Just Returned from 11-day Rotterdam Cruise - Wow!

[Btimmer]

We were onboard for the previous 10 day cruise and I concur with all of the observations, particularly about the smoking.  The Casino was always pretty much packed.  While we had an inside cabin, it was wonderful and we'd do it again.  The Rotterdam cruise was the best of the three Pinnacle class cruises we've been on even though it was the shortest of all three.  We're looking forward to being back on the Nieuw Statendam in August, 2022 for 3 weeks.

[Laminator]

2 hours ago, VMax1700 said:

Can they be identified from the list you posted, or are they a different listing?

I receive so many offers they are hard to keep track of. That list does not identify the major tournaments. 

[Florida_gal_50]

7 hours ago, Bostonjetset said:

Thanks for sharing your review!! We board her in three weeks and also have a Vista Suite. How did you like that category of suite?  It’s our first time in a mini suite (or suite of any size really) and I’ve heard mixed reviews. 

I was on the koningsdam for 2 weeks.  The first week I had a vb cabin.  It had a large balcony.  I took an upsell to a vista suite for the second week.  It was marginally larger but the balcony was way smaller than the balcony room and there was a lot of vibration.  My cabin was at the back of the ship.  I didn’t really feel it was worth the money.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Florida_gal_50

[Bostonjetset]

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I was on the koningsdam for 2 weeks.  The first week I had a vb cabin.  It had a large balcony.  I took an upsell to a vista suite for the second week.  It was marginally larger but the balcony was way smaller than the balcony room and there was a lot of vibration.  My cabin was at the back of the ship.  I didn’t really feel it was worth the money.

Thanks for the insight. How does a vista suite balcony compare to a normal (not special larger one) verandah stateroom balcony though?  I almost always book guaranteed cabins rather than pick a specific one so I wonder how the entry level verandah compares to the entry level vista suite. Common sense tells me the vista suite should be larger but as we all know sense isn’t always common. Lol. 

[Seasick Sailor]

5 hours ago, Sharon in AZ said:

 

Thank you Joy!  Can't wait to see you also!

 

Sharon, Here's our bathroom. At least you have room between toilet seat and shower! Lol

[Florida_gal_50]

31 minutes ago, Bostonjetset said:

Thanks for the insight. How does a vista suite balcony compare to a normal (not special larger one) verandah stateroom balcony though?  I almost always book guaranteed cabins rather than pick a specific one so I wonder how the entry level verandah compares to the entry level vista suite. Common sense tells me the vista suite should be larger but as we all know sense isn’t always common. Lol. 

I book guarantees a lot as well.  That balcony in the vista  seemed pretty small compared to what I thought it would be.  I want to say it was the same or pretty much the same as a regular balcony.  Now take that with a grain of salt because my last cruise before the one last month was 2 years ago so I’m going from memory 😛.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Glad you enjoyed the cruise.

[Djptcp]

We enjoyed our Vista Suite very much. We mostly sail in Neptune Suites so the Vista was quite a bit smaller and no Neptune Lounge access, but it suited us just fine except for the tiny bathroom. We thought the balcony was larger than a Verandah balcony but not by much.

 

The next $50,000 Slot Tournament is Nov. 30, 2022 and as I said in my original post, I received an invitation to it while on board the Rotterdam. Monday I contacted my PCC at HAL to book it and she called me back and said the casino department does not have any record of me receiving the offer! DH and I also received two other casino offers while on board and none of them are registered with the casino dept.! That really sucks as we book almost all of our HAL cruises with casino offers. What good is it to receive the offers on board and then we can't book them because of the fault of the onboard casino host not making the connection to the casino dept. at corporate? I am going to contact HAL and complain and I have the casino host's name on one of the offers.

[zelker]

@Djptcp  Think my post yesterday got lost among all the casino discussions so will repost here ...

 

 

Did HAL test you at any time during the cruise and if so, how often?

 

Did HAL provide face masks and if so, what kind and how many?

 

Thanks.

[sassyf]

9 minutes ago, zelker said:

@Djptcp  Think my post yesterday got lost among all the casino discussions so will repost here ...

 

 

Did HAL test you at any time during the cruise and if so, how often?

 

Did HAL provide face masks and if so, what kind and how many?

 

Thanks.

 

[sassyf]

HAL did not test at any time during the cruise and there were two face masks in the cabin when I arrived-white with a small blue ship on the left corner.  They were very comfortable.

[wdw1972]

2 hours ago, Djptcp said:

The next $50,000 Slot Tournament is Nov. 30, 2022 . 

Thanks!  I assume it's on the Rotterdam again?  Although I'm on Eurodam 11/30/22 this is good to know for future years.  I would have liked to have had use of the Ocean Bar as a venue, but during the slot tournaments that's filled with slot machines. 

 

Sue/WDW1972

[luvn2cruzzz]

Was the Ocean Bar still filled with slot machines?

[Vacrus]

Has anyone on this cruise used these "government sponsored tours"? 
Do you mind sharing which tours you took and in what ports. Thanks 

[Djptcp]

Yes, there slot machines in the Ocean Bar but I never played those, stuck to the regular casino.

 

No, we were not tested during the 11-day cruise, but I did hear people who were continuing on were tested.

[Laminator]

On 12/13/2021 at 2:24 PM, VMax1700 said:

Thanks, appreciate it.  (there is a lot of them)!

These are the cruises that should be on your list.
 

Nieuw Statendam - May 8th, 2022 - $25,000 Slot Tournament

Westerdam - Jun 5th, 2022 - $25,000 Slot Tournament

Rotterdam - Nov 30th, 2022 - $50,000 Slot Tournament

 

[AKJonesy]

On 12/13/2021 at 5:27 AM, Djptcp said:

Most islands required Holland or government sponsored excursions and on others, you couldn't go beyond the port area. This was our 58th cruise so not a hardship for us as we had been to all the islands before and done excursions. We did the train trip around St. Kitts and it was fun.

Could you please name the islands that required the HAL excursion and not sure what you mean by GOVT sponsored.  Can you comment further because we are considering a caribbean cruise and would like to know the latest status.  Thank you. 

[Turtles06]

On 12/13/2021 at 9:27 AM, Djptcp said:

We did the train trip around St. Kitts and it was fun.

We were on the Celebrity Silhouette the day you were in St. Kitts, and also did the train tour. It was great fun!

 

Also, I was excited to see the Rotterdam in port as we docked, since about two weeks earlier, we’d booked a Norwegian fjords cruise on the Rotterdam for 2023. It was great to sail past the balcony of “our” stateroom as the Silhouette docked.  Here’s your ship in St. Kitts:

 

[VMax1700]

5 hours ago, Laminator said:

These are the cruises that should be on your list.
 

Nieuw Statendam - May 8th, 2022 - $25,000 Slot Tournament

Westerdam - Jun 5th, 2022 - $25,000 Slot Tournament

Rotterdam - Nov 30th, 2022 - $50,000 Slot Tournament

 

Thank you for this information!

 

[sevenseasnomad]

On 12/13/2021 at 11:52 AM, Sharon in AZ said:

Thank you for your comments on the Rotterdam. We board next week for the Holidays and can’t wait. We also are in a Vista and am disappointed to hear about the small bathroom, but I’m sure it’s functional. 
 

I believe San Juan is replacing St Kitts on our itinerary. It isn’t official yet but the Navigator app shows the change. 
 

Enjoy your next cruises you have scheduled!

We'll be boarding with you.  We show no change in itinerary.  In fact, we just booked an excursion in St. Kitts, so if we are indeed going to San Juan instead of St. Kitts, HAL will have to refund.  We've been to San Juan about a dozen times, so really not interested.  St. Kitts only once.  Oh, well.  Just to be back on a ship will be fabulous, so I won't complain.  

[Seasick Sailor]

6 hours ago, sevenseasnomad said:

We'll be boarding with you.  We show no change in itinerary.  In fact, we just booked an excursion in St. Kitts, so if we are indeed going to San Juan instead of St. Kitts, HAL will have to refund.  We've been to San Juan about a dozen times, so really not interested.  St. Kitts only once.  Oh, well.  Just to be back on a ship will be fabulous, so I won't complain.  

 

Also @Sharon in AZ.. Sharon I just looked at our itinerary and St. Kitts is back on for Dec 29th. It's the only time shown thru Jan 16th.

 

The Ocean Bar is cleared of slot machines and things are back to normal.

 

The smoking in the casino has not been an issue in the 5 days onboard. One night was a no smoking night. 

 

There are 1300 passengers til the 22nd. It's been peaceful and quiet. Restaurants have had walk in diners. Music softly played. Outdoor football and movie night at Lido big screen is louder to accommodate both levels watching. We moved up to the Panorama bar and the volume was much better on deck 10.

 

The Pinnacle host last night said next week (12-22) will host 300 kids and approx 2300 passengers, so we will enjoy the calm while we can!

[Sharon in AZ]

17 hours ago, sevenseasnomad said:

We'll be boarding with you.  We show no change in itinerary.  In fact, we just booked an excursion in St. Kitts, so if we are indeed going to San Juan instead of St. Kitts, HAL will have to refund.  We've been to San Juan about a dozen times, so really not interested.  St. Kitts only once.  Oh, well.  Just to be back on a ship will be fabulous, so I won't complain.  

The change showed on the Navigator app but only for a few days, it’s back to St Kitts now. I’m not sure what will happen. Someone even posted on FB that they had called HAL and confirmed the change to San Juan. I guess we will find out next week!  See you onboard!  Enjoy!

[LadyBerard]

On 12/13/2021 at 9:02 PM, Bostonjetset said:

Thanks for the insight. How does a vista suite balcony compare to a normal (not special larger one) verandah stateroom balcony though?  I almost always book guaranteed cabins rather than pick a specific one so I wonder how the entry level verandah compares to the entry level vista suite. Common sense tells me the vista suite should be larger but as we all know sense isn’t always common. Lol. 

Vista suites rooms are a whopping 32 sq. ft. bigger than regular balcony rooms, and the balcony is a the same size -  48 sq. ft. I think.

[rim140]

Thanks for your review. We'll be boarding on January 2nd for 4 weeks.

Quick question, what is the current Wifi pricing on Rotterdam? It doesn't appear it can be purchased online before boarding.