MS Noordam

At the end of 2009 we embarked on an eight day New Year's Cruise to the Western Caribbean aboard Holland America's Noordam. I saved a lot of items from the trip including daily itineraries and other memorabilia. Much of it is shown below. Noordam was delivered to Holland America in 2006. Noordam is the fourth of four Vista Class ships built for Holland America and the fourth ship named Noordam.

Postcard.

Exterior Ship Pictures

Maasdam at pier 25, Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale. Picture taken from Noordam at pier 26.

Maasdam again at Key West.

Noordam at Key West.

Our lifeboat 13 as seen from our Verandah Suite 7079.

The underside of lifeboat 13.

Ship wreck at the entrance to Dixon Cove, Roatan.

Another ship wreck inside Dixon Cove.

Carnival Glory by the north pier at the Mahogany Bay Cruise Center in Dixon Cove.

Noordam by the south pier at Mahogany Bay.

Noordam looking from the Mahogany Beach chairlift (i.e. the "Magical Flying Beach Chair").

Noordam at Costa Maya.

Ryndam arriving at Costa Maya.

Noordam at Costa Maya.

Pier at Costa Maya with Noordam at left and Ryndam in the background.

Carnival Triumph by the Puerta Maya Pier at Cozumel.

In its first year of service, the new Celebrity Equinox approaches the International Pier at Cozumel.

Equinox and Noordam by the International Pier.

Noordam by the International Pier.

Parting shot: We leave behind Equinox, Triumph and Ecstasy.

Deck Plans

I like looking at deck plans. Shown below is a Noordam Deck Plan pamphlet I got aboard ship. We had starboard-side Deluxe Verandah Suite 7079 on Rotterdam Deck 7 which was pretty nice and not too far away from the Neptune Lounge.

Deck plan pamphlet. Click picture for a much bigger image.

Click picture for an even bigger, more detailed deck plan image. Note that this image omits A Deck.

Daily Programs

Four page daily programs are shown below. Click any thumbnail for the larger image.

Day 1. Monday, December 28, Fort Lauderdale. Click thumbnails for larger images.

Day 2. Tuesday, December 29, Key West. Click thumbnails for larger images.

Day 3. Wednesday, December 30, at sea. Click thumbnails for larger images.

Day 4. Thursday, December 31, Roatan. Click thumbnails for larger images.

Day 5. Friday, January 1, Costa Maya. Click thumbnails for larger images.

Day 6. Saturday, January 2, Cozumel. Click thumbnails for larger images.

Day 7. Sunday, January 3, at sea. Click thumbnails for larger images.

Day 8. Monday, January 4, Fort Lauderdale. No daily program.

Interior Pictures

Deluxe Verandah Suite 7079.

Crow's Nest.

Arcade.

Lido Pool.

Pictures before dinner.

Memorabilia

Cruise Log pamphlet. Click thumbnails for larger images

A letter of introduction from the Neptune Lounge, an unfolded luggage tag, and disembarkation instructions. Click thumbnails for larger images.

Early morning room service - one of my favorite aspects of cruising. Click picture for a larger image.

Shore Excursions Brochure. Click thumbnails for larger images.

Shipboard ID and landing card.

Personalized stationary - 7.25"x10.5".

Disembarkation Letter.

I bought two books that were for sale aboard Noordam. The first is a small loose leaf book called Cruise Qs which is a great behind the scenes look at how Noordam was built and operates. Lots of great technical information and pictures. The second book is The Captain's Log by Hans Mateboer, Noordam's captain. The book is a short humors collection of anecdotes from Mateboer's life at sea and is a pretty entertaining read.

Cruise Qs - your questions answered.

Sample pages from Cruise Qs.

The Captain's Log by Hans Mateboer.

Naturally we had to buy the souvenir DVD comprising about 30 minutes of assorted video from the cruise. Most of the video comprises candid shots of our fellow passengers which is kind of monotonous and cheesy since we have no idea who any of these people are. Nevertheless, there were some shots of various activities and I especially liked the "Tour of the Ship" ending segment including some scenes from the engine room. I grabbed a few screenshots shown below.

Souvenir DVD.

DVD screenshot: Departing Fort Lauderdale, Cassandra & the HALCats on Lido Deck.

DVD screenshot: New Year's Eve celebration in the Vista Lounge.

DVD screenshot: Show in the Vista Lounge.

DVD screenshot: Engine room.

DVD screenshot: Looking over the bow from the bridge.

In 2015 I acquired an 8 ½" by 11" drawing of Noordam by artist Frank Camarda. Camarda offers dozens of liner and cruise ship drawings via eBay.

Noordam by Frank Camarda.

Recommended Shopping Guides

For each port of call we received a two-sided Recommended Shopping guide. We're not much into shopping, but if nothing else the maps were sometimes useful. The guides are shown below. Click thumbnails for larger images.

Recommended Shopping. Click thumbnails for larger images.

Bibliography

Without doing any hardcore research, here's a list of stuff I've found regarding Noordam.

Wikipedia - As with most everything, there's a page about Noordam.

www.cruiseqs.com - Home of the book "Cruise Qs" (see above), a great technical description of Noordam and its construction and the rest of the Holland America fleet.

Cruise Travel; April 2007 - Noordam is featured as the magazine's "New Ship Review" in a three-page article with color pictures.