Noordam Review
Won't cruise on the Noordam again...worst cruise for many many reasons
Rating by category
Additional details
A repositioning cruise that took us 36 nights from Auckland/Sydney/Honolulu/Vancouver with no ship problems...so that is a very good and great thing!
But service overall ('anytime' main dining) was a big hit & miss for the whole cruise - often 3-4 hr dinner service, cold coffee (both breakfast & dinner service), orders not taken right or forgotten, lots of cold and unappealing food served, dry and overcooked food - including fish, cold eggs benny (or solid eggs benny). More often than not dinner entree plates had been sitting 1/2 made up for some time with lumped, cold & glutinized rice or starch on the plate waiting for the meat portion. I never did get a caesar salad that did not have some problem like wilted warmed lettuce. By the end of the cruise nearly everyone was talking and experiencing the same problems in anytime dining....so much so that I've never cruised where so many people stated they'd removed their gratuities. Five star mariners were complaining and writing pages to the front office. Also people were saying never another Holland cruise and some couples cancelled a future cruise they were so upset. By mid cruise we figured out it was better to eat in the Lido...except so many were doing that, it was crowded all the time and you were always walking around looking for seating (breakfast and lunch too)....but at least the food was hot and you could pick and choose what you wanted.
All over the ship there were many very cold common areas. And there were many areas where water constantly dripped from the ceilings above - interior Lido area, the spa area, Sports Bar, etc. Seating in the sports bar had pails on them, the Lido walkways had yellow cones where water was on the floor. Carpets in the spa area were sopping wet (and not from pool water, but water from above). And as well seating in the thermal spa area was soaking wet from above.The staff kept the interior shone and very clean, but many areas were in need of repair, carpet replacement, many seat cushions need repadding, etc.
Cabin Review
Interior Stateroom
AVOID (like the plague) unless you like to listen to HAL's BB Blues Band play for 3 sets each night (8:45; 9:45 & 10:45 p.m. until 11:30 p.m.) With HAL's re-branding of its Culinary Arts Centre to the Queen's Lounge, if you have a cabin on the main floor anywhere near proximity to the Queen's Lounge, you will be listening to the band's base and woofers. Ear plugs do not help much. What a 1st night "Surprise" at the start of what was to be a wonderful cruise -- to have to listen to in your cabin each nigh before midnight! So many, many people complained, some were moved if you squawked early enough and there was space. If not, you'd get a bottle of wine, an apology and in our case $500 OBC. If we'd know before booking, I would NEVER (for any amount of discount) have booked a once great large inside cabin, mid-ship for an ocean crossing in the first place. BUYER BEWARE is all I have to say. Those cabins should come with a heads up from HAL and be priced accordingly. Even numbered cabins are even worse located than the odd numbered cabins....the sound goes out a long ways....much further than you'd think! The band is also way too loud for the venue they are playing in - their sound vibrates off the lounge's wall and the DBell reading is way over the limit for ears to listen to.