Pleasantly surprised

First time cruising with Holland America, and what a pleasant surprise. We had read some reviews on Ms Noordam which weren’t glowing so we weren’t expecting great things. We booked 14 day cruise around New Zealand. Leaving Sydney on a bright sunny hot day we embarked on time and were soon on board exploring the ship. The ship was a little tired in places, but very clean and spacious with everything you would expect and need. I have to say that I have not tasted such great food on board any other cruise before, fantastic fresh food, well presented and plenty of choice. Normally I find that to eat decent food, we end up paying extra to eat in the speciality restaurants on board. I’m normally bored of the food towards the end of the cruise, but not on the Noordam.
Every single member of staff I saw, was smiling..it was truly a welcoming atmosphere and we wouldn’t hesitate to cruise with Holland America again.
The entertainment wasn’t to our liking, but I guess this is a personal thing as we don’t do the shows. The itinerary was what drew us to this cruise, however we missed 2 ports (Auckland and Bay of Islands ) due to a cyclone, shame but you can’t argue with Mother Nature.
The trips were overly expensive, but we were able to arrange our own independently in port. The on board tips were a bit expensive, but the staff worked so hard and were so genuine, we left them as they were and gladly paid them.
The dress code was relaxed and even on gala nights, it wasn’t as fancy as other cruises we’d been on. I quite liked this though to be fair.
All in all, we enjoyed our holiday and it gave us a taste of a different cruise line and a fantastic country.