Paint Horse
Jan 4, 09, 4:08 pm
This trip report covers two flights on AA in F back and forth from DFW to FLL. In between the two flights was a cruise.
DFW to FLL
The flight from DFW to FLL was a typical AA F flight. Once again the flight left on time, and arrived on time. As the flight was at 8:40 am breakfast was served. This was a choice of cheese omelet or pancakes, rather than the usual cereal. Pancakes are a good idea on a plane as they store and reheat easily. The flight was straight forward and uneventful. I was not awake enough to remember to take any photographs. You see my heart does not start until 10 am.
Fort Lauderdale
Since weather in December can be tricky in the DFW area we left the day before the cruise to leave time for delays and cancellations. This was not needed as the weather was great at both places.
The time was not wasted as this allowed the afternoon to be spent on the beach outside the hotel. I selected the hotel due to the beach access they offered. I am not familiar with typical December prices for hotels in Fort Lauderdale. The rack rate on the room was $799. We paid $560. The room was perfectly adequate, as was the service in the hotel. Not having a car or the desire to taxi around we ate at the hotel. This is the only area I did not like about our short stay. The food was fine, but the prices seemed a bit high to me. For example, the breakfast buffet was $20 per person.
Checkout was at 11 am. Instead of running off to the ship we took up the hotel’s offer to spend the day on the beach. After leaving the bags with the bell captain it was off to the beach.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1321.jpg
On the Ship
The ship for this cruise was the Holland America Line Noordam. The ship was selected by some friends. Having just returned from a three week cruise we were not planning on going out again so soon. But who can refuse a week away to see new places.
The ship is only a couple of years old. As such it is in excellent condition. The cabin was much larger than the ones we were in this year on the Regent Mariner and Crystal Symphony.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1885.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1883.jpg
Holland America is considered to be a premium line one step or so below the luxury lines. I would agree with that assessment. While perfectly adequate, the service onboard is less than that seen on Regent and Crystal. I would certainly take Holland again, but only if I wanted to pay less or they had the best itinerary.
The only problem with the Noordam is its size. With over 2,000 passengers onboard there simply is not enough room, especially in the restaurants. This problem is seen in the long lines at all meals, as well as in some of the harried look of the staff. For example, one night once I reached the desk at the main restaurant to arrange for a table the maitre d’ despite being not more than 15 inches from me, managed to totally ignore me for several minutes while he gazed intently at a computer screen. That in itself was not a major issue, but it would only have taken a few seconds to acknowledge my presence.
The only other problem was the noise in the cabin. When I booked this cabin I was pleased to see that it would have a passenger deck between my cabin and the Lido desk. The Lido deck on most ships is the outside pool and activity deck. The noise from the people, chairs and tables scrapping along the deck, and so forth can be quite bad when you are directly under the deck. In this case having a passenger deck in between did no good. Being a holiday cruise all of the children above us spent half the day either running back and forth, or rearranging the furniture by busily scraping it. Now, the noise is not a big deal, but I spend a lot of time sitting on the balcony. Out there it is very noisy most of the time.
At Sea
The first full day was a sea day to go from Fort Lauderdale to Grand Turk. This first day was uneventful as sea days should be. The activities onboard were adequate, but uninformative. I prefer lectures on the destinations to trivia and bingo. There were none. Even the shopping talks were lacking, as all they covered were the names of the stores. It is much more useful for the shopping consultants to explain what to look for and why.
Grand Turk
Having just been to Grand Turk about three weeks before we knew there was nothing to see on the island except shredded houses from the last hurricane. So, it was off to the water to snorkel about. This trip produced clear water and nice reefs. The trip was a nice contrast to the one on our previous stop in November. As the snorkel trip then was from the beach there were no reefs or rocks to see. On this trip we were able to see the other type of snorkel sites on the island. This trip included more fish including Jack the barracuda.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1442.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1488.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1494.jpg
I noticed that Holland does not send a staff member on each of the excursions they offer. I prefer to have a crew member along. One more reason the cost is lower, but so is the level of service.
Two ships were in port the day we were there. This did not seem to overload the facilities. The beach was active, but it seemed able to handle the load.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1506.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1518.jpg
San Juan
This was a land stop for the most part. We took a walking tour of old San Juan which was very interesting. At only three miles it was limited in what could be covered. Nevertheless it afforded a nice overview of that part of San Juan. I noticed the guide mentioned several times that citizens of Puerto Rico are all American citizens. I see he has found that my fellow citizens are often not very bright about such things. Here are a few of the things we saw.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1557.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1660.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1625.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1628.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1667.jpg
We made the mistake of deciding to try some local food for dinner. The food was not the problem, but the six cruise ships in the port at the same time was. Talk about a zoo. We managed to secure a table at one of the restaurants in the port area that was supposed to serve typical Puerto Rican food. If it did, then there is not much distinctive about their cuisine, except for plantains. The food was good, but not much different from that seen in Texas.
U. S. Virgin Islands
This stop was on the side of St Thomas without any easily accessed beaches. So it was off to a snorkel site again. This area was once again different from the sites on Grand Turk. It was a rock filled location. Many fish and plants were evident, as well as a single barracuda as we saw at Grand Turk. I wonder if he followed us.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1868.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1731.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1743.jpg
One interesting part of being docked at Charlotte Amalie was to watch the planes takeoff from the airport. The runway is on a jetty. They did it this way to provide enough distance away from the hills around the port. Nevertheless, takeoff requires a rapid climb between the hills as they are on both sides above the aircraft. Judging by the number of flights this must be a popular stop in December.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1863.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1864.jpg
At Sea
Being 700 something miles from the Virgin Islands to the last stop in the Bahamas a sea day was required to cover the distance. This sea day like the first one was uneventful, but even less informative. The cruise director must think all of his passengers want to do is eat and hang out by the pool. But you know judging by the number of people eating and hanging out by the pool, he may be right. I would prefer something more stimulating than bingo. This is why I brought several books.
I have never seen the sea so smooth. It was like this the entire voyage.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1890.jpg
Bahamas
This stop was the private island owned by Carnival, which also owns Holland America Line. This was the only tender port on the trip.
Another ship was at the island when we were. There is plenty of room for two ships. You just have to hike a ways down the beach if you want to avoid crowds.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1931.jpg
The only ship related excitement occurred shortly after leaving the Bahamas. The ship lost all propulsion. The captain came on the PA to say something had tripped off, but the backup had not switched on as it should. In a few minutes we were back up to speed.
FLL to DFW
When I looked out the window after arriving in Port Everglades I think there were six ships docked. Looking out to sea two more ships were coming in. One was definitely a cruise ship. The other one looked like it was as well. Getting passengers off and back on eight ships in the port is no problem, as there is plenty of room in the port area.
However, with flights bringing in passengers for eight ships, while the former passengers attempt to fly back out makes FLL a little on the crowded side. In our case the wait was six hours from the time we reached the airport until boarding. Of course AA has no lounge in FLL. Continental and Delta do, but it did not seem worth the effort to try one of theirs. Here is one line of zoo animals that wrapped around a corner.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1982.jpg
In the terminal where AA is based there is a large room called the Flight Lounge. Anyone can wander in there. The only trick is staking out and maintaining your claim to a chair.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1980.jpg
I expected the security line to be massive based on the number of fellow tourist wandering around the airport. I was surprised to find we were the only people entering the security area when we went to board. For some reason my wife and I must look like desperados to the TSA agents at FLL. Each time they check us for explosives. This time it was my shoes they checked.
The wait at the gate was short. Boarding was as straight forward as it can be with a full load. However, the aircraft did not seem to be feeling well. There were several delays in getting going. First the captain came on the PA to say that there was a maintenance issue concerning which they were still processing the paperwork. After that they pushed us back. As far as I could tell the engines had not been started. Once we were pushed back all electrical power, except the emergency lighting, went off. After sitting for a couple of minutes the pilot said the generator was not running. I assume he meant the APU was not on. This caused all of the data they pilots had entered to be lost. They soon had everything including the both engines running. I was pleased to hear that.
Off we went to DFW. The flight was uneventful after the startup problems. We even arrived at DFW on time. That along with the pleasant FAs made the trip as good as domestic F on AA can be.
Thanks for reading.
DFW to FLL
The flight from DFW to FLL was a typical AA F flight. Once again the flight left on time, and arrived on time. As the flight was at 8:40 am breakfast was served. This was a choice of cheese omelet or pancakes, rather than the usual cereal. Pancakes are a good idea on a plane as they store and reheat easily. The flight was straight forward and uneventful. I was not awake enough to remember to take any photographs. You see my heart does not start until 10 am.
Fort Lauderdale
Since weather in December can be tricky in the DFW area we left the day before the cruise to leave time for delays and cancellations. This was not needed as the weather was great at both places.
The time was not wasted as this allowed the afternoon to be spent on the beach outside the hotel. I selected the hotel due to the beach access they offered. I am not familiar with typical December prices for hotels in Fort Lauderdale. The rack rate on the room was $799. We paid $560. The room was perfectly adequate, as was the service in the hotel. Not having a car or the desire to taxi around we ate at the hotel. This is the only area I did not like about our short stay. The food was fine, but the prices seemed a bit high to me. For example, the breakfast buffet was $20 per person.
Checkout was at 11 am. Instead of running off to the ship we took up the hotel’s offer to spend the day on the beach. After leaving the bags with the bell captain it was off to the beach.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1321.jpg
On the Ship
The ship for this cruise was the Holland America Line Noordam. The ship was selected by some friends. Having just returned from a three week cruise we were not planning on going out again so soon. But who can refuse a week away to see new places.
The ship is only a couple of years old. As such it is in excellent condition. The cabin was much larger than the ones we were in this year on the Regent Mariner and Crystal Symphony.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1885.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1883.jpg
Holland America is considered to be a premium line one step or so below the luxury lines. I would agree with that assessment. While perfectly adequate, the service onboard is less than that seen on Regent and Crystal. I would certainly take Holland again, but only if I wanted to pay less or they had the best itinerary.
The only problem with the Noordam is its size. With over 2,000 passengers onboard there simply is not enough room, especially in the restaurants. This problem is seen in the long lines at all meals, as well as in some of the harried look of the staff. For example, one night once I reached the desk at the main restaurant to arrange for a table the maitre d’ despite being not more than 15 inches from me, managed to totally ignore me for several minutes while he gazed intently at a computer screen. That in itself was not a major issue, but it would only have taken a few seconds to acknowledge my presence.
The only other problem was the noise in the cabin. When I booked this cabin I was pleased to see that it would have a passenger deck between my cabin and the Lido desk. The Lido deck on most ships is the outside pool and activity deck. The noise from the people, chairs and tables scrapping along the deck, and so forth can be quite bad when you are directly under the deck. In this case having a passenger deck in between did no good. Being a holiday cruise all of the children above us spent half the day either running back and forth, or rearranging the furniture by busily scraping it. Now, the noise is not a big deal, but I spend a lot of time sitting on the balcony. Out there it is very noisy most of the time.
At Sea
The first full day was a sea day to go from Fort Lauderdale to Grand Turk. This first day was uneventful as sea days should be. The activities onboard were adequate, but uninformative. I prefer lectures on the destinations to trivia and bingo. There were none. Even the shopping talks were lacking, as all they covered were the names of the stores. It is much more useful for the shopping consultants to explain what to look for and why.
Grand Turk
Having just been to Grand Turk about three weeks before we knew there was nothing to see on the island except shredded houses from the last hurricane. So, it was off to the water to snorkel about. This trip produced clear water and nice reefs. The trip was a nice contrast to the one on our previous stop in November. As the snorkel trip then was from the beach there were no reefs or rocks to see. On this trip we were able to see the other type of snorkel sites on the island. This trip included more fish including Jack the barracuda.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1442.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1488.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1494.jpg
I noticed that Holland does not send a staff member on each of the excursions they offer. I prefer to have a crew member along. One more reason the cost is lower, but so is the level of service.
Two ships were in port the day we were there. This did not seem to overload the facilities. The beach was active, but it seemed able to handle the load.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1506.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1518.jpg
San Juan
This was a land stop for the most part. We took a walking tour of old San Juan which was very interesting. At only three miles it was limited in what could be covered. Nevertheless it afforded a nice overview of that part of San Juan. I noticed the guide mentioned several times that citizens of Puerto Rico are all American citizens. I see he has found that my fellow citizens are often not very bright about such things. Here are a few of the things we saw.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1557.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1660.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1625.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1628.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1667.jpg
We made the mistake of deciding to try some local food for dinner. The food was not the problem, but the six cruise ships in the port at the same time was. Talk about a zoo. We managed to secure a table at one of the restaurants in the port area that was supposed to serve typical Puerto Rican food. If it did, then there is not much distinctive about their cuisine, except for plantains. The food was good, but not much different from that seen in Texas.
U. S. Virgin Islands
This stop was on the side of St Thomas without any easily accessed beaches. So it was off to a snorkel site again. This area was once again different from the sites on Grand Turk. It was a rock filled location. Many fish and plants were evident, as well as a single barracuda as we saw at Grand Turk. I wonder if he followed us.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1868.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1731.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1743.jpg
One interesting part of being docked at Charlotte Amalie was to watch the planes takeoff from the airport. The runway is on a jetty. They did it this way to provide enough distance away from the hills around the port. Nevertheless, takeoff requires a rapid climb between the hills as they are on both sides above the aircraft. Judging by the number of flights this must be a popular stop in December.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1863.jpg
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1864.jpg
At Sea
Being 700 something miles from the Virgin Islands to the last stop in the Bahamas a sea day was required to cover the distance. This sea day like the first one was uneventful, but even less informative. The cruise director must think all of his passengers want to do is eat and hang out by the pool. But you know judging by the number of people eating and hanging out by the pool, he may be right. I would prefer something more stimulating than bingo. This is why I brought several books.
I have never seen the sea so smooth. It was like this the entire voyage.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1890.jpg
Bahamas
This stop was the private island owned by Carnival, which also owns Holland America Line. This was the only tender port on the trip.
Another ship was at the island when we were. There is plenty of room for two ships. You just have to hike a ways down the beach if you want to avoid crowds.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1931.jpg
The only ship related excitement occurred shortly after leaving the Bahamas. The ship lost all propulsion. The captain came on the PA to say something had tripped off, but the backup had not switched on as it should. In a few minutes we were back up to speed.
FLL to DFW
When I looked out the window after arriving in Port Everglades I think there were six ships docked. Looking out to sea two more ships were coming in. One was definitely a cruise ship. The other one looked like it was as well. Getting passengers off and back on eight ships in the port is no problem, as there is plenty of room in the port area.
However, with flights bringing in passengers for eight ships, while the former passengers attempt to fly back out makes FLL a little on the crowded side. In our case the wait was six hours from the time we reached the airport until boarding. Of course AA has no lounge in FLL. Continental and Delta do, but it did not seem worth the effort to try one of theirs. Here is one line of zoo animals that wrapped around a corner.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1982.jpg
In the terminal where AA is based there is a large room called the Flight Lounge. Anyone can wander in there. The only trick is staking out and maintaining your claim to a chair.
http://i426.photobucket.com/albums/pp344/chippsphoto/noordam2008/IMG_1980.jpg
I expected the security line to be massive based on the number of fellow tourist wandering around the airport. I was surprised to find we were the only people entering the security area when we went to board. For some reason my wife and I must look like desperados to the TSA agents at FLL. Each time they check us for explosives. This time it was my shoes they checked.
The wait at the gate was short. Boarding was as straight forward as it can be with a full load. However, the aircraft did not seem to be feeling well. There were several delays in getting going. First the captain came on the PA to say that there was a maintenance issue concerning which they were still processing the paperwork. After that they pushed us back. As far as I could tell the engines had not been started. Once we were pushed back all electrical power, except the emergency lighting, went off. After sitting for a couple of minutes the pilot said the generator was not running. I assume he meant the APU was not on. This caused all of the data they pilots had entered to be lost. They soon had everything including the both engines running. I was pleased to hear that.
Off we went to DFW. The flight was uneventful after the startup problems. We even arrived at DFW on time. That along with the pleasant FAs made the trip as good as domestic F on AA can be.
Thanks for reading.