Noordam Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This was our first cruise on Holland America. We have done 4 or 5 cruises on Princess (very positive experiences) and 1 on Carnival.
The positives: food and service was excellent; bed was comfortable; gym was good; Glacier Bay was amazing.
The negatives: our room was located above the Vista Lounge and was noisy during some shows and numbers -- noisy enough to wake us up when we went to bed at 10 pm and we could actually hear the words for some of the numbers. With 4 cruise ships in each port, it was very crowded -- especially in Juneau and Skagway. There seemed to be more room for the crowds to dissipate in Ketchikan. There's no running track.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom
Terrible cabin location unless you go to bed after midnight -- noise from Vista Lounge shows was loud enough to wake us up if we went to bed at 10. Bed was comfortable. Couch uncomfortable -- cushion needs replacing. Steel verandah blocked views. Doors are not sliding glass doors and so you can't keep them open (not that this was an issue on this cruise as it was COLD outside!).
If booking on HAL I would strongly recommend looking at deck plans and booking a specific room.
Port Reviews
Vancouver
You can't beat Vancouver on a sunny day!
Juneau
We took a shuttle bus to the Medenhall Glacier and walked to the waterfall, which was very cool. Unfortunately there was a slow drizzle the whole time we were in Juneau (apparently it rains 85% of the time there). The port town was very crowded with 3 other ships in town and even harder with all the umbrellas (unfortunately I forgot mine!).
Skagway
We walked to the Gold Rush Graveyard. Not where I would want to end up! Again, port was crowded with 3 other ships in as well as ours. It was cool watching the seals fish for salmon at the dock.
Ketchikan
It was a sunny day :) There were 3 other ships in town but it seemed big enough to dissipate the crowds. The totem pole museum was really good and the old part of town was fun to see.