For years I've read comments that the Noordam is the favorite ship of many experienced HAL passengers, and always took that with somewhat of a grain of salt. After all, I've yet to find a HAL ship I didn't love, so how could the Noordam possibly stand out from so many terrific ships? I consider myself an experienced cruiser -- this was cruise #25, but #13 on HAL. I now consider the Noordam my favorite ship as well, and look forward to sailing her again one day. In fact, I'll happily repeat this same itinerary repeatedly since both the ship and itinerary were terrific! Rather than giving a blow-by-blow account, I'll break this review into subjects/sections.
EMBARKATION:
What can I say -- it's a piece of cake! I used ParkNGo for $6.99 or $5.99/day rather than paying $15/day at the port. They're right outside the port, meet you at your car with their minibus, transfer your luggage and whisk you off to the ship. Coming back I'll be off the ship early so I'll have to call them -- they'll come pick me up, take me to my car, put my luggage in my trunk, and hand me a cold bottle of water as I exit the lot. Can't beat it!