Wim de Wit

Age: 59
Number of Cruises: 5
Cruise Line: Holland America Line
Ship: Noordam
Sailing Date: February 16th, 2002
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean

After a long flight of 14 hours via Memphis we arrived in Tampa, where we stayed in the HILTON TAMPA APT WESTSHORE hotel. In our opinion we got a single-room and not a double since there was one small bed, but we were tired so we did not make troubles.

We booked this cruise because of the ports of call Aruba and Bonaire. We did already the Western and Eastern Caribbean. Of Course the beautiful warm weather was also very important.

The NOORDAM is rather old. Built in 1984 she has some defects which need maintenance. During our cruise there was something wrong with the airco, though it must be said, that we did not have noticed much of the inconvenience. Perhaps the temperature in the dining room which was extremely cold near the window.

The food was very good both in the restaurant and in the Lido.

The service of the staff was excellent and friendly in the restaurants as well as in the bars.

We enjoyed the stops on the islands of Aruba and Bonaire. With 6 other cruise-friends, we met during our transfer to Tampa on the airport of Memphis, we hired a taxi and went on Dominica to the National Park and to the beach of hotel Castaways. We visited the volcano of Soufriere on the beautiful island of St. Lucia. On Barbados we were witness to a nice parade in Bridgetown.

A very pleasant surprise, appreciated by all, was the invitation of the captain Mr. Jan Smit and the hotel-manager Mr. Jan Scheringa for a cozy meeting with the Dutch passengers in the Horne Pipe Club. This cruise there were 41 people from the Netherlands on board whereas mostly the number is about 12/14.

We liked the shows of the Noordam cast more than the comedians, because the jokes are difficult to understand for us in English and several times I fell asleep. But they were certainly good, since the American and Canadian audience had great fun.

Overall we again had a great cruise-experience in spite of the vibration of the ship. The ship can't be compared with the newest generation of cruise-ships, but she still is a real ship with a real wraparound teak deck.

If you have any question, please feel free to email me.

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