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Holland America Line

MS Noordam

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Vince Sol
# previous cruises: 3
Date of Trip: July 29, 2002
Itinerary: Baltic/Black Sea/Russia

If you want to know something about the history of the countries around the Baltic this is for you. There are palaces and castles galore - each one better than the rest.

My only complaint is that there was only one Sea day.

Although the Noordam is an old ship the public areas were generally very good. However it did get crowded around the shops and also in the buffet at times. Generally plenty of space for all.

As we spent most days on shore there wasn't the opportunity to judge the lounges etc. However there always seemed to be vibrations in the Admiral Lounge making it one of the less enjoyable places + being next to the Lido Buffet people were going through all the time.

Up to the usual HAL standard. Food in the Dining Room was superb and the waiters could not be more helpful.

Lido buffet was fine and there was always a lot of variety. My only complaint is that the coffee was too strong for my liking and there was not the variety of teas I would like (typically British complaints).

Had an outside cabin with a porthole that was adequate. Plenty of closet and drawer space (even under one of the beds).

Bathroom was fine. I am a pretty big guy and I had no trouble fitting in the shower.

There was noise from the air conditioning but once we had sorted it out that wasn't a problem. There was noise from adjoining cabins but fortunately the people were fairly quiet. I wouldn't like to be next door to some teenagers.

The cabin steward was wonderful and the service from the maintenance staff superb.

The shows were fairly good and you didn't have the sense of amateurishness you get sometimes. The pianist was obviously a frustrated actress.

The problem was that there was a very small stage and no proper changing facilities for the entertainers and, in the circumstances, they made a good job of it.

As I say it was a packed itinerary. Starting out from Copenhagen the stops were Tallin, St. Petersburg (2 days), Helsinki, Stockholm, Kalmar, Warnemunde (Rostock/Berlin), Arhus and back to Copenhagen.

In most ports we did our own thing although we did go on some trips - especially St. Petersburg. If anyone is thinking of getting a Russian Visa and looking around on one's own I should warn you that the ship docks some distance from the town and I think taxis cost about $60 to go there. I was glad that I opted for the excursions here and did not go on my own.

There were options of going to Moscow from St. Petersburg but there was such a lot to see at St. Petersburg that one doesn't need to go on a visit by Aeroflop - sorry Aeroflot to Moscow.

Missed out the train trip to Berlin because I had been there recently but did my own day trip by train to Rostock costing 3.45 each and then looked around Warnemunde which was quite interesting.

I think the fact that they would have to fly over the Atlantic put a lot of the American fatsos off. I found that most of the passengers were well travelled and had been to Europe many times including the guy who was doing the cruise back to back 5 times!!!!! There was also a fair sprinkling of Brits.

Some I would invite and others I wouldn't.