Real NHDOC

Rotterdam happy hour is typically 4-5pm 50% off all drinks, wine and beer. It’s located in the billboard onboard and rolling stone bars. Coincides with the first trivia in BBOB.

We’re joining NS on 3/18. Disappointed to hear the happy hour still isn’t 50% off. I plan to discuss it with the hotel manager because I was told the 50% off discount is now fleetwide. All ships have it except NS AFAIK.

And yes, you can order wine off the package from room service and they will deliver a bottle to your cabin.

The discount has been 50% off for 4* and 5* Mariners for at least several years now. I have discovered that if you pre-buy the package online before the cruise you receive a full 50% off the price paid as an onboard credit to your cabin account (which includes 18% gratuities) but if you purchase on the ship they give the discount only on the price of the package and add 18% of the full price for gratuities so it is advantageous to preorder it. Maybe it’s just a glitch in their system but that’s what’s happened on all of my recent cruises. This same glitch happened with specialty dining that was preordered. We received the 50% discount in OBC based on the full purchase price, which included gratuities. These OBCs are refundable if you don’t use them up during the cruise too so you don’t need to spend it.

Having experienced it I can tell you definitively that both the wine package discount and any cancelled excursions are put onto your onboard account once the cruise starts. Only if you cancel before the three day window closes does the refund go back to the gift card. Incidentally if you have small balances left on gift cards you can use those to either prepurchase onboard credit or casino chips in $5 or $10 increments (chips are actually paid in cash at the casino once the cruise starts). Or just ask guest services once onboard to add them to your onboard accounts. Any unspent funds will be refunded to your credit card onfile at the end of the cruise if you finish with a net credit balance.

I guess my point is there’s no correct answer to the question. Pointing out the various plusses and minuses lets everyone come to their own conclusion. For me it isn’t a great option but everyone has a different opinion.

Again, it’s different for different people. We’re 5* so get 4 nights free in the specialty restaurants, free unlimited laundry and 50% off additional specialty dinners, coffees and wine packages. For high loyalty mariners the value of HIA decreases exponentially. We also often book under the prepaid gratuity program. While we can always find excuses to spend money I would rather use OBC in the most productive way possible.

Don’t forget you can’t use the free drinks on Halfmoon Cay. Another misnomer of calling it “Have it All”. On port-heavy itineraries HAL knows people drink less onboard so are happy to offer unlimited drinks if they think you will be off the ship much of the day. Just another factor to keep in mind.

The other complication is if you receive onboard credit (OBC) from your TA or HAL you use it or lose it and can’t use it for HIA. Example:we get $350 on a 7 day cruise OBC. We can use that to buy the internet, drinks or anything else but if we buy HIA and don’t spend that OBC money it’s not refundable. Basically you lose the value of that perk or you are paying for HIA items you would get for “free” through OBC anyway.

I think if a server on HAL ever told a guest that and it got around it would be their last day interacting with guests. Each order includes 18% gratuity. Anything extra is a gift that should be appreciated in any form it is offered in. They know the pooled tips will still amount to a healthy bonus. The pooled tips are distributed to people who work behind the scenes too. So that selfish waiter is cheating the dishwashers and prep staff that live on the pooled tip system. On HAL they actually appreciate a nice mention in the post-cruise survey more than a buck or two on their tray. So if you want to really do something nice for a special server mention them in the survey or in the “let us know” tab on the navigator. That’s how they get promoted and raises

Had a nice dinner off the new Canaletto menu. The tiger shrimp appetizer is similar to the old calamari appetizer in flavor and style. They said guests had complained about the calamari being chewy so tried making it with shrimp. It’s a good seasoning and preparation. The burrata was huge and delicious. The new seafood dish with mussels, calamari and scallops was delicious and also huge. A little spicy but if you’re not sensitive to that it is terrific. Also ossobuco is still tender and delicious. The new cheesecake has very subtle lemon flavor. More of an Italian style ricotta cheesecake than their usual NY style on the ship. All in all a very nice dinner and a nice change. We mentioned missing the veal and were told it might be added back if enough people ask.

The only attractive thing there is the sales staff. They sell some of the ugliest art on the planet.

Both. It’s been remarkably good up until now but we had a new (to us) waiter and he didn’t seem to be very capable as the hostess had to take over. I ordered the halibut which we had last week and was incredibly good. Flaky, tender, fresh and delicious served piping hot. Last night we got what seemed like a small piece of swordfish that was tough and fishy (and lukewarm). And it took 90 minutes to get out of there with ordering just two courses. The first 30 minutes we sat without even having our order taken. Just water. No bread. Waiting for wine that eventually came. After that I asked the hostess if we could get another waiter and she took over. But unfortunately the food was then disappointing. I probably could have complained more and gotten the meal comp’d but used our 5* perk. The first meal in a specialty restaurant I didn’t leave an extra $10 tip.

Just a note that what I had been told and experienced previously about 5* perks is apparently correct but some seemed skeptical of. I even asked about it onboard. We have been receiving 2 free meals for two for each of us (both being 5*) for each booking on our current Rotterdam cruise. So 4 nights of free dining in any of the specialty restaurants other than Rudi’s per leg. We have some upcoming 7 day legs so it means getting free special meals 4 out of 7 nights on those legs.

Yes, the “art” is still peddled on Rotterdam. Typically they can be found on deck 1 midship. Periodically there are special offers of presentations and auctions on sea days.

Potatoes with chicken parmigiana seems like an odd pairing. We’re eating there tonight and will report back tomorrow with impressions. Up until last night we had great meals in all of the specialty restaurants aboard Rotterdam. Had a bad night in Pinnacle last night so hopefully things will go better tonight in Canaletto.

Here is the ACTUAL new menu just available today on Rotterdam

We met with the beverage manager and head sommelier yesterday at the mariner’s award presentation and were assured our account would be reviewed and a printout of the charges for bottles of wine would be provided. They also promised to train personnel on how to properly handle these charges. No printout has come yet and last night I ordered my wine directly from the head sommelier who understood the issues and knew the bottle was from our package. When I checked my accounts I had received four charges for $12.98 from the MDR - presumably for wine by the glass which we didn’t order. Unbelievable.

It’s not just errors but also inconsistencies in the way things are accounted for that is very frustrating. They don’t post every bottle of wine used from the package the same way from venue to venue. Typically it posts as a “signature beverage package credit” with $0. That’s how they’ve been handling it on other ships recently but on Rotterdam sometimes it is posted like that, sometimes just says the venue name and $0 and sometimes nothing is posted. Makes it impossible to check to see how many bottles they think we’ve used. And guest services claims they can’t see the details of these transactions but that’s BS. They also have a nasty habit of changing postings made days or weeks ago so if you notice your balance changes but nothing has recently been posted you literally have to go back and look at every past posting to see what has changed. Their finance department is terrible on this ship.

Just letting everyone know I have experienced a lot of accounting errors on our account. About one in three bottles of wine we ordered from our package gets charged directly as a purchase. Restaurants not applying the 5* perk to the correct meal, being charged for the wine tasting we are invited to as 5* mariners, etc. Basically almost every day I have to contact guest services to get something corrected. It took over a week for them to correctly apply our mariner’s discount to pre-booked meals at the specialty restaurants. It seems every venue on the ship does things their own way and very often does them wrong so if you’re traveling on Rotterdam watch your bill very closely! I have never experienced so many errors before on any HAL cruise. Interestingly every error seems to favor HAL!

To those looking at the menu posted previously I don’t think that is the new menu, but rather just a version of the old menu. The new menu reportedly features a bunch of new entrees including use of scallops, veal and offering the ossobuco and chicken parmigiana every night. There will be nightly specials but not like they currently offer (not same each night but dependent on what is available that particular night) so don’t get too attached to the menu that’s been posted as it isn’t consistent with what I have been told about.

To clarify the OP was asking about the HAL claim that Tamarind is available on the Vista class ships. Nothing about the Tamarind on Pinnacle has changed nor are my prior comments related to any experience in a dedicated Tamarind restaurant, just the popup nights on Zuiderdam.

We have reservations on 3/10. The only details I know so far is the Ossobuco will be available every night. The host and our server were sampling the new dishes and said they were great so looking forward to trying some new stuff on the next leg.

I would recommend that you keep checking online but if nothing changes then when you embark the ship you head up to deck 9 and look for the podium set up on the lido pool deck by the hallway to the spa and make your dining reservations there. The station they have on deck 2 gets swamped on embarkation day but they have the extra one on deck 9 set up to take reservations too and that one is much less crowded. Good luck! We’re planning on sampling the new menu on 3/10 and can update afterwards

We ate there last night. They are not closing Canaletto on Rotterdam but are introducing a new menu that eliminates the nightly specials. Why they have told you otherwise is beyond me but they probably don’t want people making reservations for certain nights based upon their preferences of the nightly specials. The new menu goes into effect on March 8