My wife and I have cruised several times before (Cunard, NCL, RCL, Celebrity, and Princess) but this was our first HAL experience. The Noordam is also the largest ship we have sailed aboard (prior sailings were on ships ranging from 16,000 to 74,000 tons).
As a rule we do not like the larger glitzy ships that are now so prevalent and I was somewhat apprehensive about HALs newest offering.
After visiting Rome for several days we were driven to Civitavecchia by a friend and, thus did not have to contend with other travel arrangements. Civitavecchia is a good distance from Rome and if you are not booking connections through the cruise company, careful attention should be paid to arrangements. A train connects to the town (our traveling companions arrived this way from Florence) and a taxi is needed to get to the ship thereafter.