CruisingCleo

Thank you all so much. My coat is wind and waterproof with a hoodie and I will bring a collapsible umbrella, just in case. 

I will leave for the Norwegian Fjords on the Rotterdam in 2 days and will be staying in a Vista suite. Is/are umbrellas provided in this stateroom? There is no rain forecast for this cruise but if the weather in Norway is as unpredictable as it is here in The Netherlands, it will be nice to have an umbrella. Thanks in advance.

Thank you all so much! I am looking very much forward to this cruise: my first HAL cruise, my first as a solo traveller (quite daunting…) and my first that I can board within 45 minutes of leaving my home 😄.

Thank you so much for this review! I will be on my first HAL cruise in 3 weeks, on the Rotterdam. This has given me a wealth of information, p.e. I do not have to bring a non-slip badmath as I will have a shower with a rough tiled floor. And all the ideas for cocktails and wine pairing are wonderful!

Please ad me to: May 4, 2024, Rotterdam, 8 day Viking Saga to Norway.

Thank you!

PS First cruise with HAL.

On 3/8/2024 at 4:32 PM, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

That's how I felt about it on Koningsdam. CO was new, and at the time, only for Neptune and Pinnacle suties. It hadn't existed when I booked the cruise and requested early fixed dining. I was not happy to see the change to open dining on my booking. And when I got onboard, I took one look at that glass box and saw all those two-tops and figured I would be eating alone, poor sad me, for all the world to walk by and see. I was newly widowed (6 months), so probably over-sensitive, but I just had a horrible reaction to the place. I think there was one table for 6, and what were the odds that I would arrive when other people looking to share arrived? 

 

So I asked to go back to the MDR, large table early fixed dining, and I was allowed to do that. At breakfast, I prefer to eat alone, so I did go back to CO for that. I appreciate that they accommodated my wishes. 

 

I like the fixed table because I get to know my dinner companions. It's fun to meet and talk about what you did that day and what your plans are for the next port. Even when DH was alive, we liked a large table. I know people worry about not liking their dining companions. In more than 50 cruises, I can remember two less than wonderful companions. But one person at a table for 6 or 8 won't bring down the group if the rest of you don't let them. 

I am in the exact same situation as 3rdGenCunarder described in her answer.
Originally I would have been making a trip to Lapland this week ( not a cruise) with a friend, but I broke my foot a couple of weeks ago, so had to cancel. That is when I decided to make a cruise to the fjords. This cruise is leaving from Rotterdam, which is not even 30 miles from my home, so very convenient. I will only book when my foot has healed enough that I can walk some distance without crutches or a walker. 
 

Thank you all so much for your kind answers. It has given me a lot to think about.

But I already found one solo traveller on the roll call, so who knows how things might go.

I am looking to book my first HAL cruise on the Rotterdam, leaving from Rotterdam on May 4th. Our earlier cruises have been on Oceania.

This cruise will also be my first one as a solo cruiser. The one thing I am not looking forward to is dining on my own. So I am looking to share a table. I also prefer to choose my own dining time. Is it in that case possible to do shared dining? 
 If I opt to buy the Club Orange package and dine in the CO dining room can I also ask for a shared table? 
And I do have the same question for the speciality restaurants. I have heard many good things about them so I would love to eat there as well and share a table with other guests.

And my last question: are there special events for solo travellers on board of the Rotterdam? 
Thank you for your help.

21 hours ago, ORV said:

FYI -The porter did hit us up for a tip when we dropped our bags off. 

 May I ask how much you tipped? We will board Riviera next week in Miami and will have 3 large suitcases and 1 carry-on case. 

1 hour ago, Woofa said:

I ordered both books off of ebay.  Just put in Oceania cruises and a bunch of stuff came up. These were of course used but both in great condition and I got both for way less than even one would cost new.  Fyi plenty of luggage tags available available and some other cool things.  They were selling Jacques cookbooks on Riviera last month in the gift store but not this one.

Thank you so much! I have ordered it and am really looking forward to it. I saw the book on the Riviera during our first cruise in 2015 but did not buy it because its weight was too much for our luggage allowance for our flight back to Europe. On our next cruise in 2018 they did not sell it anymore.

I have been looking for the cookbook for years! How did you order it? Or can you buy it on board? 

48 minutes ago, AMHuntFerry said:

Oceania culinary staff typically do a lunch BBQ on the island.

Now that sounds quite nice. Much better than what we saw on this video: https://youtu.be/jPksFpQsEIs.

We will be on the Riviera for the transatlantic leaving Miami on March 22. The first stop will be Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahama’s. Does anybody have experience with a stop there? Is it nice? How  are the restaurants and the bars? We saw a video where  the food  did not look appetizing at all. Would it be a good idea to just go to the beach for a few hours  and then  return to the ship? 
We just want to have a relaxing day, so are not planning any  excursions.

Since a few weeks there are 3 cruise ships anchored in the North Sea, in front of Katwijk,  a small beach resort in The Netherlands. These are 2 HAL ships, the Nieuw Statendam and the Zaandam. The third one is the Seabourn Ovation. Apparently they dropped the crew of in one of the harbour towns on the Dutch coast so they could fly home from Amsterdam airport.

On 11/7/2019 at 2:16 AM, NCHPcruiser said:

We booked our first Oceania cruise today (Marina back to back, August 7-29, 2021) and I have a few questions to start off with.  

 

Are Roll Calls generally active?  I ask because we prefer small group tours (less than 10) and have in the past either organized or joined tours with others on our Roll Call and are hoping to do the same in a few ports on this itinerary.

 

We are excited about sailing on a ship much smaller than any of our previous cruises!  And for me, the planning is half the fun.  

 

Thank you!

 

Martha

 

 

 

 

 

I think it depends on the cruise if the roll call is very active. So far we have made 3 Carribean cruise and 1 TA with Oceania and in all cases have had very active roll calls. We have another TA and Carribean cruise booked for oct/nov 2020. The roll call for the TA is already very active but the one for the Carribean cruise not at all.

That being said, Oceania excursions are so expensive that a lot of individual tours are organised on the roll calls. You just need some one to take the initiative (or do that your self).

On our first cruise we booked a guarantee B4 and got upgraded to a B3  extended corner balcony. I did a happy dance around the kitchen when I found that out!

We were informed 2 weeks in advance of the cruise.

We did a Transatlantic last year on the Riviera in November and there was only one  2-year old girl on board. We also did the cruise after that one, first 10 days of December and I don't remember seeing any children during that cruise.

Thank you so much for this report, it was really fun to read! And so nice to read that you enjoyed the Riviera so much. Our first ever cruise was on the Rivièra 3 years ago and now our second cruise (in 11 days, yeah!) will be as well. 

I would have loved to have done your itinerary, it sounds wonderful. I hope you had a good and safe trip home. 

Don’t worry about that. We are all enjoying your review and looking forward to the next installment. And we have all had to deal with autocorrect.

Are you also on board for the leg to Barcelona?

So nice to read such an enthousiastic report! We will board Riviera in Barcelona for the TA on November 13th and can hardly wait. So we much appreciate your reports about everything Riviera. Thank you for taking the time during your precious vacation time to write these. 

I hope the remainder of your cruise will be as enjoyable as the first day!

Mirjam

I attended a class on Riviera a few years ago where we made four brunch dishes. I think this class is still offered. It was really enjoyable but don’t expect Cordon Bleu cooking. However, I am an enthousiastic hobby cook but did still pick up a few good tips from the chef. The dishes were delicious. As this class was in the morning, only water, tea and coffee were served if I remember it correctly.

You will have fun when you sign up for it.

We should be able to book the speciality restaurants for our upcoming cruise next saturday, so I’m really anxious that this will be fixed before that...

Also blank screen here with my i-pad. Yesterday I did not have any problems to log in on my account.

Enjoy your cruise and thank you for taking the time to write a review! We are counting the days until we board the Riviera in November, so we love to hear and read all about her.

In some posts on another thread there was some negative comment on the condition of the ship: wear and tear, for example chairs in the dining room with sagging seats.

What do you think of the condition of the ship?

Here are a couple of interesting articles on this topic:

 

http://www.bali-indonesia.com/information/nyepi-day.htm

 

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/mar/27/bali-indonesia-new-year-nyepi-day-of-silence

 

Apparently, hotels and restaurants are open but most people do not leave their homes.

But that is never on January 1, which is what the OP is asking about, but always in March.

So there should be no problem to organise a tour on January 1.

We were in 7108 and heard no noise at all.