Noordam Review
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Additional details
Of fourteen cruises this was my third with HAL. It was nice to renew our acquaintance after a five year hiatus. I'm happy to say that HAL have maintained their high standard, mostly. More on that later.
We came down to Sydney by train and four of us took a taxi from Central to White Bay. I was amazed at how much luggage space was available in the hybrid Toyota, it all went in the back, no bags on laps. Fare was $30 which I thought was reasonable but not so much when then return fare, White Bay to Central, was only $25! Hmmm. The return was a quicker trip as it was early morning.
On arrival at the terminal we checked our bags and joined the queue which looked long but didn't take to long to get through, about 30 minutes and we were aboard. Room was ready. We, my friend Tony and I, had requested twin beds but found a double made up. We pointed this out to our room attendant and it was quickly fixed.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom
Having twin beds makes the already small room feel even smaller. No room for dancing or swinging even small cats.
On the plus side I found that there was enough storage but not much drawer space, used shelves mainly and my packing cubes worked well here. Took a day or three to realise there was a double USB charge point - it was hidden behind HAL books in a vertical book rack on the small desk. There was just enough room for a lap top and tablet and two phones when all were plugged in. Not much room for much else.
The bathroom had been updated and looked more modern than on my previous HAL cruises. Shower over bath with a decent curtain although Tony would have prefered shower only as she is vertically challenged and not keen on high sided bathtubs. No problem for me. Having a tub meant the rest of the bathroom lacked room. Not a lot of room around the hand basin but sufficient for our needs. There was plenty of room for stuff on an under sink shelf. There was also a small wall cabinet on one side but we didn't need it. I liked that there was a magnetic door holder to hold the door fully open if required.
The balcony was adequate with two loungers with foot stools and a small table. Everything about our accomodation was in good order and there was nothing we could complain about.