PHOTO REVIEW! Just off the Rotterdam to Scotland.

[Bostonjetset]

Hi fellow cruisers.  I just returned from the Rotterdam's 5-night sailing to Scotland so wanted to share my thoughts.  I usually post reviews in a diary style format so you can read my thoughts as I wrote them during the trip.

 

BACKGROUND:

DH and I sailed with two other couples on this trip.  We had been on the Rotterdam before and this was my fifth HAL cruise and his fourth.  Of the other guys, one had never been on a cruise at all, one had been on an RCCL cruise as a teenager, and the other two had been on three other cruises [with NCL and RCCL] so were all newbies to HAL.  I am the youngest of the group at 40 y/o and DH is the oldest at 55.  The others are 40 [a couple months older than me!], 44, 49, and 52.

We spent two nights pre-cruise in Amsterdam [none of the group except for one guy had ever been there] and one night post-cruise in Utrecht, Netherlands.  None of the group had been to Scotland.

[Bostonjetset]

Day 1: 4/22/2023, 8.00pm, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Absolutely exhausted!  After our overnight flight, during which we didn't really get any meaningful sleep, we took an Uber directly to our AirBnB in the De Pijp neighborhood of Amsterdam.  Our host, W, is super nice and let us check in early.  His apartment is cute, and in a great location, but the VERY narrow stairs to the third floor are tiring with suitcases.

 

We met the boys at 1pm at the Rijksmuseum to kick off our time in Amsterdam as they flew in on a different flight.  Great museum but can't fully appreciate it on one hour of sleep.  Plus, the Vermeers were not viewable as there was a special Vermeer exhibit going on that sold out months in advance.  Oh well, reason to come back!

 

After, we did a canal boat tour which was truly terrific even though it started drizzling.  It was really cool to see all the old homes along the canals, and hear some of the history of the city.  We then went to dinner at 6 because we were all so tired and were in bed by 8.30pm!

 

 

 

 

 

[Bostonjetset]

Day 2: 4/23/2023, 10.35pm, Amsterdam, Netherlands

We started our day at Keukenhof Gardens to see the tulips.  It's peak time and OMG it was amazing!  There were so many different varieties and some were huge...almost the size of a coffee mug!!  The guys didn't wan't to go so DH and I went by ourselves but it was well worth it!  After two hours at the gardens it started getting packed so we left and headed back to the AirBnB.  We chatted with our host for a bit and then took an Uber to the Jordaan area to stroll around and sit in a cafe.  We found a place that served beer and small snacks so we sat outside along the canal and enjoyed some bitterballen and kastengel.  

 

We met the guys at 3pm at the Anne Frank House for our timed entry.  What a sobering experience and well worth a visit at least once.  Her story somehow seems even sadder since she died mere months before the war's end.

 

For dinner we had an amazing Indonesian rijsttafel at Mama Makan at the Hyatt Regency.  The meal was delicious, especially the lamb and pork belly satays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[MaryBethV]

I am looking forward to your review! Thank you so much for taking the time. We will be on our first HAL Cruise to the ABC Islands in 2024 on the Rotterdam - can't wait!

[Bostonjetset]

Day 3: 4/24/2023, 11.05pm, Amsterdam, Netherlands and HAL Rotterdam

Today we boarded HAL's Rotterdam for our 5 night cruise to Scotland.  Upon waking, I walked over to Albert Cuyp Market for a fresh stroopwafel and then we took and Uber to the port.  R&P arrive two minutes after us whilst J&C arrived right before us at 11am.  We were through our check-in formalities and on the ship around noon.  Buffet for lunch after dropping off carry-ons.  Food was decent with no noticeable degradation of quality since last year.

 

However, at dinner in the main dining room, there was a slightly noticeable effect of staff cutbacks/shortages.  Water wasn't refilled until asked and bar drinks took a while.  Dinner lasted about 1.5 hours which was fine and the food was pretty good.  R got the much-maligned "rustic lasagna" and loved it!!  He's not a foodie by any means but he is proof that there is a market for this kind of "homey" cooking in the MDR.  My French onion soup and cos slider was both delicious!  NY Strip was adequate.  Paris Brest for dessert was really enjoyable.  Won $80 on the slots and enjoyed the 10pm set of Billboard Onboard.

 

 

 

 

[Bostonjetset]

Day 4: 4/25/2023, 11.06pm, HAL Rotterdam

Today was a sea day and it only got up to about 48F so mostly spent it indoors.  I did go for a swim in the aft pool [outdoors] and sit in the hot tub for about 25 minutes.  It started to hail but the water kept us warm enough.  A younger [34] Dutch guy and his American wife were also in the hot tub as was the wife's grandfather.  There are a lot more children on this cruise than is typical for HAL and they overtake the covered pool during the day.  J and I went to the flower arranging presentation which was an enjoyable 30 min.  Dinner service was much better today.  They have found their groove.  Food in the MDR tonight was very good.  The sole was well cooked and the tomato bisque [they called it "potage"] was delicious.  The Dutch apple tart was fabulous.  Tome Lowe, a British singer, was the main stage entertainment tonight.  He was quite good.  Apparently he was in Les Mia in the West End as well as playing Rum Tum Tugger in Cats.  

 

 

 

[Iamthesea]

Enjoying! 😉

 

We will be in Amsterdam a week from Thursday before start our 14 night cruise (on the 14th) and having a couple of pre/post land trips.   Your apartment sounds like the one we had the last time we were in Amsterdam.  Those stairs were killers with or without luggage!  Awe wised up and have booked all hotels with elevators.

[Skicruiser55]

9 minutes ago, Iamthesea said:

Enjoying! 😉

 

We will be in Amsterdam a week from Thursday before start our 14 night cruise (on the 14th) and having a couple of pre/post land trips.   Your apartment sounds like the one we had the last time we were in Amsterdam.  Those stairs were killers with or without luggage!  Awe wised up and have booked all hotels with elevators.

What itinerary are you doing?  I am interested in your feedback on AMS airport (how long from deplaning to getting luggage.  We don’t board until July doing 14 night Best of Norway.

[mrsfecura]

Love this, thanks!

[Radbooks]

Thanks for sharing!

 

I find the MDR is often crazy the first night because of all the new passengers, so we usually eat in one of the specialty restaurants.

 

Rhonda

[Bostonjetset]

Day 5: 4/26/2023, 11.21pm, HAL Rotterdam & Invergordon [Inverness], Scotland

Today we called at Invergordon, the main port for the Scottish Highlands.  We booked an HAL excursion called "Cruising Loch Ness" which included a coach ride through Inverness and the Highlands along with an hour-long boat ride on Loch Ness.  We didn't see Nessie but the boat ride was lovely and it was beautifully sunny today.  We had a chance to taste [and buy] some highland gin and [of course] whisky along with various other souvenirs.  The coach ride was rather long and the guide talked non-stop but that can't really be avoided I suppose.  She [the guide] was good and gave some interesting into and history of the area but after 2.5 hours of commentary one starts to tune it out.  I'm glad we got to visit Loch Ness but this port is likely a "one and done" for us as there isn't loads to do other than that and touring castles or distilleries.  It's a perfect place to visit by cruise ship for that very reason.

 

The main theatre tonight had the Step One dancers performing "Humanity".  We saw it in January 2022 on this ship and loved it so it was worth seeing again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bostonjetset]

Day 6: 4/27/2023, 11.45pm, HAL Rotterdam & Edinburgh, Scotland

Today we spent the day in Edinburgh.  If we thought one day was enough in Inverness then we decided it was NOT enough here.  It would be best to spend at least 3 days here to see even just the major sights.

 

First we took the special X99 bus into the city center from the port.  Then we walked up to Edinburgh Castle.  It truly is an amazing place to visit and the views over the city are fabulous.  For lunch we ate at a local place called Devil's Advocate and it was wonderful; the pork belly cassoulet was delicious.

 

After walking the Royal Mile we took the full hop-on/hop-off bus loop around the city.  It's a great way to get an overview of the sights and is fairly inexpensive.

 

Dinner in the MDR tonight was so disorganized!!  Service was slow even though it was only four of us since J&C ate at Sea de Mer.  R ordered the upcharge filet and it was REALLY rare instead of medium.  He sent it back since it was a $16 upcharge and thus expectation are even higher.  It took them 20 minutes to bring another one so he had to eat after the rest of us finished.  Not a great experience at all.  They did end up reversing the charge for it at least.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bostonjetset]

Day 7: 4/28/2023, 11.51pm, HAL Rotterdam

I always enjoy days at sea as it gives a great chance to relax a bit and refresh.  Today we slept in and went to an early lunch in the buffet at 11.30am.  The Mexican station has been especially good this trip; the beef brisket and roasted pork were both excellent.  We also played multiple rounds of trivia today, walked a few laps on the promenade deck, and finally got an apple/bacon pannenkoek from the Grand Dutch Cafe.  And bitterballen of course!  Dinner tonight was delicious with lamb shank and butternut squash soup.  Service was a lot better than yesterday as well..  Our head waiter has been with HAL for years and he hinted at the current understaffing without saying as much.  Anyway, it's obvious they still haven't completely recovered staffing after Covid.  They [the staff] are all trying their best though.  Our stateroom steward, Deny, has been extremely friendly and attentive even though he doesn't have an assistant now.  We get nightly towel animals and pillow chocolates were received twice.  We also received our Delft tiles with the 150 year anniversary design.  The cute Billboard Onboard pianist, Kenji, performed tonight with the Step One dancers and his fellow pianist Melissa for the main stage show.

 

[Bostonjetset]

Day 8: 4/29/2023, 10.42pm, Utrecht, Netherlands

Our final day of the trip was spent in Utrecht and boy is it lovely!!  Such a charming city, also with canals, but with far less people than Amsterdam even though it's only about 25 minutes away by train. It's such a place to just walking around and soak in the atmosphere.  We had a two hour lunch at Graaf Flores and the food was delicious even though the waiting forgot to send our order to the kitchen resulting in a 1/2 hour wait.  Dinner was at a local place called Blij that had a 3 course tasting menu presented as 6 half-portions.  So we got 2 half appetizers, 2 half mains, and 2 half desserts.  Highlights were the fried speck with Oriental noodles, vegetarian savory baklava with goat cheese, and the banana tart.  It was a truly fabulous way to close out the trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[canadianbear]

What beautiful photos!  Love the style of your writing and thank you for sharing all this.  

[Bostonjetset]

FINAL THOUGHTS

We all loved this trip and it was nice to be back on the Rotterdam exploring new places.  The Netherlands is a wonderful country to visit and I can't believe it's taken me this long to make it there.  I hope to go back and explore some of the other cities the country has to offer.

 

In regards to the cruise itself I wanted to make a few comments, especially as there has been a lot of negativity on the boards lately about HAL and how things are "not like they used to be".  It is true that there are some noticeable staffing issues that hopefully will get resolved with time as the cruise lines get back into the swing of normal business.  Nothing that "ruined our cruise" or even came close to it.

 

Whilst food is always subjective, everyone in my group was satisfied with it.  Nothing was haute cuisine but almost everything was good and some things were great.  The ONE thing that everyone agreed was bad was the scrambled eggs in the buffet during breakfast; they were always running and not pleasant to eat but there are many other options for breakfast that were good so it is what it is.  Now onto the "rustic lasagna" that so many complain about.  The person in our group who had it loved it.  I didn't order it but I saw his and it certainly looked good.  I know there are people who have been cruising HAL since 1950 that come on here to complain about it replacing such "delectable dishes" as calves' liver but I would be hard pressed to find people in everyday life who would prefer that to lasagna.  Though there was a charge for lobster [which I don't eat so don't care much about] there were plenty of other high-value proteins on the menu for free.  Lamb, sole, salmon, and various offerings of beef made regular appearances at no extra charge.  It was NOT all roast chicken and lasagna!

 

Another thing that has garnered a lot of complaints lately is entertainment.  I DO miss the Lincoln Center Stage and hope that HAL reconsiders its retirement or replaces it with something similar.  Not having classical music was a bummer.  That said, the other stuff on offer was good.  Step One dance shows are terrific and even though I'd see both before I was happy to see them again.  Billboard Onboard or Rolling Stone Rock played a set each night at 11 or 11.15 so the idea that everything is done at 10.30 is an exaggeration at least as it pertains to this ship.  The casino was hoping until at least midnight each night [I didn't stay up later than that to notice what time everything stopped].  There have been reports that the Westerdam in Japan has been a ghost town after 10.30 most nights and whilst I don't doubt others' experiences I can confirm my experience on the Rotterdam has been nothing like that.  Perhaps a two week itinerary around Japan attracts an older group that is earlier to bed?  Longer voyages in more far-flung, expensive parts of the world tend to attract and older demographic simply by circumstance.  Either way, the Rotterdam had enough to occupy people until at least midnight.

[Bostonjetset]

10 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

What beautiful photos!  Love the style of your writing and thank you for sharing all this.  

Thanks! 🙂. I'm glad you enjoyed.

[oakridger]

Thanks for this nice review!  I love the pictures too.

 

What did your new to cruising/HAL friends think of it?

 

~Nancy

[Bostonjetset]

1 minute ago, oakridger said:

Thanks for this nice review!  I love the pictures too.

 

What did your new to cruising/HAL friends think of it?

 

~Nancy

Thanks!  I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

Our friends liked it.  Not sure HAL would be their first pick every cruise but they said they would sail again for the right itinerary.  Itineraries are HAL's strong suit anyway so that made sense.

[canadianbear]

7 minutes ago, Bostonjetset said:

Thanks! 🙂. I'm glad you enjoyed.

I have totally enjoyed it.  My grandpa was from the Netherlands and I’ve never been there.  The flowers almost brought tears to my eyes as it made me think of him.  I’m not sure I’ll ever get there but never say never, right! 

[Iamthesea]

4 hours ago, Skicruiser55 said:

What itinerary are you doing?  I am interested in your feedback on AMS airport (how long from deplaning to getting luggage.  We don’t board until July doing 14 night Best of Norway.

The Voyage of the Midnight Sun - May 14.  I have been following your other thread, and asked my own questions about the airport procedures.   When we get to Germany our first night over there, I will try to remember to respond to your question.  I don't normally get on CC while traveling on a cruise. 

 

Boston - The cruise we booked for May of 2024 goes back to Scotland.  Been to Edinburgh a couple of times, but not to Inverness.  Looking forward to seeing the lake and looking for the loch ness.  Your photos look amazing!  

[QuattroRomeo]

Thank you for the gorgeous photos and excellent commentary. And you're right- Utrecht is lovely! Glad you enjoyed your trip and bet you will revisit some of these places!

[newtocruiseinblue]

7 hours ago, Bostonjetset said:

FINAL THOUGHTS

We all loved this trip and it was nice to be back on the Rotterdam exploring new places.  The Netherlands is a wonderful country to visit and I can't believe it's taken me this long to make it there.  I hope to go back and explore some of the other cities the country has to offer.

 

In regards to the cruise itself I wanted to make a few comments, especially as there has been a lot of negativity on the boards lately about HAL and how things are "not like they used to be".  It is true that there are some noticeable staffing issues that hopefully will get resolved with time as the cruise lines get back into the swing of normal business.  Nothing that "ruined our cruise" or even came close to it.

 

Whilst food is always subjective, everyone in my group was satisfied with it.  Nothing was haute cuisine but almost everything was good and some things were great.  The ONE thing that everyone agreed was bad was the scrambled eggs in the buffet during breakfast; they were always running and not pleasant to eat but there are many other options for breakfast that were good so it is what it is.  Now onto the "rustic lasagna" that so many complain about.  The person in our group who had it loved it.  I didn't order it but I saw his and it certainly looked good.  I know there are people who have been cruising HAL since 1950 that come on here to complain about it replacing such "delectable dishes" as calves' liver but I would be hard pressed to find people in everyday life who would prefer that to lasagna.  Though there was a charge for lobster [which I don't eat so don't care much about] there were plenty of other high-value proteins on the menu for free.  Lamb, sole, salmon, and various offerings of beef made regular appearances at no extra charge.  It was NOT all roast chicken and lasagna!

 

Another thing that has garnered a lot of complaints lately is entertainment.  I DO miss the Lincoln Center Stage and hope that HAL reconsiders its retirement or replaces it with something similar.  Not having classical music was a bummer.  That said, the other stuff on offer was good.  Step One dance shows are terrific and even though I'd see both before I was happy to see them again.  Billboard Onboard or Rolling Stone Rock played a set each night at 11 or 11.15 so the idea that everything is done at 10.30 is an exaggeration at least as it pertains to this ship.  The casino was hoping until at least midnight each night [I didn't stay up later than that to notice what time everything stopped].  There have been reports that the Westerdam in Japan has been a ghost town after 10.30 most nights and whilst I don't doubt others' experiences I can confirm my experience on the Rotterdam has been nothing like that.  Perhaps a two week itinerary around Japan attracts an older group that is earlier to bed?  Longer voyages in more far-flung, expensive parts of the world tend to attract and older demographic simply by circumstance.  Either way, the Rotterdam had enough to occupy people until at least midnight.

So glad you had an enjoyable adventure! It is fun and interesting to compare your trip to my own experience!!  We were only an hour behind you in Amsterdam at most places. We had an amazing experience and I am still recovering from jet lag! Happy cruising!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing.

[MaryBethV]

Thank you again! It sounds like you all had a great cruise. Your photos are absolutely stunning and make me want to visit the Netherlands! I do hope they have classical musicians on board again soon.