Short Rotterdam Synopsis of our 7/31 - 8/14 cruise of Norway, Scottland and Iceland

[fkfad]

We just got off of the Rotterdam on 8/14 for the July 31 cruise to Norway, Iceland, and Scotland.  Some things that you may find helpful:

 

1)  We purchased the Thermalsuite in advance on the website.  The only pass available was for a 7-day cruise (which we could purchase online even though it was for a 14-day cruise).  We purchased two of these passes.  The terms and conditions of these passes said that they were good for the duration of the cruise.  Well, not true.  In fact, the Spa didn't know how to treat these passes.  Their system was not set up for this.  They only allowed us to use these passes during the first seven days of our cruise.  I even showed them the printout of the terms and conditions as I had suspected we would run into an issue.  They said "oh well, that is a problem with the website."  We then told them we had only used the passes for three of the seven days.  That didn't matter either.   We were simply out of luck!

 

2)  There was no "alcohol" table sitting on the other side of Security.  This was true for every single port we stopped at.  We were free to bring wine on board in our carry on and in our shopping bags..  Note that these were European ports (Amsterdam, Norway, Iceland, and Scotland).

 

3)  The TV service in our cabin was spotty at best.  Very poor reception, even for movies on demand.  It was a rainy trip (for the most part) and we spent quite a bit of time on the ship as a result.

 

4)  We took a walking tour excursion in Bergen, Norway.  It was pooring rain the entire time.  We knew this in advance and were prepared for the rain.  However, it was also windy so umbrellas were pretty much useless.  The streets of Bergen are VERY hilly.  Some people in our group were physically challenged, walking with canes and the tourguide didn't really care about this.  He was young and tall, and walked with big strides.  LOL  My DH and I kept telling him to wait for the rest of the group.  I think he just wanted to get out of the rain.  Also, he didn't do a very good job explaining what we were seeing unless we asked pointed questions.

 

5)  The whale watching in Akureyri Iceland was a total waste of money and time.  We purchased this tour through a private company, however, I heard that the ship's tour was the same.  We rode in a boat for 1.5 hours to see one whale, which was no fault of the tour company, however, they got us back to the port 1.5 hours later than promised so that they could show us this one whale.  Not worth the time or money.  Whale watching along the Mexican Riviera is not to be missed.  Whale watching in Iceland in July is useless.  LOL

 

6)  When we finally arrived home I reviewed our statement for one last time and saw that we were charged for a mini suite purchase on the last day, something we did not buy.  While it was a small charge, it's the principle of the thing!  I emailed HAL and doubt I will ever see that refund.

 

7)  Even though they changed our embarkation port from Amsterdam to Rotterdam at the last minute, this was no problem for us due to the fact that we purchased our flights and transfers from HAL.  The whole transfer process went very smoothly using buses.  It was approximately a one hour transfer via bus from the Amsterdam airport to Rotterdam.  Note that the Amsterdam airport, albeit busy, was not as chaotic as others had posted.  The lines all moved quickly.

 

😎 The food was good, the service was excellent, the casino was fun, the rock band in the Rolling Stone Rock Room was really good but not so appropriate for the age of the guests.  LOL  The evening shows were entertaining.  Overall, we had a great 14-day cruise on the Rotterdam!

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your comments.

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

[vicd1969]

Were you able to get any kind of reimbursement for the spa passes? Even though the spa technically is not a HAL service, hope you at least got some FCC. A spa pass isn’t a trivial amount.

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, fkfad said:

There was no "alcohol" table sitting on the other side of Security.  This was true for every single port we stopped at.  We were free to bring wine on board in our carry on and in our shopping bags..  Note that these were European ports (Amsterdam, Norway, Iceland, and Scotland).

 

Considering the price of alcohol in Norway and Iceland, not having a 'naughty table' is not really surprising. 😉

[fkfad]

4 hours ago, vicd1969 said:

Were you able to get any kind of reimbursement for the spa passes? Even though the spa technically is not a HAL service, hope you at least got some FCC. A spa pass isn’t a trivial amount.

They offered us nothing...  I was very disappointed about this and very disappointed that they didn't care that I was disappointed!  🙂

 

[ChinaShrek]

7 hours ago, fkfad said:

 

 

7)  Even though they changed our embarkation port from Amsterdam to Rotterdam at the last minute, this was no problem for us due to the fact that we purchased our flights and transfers from HAL.  The whole transfer process went very smoothly using buses.  It was approximately a one hour transfer via bus from the Amsterdam airport to Rotterdam.  Note that the Amsterdam airport, albeit busy, was not as chaotic as others had posted.  The lines all moved quickly.

 

I am currently on the Rotterdam right now. Do you know what time the first bus left? I am trying to decide between buying a transfer or taking the train.

[ontheweb]

8 hours ago, fkfad said:

We just got off of the Rotterdam on 8/14 for the July 31 cruise to Norway, Iceland, and Scotland.  Some things that you may find helpful:

 

1)  We purchased the Thermalsuite in advance on the website.  The only pass available was for a 7-day cruise (which we could purchase online even though it was for a 14-day cruise).  We purchased two of these passes.  The terms and conditions of these passes said that they were good for the duration of the cruise.  Well, not true.  In fact, the Spa didn't know how to treat these passes.  Their system was not set up for this.  They only allowed us to use these passes during the first seven days of our cruise.  I even showed them the printout of the terms and conditions as I had suspected we would run into an issue.  They said "oh well, that is a problem with the website."  We then told them we had only used the passes for three of the seven days.  That didn't matter either.   We were simply out of luck!

 

2)  There was no "alcohol" table sitting on the other side of Security.  This was true for every single port we stopped at.  We were free to bring wine on board in our carry on and in our shopping bags..  Note that these were European ports (Amsterdam, Norway, Iceland, and Scotland).

 

3)  The TV service in our cabin was spotty at best.  Very poor reception, even for movies on demand.  It was a rainy trip (for the most part) and we spent quite a bit of time on the ship as a result.

 

4)  We took a walking tour excursion in Bergen, Norway.  It was pooring rain the entire time.  We knew this in advance and were prepared for the rain.  However, it was also windy so umbrellas were pretty much useless.  The streets of Bergen are VERY hilly.  Some people in our group were physically challenged, walking with canes and the tourguide didn't really care about this.  He was young and tall, and walked with big strides.  LOL  My DH and I kept telling him to wait for the rest of the group.  I think he just wanted to get out of the rain.  Also, he didn't do a very good job explaining what we were seeing unless we asked pointed questions.

 

5)  The whale watching in Akureyri Iceland was a total waste of money and time.  We purchased this tour through a private company, however, I heard that the ship's tour was the same.  We rode in a boat for 1.5 hours to see one whale, which was no fault of the tour company, however, they got us back to the port 1.5 hours later than promised so that they could show us this one whale.  Not worth the time or money.  Whale watching along the Mexican Riviera is not to be missed.  Whale watching in Iceland in July is useless.  LOL

 

6)  When we finally arrived home I reviewed our statement for one last time and saw that we were charged for a mini suite purchase on the last day, something we did not buy.  While it was a small charge, it's the principle of the thing!  I emailed HAL and doubt I will ever see that refund.

 

7)  Even though they changed our embarkation port from Amsterdam to Rotterdam at the last minute, this was no problem for us due to the fact that we purchased our flights and transfers from HAL.  The whole transfer process went very smoothly using buses.  It was approximately a one hour transfer via bus from the Amsterdam airport to Rotterdam.  Note that the Amsterdam airport, albeit busy, was not as chaotic as others had posted.  The lines all moved quickly.

 

😎 The food was good, the service was excellent, the casino was fun, the rock band in the Rolling Stone Rock Room was really good but not so appropriate for the age of the guests.  LOL  The evening shows were entertaining.  Overall, we had a great 14-day cruise on the Rotterdam!

Thanks for sharing.

 

Any comments about Scotland? Were you in Edinburgh, and if so was it during the time of the Military Tattoo?

[fkfad]

15 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

I am currently on the Rotterdam right now. Do you know what time the first bus left? I am trying to decide between buying a transfer or taking the train.

We were off of the ship and on a bus by 8:30 AM.  We were assigned the last group to get off of the ship due to the face our flight was late in the afternoon.  They had many, many buses sitting in the parking lot waiting to take people to the Amsterdam airport.  They never checked to confirm that we had, in fact, purchased transfers, which I thought was strange.

[fkfad]

14 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Thanks for sharing.

 

Any comments about Scotland? Were you in Edinburgh, and if so was it during the time of the Military Tattoo?

We were in Edinburgh, however, we arrived in the morning (at New Haven) and left before the Military Tattoo, which we were told occurs in the evening and is something not to miss if possible.  We visited the castle and had a bus tour of the city.  Our tour guide (through HAL) did not take us through the castle, we were on our own.  We saw many tours in the castle with a guide explaining the history...we missed out on that.

[fkfad]

A couple of other things to note:

 

-- The tender from the ship to New Haven is quite lengthy for our Edinburgh port (more than 30 minutes).  The tender back was very rough (windy with high swells), such that many people on our tender fell ill from the motion.

 

-- Despite what you read about VeriFly in Amsterdam, it is accepted and I highly recommend using it!  We had absolutely no line to check-in with hundreds of people standing in line for the traditional check-in.  They did not direct us to the VeriFly line -- I saw the sign and headed in that direction automatically.

[ontheweb]

4 hours ago, fkfad said:

We were in Edinburgh, however, we arrived in the morning (at New Haven) and left before the Military Tattoo, which we were told occurs in the evening and is something not to miss if possible.  We visited the castle and had a bus tour of the city.  Our tour guide (through HAL) did not take us through the castle, we were on our own.  We saw many tours in the castle with a guide explaining the history...we missed out on that.

Yes, it is in the evening.

 

Was the fringe festival also there? It was both times we were in Edinburgh in August, once on a land trip and once on a cruise (which was the time we went to the Tattoo as we had an overnight in Edinburgh).

[fkfad]

Yes, the Fringe Festival was going on when we were there and it caused a huge traffic issue!  I anticipated that and purchased our shore excursion through HAL as a result.  When we arrived back at the tender, we made it in time for the "last" tender, however, there were about 500 more passengers behind us waiting to get back to the ship.  I have no idea how many more tenders it took to get everyone back on the ship -- mainly due to the Fringe Festival chaos.

[NCTribeFan]

I'm hoping that there was also the BB Kings band as well as the rock band.  I was a little disappointed on Zuiderdam B2B in Alaska a couple of months ago when, on the turnaround day in Vancouver, they converted that space from BB Kings to Rolling Stones.

Of course, the Pinnacle-class ships have a venue for both.  Just want to be sure they're actually using both.  I'll be on Rotterdam next spring for a B2B2B starting with the Anniversary TA.  Given that it will be 26 nights, I really hope there's plenty of variety (I detest the piano bar, so that isn't an option).  And having more music venues going will keep me from donating all my funds to the casino! 😄

[jeh10641]

On the Rotterdam we loved BB King's, Rolling Stone and Lincoln Center. Never got to Billboard but have enjoyed that on other HAL ships.

 

Jim

[fkfad]

16 hours ago, NCTribeFan said:

I'm hoping that there was also the BB Kings band as well as the rock band.  I was a little disappointed on Zuiderdam B2B in Alaska a couple of months ago when, on the turnaround day in Vancouver, they converted that space from BB Kings to Rolling Stones.

Of course, the Pinnacle-class ships have a venue for both.  Just want to be sure they're actually using both.  I'll be on Rotterdam next spring for a B2B2B starting with the Anniversary TA.  Given that it will be 26 nights, I really hope there's plenty of variety (I detest the piano bar, so that isn't an option).  And having more music venues going will keep me from donating all my funds to the casino! 😄

Yes, they had both the BB Kings and the Rolling Stones open and active.  Both had good bands playing and a lot of people in attendance every night.  The piano bar musicians were good at playing the piano, but their singing skills left much to be desired (in my opinion).  Regardless of all of the music venues available, we made our mandatory casino donations as usual.  LOL

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

54 minutes ago, fkfad said:

Yes, they had both the BB Kings and the Rolling Stones open and active.  Both had good bands playing and a lot of people in attendance every night.  The piano bar musicians were good at playing the piano, but their singing skills left much to be desired (in my opinion).  Regardless of all of the music venues available, we made our mandatory casino donations as usual.  LOL

You are correct. But Rolling Stones band on board is excellent. 5 stars .

[SweetsugarNL]

How crowded are bb king and rockroom.

Is it covid proof? Can you keep distance from other people?

[fkfad]

8 hours ago, SweetsugarNL said:

How crowded are bb king and rockroom.

Is it covid proof? Can you keep distance from other people?

Both were very crowded.  There is no social distancing (anywhere), including the dining rooms, buffet,  etc.

[BrynMawrPA]

We have been back safely from this 14 day cruise. We hope those who caught a cold, flu or whatever will get well soon. Since not everyone ran into the same situation during this cruise, I would like to offer the following tips and hope they would help your planning to cruise on the HAL Rotterdam.

 

(1) Covid Precaution and Social Distancing - Based on the last two week, one should be more concern about attending the CC Meet and Greet at the Explorations Lounge. On 8/1/2022, the place was packed with CCers attending the M&G, a long line of folks trying to book excursions, and many others hanging out there having drinks and coffee. Except the crew members, few folks wore masks. Another place to be careful is the Grand Dutch Cafe on Deck 3. It was packed all the time and very few guest wore mask. For the first 3 days, one should, if possible, stay away from the Guest Services and the temporary Internet Support on Deck 3 across from the Grand Dutch Cafe. There was always a mob. Of course, few wore mask.

 

(2) Covid Isolation Ward - We walked past the ward (Deck 4 Aft Starboard side) every day and had seen folks carrying their luggage and being escorted into the area. Their lunch service should be around 1pm since we witnessed crews getting food from the Lido Market around this time and the number of orders increases during the second week of the cruise. The food could be cold when it was delivered but, as more and more people were quarantined, the orders got bigger and it would take time to get them served and delivered. One day, I got stuck behind a crew getting 3 plates of tacos and burritos that were custom made on the spot. One should not be surprise that the food could be less than hot.

 

(3) Transportation to Rotterdam - We travel light and took the train from AMS to Rotterdam and then the Metro to the cruise port. The train costed us 34.60Euro and the Metro 8Euro. The trip took us about 40minutes. On 7/31/2022 Sunday, neither the train nor the Metro was crowded. It was a nice ride. But if you cannot handle the luggage, paying HAL $39 per person for the transfer may be a worthy decision. As always, there are more expensive Uber and private transfer options too.

 

(4) Embarkation - I strongly recommend using Verify. We got to the cruise port around 11am and was in our room around 11:30am. We were not VIP or suite guests. Our check in time could be shorten if not for guests (not using Verify) jamming up the Verify line and asking questions. Without Verify, the line going thought the inspection desk for Vaccination and Covid test results is long.

 

(5) Specialty Dinner reservation - The most difficult one to get is the Pinnacle Grill. The rest, even Rudi's Sel de Mer, was not a problem.

 

(6) Entertainment at World Stage - Most folks did not start wearing mask until the second week after the Captain told us that the number of Covid cases were higher than expected. Even then, there were still folks not wearing one. For the other venues like BB King's, Lincoln Center, Bill Board and Rolling Stone, folks were drinking there and one cannot expect them to wear a mask.

 

(7) Coughing Etiquette - Starting the second week, more folks were coughing one after another on the excursion coach and on the ship. Many do not wear mask.

 

For us, it was a very good cruise that was cancelled couple of times during the pandemic. That said, getting Covid would ruin the experience. Anyway, during our flight check in at AMS, a fellow cruiser told us that 30% people from her group tested positive and were isolated. Sadly, they were really miserable throughout the cruise.

 

Finally, all we can do is to be careful and to try our best to minimize the chance of getting infected. We wish you all will stay healthy and have a great cruise.

 

Best wishes     

 

       

[VMax1700]

8 hours ago, BrynMawrPA said:

during our flight check in at AMS,

Do tell us more???  Queue time at security etc.

 

(p.s. thanks for a balanced report.  Interesting comment about the crew collecting Lido lunches as I had never thought about that element.)

[SweetsugarNL]

Thank you so much!

[BrynMawrPA]

5 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Do tell us more???  Queue time at security etc.

 

(p.s. thanks for a balanced report.  Interesting comment about the crew collecting Lido lunches as I had never thought about that element.)

We had a direct flight from JFK in US to AMS and back. So we were comfortable checking in our luggage. Still, just in case, we packed a small carry on bag of clothes on the outbound to AMS. We did not encounter any problems with our luggage.

 

At AMS, they were checking passengers on their departure time and would not let them go (up stair) to check in if the departure time is more than 4 hours in the horizon. There were volunteers passing out free water and snacks while folks were waiting on the ground floor. They let me through (with my wife taking care of our luggage) so that I can go to the KLM customer service counter to switch to en earlier flight.

 

The line getting through the security at AMS was long but it was moving. Anyway, it took us a little less than 2 hours from going to the (up stair) KLM customer service (~10 min), standing in line and switching to an earlier flight (~15 min), standing in line to check in (~20 minutes), standing in line to go through the security (~65 min) and then waiting at the gate. Fortunately for us, our plane was 30 min late so that we did not have to run through the airport.

 

I would recommend that one should not carry any food, organic matter, or a slightly larger bottle of cosmetic , eye drops, or lotion, etc. in the carry on bag. The security would reroute the bag to a different line after screening. The bag needed to be opened and the items be checked. There were only 2 agents there to do the checking and this could take an additional 10 to 15 min. One should have checked in all these stuffs. 

 

With all the horror stories about lost luggage, folks are having more carry on bags and more stuffs in the bags. This only slows down the security check in process and more bags got flagged during the security screening. Since there is nothing one can do about it, so just relax and go with the flow.

 

PS: the security check in at the cruise port was quick if you are wondering about it.

[VMax1700]

52 minutes ago, BrynMawrPA said:

standing in line to go through the security (~65 min)

Thank you!  That was my main concern.  Our flight is September 11th at 9.15pm so I hope that it is a bit shorter by then.

Thanks again for your comments.

[loeb]

I also want to thank you for providing very useful information.

[silversneakers]

On 8/16/2022 at 3:51 PM, ontheweb said:

Thanks for sharing.

 

Any comments about Scotland? Were you in Edinburgh, and if so was it during the time of the Military Tattoo?

Just a quick note.  We attended the Tattoo a couple of years ago and would love to go again. We joined (online) Friends of the Tattoo (it was around $35 to join) and were able to purchase tickets online before they went on sale to the general public.