Noordam TransAtlantic

We just returned from this cruise on Holland America's older ship, the Noordam. About two-thirds of the passengers were on a back to back and had gotten on in Rome; we flew into Lisbon, Portugal and cruised "home" from there.
A TransAtlantic cruise is a different kind of cruise to begin with; it is a repositioning cruise to get the ship from one cruise area to another. They are seldom "port intensive" cruises but they can offer you many days of relaxing on the water cruising. They can also have the roughest crossings because they are crossing the middle of the ocean either at the beginning of the season or at the tail end of a season. This one was from the very last of the Mediteranian season to cross to pick up the Caribbean season. These are BASIC definitions and I was amazed at the folks on our cruise complaining about the lack of ports! HELLO!!!!!
HAL cabins are bright, cheerful, immaculately clean and well cared for. They are also good sized by cruising standards; our deluxe cabin was the first cabin off the balcony of the show lounge but was separated by a door into our hall which muffled most sounds. I loved this cabin because it was extraordinarily centered and had easy access to literally ALL parts of the ship! Now; nine days in a row at sea! The schedule called for a stop in the Azores but awful weather & gale-force winds forced a cancelation of those stops -our first and only stop would be Half-moon Cay in the Bahamas. My husband was in "Hog heaven".
One of the additions to our cruise that we thoroughly enjoyed was a cooking extravaganza in the show lounge one morning showcasing some very different kinds of food Sushi, spring-roll, crab cakes & sauce, cream puffs. We watched from the balcony as they brought out tray after tray of beautiful samplers -and, amazingly -watched people go thru the buffet with full plates -sometimes two, visiting with the chefs & asking questions! We slept in most mornings so we had just had breakfast and the amount of food was enough to make you a little urpy [ is that a word?] but 12 trays of cream puffs and eclairs were gone in under a half an hour! Amazing! Another afternoon extravaganza was a main diningroom buffet that is usually only done on the World Cruises - amazing ice sculptures, watermelon cut-outs, and food displays. The ONE that tickled me [ among many WONDERFUL things] was egg penguins sliding down a mayonaise hill; lobster or shrimp tails, olives, and something yellowgold forming a beak; they were wonderful & entirely edible, according to the chef.
As always on HAL, the Indonesian & Filipino crew are one of their greatest assets. These young people work incredibly long hours & do an incredibly efficient job -and visit with you in a friendly manner I've NEVER experienced on other lines - it is not that Princess, for example, is bad - their foreign crews are great too; its just that HAL does it all one BETTER! They remember your name, they visit with you to the VERY best of their ability [ I wish I spoke as many languages] and they seem genuinely to care!
By the time we reach Half Moon Cay, everybody was ready for an at-shore day -but the weather didn't cooperate. Hubby & I went ashore and swam for about a half an hour in the decidedly cool water -it felt good. Visited with a few folks and clammered on board again in time for dinner in the Lido diningroom.
The usual on board activities were available - Casino [ did not pay well; do any of them?] Bingo [ God, save me from Bingo] a well stocked library [ I read 4 books] movies both in a theater and on your room TV, Trivia games, shops that enticed every day with something different, lectures [ David Pasta did a 3-lecture series on plate-techtonics or the moving of the earth's crust as relates to volcanos, dinosaurs, ecology, and today's weather and climate. All three were terrific & well attended.] and various programs usually found on cruise itineraries.
Most of the cruisers were old-timers and knew exactly what to expect on this kind of cruise; the rough weather was not only NOT a problem, many seemed to enjoy the challenge. I did see one woman out that first night with a look of total terror on her slightly green face, but by and large it was just a normal "at sea" day with a bit of a challenge to stand up [ you COULD land in someone's lap!]
Would we do it again? In a flash; we had planned for this cruise and we were delighted with its content. It was an 11 day, transAtlantic from Lisbon to home -one very long travel day and a shorter one "home" and our 10th cruise -third with HAL. The thing I want to say to those who would have been unhappy; do your homework! If you DON'T like "at sea" days, this was NOT your kind of cruise; The food was EXCELLENT and always served piping hot! Dishes that were spicy were marked as such with a star [ my tummy can't take that, and I appreciated the little stars] The cost was below the average cost of an 11 day cruise - and that allowed us the three OTHER cruises we took during this calendar year! AND it allowed us to see Portugal -a new country to us. Enjoy!

Noordam Cruise Review

This is my first review so bear with me, I am not a very good writer. My husband and I cruised for the first time on Holland America. We sailed on the Noordam 2 weeks ago. We have sailed on Celebrity several times so were anxious to compare them.
I purchased our own air and got our transfers thru HAL. We flew into EWR and that was so much better than LGA. Our transfer to the ship was by private car which was very nice and the driver was friendly.
It took 2 hours to go thru security at the cruise terminal. They were very organized but it just takes a long time to board that many people. I did notice that our so called express check-in line was the longest so not so express after all.
We were surprised that no one offered to help with our carry on bags or escort us to our cabin but were directed to the right hallway.
Our cabin was a verandah on verandah deck 5.The only problem that I had with the location was we were right above the life boats. The cabin was very nice with good closet space. The 2 bedside tables each had 2 drawers and 1 drawer each had a lock and key you could take with you along with the safe in the closet. Our bath had a full size tub with shower and counter space with a full shelf below and shelves in the medicine cabinet. There was a desk/dressing table with lighted mirror and lighted magnifying mirror that
you could move to different positions. There was a cabinet with shelves but no rawer and 1 of the shelves had bar glasses . There was a mini fridge, flat screen TV and DVD player. We had a small couch and table in the sitting area. Beds were very comfortable with comforter and huge fluffy pillows.
Our cabin steward took great care of us.
This was our first Verandah Cabin and now I can truthfully tell my clients that they are so worth it and once you have one you will never not want a verandah.
The ship is beautiful and very easy to get around the decks. The whole staff was friendly and kept everything spotless. At every eating area there were hand sanitizer dispensers and noticed that almost everyone used them.
We had 2nd seating in the dining room which now is anytime between 8pm-9pm.
The food was good but not what I would call excellent. Our waiter was good but the first couple of nights we had to keep asking for drink refills but after that he did get better.
Up in the Lido Cafe the buffet was ordinary but good. There also was a pizza and pasta buffet, Chinese, sandwich deli, taco bar and the grill with hamburgers, hotdogs and chicken. There was several flavors of ice cream with different toppings served most of the day.
We did eat in the Pinnacle Grill one evening and were glad we made
reservations days in advance as it was very popular at night but not so much for lunch. The food and service was excellent. I still do not understand why you need to pay extra for a meal to get better quality and service on a cruise line that is supposed to have that anyway.
The shows in the lounge were the best we have ever seen on a cruise and our Cruise Director was fantastic.
We did go to some of the Culinary demonstrations in their special Culinary Arts Center which also is used for a movie theater and show lounge. That was neat and you got samples of what was cooked. Now my husband expects me to make the same meals at home. In his dreams!!
Unfortunately we did have to come back to reality but the disembarking was very easy and un-stressful. We had the usual color and number coded cards to tell us when we could get off but were able to wait in our cabin with room service until time. We were very surprised to find all of our bags sitting together in the baggage claim and were on our bus in 5 minutes.

All in all we had a fantastic cruise.