Highway27

That was the price we were quoted last week on Rotterdam. Given the new policy on many ships (not sure if in Konigsdam yet, but is on Rotterdam and others) that you only pay the difference for drinks outside of the limit on the HIA / SBP packages, you might consider just sticking with the Signature and paying the difference. Like everything, there's an opportunity cost there, but if the question is merely access, that is now possible with the HIA /SBP packages.

When we asked about the Freestyle machine upon boarding, we were initially told the 8 dollars pp/pd, but when we then clarified that we had the HIA Signature package, were told that it would have to be the 10 pp/pd upgrade. And since the only thing we would have used it for was Caffeine free Diet Coke, we decided not to. Now, that has led to us bothering every bartender to get caffeine free coke zero, but they have managed to get it all through the ship now.

As a bit of a counterpoint, we are on day 6 of 11 on Rotterdam, and I have been keeping an ear out for people coughing in gathered spaces, and there really hasn't been much if any. We see some people masking, some crew masking, but in general there doesn't appear to be much concern for respiratory viruses. This cruise may be cursed in OTHER ways, but not with COVID.

The price currently on Rotterdam for 10 nights (according to my statement) from Ft Lauderdale to Ft. Lauderdale is 70, so still the 7 dollars per night .

I just saw a sign on Rotterdam that said this exact policy, expressing it as a change in policy. You now only pay the overage on drinks costing above your drink package limit. I am guessing that those drinks will still count towards your daily limit, tho this was not stated on the sign.

Our communication for Rotterdam has been for 3 PM, port schedule shows 4 PM for both Rotterdam and Eurodam. Don't know how the weather I mentioned upthread will change either.

What I was just looking at says that it'll likely be much worse on Tuesday evening - Wednesday. Tropical storm moving towards Florida peninsula, right now expected to go a bit north of Port Everglades, but with a lot of rain and wind all the way south through Miami. We're on the Rotterdam on Wednesday, and also hope it won't be too bad. Only our second cruise, never really been near a tropical storm.

Rain moving in for sailaway?

I'll definitely try to post an update after I find out. Thanks for the info.

I did notice on the HAL website yesterday that they have changed the Coke package to be, basically, just the Freestyle machine on the Pinnacle class ships "starting at $8 per day". So on our sailing next week, I'm going to at least ask if I could just buy that in addition to the HIA Signature, rather than having to pay $12 a day to upgrade to Elite. Answer is probably no, but going to at least try.

Thanks very much!

Had a couple questions for anyone who's been on the Rotterdam (or even NS or Konigsdam): How many Coke freestyle machines do they have (guessing 1?) and where are they located (in the Lido Buffet?) and do they close at any point during the day or night, or are they always available? Thanks for any info!

Rotterdam on the move. Nice of them to pan the camera to see Terminal 26.

Ready for some sailing. 🙂

Thanks for the reminders in this thread. I checked the app again and it was actually working, so I got screenshots for our cruise next week.