48 Days on Roterdam-Mistake????????

[glutenhab]

Ready to book a 48 days cruise on Rotterdam out of Amsterdam on Sep 7/11 (Baltic/Europe/Black Sea/Med) but after seeing some of the comments on the Cruise Critic Reviews by former passengers we are now second guessing. Should we reconsider?

Please remember, these are NOT OUR COMMENTS but comments taken directly from this site;

 

- Instead of A/C we got a fan.Many other passengers complained of problems with the toilets, leaks and sewage smell.

- bathroom. the floor was filthy & the toilet was filled with black water. Tried to flush it & it would not flush

- water & content of toilet started to overflow into cabin & out into the hall

- A/C was not working properly all over the ship. Some folks had to go & sleep on the couches in the common rooms because either the rooms were freezing or stifling. Panels from the ceilings fell off & hit people in the head & sprinklers fell out of the ceiling & water poured down the walls

- A 3 hour wait to board on December 16, air conditioning in the cabin that could NOT be fixed for the entire cruise, a toilet that failed and not repaired for a day, few public restrooms working when needed, hot or freezing temperatures in main dining room and theater, elevators not working around the ship, rust everywhere

- cruise the toilets backed up

- toilet did not work for 24 hours; yes it took two days to have a toilet we could use. My wife and I had to go up stairs to the LIDO to use the restroom A/C worked on and off. During the entire cruise (19 days)

- Water leaking from the ceiling 5 to 8 days. Our stateroom was totally flooded on the 10th day of the cruise. Could not use out [aid for room for TWO (2) days.

- The bathroom floor was covered with hair from a previous guest(s), walls and mirrors were dirty, couch/fold-bed was stainned, the head board was covered with ink drawings possibly from a child on earlier cruises, curtains could have used a good washing, floor needed shampooed badly, etc.

- fellow cruisers complained of overflowing toilets

- Passengers on HAL tend to be elderly and probably have a mean (and median) age in excess of 70. From a practical standpoint, this means progress through the hallways or various travel lanes or waiting lines can be excruciatingly slow

- less healthy composition of elderly passengers was immediately evident about one week into the cruise when flu and cold spread like wildfire

- leaking pipes (including leaking sewer pipes). So, it is not unusual to be exposed to strong sewage smells while traversing certain segments of hallways. These smells shift from place to place, depending on where pipes are leaking.

- Curious smells in many parts of the ship

- The plumbing problems you have read about seems to be accurate, way more issues than I have ever seen on any other cruise ship, however, I do believe that to some extent the passengers were exacerbating the problem by flushing many items down the toilet that simply are not meant to be flushed--such as depends.

- older passenger is drawn to this line for whatever reason. The average age on this ship was in the 70's to be kind, the problem wasn't the age as much as physical condition. Many of the passengers looked to be very ill,

- happens to be 67 y/o, described the ship as reminding her of a convalescent home. I am not sure about that but there definitely was a record amount of ride on scooters.

- Plumbing : on longer cruises it always happens around half trip

- passengers on this cruise were normally very overweight and over age

- passengers could barely walk or were very overweight. Should have made special tendering service for those who had walking problems

- stinks of various kind around the ship

- Clogs are one matter, but overflowing commodes

- elderly passengers, who apparently liked to flush depends but the staff should be familiar with how to remedy the situation since it is apparently a recurring issue

- abundance of elderly passengers with walkers or scooters

- general state of peoples' health

- average age on this cruise must have been close to 80 and as a result, the passengers seemed to be especially cranky.

- Our friends next door had plumbing problems with the toilet overflowing on the last day. What a horrible stinking and disgusting mess that was. Our friends reported flushing problems daily

- no air conditioning in our cabin and after numerous attempts to fix it they finally gave us a fan.

- our cabin had apparently been “flooded”

- seems a lot older than its 13 years and part of that is down to its outdated design, as well as its subdued daytime atmosphere and lack of activities.

- lot of extremely old and frail people on board and a significant number of walkers, wheelchairs and motor scooters

 

 

Again, these are comments about the Rotterdam taken from this site & NOT OURS. We were so looking forward to the many exciting ports on our 48 day itinerary.

Reading this makes it seem like we will be boarding a rusty old ship with leaky pipes & major sewege problems, filled with grumpy 80 year olds who flush their Depends. Please, say it ain't so. This would be our first HAL Cruise and our vacation time is much too precious to us to go through anything like what is described here.

[momatibm]

As many people have posted -- those folks who come on here and post negative reviews (we do have many first time posters) are in the minority of the cruisers on HAL -- please do plan your trip and enjoy your cruise.

 

If I had listened to all the 'negative comments' I never would have sailed in the last few years. But I've had a wonderful time. Sure, there have been hiccups, but nothing to make me stop cruising on HAL.

 

Oh, by the way, we have been sailing on HAL since we were in our 40's -- it is not an old folks home

[kazu]

Ready to book a 48 days cruise on Rotterdam out of Amsterdam on Sep 7/11 (Baltic/Europe/Black Sea/Med) but after seeing some of the comments on the Cruise Critic Reviews by former passengers we are now second guessing. Should we reconsider?

Please remember, these are NOT OUR COMMENTS but comments taken directly from this site;

 

- Instead of A/C we got a fan.Many other passengers complained of problems with the toilets, leaks and sewage smell.

- bathroom. the floor was filthy & the toilet was filled with black water. Tried to flush it & it would not flush

- water & content of toilet started to overflow into cabin & out into the hall

- A/C was not working properly all over the ship. Some folks had to go & sleep on the couches in the common rooms because either the rooms were freezing or stifling. Panels from the ceilings fell off & hit people in the head & sprinklers fell out of the ceiling & water poured down the walls

- A 3 hour wait to board on December 16, air conditioning in the cabin that could NOT be fixed for the entire cruise, a toilet that failed and not repaired for a day, few public restrooms working when needed, hot or freezing temperatures in main dining room and theater, elevators not working around the ship, rust everywhere

- cruise the toilets backed up

- toilet did not work for 24 hours; yes it took two days to have a toilet we could use. My wife and I had to go up stairs to the LIDO to use the restroom A/C worked on and off. During the entire cruise (19 days)

- Water leaking from the ceiling 5 to 8 days. Our stateroom was totally flooded on the 10th day of the cruise. Could not use out [aid for room for TWO (2) days.

- The bathroom floor was covered with hair from a previous guest(s), walls and mirrors were dirty, couch/fold-bed was stainned, the head board was covered with ink drawings possibly from a child on earlier cruises, curtains could have used a good washing, floor needed shampooed badly, etc.

- fellow cruisers complained of overflowing toilets

- Passengers on HAL tend to be elderly and probably have a mean (and median) age in excess of 70. From a practical standpoint, this means progress through the hallways or various travel lanes or waiting lines can be excruciatingly slow

- less healthy composition of elderly passengers was immediately evident about one week into the cruise when flu and cold spread like wildfire

- leaking pipes (including leaking sewer pipes). So, it is not unusual to be exposed to strong sewage smells while traversing certain segments of hallways. These smells shift from place to place, depending on where pipes are leaking.

- Curious smells in many parts of the ship

- The plumbing problems you have read about seems to be accurate, way more issues than I have ever seen on any other cruise ship, however, I do believe that to some extent the passengers were exacerbating the problem by flushing many items down the toilet that simply are not meant to be flushed--such as depends.

- older passenger is drawn to this line for whatever reason. The average age on this ship was in the 70's to be kind, the problem wasn't the age as much as physical condition. Many of the passengers looked to be very ill,

- happens to be 67 y/o, described the ship as reminding her of a convalescent home. I am not sure about that but there definitely was a record amount of ride on scooters.

- Plumbing : on longer cruises it always happens around half trip

- passengers on this cruise were normally very overweight and over age

- passengers could barely walk or were very overweight. Should have made special tendering service for those who had walking problems

- stinks of various kind around the ship

- Clogs are one matter, but overflowing commodes

- elderly passengers, who apparently liked to flush depends but the staff should be familiar with how to remedy the situation since it is apparently a recurring issue

- abundance of elderly passengers with walkers or scooters

- general state of peoples' health

- average age on this cruise must have been close to 80 and as a result, the passengers seemed to be especially cranky.

- Our friends next door had plumbing problems with the toilet overflowing on the last day. What a horrible stinking and disgusting mess that was. Our friends reported flushing problems daily

- no air conditioning in our cabin and after numerous attempts to fix it they finally gave us a fan.

- our cabin had apparently been “flooded”

- seems a lot older than its 13 years and part of that is down to its outdated design, as well as its subdued daytime atmosphere and lack of activities.

- lot of extremely old and frail people on board and a significant number of walkers, wheelchairs and motor scooters

 

 

Again, these are comments about the Rotterdam taken from this site & NOT OURS. We were so looking forward to the many exciting ports on our 48 day itinerary.

Reading this makes it seem like we will be boarding a rusty old ship with leaky pipes & major sewege problems, filled with grumpy 80 year olds who flush their Depends. Please, say it ain't so. This would be our first HAL Cruise and our vacation time is much too precious to us to go through anything like what is described here.

 

Reviews sometimes have to be taken with a grain of salt.

 

I was on the NA and heard a couple looking at booking an FCC and future cruise and call her a rust bucket. At the same time all they did was complain about the NA. Were they just looking for an OBC? I'm not sure

 

We were on the Rotterdam and totally enchanted with her. (as it turns out, very close to the time they were) oops, the temperature did go up one whole day (heaven forbid).

 

For us, whe was a beautiful ship and we really enjoyed it - mind you that was nearly two years ago - so I am sure others will help.

 

she was my second choice for the next cruise, but I opted for the Prisendam because we loved the itinerary. :):)

[twodogmom]

The first set of problems had to come soon after the ship came out of dry dock in 2009. I was on the Rotterdam for 33 days in March 2010, and again in Nov/Dec 2010 for 30 days. We did not arrive back into San Diego until Dec 22, 2010.

 

I am booked on the Rotterdam for a b2b of 14 days and then 30 days in April of this year. So that is 44 days in 2011. There will be problems on every ship, but I fell in love with the Rotterdam.

 

If you are worried, change to another cruise. The problems you quoted are old.

[Himself]

I was on the Rotterdam for a week last summer and I loved the ship. I would go on this ship any time and go anyplace. She is a good ship. Unfortunately some people are fastidious to a point of distraction.

[fann1sh]

The first set of problems had to come soon after the ship came out of drydock in 2009.

 

Glutenhab, I've put Twodogmom's words in bold.

 

This was exactly what I was thinking when I ready your synopsis of bad comments. Rotterdam had a plague of problems after that drydock. It added stern cabins - and a "poolette" which leaked into them.

 

But that's long since fixed.

 

Even the remark about "13 years old" has to date from 2010.....which only ended a month ago. Still, not exactly hot off the press.

[jcrandle]

I would take comments on plumbing problems with a grain of Draino. There are $(*&%ing idiots, excuse me, uninformed passengers, that will try to flush things on a ship, that they would NEVER flush down their home toilets, and therefore, will back up the plumbing for not only themselves, but also 10 to 20 cabins down the line. If I had my way, the waste disposal systems would be designed to immediately eject the junk into the offending cabin, and alert the ship's security staff as to the offending cabin.

 

However, DW has counseled with me to take on a kindler and gentler approach, so now I'm just in favor of keelhauling.

[Gaucho39]

I'd book another ship ASAP. That was quite a punch list you typed out. I seriously doubt all of FincantIeri,could tackle your list.

 

You've already set yourself up for a miserable cruise. Why bother booking?

[Jemima]

I wouldn't hesitate to book any of the HAL ships including the Rotterdam. I would not book a 48 day cruise on a new-to-me cruiseline.

[Willsot]

Sailed on the Rotterdam to Alaska in September and thoroughly enjoyed it. No problems.

[Rockfan2]

We sailed on Rotterdam last June for 7 nights return to Alaska out of Seattle.

Had a great time. No problems or issues whatsoever. Great crew.

 

We would go back on it in a heart beat. :)

[HappyInVan]

You missed my review and scrapchick's. :mad:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1313423

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1331451&highlight=

 

Take note that in scrapchick's thread several other members also had leaking cabins.

 

It may be that you won't have any problems. But, you can't check out of this hotel for 40 days if you do have problems!!!

[DFD1]

Considering all the research you've done to list her problems and how much emphasis you've put on these problems, I think you've set yourself up for a bad experience.

 

I would suggest that you not book Rotterdam.

 

IMO

[HAL4ME]

Ready to book a 48 days cruise on Rotterdam out of Amsterdam on Sep 7/11 (Baltic/Europe/Black Sea/Med) but after seeing some of the comments on the Cruise Critic Reviews by former passengers we are now second guessing. Should we reconsider?

Please remember, these are NOT OUR COMMENTS but comments taken directly from this site;

 

- Instead of A/C we got a fan.Many other passengers complained of problems with the toilets, leaks and sewage smell.

- bathroom. the floor was filthy & the toilet was filled with black water. Tried to flush it & it would not flush

- water & content of toilet started to overflow into cabin & out into the hall

- A/C was not working properly all over the ship. Some folks had to go & sleep on the couches in the common rooms because either the rooms were freezing or stifling. Panels from the ceilings fell off & hit people in the head & sprinklers fell out of the ceiling & water poured down the walls

- A 3 hour wait to board on December 16, air conditioning in the cabin that could NOT be fixed for the entire cruise, a toilet that failed and not repaired for a day, few public restrooms working when needed, hot or freezing temperatures in main dining room and theater, elevators not working around the ship, rust everywhere

- cruise the toilets backed up

- toilet did not work for 24 hours; yes it took two days to have a toilet we could use. My wife and I had to go up stairs to the LIDO to use the restroom A/C worked on and off. During the entire cruise (19 days)

- Water leaking from the ceiling 5 to 8 days. Our stateroom was totally flooded on the 10th day of the cruise. Could not use out [aid for room for TWO (2) days.

- The bathroom floor was covered with hair from a previous guest(s), walls and mirrors were dirty, couch/fold-bed was stainned, the head board was covered with ink drawings possibly from a child on earlier cruises, curtains could have used a good washing, floor needed shampooed badly, etc.

- fellow cruisers complained of overflowing toilets

- Passengers on HAL tend to be elderly and probably have a mean (and median) age in excess of 70. From a practical standpoint, this means progress through the hallways or various travel lanes or waiting lines can be excruciatingly slow

- less healthy composition of elderly passengers was immediately evident about one week into the cruise when flu and cold spread like wildfire

- leaking pipes (including leaking sewer pipes). So, it is not unusual to be exposed to strong sewage smells while traversing certain segments of hallways. These smells shift from place to place, depending on where pipes are leaking.

- Curious smells in many parts of the ship

- The plumbing problems you have read about seems to be accurate, way more issues than I have ever seen on any other cruise ship, however, I do believe that to some extent the passengers were exacerbating the problem by flushing many items down the toilet that simply are not meant to be flushed--such as depends.

- older passenger is drawn to this line for whatever reason. The average age on this ship was in the 70's to be kind, the problem wasn't the age as much as physical condition. Many of the passengers looked to be very ill,

- happens to be 67 y/o, described the ship as reminding her of a convalescent home. I am not sure about that but there definitely was a record amount of ride on scooters.

- Plumbing : on longer cruises it always happens around half trip

- passengers on this cruise were normally very overweight and over age

- passengers could barely walk or were very overweight. Should have made special tendering service for those who had walking problems

- stinks of various kind around the ship

- Clogs are one matter, but overflowing commodes

- elderly passengers, who apparently liked to flush depends but the staff should be familiar with how to remedy the situation since it is apparently a recurring issue

- abundance of elderly passengers with walkers or scooters

- general state of peoples' health

- average age on this cruise must have been close to 80 and as a result, the passengers seemed to be especially cranky.

- Our friends next door had plumbing problems with the toilet overflowing on the last day. What a horrible stinking and disgusting mess that was. Our friends reported flushing problems daily

- no air conditioning in our cabin and after numerous attempts to fix it they finally gave us a fan.

- our cabin had apparently been “flooded”

- seems a lot older than its 13 years and part of that is down to its outdated design, as well as its subdued daytime atmosphere and lack of activities.

- lot of extremely old and frail people on board and a significant number of walkers, wheelchairs and motor scooters

 

 

Again, these are comments about the Rotterdam taken from this site & NOT OURS. We were so looking forward to the many exciting ports on our 48 day itinerary.

Reading this makes it seem like we will be boarding a rusty old ship with leaky pipes & major sewege problems, filled with grumpy 80 year olds who flush their Depends. Please, say it ain't so. This would be our first HAL Cruise and our vacation time is much too precious to us to go through anything like what is described here.

 

Ufffff!...what an exhaustive list amazing that ship is still floating if all these problems were to be true which I suspect isn't....just can't be can it?

[OVgirl]

If you go into this trip looking at the negative posts from past cruises you will most likely also see problems when you board. You are expecting a 'not so great' experience then you will probably have a ' not so great' experience.

 

Book a cruise on a different ship. You need to have some confidence going into the booking that you are choosing the right ship.

 

Hope you find a ship that fits all your needs so that you will look forward to your cruise.

[sail7seas]

I can't imagine how much time it took to accumulate all these negative comments. :eek:

 

Did you find any positive ones along the way? Did no one enjoy the ship and their cruise? :)

[northernphoenix]

I can't imagine how much time it took to accumulate all these negative comments. :eek:

 

Did you find any positive ones along the way? Did no one enjoy the ship and their cruise? :)

We are on the first 12 days of this same cruise. I read mostly every thread that has the Rotterdam in the subject line. We have no predetermined expectations of a negative nature. We have cruised aboard the Volendam, and upon our return from that trip read any number of negative comments, none that we experienced, and so we will expect the same wonderful HAL ambience on this ship; and ignore the grumblings of the vocal few.

 

Marilyn

[RuthC]

You posted a lengthy list of things that are making you "second guess" your decision to sail the Rotterdam. My question is why did you include so many references to the passengers being old as a negative? :eek:

If that's your mind-set, then the Rotterdam, and any long HAL cruise for that matter, is not for you.

[sail7seas]

To carry Ruth's thought forward one more step........

 

If you don't wish to sail with old people, you may want to rethink taking such a long cruise. It is mostly retired seniors who have the time to be able to cruise that long.

It (mostly) won't matter which cruise line you choose, most of the guests will be seniors.

 

[Palmetto Lady]

We were on the Rotterdam for 30 days in Sept and Oct for the Hawaii and Polynesia voyage. We had a balcony cabin. The only plumbing problems we had were on two separate occasions, the toilets did not flush. The problem was taken care of within an hour. I did have to use a public one once. This has happened on almost every cruise that I have been on. There is always someone who flushes something other than the provided toilet paper - don't even flush kleenex.

Yes, the age of the passengers was in the senior citizen range, but not all of them and not all of us use canes, walkers or scooters. There was one man in a wheelchair, but I think he was probably in his thirties. I had no trouble passing the slow walkers in the hallways. There aren't many younger people who have the time available for these long trips. While some people were obese, it was certainly not a majority.

Someone gave a very negative review of the trip I was on and I wondered if we were actually one the same trip because I had an entirely different experience.

[Jo-Bob]

If 'overweight' cruisers made it to your list of negatives, then I respectfully suggest, as others have, that 48 days is going to be far too long for you to enjoy yourself. Maybe try something with a little less challenge.

[rafinmd]

To carry Ruth's thought forward one more step........

 

If you don't wish to sail with old people, you may want to rethink taking such a long cruise. It is mostly retired seniors who have the time to be able to cruise that long.

It (mostly) won't matter which cruise line you choose, most of the guests will be seniors.

 

 

Unless you join the Navy.

[sail7seas]

Unless you join the Navy.

 

 

:D :) There you go!!! ;)

 

Anchors Away .......

[drcpa]

As everyone circles the wagons around HAL and attacks the OP (why did he list this or that complaint and why doesn't he cancel his cruise and go elsewhere), I think many of you are missing the point (and his angst) and doing the OP a disservice.

I have a cruise on the Rotterdam (my 1st with HAL) scheduled not long after the OP.

I turned to this forum only to find (again, like the OP) post after post of the most egregious and outrageous complaints.

As the OP said, these were not his (her) complaints, but quotes taken directly from this forum.

This is a classic case of confusing the message with the messenger and many of the defensive replies (what do you have against old people and go take your business elsewhere) strike me as protesting just a but too much and being unsympathetic to a fault.

[sail7seas]

:confused: Does one apologize for being old?

:) If we are all lucky, it will be us someday.

 

Of course, he emphasized these were not his comments but those he culled from posts on CC. I asked, "Did he not find any positive comments?" IMO, when someone puts emphasis on only negative comments with nothing positive, it is most likely those comments will be met with like responses.

 

To read the guests are too old, too obese, too slow in walking, too many colds and flus...... how many positive responses is one likely to get? Do only elderly people get colds and flus? :confused: Are only seniors obese? Is it only seniors who might have mobility issues?

 

Even after giving your post some thought, I still cannot find something positive to say. :shrug:

Sorry. That post is so negative it only brings out negativity IMO