Quick Review of Rotterdam sailing in March 2023

[shipshape sam]

We embarked on the 18th and disembarked on the 29th.

 

 As an umbrella statement, the following are my thoughts and even my DW and I had some differences.

 

Great:  

The entertainment, especially the music.  The rock and roll, the two pianos, the blues band, the comedians had our attention every night.  I do not know of another cruise line/ship that has the entertainment designed like the Pinnacle class on HAL. Some of the older HAL ships do not have the Rock and Roll venue.  I loved the vibe and it was clear everyone was enjoying the music (and singing along) or laughing with the comedian.

 

Rudi's.  Great dinner including the food, the presentation the service and not being rushed.

 

The Pizza area on deck 10 for lunch. I enjoyed a number of corn beef sandwiches over the course of 11 days.  Did try the pastrami also.  

 

Half Moon Bar.  The staff, Paula, Julious, and Vincent were great. Always remembered our names as we walked by and we just felt that they wanted to know us when we sat down.

 

The walking path on deck  3.  It went around the whole ship.  3 laps to the mile.

 

The cabin shower area was huge and shower itself was great.

 

Half Moon Cay.  What a beautiful island/beach.  My favorite private beach.  

 

Good:

 

 The lido cafe area.  Liked 2 sides.  It was at times crowded and taco area always seemed popular along with the ice cream area.

 

Dutch Cafe was very good and they were open early every time I wanted an early latte.  I did think the sweets were limited and understand they were themed.

 

Guest services was always helpful and computer area help early on to get wi-fi and our sailings events working. A couple of times had to start over.

 

The bars seemed to be located all over the ship.

 

Aft facing cabin.  We have loved them in past and  did like it, but did find that we were out and about a lot with very little time on our veranda to listen to and see the  wake.  A few times while aft on deck 9, I would just go aft and watch it there. 

 

Pool deck.  we spent one morning there and it was very nice.  We do not lay in the sun, so from about 7am till 11am, we enjoyed lounging.  Hot tubs opend at 9 am and we enjoyed them also. Food and bars and bathrooms were close by on  deck 9 and up on deck 10.

 

Thought the layout of the ship was pretty good.  

 

Main dining was good, but confusing to me as to who was waiting on us.  It was clear we had a head waiter, but beyond that, 2-3 other people would at various times, do something for us.

 

Lots of storage space in cabin and liked the 2 hooks on the one wall.

 

On and off ship during sailing worked well.  They were trying facial recognition.  Seemed to work.  Not sure it was faster, but maybe more secure.

 

Disappointed:

 

Only 2 nights did we get escargots.  They were delicious.  Here I am comparing to Celebrity and understand there are tradeoffs between ship offerings, but hey, it was my cruise and a 10 rating for every item on my list would not be bad!

 

Announcements.  Could not hear them in cabin and overall they were short.  Do not recall ever hearing one of the announcements.  I wish they had speakers in your cabin and you could turn them on or off.

 

Guess a tradeoff of space in that the bathroom sink and area around it was a little smaller that we would have liked, but by day 2 DW worked out who got what area.😉

 

Was disappointed in Pinnacle Grill.  Food was okay, service great, but I was disappointed in our seating.  We were in a back area and one side had a bench seat.  I sat the in the bench seat area against 2 walls (on my right and on my back).  There was another table for 4 next to us and probably 12-15 inches between our tables.  My issue was anytime a plate for me was delivered or taken away, the wait staff could not reach it to me or take it away.  They had to come between the tables and orient their butts towards the patrons sitting next to us. I finally asked them to come between our 2 other members (sitting in chairs) with us and I could take the handoff from there.

 

Half Moon Cay t-shirt selection.  I had not purchased a 2nd t-shirt earlier on cruise as I wanted to get a Half Moon Cay t-shirt.  All I can tell them is if you do not have product, you can't sell it.  I would bet they could have sold a lot of logo items if the selection had been decent and had size Large.  I watched for about 15 minutes and a steady stream of folks walking in and very, very few with anything coming out.   Also, slim picking onboard, again where they could take advantage of selling Half Moon Cay logo items if they had them in stock ( tourist t-shirts) and other popular logo items.

 

Well, I am sure I am forgetting something.  Would I sail on her again.  YES.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 11, 2023 by shipshape sam
misspelling

[YourWorldWithBill]

32 minutes ago, shipshape sam said:

We embarked on the 18th and disembarked on the 29th.

 

 As an umbrella statement, the following are my thoughts and even my DW and I had some differences.

 

Thanks so much for this great, detailed info! We are on the Rotterdam from Amsterdam next month, and it's great to have so much information. Stay shipshape!

[oakridger]

2 hours ago, shipshape sam said:

Announcements.  Could not hear them in cabin and overall they were short.  Do not recall ever hearing one of the announcements.  I wish they had speakers in your cabin and you could turn them on or off.

 

Thank you for the review!  Glad to hear that you had a good time.

 

Were you aware that you can hear the bridge, scenic viewing narratives, and Captain's announcements on the TV?  I forgot which channel it is on but since you know the daily times you can be sure to have it on.  They purposely don't send in any announcements to the cabins except for safety or emergency information.  Your suggestion to have a speaker with on/off switch would be nice, but in the meantime it plays on your TV.

 

~Nancy

 

[ski ww]

Thanks for posting your write up. We're looking forward to our cruise on her next Aug.

[doone]

Thank you for your review, we disembarked the day you embarked and we sure enjoyed our cruise as well.

[shipshape sam]

10 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Thanks so much for this great, detailed info! We are on the Rotterdam from Amsterdam next month, and it's great to have so much information. Stay shipshape!

It was a great cruise.  I am sure you will have a great cruise too.  For me, excluding the Half Moon Cay t-shirt issue, did the entertainment experience outweigh the dining experience overall.  It did.  

 

The casino is small and somewhat smoky.  We did donate some funds to HAL's profit.  Casino was just above the music area with a staircase right there. Stores, as it seems on all ships, do not have tourist items that would attract me.  Upscale items seemed to be what they sell.  My motto is:  t-shirts, shorts, flip-flops and a beer in hand enjoying the ocean view and breeze.  

 

Which does bring me to beer selection.  It was okay.  They did have a very good bottled IPA. They had very limited selection of draft beers.  Not sure how/when they get restocked.

 

Hope you will also come back and let us know your thoughts and experience on Rotterdam VII.

[shipshape sam]

8 hours ago, oakridger said:

 

Thank you for the review!  Glad to hear that you had a good time.

 

Were you aware that you can hear the bridge, scenic viewing narratives, and Captain's announcements on the TV?  I forgot which channel it is on but since you know the daily times you can be sure to have it on.  They purposely don't send in any announcements to the cabins except for safety or emergency information.  Your suggestion to have a speaker with on/off switch would be nice, but in the meantime it plays on your TV.

 

~Nancy

 

Thanks for that  tip about TV announcements.  Will check it out on our next cruise no matter the cruise line.  We did not turn TV on often.  I used to put my phone in safe and we do not get on internet often.  Now you can use your phone to see ship's activity and your own personal schedule. They did provide a paper based daily planner too.  We basically decouple and it is great.  I do though know that some might not be able to even sail unless they can stay tethered via the internet.

[shipshape sam]

2 hours ago, ski ww said:

Thanks for posting your write up. We're looking forward to our cruise on her next Aug.

Glad to post.  It was a great cruise.  It was our 37th and I cannot recall any cruise that I was really disappointed in.  Have had many (post cruise reflection) good stories/times on our cruises meeting other cruisers and/or with our group.

 

I like too to have a cruise booked and can enjoy the planning and talking about what we want to do, etc.  Hope you are enjoying your pre-cruise planning and anticipation.  It's like 2 cruises!

[shipshape sam]

40 minutes ago, doone said:

Thank you for your review, we disembarked the day you embarked and we sure enjoyed our cruise as well.

What did you like best?  How long was your cruise? Was it the 21 day sailing. I would love to do a long sailing someday.   We have done a few 14/15 days.

[YourWorldWithBill]

6 hours ago, shipshape sam said:

The casino is small and somewhat smoky.  We did donate some funds to HAL's profit.  Casino was just above the music area with a staircase right there.

 

Hope you will also come back and let us know your thoughts and experience on Rotterdam VII.

Let's hope that I can retrieve some of your donation, as I plan on some time at the craps table... 

[81Zoomie]

10 hours ago, shipshape sam said:

It was a great cruise.  I am sure you will have a great cruise too.  For me, excluding the Half Moon Cay t-shirt issue, did the entertainment experience outweigh the dining experience overall.  It did.  

 

The casino is small and somewhat smoky.  We did donate some funds to HAL's profit.  Casino was just above the music area with a staircase right there. Stores, as it seems on all ships, do not have tourist items that would attract me.  Upscale items seemed to be what they sell.  My motto is:  t-shirts, shorts, flip-flops and a beer in hand enjoying the ocean view and breeze.  

 

Which does bring me to beer selection.  It was okay.  They did have a very good bottled IPA. They had very limited selection of draft beers.  Not sure how/when they get restocked.

 

Hope you will also come back and let us know your thoughts and experience on Rotterdam VII.

Thank you for the wonderful review!  I am looking forward to my first pinnacle class cruise.

 

Is the 150th anniversary beer available?  It was sold out on our last cruise. Also wondering about your smoking comment.  We are just off the Nieuw Amsterdam and only experienced smokers on the aft sea view pool area.  There was no smoking indoors anywhere.

 

 

[shipshape sam]

3 hours ago, 81Zoomie said:

Thank you for the wonderful review!  I am looking forward to my first pinnacle class cruise.

 

Is the 150th anniversary beer available?  It was sold out on our last cruise. Also wondering about your smoking comment.  We are just off the Nieuw Amsterdam and only experienced smokers on the aft sea view pool area.  There was no smoking indoors anywhere.

 

 

No 150th beer offering that I saw. 

 

Lots of smoking on sea view pool area on starboard side aft next to sea view bar on deck 9.  In casino, I did not see anyone smoking personally, but it smelled of smoke and there was a small area forward of main casino that did not smell of any smoke.  I hope they are in transition to non smoking, but even if they are, the casino still had some lingering smoke.  DW did not want to even walk through the area.

 

We have sailed a lot, and I never experience the musical entertainment like on Rotterdam.  I am sure we will look to sail on her again.

Edited April 12, 2023 by shipshape sam

[PoppyBanks]

19 hours ago, shipshape sam said:

Thanks for that  tip about TV announcements.  Will check it out on our next cruise no matter the cruise line.  We did not turn TV on often.  I used to put my phone in safe and we do not get on internet often.  Now you can use your phone to see ship's activity and your own personal schedule. They did provide a paper based daily planner too.  We basically decouple and it is great.  I do though know that some might not be able to even sail unless they can stay tethered via the internet.

You will hear the announcements if your cabin tv is set on the Bow cam. 

[fsufancc]

Great overview.  Can't wait to sail on her.  Like @YourWorldWithBill we are sailing out of Amsterdam but later in August.  This will be our first ever HAL trip. 

[shipshape sam]

8 hours ago, fsufancc said:

Great overview.  Can't wait to sail on her.  Like @YourWorldWithBill we are sailing out of Amsterdam but later in August.  This will be our first ever HAL trip. 

I hope your trip is great.  We tried lots of things, but also hooked on to some nice things and did them often.  I would say you got a great ship to be a maiden  HAL sailing.

[shipshape sam]

On 4/11/2023 at 3:20 PM, YourWorldWithBill said:

Let's hope that I can retrieve some of your donation, as I plan on some time at the craps table... 

That would be nice.  Once you do, enjoy a drink with a portion of your winnings.