Poor quality

Noordam Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage

Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 15

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Noordam

7 Night Alaska Glacier Discovery (Vancouver Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 08, 2016

Ship: Noordam

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 4051

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

very very disappointing. service was mediocre, very slow. Food was not good.  

in room meals menu extremely limited. what was on the menu was nor what was served , ie smoked salmon with cream cheese, capers, and pickled red onin was in reality smoked salmon with lemon, mixed nuts became only peanuts.On day 2 we asked for the movie pack and were told "we are out, we have a lot of orders" really day 2, frankly poor planning. Was it a surprise how many people were on the ship?

Mini bar was not restocked with any degree of  regularity or consistency, some days they would add diet coke and others not. How do they charge if they are so inconsistent?

Shows were okay but not great. The piano bar and the Blues club sounded good but the rooms were so small we could not get in. Again it seemed there was poor planning for the number of people on ship.

Last day (docking day) we placed an order for breakfast to arrive at 6-6:30, at 7 I called and was told first there was no order and then when I said I saw them pick it up was told it was for 7, then I was told it was on the way. It never arrived. at the airport we ran into the people in the next cabin and they asked if we ordered breakfast. they had the same experience of not receiving their food.

a great number of the staff did not speak or understand English and were unable to assist us.

Extremely disappointing.

while we loved the scenery and the shore trips. I would not recommend Holland American for anyone and would not travel with them again.

We have traveled on Carnival before and had great food, great in room menu and great service.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
not very good, even in the Vista dining room. fish was so dried out and overcooked as to be inedible. in room dining menu was very very limited

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5
poor selections

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5
mediocre at best. many spoke very limited English and were unable to answer questions or give directions

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ship tip

use another cruise line

Ports of call

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

3 out of 5

Juneau, Alaska

5 out of 5

Skagway, Alaska

5 out of 5

Cruise Glacier Bay

5 out of 5

Ketchikan, Alaska

5 out of 5

Cruise Inside Passage, Alaska

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 15

11 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

rgbenning    8 years ago

I have sailed on HAL and the Noordam several times over the years and have never had any of the issues noted in the original post. Must be something more to the story than is in the original post. If the original post is 100% correct I would find it a shocking decline for a HAL ship. I would always recommend a HAL ship and would recommend the Noordam. I am sorry to hear that you were so dissapointed.

Kennicott    8 years ago

Been a while since we have been on HAL, so don't recall if they had room service on disembarkation mornings or not. I know Princess does not offer it then but opens the buffet a little earlier. Often we use the Princess breakfast service on those port days where we have to muster early. Interesting that FDR's NCL is still offering breakfast during disembarkation. But then, doesn't NCL sock it to you with a charge for room service nowadays? We get pretty much a full breakfast on Princess for no extra charge.     

laytonblue09    8 years ago

Originally posted by: CrusinTim

On all the past 11 cruises I have been on, it was made clear that there is no cabin service on disembarkation day.

 

You are leaving on your next cruise in a day... I hope you next cruise is wonderful! 

BAK1061    8 years ago

Whoa !   Hold on......I never even read your post.  I was responding to what was written here.  The get up early and get your coffee  was a general point of info, not directed at you.   And no, I don't know your circumstances, nor do I presume anything about anyone, but responding in a surly manner won't buy you any points..

I reiterate, we had a GREAT time on the Noordam. If  the rudeness you showed me based on one sentence was the same attitude you showed on your cruise, perhaps that's why you had a less than stellar experience. Being nice goes a long way.   

Now that I think about it, you can get limited room service the morning of Debarkation. We have it on Norwegian every time.   I don't know why you were told no room service, other than HAL being a Carnival owned company and CCL is cutting back every way possible.  So, if HAL & Princess are cutting back too, people will spend their money elsewhere.  And Carnival execs will be left scratching their heads.

kenmcin    8 years ago

Is there a point in sending me comments from other cruisers? Am I supposed to change my mind? If they do not serve breakfast they 1) should not put out menus and 2) should have told me that when I called.

BAK 1061 please when you do not know me or my circumstances do not presume to tell me to get up early and go get my coffee.

I am happy for those that had a good experience, I did not.

 

Bubba54    8 years ago

Thanks for the review. Sorry you had a a bad experience 

SvetlanaS    8 years ago

Just back from Noordam. Look like we sailed different ships. Our room had more than enough space, nice balcony. Room stuard cleaned and organized our cabin twice a day. There is more than 1000 DVDs available for pick up at service desk. Food was great, I asked few times if my husband and our friends want to try steakhouse, but all of us was happy with MDR.

BAK1061    8 years ago

We loved  the Noordam.  Disembarkation day is too hectic for room service.   The stewards have enough to do without dealing with all of the extra trays and dishes. Get up early and go down and get your coffee on the last day.

Johngold    8 years ago

I too am under the understanding that room service on the last day is not available. I would have thought that Holland Cruises were a bit over and above the standard of Carnival. Or so I've been told.

Thanks for the review.

CrusinTim    8 years ago

On all the past 11 cruises I have been on, it was made clear that there is no cabin service on disembarkation day.

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