BEWARE!!! CRUISING ON MS ROTTERDAM OUT OF ROTTERDAM IN MAY 2020 BEWARE!!!

[Alphen]

Cruising on Ms Rotterdam out of Rotterdam in May 2020 BEWARE!!!

 

Just announced, in May 2020, the Eurovision Song Contest will be held from May 12 2020 until May 16 2020 in the city of Rotterdam.

 

Since this is a huge international event and this will certainly have an immense impact on the availability and price of hotel rooms, leading up to and during this event, with thousands of international guests, spectators and press settling down in Rotterdam and surroundings, for the duration of the event.

The event has just been announced today, so sadly, this will be instantly noticeable in hotel pricing and availability! The event will be held from May 12 2020 until May 16 2020, with possible effect on hotel availability starting earlier.

 

Just a friendly warning.

[Alphen]

35 minutes ago, Alphen said:

Cruising on Ms Rotterdam out of Rotterdam in May 2020 BEWARE!!!

 

Just announced, in May 2020, the Eurovision Song Contest will be held from May 12 2020 until May 16 2020 in the city of Rotterdam.

 

Since this is a huge international event and this will certainly have an immense impact on the availability and price of hotel rooms, leading up to and during this event, with thousands of international guests, spectators and press settling down in Rotterdam and surroundings, for the duration of the event.

The event has just been announced today, so sadly, this will be instantly noticeable in hotel pricing and availability! The event will be held from May 12 2020 until May 16 2020, with possible effect on hotel availability starting earlier.

 

Just a friendly warning.

Looks like it will only effect the May 16th departure

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the heads up.

[DeeniEncinitas]

Thank you for the heads up on this one!

BEEN THERE DONE THAT!!!!😞

2004 Greece (Athens) Olympics!

2 week WINDSTAR CRUISE. Prices 1 year out at the hotels we were booking skyrocketed. We had been planning our cruise first one to Greece for over 2 years.

we were doing our own adventures in Greece after cruise for a couple of weeks too! I will never forget how awful it was taking the train into Athens from airport. I felt like I was in a sardine can🥴LOL. 

But we had a wonderful time!!

We make sure to check any big events now when we book overseas cruises!

NOW WILL BE ON 3 in 2020, and only problem we see IF ANY IS WHEN WE LEAVE OUR APT THAT WE HAVE IN NICE 

AND TAKE TRAIN TO MONTE CARLO TO BOARD OCEANIA. Always 1 month prior to

Grand Prix they set up the tracks. So we know what bus to take to get to port. 

Will see 🤞 fingers crossed!

Denise😊

[kazu]

Thanks for the alert, Alphen.

 

Those who were able to book their hotels early will be pleased that they did so.

[ger_77]

Thanks for posting this - it made me look at what's happening in Barcelona in October, 2020, as we're thinking of another trans-Atlantic.  So far it looks good, but it's never too early to check!

 

Smooth Sailing!  🙂🙂🙂

[wander]

Reminds me of the time we were ending a cruise and flying home from Rome.  We decided to spend the disembarkation night in Rome to avoid flight time hassles.  Little did we know that the World Cup Finals (soccer to US folks) was being held in Rome that exact day we were flying out.  We did find a room, but at a price of a 4 or 5 Star hotel  for a 1 or 2 star room.

 

[Ine]

The best, probably also the cheapest and easiest might be to stay elsewhere. Either in Amsterdam or Delft and go to Rotterdam on the day you sail.

[Sir PMP]

7 hours ago, Alphen said:

Cruising on Ms Rotterdam out of Rotterdam in May 2020 BEWARE!!!

 

Just announced, in May 2020, the Eurovision Song Contest will be held from May 12 2020 until May 16 2020 in the city of Rotterdam.

 

Since this is a huge international event and this will certainly have an immense impact on the availability and price of hotel rooms, leading up to and during this event, with thousands of international guests, spectators and press settling down in Rotterdam and surroundings, for the duration of the event.

The event has just been announced today, so sadly, this will be instantly noticeable in hotel pricing and availability! The event will be held from May 12 2020 until May 16 2020, with possible effect on hotel availability starting earlier.

 

Just a friendly warning.

Just stay in Den Haag, much better city..

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for the warning.

 

One time many years ago I forgot to book a hotel for Ft Flauderdale at the end of October when they have the International Boat Show.  We ended up in Deerfield Beach.  That is another event that used to fill up the hotels.

[MAVIP]

4 hours ago, Ine said:

The best, probably also the cheapest and easiest might be to stay elsewhere. Either in Amsterdam or Delft and go to Rotterdam on the day you sail.

Exactly! or Gouda, Dordrecht, Leiden, Breda, Haarlem etc; those towns have good connections by train to Rotterdam and are worth a visit too 🙂.  And if really in trouble HAL passengers could always ask for assistance or a bed on cruise critic. Who knows.

[ChinaShrek]

Just fly in the day of the cruise and avoid a hotel altogether. The weather will be fine in May.

[Sir PMP]

1 hour ago, ChinaShrek said:

Just fly in the day of the cruise and avoid a hotel altogether. The weather will be fine in May.

wrong idea, delays can happen...

[ChinaShrek]

1 minute ago, Sir PMP said:

wrong idea, delays can happen...

 

I am willing to risk it to save hundreds of Euros in hotels costs.  In fact, I would argue the risk is negligible.

[Alphen]

8 hours ago, MAVIP said:

Exactly! or Gouda, Dordrecht, Leiden, Breda, Haarlem etc; those towns have good connections by train to Rotterdam and are worth a visit too 🙂.  And if really in trouble HAL passengers could always ask for assistance or a bed on cruise critic. Who knows.

I would not be surprised that hotel prices spread much further, also to as far as Delft and others with good transport links. Meanwhile, Rotterdam hotel prices have skyrocketed, one hotel has raised prices from €70 to a staggering €2000 a night. What are they thinking!!!

 

I would go for HAL hotels for this specific sailing, hoping they secured beds well in front.

[kazu]

9 hours ago, ChinaShrek said:

 

I am willing to risk it to save hundreds of Euros in hotels costs.  In fact, I would argue the risk is negligible.

 

Really?  Don’t tell that to one of our roll call members who HAD to fly in the day of her cruise.  Everything looked good.  They were due to arrive around noon.  And everything, everything went wrong.  They ended up joining the cruise 3 days later after spending a lot of $$$ on hotels and flights and meals.  They will NEVER risk it again.

 

As she said, it was a very expensive and disappointing lesson.

[sail7seas]

On 8/30/2019 at 12:48 PM, Ine said:

The best, probably also the cheapest and easiest might be to stay elsewhere. Either in Amsterdam or Delft and go to Rotterdam on the day you sail.

 

 

Unless HAL will provide  (sell) a transfer, that suggestion  likely means a    train  while   schlepping luggage and then a taxi  Rotterdam port is huge.  A train with no luggage is not bad but with  heavy .

suitcases ,   Ugh,  Groan.

 

One  can get penny wise  and pound foolish  !

This might not be a smart time for that .  

 

 

Alphen,  very nice of you to post the alert for those who could be impacted by that  event.

 

 

 

 

 

[sail7seas]

18 hours ago, Sir PMP said:

wrong idea, delays can happen...

 

 

BAD  weather is certainly   Not  the only reason for  flight  cancellations.

 

 Too risky IMO

 

[kazu]

Private transfers to Rotterdam are not that expensive if no one wants to schlep luggage and, if you are on your roll call the odds are you can find another couple or two to share it with which will make it quite reasonable.

 

Several of our roll call members did the reverse when we disembarked in Rotterdam and headed to Amsterdam Schipol airport.  

[sail7seas]

 

 

1 hour ago, kazu said:

[quote}Private transfers to Rotterdam are not that expensive   {/quote}

 

How much {quote}are you saying is not  'that'  expensive?{/quote}

 

if no one wants to schlep luggage and, if you are on your roll call the odds are you can find another couple or two to share it with which will make it quite reasonable.

 

Several of our roll call members did the reverse w

if no one wants to schlep luggage and, if you are on your roll call the odds are you can find another couple or two to share it with which will make it quite reasonable.

 

Several of our roll call members did the reverse when we disembarked in Rotterdam and headed to Am

hen we disembarked in Rotterdam and headed to Amsterdam Schipol airport.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

tHE   'reverse'  means they knew each other  from their time together on the ship.     On arrival,    means they have never , met.So many possible glitches between    Strangers hoping the other just might actually arrive as promised on whichever airline they used  guessing, not necessarily the same one.  I most likely would not make such a plan with a stranger    and   if I made a 'goof' and did, I would plan to pay the full cost of car and  driver while  not planning  on   anyone  to pay   a   ' share'.      The world being full of all sorts and my being a highly experienced  traveler, as presumably are you, Kazu.  

Would you make    such a plan  with someone you have never met?   

Edited August 31, 2019 by sail7seas

[kazu]

13 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

 

 

 

 

tHE   'reverse'  means they knew each other  from their time together on the ship.     On arrival,    means they have never , met.So many possible glitches between    Strangers hoping the other just might actually arrive as promised on whichever airline they used  guessing, not necessarily the same one.  I most likely would not make such a plan with a stranger    and   if I made a 'goof' and did, I would plan to pay the full cost of car and  driver while  not planning  on   anyone  to pay   a   ' share'.      The world being full of all sorts and my being a highly experienced  traveler, as presumably are you, Kazu.  

Would you make    such a plan  with someone you have never met?   

 

Sail, with all respect, whether it’s reverse or at the beginning, no one had met anyone when the plans were made.  They were all made (like most private tours before we boarded the ship). There’s plenty of opportunity to chat on roll calls and in emails and get a sense of whom you will be travelling with.

 

I’ve been fortunate in that I have often travelled with CC friends I have met in the past.  On the other hand the private transfer I arranged for Dover was with complete strangers.  I “knew them” from emails and a telephone call with one of them.  I was very comfortable and they were all seasoned travellers.

 

I do consider myself an experienced traveller and private tour planner and overall my private tours have worked out very well.  But, everyone must email me to join in.  With our correspondence, I can usually get a sense of the person and a comfort level.

 

I have shared private transfers twice with lovely roll call members from our pre cruise hotels to the port.  We had a great time on board as well.  They were lovely people.  Most roll call members are 😉 

 

It’s hard to make out your post but I think you were asking me how much is not expensive?  Without checking my old spread sheet I can’t swear to it, but I think the transfer from Rotterdam with luggage to the Shcipol airport was around 35 euros pp IIRC.  It might have been just under 30.  I don’t remember.  I do remember it was a good price.

[kazu]

3 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Sail, with all respect, whether it’s reverse or at the beginning, no one had met anyone when the plans were made.  They were all made (like most private tours before we boarded the ship). There’s plenty of opportunity to chat on roll calls and in emails and get a sense of whom you will be travelling with.

 

I’ve been fortunate in that I have often travelled with CC friends I have met in the past.  On the other hand the private transfer I arranged for Dover was with complete strangers.  I “knew them” from emails and a telephone call with one of them.  I was very comfortable and they were all seasoned travellers.

 

I do consider myself an experienced traveller and private tour planner and overall my private tours have worked out very well.  But, everyone must email me to join in.  With our correspondence, I can usually get a sense of the person and a comfort level.

 

I have shared private transfers twice with lovely roll call members from our pre cruise hotels to the port.  We had a great time on board as well.  They were lovely people.  Most roll call members are 😉 

 

It’s hard to make out your post but I think you were asking me how much is not expensive?  Without checking my old spread sheet I can’t swear to it, but I think the transfer from Rotterdam with luggage to the Shcipol airport was around 35 euros pp IIRC.  It might have been just under 30.  I don’t remember positively if one price was with tip or not.  I do remember it was a good price.

 

[MAVIP]

12 minutes ago, sail7seas said:

 

 

 

 

tHE   'reverse'  means they knew each other  from their time together on the ship.     On arrival,    means they have never , met.So many possible glitches between    Strangers hoping the other just might actually arrive as promised on whichever airline they used  guessing, not necessarily the same one.  I most likely would not make such a plan with a stranger    and   if I made a 'goof' and did, I would plan to pay the full cost of car and  driver while  not planning  on   anyone  to pay   a   ' share'.      The world being full of all sorts and my being a highly experienced  traveler, as presumably are you, Kazu.  

Would you make    such a plan  with someone you have never met?   

I would; we (up to now) never had a bad experience. And what can go wrong when you enter a (official) taxi with another couple for transportation to a hotel or town? 

[sail7seas]

17 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

KAz.

 

Please don't bother to drag out your spreadsheet  🙂

 

A waste of energy  if you would do that for my benefit. 

Do it for others if  it   interests them.

 

I am not someone who ever gets involved in rollcalls  just not some thing into which I ever insert myself

 

Not likely at this stage of my cruising I  would start involving myself now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

1 minute ago, sail7seas said:

KAz.

 

Please don't bother to drag out your spreadsheet  🙂

 

 

Checking it is not dragging it out but I had no plans on posting it here.  No point. 

1 minute ago, sail7seas said:

 

 

I am not someone who ever gets involved in rollcalls  just not some thing into which I ever insert myself

 

Not likely at this stage of my cruising I  would start involving myself now

 

 

I know you don’t do roll calls so it perplexed me why you would comment on sharing private transfers/tours with other members.  Since you have no experience in it, you are unfamiliar how it works, naturally.

Roll call members are I am sharing tours/private transfers with are not total strangers 😄