Noordam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The cruise was excellent.  Crew was fantastic and our Travel Agent, Laurie, was the best.  Then embarkment and disembarkment was well organized, along with the two tender ports.

Excellent embarkation & debarkation systems are in place.  HAL does a great job in this area. Itinerary was well chosen except we could do without the Half Moon Cay, like been there done that.   

The room  was nice comfortable and in good location which was great and the cabin men took good care of us. Beyond that the rest is very much on the negative. Entertainment was marginal at best, additional entertainment areas were too small and not condusive to watching, one venue  BB King band definitely too loud for the small room they were playing in. The ventriloquist had only a few minutes at the end of his act which was entertaining the rest was terrible. The food was not what I had become accustomed to on cruise ships and the seating arrangements were poor and uninviting. Now for the biggest disappointment which were the excursions. The tour guides where more in a hurry to get you there and back then they were about providing scenery and educating you about the historical aspects of the islands. In particular one excursion (St. Thomas) was like getting on a van and speeding to the end which was only a shop to purchases things. Felt like I spent $49.00 just to be taken to a gift shop. In summary the worst cruise ever.

The cabin was great, bathroom with two sinks and a tub and shower! The cabin service was not as efficient as previously; the cabin stewards had too many people to work for. The bar service was terrible! I had to go to the bar to order our drinks after waiting 20 minutes then after another 20 minutes I went up and got my husbands drinks-- another 15 minutes I went and got my drinks. The only time we saw the waiter was when he brought the bill. why did we pay a service charge for that? The food sometimes very good sometimes very poor. The Mariners lunch was really poor. Food took over an hour and then they sent to wrong order to the room. Instead of these tedious meals why don't you give internet time, like Princess. The entertainment was adequate.

Overall OK. I would  cruise with you again if the price was right.

We had been looking forward to this cruise with great anticipation.  We were not disappointed.  The day of departure wens smoothly, bus from the airport to the ship was on time and our baggage was handled expeditiously.  Our stateroom/suite was ready when we boarded the ship -- the friendly attendants introduced themselves right away.  We had been on the Noordam once before so were familiar with the ship.  Dining was excellent, we ate several meals in the Pinnacle Grill, including the Master Chef's Dinner and LeCirque -- other meals in the Vista Dining room were excellent as well, we had friendly dinner companions and an attentive pair of stewards.

The itinerary was very interesting.  We didn't do too many shore excursions, frequently just went into the port and walked through the town.  I enjoyed doing the 12 Metre racing in St. Maarten, and we both enjoyed the Glass Bottom Boat at Half Moon Cay.  We had been to several of the ports and renewed acquaintance with people we had met on other visits.  Life on the ship was fun, we always play trivia and found a good group to play with.

The disembarkation was well-planned and went smoothly.  We were delayed in Customs and the bus to the airport left before we were through.  A second bus was provided and we had no trouble making our flight home.

All in all  you can't go wrong with HAL.

 But this cruise wasn't as nice as the previous 8 ones.

 Samana is a turn off because the ship is anchored a mile off the land , ...if there is rough water, you're in for a ride .  If you don't have a trip booked with HAL, you're going to be the last to get aboard the tenders ...it might very well take more than 3 hours .. so don't book an excursion on your own as a group of us did... This fact wasn't known until we got there... which to me isn't  transparent or  a sign of  respect for HAL cruisers.

 Dinning room  and service is always top k noch  and the food is always very good.

 One aspect we didn't like this time was the lunch on Half Moon Key.Not up to HAL's reputation for good food.

 get the tender and go to the lido and comeback to the island for the rest of the afternoon.

We hope this will help the company make some changes  and the future cruisers.

We loved the Noordam. This was our first time in the Caribbean, and although we felt like we needed to find out what it was like, it was not as interesting to us as Europe or the Pacific. 

Ship badly in need for refurbishment (wear and tear showing, rust on speaker covers, staterooms need do over, steamer tables not working), definitely for the over 80 crowd (food prep and taste directed at this age group with same menu items repeated daily), closed up decks and food serving after 8pm, second no third rate entertainment when available, hi-light of cruise was daily trivia at 3:30 and library was open til 11pm (for chess and checkers).  Ports of call were excellent (islands beautiful) however you had to return to the Noordam.  Appears after Carnival took over, Holland America has certainly gone down hill.  I have taken over 20 cruises and cannot recommend Holland America at this time.

Compares with RCL. We have cruised Princess, Celebrity, Costa, RCL and Cunard approximately 35-40 times. We find HA to be slightly better than RCL in many ways. And in other ways just slightly worse. We will sail HA again and recommend to others.

Driving out of the port areas is the most beautiful views of the countryside and the food was great

On the ship what I enjoyed the most was the Spa, the pool there is so relaxing. The food at the Grill and the service are not to be missed Everything was super.

We have sailed on many ships and cruiselines and found this ship to be an nice, average ship. 

The food is good.  The selections in the dining room are not a diverse as we seen on other ships.  Usually I want to order 2 or 3 of the entrees.  On this ship I was trying to find 1 thing I wanted a few nights of the 12 night cruise.  The service is good.  The staterooms are clean and our room attendant staff was excellent. 

They let kids swim in all the pools.  On most ships the kids are not allowed in one of the pools that are reserved for adults.  Here while we were trying to relax in the "Serenity" pool kids were screaming, jumping and splashing without adult supervision.  We could not find a spot by the pool to just relax.

They also charge a $18 per bottle uncorking fee for every bottle of wine you bring on.  This is excessive in my opinion.

The service was tired and nervous as we started the cruise.  They calmed and were friendlier as time went on. Generally they tried their best to please. I really liked the dinner servers.

We had a problem with plumbing in our cabin bathroom.  3 times.  Tried to let it go, but they were discouraging incidents when we were to be having the vacation of a life time. They took care of it promptly.

The decor was a bit tired.  The room was dated. 

Finally at end of trip I bought a photo and paid for it.  I have never received it,  and I have contacted the picture people and the cruise line.  If they cant deliver my picture I would have liked a refund.  

I had a previous good experience on the Holland America but this time i felt I made a bad choice.

We were very pleased with our 11 night Mediterranean cruise on the Noordam.  The ports of call were very good although one of the ports was substituted.  Therefore, we were in Sicily on Sunday when many businesses were closed so this was our least favorite. Food was very good and the ship was clean.  The staff were friendly.  Our room stewards, Joe & Will did an excellent job keeping our room clean.  Roni who was ourside the dining room each night with mints, etc. was very friendly and had a great personality.  He remembers names and makes all feel welcome.  We had open dining so had different servers each night.  All were good but we especially enjoyed Enrico.  The entertainment provided by the Noordam singers and dancers was very good.  Entertainment on other nights was not as enjoyable. The entertainment by Michael in the piano bar was excellent. 

It would have been nice if the front desk staff could assist with departure airline check-in rather than having to purchase internet minutes for that purpose.

Stateroom toilet did not work 4 mornings in a row.  However, we were fairly compensated.  Casino was very smoky!  During lunch the food trays were oten empty; items were not refilled soon enough.  Boarding and Disembarkation went smoothly. 

This was our 6th cruise and 2nd with Holland America Line. This was by far the best itinerary we've had. The islands were beautiful and the beaches were to die for. The costs were resonable on all the islands and shopping was great. The services were very good to excellent on this cruise. Overall, higly recommend this cruise!

The staff and crew in all departments were awesome! The entertainment was excellent! The ship was very clean, in great repair (except for 1 public toilet which did not flush) and the decor was elegant & classic. However, the main problem was the food which was average. In addition to that, the lines at the buffet (especially for breakfast) were super long because there were not enough stations. The food in the dining room was better but still not what is being promoted and what we expected. Also, the portions were super small. Last but not least, the ship was the smaller, old fashioned design and it seemed to have no stabilizers.  

I thought I was upgrading from the Princess line which I enjoyed.

It started bad when we dropped our 2 bags off at baggage collection. The handler demanded money before he would take our bags. The other couple with us were floored for we had tip money to give to him after he would say he would take care of them.

Boarding the ship was very efficient.

The ship looked crisp and clean. Our state room was ok but the carpet needed to be washed.

We had a great time at the New Years party. Some of the entertainment at the lounges were sub standard. Only one show at the theater was good.

We were surprised that some of the bar waiters were rude especially that personel were supposed to be pleasant.

We had a group of 11 and we sat at the same table in the dining room most nights. Our waiter was great and one night we went to the steakhouse and he sent us all a large shrimp cocktail.

The food was nothing to write home about. They tried to impress us every night by naming this great chef and their specialities of the night.

We won a day at the spa . It was very nice.

Activities on the ship were ok.

Not much time on shore especially if you took a tour.

Had a wonderful time. Loved our stateroom and the ship- lots of areas to spread out. We felt like the areas you had to pay extra for were used by very few people and a waste of space (pay extra hot tub and verandas)-poor idea!  We had 12 of us and we enjoyed so much  other than at dinner we had to split up as they only had tables as large as 10. We really wanted to stay together. The shore excursions were good but not as good as booking through private excursions.The food was delicious especially breakfast and dinner choices. We came in late from shore excursions and several times found all food stations closed down. It would be nice to have alittle available (soups, salad). All in all a great trip!

As a lot of cruisers are seniors or nearly seniors, I highly recommend that you reinstate the trays in the lido.  I'm talking smaller trays that would accompany a plate and a beverage with a well for the beverage.  As people age, the tendency is to becomes less balanced and also the wrists become weaker making it more difficult to carry heavy plates.  Also, there is a severe problems with going back and forth for food, beverages and water, therefore, making the hot itmes cold.  I know your reasoning and I wholly agree about rhe food waste which is prohibitive. However, on this cruise there were many instances when the food bins were not refilled and many times when there was no bread at all.  The people serving as so busy and there are so few of them that they just don't have time to refill items in a timely fashion.  

If you consider yourselves on the luxury side of cruising, you certainly are not living up to thata reputation.   So many things have been eliminated and cut entirely that you are certainly not the once proud line you used to be.  The dining service was etremely slow in that it took over 2 hours to finish a meal.  The portions are much smaller and not as tasty as they used to be.  In one year, I've seen very dramatic changes.  I know that change is inevitable but there are some places that your cuts are way too extreme.

Please rethink some of the changes especially the tray situation in the lido.  This would make idining there more pleasurable and creating less havoc and congestion.  You have very fine vessels so please reconsider some of the cuts and make changes that would make sailing with Holland a  much more  pleasurable experience.

Not the cruiselines fault but too many changes in schedule made it really hard to book excursions and other plans. Kind of a stressful experience. The ship was older needed a couple of repairs. Employees of the ship were a little grumpy.