Life on Board the Noordam

Steve’s Special Day

On this cruise, Ukulele lessons were offered. Steve decided to try it out. Every sea day at 1 p.m., he went off to his lessons. After the 3rd lesson, he announced his class would put on a concert. We were excited, but Steve was nervous.

The only time the class had to practice was during the lessons. That made it harder to learn the music for the concert. In Honolulu, several members of the class, went out to purchase their own Ukuleles. Steve already had one at home, which did not really help him on board the ship.

Finally, the big day came for the concert. Additionally, they had a group of people who were learning hula dances. They were mostly women with one brave man. During the introduction to the performance, the MC gave us the history of the hula dance including the prominent role of the male dancers.

At last, the Ukulele Band was ready to perform. When I looked at Steve, he had a look of extreme concentration on his face. Finally, he looked up, smiled, and waved. He did great!!!! Not sure why he was so nervous.

Holland America’s Noordam

Here are some basic facts about the Noordam. It was built in 2006 and refurbished in 2017. It can carry 1,924 passengers with approximately 800 crew. The length is 936 ft and 105.4 ft in width. It is a Vista Class ship made by the Fincantieri Shipbuilding Co in Trieste, Italy. It has several dining areas, a fitness center, a casino, several bars, a large main stage for entertainers, shops, pickleball courts, and 2 pools, one of which has a retractable roof. Our favorite place is the Crows Nest on the 10th deck, which we call “10 Forward”. If you are not a Star Trek Next Generation fan “10 Forward” is the bar lounge area on the Starship Enterprise in the Next Generation Series. The views are spectacular with its wall of windows. You can enjoy this view in comfort even when the weather outside is either too hot or cold or rainy.

Halloween

We did get to spend Halloween on board the ship. It was not one of the days, we skipped as we crisscrossed the International Dateline. The Lido (buffet) was decorated with ghosts and pumpkins. Witches were running around with a cameraman in tow so you could get your photo taken with a witch. There was a party in the Rolling Stone Lounge with music, dancing, and goodies.

Orange Party

Every cruise year-round, Holland America’s ships have an Orange Party — inspired by King’s Day celebrations — and guests receive an email prior to departure inviting them to bring orange attire to wear to the festivities. What a party they hold. There are some very creative ways to display your orange. The Dutch treats start flowing and you could actually make a meal out of the goodies they passed around.

Learning to Play Bridge

On day 1 of the cruise, I saw that Bridge lessons were available. Jenna and I decided to try it. OMG! The teacher was amazing. The first few lessons were easy then reality hit. Wow, if you play Bridge then you understand. The game is filled with code for what you are bidding, and then there is a dummy hand. We persevered. Every sea day we devoted a couple of hours to learning Bridge. We downloaded 2 tutorial apps on our phones so we could practice. We are now playing with the intermediate players. They are very kind to us and are helping to mentor and guide us. It’s been a blast. We are sad because our teacher is getting off the cruise ship in Sydney, Australia. Jenna and I are thinking of trying to find a Bridge Club when we get home. You’ll notice the pictures are of the lessons that’s because when we play it’s hard to take photos when you are trying to figure out how to respond to a “2 no trump” bid.

Melbourne Cup

We have a lot of Australians on this cruise and they organized a party in the Rolling Stone Lounge so anyone who wanted could watch the Melbourne Cup Horse Race. So we did! They had a lottery system for placing bets on the horses. We placed bets. We looked up the horses to see who was running, it seemed like the thing to do. A horse named, “Without a Fight” won. Turns out his jockey also won last year. Steve won with his horse “Future History” who came in third place. It was a fun afternoon.