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Holland America Line

MS Noordam

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Gene Robinson
# previous cruises: 9
Date of Trip: March 3, 2002
Itinerary: Caribbean - Southern

This was an EXCELLENT cruise. My wife and I loved the ship. It was the smoothest riding ship we have ever sailed on. The friendliest crew and the best food we have ever experienced. Would recommend this cruise to couples or more mature families. Families with younger kids would not be happy with this cruise however.

All the lounges and public areas are very comfortable. The main show room( The Admiral's Lounge) could do with more seating however. People would arrive very early and end up re-arranging the seats into a theatre style seating, which is the way is should be set up anyway and then it could accommodate more people. Casino while not huge was adequate. We especially loved the Crow's nest. The lounge on the very top of the ship. We enjoyed Ms. Lia Nichols piano music and games very much. Pools were very nice, pretty much could always find a deck chair. There is a full outside walk around promenade, it was so nice to look upon the ocean from it.

The food was EXCELLENT!!! The items they marked as spicy, really weren't spicy. Just right for me. We ate all our dinners in the dining room, plus once for lunch and twice for breakfast. All excellent. Our waiter was great, how could I say a bad word about him after he gave me all those extra lobster tails, LOL. A nice touch never experienced on other cruise lines, was Mr. Yum, Yum.. He was the doorman who would offer mints, dates, etc. upon leaving the dining room. Another nice touch was the chime master that would go through all the lounges with a chime to announce dinner was ready. We preferred the Lido deck for breakfast and lunch. Food there was abundant an excellent. The waiters came to know you and would put your favorites on your tray like they were reading your mind. After we found a seat Houman(Mr. Coffee) would always seem to find me and bring me a cup of coffee so I wouldn't have to get up to get one. Little touches like this is why HAL is above the rest. Also the Hamburgers were great and the Ice Cream bar had the greatest, creamiest ice cream around.

We were upgraded at the pier to an outside cabin. It was nice to see a little hounding worked. We were on C deck (the bottom=smoother ride) toward the aft. A little noisy but not too bad. But cabin had lots of storage space and was fairly roomy

Entertainment was....different. First let me say that the HAL on board staff saved the entertainment from being pretty bad. The on board dancers and singers were excellent, not as glitzy as other ships we've been on but tops in singing and dancing. Dave LeVeque was the funniest, most unique entertainer I've ever seen. We were very lucky to be on his next to last cruise, hope he comes back after his vacation. Not only was he funny, but he was very interesting, and smart!! He had lectures on star gazing and early explorers.

There was only one kid who was 9 on our cruise so Club HAL was very under utilized on our cruise. While on board we did a lot of the Passport to fitness things, like golf putting, chipping ect. I got 3 holes in one so it was a highlight of my cruise LOL. We also enjoyed name that tune at night in the Crow's Nest. We also enjoyed the various other games on board. Lots of people were enjoying the Card room, playing bridge ect. The internet room was getting more use than I've seen on other ships. The 50 cent a min. fee was (I believe) less than other ships, but they would give each person a free 5 mins. and then everyday you could check to see if you won free unlimited internet for the cruise. We didn't use the health club, but it seemed all the usual stuff was there, pools, and whirlpool were nice, even the pool seemed like it was heated as the water was nice and warm. Ports were great and was the major reason we booked this cruise. One disappointment was missing San Juan due to a problems with the propeller shaft and seal. We couldn't go over 18 knts. or would leak oil past the seal, we found out that the previous cruise the prop got tangled in a fishing net and this must have over stressed something. But we enjoyed St. Thomas, Dominicia, Bonaire, St.Lucia, Barbados, Aruba, Ile deMargarettie, and Grand Cayman.

Passengers were mostly elderly or middle aged. Most were very friendly, but a few were pretty grumpy(was a little surprised at that). Our table mates were just the best. We became very good friends and would invite them over to dinner anytime.