European Tapestry -W. Europe & Med 14 nights, on the Rotterdam

[xmas]

Has anyone experienced this cruise?? We are going on 9/14 for the 14 days. on the Rotterdam. Cannot find any info on this particular cruise??

Itinerary: Rotterdam, NI, LeHavre France, Lisbon, Cadis Spain, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Rome, Libya(??), Kusadasi Turkey,- disembark in {Piraeus, Greece)

Thanks so much,

Barbara

[BRUCENLYNN]

Hi Barbara,
We are not on your trip but we are on the Rotterdam European Capitals leaving Athens and going to Harwich (May 14-30, 2007). Sounds like we share some ports of call. I'm wondering if many of these itineraries are new as I also cannot find any previous reviews. I enjoy reading about the ship, etc. because we have only cruised with Celebrity and Carnival. I am partial to Celebrity but hear good things about HAL. How about you?

~Lynn

[LizB1]

We have done all these ports, except Libya, in the past and thoroughly enjoyed your itinerary. We also love the Rotterdam and believe you can't go wrong if you've chosen to do this sailing.

[houston_raider]

Barbara;

There is a thread on the Roll Call forum for this sailing that some of us have been sharing plans. You can view at http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=274276

[xmas]

Hi Brucelynn: We did a Celebrity cruist 2 years ago - lOVED IT!! We did HAL
To Alaska and loved it. You will like HAL -- smaller than Celebrity's Summitt - we like the smaller ships. We thought the food on HAL was better and the cabins were the best we have had -

Celebrity - 2003
HAl - 2004
Princess - 2005

[xmas]

Hi LizB1 - Glad you enjoyed all of these ports. Did you do HAL excursions?? Thanks, Barbara

Also, we are arriving a day eary in Amsterdam -- cannot decide whether to stay in Rotterdam til next day or stay in Amsterdam and take train next day to the ship. Did you experience this?? Another posting from BertMaidman suggested the Sheraton at the airport in Amsterdam Thanks again.

[BRUCENLYNN]

Hi Brucelynn: We did a Celebrity cruist 2 years ago - lOVED IT!! We did HAL
To Alaska and loved it. You will like HAL -- smaller than Celebrity's Summitt - we like the smaller ships. We thought the food on HAL was better and the cabins were the best we have had -

Celebrity - 2003
HAl - 2004
Princess - 2005

That sounds like a good endorsement. We like the smaller ships too. Now if I could just get someone to join in my rollcall (Rotterdam, 5/14/07) so that I can start chatting with some shipmates............ . I know -- it is pretty early.

~Lynn

[GAMEBRATT]

Just to clear up some confusion on the port in Libya....the ship has been going to Malta instead for the past 6 months and is planning to do so again on this cruise. I'll be there too, visiting my boyfriend who works in the entertainment department :)

[Copper10-8]

Has anyone experienced this cruise?? We are going on 9/14 for the 14 days. on the Rotterdam. Cannot find any info on this particular cruise??

Itinerary: Rotterdam, NI, LeHavre France, Lisbon, Cadis Spain, Barcelona, Monte Carlo, Rome, Libya(??), Kusadasi Turkey,- disembark in {Piraeus, Greece)

Thanks so much,

Barbara

Did one very similar called "European Capitals" in the Fall of 2003 on Oosterdam. You can't go wrong with those type of ports, the things to do/see and and their history, IMO. In addition, Rotterdam is a great ship with a friendly crew and is very easy to find your way around.

Gamebratt is 100% correct. We just got off Prinsendam on Monday. Her next cruise was to take her to Benghazi and Tripoli, Libya. Both were cancelled and substituded with Malta (a huge plus in my opinion)

XMas; we spent the night in the Schiphol-Sheraton on Monday. It is connected to the departure terminal and very easy to get to (not even a 5 minute walk). Schiphol airport itself can be compared to a pretty good size city with many shops, some bars and restaurants. Be aware that if you choose to take the train from A-dam to Rotterdam (Schiphol has it's own subterranean train station), you won't be able to take all your lugagge with you to your compartment due to lack of space and storage capacity. You would have to sit with it in the area of the train exit doors.

Have a great cruise!