This is a belated review of our first cruise which we (myself, wife, 2-year old daughter) took in early 2008. First off, having taken two cruises now, we really appreciate the convenience of sailing from NYC, which avoids the extra expense and hassle of flying. Our embarkation process went relatively smooth, though we did arrive perhaps a bit late at the NYC port, so we ended up waiting probably a couple of hours before our number was finally called. Once on board, our stateroom was ready at the advertised time. We found our accommodations "cozy" as in somewhat cramped, but manageable. One aspect we really found pretty cool is that our veranda stateroom came equipped with a bunk, located over our queen size bed, which our daughter enjoyed (and gave us a modicum of privacy ;-) We also lucked out the first evening as we were taking a tour of the spa area, when one of the therapists approached us and offered to baby-sit in the evening. Fortuntaely our babysitter proved quite reliable and were able to make use of her on serveral occasions throughout the cruise.

Speaking of kid-friendly, I will say however that the Noordam was not particularly well structured for small children. No kiddie pool, no water slide. There was a small kids play area with a few activities, but not much to write home about. There was an adults-only pool at the rear of the ship, so we extrapolated that the other pool located mid-ship would be suitable for families. Generally people were okay with our daughter swimming in the mid-ship pool area (we explained that she's potty trained already) though we still felt a bit self-concious given that there weren't really very many other children around. We did have one incident of a fellow passenger complaining about a small child in the pool (this occurred late on the last day, so rather than arguing the issue, we simply found something else to do for the sake of maintaining tranquility).

Both my wife and I really enjoyed our meal services. There was never a wait of more than a few minutes to be seated in the main dining hall (this despite traveling as part of a larger group with a total party size of 7). We were very satisified with the quality of the food and the variety of selection available each night.

One notable downside to our particular cruise was the ports of call. Unless you had a shore excursion booked, Tortulla and Dominque were basically devoid of anything interesting as far as we were concerned (I guess this is the nice part of crusing, if you don't like what you see, you can always hop back onboard your 5-star floating hotel ;-) St. Thomas offered some interesting shopping, and we most enjoyed St. Maarten (Dutch side) which had a very nice boardwalk area where we easily kept ourselves entertained for most of the day. We did end up trying to book a couple of shore excursions, specifically ATV tours, though both times we booked, our excursion ended up cancelled due to lack of participation.

On-board, we found an enjoiyable selection of nighttime entertainment including the "Noordam idol" karayoke competition, which was truly an absolute riot. There were a few different vaudville type shows, nothing great, but they weren't terrible either. One other thing I do recall is a very funny commedian (I believe his name is Lee Hamilton ?) who kept us in stiches with his witty humor, which surprisingly had no profanity, sexual innuendo, or anything of the sort that might make one feel a bit squeemish if the whole family were in tow.

Overall, I would say the Noordam would be an ideal cruise line for singles or a couple without young children. If kids activities are a must have, then maybe consider NCL instead (though IMHO NCL is a couple of notches lower in terms of overall quality of service), or some other cruise line (I only know Holland and NCL).