Another Excellent Alaska Cruise
Noordam Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 2-3 cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 53
7 Night Glacier Discovery Southbound (Whittier To Vancouver)
Sail date: September 10, 2023
Ship: Noordam
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 4095
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 8 months ago
Review summary
Despite some bad weather and rough water on the first day, this was another really great trip. I hope to get to Alaska again in the near future.Embarkation
This was super easy. I walked off the train and across the street to the terminal. There was no line and I was on the ship in less than 5 minutes. The 2 checked bags on the train were delivered to me room within a few hours.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
I ate primarily at the buffet, but also had dinner 1 night at Canaletto, and ate at the Dive In twice for lunch. No complaints at all with the food or service. Even though the Dive In has a limited list of pre-configured burgers and hot dogs, they will happily let you order one plain or with the toppings on the side so you can come up with your own combination.
Onboard Activities
I made extensive use of the spa, both from purchasing the 7 day thermal suite pass and massage services and highly recommend both. The heated lounge chairs in the thermal suite are a great way to relax while also enjoying the view.
Service and Staff
Service, across the board, was excellent.
My room stewards did a great job keeping my room clean, taking care of an occasional request, and letting me back into my room the few times I forgot to bring my room key with me. Always with a great attitude and smile too. They work really hard and their efforts are really appreciated.
Similarly, the Lido Buffet staff works super hard and does a great job making and serving the food, making sure any beverage needs are taken care of, keeping the tables clean, etc.
The spa staff on the Noordam is also fantastic and I can't recommend them highly enough. They do their best to accommodate any requests and scheduling needs and keep the thermal suite facilities and changing rooms clean.
Ship Quality
I was on 2 trips on the Noordam this summer and found my way around with very little trouble even on the first trip, which was also my first cruise. Despite being a bit on the old side, the ship is very well maintained and the state rooms are pretty up to date.
Cabin / Stateroom
My cabin was exactly what I wanted. It was plenty big enough, comfortable, and clean. Storage and layout are very well thought out to maximize the limited amount of space. Everything was in very good condition and the room stewards did a great job keeping everything clean.
Ship tip
If you take the forward elevator to the Lido deck, be aware that you have to take a bit of a convoluted loop around the spa area to get to the pool and buffet. This is the one thing that I saw a lot of people struggling with.
Thumbs up
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Ports of call
We had pretty bad weather the day we cruised Hubbard Glacier. The water was very rough in the morning, to the point where there were massive waves in the pool up on the Lido deck. I could see well enough to determine this might be nearly as good as Glacier Bay, but will need to go again and hope for better weather next time.
Glacier Bay is an absolute must see if you've never been there before. Now that I've been there twice, I might consider itineraries that skip it on future trips, but this is one of those places that can be enjoyed many times over.
While it isn't the only excellent option, I highly recommend the train ride here. It's a very scenic trip that I've done twice now. Sit on the left side of the car on the way up if you can as it's the much more scenic side. Though the train turns around at the top, making the right side the scenic side for the return, the perspective is different. Our car was fairly empty, so most of us switched sides for the ride back.
We had bad weather on this day as well, so I stayed on the ship, but there are tons of options in Juneau. Mendenhall Glacier and the Mt. Roberts Tram are 2 inexpensive options that are well worth it. If the weather isn't clear, don't bother taking the tram ride as you won't be able to see anything.
Ketchikan is a bit on the odd side. If you stay right near the port, it's fairly nice, but once you head a bit away, the town seems very run down.
On my first trip in July, I took an excursion on a boat and didn't explore much beyond the port area, so I went away with a nice impression of Ketchikan.
This time, I booked an excursion through cruises.com, "Highlights of Ketchikan", and came away a lot less impressed. The tour started with a short drive to a building where we were given a very brief carving demonstration and shown a collection of local (stuffed) animals to give us an idea of the wildlife one might see in the area. After the very brief presentation, we were invited to purchase items, which felt like the main point of that stop. Next, we stopped on a bridge over a river that salmon were running up. This stop was short, but somewhat interesting. Next, we drove to the Saxman Totem Park, which is smaller than I had expected, but was definitely well worth stopping at and spending a bit of time. Finally, before heading back to the port area, the driver took us to a nature observation area where there was a possibility of seeing bears. There weren't any bears, but there were lots of birds and some seals fighting over fish. This tour was OK, but wasn't what I'm used to from HAL tours. The driver was wearing torn jeans, an old jacket, and just didn't seem as professional as I'm used to. He also struggled to keep the tour on schedule and we ended up returning to the port a solid 40 minutes behind schedule (but well within time to make it back to the ship). While the tour content other than the first stop was decent, nothing really knocked my socks off and we spent a significant part of time driving through parts of Ketchikan that are very run down, which definitely took away from the enjoyment, though probably showed us a more authentic view of Ketchikan.
If the weather is clear, this is a very scenic day on the ship. Just sit back and enjoy the view between whatever other activities you decide to do this day.
Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia
Getting off the ship and out of the terminal was fairly quick and easy. I decided to go with the HAL organized hop-on hop-off bus tour with luggage transfer to my hotel. They aren't kidding when they say there's limited space for bags on the bus as the seats are typical school bus seats with very little leg room and there isn't any overhead space to put things. The loop stops at a number of interesting locations, but it's best to do some research ahead of time to decide what you may want to do. Be aware that the pick up locations are marked with a very small sign, so it's important to pay attention to where they are so you can get back on the bus later. Also be aware that heavy Canada Place traffic on Sundays slows the bus down significantly later in the morning and into the afternoon if there are multiple ships in port. Once I was done with the bus, I took the train out to the airport and was able to get a shuttle ride to my hotel. My luggage arrived at the hotel, as promised, in the early evening.
Disembarkation
Getting off the ship was quick and easy.