My name is Justin and ... All right, I'm new to Cruise Critic, but this was my second cruise. It was the Feb 22, 2006 Maiden Voyage of Holland America Line's new ms Noordam IV. My first cruise was also with HAL on their new Zuiderdam in May of 2005. The cruise on the Noordam was spectacular.

I'll begin with embarkation, which was a bit questionable. Though this was the first cruise out of New York's port in a while, so I wasn't surprised by this. It seemed like they threw that pier together in a few hours and said wait here and get on later. Besides being a bit uncomfortable, the embarkation was very fast and the people were accommodating.

Next I have to talk about the ship itself. The ms Noordam was beautiful and a behemoth compared to many liners on the seas right now. It was beautifully decorated as well. Some of my favorite art was a set of paintings of Holland America Line and other Dutch ships by Stephen J. Card. These were located between each floor on the Forward Staircase. Their was a number of great sculptures including a set of dolphins next to the pool. The set-up of the Noordam made sense and was efficient. Everything was easy to find and get to. Read more