rothbury

Tupper10, the way I understood her it was the lower dining room for the early seating. Fixed seating for the upper dining room was open for reservations. I have a call into my PCC, but they don't or won't usually tell you what group it is. KAKcruiser, I'm going to withhold final payment until more information becomes available. If there is a large group, I'll look for another date. The website is so screwed up it is hard to find 2026 itineraries.

Sorry I don't have much information. I booked a 2026 cruise on the Rotterdam yesterday. Feb 20 departure. I was told the lower dining room was unavailable for this cruise. I guess as we get closer to 2026 there might be more details.

1971, Greek Lines TSS Olympia.

Sailed out of FLL on March 6 and took this picture. Looks like it will be a while before we get that sail away camera back!

It was just around the ship on a dressy night.

Was on the Eurodam March 6 - 16. On dressy nights saw everything from tux to t-shirts and shorts. In the MDR actually saw t-shirt and blue jeans and baseball caps a couple of times on casual nights. There didn't seem to be any enforcement of a dress code in the dining room, fixed seating.

Embarked on the Eurodam on March 6, NO luncheon on a 10 day cruise. Mariner or otherwise. 3 sea days and no awards ceremony or Mariner luncheon. Saw medallions and pins sitting in the mail slots about 8 days into the cruise. The MDR was open for lunch on sea days. Same menu every time.

My experience with Global Entry is since covid it doesn't help for cruising. There is no CBP personnel and as previously stated it is just facial recognition.

I put chair hogs in the same category as the person who parks in a handicapped spot so they can, "Run into the store to pick up something". There are selfish people everywhere. No matter the circumstances.

Thanks to both of you! Had a feeling HAL had it covered. Ours is a morning tour so I guess they'll give us instructions on when and where to meet.

Just to be clear. I have experienced late departures because of inconsiderate people so I'm not trying to sound like I am defending late arrivals. However, I have a question that doesn't seem to have been addressed. We are taking a cruise in a couple of months and it includes a stop in Belize which is a tender port. Can somebody who is familiar with the procedure tell me, if you are on a HAL excursion, and it involves a tender, how do they handle getting the excursion group off the ship and on to a tender so that you aren't the late arrival? We all know how the lines for tender waits can be long. I'm just curious.

I'm hoping they are looking for different ports of call for 2026. The standard ports are getting too crowded with ships and just how many times can you go to St. Maarten and walk the 2 or 3 blocks that comprise that port. Now that Nassau has replaced Key West it is not unusual to have 5 or 6 ships in port on any given day. They keep building bigger ships and overloading ports. I'm expecting more places to either ban ships or restrict the number of ships. Maybe, just maybe, HAL is looking for alternatives for future seasons.

BBB ratings are a scam. The companies pay a fee to BBB to use their name. The more you pay to BBB the higher your ratings will be.

Same thing I have been saying for several cruise seasons now. You would think HAL would put some real effort into finding an alternative to Key West. Last season we were redirected to Nassau by a letter in our mailbox when we embarked. They are doing the same thing with several cruises again this season. Earlier this week (I think Tuesday) there were 7 cruise ships in Nassau which is how many berths they have. Have you ever been to Nassau with 6 other cruise ships. Not worth getting off the ship.

After looking at the map and seeing Key West as a port of call, I had my doubts. Our Key West stop was been replaced with Nassau last year and again this year. I see Rotterdam is going to various ports, but Key West isn't one of them. I don't understand why HAL even lists Key West on their itineraries at this point. I would have thought they knew before the 2023-2024 season got started that Key West wasn't going to happen.

Let's go back to the 70's and 80's when it was tux or suit for men and evening gowns for women every night after 6. And ballroom dancing after dinner. Live music in the MDR. I remember the midnight buffet before there was a lido buffet. A beer cost a dollar and a mixed drink was $2.50 and up. At the end of the cruise your MDR steward would give you a bundle with your menus from the cruise. Anybody who cruised into Nassau might remember the young men who would dive off the ship for money thrown by passengers. A time when Nassau was duty-free and you could get cameras and electronics cheap.

Kind of hard to see but the Zuiderdam is tied up by the hotel in the background.

Rotterdam in Rotterdam just now.

We were on the 2/18-2/25 cruise. I just wanted to add a little about the children onboard. We had to listen to a screaming/crying infant in the MDR fixed seating. Not exactly what we had in mind for a relaxing dinner experience. On another night it is believed a kid took all of the room service hang tags so people expecting room service didn't get their food. Saw a couple of 13-14 year old boys on the cruise and they were always looking to disrupt something from pressing all the buttons on an empty elevator to leaving plates of food in various plant arrangements. The crew was outstanding as usual. Sometimes seemed to have problems communicating with waiters and servers. Seemed their English wasn't too good. Several times was served the wrong wine in the MDR. Our meal at the Pinnacle convinced us we won't go there anymore. Not worth the upcharge. My steak was so tough it had to be cut into very small pieces and DW's scallops she said were like chewing rubber erasers. If your cruise goes to Grand Cayman the tenders there are awful. They are slow and the diesel fumes are overwhelming.

Sailed out of FLL on Feb 18 on Nieuw Statendam. Took this picture of Pier 66 on the way out. Looks like they have a long way to go.

Was on the Nieuw Statendam last week at a Q&A with Rene Tuinman, the Hotel Services Manager. Someone asked the question about future builds for HAL. His answer was there are no plans currently to build any HAL ships out for the next 5 years. On another note for those interested; he said the NS would be undergoing an overhaul in November. Gave no details about what would be accomplished beyond mentioning things like carpets and everyday consumables.

I haven't seen it mentioned but I believe if you upgrade to a suite, you don't get the double sea days. I haven't sailed in a while so that may have changed.

It seems a lot of conversation on the roll call about gala nights. As everybody seems to be saying, the app isn't any good. Currently the app says every day and night is "smart casual". Did you experience this? Or, did they have 2 gala nights on sea days as they used to have? I know, I hate to bring up dress codes, but DW is stressing about what to pack. Gala clothes take up much more room.

Good morning. I believe all of the Nieuw Statendam stops at Key West were either cancelled or changed this season. I'm pretty sure it will be in Nassau today.

I equate Nassau to be the "armpit" of the Bahamas. If I was going there, I wouldn't even leave the ship. Back in the 1970's it was a nice port but the last time we were there we couldn't get back to the ship quick enough. I think where I would have a problem is with paying for Key West and getting Nassau. That is like paying for 5-star experience and getting a 1-star substitute. Just think for a minute that if the tendering couldn't happen in HMC or Grand Cayman, almost your entire cruise would be onboard a ship. Might not be all that bad if you had the HIA beverage package.