My wife and I recently did the transatlantic crossing on the Noordam starting at Civitavecchia and ending at Ft. Lauderdale.

As usual with all Holland American Cruises we have taken, embarkation was amazingly easy...On board in just minutes.

This cruise was advertised as a "Big Band Cruise". Now by HAL standards, I'm a youngster at 55 and my wife and I were probably in the youngest 20% on the cruise. That said I like Big Band music. Give me all the Count Bassie, Kenton, Clark Terry charts you can throw at me...I love it. Unfortunately after we booked the cruise we learned that the band was Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians, with Al Pierson. Guy died in 1967. His was never a big band, but a ballroom dance band. Read more