Holland America Noordam

The Noordam is a fairly small ship compared to the megaships that ply the oceans these days, but it’s still big enough to be a full-service cruise ship. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles some ships have like waterslides, ziplines, rock climbing walls, go-karts, skating rinks or any of the other many things various larger ships have. Those aren’t Holland America’s thing. It does still have things to do though.

people hanging out at a bar

If you like a quiet peaceful ship this one had lots of places to hang out away from crowds. Although it was sailing near capacity, one of the benefits of a smaller ship is that it holds less people so there aren’t as many of them crowding into the space that it does have available.

hot tub at the Lido pool

Noordam has all the basic things you expect to find on cruise ships. It has two pools, the main Lido pool and a back deck pool. The back pool is always outside, but the Lido pool has a sliding roof so it can be either an indoor or outdoor pool. There are also hot tubs by the pools. There’s not a whole lot of deck chairs around the pools so of course the usual chair hogs have towels on them all day whether they are actually using the chair or not. There are more deck chairs in other areas of the ship. The back deck behind the pool has deck chairs. There’s some on the upper decks above the pool deck and some along the outside promenade deck on deck 3. Shady chairs are scarce though since the majority of those are all out in the sun.

outside promenade deck

The outside promenade deck circles around the entire ship. Promenade decks that circle the ship are great for walking or running or just as a place to go outside and see the view from any direction. Any but the front anyway, it does have solid structure there. For a front view the Crow’s Nest lounge is the place to go as it has floor to ceiling windows all across the bow. View notwithstanding, it’s actually good that the front part of the promenade is sheltered. It would otherwise be quite windy there whenever the ship is underway.

Crow’s Nest Lounge

Besides having a great view at the front of the ship, lots of places to sit and relax, and a coffee bar that also makes drinks, the Crows Nest lounge had a section set up for puzzles and games. That section included a whole bunch of puzzles and games available for people to use, which a lot of people did.

gym

The gym got quite a lot of use on this ship. It opened at 6am, but should have opened earlier since there were always quite a lot of people wanting to get in before opening time. Some ships leave the gym unlocked for people to use anytime and the official open hours are just for when it is staffed, which is nicer. It doesn’t require staffing to use things like treadmills, elliptical trainers, or exercise bikes. Perhaps they are afraid someone will get hurt when there is nobody there to help.

afternoon tea

Ships generally have activities scheduled throughout the day that people can participate in if they want to. Noordam’s daily activities included things like tai chi, stretching, yoga, walk a mile, origami folding, trivia, coloring or painting, movie of the day, afternoon tea, bridge instruction and games, port talks, nature talks, guest speaker talks, ukelele and dance lessons, lots of different music, and varied things like flower arranging and lei making. Of course there’s always a nightly show.

whale lecture

Pickle Ball seems to be a new thing in cruise ship entertainment and Noordam had some instructions for it as well as a court for people to play in. Other scheduled games included things like shuffleboard, cornhole, mahjong, and poker tournaments – assuming enough people showed up to hold the game. John tried to do the poker tournament a couple times, but they never had enough players to actually hold one. We had better luck with cornhole when we tried that one day since there were enough people to hold the game. It was outside on the top deck in the wind so throwing beanbags in the direction with the wind was a whole lot easier than throwing them into the wind.

casino

Deal or No Deal seems to have replaced BINGO on a lot of cruises now, though our cruise on the Noordam had both. Perhaps because bingo is getting way too expensive to interest the crowds it once had. When we first started cruising we played bingo sometimes because you got a lot of games for not much money. Over the years it has become a lot of money for very few games so we probably weren’t the only ones who gave up playing bingo ages ago. Deal or No Deal is another way to take your money as they take in a whole lot more than they pay out. It’s also somewhat deceiving because the cards you get don’t have all the same amounts as the cases do. Unless you’re the chosen person to pick cases the odds of winning anything aren’t good, and even if you do manage to win something it’s just a pittance. Even that chosen person never gets a very high offer from the imaginary banker. The host from this ship was pretty entertaining though. She was the best part of the game, and you don’t have to buy a card just to watch it.

library at the Explorer’s Lounge

There’s lots of things you can do on a ship to entertain yourself too. Watching for flying fish is always fun. If you happen to have a cabin with a window or balcony near the front of the ship they can often be seen from there. On the Noordam the promenade deck is a good place for that too. Relaxing in a deck chair with a good book is always a nice way to pass some time. For anyone who doesn’t load up their kindle or bring enough books of their own, the Noordam had a brand-new library with quite a variety of books and even a book exchange where people can trade in a book they’ve finished for one somebody else left there.

This duck sat under the bottom stair in the atrium near guest services for about 3 weeks before anybody found it. It could be seen from several places above if you looked in the right spot.

Hiding or searching for ducks is also a fun way to entertain yourself on a cruise. Hiding them is generally more successful than finding any unless a lot of other people on your cruise are also hiding them. We brought a good supply on the Noordam and enjoyed looking for places to put them. Some easily found and others not so much. The more people who hide them the more there are available for finding which makes it more fun for everyone. There were more duck hunters than duck hiders on our cruise so there weren’t a lot available to find, but some people did re-hide the ones they found so that got a few more out and about. We sometimes found our own ducks that other people had moved to new hiding places. Most of the people we talked to had never heard of cruise ducks even though the majority of them had been on many previous cruises. A lot of them said they’d bring ducks in the future – and started hunting them once they knew there were ducks around. Some of the crew like duck hunting too. It makes their day when they find one.

pool at the thermal suite

Noordam has a nice thermal suite in the spa. It costs extra to use it, which can either be as a one-day pass or for the entire cruise. The thermal suite includes the hydropool, heated ceramic chairs, and steam rooms. The spa also has massages and other treatments as well as hair and nail salons, all of which also costs extra. The sauna is located just outside of the thermal suite and is free to use for any passengers.

window display at a ship shop

There’s a variety of shops and this ship did have ship model Christmas tree ornaments available even though our cruise was not at Christmastime so that was a good find for me. That’s the first thing I look for as soon as the ship shops open, and often the only thing I buy if they happen to have them.

Hawaii show

The nightly shows were sometimes mediocre at best, but since this cruise lasted nearly a month it’s not like they could repeat the same shows each week like they do when sailing a series of one-week cruises. They did occasionally have a good one. In Honolulu the ship stayed in port until 11pm so some locals came on board for that night’s show. Though it was the sort of thing you’d find in a small local theater or school type performance, it was something different, a taste of their local culture, and kind of cute. They had another local performance in Tahiti.

Xylosynth show

After Hawaii they got some new outside entertainment onboard. A show called Dawn and David Meyer didn’t sound all that promising, but was actually quite good. He was very energetic and played something called a xylosynth which was a combination of a xylophone and a synthesizer. It could make the sounds of various instruments. He often had two mallets  in each hand and could play it very fast. Dawn came out now and then to dance, mostly in the dark with either handheld brightly lit color changing sticks that looked like light sabers from Star Wars when she first came in before she started moving them around making colorful patterns, or a cloak reminiscent of butterfly wings covered in lights of everchanging colors. Later David played some sort of laser instrument that shot large green light beams upward and made different sounds whenever he put his hand on a beam. They had another show a different night. Their shows were the best shows of the voyage.

the Diamonds

Later they had a singing group called the Diamonds. It consisted of three girls from Australia who performed songs from women’s singing groups of the past. They also did a bit of dancing while they sang. They were better than most of the rest of the nightly shows.

King Neptune

When we crossed the equator they had a cheesy King Neptune ceremony where some of the crew who had not previously crossed the equator got slimed and then either sent to bake in the sun or allowed to rinse off in the pool. It was hot and crowded so we only stayed for the first 3 things. There was a very entitled lady on a small mobility scooter who would yell at anyone who blocked her view even for a second whether it was someone trying to get just one good photo or the professional photographer from the ship. She even yelled at guys dressed as pirates that were part of the show.

life raft demo

There was a life raft demonstration one day that was pretty interesting and fun to watch. Some of the crew were more entertaining than the actual entertainment. Of course rafts are just for the crew. In the event that the ship had to be evacuated passengers would all go to lifeboats. The raft in the demonstration was much smaller than the ones in barrels on the promenade deck that they would actually use if the ship had to be evacuated. Those would not fit in a pool.

some of the Art

There was always something on the schedule, though we generally entertain ourselves and don’t go to a lot of it. Exploring the ship is fun when you first board, and even once you know your way around and where everything is it’s still good exercise to walk around the ship. For anyone who likes art there’s always some to be found in hallways, on stairways, and in some of the other public areas. Statues are also good places to hide ducks.

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