Rotterdam 7 Aug 05 'Vikings & Czars' Baltic Review
 

Yes, at long last, I've completed my review of our ROTTERDAM 7 August Baltic cruise. I know it would be better with photos, but my post-processing isn't even close to being finished, so I'll post the review now and the photos later. It should take a month or two for you to read the review anyway, which will give me plenty of time to finish the photos...

Those of you who have read some of my other reviews will notice a change in this one. Because I kept a journal during this cruise, posted for all to see on Cruise Critic when the ship’s satellite Internet access was working (which was not always!), I now have a day-by-day account of the cruise which I wanted to integrate into the review. Therefore, I’m dividing this up into two sections. The first, “The Review”, is much like my usual reviews and focuses on the ship and the on-board experience. The second, “The Cruise”, is a day-by-day account of the entire trip, focusing mainly on the ports of call. This is based on my live reports, but is significantly expanded and edited. Yes, the new format results in a really long review, however please rest assured that I have not made a concerted effort to write the longest cruise review in the history of the world, though I suspect I may have succeeded!

INTRODUCTION:

I had the privilege of traveling aboard Holland America Line’s flagship MS ROTTERDAM for a 12-night “Vikings & Czars” cruise to the Baltic departing Rotterdam on 7 August 2005. The following is an account of that cruise.

I had been greatly looking forward to this trip ever since we booked. For several years, I’ve wanted to take a cruise in Northern Europe, but events have conspired against this. This is in fact the fourth cruise we have booked in this part of the world (!), but the first three were cancelled. Cruise number one was the maiden voyage of NORWEGIAN SKY way back in 1999. We don’t usually do maiden voyages, and NCL was a bit of a mess at the time, so we got cold feet and cancelled this one despite a great itinerary that offered a touch of Scandinavia, a bit of Western Europe, and as I recall a few British Isles stops as well. I later heard it was a wonderful cruise, but my experiences since then with brand-new ships have only made me less likely to try them in the future, at least if they’re the first of their class.

Number two was a similar cruise on RHAPSODY OF THE SEAS in 2002, which was cancelled by Royal Caribbean when they pulled the ship from Europe after 9/11. At the time they thought that Americans wouldn’t want to travel overseas for a long time to come, so their knee-jerk reaction, understandable as it was at the time, cost us our cruise. Number three was to be this July on CENTURY – this one cancelled by us again, because of itinerary changes (I won’t get into that here – this is a review of the cruise that we did take – but suffice it to say that Celebrity/Royal Caribbean customer service leaves a lot to be desired.) All these “false alarms” make the cruise being reviewed here, the 7 August 2005 departure of ROTTERDAM, was try number four. Thankfully, this time, we managed to pull it off!

Many family members of mine are experienced HAL cruisers – in fact HAL got my family started on cruising to begin with back in the 1950s – but this was only my second cruise with HAL after many with other lines. My previous HAL cruise, on ZUIDERDAM in 2003, was fine but left something to be desired. I also found it difficult to warm to the ship, which was too large for my taste (though I knew that going in, she is now one of the smaller mass-market ships in the Caribbean, so most of her competitors would’ve been worse in that respect). So this cruise can be considered something of a rematch for HAL, a company I desperately wanted to like last time around considering my family connections. Please forgive me if at times I fall back on comparing the two ships and cruises; this is inevitable though I do try to avoid it. You’ll probably run across some comparisons between ROTTERDAM and QUEEN MARY 2 as well, and while this might seem to be comparing apples and oranges, they are both (relatively) newly built flagships of grand old shipping lines owned by Carnival and designed by Stephen Payne – enough similarities to warrant some comparisons in my opinion. So please bear with me if the ROTTERDAM/QM2 comparisons get a bit tedious at times, I just can’t help it!

Before I go further, I should note that this review constitutes my personal impression of this ship and cruise, and nothing more. Your mileage may vary! Please don’t get offended if I don’t like something that you do, or worse, chew me out of I recommend something and it turns out not to be what you had hoped. Opinions are personal and subjective and the world would be an awfully boring place if everyone had the same likes and dislikes. What’s more, this review is based off one cruise: for all I know the Captain, Hotel Manager, Executive Chef and Cruise Director could all have left the ship with me and understandably that would have made the next cruise a bit different to say the least!

Anyhow, I’m sorry that I have to include so many disclaimers, but c’est la vie – I know how “touchy” people can get about this sort of thing so I feel I need to cover my bases here, even though I really shouldn’t have to.

Now, without further ado, to the review:

THE REVIEW:

Ship Background: HAL’s present ROTTERDAM is the sixth to bear the name. Entering service in 1997, she was a direct replacement for ROTTERDAM (V) which was retired from the fleet just a few months before the new ship entered service. The elder ROTTERDAM, built in 1959, was HAL’s flagship for 38 years, and was possibly the most beloved passenger ship of all time. (After a stint with Premier Cruises as REMBRANDT, she’s being restored and will become a floating museum and mixed-use facility in the center of Rotterdam, her namesake, home port and birthplace.) Thus, our present ROTTERDAM has had to face possibly the tallest order that any modern cruise ship has: replacing a ship which, over the course of decades, had become a legend, a ship that many considered incomparable and irreplaceable, which had garnered a following whose loyalty may never be matched by any ship’s passengers ever again. Her passengers were a staunchly loyal, famously particular group of people, a good number of whom wouldn’t even set foot aboard any other ship, and her passengers’ incredible loyalty made ROTTERDAM a very profitable ship for her owners. But ships are finite beings; like all machines they wear out after a while and by the mid-1990s it was clear that she would either need a massive refit, or a new ship would have to be built to replace her. HAL ran the numbers, and the ones for the refit didn’t work out. Thus, the ship that became the sixth ROTTERDAM was born.

The design of the ship can be traced back to the 1980s. Ted Arison, the late founder of Carnival Cruise Lines, aspired to start a second company aimed at a more upscale market than his first brand. The new project was called “Tiffany”, and in London, Carnival’s naval architects began drawing up plans for a new ship design for the company’s new premium line for the 1990s.

Events in the cruise industry, though, meant that Arison’s new brand never saw the light of day. At the same time, Holland America Line, then still an independent, Dutch-owned company, was struggling. Their Dutch owners didn’t have the capital necessary to expand and compete with giants like Carnival and Royal Caribbean. In 1988, Ted Arison approached Nico van der Vorm, chairman of HAL, and proposed that he buy the company out. The deal was consummated over the Christmas holiday, and in early 1989 the world of cruising was stunned by the announcement that Carnival was buying Holland America. The era of takeovers and mergers at Carnival had begun – and the Dutch were now out of the cruise business.

After taking over, Carnival scrapped plans for new ships that were on the drawing board at HAL. Instead, they decided to come up with a completely new design based on the stillborn “Tiffany” project that was being developed in London. The partially-completed design was molded with HAL’s input into plans for a ship that would bring the company spectacularly into the 1990s. Just a few months after the takeover was complete, in late 1989, Carnival ordered the ship from the Marghera yard of the Italian state-owned shipbuilder Fincantieri. (It is worth noting that this was the first time that Carnival and Fincantieri did business; dozens of ships later Fincantieri are the largest builders of cruise ships in the world and depend almost entirely on Carnival for business.) The keel was laid in 1991 and in 1993 the ship emerged as STATENDAM, the first new HAL ship in almost a decade. In addition to being the largest ship in company history – beating out today’s COSTA EUROPA, then WESTERDAM, a ship built in 1986 for Home Lines, bought by HAL in 1988 when that company liquidated, and “stretched” to her present size in 1989 – STATENDAM represented the future of the company and was a revolution for HAL, bringing new levels of luxury to the company’s ships. Among other things, she introduced the windowed, two-deck dining room, the atrium, and the balcony cabin to HAL’s fleet. She was soon followed by MAASDAM and RYNDAM in 1994 and VEENDAM in 1996; the last of the series, now called the S-class, marked the doubling of the HAL fleet from four to eight ships. And this was only the beginning.

The great success of the S-class ships, which to this day are the backbone of the company’s fleet and essentially defined HAL to a new generation of passengers, made it logical that they would be the basis of the new flagship. But for the new ship, things were taken to the next level. Initiated in the early 1990s under the name “Fastdam”, the new ship would be built on a completely new hull design. While 60 ft longer and also a bit wider than the S-class hull, the main difference was a completely new, much sleeker hull form with greatly reduced drag. This was needed because “Fastdam” was not only to be the largest, but also the fastest ship in the company’s history. Her cruising speed of 25 knots would be 4.5 knots faster than the old ROTTERDAM, and 3 knots faster than the S-class ships. She would be the fastest purpose-built cruise ship in history. The extra length and width also expanded the ship’s size to about 60,000 gross tons, exceeding the STATENDAM-class ships by almost 5,000 GT (which itself is greater than the size of the first ROTTERDAM!). Much larger cruise ships already existed, but until 1989 no HAL ship had crossed the 40,000 GT mark, so by company standards this was a very large ship indeed.

On 14 January 1995, Fincantieri officially got the order to build Fastdam, the fifth new ship HAL ordered from the yard in as many years. It was nearly a year before the first steel for the ship was cut on 8 January 1996. A few days later, on 31 January, the world of cruising was rocked by the announcement that HAL would be retiring their venerable flagship on 30 September 1997, at the completion of a final Alaska season. The company simultaneously revealed the name of the ship that until then had been called Fastdam: the new ship would be another ROTTERDAM, marking the first time that HAL had used any name six times. The company also announced that the new ship would be delivered on 30 September, the very same day that her predecessor was to be retired.

Thus, by the time her keel block was laid on 3 June, the new ship already had a name. Amazingly, by 21 December – we’re still talking about 1996 here – the last block was in place, less than a year after the first steel was cut. Of course, at this point the ship was an empty shell with much work yet to be done. And it was here that she ran into trouble – as she was not ready for her delivery in September. In the end it would be more than a month before she was completed, and on 7 November 1997 at a ceremony in Venice, Ted Arison accepted possession of the ship from the chairman of Fincantieri.

The new ship represented another big step for HAL, perhaps not nearly as great as that represented by STATENDAM a few years earlier but still important. She was the biggest, fastest, most expensive and most luxurious ship ever to fly the HAL houseflag, and represented the absolute cutting edge of seagoing technology as well as 125 years of experience transporting passengers across the oceans of the world.

Some interesting facts about Rotterdam: She was designed by Stephen Payne at Carnival Corporate Shipbuilding in London. He later went on to design QUEEN MARY 2 and become Vice President of Carnival Corporation & plc in charge of all of their shipbuilding activities. She introduced the first alternative restaurant in the HAL fleet, the first Neptune Lounge (a concierge lounge for suite passengers), and the fleet’s first Internet Café. She also has more suites than any other HAL ship, and is the company’s only suite to have four penthouses, each one larger than many big-city apartments and certainly more luxurious!

For lovers of numbers, here are a few from the ROTTERDAM engine department web site (http://msrotterdam.n3.net/): The ship has an interior volume of 59,652 gross tons or 29,017 net tons. She has a displacement of 33,312 metric tons. She is 780.5 feet long, and has a beam of 105.8 feet. Her maximum draft is 26.3 feet, and her highest point is 182.7 feet above her keel. Her five Sulzer ZA40S V-16 medium-speed diesels generate 57,600 kW or 77,243 hp. Each of her two electric propulsion motors generates 18,750 kW or 25,144 hp, which gives her a total propulsion power of 37,500 kW or 50,288 hp. She has two bow and two stern thrusters, each one generating 1,720 kW or 2,307 hp. Each of her two controllable pitch propellers is 18 feet in diameter. She can generate 185,000 gallons of fresh water every day, hold 528,000 gallons of fuel oil, and each one of her engines uses 13,000 gallons of fuel a day. Fortunately for her owners, she uses Bunker C (cheap stuff that’s essentially tar, and needs to be heated up to put into the engines). If she used diesel fuel of the sort you might put in your car, even Micky Arison’s billions wouldn’t pay her fuel bill!

Anyhow, enough numbers. (I’ve always been more fond of words myself!) Despite the best efforts of Carnival, HAL, and Fincantieri, and her designers at Carnival Corporate Shipbuilding in London and VFD Interiors in the Netherlands, ROTTERDAM entered service to very mixed reviews. A lot of people loved her, and a lot of other people hated her. I’ve read a few early reviews that are downright vitriolic. Personally I think this ship had an unfair disadvantage from the start: put simply, she has had the terrible misfortune of being her predecessor’s replacement. A lot of people loved the old ROTTERDAM, and a lot of them were bound to hate whatever ship replaced her, especially one that bears the very same name. Don’t get me wrong; there are people who don’t like this ship for perfectly legitimate reasons and that’s fine, but I know a lot of people who can’t warm up to this particular ship because of that one simple fact. Believe me; some of them even admit it! And I can’t blame them entirely, but I would urge them to look beyond that at the ship that is behind, because frankly I think she is one of the finest modern cruise ships ever built.

After the initial fever calmed down, ROTTERDAM settled into a rather uneventful career. She had the honor of taking over where her predecessor left off in operating the company’s famed world cruises in 1998, 1999, and 2000. Meanwhile, HAL introduced two “down-rated” near-sisters, VOLENDAM and ZAANDAM, which were similar to ROTTERDAM but with slower engines, fewer suites, no Neptune Lounge, and of course different décor. In 2000, ROTTERDAM got a co-flagship, AMSTERDAM. Slightly slower, with two penthouses instead of four, and a host of other minor changes, she assumed the world cruises from 2001 through 2003 (in 2004, she was overtaken by the smaller PRINSENDAM, but in 2007 it will be AMSTERDAM’s turn again). Despite the fact that she now has a newer sister, ROTTERDAM is still considered her equal, and my unscientific survey of HAL passengers indicates that ROTTERDAM is probably the more popular ship. She’s also still the fastest ship in the fleet, even though all subsequent HAL newbuilds – the three mentioned above, and then from 2002 the Vista-class ships – have been larger. The controversy of her youth is gone and as she enters early middle age it has become clear that she has been a success after all.

In an effort to keep her up-to-date, in April 2005 she got her first major refit as part of HAL’s “Signature of Excellence” program to upgrade their ships and overall product. The changes made during this refit will be discussed in detail later in this review.

Now, let’s go on a tour of ROTTERDAM’s public spaces and decks:

Public Areas: First, some general information on the ship’s layout. Passenger Decks are numbered from 1 through 10, 1 being the lowest. (Crew decks have letters, A Deck being the highest.) There are three main staircases: one forward, one amidships, and one aft. There are four elevators/lifts at each staircase. These are quite large and are the fastest I have encountered on any cruise ship. All of the staircases serve all the decks from 1 through 8. Additionally, A Deck (for shell door access only) and Deck 9 are served by the forward staircase only. The staircases themselves are nicely finished, with wood-look paneling throughout, nice blue-and-green patterned carpeting, and ceilings split between suede in the staircases themselves (red in the forward staircase, beige in the others) and stained glass in the rest. All of the landings – both on the decks themselves, as well as on the half-landings in between decks – have varied artworks including sculptures, paintings and tapestries that give one something to look at while climbing the stairs.

Anyhow, let us now commence our tour. We begin down on A Deck, at the waterline. There’s nothing here except shell doors to access gangways or tenders.

One deck above is Deck 1, Dolphin Deck. This deck contains standard inside and outside cabins (I will describe the cabins later). The Medical Centre is here as well, forward of the forward staircase. Otherwise there is not much of interest here.

Despite its name, Deck 2, Main Deck, is once again occupied mainly by standard cabins. There are more shell doors at the forward staircase here, which is where we embarked the ship at Rotterdam. There is also a small outside deck at the stern on Deck 2, which is accessible by going to the aft end of either cabin corridor, or from the staircase outdoors at the stern on Deck 3. This deck is teak and is furnished with the good teak deck chairs with cushioned pads that are used throughout the ship. It is a good, sheltered spot where you can get away from your fellow passengers if you so desire; you’ll probably have no company except for the occasional crew member.

Moving up is Deck 3, Lower Promenade Deck. In addition to more standard cabins, you will find the lowest level of the ship’s atrium, Times Square, just aft of the forward stairs. Various officers, including the Cruise Director and Hotel Manager, have their offices here. For those with the urge to book another cruise, the Future Cruise Consultant’s desk is here as well. The space is decorated mainly in warm tones, with a red-and-gold patterned carpet, tasteful wood-tone wall finishes, and a metallic gold ceiling treatment. Rising up into the three-deck-high atrium itself is a magnificent, ornate clock tower designed by the ship’s interior designer, Frans Dingemanns, and inspired by a 17th Century Flemish clock. The fancifully ornate tower has a number of clocks – probably at least a dozen, though I didn’t count! – each of which, in theory, tells the time in a different city. Unfortunately, most of these were not accurate during our cruise. Nonetheless it is a magnificent piece and a beautiful centerpiece to the ship’s public areas, though it is a pity that the clocks seem all to be incorrectly set. Behind the clock, along the port side of the atrium, is an elegant curved staircase which leads up to Deck 4.

In addition to this indoor public space, the perimeter of Deck 3 is the ship’s wrap-around promenade deck. Making a full circuit around the ship in a perfect rectangular shape – no bends, just four corners – this wide promenade is one of the best of its type that I have seen. The entire space is covered – the only “open” spaces are those where the ship’s lifeboats are directly above – and on both sides of the ship as well as the stern, and the forward section is completely enclosed so that it need not be closed off in bad weather. The entire deck is finished in teak, and it is wide enough to provide plenty of room for the abundant teak deck chairs that line it along either side of the ship, as well as room for those who wish to actually do some promenading.

At the stern, there is a staircase which provides access to the small aft deck on Deck 2 (see above) as well as an enclosed fire escape staircase which gives access all the way to the ship’s upper decks without requiring that one go indoors. At the forward end, another fire escape staircase provides access to the open bow on Deck 5, which I will describe later. Also of interest: two of the ship’s builders plaques (there are four) are located along the outdoor promenade; one on each side of the ship.

Finally, before we move on, it’s worth noting that just to the starboard side of the midship staircase on Deck 3 is another, smaller curved staircase which goes only to Decks 4 and 5. Beneath this is a lovely sculpture of a sea lion pup buy Susanna Holt. The staircase landings are lined with port plaques from all over the world – many acquired during the ship’s several world cruises in the late ‘90s from all sorts of exotic destinations that most of her peers will never visit. One of the ship’s four builders’ plates is also displayed here; this one being different from the other three which identical and all located outdoors.

Now we move up to Deck 4, Promenade Deck (despite the name, the actual promenade deck is below on Deck 3). This is the first of the main public decks. There are no cabins on this deck, just public areas.

At the extreme forward end is the main level of the Queen’s Lounge. This is the main lounge of the ship, used both for evening shows as well as for a variety of other events e.g. bingo and the Captain’s and Mariner Cocktail Parties. As it is the only really large public room on the ship – there is no “secondary lounge” as on many other ships – this space is better-used than its counterparts on some other ships. Of course, many lines have done away with “show lounges” altogether, replacing them with a dedicated main lounge as well as a large theatre, which is in my opinion a preferable arrangement but one that is practical only in much larger ships.

The Queen’s Lounge is a two-story space, with a balcony above and a large, semicircular open area surrounding the two-deck-high stage area at the forward end. One enters through the aft end of the room, on either side of the ship, through a foyer each of which also contains a grand spiral staircase leading to the balcony and beneath it, in a rather interesting touch, a small garden.

The room itself is entirely decorated in red and gold, with red carpeting, seating – a mix of banquettes and, in the central, open area, armchairs – upholstered in different shades of red velvet, a fascinating gold tufted leather ceiling treatment which is also applied to the columns. Cocktail tables have glass tabletops beneath which are red-and-gold patterned fabric. In the central, two-deck-high area, there are four, huge, circular light fixtures in gold fabric with a painted design in red. The surrounding ceiling is red, too, providing a bold backdrop for the light fixtures. Below, in this area right in front of the stage is a wooden dance floor where chairs can be placed for additional seating when it is not in use. The stage curtain is again gold, and the stage is flanked with a pair of “light columns” matching the fabric light fixtures and then by a pair of spiral staircases leading up to the balcony. The outboard bulkheads have large floor-to-ceiling windows in between which are a series of life-size, bronze-colored statues. The windows themselves have red-and-gold patterned drapes. The décor is completed by honey-colored wood-grain wall finishes and brass trim which is used throughout.

It may all sound a bit overbearing, but it works: this is easily the most attractive such lounge I’ve seen on any modern ship. It’s a fascinating variation on the red-velvet “theatre” theme, and its designer has succeeded in creating a warm and elegant space which looks best at night when bathed in the warm glow of incandescent light. It is also well-designed, with generally good sightlines; while there are some pillars, the seating is arranged so as to minimize their impact. This is in contrast to the main lounges on the Vista-class ships, where the seating is inexplicably arranged so that the majority of views are obstructed. I understand the need for pillars, but it makes no sense not to arrange seating so that as few seats as possible have obstructed views. Fortunately, this is not an issue in this room. The only criticisms I can level at it are that the bronze statues are a bit over-the-top – the room is nice as is, but would be even better without these monstrosities – and that some of the seating is very uncomfortable, particularly the banquette seating which is hard as wood and bolt upright. If anything, it will keep you from falling asleep if the entertainment is dull!

Just aft of these staircases, on the starboard side one will find several offices as well as public toilets, while on the port side this space is used to house the photo gallery. This is essentially the same as any photo gallery on any ship so I won’t bother describing it here!

Directly aft of the forward stairs, we come to the second level of the atrium. This continues the same décor as described above for the lower level. The port side of the space is occupied by the clock, while the Front Desk and Shore Excursions Desk are located along the starboard side.

Moving aft once again, along the port side, we come to the Wine Bar, a small, pleasant space. The bar itself is located along the portside bulkhead, along with showcases for various wines, while there are a few tables and chairs along the starboard bulkhead. Those who have been aboard before the big refit will note that this used to be the Java Bar – a coffee bar that is made redundant by the Explorations Café now found on Deck 5 (see below). The space has been completely redecorated, and is now trimmed with blond wood-look paneling, coral-colored upholstery, and cream carpeting, topped off by an interesting lighted ceiling treatment which appears to be an abstract representation of a nautical chart. A light, airy atmosphere is successfully created without windows, though it remains to be seen how well the light carpeting holds up.

Along the starboard side of the Wine Bar, in addition to some seating as described above, is the entrance to the Wajang Theatre and Culinary Arts Centre. This is essentially a cinema – and a very nice one, too, newly redecorated in blue with gold upholstery with very spacious, comfortable staggered seating and no obstructions to sightlines whatsoever. The stage can be converted to a kitchen for cooking demonstrations, none of which I attended. I did watch a film here and can confirm that the seats are quite comfortable indeed, and probably easy to fall asleep in if you’re bored with what’s on screen. Perhaps airlines ought to look into acquiring some of these, as they would make sleeping on airplanes a cinch!

The theatre runs aft alongside a diagonal corridor which runs aft/starboard; the corridor is decorated in dark colors and houses numerous artworks. To the port side of this corridor is the entrance to the Pinnacle Grill, the ship’s specialty restaurant. Originally conceived as the Odyssey, an Italian restaurant named after the former first-class dining room on ROTTERDAM (V), the name has changed and the restaurant now serves what HAL calls “Pacific Northwest cuisine” (it’s really a steakhouse), but the décor remains the same. And this is a good thing, as it is one of the most striking such specialty restaurants I’ve ever seen. The décor was originally supposed to be Venetian – perhaps in a tribute to the fact that the ship was built in Marghera, a suburb of Venice – and indeed it has a rich, Italianate feel.

It is a dark space, with red carpet, dark blue mottled wall finishes, and a smoked-glass ceiling. And oh yes, there are no windows – all the better so that the wall space can be covered with paintings and mirrors in impossibly ornate gilt frames. Chairs are ornate too, with red upholstery and black lacquered frames. The only light comes from the beautiful Venetian glass light fixtures. I don’t usually like dark spaces, but I have to admit that I really liked this room – it is a strange choice of décor for a steakhouse, but for the purpose for which it was designed – a luxurious Italian restaurant – it would be absolutely magnificent.

Alongside the Pinnacle Grill and is a windowless corridor lined with various works of art. This corridor leads to the midship staircase, which on this deck represents a dead end. Aft of here, on this deck, is the main galley, and aft of that the aft staircase and then the lower level of the La Fontaine Dining Room, the ship’s main restaurant, which I will describe later.

We now move up to Deck 5, Upper Promenade Deck. Unlike Deck 4, where the galley takes up a good amount of space, on Deck 5 the flow of passengers is unobstructed from the Queen’s Lounge at the bow to the La Fontaine Dining Room at the stern, and it is here that the majority of the ship’s public areas are located. As the lifeboats are located on Deck 4 – where several areas that do not require windows (e.g. the cinema) are located – Deck 5 also has the advantage of being rimmed with floor-to-ceiling windows that are a feature of most of the spaces on this deck and provide a good connection with the sea.

Deck 5 starts out at the forward end with the balcony of the Queen’s Lounge, as described above. Directly aft is the upper level of the Atrium, carrying through the décor of the lower levels. Along the forward and aft port corners are a pair of boutiques; a lovely seating area with great sea views sits in between them and is attractively furnished with a parquet floor and comfortable, padded wooden armchairs. Along the starboard side is the first of a series of intimate bars and lounges that can be found on all HAL ships: the Ocean Bar.

One of the most popular rooms on the ship, the Ocean Bar is a fairly open space which is only partly separated from the atrium situated just to port. The space is colorfully furnished with an interesting mix of soft furnishings. In the forward portion of the room, chairs are blue or peach and sofas are gold; the aft portion has purple or cream chairs and patterned multi-colored settees. Different sections of the room have either blue or red carpet. Wall coverings are either a medium-tone wood-look or dark green marbled finish. At the forward end of the room is a red leather bar with matching leather barstools and red stained glass trim. The aft portion houses the dance floor, designed in a green, blue, red and beige abstract pattern in what appears to be terrazzo. Like several other spaces on this and other HAL ships, the décor may not sound attractive on paper but is actually quite attractive in person. As with the Queen’s Lounge, this is a “warm” space which is probably best appreciated at night when artificially lit and the whole area takes on a welcoming glow.

Moving aft we come to the center of revenue-generating for the ship: concentrated in one area, just aft of the atrium and Ocean Bar, are both the ship’s Casino and Shopping Arcade. I suspect the idea of this is for passengers going fore and aft on Deck 5 to need to walk through one or the other. This may seem cynical at first but is a nice touch in comparison to ships of some lines (names withheld to protect the guilty) where it is impossible to avoid a noisy, smoky casino.

The casino is located along the port side, looking much like most other shipboard casinos, decorated entirely in red and housing the various gambling equipment which is obligatory on board large cruise ships. This includes some which emit various irritating sounds (including one which gives a veritable lecture on how it can ostensibly make you rich) that spill over into some of the quieter surrounding areas.

On the starboard side is the shop; again a fairly standard shipboard space looking very much like any duty-free shop on any modern cruise ship or ferry anywhere in the world. Sandwiched in between the two is the Casino Bar, which essentially serves as the ship’s “sports bar” (i.e. pub, minus pub grub of course). The bar is located on the aft bulkhead and is decorated in red in keeping with the casino. Directly forward of this is a decent-sized seating area, rather blandly decorated with tan sofas and chairs and matching tan carpet, and dark wood trim. Aside from providing liquid refreshments to the casino’s patrons, this room’s claim to fame is of course its “sports bar” status, for which it is equipped with several (probably new) flat-panel televisions. Oddly, these spent most of the cruise blaring out what I think were South American football (soccer) matches. The logic of this escapes me considering that I do not think I met a single South American during the whole trip, among either the passengers or the crew. One would thing given the passenger makeup that North American or, failing that, European sports – preferably in English – would have been on offer, but what do I know? For this reason, I didn’t often see passengers in the Casino Bar. At least the shouting in Spanish emanating from the televisions helped to drown out some of the racket coming from the casino…

Moving aft from the Shopping Arcade along the starboard side, we come to the Tropic Bar and Ambassador Lounge. This room (as it is one room – I surmise that the Tropic Bar is the bar and the Ambassador Lounge is the room, in an attempt to use two names from the previous ROTTERDAM in one space) is the equivalent of the Piano Bar on all other HAL ships, except PRINSENDAM which does not have one.

The Tropic Bar/Ambassador Lounge is a light and airy space with honey-colored wood-look paneling, blue carpet, and blue and peach chairs. The bar itself is located at the forward end of the room, while the remainder of the room is almost round, curving around a large textured metal dance floor with a piano just forward of it, in between the bar and dance floor. Over the dance floor is an interesting circular ceiling relief in classical style. The décor of the space spills over into an adjacent arcade along the starboard side, with large floor-to-ceiling windows. This is separated by a half-height bulkhead from the room itself and also serves as a fore-aft thoroughfare.

Along the port side, separated from the Tropic Bar and Ambassador Lounge by the midship stairs, the Casino continues a bit further aft than the Shopping Arcade and Casino Bar, in line with the forward portion of the Tropic Bar to starboard. The Casino ends just short of the midship elevators/lifts and this space on the port side is filled in by the Hudson Room. This is a multi-purpose room, furnished with stacking chairs and tables that can be rearranged to suit a variety of uses. Among other things, card tournaments, religious services, and private gatherings are sometimes held here. It is rather plainly decorated with red wall finishes and green carpet.

Just aft of the Hudson Room is the Explorations Café, another new area added during the recent drydock in line with the Signature of Excellence program. (This space is being added to all HAL ships except PRINSENDAM, ZUIDERDAM, OOSTERDAM and WESTERDAM.) It is situated in the spaces formerly occupied by, from fore to aft, the Half Moon Room, the Website, and the Erasmus Library. It is a multi-purpose space that serves as the ship’s library, Internet Café, and specialty coffee bar. In one respect this is a downgrade as specialty coffees were previously available for free in the Java Bar (now the Wine Bar), but prices are far more reasonable than I’ve seen on land or on other cruise lines (almost all mass-market and “premium” lines now charge for specialty coffees; in fact I think HAL was the last holdout) and the new space itself is wonderful.

The area has reddish wood-tone wood-look paneling, red carpeting, and furniture in red and tan leather. Because this was originally three spaces, it has now been partially opened up but continues to have “sub-rooms” corresponding to the three rooms which previously occupied this position in the ship. The forward section, previously the Half Moon Room, now mostly contains MTN/Digital Seas computer workstations, at desks with very nice tan leather chairs. There are also some extremely comfortable read leather sofas and arm chairs with coffee tables and, facing the windows along the port side of the room, a row of tan leather Eames chairs which are fitted with headsets and function as “listening chairs”.

Moving aft, the area which formerly housed the Web Site (Internet Café) has been opened up and now houses the coffee bar.

The aft section, the old Erasmus Library, is the least changed but has been refurnished. It is mainly furnished with a nice grouping of the same red leather sofas and chairs also found in the forward section of the room. At the aft end is a huge inlaid marble research table which remains from the original Erasmus Library but, I believe, has had the benefit of being paired with some interesting new wooden chairs with “pivoting” backrests, also found in the libraries on the new Vista-class ships. Along the windows are a number of research desks with more tan leather chairs.

The bulk of the bookcases are located along the inboard bulkhead to the starboard side of the room, and house a new and much-expanded collection of reading materials. Here there are also some tables whose tops have huge New York Times crossword puzzles that can be filled in with dry-erase markers and then erased – an interesting idea. The Explorations Café is co-sponsored by the New York Times and their web site can be accessed for free from any of the computers here.

In addition to books, there is also a good selection of magazines, and newspapers (US and UK, and maybe some others) are taken on in port when possible and available at no charge.

Just aft of the Explorations Café, through a stained-glass door, is the Queens Room. This now houses some nice leather chairs and card tables, and is the new card room. It was originally a small private dining room, as its port-side counterpart, the Kings Room, still is, but in the latest refit it was converted to a card room (the ship had not previously had a dedicated card room). However, the door is usually kept closed (but not locked) and so I suspect that many passengers don’t realize that this room even exists. I never saw anyone in there.

Along the starboard side, the counterpart to the Explorations Café is the confusingly similarly-named Explorers Lounge. The naming similarity is just a coincidence; the Explorers Lounge has been a fixture of all HAL ships since NIEUW AMSTERDAM of 1983 (now Thomson Cruises’ THOMSON SPIRIT) while the Explorations Café is an entirely new concept. The two spaces are separated by a foyer which contains a number of replica clay warriors from Xian, China. These were the subject of great controversy when the ship was built, and were considered to exemplify what some people felt was the misguided and uncoordinated décor of the ship. I disagree on the overall assessment of the décor, but remain at a loss as to just why there happen to be Xian warriors in this particular space. They don’t seem to have any connection to the rest of the décor, and frankly they look rather silly. I suspect that the designers simply didn’t know what to do with this “dead space”, and someone thought up a display of Xian warriors as a solution! Certainly one of the more unusual aspects of the ship’s décor, it is interesting to note that they were rearranged in the last refit. When the ship was new, quite a few people predicted that these would be gone in a few years – but eight years on and the Xian warriors live on and I suppose they’ll remain for years to come. Decoratively speaking I could certainly live without them, but within the ship enthusiast community they have become a bit of a running joke and at this point it would almost be sad to see them go – I can’t help but laugh every time I see the things and think of some of the things that have been said about them over the years. I suspect I’m not the only one.

Anyhow, on we go to the Explorers Lounge. This room – since the departure of the previous ROTTERDAM, which was “pre-Explorers”, present on every single HAL ship – has become something of an HAL institution over the past two decades or so, and is beloved of many HAL passengers. I suspect that part of what makes it so popular is that it is the sort of room that, as a rule, most cruise lines do not build into their ships any more. It exists almost exclusively as a quiet place to relax and unwind after dinner with some classical music, maybe an after dinner drink or coffee, and the company of fellow passengers. It represents virtually no revenue-generating potential – there isn’t even a bar here – which is really quite remarkable in this day and age. In keeping with its purpose, this room has subdued, restful décor: dark paneling, cream and maroon carpet, traditional furniture in earth tones, and nothing at all jarring or over-the-top. The port, outboard bulkhead, as usual, is occupied by floor-to-ceiling windows while the starboard bulkhead has a large nautical mural.

As we move aft from Explorers, we come first to the King’s Room, a small private dining room. Originally one of two such rooms (its counterpart, the Queen’s Room, described above, is now a card room), it is normally used for special dinners and other private functions. It is attractively decorated with dark wood-look paneling, a gold metallic ceiling, dark blue carpet and wood-framed chairs (identical to those in the main dining room) with light green cushions. At the forward end of the room is a carved wood mantle and (non-functional) fireplace. There are full-height windows all along the starboard side of the room, and it connects to the main La Fontaine Dining Room through a stained-glass door at the aft end.

We now move aft from the aft staircase into the La Fontaine Dining Room, the main dining room aboard. This is a magnificent two-deck-high room with floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides (port, starboard, and aft) on both decks.

The majority of the seating is actually located down on Deck 4; at the centre of the room is a two-deck-high well and so seating on Deck 5 is along the perimeter of this area only. The lower and upper levels (Decks 4 and 5) are connected by a pair of grand staircases leading down from the port and starboard forward sides of the upper level down and aft to the lower level. In between these staircases is a musicians’ balcony, which in addition to the staircases, is flanked by two large “islands” of tropical greenery.

The room is quite colorful with dark blue wall finishes and columns, medium blue-green carpet, wood-framed chairs with red or light-green-and-red patterned cushions, brass metallic ceiling treatments (except in the dome), and lots of brass trim. The centre dome, above the two-deck well, features twenty-two pieces of colorful blown glass by the Italian artist Luciano Vitosi: these unique, beautiful circular pieces of glass of varying diameter were mounted on dark blue cylinders of varying length, backlit, and hung from a ceiling finished in dark blue with twinkling fiber-optic “stars”. At night, the effect is quite dramatic and while the “night sky” ceiling treatment has become very popular since it first appeared in the mid 1990s, the blown glass design remains, so far as I know, unique at sea. (AMSTERDAM features a different, stained-glass dome in a floral design.)

Also of note is a set of four murals along the aft bulkhead: one each on the upper and lower levels, port and starboard side. These rather dark murals – the background is dark blue rather than white – depict scenes of the Aegean were created by the Dutch artist Klaas Posthuma. They are intentionally reminiscent of a similar mural by Cuno van den Steene which is located in the Ritz-Carlton (former first-class ballroom) on board the previous ROTTERDAM. While the effect is nowhere near as dramatic as the original, this is one of many pleasing nods to the previous ROTTERDAM incorporated throughout the ship.

Having exhausted all of the public areas on Deck 5, there is one more space on this deck to describe, this one outdoors: the ship’s bow. This area, however, cannot be accessed from Deck 5 itself. It is accessible only from a fire escape stairway that runs from Deck 3 up to Deck 6 but can be accessed only outdoors and from those two decks.

To access the bow from Deck 3, go all the way forward on the promenade deck, to the port/starboard-orientated section at the forward end. Here, on the forward bulkhead, amongst various “staff only” doors are two sets of heavy double doors which are completely unmarked. Open either set, and you enter the enclosed fire escape stairwell (the port-side doors lead to the staircase to port, the starboard-side ones to starboard – it does not really matter which ones you use.) Now climb the stairs up two decks to Deck 5. There is a small hatch with a step below it that, hopefully, will be open. (If one side is not open, check the other side – usually at least one of the hatches is open except during extremely inclement weather.) Climb through here, and you’re on the bow.

To access from Deck 6, start at the forward observation deck (described below) and take the stairs down one deck on either side. You now enter the fire escape stairs and can descend to Deck 5 where you’ll find the same hatch described above.

All of this certainly looks like a crew-only area, but it is intended for passenger access. You won’t get thrown in the brig for coming here, just don’t open any of the doors that are marked “Staff Only” – or worse, “Restricted Area” – and you’ll be fine. (I am not responsible for the possible repercussions if you ignore this advice!)

Now we move up to Deck 6, Veranda Deck. This deck primarily contains “mini-suites” – I use the inverted commas as they are really standard cabins with balconies – as well as a few inside cabins. However, in addition to cabins, there is an outdoor observation deck forward which is accessible only from the port-side cabin corridor; here you can also take stairs up to Deck 7 and beyond or down into the fire escape to Deck 5 and below (see description of bow access above). When going back indoors, be sure to use the starboard-side door – the one on the port side looks identical but it leads to a crew cabin corridor and will get you nowhere you want to, or should go. This used to have a “Staff Only” sign, but it was missing during our entire voyage – it may have been replaced by the time you read this, but if not, you’ve been forewarned. I must confess to having opened this door a couple of times without giving any thought to it, and then remembering that I was on the wrong side of the ship!

The only other public space on Deck 6 is a small outdoor space aft, which can be accessed from either cabin corridor all the way aft. This is a nice space to look out over the ship’s wake, and is finished in teak with the usual teak deck chairs. Here you can also get access to a fire escape staircase that goes down to Deck 3 (no access to Decks 4 or 5) or take stairs up to the Sea View Pool on Deck 7.

Appropriately, Deck 7, Navigation Deck, begins forward with the bridge. If you take the stairs up from the open forward deck on Deck 6 (described above) on either side of the ship, you will wind up on a small, covered landing on Deck 7 which is located directly aft of one of the enclosed bridge wings. From here there is a door which opens into the bridge, and while it would of course be a major security breach to actually go through here, the door does contain a large window through which one can look into the bridge and observe the activities here. There are also stairs leading up to small open decks above the bridge wings on Deck 8, described below. Note that these outside decks can be accessed only from Deck 8 above or Deck 6 below, it cannot be accessed from Deck 7 itself.

The majority of the remainder of Deck 7 contains the ship’s suites. They begin forward with four penthouses, two on each side, and then continue aft all the way past the aft stairs with a long series of standard Cat. S suites. Located just forward of the midship stairs is the Neptune Lounge, a concierge lounge exclusively for the use of the passengers in the suites on Deck 7. Interestingly, the walls separating this lounge from the cabin corridors are mostly glass, and while normally one can look into the lounge’s interior, the glass can be made opaque at the touch of a button if privacy is desired.

Finally, all the way aft on Deck 7 is a large open deck which contains the Sea View Pool and Bar. This is a large, completely open lido with a very large pool at its centre and beautiful teak decking and deck chairs surrounding it. The forward portion of this lido is covered by the terrace on Deck 8 above, with a beautiful varnished teak overhead. It is here on the starboard side that the Sea View Bar is located, providing libations to the swimmers and sunbathers.

We now move up to Lido Deck, Deck 8. This begins forward with the Greenhouse Spa and Gymnasium, which replaced the old Ocean Spa and Gymnasium and occupies the entire space of Lido Deck forward of the forward stairs. Located the starboard side, forward from the forward stairs are the Beauty Salon, the Aerobics Area, and – with a great forward-facing view – the Gymnasium. On the port side, moving forward to aft are the Thermal Suite – again with a forward-facing view – and then a long progression of spa treatment rooms, with a pair of saunas tucked in among them.

The only area forward on Deck 8 not occupied by the Spa are two small outdoor decks located directly over the bridge wings, one on each side of the ship. These can be accessed from the small decks aft of the bridge on Deck 7 (described above), or from within the Spa. The portside deck is accessed from the Gymnasium and the starboard one from the Thermal Suite. These provide good 180-degree views and are particularly useful when entering and leaving port.

Originally, a small observation deck connected these two areas. Unfortunately, in order to enlarge the Gym and create the new Thermal Suite, an extension was put on the Spa which enclosed this area and incorporated it into the Spa. Also, this new extension somewhat impedes the view from the Crow’s Nest up on Deck 9 (described below).

Moving aft from the forward stairs we come to the Lido Pool. The design of this area had its origins at HAL on WESTERDAM (II), now COSTA EUROPA and originally Home Lines’ HOMERIC. HAL incorporated the design on STATENDAM (V) in 1992, and have used it on every HAL newbuild since.

The key to this area is the Magradome. For those not familiar with this particular shipboard gadget, it is a glass dome which can slide over the area creating a completely enclosed space in inclement weather, or be retracted creating an area open to the sky during periods of fair weather. The Magradome first appeared on Home Line’s OCEANIC of 1965 (of which HAL’s first Magradome-equipped ship, WESTERDAM, née HOMERIC, was a direct descendant) and was designed for the North Atlantic and for wintertime cruising from New York. Later it became recognized by HAL and others as being useful in inclement weather regardless of geography, and a good alternative to a dedicated indoor pool, and it has since become commonplace on all manner of cruise ships and even a few ferries.

The space itself runs the full beam of the ship and occupies roughly ¼ of her length. Along the forward bulkhead on the starboard side is the Terrace Grill, while a raised bandstand is located just a bit further aft on the port side. Moving aft are two whirlpools followed by the main Lido Pool which occupies the centre of the space and then, at its aft starboard corner, a wading pool. At the forward end, near the whirlpools, is a large bronze sculpture of sea lions by Susanna Holt, whose work graces many of the HAL ships. The entire Lido Pool area is decked in beige Bolideck textured rubberized decking, and the pool is surrounded by a large number of padded deck chairs, though unfortunately they are aluminum rather than teak. Tables with chairs occupy the extreme port and starboard sides of the space, along the floor-to-ceiling windows which allow for excellent views. These are permanently covered and feature a ceiling treatment in a mottled pattern of various pastel tones and also some interesting glass light fixtures. The bulkheads in the area are primarily yellow, and the rim of the Magradome has an orange “border” pattern painted on the yellow background.

All the way aft in the Lido Pool area is the Lido Bar, which is slightly raised and sectioned off by a half-height bulkhead. In addition to the bar itself, located on the aft bulkhead along the centerline of the ship, this raised area contains numerous tables with padded chairs and also some white leather banquette seating. The Bar itself is flanked by interesting artwork of various brightly colored plates.

To either side of the raised Bar area are glass doors which provide access to the Lido Restaurant. Going through these doors one is immediately confronted by the midship staircase, with the Lido Restaurant immediately beyond.

The Lido Restaurant has long been an HAL tradition. It was introduced on board the previous ROTTERDAM in 1969 as a replacement for the Café de la Paix, and thus the modern self-service cruise ship restaurant was born – over the next two decades or so it would be copied by every major cruise line.

A HAL Lido is supposed to look a certain way, and the one aboard ROTTERDAM fits the bill. Like all of its counterparts, it features bright colors, light-wood furnishings and colored glass lampshades – all fixtures since the very beginning.

ROTTERDAM’s Lido, like that of all HAL ships since STATENDAM (V), essentially consists of two spaces, one port and one starboard, which are completely identical and are separated by the galley. On either side of the ship, the food-service areas are set up along the inboard bulkhead, separated by a half-height bulkhead from the tables and chairs which are located along the outboard bulkhead in raised sections directly adjacent to floor-to-ceiling windows. One can cross from port to starboard or vice versa only at the extreme forward (midship staircase) or aft (aft staircase) ends of the restaurant.

Lido décor here is perfectly typical, with a shiny gold “waffle” ceiling treatment, pale wood furnishings, bright purple carpeting, soft furnishings in various vivid tropical tones, and of course those glass lampshades. This space is as characteristically HAL as it gets; the chairs are even the very same design introduced on the NIEUW AMSTERDAM back in 1983.

The Lido got some attention during the last refit, including redesigning the serving lines to create “stations” rather than one continuous buffet line on each side of the ship. The soft furnishings were also replaced, along with new signage throughout the area.

Just as the forward end of either half of the Lido consists of a set of doors which lead to the Lido Pool, so the aft ends consist of doors which lead out to the Lido Terrace. This is a crescent-shaped terrace which looks out over the Sea View Pool on Deck 7; it also creates an open deck space which is finished in teak and mainly furnished with tables and chairs – with umbrellas – for those wishing to dine outdoors. There are two curved staircases, one on each side of the ship, which descend to the Sea View Pool below.

Deck 9, Sports Deck, is the highest deck on ROTTERDAM to house enclosed passenger space. All the way forward is the Crow’s Nest, the ship’s observation lounge and nightclub. This room is divided into three areas: two “wings”, one on each side of the ship, and the main central area which is located forward of the wings and spans the entire beam of the ship. There are floor-to-ceiling windows which form the entire forward bulkhead and wrap around to the port and starboard sides of the room.

The port wing is decorated in a nautical style, with green and blue patterned carpeting, blue-green and red leather sofas, caramel wood-framed armchairs, a caramel suede ceiling treatment, and dark blue suede and dark wood-look wall finishes.

The starboard wing – originally intended for use as a tea room – has a light and airy feel, with a parquet floor, light wicker chairs with peach upholstered cushions, beige and peach upholstered sofas, a backlit glass ceiling treatment, and light wood-look paneling.

The two wings are interesting in that they are basically foils – the port wing is dark, cool and masculine while the starboard wing is light, warm and feminine. Both are separated from the main Crow’s Nest by half-height bulkheads.

The main room, unfortunately, is a decorative disaster. The root of this problem is that the room’s original design was tampered with in the latest refit – and not by its original designer.

On STATENDAM, RYNDAM, and soon MAASDAM, the original Crow’s Nest was designed by Joe Farcus and was completely gutted and rebuilt in their latest refits to a new design by Yran & Storbraaten. From VEENDAM and continuing through the R-class ships, Frans Dingemanns designed the Crow’s Nests. These ships are receiving some – but not all – of the elements of Yran & Storbraaten’s new design in their Crow’s Nests, superimposed over the original Dingemanns design.

While I don’t particularly care for the Y&S design on STATENDAM, MAASDAM, and RYNDAM, it is at least a cohesive and well-designed room, even though it is a bit out of character with the rest of the ships’ décor. Unfortunately, on ROTTERDAM (and presumably her R-class sisters, and VEENDAM, once they undergo these changes), the two designs clash and turn what was once a beautiful space into an utterly hideous one.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at the Crow’s Nest. The carpeting throughout the lounge is the blue-and-green pattern from the portside wing – a new addition, but it blends fairly well with the rest of the room. The space is ringed by blue leather banquette seating – again an original feature. The port side of the room is largely unmolested, with the original circular bar, dark blue upholstered banquettes, orange-and-blue patterned chairs and long series of blue leather reclining armchairs facing the fenestrated forward bulkhead. With a red “waffle” ceiling treatment and dark wood-look paneling, the décor is a somewhat less subdued version of that in the portside wing.

The starboard half of the room is a completely different story. While it was once a mirror image of the port side, but with a small round dance floor and a bandstand replacing the bar, most of the furniture has now been cleared out and most of the floor area is taken up by a huge new wooden dance floor. A huge, floor-to-ceiling plasma television wall occupies the aft bulkhead adjacent to the dance floor. Along the centerline, where the huge new dance floor meets the largely-original port side of the room, are a pair of very high, oval, brushed-metal tables whose purpose is not entirely clear and which seem to be without the high stools that would be necessary if anyone were to sit at them. These, however, have nothing on the room’s ultimate bizarre design feature: in the forward port corner of the mega-dance-floor is a single white Corinthian column, looking so hilariously out-of-place that it relegates the mix of post-modern (old) and pseudo-futuristic (new) décor to mere background. I can only speculate as to what the designers were high on when they installed this thing, but the result is utterly absurd. At least it gives ROTTERDAM’s passengers something to laugh about… It’s so awful, it’s funny.


Meanwhile, on the starboard fringe of the sprawling new dance floor, the bandstand now occupies the space directly forward of the starboard wing – mercifully separated by a curtain – and includes a bizarre, round brushed metal structure which I am told is a DJ booth but looks more like something from outer space. For good measure, they’ve also thrown in an odd curvilinear lamp – one, mind you – on the half-height bulkhead separating the wing from the main room, presumably just in case the whole thing didn’t already look ridiculous enough.

All in all, by way of blending together two decent but completely different designs, HAL have managed to create to a catastrophically ugly room. At this point, the forward view would have been its only redeeming feature, but unfortunately this is now partially obstructed by the new “bump-out” addition to the Spa below. So I have to write the thing off as a total loss. The only thing worse than the hatchet job wrought upon this poor space is the thought that it has been or will be done on yet four more ships. Our best hope is that someone will realize how utterly ridiculous this room looks and have it gutted and completely redesigned next time this ship – and the four others – return to drydock. Until then, you won’t find me here; I’ll be in one of the rooms on this ship that haven’t yet been screwed with by renegade designers.

Outdoors, aft of the Crow’s Nest, is a huge amount of open deck space along the periphery of the Magradome, which occupies most of Deck 9. Breaking from the rest of the ship, decking here is brownish Bolideck designed to emulate teak.

All the way aft, flanking the funnel, are a practice tennis court on the port side and a basketball court to starboard. At the very aft end of the deck, accessible the aft staircase on Deck 8 (but not the elevators/lifts, which do not continue up to Deck 9), are Club HAL and The Loft, the ship’s kids’ and teens’ facilities; these are the only indoor spaces on Deck 9 aside from the Crow’s Nest. These areas are surrounded by outside deck space overlooking the Lido Terrace on Deck 8 and the Sea View Pool on Deck 7; unlike the adjacent indoor areas, this outside deck space is intended for all passengers to enjoy, regardless of age.

Finally we move up to Deck 10. The forward portion of Deck 10 is a large open deck located over the Crow’s Nest and surrounded by glass windbreaks. It is accessible from staircases outdoors on Deck 9, just aft of the forward staircase (the forward-most outdoor space on Deck 9). This is nothing more than an empty, blue-painted-steel deck with some deck chairs. The radar mast is located at its centre.

There is also a small aft deck on Deck 10, located directly above Club HAL and The Loft. It contains The Oasis, the outdoor portion of the ship’s teens’ facilities, and is accessible only from The Loft.

And that’s it – we’ve now “seen” the entirety of ROTTERDAM’s passenger spaces. If you think that took a long time, just imagine how long it takes in real life…

Items of Maritime History/Nautical Interest: As befits the flagship of one of the oldest companies still in the passenger shipping business, ROTTERDAM contains many items of interest to ship enthusiasts, including a good number of items recalling HAL’s history. Those that I know of are as follows:

We begin with the forward staircase. The landing between A Deck and Deck 1 contains a Delft tile painting of the six ROTTERDAMs which was produced on the occasion of HAL’s 125th anniversary in 1998. One deck above, on the Deck 1-2 landing, are deck plans from ROTTERDAM (IV) and ROTTERDAM (V), and other assorted HAL ephemera, on loan from the Steamship Historical Society of America. The next five landings, beginning with the Deck 2-3 landing, contain paintings of all six ROTTERDAMs by my friend Stephen Card, one of the world’s most talented maritime artists and the official portraitist of the HAL fleet. They begin with ROTTERDAM (I), and with one ship per landing, work their way up to the Deck 6-7 landing where there are two paintings – one of ROTTERDAM (V) and one of ROTTERDAM (VI).

Also in the forward staircase, on the Deck 2 landing adjacent to the elevators/lifts is a copy of an antique ship’s figurehead presented to the ship by her builders, Fincantieri, on her completion in 1997.

In the midship staircase, the secondary stairway between Decks 3 and 5, as described above, contains port plaques from all corners of the globe, as well as a few other plaques commemorating various events. Among others are a plaque presented to the ship by the Steamship Historical Society of America Long Island Chapter on the occasion of her first Atlantic crossing, and one presented by Costa Crociere to HAL in commemoration of the company’s new flagship. This is particularly interesting as in 1997, HAL’s parent Carnival had just bought 50% of Costa (now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Carnival). There is also one a builders’ plate here, one of four (see below for the others).

In the aft staircase, many of the landings contain copies of historic HAL posters, mostly from the early- to mid-20th Century.

Also in the aft staircase, on Deck 8, is a model of ROTTERDAM (V) in her 1970s Holland America Cruises livery. It appears that this model was originally produced in the ship’s original 1959 livery (dove grey hull), and was later repainted to reflect the new 1973 livery (dark blue hull).

On the ship’s bow (access from Decks 3 and 6 described above), at the very forward end smack dab in the middle of the Kate and Leo zone, one finds the ship’s bell.

On either side of the promenade deck on Deck 3 is one of the ship’s four builders’ plates. The others are in the midship staircase (described above) and on Deck 7 aft (described below).

Aft on Deck 4 (access from Deck 3 or 5 only), in the foyer outside the lower level of the La Fontaine Dining Room, is a large model of ROTTERDAM (V) in 1990s HAL livery. This is arguably the best ship model on board.

In the forward portside corner of the Atrium on Deck 5 is a piece of blown glass artwork by the Italian artist Luciano Vitosi (who also created the dining room ceiling) which was presented to the ship by her builders, Fincantieri, in 1997.

At the entrance to the Casino Bar on Deck 5 amidships are a pair of lanterns which are scale models of ones originally built for the HAL headquarters in Rotterdam (now the Hotel New York). The Casino Bar also contains two ship models: one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s GREAT WESTERN of 1838 and one of Samuel Cunard’s BRITANNIA of 1840; the first Atlantic steamer and the first Cunarder respectively.

Behind one of the banquettes along the windowed starboard bulkhead in the Ambassador Lounge, Deck 5 amidships on the starboard side is a painting of ROTTERDAM (V) at Rotterdam in the early 1970s.

In the cabin corridors all along Deck 7 are dozens of black-and-white photographs of historic HAL ships. Most of these are displayed once on each side of the ship, but there are a few which are displayed only once, on one side or the other, so despite the repeats, take the time to walk the entire length of Deck 7 on both sides and enjoy the photos.

In the Neptune Lounge on Deck 7 amidships is a model of ROTTERDAM (V) in her original 1959 livery, with dove grey hull.

Finally, all the way aft on Deck 8, outdoors on the Lido Terrace overlooking the Sea View Pool on Deck 7, is the last of the ship’s four builders’ plates, identical to the two on the promenade deck on Deck 3 (see above).

Accommodations: ROTTERDAM features a wide range of cabin accommodations, from inside cabins to huge penthouse suites. At all levels, she has among the most spacious and well-designed cabins of any mainstream cruise ship.

The most common cabins on the ship are standard inside (categories I through NN) and outside (categories C through HH) cabins, measuring 182 and 197 square feet respectively. Aside from location in the ship and window, porthole, or lack thereof, the only substantial difference between standard cabins – from the lowliest inside to the most expensive outside – is that outside cabins have a bathtub (more like a three-quarter tub than a full-size tub). Otherwise, most standard cabins share the same layout, décor, and furnishings. All have good pink-tiled bathrooms (not the awful plastic ones seen on the Vista-class ships) with massage shower heads, great new towels, and herbal toiletries; ample closet and drawer space; a sitting area with a chair, cocktail table, and leather sofa; a desk/vanity with stool and good lighting; and a queen bed which can be separated into two twins. They are pleasantly decorated in neutral tones with honey-colored wood furnishings and appealing Dutch-themed artwork. Of course, there are telephones, individual temperature controls, and safes (with a key, not electronic). Hair dryers come in two kinds – new ones added in the Singature of Excellence refit, located on the vanity, and existing ones in the bathroom – and lighted magnifying mirrors were added in the refit (oddly, on the vanity and not in the bathroom – good for makeup, bad for shaving). All cabin televisions were replaced with new flat-screen LCDs in the latest refit and DVD players have been added to all cabins. (DVDs are available for borrowing from the Explorations Café.)

All that said, by far the most talked-about Signature of Excellence upgrades are the new beds which have been installed in all cabins. I will not go into a technical dissertation on the new bedding, but can say that the new beds are extremely comfortable, a great improvement over any other bedding I’ve seen on a cruise ship and as good as any I’ve experienced on land, including in five-star hotels. They are topped with white duvet covers rather than traditional bedspreads, and in the day time a patterned blanket is placed at the foot of the bed – a nice touch, giving a clean, contemporary look.

Our Category D standard outside, Cabin 2551 on Deck 2 (Main Deck) didn’t deviate at all from the usual modular ROTTERDAM cabin. This is, I think, a Good Thing as the standard cabins on this ship are so spacious, well-thought-out, and comfortable that there’s very little I’d change. Only on so-called “all-suite” luxury ships will you find better standard cabins – and at those prices, they should be better!

In addition to the standard inside and outside cabins, for balcony fanatics there is a deck of balcony cabins (Categories A through BC) on Deck 6, Verandah Deck. Incorrectly termed “mini-suites”, these are similar to standard cabins but slightly larger, at 292 sq ft including balcony. Aside from a slightly different layout, and of course the balcony, they are largely the same as the standard cabins save for a whirlpool bathtub and a mini-bar, so the only reason to book one of these is for the balcony. The cabins themselves are actually very nice, but they are not suites, “mini” or otherwise, and HAL really ought to drop use of this term.

There is also a full deck of suites – real ones – on Deck 7, Navigation Deck. The majority of these are Category S suites, which come in at 556 sq ft including balcony. These are much larger cabins which, among other things, include a separate dressing area and a very large sitting area, as well as a much larger balcony.

Finally there are four Category PS penthouses (more than any other HAL ship), which measure a whopping 1,159 sq ft with balcony and are really seagoing apartments with separate bedroom, living room, and dining room; a huge marble bathroom; powder room; butler’s pantry for preparing in-cabin meals, and various other amenities. They’re also particularly lavishly decorated; while other cabins are designed by HAL’s in-house designers, the penthouses are the work of the ship’s interior architect, Frans Dingemanns, who also creates the décor for the various public spaces.

Passengers in Category S and PS suites also receive access to the Neptune Lounge, concierge service, free laundry and dry-cleaning, and various other amenities consummate with the high fares paid for such lavish accommodations.

There are only two things I can pick on when it comes to cabins on this ship. First, only the Category PS suites have a curtain separating the living from the sleeping area. In the Category S suites, the “mini-suites”, and the standard cabins, there is no physical separation. There is no particular reason for this; in all of these cases the layout would easily allow for a curtain to be installed – in the Cat. S suites they could even create a separate bedroom if they so desired – but it isn’t. This oversight is especially odd in the standard cabins where a certain is actually fitted for decorative purposes, but can’t be pulled across the room to serve as a privacy barrier. Why?

The second, more serious matter is that many passengers I spoke to experienced plumbing problems during our cruise; that is, their toilets were chronically broken. While we were only affected once or twice, it is clear that there is an issue with the toilets which needs to be cleared up. If anyone in Seattle is reading this, and you haven’t already, please have someone take a look at the toilet system on this ship. Toilet clogs should not be a daily occurrence.

Otherwise, ROTTERDAM gets an “A” in the cabin department; at this price point, the only other ships that offer cabins this good are the other S- and R-class HAL ships. Most of their competitors don’t even come close (and, sadly, the cabins on the Vista-class ships are also significantly inferior).

Dining: ROTTERDAM has three dining venues: the La Fontaine Dining Room, the Lido, and the Pinnacle Grill.

The La Fontaine Dining Room operates on a variation of the traditional two-seating dinner schedule: there is now a choice of four dining times; with 5:45 and 8:00 seatings on the upper level and 6:15 and 8:30 seatings on the lower level. This idea, originated by Carnival Cruise Lines and later “borrowed” by HAL, works very well in that it provides a wider choice of dining times. However, as the 8:00 seating seems to be the most desirable, I must wonder if perhaps the times should be switched, with the 5:45 and 8:00 seatings on the lower level where there is considerably more seating than on the upper level.

As for the food itself, I am of the opinion that there is only a certain level of quality which can be achieved in the main dining room of a mass-market cruise ship serving 1,000+ passengers, and I believe that it was reached on this cruise. HAL have hired a new corporate chef, Rudi Sodamin, as part of the Signature of Excellence program and have completely revamped all their menus. While there were some initial missteps, the new menus have since been tweaked in line with passenger suggestions and I think they are an undeniable success.

The new menus generally offer four appetizers, three soups, two salads, and seven main courses. In addition, two main courses featuring wild Norwegian salmon were featured each evening as part of a “HAL Goes Wild on Norwegian Salmon” theme, bringing the total number of main course choices to nine. There are also of course numerous dessert selections each night, including sugar-free, low-fat, and other such items. Cappuccino and espresso are offered free of charge with dessert, a nice touch that has been abandoned by some other mass-market lines.

Oddly, “always available” selections – e.g. broiled salmon, strip steak, baked potato – were not listed on the menu, despite the fact that they do remain available.

As for the food itself, the quality and selection were a clear step up from my previous HAL cruise two years ago, and in particular more creative and upscale menu items were featured along with more traditional ones. All in all, the food is as good as one could expect from a large mass-market restaurant, and several times I was surprised by dishes which reached a level of quality that is very rarely attained on mainstream cruise ships.

Breakfast and lunch are also offered in the dining room, in open-seating on the upper level only. However, hours are very limited as part of an effort to essentially force passengers to use the Lido. Despite this, the menus are quite extensive and food quality is up to the standard of that at dinner, unlike some other ships I’ve been on recently.

The Lido offers breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks; there is pretty much always food up there except for a few hours between 1 AM and 5 AM or thereabouts, when nothing is open except for the 24-hour coffee and tea stations. I will state up front that I normally have a bit of an aversion to buffets – I find that most cruise ship buffets tend towards the mediocre – but HAL’s are the exception. Theirs are consistently the best of any mass-market cruise line; the variety and quality of food available here is just amazing. At breakfast all of the various American and European breakfast items are available – including made-to-order items like omelettes – and the lunch selection is particularly impressive, with a wide variety of hot dishes, made-to-order sandwiches, an incredible variety of salads, grilled items like hamburgers, hot dogs, and sausages, Asian stir-fry, pizza, taco bar, so on and so forth. Occasionally they mix things up a bit – for example, one day the taco bar was replaced by an Indian buffet which was a special treat. I have not seen this variety and quality replicated anywhere else; the variety just doesn’t exist elsewhere, even if some (perhaps the high-priced luxury lines) might replicate the quality.

I also ought to mention that HAL smartly refuse to use such things as plastic “glasses”, paper napkins, paper or Styrofoam cups with those awful plastic or wood “stirrers” for coffee and tea, and other such blights which tend to crop up in buffets. Only glass glasses, real china cups, metal cutlery and paper napkins on this ship, thank you very much.

While the traditional focus of the Lido is on breakfast and lunch, dinner is also offered every evening. With the exception of evenings when the ship is in port, in which case a buffet is offered, this takes the form of a partial buffet (for appetizers, etc.) with main courses served by stewards. The menu is an abbreviated form of the dining room menu. For this service, tables are set with linen tablecloths and candles which create an atmosphere more conducive to dinner. This is an excellent alternative for those who do want to dine at their regular set seating, or who don’t want to get dressed for a formal night.

Finally, there is the Pinnacle Grill, the extra-cost alternative restaurant. This is open for dinner every night, with a $20 surcharge, as well as for lunch on sea days only, with a $10 surcharge. The restaurant serves “Pacific Northwest cuisine” which is best translated as “steak”. Of course, fish, chicken, pasta, etc. are offered, but the menu’s focus is still squarely on red meat and the food is similar to that of a very upscale steakhouse. There is no question that the food itself is excellent, the service particularly superb, and the atmosphere quite elegant, but personally I rather wish they’d do something rather more imaginative than steak as far as the menu goes; this menu just doesn’t do all that much for me. That said, there is no faulting the quality of the food, the service, or anything else except the menu which is merely a matter of taste. Certainly, many HAL passengers seem to really enjoy the Pinnacle and its menu, and I suppose that’s what counts. Me, I’d like to see a Dutch/Indonesian alternative restaurant, but its clientele would probably wind up consisting almost exclusively of Dutch officers!

Anyhow, whichever restaurant you choose, you’re not likely to go hungry on this ship… And please, nobody say that you can’t go hungry on a cruise – you can and I have! Fortunately, not on this one…

Entertainment: I can’t comment all that much on the entertainment, as we only saw one “show” – a comedian, who was not bad but not great. Honestly, on port-intensive itineraries like this, I find myself too tired from running around interesting ports to drag myself to shows and other entertainment activities. However, a full range of activities is offered, with shows every evening in the main lounge, recent films several times a day in the cinema, an enrichment lecturer – on our cruise, on Col. Ralph ******, father of the ABC News anchor Elizabeth ******; his lectures were on Europe, not on “What it’s like to have a daughter who does the network news” – and the various other entertainment activities generally offered on cruise ships of this ilk.

However, while on this topic, I must mention our cruise director, the incredibly energetic Susan Wood, who is one of the last of her breed in that she actually mixes and mingles with the passengers, something which seems increasingly rare. Aside from doing a good job running all the activities which I was too tired to attend, she plays the part of hostess to 1,300 passengers with aplomb. I’ve met (or rather, not met) too many cruise directors who never seem to come out of their holes except when doing emcee duties at the nightly show, or imploring passengers to attend this or that activity, so when someone like Susan comes along, I really appreciate her. She is what cruise directors were like before the profession became overrun by loud, obnoxious North American males (and they are almost all North American males) who really ought to have gone into selling used cars. (I’m not saying that HAL have any cruise directors like this… Maybe they do, maybe they don’t… But I certainly have encountered my fair share on other lines.)

Service: As always on HAL, service is from a predominantly male (except for the mostly female purser’s staff), predominantly Indonesian and Filipino crew. On this cruise it was excellent on all counts, and unlike a previous experience with HAL, I did not experience any language problems. Unlike some other ships and lines where the friendliness of crew members seems “forced”, here it is genuine. We had no negative service issues to speak of; all the staff and crew from the captain on down were excellent.

Special thanks must go to our cabin steward, whose name I have embarrassingly forgotten, to our dining room steward Bobby, and especially to 2nd Maitre d’ Sanjay (an Indian among Indonesians and Filipinos) for helping to make this a great cruise.

Now for two service-related issues that always manage to crop up and cause difficulties on cruises: tipping and on-board surveys.

Tipping is of course an age-old subject of argument and discussion amongst cruisers. HAL’s old “No Tipping Required” policy (What they didn’t say was that it was expected even though it wasn’t required!) was murky, confusing, and perhaps even a bit misleading, and I for one was very glad to see it go. It has been replaced by a new $10 per person per day gratuity which is charged to one’s on-board account. This amount can be reduced, added to, or eliminated at a passenger’s request. Of this $10, $3 is distributed to one’s cabin steward, $3 to one’s dining room steward, and the remaining $4 is distributed among other service personnel. As Susan pointed out, this is below industry standard levels, so it is more than fair – to passengers at least. Of course tipping is at each passenger’s discretion but if you are satisfied with your service I would urge you to at least leave the standard gratuity on your account… The crew members who work their tails off to make your cruise enjoyable deserve it.

It should be noted that if you remove this amount from your account, and tip on your own instead, any amount up to that standard amount received by crew members must be turned in and pooled. However, if you elect to leave the $10 tip on your account and then tip a bit extra, that “above and beyond” amount goes directly into the crew member’s pocket. This is something to keep in mind when deciding how and how much to tip.

As for on-board surveys, this has been an issue ever since some cruise line decided to start forcing crew members to pressure passengers into giving “Excellent” ratings by firing crew members who were “only” rated “Good” too many times. (From talking with friends, it seems that this has been going on at least for 20 years or so on one major line which is notorious for the practice.) On HAL, the on-board survey offers ratings from “1” (worst) to “9” (best) in each category. The only mention of ratings came during the disembarkation lecture when Susan asked that if we could not rate a category an “8” or a “9”, we please indicate the reason for this in the “comments” section. While I heard a few complaints about even this request, I think it is quite reasonable and constructive, and the issue was never mentioned again. This survey issue has long annoyed me and I am glad that the practice of pressuring passengers for “excellent” ratings, which does nothing more than demean crew members and inflate customer satisfaction ratings, has not made its way to HAL. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Flotsam and Jetsam/Miscellaneous Comments:
- Art auctions and Turkish-bazaar style “sales tables” in public areas are crass and tacky and should be discontinued. They do not belong on a ship billing itself as “premium”.

- There are too many unnecessary announcements, including particularly irritating ones imploring passengers to attend bingo. Again, these do not belong on a “premium” ship.

- Mercifully, “acoustic wallpaper”/“elevator music” is absent in most of the ship’s public areas.

- Public toilets on this ship are surprisingly luxurious, finished in granite with cloth hand towels and even artworks! After the rather Spartan ones on QM2, these were a nice surprise.

- Even though I normally take the stairs, I must say that the elevators/lifts on this ship are fantastic: they’re huge, quiet, ridiculously fast, and because there are twelve of them for just over 1,300 passengers – which must be some sort of record – one need not wait long for an uncrowded one, except perhaps at times when most passengers are embarking or disembarking when they can get a bit busy.

THE CRUISE:

The following is a day-by-day account of the cruise, as well as our journeys to and from Rotterdam and Copenhagen, and our post-cruise stay of two nights in Copenhagen.

Day 1 – Sunday 7 August 2005
Rotterdam, Netherlands

We left home at about 3 PM Saturday 6 August, New York time, to catch KLM 642, a nonstop from JFK to Amsterdam Schiphol. Our journey began smoothly: car arrived on time, no traffic, no hassles. This was my first time using the new Terminal 4 (on the site of the old International Terminal) at JFK. The landside areas are quite nice, but airside – at least near our gate – was astonishingly Spartan for a very expensive new terminal. We did depart a few minutes late: this flight, scheduled for departure at just after 6 PM, comes at the beginning of the mad rush at JFK for eastbound departures to Europe. We seem to have pushed back from the gate roughly on-time, but departure was inevitably delayed by the expected traffic on the ramp. At any rate, the highly predictable late departure proved not to be a problem at all due to an also somewhat predictable tailwind.

The aircraft was a gorgeous new 777, PH-BQI, named IGUAZU FALLS – yes, KLM still name their aircraft, which I love! Seating in economy was a bit cramped, but due to its newness – delivered to KLM 13 December 2004, making this the second-newest KLM 777 – this aircraft, like all other KLM 777s, was equipped with the latest high-tech in-flight entertainment system from Matsu****a (better known by the brand name of their consumer products: Panasonic). In addition to the now-ubiquitous personal video displays, this has what in-flight-entertainment connoisseurs like to call AVOD – Audio and Video On Demand. I myself had never encountered a system like this before, and it’s quite amazing. I think we had roughly 50 films to choose from – all on-demand, of course. I watched the first Lord of the Rings installment. (For the first time, I might add – yes, that shows how far behind I am as far as films are concerned; I really only watch them on airplanes!) This was incredibly long, but good – that is, from what I could understand with a malfunctioning headset jack. Even the latest in Japanese high-tech has trouble sometimes…

In-flight service was very nice from an extremely professional KLM crew... Probably the best service I have had on any airline, ever. These people seem to really enjoy what they do, and it showed. The food was OK (a hot dinner after takeoff, and a continental breakfast before landing), the service superb, the aircraft magnificent and best of all, a tremendous tailwind allowed us to arrive early at Schiphol despite our late departure.

Of note were our fellow passengers – mostly Dutch, with surprisingly few Americans in evidence. I was absolutely astonished when a gentleman who I’d seen speaking English, and I took for a native speaker (his English was better than mine!) turned around and started speaking Dutch to the person next to him. We have something seriously wrong with our educational system in the US, as is painfully obvious every time we leave the country. (Actually, this happened at the gate at JFK, so I hadn’t even left the country!)

At any rate, as I said, we arrived early – almost exactly 7 AM, a half hour before our scheduled arrival – and everything went off without a hitch. As our flying time was about 1.5 hours shorter than scheduled, yet we arrived only 30 minutes early, I suppose we must have taken off a good hour late. At any rate, didn’t matter thanks to that handy tailwind.

AMS is a very big, not particularly beautiful but extraordinarily efficient airport. Our gate area was being renovated but nonetheless the place is immaculate, easy to get around, and the ramp was full of gorgeous KLM aircraft (I love their livery!) waiting to fly out to all sorts of exotic places that US airlines haven’t flown to since the days of Pan Am. Oddly enough, as we walked through the gate area, a boarding announcement was made for a KLM/Alitalia flight to Milan – with the announcement made in Dutch, English, and French. Am I the only one who thinks something is missing here…? For a flight to Italy?

Anyhow, announcements aside, Dutch immigration was a cinch – quick, efficient, friendly – and miraculously our luggage was among the first to emerge from the depths of the aircraft and make its way to the carousel. Disembarking, going through immigration, and collecting our luggage took us perhaps 20 minutes at the most from the time we arrived at the gate. “Great,” I thought, “now, to the ship!”

For the sake of convenience, we decided to take HAL’s bus transfer from Schiphol to Rotterdam. There was a HAL representative (well, a person holding a HAL sign) at the baggage claim, who checked off our name and directed us through customs (a simple matter of walking through the “Nothing to Declare” lane. After this, another HAL representative took our names, and this time our vouchers as well. At this point, everything seems organized… Thing is, then more HAL reps show up, all taking down names, cross-referencing, etc. Suddenly this went from a model of organization to a comic scene of red-jacketed reps scurrying around and trying to make sure that all of them had crossed everybody’s name off their lists. I haven’t a clue why this is needed, as everything was working nicely when there was just one rep. (To be fair, I can’t lay the blame for this scene on HAL, as their incoming operations at Schiphol are handled by a TUI subsidiary called Holland International. I thought this rather ironic since TUI charter THOMSON SPIRIT and THOMSON CELEBRATION – the former NIEUW AMSTERDAM and NOORDAM – from HAL.)

Fortunately, the whole business was cleared up soon enough and we made our way through the main lobby at Schiphol, called Schiphol Center, beneath which is the airport’s train station, to a bus. This was a typical European tour bus (what the French would call un car). Our very pleasant driver, who spoke English that was probably terrible by Dutch standards, but still quite good for a non-native speaker, was kind enough to answer questions and point out points of interest along the way. As we drove south we were treated to a spectacular full rainbow as the drizzle faded away and the sun peeked through the clouds – a wonderful welcome to the Netherlands.

When arriving in a new destination, the first few minutes outside of airport proper are always filled with a bit of excitement, and one thinks “so this is what…looks like!” In the case of the Netherlands, as silly as it sounds, my initial impression of the country was that they have incredibly nice highways and a lot of cows and sheep. Seriously, driving south from Schiphol one sees lots and lots of fields with livestock grazing – a much more rural scene than one would expect to see in a small, densely populated country with a highly developed economy. There are also loads of windmills – not just the traditional sort, but also tons of wind turbines for electricity generation, some of them startlingly enormous. I found the profusion of wind turbines quite fascinating for a country famous for a very different kind of windmill!

Of course, soon enough, the countryside ended and we entered the Dutch version of suburbia. This is characterized mainly by what look to me like what Americans would call townhouses (in lieu of our more space-inefficient tract houses) and by lots of shiny new office blocks occupied by big corporations. Just like Dutch farms, Dutch suburbs, at least from a distance, look pretty much like suburb anywhere else in the world, though I was struck by the number of new buildings being built – rather like the developing outer suburbs of many US cities. But, generally, there was nothing distinctively Dutch about these suburbs – suburbs, in my opinion, being liable to bring out the banality in any country. The same goes for the highways – OK, so they look newer and vastly better-maintained than our litter-strewn, pothole-ridden ones in the Northeast US, but nevertheless highways all tend to look alike aside from, occasionally, the scenery going by. One thing that perplexed me, though, were the road signs – of course, as expected, they were in Dutch, but more unusually, there are lots of signs with what look like place names on them that have been struck through. Do they do so much roadwork here that they’re always correcting the signs, or is this a Dutch way of saying that one can’t get to that place from this road, or…? I’ll have to ask some of my Dutch friends if they can explain this.

I was reminded of how small the Netherlands is as our bus driver rattled off the names of the cities we were driving past – just driving from Amsterdam to Rotterdam, we went through just about every Dutch city I’ve heard of. The Hague, Delft, and many other familiar names are all along this route. Of course, we never saw any of them, but I really felt as though we were getting a whirlwind tour of the country!

As we neared Rotterdam, our driver informed us that we’d have to take a more circuitous route than usual because of auto racing in Rotterdam. At the time I wasn’t sure what this is about… But we certainly found out later on.

After a nice journey through the countryside and then the suburbs, we exited the highway and drove into Rotterdam. As one might expect from a city with virtually no buildings over 50 years old, Rotterdam is strikingly modern. In fact, we saw few buildings that even looked as though they’d been around for two decades, and the construction cranes scattered throughout the place almost looked like photos I’ve seen of rapidly expanding cities in Asia. (Of course, these buildings aren’t 100 stories tall like the ones they’re putting up in places like Shanghai, and the scaffolding isn’t made from bamboo!)

Naturally, as it was early on a Sunday morning, the majority of the populace was undoubtedly in bed and so the place looked rather deserted. But the impression of modernity is striking – inadvertently “cleansed” of anything old, those of us used to cities that have been built up over centuries or even, in Europe, millennia may find a place like Rotterdam almost disconcerting. Everything is simply so new, so modern that there’s a slightly surreal feel to the whole place.

Soon enough – after a bus journey of about 45 minutes, due, I assume, to the auto-racing-related detour – we arrived at the Wilhelminakade along the New Waterway where ROTTERDAM was berthed. The Wilhelminakade is sacred ground for HAL history buffs, as it was here that for decades the grand HAL ships of the past sailed for New York. This very spot was the center of the world for HAL for much of the 20th century, and it was quite exciting to finally have arrived here.

After seeing ships like QM2, which we visited a few weeks earlier, ROTTERDAM doesn’t look particularly large – in fact, for a moment, I thought she looked quite small until I acclimated my sense of scale. It seems odd that a 59,000+ GT ship might seem small, but she doesn’t have the towering presence of the larger mega-ships. That said, I would not trade her for something larger for anything – 59,000 GT is more than large enough.

The Rotterdam Cruise Terminal was created out of an existing portion of the old HAL terminal at the Wilhelminakade, though I’m not sure how old it is. My guess would be that it was built right after WWII. Certainly, this building is a familiar sight from many 1950s and 1960s photographs of HAL liners in Rotterdam. Today, the building appears in good condition. Many of the surrounding former warehouses – mostly prewar – have been converted to luxury apartments, and more, currently disused, are apparently to be converted. All of these buildings were once part of HAL’s complex at the Wilhelminakade, though there are also a few new skyscrapers that of course were not. Probably the most well-known building here is the Hotel New York, built as HAL’s headquarters building at the turn of the last century and used as such up until the 1970s. Ten years ago it was converted to a hotel, and it retains its original external appearance. Sadly, the presence of nearby skyscrapers makes the building look rather less impressive than in old photographs taken before the new construction – but it is nevertheless a magnificent structure and we are very fortunate that this piece of company history has been preserved and is now being put to good use.

Predictably, after disembarking from our bus (Can one disembark from a bus?), we entered the Rotterdam Cruise Terminal. The lower level seems to be reserved for arriving passengers, and after going through security and being given a group number – in our case, arriving around 9:30, we were in Group 4 – departing passengers head upstairs. This is a rather charming space, with a bar/café and a large amount of open space. The arched roof of the building is exposed, and the entire space is really quite evocative. As most of it is empty, stackable chairs are set up, but unfortunately the space is much too small to hold all the incoming passengers for a ship the size of ROTTERDAM.

The procedure for checking in and embarking was very unusual – check-in itself did not begin until 11:00, leaving us to wait 1.5 hours with little to do but chat to other passengers. Rather than checking in, and then being assigned a number for embarkation, one waits for one’s number to be called in order to be checked in. However, once check-in is completed, passengers can embark immediately. The majority were quite frustrated by the time that check-in commenced – particularly due to the lack of space in the terminal – but once it began, check-in and embarkation proceeded very quickly and efficiently. We were able to board the ship at about 11:45. Our cabin was only two doors aft of the starboard side Deck 2 gangway where we boarded, so we popped in to drop off a few items and clean up, only to have our steward introduce himself and inform us that our cabin was not yet ready. Never mind that it looked ready, clearly the finishing touches hadn’t been applied. He did let us know that we were welcome to drop off our hand baggage in the cabin (Officially, we probably weren’t, but as we were there anyway…), an opportunity we took advantage of. (Actually, a facility is provided for passengers to check their hand baggage while cabins are being prepared – something which is necessary now that passengers are permitted to embark before cabins are ready.)

We had an appointment to meet a friend, Onno Heesbeen (owner of the wonderful web site Cruising the 21st Century, graphic designer by trade, and an extraordinarily talented photographer of maritime subjects), at the Maritime Museum at 1 PM and so we headed up to the Lido for a quick lunch before disembarking again. Mimicking its counterpart on the Vista-class ships, the Lido area has been redesigned to offer “stations” rather than a buffet line and this works very nicely. Personally I feel that when arriving after a long intercontinental flight and going through the formalities and hassles of traveling, there few nicer things to come upon than an HAL Lido. After the rather tense embarkation, it was a joy to be aboard and to be able to have a good meal in a familiar environment. (I say this as someone who loves trying new things, but there is something to be said for familiarity.) As always on HAL, the buffet was outstanding in the variety and quality of the food.

During lunch we observed that the weather had abruptly changed, and there was now quite a downpour. I was none too happy about this development as our umbrellas were in our checked baggage which had not arrived yet! Fortunately, the rain turned out to be fleeting, and by the time we disembarked the sun had broken through again.

After disembarking, we walked across the Erasmus Bridge – a magnificent structure, likened by locals to a swan – to the other side of the New Waterway. A few blocks beyond the bridge is the Maritime Museum. Onno, who brought along his charming mother as well, was waiting as promised in the lobby. After buying tickets, the first thing one is greeted by is a huge, three-story wall on which hang no less than 58 models of Dutch ships of all types and ages, from familiar vessels like NIEUW AMSTERDAM of 1938 or the SMZ Hook-Harwich ferry KONINGEN BEATRIX of 1986 (now Stena Line’s STENA BALTICA and operating between Karlskrona, Sweden and Gdynia, Poland), to complete unknowns. I was surprised to see a model of something I never knew existed – a HAL container ship! I knew HAL had cargo ships of course, the famous –DYK vessels, but aside from their one-time shareholding in Atlantic Container Line, I had no idea that HAL had ever owned any containerships. Nevertheless, here before me was a model of BILDERDYK, HAL’s very last cargo vessel, in the early ‘70s blue hull livery with orange funnel and “slug” logo no less (and again, I never knew that HAL had painted any cargo ships in this livery). This fascinating discovery was a taste of things to come.

After admiring the models in the main hall, we climbed up a ramp to the first floor of the museum which houses an excellent exhibit on the port of Rotterdam. A highlight of this is a huge, room-sized model of the entire city and below it an identical model of the city in the 19th century. It is astonishing to note that virtually the whole city was simply empty space not so long ago – the expansion is just amazing.

Upstairs on the next floors there are a number of fascinating exhibits. The first is the museum’s HAL exhibit, which of course I was looking forward to more than anything. As we walked up to the exhibit we nearly walked right into my good friend Ted Scull and his wife Suellyn, and Steamship Rotterdam Foundation member Willem van der Leek. (If you read Cruise Travel, you’ve almost certainly read Ted’s work, and he’s also written several books on various subjects.) Ted and Suellyn were sailing with us on ROTTERDAM but I hadn’t been expecting to meet them until later, on board when I knew bumping into them would be inevitable. It was also an honor to meet Willem whose organization has done so much for the preservation of ROTTERDAM (V), a ship which is truly a Dutch national treasure and whose preservation is a great feat of which everyone in the Netherlands should be very proud. Unfortunately, Ted, Suellyn, and Willem were just leaving to catch a water taxi, so we didn’t have time to chat. While we’d be with the Sculls for the next two weeks, it was a shame that we didn’t get a chance to spend more time with Willem. Perhaps on a future visit to the Netherlands.

After saying hello to the Sculls and Willem, we went on to the HAL exhibit which traces the entire history of the company from 1873 right to today – down to samples of carpets and a model of the ceiling decoration on HAL’s latest ship, the third WESTERDAM. (I suppose when NOORDAM is introduced they’ll have to add something from her!) The real treasures, though, are of course much older – for example an exhibit comparing first- and third-class china from the turn of the last century, an incredible collection of gorgeous ship models, including cutaways, and all manner of HAL ephemera, all presented in a magnificent setting. This exhibit is simply heaven for HAL fans – an original poster (I don’t mean a print here, I mean the actual hand drawing) for STATENDAM III (1929), cabin mock-ups from NIEUW AMSTERDAM II (1938), builders’ models of several HAL ships including ROTTERDAM IV (1908), the original builders’ plate from ROTTERDAM V (apparently lifted off her while she was laid-up in the Bahamas – I hope it returns to the ship when she herself returns to Rotterdam next year), a poster for the short-lived year-round Indonesian cruises on PRINSENDAM I (1973)… The list goes on and on. I was, however, amused to see a diorama of ROTTERDAM (VI) and OOSTERDAM in Alaska – which the former has, to my knowledge, never visited! Perhaps the ROTTERDAM model can go in for a “refit” and emerge as her sister AMSTERDAM (III), which has spent several summers exploring America’s Last Frontier.

After examining the HAL items in great detail, it was time to move on and see what the rest of the museum had to offer. Of course, HAL is not the only grand old Dutch shipping line, and another fascinating exhibit, brand-new, is entitled “Treasures of the Nedloyd”. It contains, as one might expect, all manner of art and artifacts from the entire history of what is arguably the second-most-illustrious Dutch shipping line (after HAL of course!). Highlights for me included an absolutely gorgeous tapestry of Amsterdam from ORANJE of 1939, and a mosaic from the second-class dining room of the same ship. This is beautiful art made even more special by its history!

Other exhibits include one on coastal shipping in the Netherlands, another on the ordinary life of sailors, and there’s a children’s section too. That’s not to mention the great bookshop (where I didn’t have enough time to browse and find something I wanted, unfortunately – but I’m sure there are amazing treasures within for people like me who collect books on ships), and preserved ships outdoors (which we didn’t have time to see, sadly). I honestly could have spent at least an entire day in the place – mind you, most people who are not ship nuts like me would probably only want to spend a few hours, but without a doubt it is by far the best maritime museum I’ve ever been in. This is the model to which all such museums should aspire. It just doesn’t get any better, and anyone interested in HAL who visits Rotterdam absolutely must see the HAL exhibit. The entire museum is very, very highly recommended.

After visiting the museum we walked with Onno and his mother back to the ship, and parted with them there. I have to say that even though we only had a few hours in Rotterdam, I had a great time and I have to thank Onno and Mrs. Heesbeen for giving us such a warm and enthusiastic welcome to the Netherlands. I truly wish we had been able to stay pre-cruise and spend more time here, but hopefully we’ll be able to return soon and it would be a pleasure to see them again.

After a great afternoon in Rotterdam, we boarded ROTTERDAM once again and found our cabin to be properly ready. Not long after, at 5 PM, we had the lifeboat drill – as always on HAL, a very serious event, just as it should be. HAL still do this the traditional way, out on the boat deck.

After the drill – during which we had a spontaneous, short-lived but very strong downpour (thank heavens ROTTERDAM’s boat deck is covered!) – my parents and I went up to Deck 9 to watch as we departed Rotterdam. Here we were greeted again, as I had hoped, by Ted and Suellyn. While it wasn’t raining (except for a bit of drizzling here and there), it was very windy, and my parents and Suellyn went back indoors before long while Ted and I resolved to stay on deck for as long as possible. As we spun around in the Maas and headed out to sea, a choir sang on the Wilhelminakade and we were saluted by a local fireboat. All along the banks of the Maas, local citizens came out to witness our departure. Eventually we made our way out of central Rotterdam, passing landmarks such as the Euromast (as I recall, the tallest freestanding structure in Europe), and with the Erasmus Bridge in the background, we sailed past Rotterdam’s container port, the largest in Europe and once the largest in the world. We had hoped to be able to be on deck to pass the Hook of Holland and enter the North Sea, but by 7 PM I decided to go down to the cabin to get ready for dinner and Ted did the same shortly after. I did manage to watch much of our progress out of our cabin window, and at the Hook of Holland we saw the less-than-attractive Hook-Harwich ro-pax ferry STENA BRITANNICA. As we passed the Hook and entered the North Sea, the seas appeared rather rough, and we began to be able to feel the motion of the ship for the first time.

At 8 PM we reported for second seating upper level dining, and found ourselves at a lovely oval table for eight all the way aft, one row of tables away from the windows. ROTTERDAM’s dining room is really quite attractive; much nicer than that on the Vista-class ships. In addition to the three of us, our table includes three singles sailing alone, from New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts, and a couple from Maryland – a very Northeast US-centric table. We’d met two of the single travellers earlier while waiting to check in and were very pleased to be with them. (As an added bonus, Ted and Suellyn are only one table over.) We found all of our table companions to be very pleasant and looked forward to dining with them, and were also very pleased with the location of the table and with our excellent stewards who would take very good care of us throughout the cruise.

After dinner, exhausted from the day’s events, I decided to have an early night and go to bed. The next day would be a restful day at sea, something I was greatly looking forward to.

Day 2 – Monday 8 August, 2005
At Sea en route from Rotterdam, Netherlands to Oslo, Norway

Our first night proved extremely rough – when I woke up in the early morning, waves were washing over our Deck 2 window and up to the boat deck on Deck 3. By my calculations that would have to have made them about 20-30 ft high. Unfortunately my mom is a bit prone to seasickness and had a difficult night – on the other hand I found the ship’s motion perfect for sleeping.

Fortunately, by morning, things had calmed down a bit with seas of 10-15 ft. However, the weather still left something to be desired: the pools were closed down, and several outdoor activities had to be cancelled due to the high winds. All day we were followed by JEWEL OF THE SEAS, whose passengers were obviously enjoying/cursing the weather as well.

At 11 AM, I had an appointment to meet Cruise Critic member John Prins “at the bust of Queen Beatrix near the Shore Excursions desk”. This was all well and good – until I found that there was no bust of Queen Beatrix near the Shore Excursions desk! Apparently, in the last refit, the bust was moved to the Queen’s Lounge (a very appropriate location I think) and it has been replaced by a photo of ROTTERDAM’s patron, Princess Margriet. After a quick run to the Internet Café to be sure I’d read John’s e-mail correctly, I finally ran into a gentleman who asked me if I was Doug Newman. It was of course John, who explained the statue situation and introduced me to his lovely wife Maria. We had a nice long chat in the seating area in the Atrium on Deck 5, and resolved to meet again during the cruise.

After spending a leisurely day relaxing, we donned our formal attire and made our way to the Queen’s Lounge for a very brief but pleasant captain’s reception presided over by Captain Jan Smit and Cruise Director Susan Wood. It was great to see waiters circulating with bitterballen on my favorite toothpicks, the ones that have little paper HAL houseflags on them.

We then made our way to the dining room for an excellent formal dinner, the highlight of which was a superb rack of lamb as good as any I’ve had ashore. During dinner, as we rounded the point of Jutland, the seas calmed dramatically to about 1.5 ft. (They remained calm for the rest of the cruise.) Also during dinner in the dusk we saw a very large passenger vessel astern. Initially I thought this was a SPIRIT- or Vista-class ship but as COSTA ATLANTICA and WESTERDAM were the only ones anywhere near this area at the time and neither one would have had any reason to be to the west of Jutland at that time. Thus the vessel remained a mystery, but I later found out that it was in fact the Oslo-Kiel ferry COLOR FANTASY.

After lingering over dessert, I decided to eschew “the show” for the second night in a row and after writing my journal entry I went to bed early once again.

Day 3 – Tuesday 9 August 2005
Oslo, Norway

On Monday, Capt. Smit had informed us that we would be embarking our pilot for the Oslofjord at 3 AM before sailing into Oslo. Fortunately, I slept quite well and thus was not able to witness this event! Indeed, by the time I awoke at about 6 AM we were just about to arrive. We were followed closely by JEWEL OF THE SEAS, and then the DFDS Oslo-Copenhagen night boat PEARL OF SCANDINAVIA and her brand-new Color Line Oslo-Kiel counterpart COLOR FANTASY – at over 74,000 GT, the largest ferry on earth, indeed considerably larger than our own ROTTERDAM. (At the time I was unaware that this had been our “mystery ship” of the night before.)

The weather in Oslo was beautiful – cool, crisp, and clear. The Oslofjord was like glass – as still as I’ve ever seen any body of water I think – and generally it was just a lovely day as far as weather is concerned.

We berthed at Revierkaia, a few blocks away from the Oslo Cruise Terminal at Sønderakerskai, where JEWEL OF THE SEAS was berthed. After breakfast, we disembarked and walked past JEWEL OF THE SEAS to Radhusplassen, in front of City Hall, from where ferries to Bygdøy leave.

The ferries to Bygdøy are rather more like large launches than ferries, and run frequently during the day. Bygdøy itself is a peninsula, and for tourists there are five main sites of interest: the Viking Ship Museum, the Norse Folk Museum, the KON-TIKI museum, the Polarship FRAM Museum, and the Norwegian Maritime Museum.

We stepped off the ferry near the Viking Ship Museum, where we had a peek inside but, being cheap and thinking the museum did not appear particularly interesting, did not actually pay admission and enter. (It is possible to walk some ways into the museum and actually see the Viking ships from a small distance without having to pay.) We decided to skip the Folk Museum and the KON-TIKI Museum entirely and walked across Bygdøy to the FRAM. This fascinating old ship, housed inside an A-frame building, was used by several famous Norwegian polar explorers including Nansen and Amundsen. Along the perimeter of the building, on three levels, are photo and text boards telling the story of the ship and her expeditions, and showcases with various artifacts. Of course the highlight is the ship herself, whose massive, robust wooden hull rises three stories above ground level, with her masts soaring up to the high roof of the building. Visitors can board the ship and explore her decks and cabins. It’s amazing to think that explorers spent years inside her confined quarters in the frigid polar climate!

In general, I haven’t heard the FRAM mentioned all that much – it’s not featured in many shore excursions, and doesn’t seem to be mentioned in many of reviews of Baltic ports that I’ve read – and we went in basically on a whim. I was surprised to find it as fascinating as it was – I recommend this for those wanting something a little different in Oslo. (Interestingly, most of the visitors to the FRAM seemed to be German, probably a good number over from Kiel on COLOR FANTASY. Are Germans more interested in polar exploration than Americans…?)

Next door is the Norwegian Maritime Museum, an obligatory stop for ship enthusiasts. There are quite a few nice ship models (of Norwegian ships of course), but the museum itself is not particularly well-designed – there is no “flow” to the layout, and one has to keep going around in circles to see everything! As a ship nut, I enjoyed the museum, but for non-ship-enthusiasts, I’d give this a miss. (To be fair, I’d been advised in advance that the museum is not great – but as I said, maritime museums are an obligatory ship enthusiast stop in any city.) There were some rather nice models of various Norwegian vessels, a reconstructed portion of the superstructure of an old Norwegian coastal vessel, and a nice art panel from SAGAFJORD that some was probably discarded by some philistine at Lief Hoegh or (Trafalgar House-owned) Cunard. There is also a decent but fairly ordinary museum shop, where I was pleased to see a good number of books from my favorite maritime publisher, Carmania Press.

That said, the truth is that unlike the Rotterdam Maritime Museum, which I think would appeal to virtually anyone, even those only mildly interested in maritime subjects, I would recommend the Oslo museum only for die-hard ship nuts myself who are delighted at anything at all ship-related. It’s not bad, but I feel it’s in need of a major cash infusion and facelift.

After visiting the two museums, we took the ferry back to central Oslo, and walked to the City Hall (Radhus). Built in 1950, this is a fascinating building in an architectural style that is quite specific to Norway. One can go in and have a look at the tremendously impressive lobby for free, and I certainly recommend it – it is quite unlike anything you will see anywhere else.

Having looked into the City Hall we spend the remainder of our time in Oslo slowly working our way back to the ship, walking in and out of side streets and simply exploring whatever we came upon. Oslo is a compact city perfect for walking, and not at all well suited to organized shore excursions (if you can’t walk someplace, take a tram – fast and easy) and has, as oxymoronic as this sounds, the feel of a very large small town… .There are no really tall buildings to speak of, and generally despite being a major city with a lively cultural scene as well as lots of business activity, the feel is entirely different from that of a place like Rotterdam with its gleaming skyscrapers and crowded streets. The almost frantic pace of life that usually goes with being a large city seems absent in Oslo, which struck me as a very relaxed, informal and friendly city. Not that Rotterdam is not friendly – quite the contrary, the Dutch are a very warm and welcoming people – but it seems a city very much more concerned with getting things done than Oslo.

We returned to ROTTERDAM at about 1:30 PM after a good five hours or so ashore in this lovely city. I’d certainly like to return as there are some things I’d like to have seen which we didn’t. The Vigeland Park got particularly rave reviews.

After quick lunch in the Lido – the best yet, complete with the famous HAL bread pudding – we headed down to the cinema to watch “The Interpreter”, which was good enough that I stayed awake the whole time. After that, I had a quick nap; I wasn’t actually tired, but spending two hours sitting in a comfortable seat in a dark, air-conditioned room has a certain effect…

I woke up to see us just slipping out of Oslo, and went up to the boat deck to watch our departure and take photos. We were treated to an informative narration by our port lecturer, which I really appreciated. We followed PEARL OF SCANDINAVIA out of Oslo – JEWEL OF THE SEAS and COLOR FANTASY having already departed – and passed COLOR FANTASY’s much older and smaller fleetmate, COLOR FESTIVAL. The Oslofjord is a very pretty area and I really enjoyed our departure.

At about 6 PM we headed up to a private party in the Crow’s Nest for passengers whose travel agents are members of the Virtuoso consortium, to which many fine agents belong. I suspect that most such passengers didn’t show up – there were only perhaps two dozen attendees, though I think many more must have been invited and indeed we would later see a larger group for our complimentary shore excursion in Tallinn – but it was a pleasant hour or so. Our Hotel Manager, Chief Housekeeper, and Future Cruise Specialist were in attendance as well as Susan, our Cruise Director.

After the party we had another very nice dinner and, once again, decided to skip the show and have an early night as we prepared for a day in Århus.

Day 4 – Wednesday 10 August 2005
Århus, Denmark

We had a very leisurely Wednesday morning as we did not arrive into Århus until about 8 AM. I got up fairly early and started taking photos of the ship – something which would take a few mornings to complete. (I always do this in the early morning because of the good lighting and lack of people.)

As we sailed into Århus Harbor, we were passed by a rather large Maersk containership; later after we berthed another even larger Maersk vessel arrived. Throughout the day, domestic Mols-Linien ferries, both fast and conventional, also arrived and departed from the harbor.

Århus is the second-largest city in Denmark and the primary city of Jutland. It is also one of the largest ports in Denmark, with a lot of container traffic and also many trailers which arrive and depart on the various ferries. The first thing one sees when arriving at Århus are large container yards (mostly Maersk Sealand), but looking beyond them is a very charming town which begins just beyond the commercial port.

There were neither other cruise ships nor major ferries in Århus today, though I did enjoy watching the Mols-Linien vessels load and unload. There were also two ferries laid-up here: the first was the former DSB (Danish State Railways) ferry BROEN (known from 1966 as KALUNDBORG) which has been here since 1992 when retired from DSB service: she was brought to Århus as a restaurant, a venture which failed, and she has been there ever since. The other was the Incat-built fast ferry INCAT 049, formerly CAT-LINK V and then MADS MOLS, which had been laid-up since July when her charter ended.

We went ashore at about 9 AM and first worked our way up to the Århus Cathedral, one of the largest churches in Scandinavia. As huge and therefore impressive as it is, the exterior of this building is rather austere. The interiors, however, are beautiful, largely plain and simple but with small areas of extremely fine ornamentation. Admission is free and it is certainly worth a look inside this magnificent building, a wonderful example of Gothic architecture.

After stopping in at the Cathedral, we wandered through town on our way to Den Gamle By (“The Old Town”). Århus is an attractive city, and the old central section has many very pretty buildings from centuries past. The newer quarters are pleasant but a bit banal, and, as bizarre as this sounds, seem to have an unusual number of hair salons. (No, I’m not making this up.)

Den Gamle By is undoubtedly the most famous attraction in Århus. Within walking distance of the ship (if you’re in decent condition) and situated in the middle of the city’s Botanical Gardens, it is a collection of over 70 old buildings from all over Denmark that were moved here and house exhibits which attempt to show daily life in Denmark in the past, with mock-ups of residences and businesses situated inside the buildings, using entirely authentic pieces – for example, the pharmaceuticals inside the apothecary’s shop date from the 18th and 19th Centuries! There are large collections of all sorts of things, from hats to textiles to clocks to toys and so on. One can easily spend a whole morning or afternoon visiting this very charming “town” – there is plenty to absorb both in the way of exhibits as well as the fascinating architecture of the buildings themselves, some of which are the only ones of their kind remaining. I found the whole project extremely well done, and a very enjoyable and interesting place to spend time, as undeniably touristy as it is.

After spending a few hours in Den Gamle By, we took a leisurely stroll back to the ship, completing a loop through the town with the ship as the starting and ending points. The ship docks in a very central location in Århus and most of the main attractions are within easy walking distance.

All in all, Århus is a very nice town and made for a pleasant introduction to Denmark.

We spent the afternoon resting aboard ship, as we wanted to take it easy today in preparation for our long tour to Berlin tomorrow. We then headed down to dinner: much to my delight, this was Dutch Night, complete with silly-looking “Dutch” hats, and delicious nasi goring, erwetensoep, and Dover sole, though I was disappointed to see the omission of the usual Dutch apple tart from the dessert menu. Nonetheless it was an excellent meal and after some rumors of Dutch Night’s demise, it was good to see it alive and well.

After dinner we had another early night in preparation for our long day in Berlin on Thursday.

Day 9 – Monday 15 August 2005
St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

On Monday, our second day in St. Petersburg, we chose HAL’s Glories of St. Petersburg excursion, which is essentially a tour to Catherine’s Palace at Pushkin and the Hermitage museum.

The day began with a drive through the countryside to Pushkin. This is a fairly pleasant small town, though the state-owned apartment complexes were only marginally less grim than the ones in St. Petersburg. However, there were quite a few private houses and apartment buildings which looked quite nice – but obviously these are only for the very wealthy, with the vast majority of people still living in the dilapidated state-owned apartments.

At Catherine’s Palace, we were once again greeted by a band playing “The Star-Spangled Banner”, “God Save the Queen”, etc. We then proceeded onto the palace grounds, which are of course very beautiful. The palace itself, when one approaches, is incredibly impressive – it is absolutely huge and done in an impossibly ornate Baroque style. Catherine, incidentally, refers to Catherine I, wife of Peter the Great, not Catherine the Great (aka Catherine II), who was apparently not at all fond of this style and indeed she had much of the palace’s gold leaf stripped off!

The palace’s interiors were once again extraordinarily opulent, with acres of gold leaf, hundreds of magnificent works of art… Simply unbelievable levels of luxury prevail. It is almost difficult to describe this sort of place – one simply must see it to comprehend the level of luxury in which these people lived. When contrasted with the extreme poverty of the average people in Russia, it is all too easy to understand why there was eventually a revolution.

This palace also contains the famous Amber Room, which is not included on this or most other tours. However, we were able to visit a small Amber Museum located at the palace which showcases the work of the Russian craftspeople who painstakingly re-created the Amber Room a few years ago, the original having been stolen by the ****s during World War II and never recovered. The workmanship of the amber craftspeople is simply amazing, and this small museum is well worth a visit. There is also a small shop where various amber items made by the craftspeople are available for sale.

Having toured the interiors and visited the Amber Museum, we then took a brief tour of the grounds of the palace before walking over to a restaurant in Pushkin for lunch. This looked somewhat dingy on the outside, but the interiors were newly renovated and the atmosphere quite nice. For the third time, we saw a Russian folk band – by this point I had had my fill of Russian folk music, which is not really to my taste, though it is certainly interesting. Again the band sold the obligatory CDs. While the food was just acceptable – not good, but edible – it was certainly plentiful and overall it was a fairly enjoyable lunch.

After lunch we headed back to St. Petersburg to visit what is in my opinion the crown jewel of the city: The State Hermitage Museum. I think it is fair to say that the Hermitage alone justifies a trip to St. Petersburg – it is undoubtedly one of the greatest collections of art in the world. Entirely apart from the fact that the buildings themselves, or at least parts of them, are gorgeous, the collection is just astounding. Major artworks from virtually every Western European artist of importance can be found here – everything from the Old Masters to the Impressionists. There are few other places where one can walk into a huge room practically wallpapered with the work of one of the world’s most famous artists. If you see only one thing in St. Petersburg, this should be it – I cannot recommend it strongly enough. It is difficult to visit the Hermitage and not be awed. Not only is the collection magnificent, but the architecture here is at least as impressive as that of any of the other palace – this, together with the artworks on display, make the Hermitage one of the foremost tourist attractions in the world.

As a bonus, we visited on Monday when the museum is not open to the public. While the many cruise ships in port meant that the museum was far from empty, it was nowhere near as crowded as it would have been on other days. If your ship is in St. Petersburg on a Monday, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you do everything you can to try to visit the Hermitage on that day. It makes a great difference and is highly recommended if at all possible.

While in central St. Petersburg, we spotted two passenger ships – Oceania’s NAUTICA (ex R FIVE), on charter to the Spanish operator Pullmantur, and the little Finnish liner KRISTINA REGINA, one of the most attractive small ships active today. She dates all the way back to 1960 when she was the Bore Line flagship SS BORE.

This was a very busy day for cruise ships in St. Petersburg: in addition to the two mentioned above, we, JEWEL OF THE SEAS, PRINSENDAM, and MONA LISA had all arrived on Sunday and stayed overnight, though SILJA OPERA departed that evening.

I should add that the presence of NAUTICA in central St. Petersburg was not unusual; Oceania’s ships usually berth in the centre of St. Petersburg, and for this reason, if you’re planning a trip to St. Petersburg, I would recommend taking a look at them if you think that they might fit your tastes and budget. Perhaps other ships often berth here too, I don’t know; but while it would not make or break my cruise, it is worth noting that this is one area where Oceania have an advantage on this particular itinerary.

Anyhow, after visiting the Hermitage, we headed back to the ship. But of course, in Russia, anything can happen at any time… And probably will! Just when we thought we were home safe, the bus suddenly stopped inside the port and, well… As I said, it stopped. And it didn’t seem to be starting up again. After some speculation and a bit of investigation, it was found that the locomotive of a train had simply left the train cars, whose tracks crossed the road, sitting there on the tracks blocking the road. While we initially feared that some sort of accident had occurred, it became obvious that this was simply a standard operating procedure and that there was no intention whatsoever of moving this train any time soon. So here we were perhaps a few hundred yards away from the ship, separated by a long train which was not moving any time soon. Fortunately, our creative Russian bus driver – and a few dozen other creative Russian bus drivers – found a clearing in the mud (I’d be hard-pressed to call it a road…) which brought us to somewhere where we could weave in and out of assorted railway cars, containers, and detritus and wind up at the ship. I have to say that coming aboard was quite a relief – we were exhausted and generally just happy to be back.

As you can probably gather from my posts, my impressions of St. Petersburg and Russia in general were mixed. It is certainly one of the most fascinating places I have ever been, a highlight of this cruise and something which I will always remember and never regret. At the same time, I don’t think I’d really want to visit Russia on a land vacation or spend a lot of time here; aside from the “sterilized” main tourist areas, most of the place is really pretty grim. That said, I would certainly encourage anyone who has been thinking of visiting St. Petersburg on a cruise to go and enjoy – it is a fascinating experience and one which you will always remember. Certainly, attractions like the Hermitage exist nowhere else in the world and seeing them is simply awe-inspiring.

As for the shore excursion issue – I felt that HAL’s excursions in St. Petersburg were OK, nothing more. It certainly is possible to see more – and more of what you want – by taking a private tour and personally if I return to St. Petersburg any time soon, I would make an effort to do that instead – that is, notwithstanding the difficulties of being a group of three. We were also unlucky enough to have a few tour participants on each tour who fit the “Ugly American” stereotype pretty well – there is nothing like being herded around all day with people you don’t like or worse, people who embarrass you with their boorish behavior in foreign lands. So for these reasons I do think that a private tour is probably the way to go if you can. Now, I well knew this ahead of time, but figured I’d impart it to you as the opinion of someone who didn’t opt for a private tour. (Opinions of those who did are plentiful.) The exception here would be the Gala Evening at the Yusupov Palace tour which I think was of a considerably higher quality than the other tours we took in St. Petersburg, and which I do not think it is possible to do through a private tour company.

Anyway, after returning to ROTTERDAM from the second of our fascinating days in St. Petersburg, we had a restful evening aboard ship and once again went to bed early, this time in preparation for a hopefully less frenetic day in Helsinki on Tuesday.

Day 10 – Tuesday 16 August 2005
Helsinki, Finland

Exhausted from our travels in Russia, we awoke rather late and found that we were already berthed in Helsinki. At the bow of our good ship a most incredible sight – a very unusual-looking apartment block called the STAR PRINCESS. What’s more, it seemed to be floating!

In all seriousness, I had forgotten that we were supposed to share Helsinki with our rather larger (almost twice ROTTERDAM’s size!) cousin from the P&O Princess arm of the Carnival empire, and so it was rather a surprise to be confronted by a veritable wall of balconies as we stepped out on deck. Nevertheless, having also been in the other direction (looking down at HAL ships from GRAND PRINCESS), I certainly had no desire to switch places with the Princess passengers. I have nothing against Princess, but I simply prefer ships that are not nearly as gargantuan as their GRAND-class behemoths.

In addition, just across from us was the pier where the Tallink ferries from Tallink berth, and were in prime position to view the comings and goings of many of their fast car ferries (called “Autoexpress” vessels by Tallink). Of more interest to me, we were treated to the sight of the big (if rather ancient) conventional ferry MELOODIA deftly pirouetting as she departed for her home port in Estonia. This display was thoughtfully put on right outside our cabin window as we readied for breakfast, and I really felt that, had our window been open, we could have touched her stern…

ROTTERDAM berthed in the Port of Helsinki, some ways outside of the city center, but there never was a port so different from St. Petersburg’s – neatly stacked, clean containers, modern buildings, shiny new cars everywhere and not a piece of barbed wire in sight.

HAL thoughtfully offered a shuttle bus to the center of town from the pier – at a not-so-cheap $5 each way… But Helsinki is an eminently walkable, tourist-friendly place, and the shuttle was a lot cheaper than a shore excursion. We probably could have walked to the city if we really wanted to be cheap, but elected to take the bus, a shiny, immaculately clean Helsinki city bus that had one feature that absolutely floored me (no pun intended). In typically Scandinavian fashion, the electrically folding door, of the sort seen on city buses the world over, had a little brush on the bottom of it that, in the course of the door opening and closing, brushed clean the floor below. Only in Scandinavia! (Or maybe Japan – I haven’t been there yet to check!)

At any rate, a few minutes on the bus and we were in central Helsinki. A friendly tourist office representative helped us map out a gentle loop through town that would allow us to take in the main sights. We first walked to the furthest point, the Rock Church, a very modern church which is literally carved right into the granite landscape. This is a sight that must be seen to be believed – the Finns are justifiably famous for their Modernist architecture, and this is certainly one of the more interesting results of their architectural talents.

After visiting this fascinating structure, we began to stroll through the city. Helsinki is heaven for architecture fans – it is famous both for its 19th century Beaux-Arts architecture, of which it houses a very comprehensive collection, as well as many fascinating Modernist landmarks of the last century. We passed by the Parliament house, the Finlandia Hall (a concert and exhibition center), the new modern art museum, called Kiasma, and other buildings of note on our way to our next stop – Helsinki’s famed railway station, an early 20th-century Art Nouveau showpiece designed by one of Finland’s most famous citizens, Eliel Saarinen. While his son Eero’s most famous building may well by the (now-abandoned) TWA Flight Center at JFK International Airport in New York, the elder Saarinen is perhaps best known for this magnificent edifice right in the middle of his nation’s capital city. And anyone with even a passing interest in 20th-century architecture cannot visit Helsinki without visiting the railway station. The Art Nouveau detailing, inside and out, is absolutely magnificent – words simply can’t capture the beauty of this place. Make sure to look inside the station’s restaurant and ticketing hall – both closed off by glass doors – as they are perhaps the most beautiful rooms in the entire building.

After this, we continued our walk to the Senate Square, a wonderful assemblage of Beaux-Arts buildings whose crowning landmark is the city’s Lutheran cathedral, which sits high atop a hill, creating a commanding presence as it “looks” down upon the lower-lying portions of the city, and beyond that the harbor and the sea. This 19th-Century edifice is another beautiful Helsinki landmark. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to go inside as midday prayers were in progress. Next time we’re in Helsinki, we’ll have to be sure to pay a visit to this building when interior viewing is possible.

After our stop in Senate Square we worked our way down to the harbor, passing the city’s Eastern Orthodox cathedral; the overwhelming majority of Finns are Lutheran, but there is also a significant Eastern Orthodox population. It is a very imposing building, authentically Russian in every way, but I must admit that after visiting several similar cathedrals in Estonia and Russia I wasn’t particularly interested in visiting another one at that moment! I suppose, just as in the Mediterranean one can eventually become bored with ancient ruins, the same can happen with onion domes in the Baltic. What can I say, one can have too much of a good thing.

And so we made our way down to the harbor, and walked down a most wonderful street which bordered the waterside, admiring many yachts and pleasure boats in the harbor, and gazing in wonderment at the laid-up icebreakers in the distance. We followed the coastline until we came upon the terminals of Silja and Viking Lines, the primary operators of cruise ferries in the Eastern Baltic, though they are now rapidly being matched – perhaps even overtaken – by Tallink, a reflection of the expanding Estonian economy. We arrived just in time to catch Viking Line’s oldest overnight ship, ROSELLA, departing for Tallinn where we’d seen her a few days before. Representative of the state of the art of Baltic ferries a quarter of a century ago, she was dwarfed by her fleetmate MARIELLA, only five years her junior but more than twice her size – a strong statement about the incredible evolution of Baltic cruise ferries during their golden age in the 1980s and 1990s. Turning 20 this year, MARIELLA is now the oldest vessel on the Helsinki-Stockholm route, but she nevertheless remains an impressive sight in her pristine red-and-white livery and I hope she continues to grace the Baltic for years to come.

Meanwhile, across the way at the Silja terminal, the even bigger SILJA SERENADE was also readying for a departure to Stockholm. Like her older competitor MARIELLA, she was once, along with sister SILJA SYMPHONY, the biggest ferry in the world. Now well over a decade old, she is also still a very impressive sight, and despite reports I’ve heard of internal neglect, she still looked pristine externally. While the Eastern Baltic is no longer the exclusive home of the latest and greatest ferries, this ensemble nevertheless reminded me of the days when every couple of years, Silja or Viking would outdo the other with yet newer, bigger, more impressive, and more luxurious and cruise-ship-like vessels. Today among the Eastern Baltic operators, only Tallink – who are ordering ships at a breakneck pace – have ordered any new ships or taken delivery of any over the past decade, an ironic twist from a decade or so ago when the Estonian company was a prime customer for surplus vessels from the Swedish and Finnish operators. But a Tallink vessel is yet to take the crown as the biggest in the world – and I doubt that anyone will even try to eclipse the mammoth COLOR FANTASY any time soon.

After some ferry-spotting, we began to work our way back to ROTTERDAM, going through Helsinki’s waterside market – with lots of fresh fish and fresh berries on offer – and then doing a little shopping for Finnish souvenirs as we strolled back to the shuttle bus stop. On the bus, we bumped into John and Maria, a pleasant end to a very nice day in Helsinki.

Still a bit tired from St. Petersburg, we spent the afternoon relaxing on board. After dinner this evening, I attended my first and last “show” of the cruise; a sitcom-writer-turned-comedian named Marty Brill who did a mildly amusing “cranky old man” act with one or two really good lines; the rest was just OK. After the show we went to bed in preparation for a busy day in Stockholm.

Day 11 – Wednesday 17 August 2005
Stockholm, Sweden

After an enjoyable day in Helsinki, we arrived the next morning in beautiful Stockholm – a paradise for ship enthusiasts. It was comfortably warm, the sun was shining, and there was not a cloud in the sky; magnificent weather for exploring this wonderful city.

We berthed at the Stadsgården quay, not far from the center of the city. In addition to berths 165 and 167 which are used for cruise ships, the Viking Line and Birka Cruises terminals are also located along Stadsgården (closer to town; the cruise berths are further along the quay). When we arrived, the big Viking Line ferry ISABELLA was just departing for Turku, so for a while we were the only ship berthed at Stadsgården – but that would soon change.

We were joined once again by the lovely PRINSENDAM, which followed us into the harbor but then turned away and berthed at the less-convenient Frihamnen quay. COSTA MARINA was also allegedly berthed at Frihamnen, but we did not see her.

Once alongside, we disembarked and walked along the Stadsgården to the outskirts of Gamla Stan (the Old Town) where we found the terminal for Waxholmbolaget’s ferries to the island of Djurgården. The main attraction of Djurgården is the Vasa Museet, the museum which houses the ill-fated Swedish warship VASA.

At the terminal we found the ferry DJURGÅRDEN 8 waiting to take us to the island. After a short journey across the harbor, we arrived at Djurgården and walked across the island to the impressive Vasa Museet.

The VASA was built in 1628 as the flagship of the mighty Swedish fleet. However, on her maiden voyage, she sank before even leaving the Stockholm Archipelago. Efforts to salvage her at the time were unsuccessful, though her cannons were retrieved later in the 17th Century.

The ship remained in the mud at the bottom of Lake Mälaren, forgotten for centuries. No record of her position remained. Then, in the 1950s, amateur maritime archaeologist Anders Franzén began searching for the VASA. In 1956, he found her, and after years of salvage work, she was raised in 1961. In 1962 a temporary Vasa Museet opened and preservation work began. The permanent museum opened in 1990 but preservation work continued. Today the VASA is a complete ship, the only surviving 17th Century warship in the world.

The ship is an absolutely amazing sight, not to be missed. In addition the museum itself is vast and contains a wide variety of exhibitions relating to the ship, disaster, salvage and recovery, and the times in which she was built. Unfortunately, anyone having only one day in Stockholm probably won’t have enough time to see everything they want to in the museum and have time for seeing anything else – it is a huge place and one in which one could easily spend a lot of time.

After a pleasant hour or so in the museum (nowhere near enough time, but we had other things to do as well), we completed our walk across the island and crossed the bridge into the very heart of Stockholm. Stockholm is without a doubt one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever seen – and this sense is only heightened by good weather. While Helsinki is modern and bustling, Stockholm seems to have a more relaxed pace. At least when the weather cooperates, it seems very much an “outdoor” city. It consists of one-third water, one-third parkland, and one-third urban space – a combination which is very much conducive to being outdoors. I can think of few more pleasant things to do (on land at least!) than simply to stroll through Stockholm on a sunny day, admiring the natural beauty of the place, the wonderful architecture, all those frighteningly attractive Swedish people… Whatever you do in Stockholm, make sure you set aside some time to just wander through it. Few cities are as pleasant in which to stroll as Stockholm on a beautiful day.

Being a ship nut, I naturally am always searching for things of a maritime persuasion to do wherever I go, and in Stockholm I was presented with an unbelievable opportunity – a cruise in the Stockholm Archipelago on an authentic early 20th Century steamboat. After some research, I decided on an afternoon on Waxholmbolaget’s SS STORSKÄR, a real veteran of the archipelago dating from 1908. I had heard wonderful things about this boat from several people – in fact I am indebted to Bruce Peter, Geoff Hammer, and several others for suggesting her in the first place – and couldn’t wait to try her out myself. After a lovely walk through Stockholm, we arrived at the Grand Hotel, in front of which is the quay which serves as the base for Waxholmbolaget’s archipelago fleet. I could hardly contain my joy to see STORSKÄR – as well as another, slightly newer Waxholmbolaget veteran, SS NORSKÄR, dating to 1910 – already berthed in front of the hotel.

We had arrived very early for the noon departure, as we weren’t sure how early to arrive. It turned out that tickets are sold on board, and boarding starts only 20 minutes before departure – so being there over an hour early didn’t do us much good. At any rate, fortunately, we happened to be in the middle of a beautiful city, so we just went off again on our impromptu walking tour, discovering the beautiful Royal Palace and the equally beautiful Swedish parliament building, among other things. While walking, we watched NORSKÄR depart for the Archipelago – a magnificent sight, particularly when she sounded her steam whistle, steam billowing out of it in best QUEEN MARY (Or, seeing as she’s a Swedish ship, should I say DROTTNINGHOLM?) fashion.

Just before the appointed time, we returned to find a considerably queue of people awaiting the opening of the gate that would let them aboard the STORSKÄR. While waiting, we were paid an unexpected visit from Ted and Suellyn. Ted was clearly holding back his deep regret at not being able to join us, while Suellyn was holding back her sorrow for my poor parents whom I was dragging on this old tub with me. At any rate, Ted promised to witness our departure and take a few slides as we set off on our cruise-within-a-cruise to the surroundings of Stockholm.

Soon after bidding farewell to the Sculls, it was our turn to board the magnificent STORSKÄR. As we stepped on board, it was interesting to note that wooden steamer chairs were set up on her bow – already occupied by some Swedes who obviously knew what they were doing and snapped them up early on. We then went in to her lower deck saloon, a very Spartan but evocative space which clearly must have originally been the province of her second-class passengers. Varnished wooden decks, wooden benches, and cream-colored painted steel bulkheads and overheads, complete with exposed wiring and plumbing and vintage brass light fixtures create the feeling of stepping back in time, perhaps to a tender ready to take one out to OLYMPIC or AQUITANIA. Of particular interest, on the port side there is a hatch from which one can look into her engine room with its three-cylinder reciprocating steam engine. After having a look, we made our way to the stern where we ascended a very grand wooden staircase up to her upper deck, first peering into a wonderful obviously former first-class saloon at her stern that was splendidly decorated with wood paneling, red velvet upholstery and curtains, crystal light fixtures, and the like. Only dark grey linoleum decking which was presumably a replacement for something less durable – perhaps carpet – impeded on the authentic air.

Old first-class spaces continue on the upper deck with another lovely saloon aft, a most elegant foyer at the top of the staircase, and forward, an extraordinarily elegant dining saloon with similar furnishings and table set with white linens, china, crystal and silver in the tradition of the finest shipboard restaurants. As a bonus, the place of the linoleum is taken by a very tasteful patterned carpet that blended perfectly with the sumptuous décor.

While the only outdoor space on the lower deck is on the bow, the upper deck is ringed by a covered, varnished wood promenade deck (it seems rather common among Scandinavians to varnish wooden decks, something not customarily done elsewhere) with more of the ubiquitous (and, I might add, very comfortable) varnished benches. The aft part of the upper deck, above that lovely aft saloon on the lower deck, is entirely outdoors; covered, bisected by a fenestrated bulkhead which serves as a windbreak and furnished with more benches as well as some nice varnished tables, this is a prime location for those wishing to spend their voyage outdoors. As the weather was so lovely, we forewent sitting in one of the saloons, however elegant, and parked ourselves on a comfortable bench to the port side of the windbreak.

Soon the steam engine was started, and after sounding that wonderful steam whistle – a sound to send shivers down the spine of a steamship enthusiast – we slid away from the quay and began to make our way into the Archipelago. Before long we were passing by Stadsgården, where the Viking Line terminal was once again occupied, this time by the ever-imposing MARIELLA which, like ROTTERDAM, had arrived from Helsinki (she left earlier and arrived later, but stopped along the way in Åland while we took a direct route, so I guess I won’t boast about our greater speed…). “Our” ROTTERDAM was of course there as well, and indeed this was one of the better photo opportunities of the cruise for taking snaps of our ship.

After making our way out of Stockholm harbor, we glided out into the Inner Archipelago – and, much to my surprise, we soon found ourselves making a stop. The Waxholmsbolaget brochure had described this voyage as a “lunch cruise in the inner archipelago” – it made no mention of stops whatsoever, so I was understandably surprised to find that it was in fact a regular local archipelago service, albeit one operated by a rather special ship! Now, this wouldn’t have affected my decision anyway, but I do think that perhaps a bit more disclosure on Waxholmsbolaget’s part might be in order so as to avoid confusion among the uninitiated such as myself.

At any rate, the Stockholm Archipelago is without a doubt one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, and cruising through it in a wonderful vintage steamer like STORSKÄR is sheer bliss.

The main stop along STORSKÄR’s route is Vaxholm, the capital of the Archipelago and a very attractive little town in its own right. We had thought that perhaps we might want to disembark and have a look round, so asked the man at the ticket counter how long she would be staying in Vaxholm. “About two more minutes” was his response. Later we found out that about an hour later, she returned to Vaxholm to take passengers to Stockholm – it was not, as I had surmised, the furthest point of her trip – so we could actually have disembarked and then re-joined her on her next call. I certainly would have liked to have a look at Vaxholm while we were there. Ah well, live and learn.

Having disgorged most of her passengers, STORSKÄR was mostly empty until she returned to Vaxholm, and I set out to find a bite to eat in her on-board cafeteria. This turned out to be situated below the main deck, in a small but extremely charming little saloon with white-painted raised-panel bulkheads, varnished trim, a couple of banquettes in a handsome green velvet, brass portholes and fixtures, and a very “nautical” ambiance. Of course, there is also a counter from which various food and drink items are sold. Being rather hungry (it was probably past 1 PM at this point), I enquired to the young man behind the counter as to what kind of food was available – and for the first and only time in Scandinavia, found that he did not understand English. (It may seem odd that I was surprised at this, but in Scandinavia virtually everyone speaks English very well.) After pondering my question for a few minutes, muttered “fisk” to himself a couple of times, and then went into the kitchen where he had an animated conversation with the cook in Swedish, in which the word “fisk” was again very prominent. He then emerged, clearly thinking he’d got the answer to my question. His reply was, quite simply, “herring fish”. At this point it became readily apparent that he’d thought I was asking him what sort of fish they had available – hence all the talk about “fisk”. I didn’t want herring – I actually had my eye on some sandwiches which many of the Swedish passengers seemed to have bought – but I decided not to belabor the matter any further, and bought some bottled water and a sweet roll, which thankfully did not contain herring. (I might add that a significant number of my ancestors from the Baltic region, and some older members of my family do enjoy herring, but personally I can’t stand the stuff.)

As we got farther away from Stockholm, the scenery became more and more indescribably beautiful, and we stopped at a wide range of tiny Archipelago towns, dropping off a few passengers and taking on a few new ones at each one. As we sailed through the Archipelago, I spotted Birka Line’s short-cruise ship BIRKA PRINCESS making her approach into Stockholm, and then an even more splendid sight, Ånedin Linjen’s 1953-built BIRGER JARL, looking wonderful in the sun.

Eventually we turned round and began making our way back to Stockholm, stopping again at Vaxholm where we took on a large number of passengers, entirely changing the atmosphere on board back to the much busier one that prevailed when we first boarded. As the trip came to an end and we approached Stockholm harbor, we passed ROTTERDAM and MARIELLA again, and then past BIRKA PRINCESS, now berthed at the Birka Line terminal. Finally, after a lovely journey of just over three hours, we disembarked.

We had originally been scheduled to depart at 6 PM, but this was pushed up to 5 PM without explanation, which gave us little time to do more than just walk back to the ship. On our way back, we took a quick look into the medieval Gamla Stan, but mainly followed the waterfront back to Stadsgården where ROTTERDAM was waiting. Along the way, we took a closer look at the beautiful little BIRGER JARL, now alongside in central Stockholm. While we were walking back to the ship, BIRKA PRINCESS vacated her berth and was passed by the inbound BIRKA PARADISE, her much newer running-mate. Seeing the two pass in the harbor made for an interesting comparison between the sleek new PARADISE and the rather boxy PRINCESS, nearly two decades her senior.

Once aboard ROTTERDAM, I joined Ted on deck to view the scenery as we departed from Stockholm and, more importantly, to do some ship spotting. While we had already seen a wide array of ships, this left something to be desired. We followed SILJA SERENADE out through the archipelago, but the only inbound traffic of note were SILJA FESTIVAL and SEA WIND, both inbound from Turku. We didn’t manage to catch PRINSENDAM, nor any traffic outbound to Turku or inbound from Helsinki. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful day for ship spotting, as well as a nice taste of a beautiful city to which I certainly hope to return.

We had another leisurely evening and, going back to our old trend, skipped the show once again. This night was the last formal night with the traditional Baked Alaska parade. On HAL this is more tastefully done than on some other lines – I recall one on another line that involved Baked Alaska that was an iridescent blue color which could only have come from a laboratory – but I still could do without it. Entirely aside from the merits of this ritual itself, it always signals that “the end is near”…

Day 12 – Thursday 18 August 2005
At Sea en route from Stockholm, Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark

After a magnificent day in Stockholm, we had a final day at sea on Thursday 18 August to enjoy being aboard ROTTERDAM. I’d grown quite fond of the ship and some of her passengers and crew over the past 11 days, so I wasn’t looking forward to saying goodbye (for now at least).

Thursday was also my mom’s birthday (Could there be a nicer place to spend one’s birthday?) and as you may recall she had a little bout of mal de mer earlier in the voyage… Happily, the sea was as flat as glass and the weather beautiful; a birthday gift with which she was quite pleased.

There’s not much else to say about Thursday. It was filled mainly by the usual end-of-cruise activities: packing, taking last-minute photos of spots I’d missed, etc. Of note, we had lunch in the dining room for the first time on this cruise, with one of our tablemates and another shipboard acquaintance. It was very good but the small number of tables available (they were all occupied) and the very brief opening hours make it clear that HAL would prefer that passengers eat in the Lido. The same goes for breakfast. I would certainly advocate longer opening hours for breakfast and lunch in the dining room on sea days; as great as the Lido is there are passengers who prefer a more formal meal particularly on sea days and the point of open seating is defeated by having such brief opening hours.

My parents went to a daytime show, a magician who had previously done an evening show as well. I wouldn’t have minded seeing him, as I’d heard he was rather good, but since this was such a beautiful day I elected to stay on deck enjoying the weather.

I managed to not bump into Susan for the first time the whole cruise, and didn’t see her the next day either, so didn’t have time to say goodbye. I’ll have to see if I can obtain her e-mail address so that we can keep in touch.

Before I knew it, the day was nearing its end (Time flies when it’s a sea day!) and it was time for dinner, which was very good as usual. The menu featured the (in)famous HAL meatloaf, which my mom ordered. Naturally, I had to have a taste (I’d have ordered a small portion myself if she hadn’t saved me the trouble!) as a professional obligation since this has been such a hot topic on the Cruise Critic HAL board which I moderate. I am not a meatloaf connoisseur but I have to say that it was quite delicious; in fact I almost wished I’d ordered it myself. I really do think that the “comfort food” selections are a good idea particularly on longer cruises as after a while many passengers do get tired of the more sophisticated food items and begin to long for the sort of thing they usually eat at home… Things like meatloaf. (Personally, my idea of comfort food is HAL bread pudding, but each to his or her own…) We also said goodbye to our excellent dining room staff: our steward, Bobby, our assistant steward whose name I didn’t catch, and especially 2nd Maitre d’ Sanjay who did an especially great job taking care of us. Anyone who sits in his section aboard an HAL ship is in for a treat. I certainly look forward to sailing with him again, hopefully as Maitre d’ or F&B Manager next time around.

I happened to be carrying with me on this cruise a passenger list from a westbound transatlantic crossing on ROTTERDAM (V) dated 18 August 1966. This is special as my grandparents, father, and aunt, returning from a tour of Europe, were listed, and this was the 39th anniversary of that crossing. At dinner I shared this with Ted, who himself crossed to Europe on that ship a month later. (You can read about it in his great book Ocean Liner Odyssey, which I highly recommend, and not just because Ted is a friend of mine.)

Earlier in the cruise I had informed Sanjay that it would be my mom’s birthday, so of course there was a very nice little cake, several stewards came to sing “Happy Birthday”, etc. They must have spies as they somehow knew she liked chocolate. Naturally we all shared in the cake, which was quite delicious, and in the festive atmosphere. At the end of dinner, the entire table exchanged e-mail addresses and other contact information. This was one of the best tables we’ve ever sat at – thanks to Patti, Steve, Janice, Floyd and Barbara for helping to make this a great cruise.

After dinner we returned to our cabin and finished packing and getting ready to disembark in Copenhagen. I was certainly looking forward to Copenhagen, but of course couldn’t help but feel the usual pangs of sadness at leaving behind a ship and one’s on-board “family”.

Day 13 – Friday 19 August 2005
Copenhagen, Denmark

We arrived at Copenhagen’s Free Port early Friday morning. Alongside us was WESTERDAM, looking much larger but definitely related to our ROTTERDAM. Having been together with PRINSENDAM a few times, it felt a bit odd being the “small” HAL ship in port!

Other ships in port today were AIDABLU (ex CROWN PRINCESS) and DFDS’ CROWN OF SCANDINAVIA.

We decided that we ought to have had breakfast in the dining room once during the cruise, so headed down for breakfast for the first time as we waited to disembark. We were seated with a very nice Dutch couple who made for extremely pleasant dining companions. We did run into a few Dutch passengers on this cruise, though perhaps not nearly as many as one would expect on a Dutch-flag ship sailing from a Dutch port. I think that at this point HAL has become so “American” that there may not be much national preference in the Netherlands for HAL over other lines that are equally geared to the North American market… For example, I don’t know if there would have been any fewer Dutch passengers on CENTURY sailing from Amsterdam, and there may well have been more on the more European-oriented COSTA EUROPA. It would certainly be interesting to have exact figures.

HAL – like NCL, but without any fanfare – have implemented a “flexible disembarkation” program that allows passengers to wait in their cabins until their disembarkation number is called. This is a great improvement that eliminates the unpleasant routine of getting up very early just to clear out of one’s cabin and then sit waiting in overcrowded public spaces.

Early on in the cruise, a disembarkation questionnaire is circulated to all passengers asking about their onward arrangements from the disembarkation port (in our case, Copenhagen) and, for passengers with independent arrangements, asking what time (in our case, between 7:30 and 10 AM) the passengers would like to disembark. In this way, everyone gets a disembarkation time which meets their needs and desires. Passengers are then given a disembarkation number on the last day of the cruise, and can stay in their cabin until it’s called, at which point they can simply go to the gangway and disembark. It’s as simple as that.

This seems to work very well with the new embarkation system, as the last passengers disembark at 10 which is exactly 30 minutes before first new passengers embark. If it weren’t for the woeful lack of space in the terminal in Rotterdam – which is admittedly beyond HAL’s control – then I’d be able to give full marks to the entire re-jigged embarkation/disembarkation system, which is infinitely more pleasant and convenient than the old, regimented system that didn’t let passengers on board until cabins were ready, and threw them out of their cabins at insanely early hours in the morning in order to then wait in public spaces to disembark.

We selected a fairly late embarkation time of 9:30, and were called just before this, at which time we proceeded to the gangway and disembarked.

There are two areas where large cruise ships can berth in Copenhagen: Langelinie and the Free Port. We were berthed at the latter. The former is right near the Little Mermaid, fairly close to though not in central Copenhagen, while the latter is a bit further outside of the city in a more commercial area. While neither location is in the center of the city, neither one is very all that far.

It is important to note that there is no terminal at either location. Instead, large tents/marquees are set up on the quay, and these are used for embarkation formalities, as waiting areas, and as areas for disembarking passengers to collect their luggage.

We had booked two nights at the Copenhagen Marriott (more on the hotel later) and planned to use a taxi to transfer from pier to hotel. I was slightly concerned about all our luggage as some European taxis I’ve seen, particularly in Southern Europe, are really quite small but was assured that this would not be a problem.

After collecting our luggage, we made our way directly to the taxi queue; at least for US citizens there are no immigration formalities for cruise passengers arriving in Denmark. (Of the countries we visited, I can recall completing immigration formalities only in Germany and Russia.) The taxi queue moves very quickly, and port employees are stationed at the queue to direct passengers to appropriate taxis. There are three main types of taxi in Copenhagen: full-size sedans (saloons), similar cars but in station wagon (estate) varieties, and passenger vans. Smaller groups (three or fewer passengers) are directed to either a sedan or station wagon depending on the amount of luggage they’re carrying, while larger groups get vans. The majority of taxis were cars (probably at least as many station wagons as sedans), but this is not a problem as comparatively few passengers are traveling in large groups. All of the taxis are very clean and quite new. The most common cars used are the Mercedes E-class (by far the most common), BMW 5-series, Volvo V70, VW Passat, and Skoda Superb (a stretched Passat sedan made by Skoda in the Czech Republic). We were directed to a very new E-class wagon run by what seemed to be one of the larger taxi companies in Copenhagen. I would suggest a cab as a very efficient way of transferring to hotel, airport (if you did your own air), or wherever you need to go after disembarking. Do not worry about luggage – if you have a lot of luggage you will be directed to a station wagon, and the drivers are very skilled at arranging luggage so that everything fits.

It was only a few minutes’ ride through the center of Copenhagen to the hotel; the Marriott is located at the southern edge of the city center while the Free Port is located just to its north. Along the way to the hotel, our very helpful and friendly driver pointed out various points of interest and also gave us advice as to what to see, etc.

As we arrived at the hotel well before noon, rooms were not ready, but we were able to check our baggage and check in before heading out to explore the city. Map in hand, we walked down Strøget, the pedestrian shopping street, to Nyhavn, the charming old port area. We then walked back to the hotel, arriving just after noon, and found a room ready.

The Copenhagen Marriott is a pleasant and very new if rather bland hotel. Its main claim to fame is that it is the only major hotel in Copenhagen located on the water. All of the rooms have a very nice view of either the city or of the water – if you have a choice, take the water view.

Rooms are typical American upscale hotel fare (large for a European hotel), with nice marble bathrooms, the new Marriott Revivals Beds (similar to the Westin Heavenly Beds and other the other similar premium bedding which is rapidly proliferating across the US hotel industry), and light but ultimately characterless décor. Of course all the usual frills are present, e.g. high-speed web access (for a fee), television with lots of channels (English, Danish, Swedish, German, French, and more), air-conditioning, and the other various amenities normally found in upscale hotels anywhere in the world.

All in all, there’s nothing at all remarkable except the view – and the water view is very nice. But then, there’s nothing remarkably bad either, aside from the sheer blandness of the place. My only complaint is that the easy chair in the room is not comfortable, and the desk chair is comfortable but awful as a task chair! I tend to find that with a good number of hotels though – why hotel designers are obsessed with uncomfortable chairs I will never know…

If you get a really good rate here, are booking because of Marriott’s loyalty program, or you want to use your cruise line’s hotel and this is it, then the Marriott is a decent choice. If you want the most central location or something with a bit of charm, look elsewhere.

After checking in to our room, we set out to find some lunch. We found a nice café just off Strøget with very nice-looking sandwiches… But alarm bells should have gone off at the lack of a menu or price list. We wound up with two very large, very tasty sandwiches, but at what was, even by Danish standards, an utterly outrageous price… I think two sandwiches and two bottles of water cost something like $40. I might add that everyone else eating here looked Danish, and I somehow doubt that their food was costing them nearly as much! This is the sort of stuff one expects in, say, Venice, but I was surprised to see “foreign tourist radar” in use in a very unpretentious-looking little café on a side street in Copenhagen. Opportunism knows no bounds I’m afraid!

After lunch, we decided to take a guided canal tour with DFDS Canal Tours. I highly recommend this to everyone visiting Copenhagen – it’s cheap, fun and a nice introduction to the city. There is a canal boat stop located right outside the Marriott, and there are numerous others around the city where one can pick up a canal boat. In our case, to get to the guided tour, we took a non-guided boat across the harbor to the main DFDS Canal Tours terminal where we hopped on to the boat for the guided tour.

The majority of the boats are small, open boats in which the passengers sit low in wooden benches. The boats go in and out of the canals of Copenhagen – including under some very low bridges – and past many of the most important sights of the city, which are often located at the water’s edge. The tour, which lasts about 45 minutes, points out most of the more important places being passed by and is usually given in Danish, English, and German, is a good way to get one’s bearings. The boats also provide a nice vantage point for photography of the city.

After the tour we returned to the hotel for some late afternoon rest as we prepared to spend a Friday evening at Tivoli Gardens.

Tivoli is perhaps the first modern amusement park, opened in 1843, and is probably one of the two most famous attractions in Copenhagen along with the Little Mermaid sculpture. One can find a little bit of everything in Tivoli – rides and games of all sorts, music, theatre, dozens of restaurants from fast-food to gourmet, cafés and patisseries, shops, and of course the thousands of beautiful plants and flowers that make Tivoli, essentially that unique combination of an amusement park set in a botanical garden set in the centre of a big city.

The thing that I love so much about Tivoli is that it attracts just about every segment of Danish society. There are families with wide-eyed small children, teenagers eating fast food, refined middle-aged couples in formalwear dining in expensive restaurants, and everything in between. Many Copenhageners have season passes and come and go freely, and of course there are always lots of tourists from all over the world as well, from backpackers on up to people who won’t stay in anything less than a five-star hotel. Quite simply, everyone goes to Tivoli, every kind of person imaginable enjoying the place side-by-side with people from completely different walks of life. Even if you don’t normally enjoy amusement parks (I don’t), do go to Tivoli; it’s worth it just to watch everyone else who does! This slice of escapism right in central Copenhagen is really unlike anything else in the world, and must not be missed.

We spent the evening walking around and soaking in the atmosphere, stopping along the way for dinner at Færgekroen Bryghus, a restaurant described as featuring “Classic Danish” cuisine. While a bit pricey, dinner was very good indeed; I had the Wiener schnitzel, advertised as their signature dish. (Isn’t Wiener schnitzel Austrian, not Danish?) Later, we enjoyed a very tasty Danish ice cream.

We stayed on in Tivoli until the crowds started to overrun the place; Friday evening is the busiest at Tivoli, as there is a free (after admission) rock concert which attracts huge numbers of locals. Tired from a long day, we decided to make our way out of the park once the crowds got to the point that one had to make a concerted effort not to bump into people.

Walking back to the hotel, we noticed fireworks over the water at the HSH Nordbank building next door. This turned out to be part of the celebration for the HSH Nordbank Cup Kiel-Copenhagen-Kiel sailing regatta, whose participants were moored overnight outside their sponsor’s building. After watching the magnificent display, a lovely finish to a great day, we went indoors and retired for the night.

Day 14 – Saturday 20 August 2005
Copenhagen, Denmark

We woke up rather late on our second day in Copenhagen to the sight of the beautiful sailing yachts participating in the regatta sailing past our window on their way back to Kiel.

In search of an inexpensive breakfast, we walked down to the Fisketorvet (“fish market”) shopping mall a few blocks down from the hotel. This looks very much like a shopping mall anywhere else in the world. Inside we found a Føtex supermarket with a bakery, where we were able to procure muffins and coffee for a cheap, tasty breakfast.

We then strolled back to the hotel in time to meet my friend Svend Dalgaard of the web site Cruise & Ferries Net. After chatting for about an hour, we headed up to Langelinie to have a look at PRINSENDAM, SILVER WHISPER, and BLACK WATCH, which were all berthed there today, stopping on the way at the Little Mermaid, which we’d already seen from the DFDS canal boat the day before.

Langelinie is a great place for looking at ships because one can walk right up to them, getting about as “up close and personal” as one can without actually going on board. BLACK WATCH, for me the star of today’s lineup, was sparkling from her recent refit, and it was impossible to tell that this very attractive ship was now 35 years old, having begun life as ROYAL VIKING STAR in 1970. It was also interesting to compare her design with that of the also-gleaming PRINSENDAM, also built for Royal Viking some 18 years later as ROYAL VIKING SUN. Both ships are far more attractive than the rather ungainly (and much newer) SILVER WHISPER, though I’m sure she’s a very nice vessel in which to sail – as she should be given Silversea’s high fares!

We also got a nice view of PEARL OF SCANDINAVIA at the nearby DFDS terminal – ironically, despite being a cruise ferry, dwarfing the pure cruise ships berthed a few hundred yards away.

After a very enjoyable afternoon, we boarded a DFDS canal boat, taking Svend back to his apartment and us back to the main DFDS Canal Tours terminal in central Copenhagen, not too far from our hotel.

Having skipped lunch, I was quite hungry and despite my general aversion to hotel restaurants we settled on an early dinner in the hotel, not really being in the mood to seek out a restaurant. To my surprise, it was really quite good, with Mediterranean food in a very sleek, modern room with a nice water view. We then rested for a while before heading out after dark for an evening stroll. We first went to the SAS Royal Hotel, built in 1960 and designed entirely by the famed Danish architect Arne Jacobsen. Whether or not you stay here, anyone interested in modern architecture should certainly stop in and have a look at the extraordinarily stylish public areas, which are largely original and are prime examples of the best of Danish design.

We then continued down to Strøget, taking a nice stroll winding up at Nyhavn and then returning back to the hotel, stopping along the way for ice cream, which seems very popular in Denmark. Copenhagen is as beautiful at night as during the day, and the atmosphere on Strøget on a summer evening is very pleasant.

After returning to the hotel, we prepared to leave for home the next day, and turned in fairly early.

Day 15 – Sunday 21 August 2005
Copenhagen, Denmark to New York, USA

We began our journey home Sunday morning by taking a cab – this time a new BMW 5-series station wagon (estate) – from the hotel to Copenhagen Kastrup Airport, located just south of the city. Again, we were impressed by the excellent service we received. Nonetheless there was a tinge of regret as I really wish we could have spent more time here; Copenhagen is a great city which we will have to return to soon.

Arriving at the airport, we were dropped off at Terminal 2, from which KLM operate. The airside portion of Terminal 2 is the oldest terminal at CPH, built in 1960 and still very much in its original form. Like the SAS Royal Hotel, this beautiful building – still very stylish and up-to-date 45 years later – shows the timelessness of modern Scandinavian design.

After checking-in for our flights to Amsterdam and New York, we had breakfast in a very nice café in the departures area of Terminal 2, after security. (Why, in Denmark, do they have all sorts of shops and restaurants after security in 45-year-old terminals while in the US we can’t even manage any in virtually new ones?) I might add that the courtesy and efficiency of the airport security personnel here stands in marked contrast to the often surly and confrontational style seen at home.

We then did a little tax-free shopping before going to our gate in the gorgeous new Pier A and boarding our flight to Amsterdam. I must say that I was extremely impressed by CPH, which is both an efficient transportation hub and a showcase for a half-century of Danish art and architecture. Anyone designing an airport should go take a look at what they have done at CPH; we need more airports like this!

Our aircraft for this flight was a Boeing 737-400, PH-BDS, named JORIS VAN SPILBERGEN, delivered to KLM back in 1989 and now one of the older aircraft in the fleet. Despite this the aircraft was immaculate and perfectly fine for the hour-long flight to Amsterdam. Once again we were impressed by the excellent service given by KLM. Despite recent cutbacks, they still manage to provide a light meal service on short European segments like this. Nonetheless, I’d brought along some smørrebrød – Danish open-faced sandwiches – bought in the airport which were rather superior to the bland airline sandwiches, and caused some envy amongst fellow passengers. (Being from the US, I’m in the habit of bringing my own food on flights, something which is necessary in these days of Spartan service on domestic US flights.)

We landed on-time in Amsterdam and had an uneventful layover of just over an hour. Unfortunately the gate for our flight to JFK was on the whole other side of the airport – and anyone who has been to AMS knows it’s not exactly a small airport – but we still made it with time to spare.

This time KLM managed to outdo themselves by procuring the one 777 in their fleet even newer than the one we’d flown on two weeks ago: PH-BQK, named MOUNT KILAMANJARO and delivered only in January 2005. So now I’ve flown on KLM’s two newest 777s! Again we had an excellent flight, with just over seven hours from AMS to JFK in which to enjoy the amenities of this beautiful new aircraft. AMS-JFK flights get a full meal on departure, ice cream halfway through the flight, and then a light meal (a very nice, generously sized hot sandwich) before landing. All in all, it was another superb flight from KLM, whose service I feel exceeds their rather ordinary reputation.

Once again we made an on-time arrival at JFK, bringing our trip to an uneventful close. Or so I thought… After moving quickly through immigration, our progress ground to a halt at the baggage claim in Terminal 4 (which, despite its newness, looks dingy compared to the terminals at CPH and AMS). We first were told that our luggage would arrive at Carousel 6, where unfortunately we found nothing more than luggage from an Uzbekistan Airways flight in from Tashkent. We then were re-directed to Carousel 3, which was piled high with luggage from a Virgin flight from Heathrow that nobody had claimed because those passengers were all at another carousel, blissfully unaware that their luggage had already arrived elsewhere. After deciding that our luggage clearly wouldn’t be arriving here, we endured more waiting before an announcement was made that we should go to Carousel 7. (Meanwhile, the Virgin passengers still had not been told that their luggage was waiting for them at Carousel 3.) This carousel was empty – an improvement over the previous two which were full of other people’s luggage – and remained so for quite some time before finally, a few pieces began to sporadically appear every few minutes. We were fortunate in that ours was among the first to arrive, finally getting to us at least 1 hour 45 minutes after we landed. (For comparison, in Amsterdam, this took about 20 minutes, and was completed in a fully organized and civilized manner.) And to put this in perspective we were among the first dozen or so to collect our bags – from a flight with over 300 passengers. I also might add that, as if the carousel runaround wasn’t enough, the baggage claim area was so swelteringly hot that I thought some elderly occupants might faint.

Just to top it all off, there is no mobile phone reception in the baggage claim at Terminal 4 – inexplicable for a brand-new terminal – so we couldn’t contact our car service driver to let him know that we were being held up. When we finally made it to him in the arrivals area, he was about to leave, understandably thinking we must have taken a cab instead.

I’m still contemplating why flying 7,000 miles and traveling all over Scandinavia left me less tired that the few hundred yards through the airport terminal at home.

Regardless, we did manage to get home in one piece despite the predictable New York airport fiasco, and I’m happy to say that the benefits of the trip far outweighed the outrageous situation we faced when we arrived home. Still, there is no reason for this nonsense to occur on a regular basis as it does, and it never helps to end a vacation on a sour note. The people who run this place should be able to do better. Much, much better.

CONCLUSION:

This was, quite simply, a wonderful cruise to a wonderful part of the world; one to which I am very eager to return. Really, there was very little to complain about – great destinations, great weather, great friends old and new, and, as modern ships go, a great ship as well.

While I generally like to try new ships and lines rather than returning to ones I’ve already been on – there is so much out there that I hesitate to repeat – if the opportunity arises I would return to ROTTERDAM or one of the other R- or S-class ships without hesitation. The fact that they are among the only moderately-priced mid-sized ships out there is in and of itself a reason to sail in them, and really they’re excellent ships in their own right, with a very good onboard product. True, ROTTERDAM is not a classic liner like her predecessor, but Stephen Payne says that this ship is the best compromise between an ocean liner and a cruise ship for today’s purposes, and I think he’s right. She maintains enough tradition to appeal to traditionalists like myself more than many other modern ships and at the same time she is a fully up-to-date cruise ship with all the frills that today’s passengers demand. I only wish the new Vista-class ships did the same thing as well.

Doug, I'm exhausted - and all I did was read your postings! No wonder you only made it to one show.

Thanks so much for all the time and effort, this deserves to be retained and featured prominently for all to see.

Thanks Dave for your kind words.

But how on earth did you read this that quickly? You must be a speed reader :) !

Doug
 

After an exhausting day on campus, I crashed when i got home, and woke at 2am. Your review was just what a tired grumpy granny needed to recharge.
Having spent 60+ days on the Rotterdam VI, the most recent, a transatlantic in summer 2004, I was delighted to spend the time reliving your Baltic cruise.

You caught the tempo and the atmosphere of the Rotterdam exactly as I remember it, even to the potty problems. We were in one of those "mini" not-suites. Our adult son joined us in Amsterdam for the westbound trip home. It was definitely not "sweet" but it worked well for the 3 of us.

Your "ugly-American" reference is so picture perfect. The HAL-provided shuttles followed us all over Norway and Great Britain. On some you could even charge to your room card. In Iceland they were unreliable and expensive. We also mirrored your sandwich experience, paying $50 for a burger, sandwich, beer and coffee in Reykjavik.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to go back to Europe with you, I loved it! BTW, was Frank Buckingham on board? We loved him as our port lecturer, crusty, British tongue-in-cheek humor and all.

One question, are the baltic shorex hard for us with somewhat impaired long-distance walking abilities?

Again, your history-buff skills are so evident, your writing is a joy to read...thanks again.
Grannynurse

Great review, Doug. I am looking forward to our November 20th sailing in South America. Today we just got our Brazilian visas back from the consulate in Chicago. Life is good.:)

jc

Wow. What a thorough report---consider submitting it for your senior thesis! :) The history of the line---and the development of this ship---is worth an "A".

It's funny, I've spent 77 days on the Rotterdam, and couldn't come near to describing it as well as you did. You reminded me of so many little things to enjoy seeing on her---those stairwells are a wealth of interesting features.

Thanks for an afternoon of great reading.

Thanks so much for your extensive review. I followed your threads while you were onboard. We are sailing on the Rotterdam 10/4 and are looking forward to our first med cruise and first HAL on a non-vista class ship after many carib/alaska/west coast cruises. I have to get a look at the Crow's Nest after your descriptions!! Thanks for all of the useful info and entertainment.

Thanks everyone for your kind words. I know our members have in the past indicated their preference for long and detailed reviews, so I figured I'd do something so long and detailed that you'd never ask for "long and detailed" ever again ;) ...

To my surprise, it seems to have gone over well. Guess this means I have to do reviews this long from now on :) . (This is not a problem, as I am notorious for long-windnedness. One of my shortfalls, I'm afraid!)

Grannynurse - in answer to your questions, Frank Buckingham was not our port lecturer. Too bad, I love tongue-in-cheek British humor.

The shore excursions... I think this itinerary is doable for people with walking problems, more so than I expected and certainly more than, say, the Mediterranean. It would be a shame not to be able to walk, as so many of these cities are so wonderful for walking, but if you choose your excursions carefully you should be able to pull it off and still see lots of fascinating things.

Doug, you should seriously consider writing books on a regular basis or at least become a regular writer for magazines like Cruise Travel. Wow, what an awesome review!! You covered everything and then some! I have never seen such a comprehensive review of a cruise in my life! Everything we did and saw is there described in the smallest detail! Again, outstanding job!

It was a great pleasure for Maria and I to meet you and your parents! We had a wonderful cruise with great memories. You and your family added to that experience and we thank you for it! You take good care of yourself and best of luck with your studies. You are an inspiring young man! Until we meet again!

John & Maria

Great review Doug! And I thought my Baltic journal was long! :p I see you went to the Grand Hotel Europe. If you remember my journal, we had their buffet lunch, which was wonderful.

I'm going to be sailing on the new Noordam next May 11th and hope my first HAL cruise will be most memorable.

Take care,

Monica

So how did you have time to eat, sleep, go on an excusiron --- or even breathe?

A monumental, educational, informative review! I loved all the historic references to HAL and cruising in general. A "Must Read."

Thank you so much.

I'm overwhelmed!

Thank you so much, Doug. I feel like I was there with you.

When's your next trip? I can hardly wait!!!:D

j

Quote:

And it was here that she ran into trouble – as she was not ready for her delivery in September.[1997]

Sadly, we were booked on the maiden voyage in Sept. 1997 sailing from Venice to Barcelona. This was to be a new first by HAL, going revenue right from the yard with no earlier shakedown cruises at all. HAL tried to keep schedule until about 3 weeks before sailing, then finally gave in and cancelled. They offered us a room on the next leg from Barcelona. We took it, then got disappointed again. Another delay, another cancel. The third sailing, the transAtalntic reposition to Ft. Lauderdale, wound up becoming the maiden voyage and went very well, I'm told. My business schedule would not permit sailing in November.

We wound up on a more memorable trip. In June 1998, the Rotterdam sailed into Rotterdam, Holland for the first HAL visit in a long time and berthed in sight of the Hotel New York, the former head office of Holland America, where we stayed before we boarded.

She stayed berthed in Rotterdam for two days climaxed by major celebrations and fireworks. We were booked on a 12 day Baltic similar to Doug's but friends of ours, who live in Rotterdam, booked a back to back so they were permitted to stay on board throughout the festivities.

Thanks, Doug, for bringing back fond memories of that voyage.