoy the cruise, the Noordam/HAM/crew disappointed.
On arrival, there was no positive greeting, just formalities and a keycard. Looking forward to ...
Just returned from an 11 night Ancient Mystery tour on MS Noordam (2nd time on board the same ship). Fabulous itinerary made even better by the changes, due to recent disruptions in Egypt, from Port Said & Alexandria to Ashdod & Haifa in Israel ' even more of a bonus that HAL gave us $100 pp. as compensation.
Primarily we always chose a cruise based on itinerary / ports of call & Holland America ...
We have cruised about ten times with various cruise lines before and have always considered HAL, along with Princess, among the better cruise lines for us (we are not exactly the younger generation). We last cruised with Princess in 2011 in Asia. This is our third cruise with HAL on their 11-day Ancient Mystery starting off from Athens. We were very much disappointed.
Noordam is a smaller ship ...
This was our first cruise and we found the Westerdam to be a beautiful ship. Our cabin was very comfortable and we found all of the staff to be very friendly and very helpful.
Dining - We went "Dine as You Wish" and never had to wait more then a couple of minutes and usually went for dinner in the Main Dining Room between 7:30 and 8:00pm. We enjoyed most of the food, and really with the ...
Sailing out of Athens is not my favorite port, and true to form the baggage handlers broke the strap on my new suitcase. HAL was really good about it and tried to fix it but could not.
Embark was smooth, but with no Mariner´s lunch featured nor any express lines for suites or 4star Mariners.
The Westerdam is in great shape and one of HAL´s most attractive ships. The crew were excellent as ...
overall, enjoyable, but of the more than half dozen cruises we have been on, this is at the bottom of the list. The cabin and the cabin staff were excellent; more storage than we have ever had in any stateroom. The food was passable, in comparison to other cruise lines.
We do not eat in the dining room that often. This cruise, we dined in the dining room three times. The first time, the pork ...