Excellent itinerary and superb experience

Noordam Cruise Review to South Pacific

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 43

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5
Noordam

38 Night New Zealand & South Pacific Crossing Collector (Sydney To Vancouver)

Sail date: March 25, 2016

Ship: Noordam

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 4132

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

we loved this cruise and enjoyed the many visits to new and interesting places. We even loved the large number of sea days as HAL had the best entertainment and specialty programmes of any of our past cruises. We deeply regretted the lack of communications by the Captain when the ship had a mechanical problem in Napier and the lack of communication and inaccurate communications was both unnecessary and unacceptable. We missed one day in port (which was fully understandable) but we missed two important stops on our itinerary which was unacceptable! We had planned on meeting friends in Auckland who had offered to drive us to their summer place in Bay of Islands to rejoin the ship--- a two year plan that was abandoned by the Captain--- as we missed both stops! The financial payment by HAL was insufficient to say the very least compared to the loss of two very important stops which were abandoned. Despite this incident, we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise and we continue to recommend HAL to our friends. We would also note that HAL, like all commercial enterprises today, have significantly increased the work of its excellent Indonesian and Philippine crews--- it seems our teams had more rooms to clean and more tables to serve than in the past! This did not reduce the quality of service....it was just evident that the crew was often overloaded with work! 

 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
Generally very good. The Hawian team was excellent as was the speaker Harry Strong.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
The BBKing Jazz group was absolutely amazing! We closed almost every evening with them! The dancers and singers were also the best we have ever had on a cruise ship! It made the trip extra special for us.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
We were upgraded to a handicapped balcony cabin and it was excellent. The extra space and the walk in shower was particularly appreciated. The special balcony was extremely nice for breakfast and viewing as it was large and angled forward.

Ship tip

The Noordam is an excellent ship and its size Is "just right". We regret the excessive efforts to market, market market its customers ....jewelry, art work, souvenirs! But the crew is absolutely superb and makes cruising ideal. Note, however, the reservations we had about the Captain.

Ports of call

Cruise Milford Sound

5 out of 5

Cruise Fjordland National Park

5 out of 5

Port Chalmers (Dunedin), New Zealand

5 out of 5

Akaroa, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Wellington, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Napier, New Zealand

5 out of 5

Auckland, New Zealand

1 out of 5
Captain skipped this stop !

Waitangi, Bay Of Islands, New Zealand

1 out of 5
Captain skipped this stop.mhe said it was not possible to get there in time.....but on TV screen it appeared we passed it at 5:00 in the morning we were supposed to stop there!

Sydney, Australia Did not visit port

Our new favorite city!

Noumea, New Caledonia

5 out of 5

Mare Isle, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia

5 out of 5

Mystery Island, Vanuatu

5 out of 5

Lautoka, Fiji Islands

5 out of 5

Dravuni Island, Fiji

1 out of 5

Cross International Dateline

5 out of 5

Pago Pago, American Samoa

1 out of 5
Very poor HAL excursions

Cross The Equator

5 out of 5

Honolulu, Oahu

5 out of 5

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

5 out of 5
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