Ms Rotterdam, experience with 2709 (2702), or 3394/3399. Or on other Rc-class ships

[selma]

Title is pretty clear I think, I'm wondering if anybody has any experience with stateroom 2709 (or 2702 which is the exact same but on portside) on the Ms Rotterdam?

 

Also any axperiences with the 3394/3399?

 

Just had to switch my itinerary pretty last minute from june to the last possible sailing on the Norway itineraries (gouvernment can't supply my needed wheelchair in time for june and without chair no go :( ) so we had to work with was still available, making it more complicated due to the fact that I'm going on a 14-day collectors voyage and plenty of accessible staterooms are already booked on one of the two 7 day itineraries. Was a bit of a pain with trying to figure out from deckplans, size per stateroom and lay out which staterooms will or wont work. For instance soon enough learned that while pretty much all G-cat. accessible staterooms are available, no way do they offer the space/lay out I need for my aids and care. Decisions, decisions.

 

So if anybody has any experience with these staterooms on the Rotterdam or any of the other R-class ships, would love to hear your experiences.

[xxoocruiser]

Have not been on the Rotterdam but have cruised on the Zaandam which is also an R- Class. Our group had the majority of accessible cabins and was able to see most of the accessible cabins. 2709 and 2702 are barely larger than a standard ocean view cabin. My friends staying in 2709 ,who are both disabled and require the use of mobility scooters, had difficulty with the cabin. There was absolutely no room to maneuver about the cabin on their scooters due to lack of open floor space.

 

I had inside accessible cabin K2554 which was extremely large. The largest non-suite accessible cabin I've ever had regardless of the cruise line. At one time there were 4 people all with our mobility scooters in my cabin K2554 and there was plenty of room for all 4 of us to maneuver. If you can handle being in an inside cabin and if either K2554 or K2555 is available recommend that you seriously consider it. The schematic really doesn't do it justice.

Edited February 1, 2014 by xxoocruiser

[selma]

Thanks for the reply. Heads up, categories are changed per may. Quite a lot of the non suite access. staterooms have had a cat. change. Some H to G, E to G etc. The inside K is then a J. Is my favorite given it's square lay out and when booking >year out always go for it. Got it for my holiday cruise. Norway is another subject all together. A "care" tour operator booked all access. insides on ALL sailings to Norway on the Rotterdam. Got some kind of deal where they get first dibbs and now closer to sailings, those not booked are released back into inventory. So you'ld have to pay a gambling game to either get those or luck out since going through operator is stupid imho (price skyrockets, worse conditions etc)

 

I am/was in a not too great position to begin with having to switch dates at this time, so it's taking whatever is left. Sure enough, the J's are booked for except for one week of the 2 one of those is left. Not a real great option to move halfway through given the amount of medical stuff I need and needing some time to set up.

 

I know E is about same size as regular E, DD, C etc. Also learned from agent that deckplans can be a bit giving not fully correct image. Had an agent yesterday who actually got the sqaure ft for me per accessible stateroom left in the oceanviews. For instance on the map 2704 looks the same size, right? Turns out it is smaller. Having the actual sizes does help a lot to paint a picture.

 

Also look at 1806/07, they are drawn in as a square, but actually have the bathroom stick "out" into the 04/05 (which is properly portrayed in the lay out of the stateroom itself).

 

I know if need be we can make it work where need be, did so last year with an HH. Did take a big remodel of the room (read remove items, move etc), but that made the difference from needing to get into and out of bed at the feet of the bed or being able to set my powerchair right next to the bed.

 

I can understand the friends having difficulty. Obviously just me, I wouldn't be surprised getting into the situation there would be difficulty combining 2 scooters into one stateroom. The turning radius and size will make it an issue many times with even just one in there if wanting/needing to use it to move about the stateroom. It's a nice bonus to find it not being so every once in a while, but wouldn't expect that given the caracteristics of scooters and sizes of staterooms.

 

By the way there are bigger than 2554/55, but the price was also according to it, as to be expected with Disney. Their staterooms are bigger to begin with on the whole. Some access. staterooms are within that .... let's say norm, but their are those the size of a party hall. To add to that we had a wrap around balcony, literally half the aft deck and deep. You could seriously loose people out there. Downside; no automatic opener, so does require lot of strength to get out there unassisted.

 

 

Back to this sailing, am in the process of having a lanai assigned. Has to go through Seattle again, all acc. staterooms are standard assigned to the 7 day sailings, not the 14 day. No biggie. One was still available for both. Unfortunately not the one with automated door opener, but with care provider with me on this sailing guess that'll have to be her job than. We'll have to do some serious math to make the price work, but figured the added space for care and aids, full outside view and easy access to promenade deck might be worth it. Odds are such that I might very well still be without my new chair on that sailing. Being almost fully bedridden and risking still being without my mobility aid that works within those limitations, the bigger view and direct access to the promenade deck might make a huge difference in cruise enjoyment. Guess I'ld rather bite a financial painfull bullit and have more options to fall back on to still enjoy the gorgious place that is Norway.