Rotterdam refurbishment

Leaving on the Rotterdam in about three weeks. As long as the ship is clean, the drinks great, and a friendly crew...ill be a happy cruiser. Some of the best cruises I have ever taken were on old buckets....but old uckets tend to have personalities whereas these new mega liners have none.

I think the only thing that could ruin my cruise is if I have to listen to complaining all over the ship. Yes everyone is entitled to their opinion, but non stop complaining so all can hear....I don't appreciate. If this turns out to a total complain session.....ill take my drink, and find someplace alone and be thankful I'm on a cruise....that I have been blessed to be at sea yet again.

Agreed. This is the right attitude.

We loved ms Rotterdam last summer.

We hope you enjoy your coming cruise as much.

Barbara

Hoping that Rotterdam has overcome any after dry dock problems. Leave this morning on road trip combo road trip NY to Tampa via stops in Savannah etc to arrive for Rotterdam Xmas cruise sailing. Would love to see more posts from onboard now.

George in NY

I wish that more people would update with their experiences on the Rotterdam to give those of us who are sailing in 2018 some hope. We are trying HAL for the first time due to the price hikes on NCL, and we prefer the regular ships instead of the megaships. I know that there are some things that are out of the staff's control, but a great crew can make a ship's errors seem charming. (NCL Gem is well-known for this.)

Are the HAL ships a training ground for green staff?

Hardly. HAL is noted for their gracious and helpful crew.

Not a huge party mega ship. Toilets work . Water hot. Great room stewards. Friendly crew. Great food. From hogs breath saloon key west

Not a huge party mega ship. Toilets work . Water hot. Great room stewards. Friendly crew. Great food. From hogs breath saloon key west

27 days and counting

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Not a huge party mega ship. Toilets work . Water hot. Great room stewards. Friendly crew. Great food. From hogs breath saloon key west

Thank you, please keep the updates coming. :)

Will be on the Rotterdam for 38 days next summer, I'm watching the updates and appreciate them!

Its a smaller older ship. That is all until i get back to tampa

Hardly. HAL is noted for their gracious and helpful crew.

Totally agree with this post. HAL crews are the best!

Not a huge party mega ship. Toilets work . Water hot. Great room stewards. Friendly crew. Great food. From hogs breath saloon key west

(y)

Just off the ship. It was a great experience. First time on HAL.

Just off the ship. It was a great experience. First time on HAL.

Great, and welcome to HAL. Curious, do the cabins still have DVD players or did that change with drydock?

Yes, the cabins still have DVD players.

Did the hot/cold water and toilets work OK in your bathroom?

Yes, the cabins still have DVD players.

Did the hot/cold water and toilets work OK in your bathroom?

Thanks for the DVD player info. :)

Just off Rotterdam today. We had a good time and zero problems.

Does the ship show some age? Yes. It's twenty years old so it's gonna show some age. It's just the way it is. If you start scouring her with a fine toothed comb then you will find signs of age. It's no different than older ships that I've seen on other cruise lines. There was more rust on our balcony than I would like to have seen, but I'm not gonna let it ruin my vacation. I've never been on a ship that didn't have some rust on it.

The ship looked good overall and I would not hesitate to book another cruise on Rotterdam.

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Yes, I would also book her again. We had no plumbing issues. Did not see any buckets in common areas. Only issue was a port change blamed on tragedy in Costa Maya.

Hearing things are much improved makes me one happy cruiser. Just out of curiosity, did you get into key west and if so what state is town in?

Looking forward to my return to HAL, it's been too long.

Happy happy joy joy.

We walked from Clinton Square Market to the butterfly conservatory and back. The only sign of hurricane damage we saw was two boarded up windows on a church.

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https://www.flickr.com/gp/61359158@N05/zxD742

 

This is what the remodeled ship looks like. Lots of pictures here and I did not label them, sorry![/quote

 

Cruizer Bill, thanks for posting the pics. Just back from a week on Eurodam and booked on Rotterdam for Christmas 2018. She looks as beautiful and elegant as ever. I wish the original aft pool still existed, but at least this new version looks better than the pre refurb disaster with the big movie screen.

Hearing things are much improved makes me one happy cruiser. Just out of curiosity, did you get into key west and if so what state is town in?

Looking forward to my return to HAL, it's been too long.

Happy happy joy joy.

I walked all the way to the cemetary. Very little damage. The cruiseship dock was damaged at the time, so we were shuttled for free through the military complex and dropped off in town. There were a few homes boarded up, but other than that, you'd hardly think the hurricane was there. By the way, I do recommend the cemetary....very unique.

I wish that more people would update with their experiences on the Rotterdam to give those of us who are sailing in 2018 some hope. We are trying HAL for the first time due to the price hikes on NCL, and we prefer the regular ships instead of the megaships. I know that there are some things that are out of the staff's control, but a great crew can make a ship's errors seem charming. (NCL Gem is well-known for this.)

Are the HAL ships a training ground for green staff?

Absolutely NCL price hike - Interesting you mention the Gem. The current HD on the Gem. Richard was with Mustafa Gulbahar (just off Rotterdam) who was Assistant HD on the Epic .

As a team they were simply the best. Mustafa is one of the best HD around lucky HAL. That was truly NCL lost

Thanks Cool Cruiser for the many great photos you took after the dry dock. DH and I are sailing on the Rotterdam in Nov. 2018 and thought all the public areas looked wonderful. Will be our 45th cruise, 8th on HAL and 1st on the Rotterdam.