Background: The three of us have about 18 months of cruising experience total on a variety of ships. Although we have sailed on Holland America (HAL) before, this was our first cruise on the Noordam, the latest in its Vista class. We booked a veranda on the Holiday cruise to the Caribbean out of New York City. The Noordam's passenger mix on this cruise was less the traditional HAL crowd and more like Princess or Royal Caribbean passengers, with fewer seniors and more working adults. We had 166 children onboard (only half of what I expected) of whom 60% were teenagers, and all were remarkably well-behaved and obedient.

Embarkation: We drove to New York City (4 ½ hours for us). The port was easy to find - you can park literally next to the ship and even hear the announcements from your car! And what a sight she is! Over 950 feet long, the Vista-class ships are outfitted with Holland America's well-known blue and white dEcor and prominently displayed nameplate. Though lacking the graceful lines of classic passenger lines, tending toward the boxy frame of contemporary floating apartment blocks, this is somewhat minimized by verandah balconies that recess a bit further with each deck, creating a stairstep appearance to her silhouette. Unfortunately, one of our bags was lost, despite our delivering it in the terminal itself, showing up minutes before we sailed and slightly damaged. Our next-door cabin neighbor had major damage to her luggage. I was not surprised - I saw longshoremen literally throwing bags onto the ship's access ramp! Very unprofessional. Check-in procedures are quite easy: after showing our passports at the door, we proceeded through the standard metal detector, then across a vast room to a row of check-in desks similar to an airport lobby. You must present your passport a second time and cruise contract. You will need to fill out immigration forms, but they are available on the HAL web site for your completion well before arrival. You will also register your credit card for your onboard account, eliminating the need to do this after boarding the ship. The staff took our pictures for our boarding passes and gave us a pocket guide with a deck plan for the entire ship, which you will surely need throughout the week. Shoreside service was very courteous and professional from the guest services representatives. Because we were in line early when the doors opened, we were in the first group to board precisely at the announced time of 11:30. We went through the customary photo shoot and crossed the gangway to experience the adventures of the Noordam.

Cabin: Our cabin 4014 was a verandah stateroom well forward on the port side, 4th deck. The room is standard for newer HAL ships - nearly 200 square feet in size, twin beds that combine to form a queen, very firm mattresses, many small pillows that plump up, adequate closet space for three people to hang garments, but insufficient drawer space to avoid clutter. The sleeper sofa was not as comfortable as in prior cruises. There is no living space between doorway and bed, unlike lower-deck staterooms and suites, because the room is reconfigured to allow access to the verandah. However, the balcony was roomier than I imagined, easily allowing for 3 or even 4 chairs and a table and footrest. The bathroom is large enough to move around, and the counter space and cabinet were more than adequate to store our toiletries. It remains a mystery, however, why the electric outlets for the hair dryer are outside the bathroom - I suppose the designer thought that passengers would rather look out the window than stay in the bathroom to dry their hair! Hopefully this design flaw will be corrected in a future upgrade. Our room steward Oki was responsive and visible, not at all like some ships where the room steward becomes invisible upon departure. He fulfilled our requests for service, and his twice-a-day visits were very efficient and welcome. And the towel animals and chocolates on our pillows every evening were a nice touch. Laundry service is reasonably priced - just stuff all you can into a large laundry bag for $12, though dry cleaning is no bargain compared to land prices. However, service was very slow - up to three days to return a bag of laundry! We were told that 75 staterooms had laundry in at one time, and the laundromat was unable to handle the load, despite running round-the-clock. Our entreaties to both the steward and front office had no effect on expediting the laundry service. The lack of any self-service laundromat is a bone of contention, and I hope HAL will reverse their decision to remove self-service laundromats from the Vista-class ships (you can still do-it-yourself on the older ships). The Neptune Lounge is HAL's concession to a class society - only suite guests and top-line verandahs may enter this concierge lounge and enjoy the fresh fruit and coffee, hostess, priority reservations at the alternative restaurant, CNN on the big screen TV, magazines - jut like an upscale hotel lobby. Read more