HAL ROTTERDAM..... AVOID DECK 4

[RICHARD@SEA]

I recently returned from a 9 Nite cruise onboard ROTTERDAM V11 - the decor of the ship is quite nice, but the rest of the cruise was a disaster (this is a drama free post).

 

Everything from cold food(including food poisoning from Pinnacle Grill) dirty glasses & tables in the LIDO(not enough staff) amateur entertainment(more of a bad wedding band) & general overall cost cutting by HAL & its parent company. 

 

The most important issue was my balcony cabin on DECK 4.  There was a constant banging inside the cabin & outside in the corridor from midships forward. Sometimes it would start at 3pm & every nite it would go on til 10:30 - 11:00 pm.  It was like living / trying to sleep while someone pounded on a drum for hours. I spoke to the steward, an officer that happened by one day, then guest services (which was another HELL all its own & finally to the HOTEL MANAGER.

 

The Hotel Manager did come back the next day & told me the pounding was from a sound / Bass system=m from the showroom that was attached to a steel beam that ran under my cabin - the pounding further midship was from the sound system in BB KING for the same reason.

 

I'm a 3 star mariner w HAL(going back to 1976) this was also my last HAL cruise.  The overall quality is pretty poor.  For the first time I wanted to disembark early.

 

I am in contact w HAL Corporate(as I told the Hotel Manager I would) and my TA sent me the info regarding who to contact & assured me there was no reasonable explanation for any of this.

 

I'll follow-up when I get results from HAL

 

 

[MAVIP]

So sorry for you, but I do not agree with the text: "avoid deck 4". We were a few times on ms Rotterdam and on deck 4 too and quite happy with our cabins.  It might help to publish your comments at halfacts dot com at your specific cabin number as you donot mention it.

[Lady Arwen]

May I ask which cruiseline you are considering instead of HAL?  We sail Princess and Celebrity as well as HAL and I can tell you each line and ship has some type of issue.  None are perfect.

 

What you experienced is not our experience with HAL.  Unfortunately, there are certain cabins on every ship that are noisier than others, even on the same deck.  We try to pick locations that are least likely to be a problem before we choose an actual cabin.  We research deck plans and do comparisons.  We would not choose deck 4 on a Pinnacle class ship for this reason.  Other people have no issues.  It depends on your level of tolerance for sound and vibrations.

 

We always enjoy the food on HAL and is, IMHO, comparable to both Princess and Celebrity.  Food is very subjective, so my experience may be different than yours and others.

 

Entertainment again is a matter of personal perception.  We’ve seen good, bad and awful, but it’s not something we’re really concerned with.  There is always somewhere else on the ship to find something we enjoy.

[sailawayward]

We were in Cabin 4110 on a 14-day cruise on the Rotterdam in June. We were midship above the guest services desk so the only 'noises' we heard were from the maintenance of lifeboats on 2 port days.  Honestly, we enjoyed watching the process before going ashore.  Booking a guarantee cabin or intentionally selecting a cabin directly above the entertainment or directly below the pool isn't advisable. But it's still not a disaster.

[kazu]

Sorry to hear this.

 

Was on the Rotterdam in October and the food was good to excellent in most venues.  PG was inconsistent - bad for our table - good for someone else’s.

 

I always choose a cabin on deck 4 on the Pinnacle Class ships.  why?  I like the aft cabins with the deeper balcony and the easy access to the Sea View Pool,  Club Orange dining room, etc.

 

I think you may wish to ask the mods to change the title of your thread.  It’s not deck 4 that needs to be avoided but that particular cabin and possible locations near it IMO.

 

 

[MISTER 67]

1 hour ago, Lady Arwen said:

May I ask which cruiseline you are considering instead of HAL?  We sail Princess and Celebrity as well as HAL and I can tell you each line and ship has some type of issue.  None are perfect.

 

What you experienced is not our experience with HAL.  Unfortunately, there are certain cabins on every ship that are noisier than others, even on the same deck.  We try to pick locations that are least likely to be a problem before we choose an actual cabin.  We research deck plans and do comparisons.  We would not choose deck 4 on a Pinnacle class ship for this reason.  Other people have no issues.  It depends on your level of tolerance for sound and vibrations.

 

We always enjoy the food on HAL and is, IMHO, comparable to both Princess and Celebrity.  Food is very subjective, so my experience may be different than yours and others.

 

Entertainment again is a matter of personal perception.  We’ve seen good, bad and awful, but it’s not something we’re really concerned with.  There is always somewhere else on the ship to find something we enjoy.

We also cruise all 3 lines that you mentioned and since the start up after the pandemic IMHO HAL has had more issues than Princess and Celebrity, we will not spend our money with HAL any longer with 2 less than stellar cruises on the Rotterdam and Nieuw Amsterdam which is still our all time favorite cruise, in that same time we have had 5 cruises with Celebrity and 3 with Princess, all were very good cruises but being honest there were some cutbacks on Celebrity and Princess but ones that we can live with. We just returned this AM from a very nice cruise on the Sky Princess and booked the Enchanted Princess in May and already booked on the Celebrity Equinox this coming February, maybe one of these days things will improve on HAL and we can sail with them again

[cbr663]

2 hours ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

 

.....

The Hotel Manager did come back the next day & told me the pounding was from a sound / Bass system=m from the showroom that was attached to a steel beam that ran under my cabin - the pounding further midship was from the sound system in BB KING for the same reason.

.....

 

 

 

This seems to be a design flaw in the ship.  I would be extremely upset if I had to endure pounding whenever there was a show.  Seems like HAL should not have placed a cabin in this area and should have placed crew work stations instead.

[CineGraphic]

Booking a higher category would have avoided this problem.

[Tapi]

2 hours ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

The most important issue was my balcony cabin on DECK 4.  There was a constant banging inside the cabin & outside in the corridor from midships forward.

Sorry that your cabin had issues. Not trying to minimize your experience, but I wouldn't generalize and say "avoid deck 4" altogether. 

 

I was concerned when I booked cabin 4133, first, because we were above public venues, and second, because we had a connecting door. Turned out that all of my concerns were unfounded. The cabin was super quiet during the entire cruise, and we loved the location near stairs and elevators, which made it super easy to go down to the Dutch Cafe one deck below for a quick morning coffee. 

 

I wouldn't hesitate booking the same cabin on deck 4 again. (but i would avoid yours) 

Edited December 9, 2023 by Tapi

[albingirl]

If this really did happen, the pipe bringing loud banging into his cabin, I don't blame him for complaining.  I book cabins as far away from showrooms as possible.  Up, down, sideways.  The rest of the thread is hard to imagine.  His trip was evidently ghastly. Someone said he should prove he had food poisoning from the PG.  How do you do that?  Show pictures of it?  Jeepers.

[POA1]

I'd take issue with whomever chose the cabin. We pay close attention to what's over, under, and around any room we choose. In most cases you can find staterooms in the same category which are in better locations than others.

[YourWorldWithBill]

The strange thing is that as you spoke to so many, you were not offered a move to another cabin. Was this never an option?

[Laminator]

We were on deck 4 on the Rotterdam from Nov 3rd to the 12th. We never had an issue sleeping but I have to admit we do not sleep between the hours of 3pm til 11pm anyway. All 4 of us thought the food was good to excellent. 

[cbr663]

2 hours ago, albingirl said:

If this really did happen, the pipe bringing loud banging into his cabin, I don't blame him for complaining.  I book cabins as far away from showrooms as possible.  Up, down, sideways.  The rest of the thread is hard to imagine.  His trip was evidently ghastly. Someone said he should prove he had food poisoning from the PG.  How do you do that?  Show pictures of it?  Jeepers.

Great point on how do you prove you had food poisoning.

 

OP is a 3 star Mariner with over 40 years of cruising experience.  They have obviously previously had great experiences with HAL.  They know the HAL experience and the HAL brand.  This one was a dud and OP is clearly visibly upset.

 

The cold food?  Easily believable.  I experienced last month on our cruise.  Even sent a plate back because it was cold and the plate they replaced it with was cold.  Dirty tables at the lido?  Who hasn't experienced that?  Not enough staff?  Check your cruise passport and compare the crew count against the crew count that HAL advertises for the ship and don't be surprised to see it down 100+ crew.  

 

We had a sailing years ago on the Eurodam where every day something went wrong.  It was our first Neptune Suite and the Concierge knew us personally when as soon as we entered the suite we discovered it visibly dirty and heavily soiled and it took 2 attempts to have it cleaned.  The cruise never recovered from that point and the on Day 5 the Concierge asked us what could he do to make things better and we simply replied, "stop screwing up."  It was unbelievable how many things went wrong, but they did.  That cruise I learned that yes, you can have a bad experience on a cruise while others around you are having a great time.  Ship happens and when it does, it is frustrating and very disappointing.

[happy2cruise2016]

In the past year we have been on Nieuw Statendam, Ruby Princess, Koningsdam and Celebrity Eclipse. While none of them were perfect, we found things to enjoy on all of them and we had fewer issues on the HAL ships.  Our cabin on Celebrity was forward on deck 7 and there was quite a lot of noise, especially anytime we docked or were tendered. The food was very mediocre and the only dessert worth eating was ice cream. There were several different issues on Princess that took multiple trips and calls to Guest Services to get fixed. The food was better than Celebrity, but Holland food was better than both. The issues we experienced on HAL were minimal and addressed quickly. 

 

I know we go on vacations and expect everything to be perfect and it is disappointing when things happen to make our experience less than perfect, however it is key to remember we are on vacation and look for things we can enjoy in the midst of our disappointment...we could be at home having to go to work, cook, clean or do laundry!

[oaktreerb]

6 hours ago, RICHARD@SEA said:

I recently returned from a 9 Nite cruise onboard ROTTERDAM V11 - the decor of the ship is quite nice, but the rest of the cruise was a disaster (this is a drama free post).

 

 

The most important issue was my balcony cabin on DECK 4.  There was a constant banging inside the cabin & outside in the corridor from midships forward. Sometimes it would start at 3pm & every nite it would go on til 10:30 - 11:00 pm.  It was like living / trying to sleep while someone pounded on a drum for hours. I spoke to the steward, an officer that happened by one day, then guest services (which was another HELL all its own & finally to the HOTEL MANAGER.

 

The Hotel Manager did come back the next day & told me the pounding was from a sound / Bass system=m from the showroom that was attached to a steel beam that ran under my cabin - the pounding further midship was from the sound system in BB KING for the same reason.

 

I'm a 3 star mariner w HAL(going back to 1976) this was also my last HAL cruise.  The overall quality is pretty poor.  For the first time I wanted to disembark early.

 

I am in contact w HAL Corporate(as I told the Hotel Manager I would) and my TA sent me the info regarding who to contact & assured me there was no reasonable explanation for any of this.

 

I'll follow-up when I get results from HAL

 

 

If you are 3* with HAL you must be aware of stateroom locations.  You were above the entertainment areas of the ship.  Was it a guarantee? 

 

Deck 4 is not the issue.  Deck 4 aft is fine, Deck 4 forward is not a good choice for people who are bothered by noise from the entertainment venues.

[whogo]

Thanks for the report, RICHARD@SEA. It is torture trying to sleep in noisy environments. Shame you caught a bug, too. You had a worse cruise than I ever did.

 

[montythecat]

The OP seems to have been unlucky.  Our recent experiences

on HAL ( Nieuw Statendam twice and Oosterdam twice )

have been very different. Good food and more imaginative 

menus than Celebrity, entertaining rock bands and

pianists, ships with lovely forward facing lounges and

excellent cabins. We try and minimise any potential 

disturbances by choosing balcony cabins with cabins

above and beneath us.

 

[Seasick Sailor]

Currently on Rotterdam for 51 days. We are in 5055 (accessible) No noise or problems. The couple below us on deck 4, 3 cabins back have the exact problem as OP. Every night the banging begins. Unfortunately the ship is full and cannot move to a better cabin. Front desk offered ear plugs but never delivered them. Supposedly an officer came and listened to the banging and yesterday promised to have an engineering team come this morning first thing. 8:15 pm, nada.

[Dancing Shoes]

Sorry your cruise was not a good experience.  I am super picky about cabins and always stay in an ocean view room.  Our last cruise on the Rotterdam had these cabins under public areas.  I chose wisely and stayed away from the music venues.  We did hear some weird noise one night.  Food was good and we are booked on the Volendam next.  

[ski ww]

sorry you had a bad experience, doesn't make for good memories of your cruise. We'll be in cabin 4154 on her in Aug. 

[kazu]

10 minutes ago, ski ww said:

sorry you had a bad experience, doesn't make for good memories of your cruise. We'll be in cabin 4154 on her in Aug. 

 

I had that cabin on the Rotterdam.  Great location.  👍 

[ConanD]

May I ask which cabin you had exactly? I have 4069 booked for in may, and now I'm concerned! 

[RICHARD@SEA]

12 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

Currently on Rotterdam for 51 days. We are in 5055 (accessible) No noise or problems. The couple below us on deck 4, 3 cabins back have the exact problem as OP. Every night the banging begins. Unfortunately the ship is full and cannot move to a better cabin. Front desk offered ear plugs but never delivered them. Supposedly an officer came and listened to the banging and yesterday promised to have an engineering team come this morning first thing. 8:15 pm, nada.

Thank you for posting this info.

 

If you see this & want to tell your friends - they should "insist on meeting w the HOTEL MANAGER"  It took me 4 days to meet w her due to the Guest Relations & then the issue was addressed.(and I'm still dealing w HAL headquarters w my TA encouragement - one question I was asked is "how much is 9 nites of not sleeping worth???"

[RICHARD@SEA]

2 hours ago, ConanD said:

May I ask which cabin you had exactly? I have 4069 booked for in may, and now I'm concerned! 

I was in cabin 4012 - Port side forward - 2 decks above the showroom STAGE. (one above the balcony of the showroom) Outside the cabin going aft the vibration & sound could be felt/ heard back to above BB KINGS(as confirmed by an officer, my Steward & the Hotel MGR)

 

Obviously HAL did not have the shipbuilder install enough insulation between decks.

I always book an midship balcony cabin - yes & avoiding all problems w lido's & showrooms & public spaces - this is the first time I ever encountered this situation.