sayvan

Ok ... I think perhaps I have figured out how to upload some photos taken on my iPhone 14 Pro. I didn't realize I had to convert the HEIC file to JPG. This is our inside cabin #7035. As you can see it was small yet spacious.

Well we will be on the Rotterdam for most of February so I’ll try and do a bit of a live review when the time comes…. The crew was outstanding all around. No complaints there. I think maybe the problem at the Dive Inn was that the lido seemed to close early so everyone was heading for a burger… I’ll get to the entertainment tomorrow… thanks… our travel agent actually gave us that tip… Not a problem… I’ve read so many reviews on here I wanted to give some thoughts back Enjoy… we had a great time!

Ok... Moving on to the food onboard. This is a topic that is so subjective really... what I like you may not and what I dislike you may love... I've read so many threads about how the food on cruise ships has taken a turn for the worse. Honestly, I would love to know what folks are cooking and eating at home. I have zero complaints about the food. It was excellent wherever we went. Plus I didn't have to clean it up afterward! The Lido buffet was great. Lots of options and honestly the sandwiches were some of the best I have ever had on a cruiseship. The pizza was hot and fresh and cooked to order. Yes, there was a bit of a wait once you ordered but no big deal. Where else was I going to go right? The burger place however seemed to me to be disorganized and had extremely long waiting times. In fact, one time I waited close to 40 minutes for a burger.... I did find that a tad unusual from my previous experiences with burger joints on a cruise ship... but hey I'm not comparing, remember? Getting back to the Buffet, I did think it seemed to close down earlier than I would have liked during the afternoon. I found that usually most stations were closed by 2:30, give or take. This was a bit of a pain when returning after being in port for the day and it did limit what you could get for a late lunch. That being said, it was probably a blessing in disguise forcing me to have a smaller sandwich or salad. My waistline was appreciative of these odd shutdown times. My overall buffet rating was 7/10. The main dining room.... We ate here most nights. We had anytime dining and really only had to wait a couple of times. I did find that there seemed to be a push to have people sit at a table with a group of others, which we did do on occasion but otherwise they would accommodate a request for two (just with a bit longer wait). The food was more than just fine. It was great in fact. The menu's had ample selection and yes cruise lines are now starting to charge for some things that used to be free on the menu...Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail, Lobster etc, but considering all the losses during the pandemic they have to try and make that up somehow and it must be working cause they keep charging so people are paying! We did not see this as an issue. The service in the Main dining room was fabulous and we had 3 or 4 different servers throughout the cruise. These folks work very hard to provide us with a decent experience and they did succeed. The dress code for the most part (and I'm not about to debate dress codes) was casual and the classy nights was a mixture of everything. I will say that I was surprised to see many men and some woman wearing shorts in the main dining room. I could actually care less as that does not impact my experience in anyway and if it did then I'm the one who needs to take a look at himself, but I was surprised to see how frequent it was in the main dining room. Seemed a tad out of the ordinary, whatever ordinary is theses days. Overall, main dining room experience 10/10! good job HAL Specialty Restaurants.... We had the HIA package so we had one specialty restaurant on this cruise. We choose Tamarind. I can't say enough how much we enjoyed this. The service was spectacular and the food was even better. I had a freebie for it but I would not hesitate to pay to go to this restaurant on our next cruise. The options on the menu were plenty and our servers provided great recommendations. I highly recommend this dining experience if you have not been. 10/10 for me! Up next Ports of call!

As I stated earlier, we had booked an inside room #7035. I have to admit for an inside room, it was actually rather spacious. The room was quiet, we hardly heard any of our neighbours. Occasionally you would hear someone in the hallway but frankly that's no different than any room. Storage space was more than adequate and in fact we didn't even use all of it. I also found it interesting that we had two sliding drawers under the foot of the bed. Again, ample space. The 7th floor on the Nieuw Amsterdam is mostly a suite floor. We had picked this area because we had heard that because it was a suite floor the service was extra good... it did not disappoint...even for us insiders.... I would also say I was surprised by the size of the bathroom in the room. It was very spacious. Again its of storage and good size shower. If I had a recommendation on this however I would have preferred glass doors on the shower rather than a simple curtain. My rating on the room 10/10. if I can figure out how to post some pics on here I will.

Ok... Lets start with Embarkation! Our boarding time originally started off at 11:20 am and then a few days prior to embarkation it changed to 11:40 am. Not a big deal. We took an Uber from our place in Fort Lauderdale to the port which was around $15. Getting to the port was easy. Fort Lauderdale is great for that. Once in the terminal we moved through the initial check-in extremely quick. From curb to completed check-in was about 15 minutes tops. Then we hit a wall.... I had read on CC and heard via the grapevine that HAL had slow boarding process but I had figured how bad could it be. Once through the check-in process we were provided with a number and then directed to a sitting area in the terminal. Our number was 11. We then sat waiting for our number to be called. As it turned out the embarkation process had not even started yet. We waited about 30 minutes for the process to begin with the terminal quickly filling up with folks waiting to embark. Once they started calling the group numbers the process did pick up and all in all, about an hour after arriving at the terminal we were making our way onboard. If I had to score the embarkation process I would give it a 5/10. I am not sure if this is the norm with HAL but I would say they have some work to do on a more fluid embarkation process. Why assign times if you have to sit around and wait? then again, perhaps there were some issues with the previous cruise debarkation...either way we were now on the ship and off to explore!

A bit late pulling this together as we just returned home after spending some time after the cruise in our home away from home in Fort Lauderdale. We live in Ontario Canada (unless we are in Fort Lauderdale) and recently retired. I'll start off with a little background. We cruised on the Nieuw Amsterdam for 7 days, embarking on November 6th and debarking on November 13th. We had an Inside room on the Rotterdam floor (7th Floor) #7035. I'll talk about the room later. Now this was only our second ever cruise on Holland America. Our first cruise was back in 2007 on the Rotterdam in Europe. Needless to say, that after that cruise we were totally hooked and have since done close to forty (40) cruises, with just under Four Hundred (400) days at sea. The majority of those "other" cruises have been on Celebrity, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Princess. We have also been on NCL as well. Moving forward we are cruising starting in January straight thru until the end of March on four (4) different cruise lines one of which will be twenty-one (21) days back to Holland America on the new Rotterdam (also need to say that as a Canadian I'm nowhere close to being a hearty winter guy so I require trips south to maintain my sanity (not to mention my tan). So with that in mind, we thought we needed to try HAL again before we embark on her for twenty-one (21) days straight in February. Now with all the other cruises we have had (and we are mostly loyal to Celebrity), we came into this one promising ourselves not to compare. After all, there really is no point in comparing. In all my experience of cruising, I find that each is unique in their own way and once you fall down the "comparison hole" you start to take away from the enjoyment that's right in front of you....although I will say I do have some slight comparisons but maybe I should just call those issues for the "suggestion box". Feel free to ask me any questions you may have and I may or may not have an answer. I also know that some CC members on here may have been on the same cruise and we did meet some folks who may still be on her as they had multiple B2B's booked. However, remember... my review and my thoughts... you may have had different experiences, positive or negative. I'm not about to bash HAL at all. In fact we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise. So lets get started..... .

A tad self righteous in my opinion on your comment. I’m not really sure how someone else’s attire ruins your evening. To call someone a “slob” because they don’t dress as you feel they should actually says much more about you then them. To be clear, some of those “jeans” you see, actually cost more money than that gown or tuxedo one wears. Stop worrying about what others choose to enjoy themselves and enjoy your own evening. We just got off the Nieuw Amsterdam and we did see men and women wearing shorts in the main dining room. It had no impact on our enjoyment of a great dining experience or the evening…. Breathe in…. Carry on!

Relax…. The sun will rise tomorrow… honestly … deep breathes …

Curious to see what your result is.

We are on that ship in a week… what room where you in originally?

It’s nonsense really. We have a 21 day cruise coming up in February on Rotterdam. However, as with how HAL is running cruises these days our 21 day cruise is really a back to back. We will have guests leaving after the first leg when we do the turn around in Fort Lauderdale. Those on first leg leaving and those joining in the second leg will not require a test at any time, yet anyone booked on the 21 day will be required to test. It’s ludicrous really. Fingers crossed they change again these ridiculous testing requirements come February… we also are fully vaxxed with two boosters!

I can’t see it on our cruise for next week either. It was there, now it’s not. I wonder if HAL is getting onboard with other cruise lines and recognizing the onboard package on the private island now… wishful thinking?

Do the drinks you get with the HMC package also count toward the 15 limit from the onboard drink package…. Or are they not totalled together… no judgements here folks it’s a legitimate question…. Lol.

Do you keep your own number or do you get assigned a new number?

I’ve one recommendation… Martini Bar! If you know, you just know! Spent a month on the Silhouette this past February… it’s a beautiful ship and the action never stopped!

yes you can just in a smaller glass. we had a friend who only had the Classic package on the Silhouette and they had no problem getting any Martini on the menu at the Martini Bar. Just in a smaller glass.

The assumption you are making of course is that they are all alcohol drinks which is not what I asked and further my understanding is the packages on HAL include both alcohol and non alcohol when counting to 15 (which again, is unlike almost every other cruise line who do not have any limits and are truly all inclusive without limits). My question was more around if someone has any combination of 7 drinks on the island and then has more once they get back onboard are the packages considered in combination? Notwithstanding, that Carnival Corp which owns HAL is the only line to my knowledge that puts a limit on drinks (especially if those 15 are combined alcohol and non alcohol) I still don't fathom why they make you buy a separate package on their private island. Other cruise lines honour their drink packages on their private islands. As for the combined limit, it what it is I suppose, however when you combine a few sodas and a few waters throughout the day you could easily be on your way to the 15 before you even hit your wine for dinner... Just saying....

If you purchase the Half Moon Cay beverage package but also have the Signature Package do they combine your 15 drinks maximum? Each has a daily limit of 15. I have to admit I find it incredible that your drink package is no good on the private island.

You can ask for a smaller martini glass with the classic package. No upcharge and you just order more of them to make up for the size!

I just recently discovered this MPC app so I intend to use it on our cruise out of Fort Lauderdale in November. We are flying out of Kitchener, Ont so for us the customs entry will be when we land In Fort Lauderdale. We shall see if it gets us through any faster. We usually fly out of Pearson so have always done US customs in Toronto and never had to go through customs upon arrival. Hopefully it’s a smooth process.

Not sure what cruise lines you've actually been on but we have done over 35 cruises on different lines and outside of the odd event, or late night dance club (where age is restricted) kids are allowed all over the ship. Some may have adult only areas but certainly not as you suggest above when sailing out of the US or Canada! I guess Disney is the exception to this norm!