PHOTO REVIEW! Just off the Rotterdam.

[Bostonjetset]

I just returned earlier this week from an Eastern Caribbean cruise on the beautiful new HAL flagship, the m.s. Rotterdam so I thought I would share a review.  I've waited so long [as have most of us here] to be able to cruise again so i hope you enjoy reading my first post-Covid rewiew.

 

As I usually do for my reviews, after a brief synopsis I will make entries journal-style, day by day, as I wrote them at time of occurrence [except omitting real names in order to provide anonymity]. I feel this will provide a similar effect to a "live from" thread; a type I much enjoy reading here on CC. After the daily accounts, I will provide a synopsis of thoughts at the end as well. There will be a smattering of pictures included as well!

 

Any questions, feel free to ask. If you were also on this sailing, please share your thoughts as well. Thank you for reading and enjoy!

 

 

Background:

This trip consisted of myself [39 y/o] and DH [54 y/o], sailing round-trip from Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos; St. Thomas, USVI; Puerto Plata (Amber Cove), Dominican Republic; and Half Moon Cay, Bahamas.  Our itinerary originally included San Juan, PR but as they are not being welcome to cruise ships at the moment, that port was replaced with Amber Cove instead.  It worked out fine for us as we've been to PR on a land trip years ago and whilst we enjoyed it, we had never been to the Dominican  Republic so were excited to add a new country to our list of places visited.

[jimmy2x]

Looking forward to your review. We will be on her for three weeks in about 13 months. 

[Bostonjetset]

DAY 1: 01/01/2021 - 7.25pm [BOS to MIA/FLL]

 

We had to wake up @ 4.30am this morning in order to leave the house by 5.30, get to the Logan Express by 6.00 and to the airport by 6.30 for our 8.25am flight.  Just as our shuttle was leaving the station, we got an email that our flight was cancelled and we would be put on a flight tomorrow which would be useless to use since our cruise is leaving tomorrow.  Thank God we booked through HAL as they were able to get us on a flight with American Airlines that left at 12.40pm.  It sucked having to spend an extra 5 hours at the airport but at least we would make our cruise!  We also had to fly to Miami instead of Fort Lauderdale.

 

We are going to call it an early night due to such an exhausting day.  Had WaoBao delivered to our AirBnB and then heading to bed.

[Bostonjetset]

DAY 2: 01/02/2021 - 9.31pm [Onboard Rotterdam]

 

We've made it aboard the beautiful Rotterdam!  This ship is absolutely beautiful and our Vista Suite [7098] is wonderful even if it's just a "mini-suite".  We enjoy having the small vase of fresh chrysanthemums even if it is small.  The room, though not huge, is definitely bigger than a standard verandah cabin and loads bigger than an inside cabin!

 

So far, the cruise is pretty much like any pre-Covid cruise we've taken.  The only real difference is having to wear a mask when walking around indoors.  They aren't needed when sitting in the restaurants or outside at all.  There are 1,103 passengers on board which is only around 40% capacity so there isn't much crowding.

 

We found out upon boarding that our stop in San Juan was cancelled as expected but they've replaced it with Puerto Plata, DR instead which is actually good for us as we've never been to the DR before.  We booked an HAL excursion there just to make it easier.

 

For dinner tonight they had a wonderful braised oxtail with pureed cauliflower.  The French onion soup was some of the best I've had on a ship.

 

 

[Bostonjetset]

[Bostonjetset]

[Bostonjetset]

DAY 3: 01/03/2021 - 10.32pm [Sea Day]

 

What started as a fairly standard sea day ended with a fabulous performance in the World Stage.  This is our first trip on a Pinnacle Class ship and I admit that I'm impressed by this venue.  HAL really upped their game in the entertainment department!  Tonight's show, Humanity, was truly amazing.  The dancers mixed ballet, modern, and Latin dance moves set to various popular music songs from multiple decades.  All choreographed wonderfully with the technology present in this venue.  An A+ in my book.

 

Earlier in the day we spent some time relaxing by the aft pool.  I had a swim but Li didn't.  Lunch at the fabulous Grand Dutch Cafe included HAL's delicious pea soup!  The LGBT meetup is called "PRIDE" now and was held in the Crow's Nest on Deck 12.  Only 7 of us attended but it was a friendly, social crowd.  Tomorrow is our first port of Grand Turk.

 

 

[Bostonjetset]

DAY 4: 01/04/2021 - 10.48pm [Grand Turk, Turts & Caicos]

 

Today we called at Grand Turk in the Turks & Caicos islands.  Though a British colony, they use the US Dollar as their currency which was easy for us.  The cruise port was purpose-built and is quite lovely with a very nice beach.  We did take a taxi into Cockburn Town which is the capital city and turned our to be less than lovely.  The buildings were mostly run down and not in a charming way like Havana.  There were a few local shops in dilapidated buildings selling mostly junky souvenirs for more money then even the cruise port shops.  Very few artisan products other than some carved wood sculptures that one finds throughout the region.  I have higher hopes for the Dominican Republic tomorrow.

 

Back on board brought us to another lunch in the wonderful Grand Dutch Cafe again.  This is such a great venue and HAL would do well by adding it to all their ships.  

 

The fabulous quartet at Lincoln Center Stage performed a wonderful Mozart program this afternoon; they are very talented!  The show tonight was called "Billboard Off the Charts" and was a collab between the amazing Step One dancers and the Billboard Onboard pianist/singer duo.  Li loved it so much that we went back for the second show at 9.30pm after we ate dinner.  So far both World Stage productions have been wonderful.

 

 

[oakridger]

I'm enjoying your postings and great pictures!  I'll watch for the next episode. 

 

Thank you,

~Nancy

[Sue from Canada]

Really enjoyed your photos.  Thank you for posting the Dutch Cafe menu - first time I've seen it.  Mmmm, I love their pea soup.  Have fun.

[doone]

Thanks for sharing, I agree with your thoughts on the Pinnacle class ships, love them, HAL really did an outstanding job with these ships.  I am on the Rotterdam next year and can’t wait.

 

Grand Dutch Cafe is a great addition along with all the music venues.  Love your review and pics, looking forward to the rest of your review.

[ski ww]

Thanks for posting, enjoyed the pictures.

[jinpasco]

Also want to thank you for taking the time for posting. Hopefully , we will be on in April. Ship looks beautiful. I think we could spend lunch daily at the cafe !. Looking forward to your adventures and dreaming about ours.

[albingirl]

 

 

Really enjoying your review.  We sail with her soon and love seeing all the pictures.  Thank you!

[aliaschief]

Thank you for your outstanding review and photos. A  great review!

[Heartgrove]

Thank you for the photos. Glad to see that HAL has eliminated the loose round bolster pillows on the couch in the Vista Suite and replaced them with throw pillows. On our cruises aboard the Nieuw Statendam and Koningsdam they would roll off the edge or else were in the way.

 

I always satisfy my Swedish taste buds with the herring served at the "Grand Dutch Cafe."

 

 

Edited January 13, 2022 by Heartgrove

[canadianbear]

Really enjoying your review and photos.  We are booked on this ship at the end of the year so keep the photos and info coming!

 

We have been on the Koningsdam several times and love the Dutch Cafe-a favourite spot of ours for lunch and they make the best lattes.  Looking forward to being on the Rotterdam.

 

Thanks for sharing.  

[Bostonjetset]

Thank you all for reading so far and for the kind comments!  

I will continue on with the review this morning 😄

[Bostonjetset]

DAY 5: 01/05/2021 - 10.33pm [Puerto Plata [Amber Cove], Dominican Republic]

 

What a wonderful surprise Puerto Plata was!  It was our first time in the Dominican Republic but I'm sure it won't be our last.  Honestly, the whole day was great; this is a MUCH better port than Grand Turk.  The downtown was actually a real city that had lovely neo-colonial and Victorian style buildings and not just a strip of run-down shacks like in Cockburn Town.  The "Mountain Views and City Sights" excursion we took through HAL was well worth the $49.95pp.  The drive up and time at Isabel de Torres Mountain was spectacular and it was great to have some time in the historic city center before returning to the port [which is also very nice even if it's a Disney-fied version of the DR.  Today was one more example of my preference for the Spanish-speaking islands & countries in this region!

 

For dinner tonight we went to Tamarind which was a first for both of us.  The Chinese five-spice ribs were excellent as was the wasabi & soy-crusted beef tenderloin.  The satay sampler was decent though didn't wow us.  Li got the Mongolian lamb chops which were tasty but one was too rare for either of us so he replaced it with the DanDan noodles which he enjoyed.  The mango posset was truly delicious and much better than I expected; I'm glad I listened to the waitress and got it.  The yuzu "cheesecake" was tasty but didn't compare to the posset.

 

Tonight's show was the BBC Earth II in concert with the Lincoln Ctr Stage quartet.  Another good performance.  Three for three so far!!

 

 

[Cruiz'nBaers]

Your stateroom looks lovely, the ship is beautiful.  We love Grand Turk for a relaxing beach day.  I am enjoying your review.

[Bostonjetset]

Some photos of Tamarind.

 

 

[Bostonjetset]

1 minute ago, Cruiz'nBaers said:

Your stateroom looks lovely, the ship is beautiful.  We love Grand Turk for a relaxing beach day.  I am enjoying your review.

I'm glad you are enjoying the review.  I agree that the beach at Grand Turk is lovely.  The island itself, outside of the purpose-built cruise area however, disappointed us.  If we ever return there we will just stay in the port complex; this is something we almost never do but in GT it is really the only thing of interest to us.

[Bostonjetset]

DAY 6: 01/06/2021 - 11.05pm [St. Thomas, USVI]

 

We were able to dock in St. Thomas today even though some thought we wouldn't as other ships were turned away due to Covid last week.  I guess we were under the allowed limit of cases and were permitted to dock. 

 

Last time we were here in 2015, we spent almost the entire day in St. John.  So this time we were able to spend the day in St. Thomas.  We took a taxi to Magen's Bay and it was truly beautiful!  And they had some picnic tables under trees and close to the water which was perfect for me; I need shade when at the beach and Magen's Bay had plenty.

 

After the beach we spent about an hour in downtown Charlotte Amalie.  Fort Christian was cool to see and there was some lovely architecture.  I did get a Christmas ornament of a painted sand dollar but most other shops were just for jewerly and watches.  Nothing wrong with jewelry [I love it!] but I' rather make expensive purchases of this sort at home rather than on a whim.  Still, it's a clean and nice city.

 

 

[VMax1700]

12 hours ago, Bostonjetset said:

This ship is absolutely beautiful and our Vista Suite [7098] is wonderful even if it's just a "mini-suite".

Hi,

Really enjoying your review.  Thanks for taking the time to report back, with such excellent images too!

One question for you.......(and I appreciate that your response will be from memory!).  Looking at the deck plan it seems that the 'front door' of 7096/7098 are open to the elevator lobby and stairs area and do not have a protective wall to deflect the noise.  Did you experience any noise (elevator or passenger) from the lobby?  Do you think that noise may become a problem when the ship is to capacity rather than the current 40/50%?

[Bostonjetset]

DAY 7: 01/07/2021 - 10.35pm [Sea Day]

 

Another typical sea day.  We slept in, went to breakfast in the Lido, and spent a few hours by the mid-ship pool as the partial roof provides some shade.  We did attend the "Ask the Captain" talk and he discussed his experience during the beginning of Covid when he was in charge of the previous Rotterdam [VI] and had to sail around the world without passengers in order to help repatriate crew members.  I'm sure this once-in-a-lifetime experience he will never forget!