First time Cruisers

[snakebite89]

Sorry for sounding uninformed but I find I am getting confliting information! So I have some specific questions for the Rotterdam and any help would be appreciatted.

1) Is the laundry service expensive?

2) Are drinks free if you are gambling?

3) Should we opt out of the Gratuities and tip individually?

4) How early should we arrive for the initial boarding?

5) How early should we show up for the entertaiment venues?

6) Do we just show up for the included dining or can we make reservations?

So sorry for so many questions!!

 

[CruiserBruce]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

1. Define "expensive".

2. Don't know.

3. NO!! Very hot topic if you look around the board. You can always tip extra if you wish.

4. Be there by 11:30.

5. Depends on the ship and event. 10-15 minutes is usually OK, but some events can be very well attended.

6. You can just show up, or make reservations. Up to you.

[snakebite89]

1 minute ago, CruiserBruce said:

Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

1. Define "expensive".

2. Don't know.

3. NO!! Very hot topic if you look around the board. You can always tip extra if you wish.

4. Be there by 11:30.

5. Depends on the ship and event. 10-15 minutes is usually OK, but some events can be very well attended.

6. You can just show up, or make reservations. Up to you.

Thank You!

1) I think $30 for a bag of laundry would be pricey?

3) Does the person you are tipping get to keep the tip for themselves?

[CruiserBruce]

1 minute ago, snakebite89 said:

Thank You!

1) I think $30 for a bag of laundry would be pricey?

3) Does the person you are tipping get to keep the tip for themselves?

There are a couple options for laundry. I am not well versed in the pricing, but I doubt any of them come to $30.

 

The tipping question is beat to death here. If you leave the auto tipping in place, any extra you give to an employee, the employee gets to keep.

[snakebite89]

4 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

There are a couple options for laundry. I am not well versed in the pricing, but I doubt any of them come to $30.

 

The tipping question is beat to death here. If you leave the auto tipping in place, any extra you give to an employee, the employee gets to keep.

Thanks!

[Bruinboy]

We have a 35 day cruise booked for Feb 2024. Laundry is $210 for the entire cruise. 

[snakebite89]

2 minutes ago, Bruinboy said:

We have a 35 day cruise booked for Feb 2024. Laundry is $210 for the entire cruise. 

thanks

[Lady Arwen]

Drinks are not free in the casino even if you’re gambling.  Unless you are on a casino offer, which I’m sure you’re not, those guests do receive some free drinks.

For tipping, please leave the gratuity in place and tip extra to those who go above and beyond your expectations.

You will be notified by HAL of your suggested embarkation, although most people just show up starting around 10-11 am.

For shows I try to be seated 30 minutes before it starts.

For anytime dining you can just show up at your preferred time or you can reserve  a table at your preferred time for three consecutive evenings, then you would have to rebook that time.  You can also request to be seated with the same waitstaff and table if you like your first nights assignment.  However, this is not guaranteed and sometimes impossible to accommodate your request.

I believe we paid $20 per bag of laundry last time we sailed on Koningsdam.  You can really stuff a lot of clothes into those bags!  Everything comes back either neatly folded or on hangers.  I wouldn’t send out anything very delicate, but what we did send out was just fine.

[snakebite89]

2 hours ago, Lady Arwen said:

Drinks are not free in the casino even if you’re gambling.  Unless you are on a casino offer, which I’m sure you’re not, those guests do receive some free drinks.

For tipping, please leave the gratuity in place and tip extra to those who go above and beyond your expectations.

You will be notified by HAL of your suggested embarkation, although most people just show up starting around 10-11 am.

For shows I try to be seated 30 minutes before it starts.

For anytime dining you can just show up at your preferred time or you can reserve  a table at your preferred time for three consecutive evenings, then you would have to rebook that time.  You can also request to be seated with the same waitstaff and table if you like your first nights assignment.  However, this is not guaranteed and sometimes impossible to accommodate your request.

I believe we paid $20 per bag of laundry last time we sailed on Koningsdam.  You can really stuff a lot of clothes into those bags!  Everything comes back either neatly folded or on hangers.  I wouldn’t send out anything very delicate, but what we did send out was just fine.

Thank You so much!

[vicd1969]

5 hours ago, snakebite89 said:

Thank You!

1) I think $30 for a bag of laundry would be pricey?

 

Depends - the bag can fit a lot of clothes and may allow you to save on having to check in a piece of luggage on your flight (up to $60-$70 round-trip cost if you're not flying Southwest). It used to be $20-25 per bag for non-European itineraries but I believe HAL has raised the price to $30 for all cruises.

 

On Pinnacle class ships like the Rotterdam, if you are planning to eat dinner in mostly the main dining room, run to the dining room manager on embarkation day as soon as you are done with your muster requirements and reserve a set preferred time (may only be allowed to set from night #2 onwards). That's because anytime dining where you just show up can be a crapshoot in both wait times and getting an attentive waiter (they're kind of understaffed in the MDRs of that class of ship).

 

Intermediate-level hack: Hopefully, is your booked cabin like an obstructed balcony or bottom-category oceanview? Then I highly, highly recommend buying the club orange package. That allows you to upgrade for free to the highest category room in the type of cabin (ie, the highest level of non-suite balcony if you are currently booked on a balcony, or the highest level of oceanview if you currently have an oceanview) AND allows you to dine in the separate Club Orange room on the Rotterdam - where the service is usually better due to a higher waitstaff-to-diner ratio.

[snakebite89]

Thanks!

 

[AFNavigator]

6 hours ago, snakebite89 said:

Thank You!

1) I think $30 for a bag of laundry would be pricey?

3) Does the person you are tipping get to keep the tip for themselves?

I believe the current laundry price is $30/bag or $9/day unlimited (up from $20 bag / $7 unlimited last year) for a typical 7 night cruise.  You can jam quite a bit in those bags but, as you can see, you basically are near break even cost after two bags ($60 vs $63 unlimited).  We've done the unlimited package our last two HAL cruises and really liked it.  They do a great job and everything comes back folded or on hangers.  You don't have to purchase pre-cruise.  You just mark the "bag" or "unlimited" check box on the laundry form to first time you turn in laundry.  You also have the option to just do individual clothing items but the price on those add up pretty fast...think resort laundry prices.

 

For tipping, if you tip a person extra, I believe they get to keep that tip.  The automatic gratuities are spread across a number staff, both those you interact with directly and some behind the scenes.  Therefore, most see it best to stick with the automatic gratuities to ensure those behind-the-scenes staff get their share of the gratuities.

[oakridger]

Unlimited laundry per day rate ($7/cruise day) is per cabin, not per person.  All laundry must be submitted by 48 hours before debarkation day. They do a great job!

Edited February 22, 2023 by oakridger

[AFNavigator]

5 minutes ago, oakridger said:

Unlimited laundry per day rate ($7/cruise day) is per cabin, not per person.  All laundry must be submitted by 48 hours before debarkation day. They do a great job!

Did the price drop back to $7/day?  We sailed on the NS mid Dec and though the price was $7/day then, reports from other ships was that the price had just bumped to $9/day.  We later saw a photo of a laundry sheet from the NS where the price showed $9/day unlimited.

[Alfisti]

1) Is the laundry service expensive?

Just came back from Nieuw Statendam 7 night cruise and it was $63 for unlimited laundry for the trip.  I usually purchase it every voyage as I would rather pack lighter (and not have to return home to do laundry 😆)

2) Are drinks free if you are gambling?

No - as mentioned there are casino offers which include free drinks in casino; however, speak to the casino team once onboard and you have some play on your card already.  They might be able to rate you then and offer you something (worth a shot)?

3) Should we opt out of the Gratuities and tip individually?

That's totally up to you; however, I personally appreciate having the gratuity applied and being split to everyone on their end.  Going to other resorts or Vegas where tipping has to be done everywhere individually is A LOT (Its nice to not have to worry about carrying $1 or $5 everywhere for once). There are some crew that really do an incredible job that I'll go out of my way to tip individually; also casino servers I'll tip individually as they will often remember me by name and have drinks out in incredible time lol

4) How early should we arrive for the initial boarding?

The suggested time on your boarding pass is useless these days, show up whenever and you'll be good lol.

5) How early should we show up for the entertaiment venues?

Most things I'd recommend 30mins if you want good seats, 15mins prior its a little iffy - any later than that you'll have very little pick. 

6) Do we just show up for the included dining or can we make reservations?

Anytime dining you can show up whenever; however, there may be a bit of a wait if you want a table for 2.  They'll hand out pagers so you can head to the ocean bar and enjoy a drink while you wait.  If you don't mind sharing a table you can usually get seated right away.

 

 

 

So sorry for so many questions!!

[oakridger]

27 minutes ago, AFNavigator said:

Did the price drop back to $7/day?  We sailed on the NS mid Dec and though the price was $7/day then, reports from other ships was that the price had just bumped to $9/day.  We later saw a photo of a laundry sheet from the NS where the price showed $9/day unlimited.

 

It was that price in November 2022 on Rotterdam.  One of the people on the "Live From" threads can hopefully report their current cost.

 

~Nancy

[Cruising Is Bliss]

The laundry package is fantastic. It's one charge, per day for the cabin (I think still $7/day?) no matter how many bags your cabin sends out.  I tell the room stewards on the first day we will be sending laundry every day so we need extra bags. Best friend and I each send separate bags every day. Some days we send bags in the morning and bags again in the evening.

[snakebite89]

12 hours ago, Alfisti said:

1) Is the laundry service expensive?

Just came back from Nieuw Statendam 7 night cruise and it was $63 for unlimited laundry for the trip.  I usually purchase it every voyage as I would rather pack lighter (and not have to return home to do laundry 😆)

2) Are drinks free if you are gambling?

No - as mentioned there are casino offers which include free drinks in casino; however, speak to the casino team once onboard and you have some play on your card already.  They might be able to rate you then and offer you something (worth a shot)?

3) Should we opt out of the Gratuities and tip individually?

That's totally up to you; however, I personally appreciate having the gratuity applied and being split to everyone on their end.  Going to other resorts or Vegas where tipping has to be done everywhere individually is A LOT (Its nice to not have to worry about carrying $1 or $5 everywhere for once). There are some crew that really do an incredible job that I'll go out of my way to tip individually; also casino servers I'll tip individually as they will often remember me by name and have drinks out in incredible time lol

4) How early should we arrive for the initial boarding?

The suggested time on your boarding pass is useless these days, show up whenever and you'll be good lol.

5) How early should we show up for the entertaiment venues?

Most things I'd recommend 30mins if you want good seats, 15mins prior its a little iffy - any later than that you'll have very little pick. 

6) Do we just show up for the included dining or can we make reservations?

Anytime dining you can show up whenever; however, there may be a bit of a wait if you want a table for 2.  They'll hand out pagers so you can head to the ocean bar and enjoy a drink while you wait.  If you don't mind sharing a table you can usually get seated right away.

 

 

 

So sorry for so many questions!!

Thanks!

[Haljo1935]

21 hours ago, vicd1969 said:

Depends - the bag can fit a lot of clothes and may allow you to save on having to check in a piece of luggage on your flight (up to $60-$70 round-trip cost if you're not flying Southwest). It used to be $20-25 per bag for non-European itineraries but I believe HAL has raised the price to $30 for all cruises.

HAL is not charging $30/bag on all cruises/ships. Just got off Nieuw Amsterdam 3 days ago completing 14 days (7 day B2B), Koningsdam last month (also 14 day B2B)  and Nieuw Statendam in Dec (also 14 day B2B) - all of them were $20/bag or $49/week unlimited. I believe the cost depends on the itinerary and length of cruise.

We pack less, save on luggage fees and enjoy unpacking clean laundry when we return home, so the laundry service is a must for us. Be sure to remember them when you're handing out end of cruise tips - they do a great job and will fulfill special requests.

[snakebite89]

15 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

HAL is not charging $30/bag on all cruises/ships. Just got off Nieuw Amsterdam 3 days ago completing 14 days (7 day B2B), Koningsdam last month (also 14 day B2B)  and Nieuw Statendam in Dec (also 14 day B2B) - all of them were $20/bag or $49/week unlimited. I believe the cost depends on the itinerary and length of cruise.

We pack less, save on luggage fees and enjoy unpacking clean laundry when we return home, so the laundry service is a must for us. Be sure to remember them when you're handing out end of cruise tips - they do a great job and will fulfill special requests.

Thanks!