Rotterdam cruise review December 15-22

[CruisingAndDiving]

This was our first Pinnacle class ship and we were thoroughly impressed with most every aspect of the ship.  For this cruise it was myself and DW along with my 81 year old Mom who sailed in a solo cabin.

Embarkation:

A very quick embarkation as Mom needed wheelchair assistance.  We were speedily taken to a separate table where the necessities were taken care of and then escorted upstairs at Port Everglades Pier 26, to await boarding.  After waiting perhaps 20 minutes the ship was cleared and we were taken onboard.

First Impressions:

Stunningly beautiful and spotlessly clean.  Rotterdam being the newest ship in the fleet did not disappoint.  As being just before Christmas, it was also decorated nicely and the gingerbread village with train was a hit with most passengers.  Cabins ready shortly after we boarded so went to check those out and get our cards.  Once again, they were spotless and beautiful.  A trip to Dive In for lunch and to feel truly on vacation.

Stateroom:

We were in aft cabin VS 8203.  There was certainly a little more interior space that most other verandah cabins.  Plenty of outlets for us with one on either side of the bed along with USB plugs.   At the desk there were more outlets and USB plugs along with European outlets.   Single sink in the bathroom and not much storage/shelving space but a decent sized standup shower with glass door.  Very good water pressure!!  I did post some pictures of the cabin and balcony on the HAL board and you can find those here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2980822-rotterdam-aft-facing-cabin-8203-pics/#comment-66637226

Dining:

We had anytime dining and while the food we found very good, the service was a bit lacking in the MDR.  A bit slow overall.  I'm not sure if the early and late seatings found this particular issue but for anytime, there were often 10-20 minute waits between courses.  This is one area HAL could certainly improve upon.  As I said, we found the quality of the food quite good when it arrived.  I know food is a subjective subject so your mileage may very.  We ate in the Pinnacle Grill one night and everything from the service to the food was perfect.  Steaks were perfectly cooked as ordered and the desserts plentiful.  We also dined in Tamarind one night and completely impressed.  Brilliant service and food choices.  You can't go wrong with a meal here.  New York Pizza and Deli was good though it seemed to be very slow service during the breakfast hours.  Another crew member would certainly have helped speed things up.

Beverages:

We upgraded to the Elite Beveridge package for the signature as soon as we boarded.  Crows Nest had the usual great coffee selections as did the Grand Dutch Cafe.  Notes Bar had a great selection of single malts and Michael made sure I was well looked after here!  We tended to frequent the SeaView Bar and Mae was absolutely brilliant as a server.  She remembered our names and cabin number right from embarkation and always had us well looked after.  I made sure to send a note about her while onboard and in our post cruise survey.  

Entertainment:
Rolling Stone Rock Room and Billboard Onboard both had excellent musicians and it was great to sit and listen.  BB Kings as always was a hit and enjoyed sipping a cocktail to take in a performance.  Attended Origins in the main theatre as well as the Billboard pianists and dancers another night.  A couple of the dance shows, Musicology and one other, had to be cancelled a couple of nights due to ship movement and safety concerns for the dancers.

The Voyage:

We left port on December 15th, barely ahead of a storm on the east cost affecting the seas, so the first couple of days was pretty rocky and lots of ship movement.  That improved for our stops in Grand Turk, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas but you could still feel a fair bit of ship motion.  Half Moon Cay was pretty breezy and wee did a SeaDoo excursion, dug our toes into the beautiful beach sand and had the barbeque lunch.  I figure we actually made all our port stops so we got very lucky as other cruises had massively impacted itineraries.

Disembarkation:

This seemed very well organized and went off without to much of a hitch with staff calling group color and numbers and not too much of a line.

One Major Con:

The Navigator app worked good for the daily activities and such, but when it came to getting reminders for dining reservations and especially the chat function, it was definitely lacking.  We had to completely force stop the app and restart it several times a day before giving up on that aspect completely.  C'mon HAL, I'm sure your tech wizards can get this fixed so it's usable!  Getting reminders 18 hours after the reservation time had past is really unacceptable, and not receiving chat messages after properly adding others to the feature needs to be a priority for you to improve!!

Final Thoughts:

We really liked the Pinnacle class and Rotterdam specifically.  The ship and venues seemed very well laid out.  The crew was great (as always).  My biggest beef was the Navigator app which needs considerable fine tuning to function and be usable for the chat and notification features.  Would we sail Rotterdam or another Pinnacle class ship again?  Definitely

[POA1]

Thank you for your review!

[Haljo1935]

Thanks for sharing - glad to hear you enjoyed the ship and the cruise. And that you would come back 😉

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing.

[YourWorldWithBill]

Thanks for such a thorough review. We agree with your general assessment: we liked the Rotterdam a lot. We used the Navigator app for several things with no problem, but we didn't use it for reminders, so it's good to know that it might not be dependable for that.

[Huskerchick]

Thanks for your review. We are on the Rotterdam the end of March and can't wait

[horseymike]

Thanks for the great review.

[countingbackwards]

How much were you charged for the Elite package upgrade?  Was it $10/day + 28%?

[oakridger]

That was a helpful and detailed review!  The cabin pictures on your other post were excellent!  It's great to hear that your trip was good, and I hope HAL listened to your constructive criticism about the service in the MDR and New York Deli.

 

Happy New Year!

~Nancy

[VermeulT]

You do need to have the notifications settings turned on for the app.  (To do that go to the phone's settings and go to the app, where you can select banners sounds and badges settings.  I would also make sure you select background app refresh and don't close the app when you turn off the phone's display).  After I learned about this, it improved the chat function.

[ski ww]

Good balanced review, we are looking forward to our cruise on her in Aug. 

[CruisingAndDiving]

11 hours ago, countingbackwards said:

How much were you charged for the Elite package upgrade?  Was it $10/day + 28%?

Yes it was $10 per day plus $12.60 for the gratuity for both my DW and myself.  So $82.60 each on a 7 night cruise.

 

[CruisingAndDiving]

9 hours ago, VermeulT said:

You do need to have the notifications settings turned on for the app.  (To do that go to the phone's settings and go to the app, where you can select banners sounds and badges settings.  I would also make sure you select background app refresh and don't close the app when you turn off the phone's display).  After I learned about this, it improved the chat function.

Thanks for the tips!  I'll have to double check the refresh setting!