Trip Introduction – Alaska Cruise on Holland America
Lodging Review: Element Seattle Downtown
Our Time in Seattle
Ship Review: Holland America ms Noordam
Our Time in Kodiak, Alaska
Our Time in Anchorage, Alaska
Our Time in Valdez, Alaska
Our Time in Juneau, Alaska
Our Time in Ketchikan, Alaska
Our Time in Prince Rupert, British Columbia
Hullo Ferry Between Nanaimo and Vancouver
This installment took the longest to write because the ship is just so big I hardly know where to start. So feel free to scroll down through the photos if that’s what you want to do.
The Holland America Line (HAL) ms Noordam was originally launched in 2006, making the ship 20 years old. It underwent a significant remodeling in 2024 and, from the parts of the ship I visited, still felt fairly fresh, even two years later. It has 11 decks and a capacity of 1916 passengers and has a crew of about 800. This ship sails Alaska and the Pacific Northwest during the northern hemisphere summers before heading down south to Australia and New Zealand for the northern hemisphere winter.
It has five dining venues, eight bars/lounges, six shopping venues, and 19 activities venues – so there’s always something to do on board! There are eleven passenger-accessible decks as well as Deck A, which is below Deck 1. This is a strictly utilitarian deck. The only time we were ever on it was as we were boarding or leaving the ship as the gangway location varied depending on tides and port facilities.
The ship offers 986 staterooms ranging from inside cabins, ocean view cabins, and balcony cabins to 162 full-on suites.
I’ll have more detail on the individual decks below.
Prior to Boarding
A couple of weeks before our embarkation date, HAL emailed us boarding passes and luggage tags. The luggage tags were quite simple to use as they were already filled out. All I had to do was print them out and staple them as indicated. Because these tags are paper, I would not put them on the luggage until you’re ready to leave for the port. Since we landed in Seattle a couple of days before we embarked, I just borrowed the stapler at the hotel front desk to put my tags on.
We had an Uber drop us at the port. While we could have waited for the porter to take our bags, it was faster for us to just pull them into the building and check them in, much as one does at the airport – but no weight limits to worry about!
We showed our boarding passes at a check-in desk and were given an envelope with our cabin’s key-card. The card has a barcode and is also used for any on-board purchases and is scanned when you leave and return to the ship. At that point we were given a card with a color and a number and directed to the large seating area to wait for our group to be called. At the Seattle port, the check-in processing building is somewhat warehouse-like, one giant room subdivided by panels and curtains, with a high ceiling and ceiling fans overhead. Fortunately it was not a particularly hot day and I was wearing shorts but I can see that at the height of summer it could very possibly be quite warm inside – so dress accordingly!
At a guess I’d say we waited no more than 30 minutes to board, which was a perfectly acceptable wait in my view. When our group was called we turned in our color-coded cards then wandered through some ramps in the building and across the permanent bridge (like an airport’s jet bridge, just not as moveable) on to the ship.
On board the Noordam
With only our carry-ons to wrangle, we boarded on either Deck A or Deck 1, I can’t remember. On each deck there are two elevators mid-ship, four elevators closer to the bow, and another four closer to the stern. On Decks 1-9 there are also two elevators on the port side and two on the starboard side. These elevators are a little smaller but have a glass wall that overlooks the outside of the ship. Pro tip: use these elevators whenever possible as they seem to be faster and less frequently used. Especially when going for a meal we’d walk past the four elevators in the bow and head to these elevators.
Cabin 7000H – Deck 7/Rotterdam Deck
Based on list rates, we had originally considered a lower cabin class, but thanks to my interline discount we were able to book into the Large Ocean View Stateroom (category D). According the HAL website, the room is approximately 174-180 square feet and should have both a tub and a shower. However, our room only had a shower. I read somewhere that before the 2024 refurbishment, our cabin had been a crew member’s quarters, so perhaps that is why there was no tub.
Our cabin was on the Rotterdam Deck, aka Deck 7. As you can see from the photos of the ship, at one point the decks get smaller and smaller. So although our cabin was at the bow end of our deck, we were by no means at the bow of the entire ship. But we had a nice view of where we were heading! There is a walkway in front of our window, but most of the time the doors that access that area were locked. It would have been unlocked on the day we visited the Hubbard Glacier, had the weather cooperated, and it was unlocked some on the day at sea as we cruised between Prince Rupert and Nanaimo. So we never had to worry about anyone peeking in the windows as we were getting ready for the day or after dark. There is a note that at night the windows need to be covered. I assume that’s so the cabin lights don’t get in the way of navigation but I am not sure.
The cabin is set up like a hotel room: upon entering the bathroom is on one side with closets on the other, then stepping into the room there are the beds with the sofa and desk near the back wall.
When we arrived, our beds had been combined as a single king bed even though I thought we had specified separate beds to our travel agent. No matter, shortly after we arrived, one of our cabin stewards introduced himself (he’d been with HAL for 24 years!) and said he’d take care of splitting the beds. They were typical cruise ship beds: certainly good enough to sleep but not luxurious. And importantly, there was enough clearance underneath them to store our largest luggage pieces. A bonus I did not expect was that there was a drawer at the foot of each bed that came in very handy for my backpack and things I didn’t need often but didn’t want to leave in the big suitcase. Of course that extra height makes it nearly impossible to sit on the bed and lean down to tie your shoes (unless you are quite tall).
Directly across from the bed was a large TV. There was a decent selection of things to watch. Normally I don’t even turn on the TV except to check my bill, but we had several days at sea and as my roommate has a job in the TV industry, she’s much more accustomed to having it turned on than I am. We managed to watch a couple of movies over the course of the week. 
I do wish the nature lectures held in the World Stage (theater) area had been live-streamed to our cabins. Especially as the week went on and more people got sick (including me) simply from enforced closeness, we didn’t really want to go sit in a hall full of folks hacking and coughing.
Under the TV was an area I don’t know how to describe. It’s almost like that netted area on the back of an airplane seat where periodicals are sometimes stashed. It was only about as deep as the width of a credit card and had a couple of wires running across it to keep tall papers from falling out. I ultimately used it for the contents of my pockets each night and it’s where we’d tuck the TV remote when not using it.
Our cabin had a connecting door to cabin 7000D though it remained locked during our journey. For awhile I wasn’t even sure someone was in the cabin though later on we did see the couple staying there and by the end could hear them coughing like so many folks aboard were doing. Between the connecting door and the outer wall was a desk/makeup mirror area. The hair dryer is stored in one of the drawers in the desk and its 240v EU-style outlet can be found there, so that’s where I sat to dry my hair. A tray with a bottle of water and some other amenities was also there but since we don’t have any status with HAL there would have been a charge to use them. We eventually moved the entire tray into the window area, as it was almost like an additional shelf. The table under the window was also quite handy and my friend used it to her advantage for any number of items.
Between the beds and the outer wall is a small love seat which can, I believe, be converted to a third bed. While I would not try to put a third adult in the room (it’s just too small), it would be fine for a small child.
Above the love seat was a storage area with four PFDs (personal flotation devices, aka life jackets). While you don’t need to take these to your muster station (whose location is printed on your keycard), you must check in at your muster station prior to sailing. The muster stations are on the Promenade/Deck 3 and there are people with scanners waiting for you before you step outside to find your muster station. You’re supposed to stay there until you’ve heard one of the crew members outside go through the whole lifeboat spiel. I did think it would be better if the people with scanners were actually at each station because the doors to the outside portion of the deck were positioned such that some people just stopped at the first muster station they found – not their actual station. While I know it’s unlikely we’ll ever need to board the lifeboats it seems to me it would be good for our muscle memory to make folks check in at the actual position where they’d need to board the boat. But embarkation day is a very busy one and it could be that there are simply not enough crew available to do this. The lifeboats also served as tenders for the ports where we couldn’t dock right in the town.
For the closets, there were two sets of double doors and then a single door that had several drawers underneath. The closet closest to the door had a single area for hanging items and a number of shelves below that. With no place other than one of these shelves (or under the bed) to store shoes, I put mine on the lowest shelf. This worked quite well for me. I loved that there were plenty of hangers and even though I did double up a couple of jackets (I brought several of varying thicknesses) I did not run out of them.
The other two-door closet was divided into two separate sides but it also came with lots of hangers. The upper shelves were occupied by the bedding for the love seat and at the bottom right you’ll see a couple of towels. These are beach towels should you go ashore to lounge on an actual beach. Not really needed on this cruise but I could see where it might be needed at other locations around the world.
The third cabinet contained the safe, a mini-fridge, an empty upper shelf, and three drawers. With the bonus drawer beneath the bed we had one drawer that basically went unused as we found homes for all the rest of our belongings elsewhere. The fridge did come stocked with beverages but, again, since we’d have been charged for them I don’t think we ever opened it again after taking this photo.
As is typical for bathrooms in many parts of Europe, the light switch for the bathroom was on the wall in the hall outside. And as is typical for cruise ship bathrooms, you must take a step up to go inside. There are accessible rooms on the ship and I would assume that they have bathrooms where no step up is needed but if that’s something that impacts you, be sure to check with the cruise line before booking. The bathroom is compact and, as I mentioned, does not have a tub, only a shower. However even with just a shower curtain the little metal lip around the base of the shower does a very good job of preventing water from leaking out of the shower area. The sink and mirror were on the left side of the room with wall-mounted soap and lotion dispensers on the far wall. The tissue dispenser was built into the side of the vanity. This photo is from when we arrived and shows the toilet paper dispenser on the far wall as well. Toward the end of the cruise, they installed another TP dispenser by embedding it just below the vanity, above where you can see the extra roll. However they did not remove the one you see there so we just ignored it. But perhaps on subsequent cruises it will be used.
The trash can and bath mat were located under the sink. Once I picked out the items I’d regularly need from my toiletry kit, I stored it down here for the duration of the cruise.
On the left end of the vanity, beside the door, was this set of three shelves. We used this to store our commonly-used items.
The shower had an adjustable spray head, both as to the type of spray and the height of the shower head, something I really appreciated. The controls were the typical European kind where one knob controls off/on and the other controls the temperature. Wall-mounted toiletries for shampoo, conditioner, and bath gel were on the back wall of the shower stall. I was so glad it wasn’t just one product for all three functions! There was also a clothes line in the shower which was quite helpful for drying our swimsuits after a visit to the hot tub.
The view from our cabin let us know exactly where we were headed. The cruise begins with two days at sea and looking out we were just fine with being tucked inside. The day we left Prince Rupert, BC it was still sunny at nearly 8 PM with a wonderful evening glow. The shot below is from the day we tried, and failed, to visit Hubbard Glacier.
Other Decks
Here is a quick rundown of what you’ll find on each deck, along with the deck plan.
Deck 1/Main Deck
At the bow you’ll find the first level of the World Stage, the theater that is three levels high. Not only was there live entertainment in the evenings, this is where wildlife talks were held several times during our trip. As I mentioned earlier, I wish they could have been live-streamed to our cabins as the theater won’t seat all the guests on board.
Mid-ship on this deck you’ll find guest services (similar to the front desk of a hotel) as well as the internet center.
This is also the lowest level of the Atrium and there are seating areas here and the area where you can discuss future cruises with a crew member.
There are guest cabins between the World Stage and mid-ship, and more between mid-ship and the stern.
Deck 2/Lower Promenade Deck
There are no guest cabins on this level; it’s a very busy place! At the bow is the second level of the World Stage. Working your way to the stern from there you’ll find the casino on the port side…
…and the Billboard Onboard on the other side, with its piano bar.
Billboard Bar
A bit closer to midship is the Rolling Stone lounge, suitable for smaller performances. In this photo it’s not set up for a performance but there were many different types of events held in this space.
Midship is the second level of the Atrium and the Pinnacle Grill, one of the extra-cost restaurants, is on the port side with the Pinnacle Bar on the starboard side.
Next you’ll pass the Art Gallery, where many of the works of art are available for sale, and then the Explorer’s Lounge, where small presentations are made. I attended a session about how to get the most of binoculars and realized they don’t work well with my glasses!
Walking further to the stern you’ll pass the portrait studio before ending at the Dining Room. We never ate in the Dining Room so I can’t comment except to say that one day their dessert of the day was not offered in the Lido Market so I asked to have it to-go, and was quickly accommodated. I did happen to be in the area one day shortly before the Dining Room opened and there were people lined up, waiting to get in so it never hurts to get a reservation if you want to eat at a specific time.
Deck 3/Promenade Desk
The Promenade Deck is so-named because there’s a walking track – where you can take a promenade – around the whole deck. There were frequently folks taking advantage of that. Once again beginning at the bow, you’ll find the top level of the World Stage. Moving toward the stern you’ll find three conference rooms on the port side and the Library and Library Cafe on the starboard side. If you happened by this way in the morning there was almost always a line for the coffee at the cafe. Continuing toward midship you’ll find the shopping area, including a jewelry shop. As a note, the shops are not open when the ships are in port and within certain areas, local sales tax must be applied so choose your shopping times carefully!
Around the Atrium on this level is the Ocean Bar and more shops. The only time we visited the Ocean Bar was when we waited with our Australian friend (who had a level of status) to board the tenders at one of our ports. The second level of the Dining Room is at the stern on this level.
Deck 4/Upper Promenade Deck
No common areas on this deck. Note that all the cabins on this deck in the middle portion of the ship have a fully or partially blocked view due to the lifeboats/tenders hanging outside.
Deck 5/Verandah Deck
No common areas on this deck either. All the suites are verandah suites, meaning they have a small balcony. There are quite a few connecting cabins on this deck.
Deck 6/Upper Verandah Deck
This deck has a large number of signature suites as well as a few verandah cabins. There are no common areas on this deck.
Deck 7/Rotterdam Deck
This was the deck where our cabin was and is another deck with no common areas. There are a large number of Neptune Suites on this deck.
Deck 8/Navigation Deck
At the bow is the bridge (which has its own Wi-Fi because we could see the network from our cabin directly below it!) and the rest of deck has Verandah staterooms and Signature Suites.
Deck 9/Lido Deck
We spent quite a few hours on this deck as it is all common areas with no cabins. At the bow is the Fitness Center, which is open from 6 AM to 9 PM, ship time. There are free classes on offer in addition to the various workout machines.
Adjacent to the Fitness Center is the Greenhouse Spa and Salon, which we did not visit. The main entrance to the Spa and Salon is just off the forward elevator lobby on the port side.
On the starboard side you’ll find the Thermal Suites and the Relaxation Lounge.
As you head toward midship there’s a Hydro Pool in an enclosed area. This is only valid for passengers who’ve achieved a certain status with HAL, though on the first day it was open for all to see.
Next it’s the Lido Pool area which has four hot tubs around it (two on either end), and lounge chairs – with beach towels provided – encircling it. Towards the windows are two “layers” of tables and chairs; this is where we ended up having breakfast each day because the Lido Market area was so crowded.
There are dedicated stands on each side of the Lido Pool with extra towels and these also serve as bussing stations as the tables are cleaned.
On the starboard side is the Dive-In Diner, which is open for lunch and closes just before dinner, I believe. It’s the place to get hamburgers and chicken sandwiches with fries. On the port side you’ll find the Lido Bar, with its appropriately-themed bar stools.
Just past midship is the Lido Market, which is basically the cafeteria. This is where we had all our meals except for a couple of times we grabbed food from the Dive-In Diner and once evening we ordered room service. There are numerous stations and my friends wished for more vegetarian choices but I always found plenty to eat. One friend appreciated that there were non-lactose types of milk at breakfast but wished they were available later in the day when she’d have a cup of coffee.
Going outside at the stern, you’ll find the Seaview Pool (with hot tubs) and Seaview Bar. This was a great spot for watching as we sailed away but the downside is that one side is the only smoking area on the ship which makes it much less pleasant. This is another reason it’s a real shame that access to the bow is so limited. It would be great if we could always have a smoke-free viewing area.
Deck 10/Observation Deck
We also spent a lot of time on this deck and our friend’s verandah stateroom was on this level. All the way at the bow is the Crow’s Next a multi-purpose are that includes floor-to-ceiling windows across the front with comfortable chairs to allow great views of our journey.
If you enter the Crow’s Nest from the starboard side, on your right you’ll see several large tables. These were often used for several of the puzzles that were available or for a group playing cards.
There were also a few chess tables set up.
This large set of shelves had board games on one side and puzzles on the other two sides.
This boardroom-like table was just to the left of the starboard entrance. I’d planned to sit here to work on this blog but there were no outlets available. In fact, US-style outlets were hard to come by outside of our cabin. I wished I’d brought my EU adapter. While outlets weren’t plentiful, those that were available were all EU-style.
If you enter from the port side, you’ll encounter the Art Studio where several types of art classes were offered, including a ship-building class. The ships were later entered in a competition at the Lido Pool to see whose was actually seaworthy! The Crow’s Nest Cafe was just beyond the Art Studio. It’s a small bar whose servers would even bring drinks over to the puzzle area.
As you walk toward the stern, once you pass the verandah staterooms you must then go outside and you’ll walk by the sliding cover over the Lido Pool. Walking further, you’ll pass the entrance to Kids Club. This area has nice views over the rails although there are plexiglass windbreaks along the side as well as offset baffles along the deck, I assume to keep the wind from being as strong. Along this section you’ll find a Cornhole setup on one side, and Shuffleboard on the other.
Deck 11/Sports Deck
The Sports Deck is an elevated platform surrounded by netting (gotta keep the balls on board!) and can be used for pickleball, basketball, and other sports. I noticed that there were beginner pickleball lessons periodically throughout the cruise. Before the cruise I had thought I might play pickleball but I hadn’t even considered that the court might be outside which meant it was (1) subject to weather and (2) quite breezy on our days at sea. Then I got sick mid-cruise and didn’t feel like playing after that.
Other Items of Note
Internet
Wi-Fi is not included with your fare and keep in mind that when the ship is at sea, you’re typically out of cell phone tower range and your phone plan may switch you to a very expensive satellite plan. So keep this in mind if you’re planning not to have internet access on your personal devices. There are a few different plan options to choose from. The options described on the website when you’re not logged into the HAL site seem to be a little different than what my options were when I had an active booking. I ended up going with the mid-tier option which supported up to 4 devices but did not allow for streaming. This was sufficient for my needs for email, social media, and maintenance on a website I support for a social club. For the two weeks it was $332 when purchased in advance and I believe the price increased if you waited until boarding to buy.
Even if you don’t purchase an internet package, you can still use the HAL Navigator app while on board. It can be used for messaging fellow passengers while on board as well, though it’s not great at notifying you when you have a message.
Shore Excursions
We only booked one shore excursion and did not book it through HAL. However there’s a dedicated Shore Excursions desk on Deck 10 if you have questions or want to book one for a future stop.
Have It All Package
HAL really pushes their Have It All package which gives you their specialty (alcoholic) beverages, a shore excursion credit, 1-3 nights at a specialty dining restaurant (depending on cruise length) and includes the basic Wi-Fi. Since I don’t drink alcohol this was a no-brainer to turn down for me.
Disembarking
Be sure to take a carry-on that’s large enough to hold whatever you need for your final night and morning aboard the ship. Your large bags must be outside your cabin by midnight and you won’t see them again until you reach the cruise ship terminal. Be sure to keep your keycard with you as it will be scanned to prove you left the ship!
My roommate and I had flights that departed about an hour apart – hers left just after 11 AM, mine left just after noon. We signed up for HAL’s bus back to the airport which was very reasonably-priced; I believe it was about $50. On our final night aboard, we were given luggage tags with a color and group number on them, related to the time we’d disembark. In the morning we went to the Rolling Stone lounge to wait for our group to be called. (Those with HAL status wait in a different location.)
You’ll then leave the ship and enter the cruise ship terminal where there’s basically a giant room with all the bags and you hunt for yours. You then head outside to line up for the bus. There was another cruise ship disembarking at the same time we were and passengers from both ships were on the same busses. While we weren’t in any danger of missing our flights we found the bus process extremely slow and wished we’d just split a rideshare.
In the end
Am I spoiled by Viking with its included Wi-Fi, included specialty dining, self-serve laundry, smaller ships, and an included shore excursion in every port? Yes. Did I really like HAL’s cheaper price tag, even after adding on the Wi-Fi package and paying out of pocket for a shore excursion? Yes. The two cruise lines just have different business models and neither is wrong.
Would I cruise with HAL again? I’m all about the destinations so it would depend on what cruise lines were available at the locations I wanted to go. Even though this HAL ship was on the smaller side at under 2000 passengers, that’s still double the size of the Viking ship. But I certainly wouldn’t turn down a HAL cruise if it went somewhere I really wanted to visit.
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