Observations on My First Pinnacle Ship Cruise

[Navybikermom]

I've been cruising with HAL for several years, and finally booked a cruise on a Pinnacle ship. A friend and I went on the Rotterdam - a 14-day British Isles cruise, May 11 - 25. I thought I would relate my observations on this newest ship. 

 

Ship:  The ship was in excellent condition. The artwork ranged from very nice to very strange. Lots of smoke from the casino. It infiltrated the Billboard/Rolling Stones lounge areas and the whole area smelled like an old ashtray. Really quite unpleasant.

 

Cabin:  We had OceanView cabin #1070 on Deck 1. It was under the Billboard lounge but we didn't hear much noise. Plenty of space for the two of us. I wasn't all that impressed with the room stewards. They were late a few times in getting the morning cleaning done, almost to the point of it being time for the evening turn-down. They also never delivered my 100-day medallion, which Guest Services said the room stewards would place on the bed for me. I finally had to go to Guest Services to get one.

 

Crew:  The crew was wonderful. The announcements were in English and Dutch, since there were quite a few Dutch folks onboard.

 

Dining:  We ate at a large table of 8, early seating (which was at 5pm - strangely), and all of us were ladies. Pastika and Ferry took care of us quite nicely. They quickly learned who wanted what coffee with dessert, and who had special requests on a regular basis. The food was hit or miss. Sometimes the prime rib was tough and sometimes it was tender and delicious. One time the flat iron steak had a lot of gristle. Another time the meat entree was very dry. Other times, the food was fantastic and we cleaned our plates. We ate at the Pinnacle one night and I had the Jidori chicken, which was very tender. Another night we ate at Tamarind and I had the Norwegian king crab legs. They were tasty and tender, but very hard to eat. They had spikes on the shell that hurt if you gripped them wrong! We also had the Rijstaffel dinner, which was held in the Tamarind. It was very tasty Indonesian food. I tried the pizza at the New York deli and it was ok. I also tried the pea soup at the Grand Dutch Cafe and it was very good. I don't normally care for pea soup, but this was really tasty. Of course we had to try a Bossche bol. Holy cow was that good - but way too big. Ate in the Lido twice for lunch, and for each breakfast. Way too crowded and I saw people pick up dishes and put them back on the stack with their bare hands - gross. I'm never impressed with buffets, so I don't have any positive things to say about it. One thing that stood out that I had to report via the Let Us Know app was that the iced tea was sweetened. I took a big swig and almost upchucked. YUCK! I asked the Lido steward if they had any unsweetened tea and he said no, but that I could make my own with a teabag, hot water, and a cup of ice. I complained about that and got a call from the food and beverage manager. He said it was a mistake in shipments and I would never see sweet tea on a Holland America ship again, but he was more upset that the steward had told me to make my own. I was more upset about the sweet tea than being told to make my own, but he was very upset about being told to make my own.

 

Ports: We visited some really nice ports. Edinburgh was our favorite. The X99 bus took us to the Royal Mile area and then we were able to get a HOHO to see the sights. Very fun trip. We had lunch in a restaurant called Amarone's, where I had pizza and my friend had a pasta dish. It was very good. We also visited Invergordon, where I went on a HAL tour of the Glenmorangie distillery. We also visited Isle of Lewis, Isle of Skye, Isle of Man, Dun Laoghaire (Dublin), Liverpool, Holyhead (Wales), Cobh (really loved this place), and Zeebrugge. We had the HAL tour of Ypres, Flanders Fields in Zeebrugge, but the other ports were just walk-abouts. I was in search of good scones and hand-knitted sweaters. I found both!

 

Entertainment:  The entertainment was quite varied. We had a song & dance routine by Casey Berry, Jacob Tischler, & Co; a nerdy comedian called Tom Crosbie, who did pretty funny and amazing things with Rubik's cubes; a classical guitarist by the name of Mark Hussey; a classical group called Chordial Chamber Trio (violin, cello, piano); a British comedian called David Copperfield (not the magician); and a comedian named Goronwy Thom. All were very good.

 

Embarkation/Debarkation:  Embarkation was a breeze. We were supposed to board at 2pm, due to our cabin location, but we sat in a coffee shop across the street from the terminal and when the line of people cleared up, we popped over there to check in. It was about 1pm and no one even batted an eyelash. Disembarking was a total mess. The line outside to get on the busses was very long, none of the busses had the signs in the window telling you where they were going, and our bus couldn't even get out of the very small parking lot due to overcrowding. We didn't have a lot of time left to catch out flight by the time we got to the airport. 

 

In conclusion, I was very impressed with the ship. I booked two more cruises, but neither was available with the Pinnacle ships. Oh, and LOTS of coughing the whole time... Even the staff were coughing.

 

Pusser's Painkiller Addendum... just wanted to let y'all know that I have given up on the Painkiller drink. I posted about it earlier, and was advised to try the Crow's Nest, where I did find an excellent one. However, a subsequent trip there, with a different bartender, resulted in a very inferior Painkiller, so I'm not going to bother any more. They did a great job with the other frou-frou drinks I asked for, so I will stick with them. 

 

[VMax1700]

Thanks for your review.  The smoke on Nieuw Statendam was not too bad as they have removed that staircase between deck 2 and deck 3 that is positioned just forward of Rolling Stone Rock Room.

Glad you enjoyed Cobh.  Do come back sometime!

[Roz]

@Navybikermom, I enjoyed your review.  

[IAcruising]

We are taking your exact cruise in August. Nothing you've said is of concern to us at all. 

 

We're NCL regulars, so room cleaning is no big deal as we're now accustomed to only once a day -- whenever it happens. And HAL food will undoubtedly generally exceed our normal experience. Every MDR and buffet on any cruise line has their hits and misses.

 

The port calls and new experience with HAL are the key attractions for us.

 

[Laminator]

4 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Thanks for your review.  The smoke on Nieuw Statendam was not too bad as they have removed that staircase between deck 2 and deck 3 that is positioned just forward of Rolling Stone Rock Room.

Glad you enjoyed Cobh.  Do come back sometime!

They'll be doing the sane on the Rotterdanm and Koningsdam at their next drydocks

[swin26]

Thank you.  Was your debarkation in Rotterdam?  If so what time were the first busses to the airport and what time did you get there.  We are debating using HAL transportation or taking the train?   Thanks

[ski ww]

Thanks for posting your thoughts on your cruise. It sounds like the same itinerary we're doing in Aug.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for your review..

[Navybikermom]

2 hours ago, swin26 said:

Thank you.  Was your debarkation in Rotterdam?  If so what time were the first busses to the airport and what time did you get there.  We are debating using HAL transportation or taking the train?   Thanks

Yes it was. We had a 12:10pm flight and were on the first busses. They should have left at 8am, but we didn’t leave until after 8:30 and it took 40 minutes to get to Schiphol airport. I don’t know why it was so disorganized - maybe just a bad day for the port workers. 

[swin26]

5 minutes ago, Navybikermom said:

Yes it was. We had a 12:10pm flight and were on the first busses. They should have left at 8am, but we didn’t leave until after 8:30 and it took 40 minutes to get to Schiphol airport. I don’t know why it was so disorganized - maybe just a bad day for the port workers. 

Thanks.  We have a noon flight - so I’m thinking a taxi to the train station.  We have club orange and can carry our own luggage off the ship

[Navybikermom]

9 hours ago, IAcruising said:

We are taking your exact cruise in August. Nothing you've said is of concern to us at all. 

 

We're NCL regulars, so room cleaning is no big deal as we're now accustomed to only once a day -- whenever it happens. And HAL food will undoubtedly generally exceed our normal experience. Every MDR and buffet on any cruise line has their hits and misses.

 

The port calls and new experience with HAL are the key attractions for us.

 

The port calls were the best part of the whole cruise. Nearly everyone we met was very nice and helpful. At the Edinburgh port of South Queensferry, there were bus workers greeting us and helping with getting the X99 bus tickets and HoHo ones if we wanted them. We were provided with free shuttles to town if the ports didn’t allow pedestrian traffic. There was a huge problem in the afternoon one day with tenders but only because the port authorities gave preference to ferries and cargo ships. We had a delayed departure due to trying to get 1000 people back to the ship with only a couple tenders (one had broken down) that couldn’t operate a regular route due to the constant interruptions. Most people I talked to really liked their shore excursions. 

[Navybikermom]

1 minute ago, swin26 said:

Thanks.  We have a noon flight - so I’m thinking a taxi to the train station.  We have club orange and can carry our own luggage off the ship

That’s a pricey option, but probably the best one. I would do that the next time if I couldn’t get a later flight. We carried our luggage off the ship since we only had carryon bags, but loading the busses with the copious amounts of luggage took a very long time. I felt bad for the driver.

[Navybikermom]

I also had the opportunity to meet some Cruise Critic folks, so it was nice to put faces with names. We did trivia each night with some of them. Had such a great time! @ABY-SBY did a fantastic job with our meet & greet ☺️.

[madera1]

We too were on this cruise. We had great room stewards and for the most part all of our food was quite good. We took more Hal excursions this time and my favorites were the Historical Lewis tour and Romantic Brugge. We also used the X99 bus and visited the Royal Brittania yacht as we have spent time in Edinburgh in the past. We too tried scones at various ports including on the Royal yacht itself. We found the music venues very good. We tried both regular trivia and music trivia on several days. Staff were all very good. I agree there was lots of coughing and I woke up on disembarkation day with no voice. We self tested at home but negative for Covid so just some virus. My husband received his 5 star pin on the bed the day before we disembarked. I attended a ceremony for people receiving silver and gold medallions. There were 6 or 7 who had sailed over 1,000 sea days honored (not me! but was invited to attend). Everywhere we went locals told us how lucky we were as the weather was ideal and they said it had been very cold 2 weeks earlier. 

[esimon]

Was there a b b king blues club?   It’s our favorite 

[madera1]

8 minutes ago, esimon said:

Was there a b b king blues club?   It’s our favorite 

Yes there was a fabulous group there as well as a smaller band in The Rolling Stones lounge

[Navybikermom]

4 hours ago, esimon said:

Was there a b b king blues club?   It’s our favorite 

Thank you for the reminder - I didn’t address the music venues. As @madera1 said, the B.B. King Blues band was fabulous. The female singer belted out some Tina Turner songs and was spot on. She had a great set of pipes. The Rolling Stones band was not so great. They played their instruments well, but having a female singer with a high-pitched voice try to sing 70’s rock songs was just not right. The Billboard Online piano player was talented, but with only his fingers. His voice was also wrong for the songs he was trying to sing. This isn’t to say these singers couldn’t sing, but their voices were not well-suited for the songs they were trying to sing. 

[kevingastreich]

5 hours ago, Navybikermom said:

Thank you for the reminder - I didn’t address the music venues. As @madera1 said, the B.B. King Blues band was fabulous. The female singer belted out some Tina Turner songs and was spot on. She had a great set of pipes. The Rolling Stones band was not so great. They played their instruments well, but having a female singer with a high-pitched voice try to sing 70’s rock songs was just not right. The Billboard Online piano player was talented, but with only his fingers. His voice was also wrong for the songs he was trying to sing. This isn’t to say these singers couldn’t sing, but their voices were not well-suited for the songs they were trying to sing. 

I agree.  On Zuiderdam GWV 2024, the entertainers were talented but they were shoe-horned into what HAL wanted them to do and weren't really able to shine. I know this because there was one or two nights when the entertainers were allowed to "freestyle" and it was amazing.  Such a difference.  The onboard entertainment directors have very little discretion in what they can do because it come down from the "home office".

[BigTeee]

I don't understand your tea debacle at all.  And I am a tea lover.  I never touch pre-made tea, so there's that.....

 

"Coughing?"  I don't understand.   If I hear one cough on my July Rotterdam, I should demand a medical evacuation and refund.  I have no patience with either norovirus or Covid or SARS or bird flu.

[St Pete Cruiser]

On 5/28/2024 at 8:49 PM, Navybikermom said:

Thank you for the reminder - I didn’t address the music venues. As @madera1 said, the B.B. King Blues band was fabulous. The female singer belted out some Tina Turner songs and was spot on. She had a great set of pipes. The Rolling Stones band was not so great. They played their instruments well, but having a female singer with a high-pitched voice try to sing 70’s rock songs was just not right. The Billboard Online piano player was talented, but with only his fingers. His voice was also wrong for the songs he was trying to sing. This isn’t to say these singers couldn’t sing, but their voices were not well-suited for the songs they were trying to sing. 

Thanks for sharing. The ships you have sailed on previously are all ones I've been on as well. The Pinnacle class will never exceed the personal service standards that the smaller ships provided. We were lucky to have experienced them at the Holland America Line fares of the past as now one must move to the much higher priced lines to receive equal service. We did find some of the "old" Holland America onboard the Zaandam recently. 

[pmjnh]

@Navybikermom Thank you for your detailed review. We will be on the Rotterdam in September. Not crazy about the smoke report. Did you find chocolate in Zeebruge??  Ireland is on my bucket list.

[Navybikermom]

2 hours ago, pmjnh said:

@Navybikermom Thank you for your detailed review. We will be on the Rotterdam in September. Not crazy about the smoke report. Did you find chocolate in Zeebruge??  Ireland is on my bucket list.

There were chocolate shops in the Ypres square where we went to the Flanders Field museum. I didn’t buy any but some others in our group did. The port didn’t allow pedestrian traffic so you either had to take a shuttle bus to the entrance or a tour. Our tour was so long that there wasn’t time to go back out on a shuttle for more shopping. 

[mawvkysc]

Thanks for the review

[Lizard13]

On 5/27/2024 at 4:38 PM, Navybikermom said:

Hello Navybikermom I was also on this cruise and may have met you at the meet and greet. I enjoyed reading your comments and thought I would share my own experience.

Ship: agree it was in excellent shape and loved the artwork.  I can say that we did not really smell much smoke in the billboard lounge or the Rolling Stone lounge (I am not a smoker).  We usually didn’t stay for the late sets though.  
 

Cabin: mid ship interior deck 6. Very quiet and peaceful.  Loved the location and our cabin stewards.

 

Crew: Agree, most are wonderful.  I would go to the lido for latte from the small bar and the gentleman remembered my order each time I appeared. shout out to Clarence!

 

Dining: thought most of the food was outstanding.  We ate primarily in the dining room for dinner and grabbed breakfast and lunch on lido, trying to time it to avoid the crowds/difficult. We love the Cobb salad station which is near the end of the gauntlet so less crowded there.
 

Ports; great itinerary except for all the tenders. Often took several hours after docking to get off the ship. This resulted in compressed excursion in Edinburgh and altered times in Wales.  We did a private taxi for 4 ($135 per couple) on Isle of Lewis that was outstanding.  
 

Entertainment; only went to one show, the comic nerd who was funny and entertaining.  Avoided the piano bar after hearing him sing.  Rock and Roll had a good set but agree singing not great.  Funny but I thought the female singer was better than the keyboard player Ian.  When he sang it was painful.  The BB King band excelled. So great!

 

overall great cruise and can’t wait to go on another.  But I think I may go on slightly smaller ship.  Happy cruising!