My last cruise before this was a Princess ship to Alaska. As I said, a lot has changed since 1998. The Noordam was bigger and fancier than what I remember of our Princess ship, it was also a lot fuller with guests and staff. Embarkation was very smooth, we did not have a long wait to get our ID cards nor a long wait to get on the ship. Our first objective once aboard was to get lunch, which seemed to be the idea everyone else had too. Not being familiar with the ship, we went to the Lido Restaurant. It was very crowded with the only available tables next to the isle where people were constantly moving. Our first lunch was less than appealing. It also turns out that the only tour of the ship was offered on our departure day. I was somewhat rudely told that I missed the tour after we were at sea. I should have paid more attention!

Our room was an upgrade to a Superior Verandah Suite which had plenty of space. The one thing I noticed right away were all the chairs in our room. There were three chairs, one stool, and one couch for 4 in the room, a table, two chairs and two sit-tees with foot rests on the balcony. Did I mention the coffee table in the room too? We didn't bring enough family to make use of all this furniture. A TV and DVD player were located in the room on a counter that sat at 90 deg to the bed, you could sit on the side of the bed to watch TV or on the couch at a sharp angle but there was no comfortable place to put one of the many chairs to watch tv. I was not comfortable to watch TV while in bed.

The cabin staff were friendly and made up the room twice a day. Room service was prompt and friendly, however my breakfast was a little cold. There was always plenty to do on the ship. The entertainment was enjoyable, we had good singers and dancers, a good magician and a great comedian. The entertainment supervisor was good at this job and kept thing moving during the entire cruise. The trivia contest was a lot of fun and held at the same time as 2 for 1 drinks. The best part of the cruise! I found and read a great book in the ships library and read it during the voyage. My wife and I also took an offer to use the spa for 10 days for a price of $199, I thought that was a worthwhile deal.