1st Time HAL Rotterdam Norse Legends Review 9/9-9/16/23

[Trish Traveler]

Cont'd. Friday, Sept. 15 –  SEA DAY

We arrived for MDR dinner just as the crew was doing a musical parade through the dining room for the last night of the cruise.  So glad we caught that and were able to thank them for their outstanding service!  Since HAL does not offer lobster as a free/included item, I decided that I would pay for the reasonable $15 upcharge for the two Lobster Tails.  They were very good. I paired them with a nice crisp Sauvignon Blanc (one that I really liked this week was the 13 Celcius, which I first tasted at the Lido Market bar) .   DH enjoyed his Rustic Home-Made Lasagna.  Most all the food we had this week was very fresh, expertly prepared and tasty; but nothing is ever perfect and you will see the brown lettuce I picked out of my Caesar Salad (I ate the other fresher half).  I could have just sent it back, but I knew I had a full meal coming anyway.  Even though it was the last night of the cruise and I understand produce is hard to keep fresh, I think this salad should not have left the kitchen looking like this. 

 

 

While getting a cocktail later at the Half Moon Bar, I noticed several people at the window taking photos.  My brain thought “Maybe it’s a whale”…  It turned out to be an oil platform, which did look pretty lit up with a sunset pink sky behind it.  I attended the last World Stage Show: Off the Charts which once again featured the dancers, with the added talents of the two piano players from Billboard Onboard and for one song the female singer from the BB King’s All-Star Band.  It was entertaining.  I then joined DH back in the Rolling Stone Rock Room for one more fantastic set from that talented group.  Rock On!!

[seaoma]

I'm very glad you had a nice cruise and I'm really glad you took us with you! I've enjoyed every post, 

[Trish Traveler]

1 hour ago, seaoma said:

I'm very glad you had a nice cruise and I'm really glad you took us with you! I've enjoyed every post, 

Thank you!  I'm glad you "cruised along" 🤗

[Trish Traveler]

Saturday, Sept. 16 – Disembarkation 😢

Set our alarms to wake up very early, while it was still dark out (slept through the Ijmuiden Locks this time).  Enjoyed seeing the beautiful lights along the river as we sailed towards sleepy Amsterdam.  We had a 12:25pm flight booked out of Schiphol.  We were told by HAL Customer Service back when we booked it that you should allow at least 4 ½ hours from the scheduled 7AM arrival (which would be 11:30am at the earliest) and that we should be fine with that flight.  It sounded reasonable, but we were still concerned knowing that large international airports can get really backed up.  So we were moderately concerned and decided to do the independent walk-off with our luggage.  After buffet breakfast and my last mini chocolate croissant for a while, we walked down to Deck 2 to see where exactly the line would form for walk-off, near the mid-ship area.

Back in the cabin before any announcements, we decided to go wait on deck 2 and when we arrived at 6:55am, we were able to walk right off with a short, moving line in front of us.  The only challenging part was a length at the terminal where you are on a rubber type slat floor that makes it difficult to roll the luggage.  We quickly got a taxi with an interesting guy who gave us lots more Amsterdam info.  Interesting to see more of the very modern architectural buildings which are such a cool contrast to the amazing historically old buildings of central Amsterdam. The ride was about 20-25 minutes for about 81 euros.  By 8:30am we were through the whole check-in process and security and now had 3 hours before boarding to explore Schiphol Airport.  Lots to see including many shops and restaurants and even a free Rijksmuseum exhibit.  We were thrilled at how well it all went, but remember your experience may vary.  Although we flew United going, we chose KLM to fly home because their flight was about one hour later, and we wanted to experience “the Royal Dutch Airline” while visiting the Netherlands.  It was a smooth flight and very similar to the United, same jet style, with plenty of movies to watch, a complimentary meal and later snack, beer and wine also included.

Almost looks like a cruise ship, but it's actually a sneaker shaped building!

[Trish Traveler]

FINAL THOUGHTS

Overall, we loved our first HAL cruise!  Would definitely sail with them again.  In fact, we have a Panama Canal cruise booked already on the Rotterdam for 2024 which we are hoping will be able to visit the Panama Canal due to the low water levels there.  We are trying to monitor the news on that situation whenever we find it here on CC or elsewhere. We will make a decision before final payment is due.   We loved the smaller size of the Rotterdam ship and thought it was gorgeous, which we would expect being pretty new.  And I already stated how much we loved the wonderful art.  Our cabin was terrific; the only thing that was bothersome was the balcony door as opposed to sliding doors.  It was heavy to push open and often I would have to move the little table to get out with drinks, etc.  (but overall a minor inconvenience)  We liked our location slightly aft of the aft elevator/stairs.  The bed and pillows were really comfortable.  That large shower was most excellent and includes a little bar for shaving your legs.

 

The Rotterdam crew was wonderful.   Hardworking, professional and friendly service throughout the ship.  We really liked the HAL style of Cruise Director and thought she was great, as well as her team.  The evening entertainment while not as varied as some cruise lines did give us enough choices.  And one strength is definitely the Music Walk with 3 live music venues.  DH’s top pick is the Rolling Stone Rock Room Band.  Music-wise the only thing I missed is having something more quiet like strings or piano for when you want a calmer atmosphere.  There are plenty of bars onboard and we had mostly short waits to get a drink.

 

We really were focused on the ports and scenery this cruise, so we really didn’t participate in the many offerings of activities during the day.  I saw several that sounded great for another time perhaps.  And I love the Lecture Series at Sea type talks but again we only saw the one Origins, which we loved.  I just wished they would show those on repeat on the TV to be watched in the cabin while packing etc., as I have done on some other cruises.  The average age for this cruise was more in the senior citizen range, but we still saw plenty of younger 30-50’s also.  Very few children especially since most have just returned to school in August/September. 

 

We loved visiting these Norwegian ports and liked that two were cities for more culture and history (although they still offered plenty of nature opportunities) and two were the majestic fjords and small towns with lots of nature exploring.  And of course, Amsterdam was amazing (just watch out for those bikes!).  The whole cruise, and the weather we lucked out with, totally exceeded our expectations.  We loved the people of both the Netherlands and Norway, as they were welcoming, friendly and helpful.  And we certainly can learn from them about a healthy physical lifestyle. 

 

Food is always so subjective, but our experience was wonderful with a wide variety of food available for fine dining and casual venues.  Overall we are easy to please and eat a variety of foods.  As with anywhere, a few things were off, or not to our particular liking, but you just choose something else then.   They did have a really good selection of fish in both the Lido Market buffet and MDR.  And the Port to Table choices offered was a special touch.  I love being able to try new dishes that I don’t make at home as well as different ethnic foods.  I can’t really say that the HAL food stood out as being exceptional better, but certainly equal to our most recent cruises in the last 18 months on NCL, RCCL, Celebrity and Princess IMHO.  The drink package worked out fine as it also included water cartons and specialty coffees.  Not sure if we totally got all our value on this cruise as we were off the ship a lot and were very tired in the evenings.  Overall the quality of drinks was excellent and most everything we wanted was within the $11 limit.  The wine choices were very good within the limit also, to our simple wine palate.  We tried several Merlots, Cabs, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blancs.  The only cocktail that was really off to me was the MaiTai and I tried it twice at 2 different bars. 

 

I think that covers it…finally!  Much thanks as always to the Cruise Critic community for your invaluable expertise and advice when researching cruises.  And I thank God that we are still blessed with our health to be able to travel the world and enjoy other cultures and His magnificent creation.  I hope that my review can be helpful to others with their planning. 

 

                                                        The End

 

[Bimmer09]

Thanks for a very enjoyable photo review Trish! Glad you enjoyed your first HAL cruise. My first is still a year away on the Nieuw Statendam in the Eastern Med.

Cheers!

Norris

[Trish Traveler]

7 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

Thanks for a very enjoyable photo review Trish! Glad you enjoyed your first HAL cruise. My first is still a year away on the Nieuw Statendam in the Eastern Med.

Cheers!

Norris

Thank you!  I have often been inspired by your detailed photo reviews and have used them in my cruise planning in the past!  I'm pretty sure you and Carol are going to enjoy HAL. 👍

[ottahand7]

Thanks for taking us along, wonderful review. That salad should have never been plated, sorry about that.  

[oakridger]

Thank you again for this excellent review.  Your pictures and port reports  have made me even more excited for my trip to Norway and the Netherlands next spring!

 

~Nancy

[Trish Traveler]

1 hour ago, ottahand7 said:

Thanks for taking us along, wonderful review. That salad should have never been plated, sorry about that.  

My pleasure!  

[Trish Traveler]

1 hour ago, oakridger said:

Thank you again for this excellent review.  Your pictures and port reports  have made me even more excited for my trip to Norway and the Netherlands next spring!

 

~Nancy

You're welcome.  Enjoy planning your cruise - it's amazing!

[Bimmer09]

14 hours ago, Trish Traveler said:

Thank you!  I have often been inspired by your detailed photo reviews and have used them in my cruise planning in the past!  I'm pretty sure you and Carol are going to enjoy HAL. 👍

Thanks for the kind compliments on my photo reviews. Glad you found them useful when planning.

We'll be happy if we find another line that fits our style. X is moving to the ship within a ship model and the suites are very expensive. We like a forward-looking lounge.

We'll revisit Princess over Christmas to see if the food and staffing has improved in the past year.

Review to come on the Princess Board-Ruby to the Panama Canal.

Hope to see you in that one!

Norris

[cbr663]

Thanks so much for a wonderful review.  We did this cruise in 2017 on the Koningsdam and we felt it was the best cruise we have ever taken.  Thanks for the great memories.

[Trish Traveler]

57 minutes ago, Bimmer09 said:

Thanks for the kind compliments on my photo reviews. Glad you found them useful when planning.

We'll be happy if we find another line that fits our style. X is moving to the ship within a ship model and the suites are very expensive. We like a forward-looking lounge.

We'll revisit Princess over Christmas to see if the food and staffing has improved in the past year.

Review to come on the Princess Board-Ruby to the Panama Canal.

Hope to see you in that one!

Norris

 If HAL's NS has the same Deck 12 Explorations Central & Cafe/Crow's Nest as the Rotterdam - it is a fabulous forward-looking lounge! I didn't capture a picture of the whole lounge, but I'm sure they're easy to find online. My photo in post 21 shows the tripod mounted binoculars up there.  Comfortable window facing lounge chairs, as well as many tables/chairs.  Plus you can get either cocktails or coffee up there.  

Yes, we are planning Panama Canal, so I will definitely be on the lookout for your review!

We had a great experience on our last Princess cruise in March.  Here's the link to that review.

 

[Trish Traveler]

52 minutes ago, cbr663 said:

Thanks so much for a wonderful review.  We did this cruise in 2017 on the Koningsdam and we felt it was the best cruise we have ever taken.  Thanks for the great memories.

You're welcome.  It was a fabulous cruise!

[Holly g]

Thanks so much Trish. Really enjoyed the day to day plus the terrific pics!  

[Trish Traveler]

50 minutes ago, Holly g said:

Thanks so much Trish. Really enjoyed the day to day plus the terrific pics!  

Glad you enjoyed it!

[LnWG]

I have really enjoyed this review, and especially your photos. We were on the same cruise and continued for the next sailing. I am glad you were able to escape the nasty Covid that was ravaging throughout the ship that week.  Unfortunately, and as careful as we were, (we were the two wearing our masks) we were not so lucky. As you were disembarking, we were entering our first days of isolation. It all worked out, the few ports we missed on our next sailing were ports we had been to before in the past. And the wonderful crew on the ship made sure we were well looked after. I suppose if you have to have Covid, make sure to get it in a place with a good Dr., Room Service and a great view! 

 

I hope you do get to Panama, that is a very memorable trip.

[Trish Traveler]

5 hours ago, LnWG said:

I have really enjoyed this review, and especially your photos. We were on the same cruise and continued for the next sailing. I am glad you were able to escape the nasty Covid that was ravaging throughout the ship that week.  Unfortunately, and as careful as we were, (we were the two wearing our masks) we were not so lucky. As you were disembarking, we were entering our first days of isolation. It all worked out, the few ports we missed on our next sailing were ports we had been to before in the past. And the wonderful crew on the ship made sure we were well looked after. I suppose if you have to have Covid, make sure to get it in a place with a good Dr., Room Service and a great view! 

 

I hope you do get to Panama, that is a very memorable trip.

Sorry to hear about the Covid!  That's awful, especially because you were proactive.  I noticed more coughing as the week went on. I am dumbfounded by the amount of people who still cough and sneeze straight into the air.  We just came out of a pandemic!  I literally dash away from rude people now who do that. You have the crook of your elbow if nothing else (even Kindergarten kids learn that). I understand that some people might have non-contagious coughing from asthma, COPD, smokers cough etc.- but they should still cover too.   I also wish they would place an employee at the buffet entrances to enforce hand washing or sanitizing. Many pax skipped that also.  I guess it is a good thing that HAL serves most of their buffet food.  We used to sometimes enjoy table sharing in the MDR, but now avoid it for this reason.  My DH got a mild cold (not covid, we tested) 3 days after we got home, but that probably was from the long flight home. I was fine.  Glad that you had good treatment from HAL on the ship!  Hope you're feeling better now.  I'm happy you enjoyed my review. 🤗

 

 

[LnWG]

2 hours ago, Trish Traveler said:

Sorry to hear about the Covid!  That's awful, especially because you were proactive.  I noticed more coughing as the week went on. I am dumbfounded by the amount of people who still cough and sneeze straight into the air.  We just came out of a pandemic!  I literally dash away from rude people now who do that. You have the crook of your elbow if nothing else (even Kindergarten kids learn that). I understand that some people might have non-contagious coughing from asthma, COPD, smokers cough etc.- but they should still cover too.   I also wish they would place an employee at the buffet entrances to enforce hand washing or sanitizing. Many pax skipped that also.  I guess it is a good thing that HAL serves most of their buffet food.  We used to sometimes enjoy table sharing in the MDR, but now avoid it for this reason.  My DH got a mild cold (not covid, we tested) 3 days after we got home, but that probably was from the long flight home. I was fine.  Glad that you had good treatment from HAL on the ship!  Hope you're feeling better now.  I'm happy you enjoyed my review. 🤗

 

 

We have recovered, my husband is immunocompromised and so the ships Dr. started him on Paxlovid immediately and all was well. We were able to enjoy the last portion of our second week. We were surprised also that there was no host at the entrance to the buffet areas because as you said, there was some bad behaviour going on. On another cruise line which we frequently sail on - even in the pre Covid era- there was always a host at each entrance to the buffet, welcoming people and encouraging hand washing. Those who chose to bypass the sinks (and before there were sinks) were given a generous squirt of hand sanitizer before getting past the host, who was armed with a big bottle of the stuff.  We made sure to mention this lapse to Holland America in our post cruise survey. 

[badtwin]

2 hours ago, Trish Traveler said:

......  I also wish they would place an employee at the buffet entrances to enforce hand washing or sanitizing. Many pax skipped that also.  I guess it is a good thing that HAL serves most of their buffet food.  ...... 🤗

 

 

 

We were on Rotterdam 9/16-10/7 and there were occasionally staff encouraging hand washing or sanitizer at the Lido.  Not sure it helped from what I saw

[maggieq]

On 10/8/2023 at 7:39 PM, Trish Traveler said:

Saturday, Sept. 16 – Disembarkation 😢

Set our alarms to wake up very early, while it was still dark out (slept through the Ijmuiden Locks this time).  Enjoyed seeing the beautiful lights along the river as we sailed towards sleepy Amsterdam.  We had a 12:25pm flight booked out of Schiphol.  We were told by HAL Customer Service back when we booked it that you should allow at least 4 ½ hours from the scheduled 7AM arrival (which would be 11:30am at the earliest) and that we should be fine with that flight.  It sounded reasonable, but we were still concerned knowing that large international airports can get really backed up.  So we were moderately concerned and decided to do the independent walk-off with our luggage.  After buffet breakfast and my last mini chocolate croissant for a while, we walked down to Deck 2 to see where exactly the line would form for walk-off, near the mid-ship area.

Back in the cabin before any announcements, we decided to go wait on deck 2 and when we arrived at 6:55am, we were able to walk right off with a short, moving line in front of us.  The only challenging part was a length at the terminal where you are on a rubber type slat floor that makes it difficult to roll the luggage.  We quickly got a taxi with an interesting guy who gave us lots more Amsterdam info.  Interesting to see more of the very modern architectural buildings which are such a cool contrast to the amazing historically old buildings of central Amsterdam. The ride was about 20-25 minutes for about 81 euros.  By 8:30am we were through the whole check-in process and security and now had 3 hours before boarding to explore Schiphol Airport.  Lots to see including many shops and restaurants and even a free Rijksmuseum exhibit.  We were thrilled at how well it all went, but remember your experience may vary.  Although we flew United going, we chose KLM to fly home because their flight was about one hour later, and we wanted to experience “the Royal Dutch Airline” while visiting the Netherlands.  It was a smooth flight and very similar to the United, same jet style, with plenty of movies to watch, a complimentary meal and later snack, beer and wine also included.

Almost looks like a cruise ship, but it's actually a sneaker shaped building!

@Trish Traveler  so glad you noted doing the express walk off as we are looking at a noon flight.  How did you find the airport from a checkin and customs perspective?  Thanks!

[badtwin]

32 minutes ago, maggieq said:

@Trish Traveler  so glad you noted doing the express walk off as we are looking at a noon flight.  How did you find the airport from a checkin and customs perspective?  Thanks!

Let me barge in with our experience - which worked out but was stressful.

 

We disembarked Rotterdam in Amsterdam on October 7, 2023 with a 10 a.m. flight.   

 

Luckily disembarkation was actually a little early and our car service was responsive enough to get to the cruise port early too.  Traffic was good and we arrived at airport before 8.  We were on Delta and therefore KLM was in charge.  We used the kiosk to check in and get boarding passes and luggage tags.  We then had to stand in line to check bags and have passports checked which was maybe ten to fifteen minutes.  There were lots of lines open and things went quickly.   We went to security ahead of our pre-booked time and that took about 15 minutes.   We ended up a half an hour to board.   

 

I would not recommend.  In our favor, we got off the ship around 7:05 or 7:10 - a bit earlier than the planned 7:15.  In contrast, the people getting off after the first 7 day leg of our cruise got off a half hour to 45 minutes late as there was some problem at the locks and the ship was late to port.  Morning traffic was light.   In addition, I suspect by October we were past high season.   I also suspect things got a lot busier as the day progressed.  

 

You can book a time to go through security at Schipol, but as indicated, we were through before our scheduled time.

 

So it worked out but noon sounds a lot more reasonable, although I would still try to get to the airport as soon as possible. 

[maggieq]

12 hours ago, badtwin said:

Let me barge in with our experience - which worked out but was stressful.

 

We disembarked Rotterdam in Amsterdam on October 7, 2023 with a 10 a.m. flight.   

 

Luckily disembarkation was actually a little early and our car service was responsive enough to get to the cruise port early too.  Traffic was good and we arrived at airport before 8.  We were on Delta and therefore KLM was in charge.  We used the kiosk to check in and get boarding passes and luggage tags.  We then had to stand in line to check bags and have passports checked which was maybe ten to fifteen minutes.  There were lots of lines open and things went quickly.   We went to security ahead of our pre-booked time and that took about 15 minutes.   We ended up a half an hour to board.   

 

I would not recommend.  In our favor, we got off the ship around 7:05 or 7:10 - a bit earlier than the planned 7:15.  In contrast, the people getting off after the first 7 day leg of our cruise got off a half hour to 45 minutes late as there was some problem at the locks and the ship was late to port.  Morning traffic was light.   In addition, I suspect by October we were past high season.   I also suspect things got a lot busier as the day progressed.  

 

You can book a time to go through security at Schipol, but as indicated, we were through before our scheduled time.

 

So it worked out but noon sounds a lot more reasonable, although I would still try to get to the airport as soon as possible. 

Thanks for sharing your experience.  Did you see many taxis available?  Can you explain more on the “booking a time to go through security”?   Thanks!

[badtwin]

1 hour ago, maggieq said:

Thanks for sharing your experience.  Did you see many taxis available?  Can you explain more on the “booking a time to go through security”?   Thanks!

 

Taxis - I saw some but when you exit Amsterdam cruise port, those with rides waiting are sent to a different area about 100 yards further down the terminal than those for taxis, so I can't tell you if there were plenty of taxis or not.   We went with a prebooked ride service (Welcome Pickups) which cost 51 Euro for two people and 3 pieces of luggage in a Mercedes 220 D.  Great communication beforehand and no hassle over payment etc.  Seemed competitively priced with taxis when I booked.

 

Schiphol lets you book a security time slot.  See here. https://www.schiphol.nl/en/timeslots/

Once you put in flight info, the website suggests times to book.  How the system supposedly works is explained on the website but we ended up not needing it. I would also suggest reading up on their security rules before hand - a bit different than US so nice to be prepared.  Actually easier in some respects with regards to shoes and electronic devices if I recall.

 

And a note for self disembarkation.  Guest services suggested we line up at about quarter to 7  (for 7:15 scheduled departure.)  We were well toward front of the queue.  Staff kept things orderly and reminded everyone very loudly to have your cruise card out and ready for scanning to keep the line moving and it worked.  Once they opened the doors the line moved very quickly.

 

Not sure when it opened, but we were in the lido shortly after 6 and they had full breakfast service available.

 

I think I covered the things I worried about....