Rotterdam - The Upgrade Fairy Smiled Upon Us

[adventuregrrl]

An incredible, once in a lifetime thing happened to us on our recent Holland America cruise. We had booked a Deluxe Suite. When we checked in for our cruise, they called over the port manager who said he would help us to our room. He took our room cards, so we didn't see until we got to our room that our room number had changed. When the concierge opened our door, we found out that we'd been upgraded to a Penthouse Suite!

 

I have no idea how or why this happened, but we were so excited that the upgrade fairy smiled upon us. We had an awesome cruise, but it was even better with this surprise. Many, many thanks to Holland America.

 

I've posted a ship set of photos, including Room 7004 at:

 

[kazu]

Wow:eek: what a very nice surprise:) you must have had one thrilling cruise. Thanks so much for posting the pics - so nice and so wonderful:)

Welcome home and we are all envious -I am sure you have memories that are in your mind forever:D:D

[VAtravelers100]

that's awesome!!

[Jade13]

An incredible, once in a lifetime thing happened to us on our recent Holland America cruise. We had booked a Deluxe Suite. When we checked in for our cruise, they called over the port manager who said he would help us to our room. He took our room cards, so we didn't see until we got to our room that our room number had changed. When the concierge opened our door, we found out that we'd been upgraded to a Penthouse Suite!

 

I have no idea how or why this happened, but we were so excited that the upgrade fairy smiled upon us. We had an awesome cruise, but it was even better with this surprise. Many, many thanks to Holland America.

 

I've posted a ship set of photos, including Room 7004 at:

 

 

That is great. Was this your first HAL cruise, or are you a 4 star Mariner? I assume you had a Suite QTY, right?

[PathfinderEss]

What a surprise and such a nice one. I guess you should have bought a lotto ticket too! Congratulations and glad you had a wonderful cruise.

[adventuregrrl]

Yes Kazu -- it was a huge surprise. I love the way they did it too. We had no clue what was happening. I was like a kid on her birthday.

 

Was this your first HAL cruise, or are you a 4 star Mariner? I assume you had a Suite QTY, right?

 

This was just our third HAL cruise, so it's a mystery how it happened. We had a room assignment in a Deluxe Suite.

[MilliesMom]

WOW ... how wonderful!!!!!

[erewhon]

What a fantastic surprise.

Thank you for sharing your great photos.

[AZNative2000]

Yes Kazu -- it was a huge surprise. I love the way they did it too. We had no clue what was happening. I was like a kid on her birthday.

 

Awesome!! We are SO envious.:)

 

And, yes, thank you so much for sharing your beautiful photos!

[sail7seas]

Congratulations!!!

Happy you enjoyed it.

 

[Salacia]

An incredible, once in a lifetime thing happened to us on our recent Holland America cruise. We had booked a Deluxe Suite. When we checked in for our cruise, they called over the port manager who said he would help us to our room. He took our room cards, so we didn't see until we got to our room that our room number had changed. When the concierge opened our door, we found out that we'd been upgraded to a Penthouse Suite!

 

I have no idea how or why this happened, but we were so excited that the upgrade fairy smiled upon us. We had an awesome cruise, but it was even better with this surprise. Many, many thanks to Holland America.

 

I've posted a ship set of photos, including Room 7004 at:

 

 

 

Thanks for your nicely down slide show! Looks like a beautiful ship. And happy that you enjoyed your voyage. Regards, -S.

[portofrome]

Wow! What a wonderful surprise!

[panheads4ever]

That is just to cool

D

[Krazy Kruizers]

That was certainly a woinderful surprise!!

Congratulations!!

[Cruising-along]

Awesome, what a fantastic surprise!! :)

[George C]

WOW, I would love to have the Penthouse on a cruise, maybe someday.

[IRL_Joanie]

An incredible, once in a lifetime thing happened to us on our recent Holland America cruise. We had booked a Deluxe Suite. When we checked in for our cruise, they called over the port manager who said he would help us to our room. He took our room cards, so we didn't see until we got to our room that our room number had changed. When the concierge opened our door, we found out that we'd been upgraded to a Penthouse Suite!

 

I have no idea how or why this happened, but we were so excited that the upgrade fairy smiled upon us. We had an awesome cruise, but it was even better with this surprise. Many, many thanks to Holland America.

 

I've posted a ship set of photos, including Room 7004 at:

 

 

What an amazingly awesome happy Upgrade for you!! And at the pier no less:D:D

 

Is it possible for me to snag some of the stateroom photos for usage on the HAL Stateroom/Cabins Web Site??

 

Joanie

[goodroe]

What a wonderful surprise. Congratulations. Thank you for all the great pictures. It was wonderful seeing them and brought back some great memories of our cruise last year. We loved the Rotterdam and hope to sail on her again.

[blue whale]

We have two big cruises booked—Asian/Pacific in Sept/Dec and South Am in Jan/Mar. It would be lovely to get an upgrade. But the cabins we booked are great; lovely to dream, though.

[adventuregrrl]

Thanks all. I still can't believe the good luck we had on this trip, except for in the casino. ;) On our flight to Amsterdam, Icelandair had also bumped us to First Class from Economy Comfort. What are the odds?

 

What an amazingly awesome happy Upgrade for you!! And at the pier no less:D:D

Is it possible for me to snag some of the stateroom photos for usage on the HAL Stateroom/Cabins Web Site??

 

Joanie

 

Thanks for asking Joanie. Sure you can use the photos. You might want to follow this link to the actual pics (rather than the slide show):

You can download any picture you like, by following the individual pics link and simply clicking on the picture you want to download. Click on the Actions button above the picture - choose View All Sizes. Then you can choose the size you want to Download - click on Download.

[IRL_Joanie]

Thanks all. I still can't believe the good luck we had on this trip, except for in the casino. ;) On our flight to Amsterdam, Icelandair had also bumped us to First Class from Economy Comfort. What are the odds?

 

 

 

Thanks for asking Joanie. Sure you can use the photos. You might want to follow this link to the actual pics (rather than the slide show):

You can download any picture you like, by following the individual pics link and simply clicking on the picture you want to download. Click on the Actions button above the picture - choose View All Sizes. Then you can choose the size you want to Download - click on Download.

 

Grabbed a few of not only the stateroom but a few of the ship. Will get these up tomorrow!!

 

Do have a question for you... What's with the cute little Viking??

 

Joanie

[Harley57]

Wow! What an upgrade. Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures

[irisheileen]

Wonderful!!!! Tell us more details about the suite! The pics are great. What other perks did the penthouse entitle you to, if any?

 

And to get upgraded to first class also! Wow!

 

On time we flew to Hawaii from Newark NJ on continental airlines. Our daughter worked as a flight attendant at the time. Well, we were able to fly direct for ....$10.00 RT...a seat! On the return flight we were able to upgrade to first class, RT for the same price. We were in heaven!

Congrats.

[adventuregrrl]

Do have a question for you... What's with the cute little Viking??

 

 

 

In Norway, all the shops have these little trolls that are made in Norway. We selected this little guy as one of our souvenirs and thought it would be fun to pose him in different places around the ship and at the ports(especially to later show the nieces and nephews when we put together our Shutterfly photobook of the trip).

 

Wonderful!!!! Tell us more details about the suite! The pics are great. What other perks did the penthouse entitle you to, if any?

 

And to get upgraded to first class also! Wow!

 

On time we flew to Hawaii from Newark NJ on continental airlines. Our daughter worked as a flight attendant at the time. Well, we were able to fly direct for ....$10.00 RT...a seat! On the return flight we were able to upgrade to first class, RT for the same price. We were in heaven!

Congrats.

 

That's awesome to fly for $10 and that you got first class on the return!

 

Here's a bit more about the room and the perks. The penthouse suite was really big and the walk in closet was huge. I don't know who brings on that many clothes, but I guess someone does. :) The bathroom was also huge with a separate room for the toilet and bidet. The separate shower and bathtub are also roomy. The room had it's own artifacts including a Tibetian head dress that was several hundred years old. The flowers in the room were lovely and kept fresh...they changed them at least twice during our trip.

 

We especially enjoyed the verandah which had both a table and four chairs, as well as 2 loungers. We spent much of our ship time watching the fjords go by and had plenty of room to entertain my better half's parents. I also had plenty of room to do yoga on the verandah before breakfast...that's my green travel yoga mat in one of the pics.

 

The service in the Penthouse Suite was awesome. Whatever we needed the concierge Jonathan would get for us. He handled all transactions, like exchanging foreign currency, in the Neptune Lounge. Our room stewards Aris and Danang kept the ice bucket full and the room impeccably clean. They brought us a daily main dining room menu every morning, so we could plan the day accordingly. Aris' towel animals were the best and he seemed delighted that we kept a little zoo of his work on the vanity table.

 

We ate a delicious hot breakfast almost every morning in our suite dining room. Toni would bring us anything we wanted from any of the restaurants and would set it up on our dining table in a lovely presentation. One night we all ordered from the MDR menu and had it brought to the room, which was a treat after a long day in port. The dining room is well appointed with crystal stemware and flatware that seemed to be the same as the MDR.

 

The room was wired with a speaker system and we piped in classical music which was a nice soundtrack to the fjords.

[Typhoon1]

Congratulations on the wonderful surprise.