Should you choose Holland America Line? Watch this before booking! 

I have a Facebook channel I started 11 months ago for the Noordam when I couldn't find one to participate in. We are approaching 5K now which is amazing in that amout of time. 99% of the people on there are so caring & helpful. I think this reflects the HAL cruiser in general. I've been all over the world on multiple HAL ships & several things remain constant. The staff onboard are always terrific, good food, great music & the people I meet are always interesting & kind. I travel solo, so I enjoy meeting & getting to know my fellow cruisers. I'm so glad you enjoyed the Noordam. I had a wonderful 2 weeks in Alaska last July/Aug on her. Next for me is 39 days in the Med. in October & November on the Nieuw Statendam. If you haven't tried a Pinnacle class ship, I highly recommend it!

Thank you for the video. I am going to be on the Noordam in September, my 12th Holland America cruise, the best line for me

Hello.. been following you since the beginning! Since you are on Splendor, could you peek at cabin 903 which connects to Grand suite 901. Sailing her in August and concerned of the connecting door to grand suite. I've searched everywhere and nothin on the adjoining cabins of grand suite on deck 9 (903, 904). Often when optional rooms adjoin suites they can be different in decor and touches. Sometimes for better, or worst. Lovely if you can provide any real live experience insight!

We always do 3 laps of promenade deck after each meal, to walk off the lovely food

Thank you for such a quality review

I love the quality and content of your videos. Keep up the good work. You guys just sold me on HAL. I've never understood people that go on Vacati😍n and nip pick the ship itself. People, these are metal ships sitting on salt water.

We Tried HAL For The First Time After 23 Princess Cruises And Were Pleasantly Surprised. We Sailed On The Eurodam Out Of Seattle To Alaska For 7 Days Then Arrived In Seattle And Jumped On The Royal Princess For Back To Alaska For 7 More Days. I Do See More HAL Cruises In Our Future. Thank You For Sharing Your Cruises With Us.

Does Noordam have Marine Starlink?

Lovely looking food. We did a similar cruise a few years ago on Celebrity Solstice. Syd-Melb-NZ. Lovely also seeing my home city on your video: Melbourne (yes on our cruise we arrived into our home city for the day) and the apartments along Port Melbourne promenade. On ours we had thick fog outside Melbourne. And one of the highlights was leaving The sounds in NZ and being guided out by the dolphins escorting the ship out.

Wow. I kind of want to learn more about HAL’s history, realizing I don’t know much about it as it turns up. Talk about happy Titanic month! As much as I’ve been saturated with Titanic, there really is always something new to learn about her. You always make any and every destination appetizing. So now I HAVE to sail Australia. …AND check out that “Wasn’t Expecting THIS” video. I. Could. Not. With that! There’s dry British humoUr, and then there’s wow-that’s-a-really-good-cappuccino-from-London British humoUr.

The way Helen looks at Rich and the constant smiles to each other. Absolutely beautiful! Amazing review from the both of you.

Great review what a lovely couple you are.

Some male kangaroos can be aggressive but generally speaking they’re pretty placid. Glad you enjoyed it

Enjoying your comments but one part just shocked me. You were able to film pieces of their dancing production. I just came back from a Norway cruise on Nieuw Statendam where they did not allow filming their dance company presentations in the theater. It was kind of disgusting how they refer to our "vacation videos" in a kind of derogatory way. This only happened with the dancing company, which is a great improvement for HAL's entertainment but still not that great, in my opinion. Otherwise, I do agree with you. It is a great cruise line to VACATION with.

We will be embarking on our fifth Noordam cruise on 10 December and can't wait to be on board her again, this time a 10-day round cruise to NZ from Sydney. We really like the ship's size - not too small and not too big.

Too bad LCS is now gone!

Glad you enjoyed my favorite cruise line. I am a 3 star mariner. I have been on other cruise lines but keep going back to HAL as great service at the price point. Did they replace the BB Kings Blue lounge with the Rolling Stone Rock room?

Didn’t know the history of HAL-interesting. Have never sailed them before. I’ve been to Sydney, but we sailed into White Bay in the middle of the night. I think in the extreme heat, the kangaroos tend to just lie in the shade waiting for people to feed them. Terrible there was a cyclone! I really want to go to NZ. Two things they have Regent beat in - an app and good wi-fi.

I agree about the pools, food and staff. I was on the Noordam in April/May. Hopped on in Aukland. Sailed all the way down, then to Tasmania, Melbourne (Australia) and then got off in Sydney. I'm a big pool person but never once swam in the pool because it lookedrather unappealing. And in the whole 15 days I was there, I only saw 6 people swim in it, two of whom were children. However, the hot spas next to the pool were always well populated. The food was extremely good. I didnt get on the scales for 2 months after I got back because I was scared of how much weight I put on. And the staff were faultless. In fact they were so good that I thought I shouldnt try to go out to work because I could never live up to that sort of standard. The world stage was very impressive, but the shows were underwhelming. Lets see, there was the Chinese girl playing the accordion one night, another girl giving a talk about the history of playing cards on one of the nights, and the Captain giving a talk about the ship on another night. Describing thrusters etc. There was an environmental show about outback animals accompanied by an orchestra which was very good if you were into that sort of thing. And they had some very old movies on. Sort of a waste of such an impressive opulent theatre. The ship was beautiful, the medical service was very good, the gift shops were beautiful, everything was spotless, and they were very good in other ways. For example, my travelling partner got covid while on board and had to isolate. I was offered a separate cabin at no cost so that I wouldnt get sick - and I never did. And even when the staff were on their own time out at port, if they saw us they would really look after us making sure we knew how to use the public transport, educated us on the best places to explore etc - and that was their free time off.

We went to the Wildlife zoo. And petted yes petted the lions. Unbelievable. Would not happen in the USA. Would not pass OSHA😊

Thanks for the video. I've been considering Holland America for a future Cruise and I think now I will book one. I never get to see your livestream, but I greatly appreciate your videos. 😀🚢

Thank you for the review. I'll be on the Noordam in Alaska for two weeks in September. Now I'm really glad we chose this ship. Our third HAL cruise in 12 months.

Looks like an amazing experience! You should try the new Rotterdam - beautiful ship, excellent food, outstanding crew and loved BBKings and Lincoln Center stage.

I love your review, thank you for your hard work. My husband and I are going on our first cruise next summer on Koningsdam to Alaska.

This is absolutely brilliant. I wish every RU-vidr did something like this. And your ship tours and dining guides are second to none. Thank you so much for taking the time to make them. Truly appreciated.

Very nice review. You covered just about everything only wish you would have shown the staterooms. The pictures and videos off ship are so beautiful and clear, I assume not taken with phone camera ?? You are a beautiful couple, I wish you many more happy cruises.

Our new favourite cruising channel! Love your constructive positives and not-so-positives and overall insights in your experience. I think we might have to head onboard to the Noordam in the very near future!

I’m so pleased you enjoyed the Noordam! I’m a long time HAL lover and just off the Zuiderdam. Everything you said equals my experience as well. Love the crew and the quaintness of the ship. And so please you loved the food. You two are sooooo experienced with high end sailing. I hope HAL sees this review as they should be very proud. So am I.

I did the reverse of that itinerary and we hit a huge storm crossing from the Sounds to Melbourne. We had waves splashing up the Main Dining room windows. As a sailor of a 40foot sailing boat - it was an amazing experience to be in a vessel that handled these incredibly bad conditions in the most magnificent manner. Yes it rolled a bit, it squelched through the waves. The Crows Nest was exhilarating. A great life time experience.

I agree. They are beautiful ships to look at. All of them.

Another informative and enjoyable video. Thank you!

You must have heard that the Lincoln Center Stage has been shuttered. HAL has stopped its partnership with them. Supposedly there will be some sort or classical music brought back in the future. To Be Announced!

Great video, as always. We love Holland America. We are almost four star Mariners. You would love to sail on the Pinnacle class ships. Most of your negative comments would vanish. Pouf! The casino is on another floor to the Music Walk. There are more Speciality eating venues, especially the fabulous Asian fusion Tamarind, that also includes a fine Sushi restaurant. The main entertainment venue has a 180 high-res screen that adds to the overall experience of the shows. Although, there is also a piano in a lounge that sits most of the time without a player… There is a separate Rock room and BB King blues room- and the Lincoln Centre folks play in the BB king blues room. 🍸Cheers! 👨‍🦳👩‍🦳

The usual great quality video. The food variety and quality you experienced is the best I've seen from any of the Holland America ship reviews. In other reviews like @andyandkirstie recently in Alaska the food has been a let down. Perhaps the smaller ship or the regional crew made the difference? It'll be fascinating to see what you think in Alaska as we are keen to try HA for the entertainment but have been put off by the reports of average food.

??? Are you saying that in the main showroom there is now only dancing every night ? or do they still have other guest performers like they used to every night ??? . I hope so.

In Tauranga😊

Thank you so much! Love HAL.

great review u two are just easy to listern too...

Fantastic review. Thank you.

Lol! That thumbnail, though at 17:29 😂

HAL sounds Heavenly !

Skol

Skol

We tried HAL for the first time this year. Our biggest negative was entertainment, and all appears to stop at 1045pm. No late evening live music. We realized we appreciated the larger shows and piano bar late evening style. Much more than expected.

Can't understand her