Live from the Rotterdam March 29- April 13, 2024 15 days

[RuthC]

20 minutes ago, RuthC said:

That would have been a J-category cabin, and likely was the best available in the inside meta category at that time. The only inside higher category would be an 'I'. 
Not that I would want to be in one of the 3-5 cabins under BB King (I wouldn't), but anything on starboard, especially closer to mid-ship, would be fine with me. Even port side, heading forward (so long as it wasn't one of the few cabins under BB King) would work well for me, or one of the two cabins closest to mid-ship. 

Sorry! Forget everything I posted. I just realized I was thinking of a different class of ship! 

I almost always have booked an inside cabin on the many dozens of cruises I have taken, but would never book an inside on the Pinnacle class ships. Those cabins are just too darned small for my taste. 
When I booked a Pinnacle ship I went with a Vista category to get a little space. 

[Navybikermom]

My TA forwarded me an upgrade email from Holland America so I was able to upgrade from a standard inside to an OV. This is for the Rotterdam in May. I was pretty happy about that, since I have a travel partner with me this time. Wasn’t looking forward to being crammed into a small cabin with someone I’m not related to - lol! I think it’s between The Rolling Stones room and BB King on deck 1. Hopefully it’s not too noisy, but the music doesn’t play all that late into the night so I think we’ll be ok. 

[MissiCruzs]

21 hours ago, 510picker said:

We were supposed to be joining you on April 7th, but health issues with my mother-in-law forced us to cancel. Very dissapointed, but that is life at times. Enjoy your cruise!

Sorry this happened. 

[MissiCruzs]

Dinner menu from CO last night along with my shrimp cocktail. It was dressy night so we had filet mignon with shrimp Newburg and it was excellent. Service was much better tonight. Breakfast this morning we were close to walking out since it took 20 min to take our breakfast order. I'm done with CO.  Elena, the manager and Hery are the sweetest people, but they are taking orders, bussing tables and keeping everything else running. It's just not the experience I was hoping for. 

[MissiCruzs]

Ship is rocking and rolling today. Swells are 9 feet. Played Deal or no Deal today and won $50.  Yay me!  Still a way to go to get to Aruba. Hope by tomorrow morning when we get there the seas have calmed down. 

[MissiCruzs]

We're at Terminal 2 today although we're the only ship here but that's a good thing. It's the Terminal with the shops and a little closer to the exit. This is the first ever I've been to Aruba and the Freewinds is gone!  And I've been here a lot!  I'll have to look up on marine tracker and see where she is. Makes the view nicer. 

 

We're waiting on room service then we'll get ready and make our way over to the bus Terminal which is somewhere behind Diamond's International in the picture. This is what we've done for years since we've been from one end of the island to the other.  It's at the north end near the California lighthouse and the nicest beach on this side of the island in my opinion. It gets more crowded every time we come as people are finding it. 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing.

[MissiCruzs]

We're at Terminal 2 today although we're the only ship here but that's a good thing. It's the Terminal with the shops and a little closer to the exit. This is the first ever I've been to Aruba and the Freewinds is gone!  And I've been here a lot!  I'll have to look up on marine tracker and see where she is. Makes the view nicer. 

 

We're waiting on room service then decided to stay on the ship and go to the pool. First time there was an available lounge chair!  We're up on deck 10 and snagged one of the private areas. First come first served!

[QuattroRomeo]

I'm so disappointed to hear about the slow service you are getting in CO dining room. We were there in December and it was very good service- obviously a different crew now. I know they took some staff from all the dining rooms including CO for the second leg of our 19 day cruise, which was the 7 days just before Christmas, because the Lido buffet was far busier than they expected. Not sure if that holds for your cruise. But we still had good service.

[MissiCruzs]

Happy hour everyday 4-5, 50% off drinks in the Rolling Stone Rock Room, Billboard Onboard and the Crows Nest.

 

RS MENU

[MissiCruzs]

So far we're doing a lot of resting on this cruise. I've been donating in the casino. None of the activities have appealed to me and none of the evening entertainment in the theater is to my liking either. But that's OK. I love the atmosphere and cabins on this ship. I don't need to be entertained constantly. 

 

We tried CO again for breakfast. My eggs Benedict were barely cooked. Couldn't eat them. Sigh...

 

Last night's sunset.

[Sam B.]

Thanks for sharing your journey.   We just finished our Rotterdam cruise on March 17th, and it was our third on the Rotterdam.    I love this ship and HAL, but was disappointed in the service and food, in both Lido and the Dining Room. It was near impossible to get drinks at the Lido.    At the dining room we waited an hour, received entree and never received our appetizer.   It appears they are short staff and/or have purposely cut down on staff to cut costs.   It was definitely not what we were accustomed to, and we began to think maybe it was too familiar, since it was our 3rd time.   Appears that you, and others that I have read, are having the same experience.   I also thought the staff lacked some energy and enthusiasm that we came to love.  We booked a 18 day Hawaiian cruise on HAL for January, and were considering CO, because we have never done it before.  Fortunately it was full, but we were told we could call back for cancellation.   After reading your experience with CO (and others post), I'm going to pass on CO.   I still believe HAL is one of the best, and hopefully this is an unusual set of circumstances that they will rectify. Enjoy the remainder of your cruise, and keep up the posts. 

[MissiCruzs]

We had an emergency medical stop at Curacao in the middle of the night. Prayers for that person and their family. 

[kirkc]

Our time on Rotterdam was wonderful and this is after 25+ HAL cruises. I’m not saying that you might not get the odd item that isn’t cooked to your liking, but when that happens say something to the wait staff. Ask that your item be remade. Isn’t that what you would do in any restaurant on land? I guess I get upset by people who sit around and continually complain about this or that but have made no attempt to bring that lack of service or lack of product being the way you want it to people who can affect a change. I guess they feel it’s easier to complain about it in writing and make everyone think that’s the standard. Sorry, just my opinion. 

[MissiCruzs]

5 minutes ago, kirkc said:

Our time on Rotterdam was wonderful and this is after 25+ HAL cruises. I’m not saying that you might not get the odd item that isn’t cooked to your liking, but when that happens say something to the wait staff. Ask that your item be remade. Isn’t that what you would do in any restaurant on land? I guess I get upset by people who sit around and continually complain about this or that but have made no attempt to bring that lack of service or lack of product being the way you want it to people who can affect a change. I guess they feel it’s easier to complain about it in writing and make everyone think that’s the standard. Sorry, just my opinion. 

I'm sorry it was so undercooked it turned my stomach. I did bring it to their attention and was offered another which I declined. 

[MissiCruzs]

Special dinner offering in the Lido tonight. 

[Sam B.]

 

1 hour ago, kirkc said:

Our time on Rotterdam was wonderful and this is after 25+ HAL cruises. I’m not saying that you might not get the odd item that isn’t cooked to your liking, but when that happens say something to the wait staff. Ask that your item be remade. Isn’t that what you would do in any restaurant on land? I guess I get upset by people who sit around and continually complain about this or that but have made no attempt to bring that lack of service or lack of product being the way you want it to people who can affect a change. I guess they feel it’s easier to complain about it in writing and make everyone think that’s the standard. Sorry, just my opinion. 

On this last cruise, I did bring the issues to the attention of the manager.  I agree, it is important to let them know when issues come up otherwise they can't correct them.    I didn't mention them initially, because things are not always perfect.   When it happened consistently on this cruise, I finally mentioned it.   At the Lido, we really thought maybe drinks were changed to self service.   After the third day, we finally asked a server nicely if beverage service is now self serve.   To our surprise he responded "no, but we can't serve everyone at once".    Again, it is important to bring these issues to the attention of managers.    On HAL, they are always apologetic and quick to try and resolve the issue.  

Edited April 2 by Sam B.

[MissiCruzs]

On 3/30/2024 at 5:15 PM, FLCruiser97 said:

We will be on this ship next year so are interested in your interior spaces photos. We have never been on Rotterdam before. Definitely hope things improve for you...and very soon.

I will post some. I haven't gotten into venues early enough to get pics without people but I have some from previous cruises. Nothing has changed. 

[MissiCruzs]

On 3/30/2024 at 5:15 PM, FLCruiser97 said:

We will be on this ship next year so are interested in your interior spaces photos. We have never been on Rotterdam before. Definitely hope things improve for you...and very soon.

I will post some. I haven't gotten into venues early enough to get pics without people but I have some from previous cruises. Nothing has changed. 

[FLCruiser97]

1 hour ago, MissiCruzs said:

I will post some. I haven't gotten into venues early enough to get pics without people but I have some from previous cruises. Nothing has changed. 

Thank you. No rush.

[MissiCruzs]

Yesterday was our first trip off the ship since we started and to my surprise they are not scanning cards any longer, they are doing facial recognition just like they do at the port. 

[MissiCruzs]

Yesterday was Bonaire and we walked down to Karl's and caught the water taxi over to Klein Bonaire. It was super windy and stormy looking. Our plan was just just hang in the water for an hour and take the water taxi back. After getting in I noticed the jellyfish. I've never seen them here before but I've never been in April either. So just tried to avoid them but it wasn't as enjoyable as before. Just as we got back and off the taxi the rain came down in sheets so we ducked into the stores until it stopped. Everyone must have gotten back on early because we left 30 minutes early. I'm sure the Captain was happy since he had a long way to go to get to Grand Turk. The night before we had another midnight medical emergency and had a helicopter come for that person. Prayers for them and the family. Poor captain's missing some sleep. 

[MissiCruzs]

Here are some ship pictures for the person who asked. 

[MissiCruzs]

Today was cake day at lunch. 

[Sam B.]

31 minutes ago, MissiCruzs said:

Yesterday was our first trip off the ship since we started and to my surprise they are not scanning cards any longer, they are doing facial recognition just like they do at the port. 

It's wonderful!   They started experimenting with facial recognition on our cruise last year, and it was a struggle.  It was great to see it working successfully.

 

Btw, don't miss "City on the Sea" in World Stages toward the end of the cruise.   One of our favorite things attend.  We've never missed it.

 

Edited April 4 by Sam B.