Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
Passengers still enjoy cruises on the Noordam, its crew making up in friendliness and helpfulness anything the ship lacks because of its age.
By ROBERT N. JENKINS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 16, 2001
It is the first formal-dress night aboard the Noordam's two-week Caribbean cruise. The line of couples waiting to pose for souvenir portraits -- in front of a photo backdrop of the grand staircase of the Titanic -- stretches dozens of yards through the Piet Hein Lounge.
Business suits outnumber tuxedoes and dinner jackets on the men, loose spangled tops easily lead clingy numbers for the women in this largely senior crowd. There is quiet chatter, the occasional laugh, in the long queue, which is moving forward rather swiftly.
At the photographer's instruction, the couples move to a duct-taped rectangle on the carpet. Two smiles, one pose, one flash.
Could it get much dreamier for this crowd?
Yes, because the trumpet player with the four-piece combo is redeeming his stumble through his solo in the 1930s smoothie, I Can't Get Started. This time, his notes are clear, bluesy, just loud enough.
Life is about as good as it gets aboard one of the oldest cruise ships sailing from North American ports. If these passengers even knew that the vacuum-toilet system was out of commission for a few hours today, they have forgotten. If the ship's heaving as it plowed through the 30-mph tail winds of Hurricane Olga had made them seasick, they have recovered.
Even though they will have to wait in their cinched-in, collar-buttoned finery an extra 14 minutes past the scheduled dining room opening, passengers in the cramped, overheated lobby are forgiving. Once inside the Noordam's formal dining room, they are pampered by the typically solicitous and efficient wait staff.
The passenger at my eight-person table who had ordered iced tea the night before is served a glass of tea almost as soon as the waiter has placed a napkin in the diner's lap.
And the head waiter who brings a cake to help one couple at this table celebrate their 24th anniversary takes the wife's left hand, places it in the husband's right, and then leads his waiters and the tablemates in a gentle chorus of Happy Anniversary, to the Happy Birthday melody.
After dinner, people adjourn to the showroom to watch the ship's seven energetic singers and dancers present a "Broadway in Concert" revue. It could be titled 35 Snippets, Seven Hand Mikes and No Scenery.
Yet the youthful performers pull it off, making the rapid medley and minimal choreography on a small stage an hour of entertainment.
The third day out, one of the two main engines suffers a broken part that forces the captain to shut it down. The ship sails along more slowly on its remaining engine while repairs are made. The Noordam loses seven hours of transit time, which cancels all of the shore excursions planned after the originally scheduled noon arrival in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
There is little the captain can do to make up for this. He has the cruise director add nine pass-the-time activities -- from a showing of Shrek in the movie theater to a sarong-tying demonstration -- to the agenda.
And the captain orders a free glass of wine for anyone staying on board for dinner that night and keeps the ship in port an extra two hours, to "give you the opportunity to enjoy some of San Juan's night life," he says in a letter slipped under each cabin door.
Such lessons in smoothing things over, or in making the common seem enjoyable, may be the secret to why the 1,214-passenger Noordam, like Holland America's nine other newer, larger ships, is successful.
The cruise line's onboard staffers are noted for their gracious service and ready smiles. Usually they are the ones to begin that ubiquitous conversation starter: "Good morning, how are you?" Or, "Are you having a good day? What did you do?"
How many thousands of times have they greeted strangers with what, in our onshore lives, is often just throw-away white noise to our everyday chores, merely acknowledging another person's presence? But the cabin, deck and wait staff seem interested in getting an answer.
Thus, the cabin steward who introduced himself 45 hours earlier in Tampa greets me by name one afternoon as we suddenly meet when stepping from facing cabins. Of course he inquires as to my satisfaction with things.
When I ask a bartender on the pool deck whether this voyage will have Holland America's marvelous rijsttafel (literally, a "rice table" Indonesian buffet), he answers that he does not know but directs me to find a food supervisor and to request it.
There is no hint of "not-my-job" but a concern that perhaps I can make it happen by asking the right person. As it turns out, the rice-based smorgasbord is offered, both indoors and out.
At the other end of the ship, the supervisor of the eight-station Internet cafe shows endless patience in directing -- and redirecting -- the efforts of passengers who think they are computer-savvy until they face an unfamiliar home page and successive screens.
A clerk in charge of the duty-free liquors has to inform a customer that, despite their being listed on an order form filled out by this passenger, two of the requested brands are not in stock.
To make amends, the clerk extends the previous day's 10 percent discount on any other bottles the passenger might want, and he knocks an additional 20 percent off the cost of the priciest Scotch on board.
And so it goes. All the little gestures help passengers settle easily into a ship that is seaworthy and has many amenities, but one that is 171/2 years old. What does that age really mean? Think of a 171/2-year-old car.
The ship was refurbished 19 months ago, with carpeting and bathroom tiles replaced and cabin furniture reupholstered. Nonetheless, tangible aspects of the Noordam's age are easily noticed.
The corridors to passenger compartments are so narrow you can stand against one wall and touch the other. On newer ships, these corridors are probably a foot wider.
Noordam's cabins are 10 to 20 percent smaller than all but one of the other nine ships in Holland America's fleet.
My standard outside cabin, by far the most common on the vessel, measured about 13 by 6.5 feet, including its twin beds and desk/bureau/makeup stand. The bathroom measured a little more than 3.5 by 5.5 feet, including the shower stall and sink-top vanity. Drawer space was good, closet space adequate.
The Noordam has traffic-flow problems on the Promenade deck, the location of most of the public rooms and the main pool.
Passengers heading to the casual restaurant, at the stern of the ship, must pass through the showroom.
To get to the pool, which is behind the restaurant, passengers have to wend their way through narrow passages next to the serving lines and salad bars.
The deck immediately above does allow passengers to reach the pool deck -- by having them pass through the balcony seating for the showroom, the ship's casino and its disco, then going down steep exterior staircases to the pool deck.
Many people would not be comfortable passing through the various public areas in bathing suits, even wearing cover-ups. And no one using a wheelchair, walker or walking stick can use the steep exterior staircases.
A similar flow problem on the Promenade deck is egregious: The only passage from the stern of the ship forward to two of its five lounges, movie theater, tiny library, card room and Internet cafe is by walking through the handful of shops onboard or through one of the largest lounges.
Other symptoms of this ship's age include its lack of cabins with verandas; noticeable engine vibration on upper decks; the single formal and single casual restaurant; its smallish, slow elevators through the nine passenger decks; the modest size of the showroom; narrow passages around tables in the formal dining room; the small space allotted for the spa; and the size of the two swimming pools (while the main pool is small, the other pool, two decks above, is tiny).
There are dozens of ships now sailing from Florida that do not have this many physical drawbacks. But Holland America's ships are categorized as "premium," a notch below the finest and most expensive vessels, and recent pricing cuts have made cruises on this fleet a good buy.
Just as important to consider as price: Are the Noordam's age-related flaws going to detract from cruising aboard it?
Not if the crew can help it.
First two days at sea, port calls at San Juan, Puerto Rico; St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands; and Cabrits, Dominica; cruising the coast of Dominica; Roseau, Dominica; Bridgetown, Barbados; Castries, St. Lucia; a day at sea; Soufriere, St. Lucia; Isla de Margarita, Venezuela; Kralendijk, Bonaire; Oranjestad, Aruba; two more days at sea; Key West, and return to Tampa the following morning
Two-week voyages are unusual among current itineraries. Most cruises run three, four or seven nights, and Carnival's Jubilee, also based in Tampa, offers five-night trips.
But Holland America seldom offers anything less than a seven-night cruise. Nine-, 10-, 14- and 22-night trips are common for this fleet, and there is a voyage each year of about 99 days.
These lengthier itineraries lure older passengers, who have both the time and money to be away from home for extended periods. As a retired English teacher from Oregon told me aboard the Noordam, "It is worth it to fly across the country for this cruise. It's the perfect length of time."
The corollary: A company spokesman told me that when the line's Veendam starts sailing from Tampa next fall on one-week cruises, the average passenger age of the low 60s is expected to drop.
EXOTIC, ANCIENT DECOR: Holland America appeals to its more upscale customers by decorating each of its 10 ships with millions of dollars worth of antiques and artifacts, most reflecting the reach of the Dutch East India Company and the Netherlands' maritime and colonial history.
Thus, the Noordam displays a wall-sized, lacquered folding screen from China, 17th century oil paintings, and two huge, wooden sculptures of Neptune and one of his maidens that date to about 1700.
There are cases of weapons and a large tapestry dating from the 17th century. Several antique ship's models are charming in their details: A "yacht of state" model, carved from wood and delicately painted, has more than a dozen miniature lines running to raised sails. Another model is carved from ivory.
The Crow's Nest, one of four large lounges, has an antique ship's compass in a 4-foot-tall wooden stand, the bar circles a block-and-tackle pulley, and a case displays a telescope and ship's sextant.
The Explorers Lounge has a samurai breastplate and helmet, fanciful wooden sculptures from Indonesia, a 15th century bronze Buddha from China, and several ancient globes.
EATING ONBOARD: As on the Zenith, quantity supplements quality. The five or so nightly entree options typically include American standards such as steak, roast beef, chicken, pork and lamb but also a couple of imaginatively prepared fish dishes and a range of European-inspired items. There is also one dinner featuring Dutch cuisine as well as the Indonesian rijsttafel, the tasty buffet mentioned in the main story.
And as on the Zenith, the Noordam's cafeteria-style casual restaurant next to the pool offers a notable range of items. One day's lunch choices included leg of lamb, cold trout and mackerel, tomato stuffed with baby shrimp, minute steak, wiener schnitzel and fried Pacific sole.
There was also pasta salad, waldorf chicken salad, Italian roasted vegetables and about a dozen items to dress up the two kinds of salad greens.
Meanwhile, the poolside, even-more-casual line offered cold salads, stir-fry vegetables, burgers, hot dogs and the sausage of the day, such as bratwurst.
The free, 24-hour room service includes the dining room menu. Freshly made chocolates are offered after dinner, fresh-baked cookies are served each afternoon, there is an ice cream bar and, seven hours a day, fresh pizza.
SLEEPING ABOARD: According to the company, the most common cabin on the Noordam is the standard outside (with a non-opening porthole) and it measures 177 square feet. The standard inside (no porthole) measures 152. That compares with 197 and 182 square feet, respectively, for the same categories on eight of Holland America's other nine ships.
Nonetheless, there was room enough in the standard Noordam outside cabin for two people to dress at the same time; some ship's cabins barely provide that much room.
Noordam's small bathrooms do not have hair dryers, fairly common on cruise ships now, and there are no in-room safes. Instead, there are locking bureau drawers, with safe-deposit boxes available at the front desk.
The in-cabin television has two movie channels that loop continuous, free showings of two recent movies each. There is also a small theater onboard -- think 8-mm screen -- on which at least one recent release is shown daily.
DUSTY END OF THE STICK: The fourth ship to arrive in Tampa this winter season, the Noordam has the least-choice dock in the Port of Tampa, in a cargo shipping area. The ship ties up on Guy N. Verger Boulevard, which is what 19th Street eventually becomes after two other name changes as it winds through an industrial area.
Long-term parking at the port is $10 a day. That's the fee for those lucky enough to park in the garage near the aquarium and fancy Cruise Terminal docks, where two Carnival Cruise Line ships tie up. But passengers for the Noordam and the Zenith cannot use the garage; Zenith's passengers are directed to park in the open, dusty lot next to the Tampa Port Authority Building.
FOR MORE INFORMATION: There are 15 cabin categories and various pricing periods for the Noordam through its stay in Tampa. Special discounts have had cabins selling for as little as $79 a day on the two-week cruise, but the holiday season is particularly in demand.
Call a travel agent or go to the line's Web site, http://www.hollandamerica.com, for more information or to make reservations.