JUST BACK FROM THE ROTTERDAM NOVEMBER 21-DECEMBER 1, 2021 10 NIGHT SAILING.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

We cruised on the Rotterdam from Nov 21-Dec 1, 2021 (10 nt cruise) and it was a great cruise overall. We would love to sail her again someday. We previously sailed the Koningsdam in the fall 2019. We preferred the Rotterdam. We have sailed many times on various cruise lines. We are retired and have flexibility in choosing cruises and land vacations. We do tend to favor Celebrity for various reasons which include no smoking casinos, separate dining and amenities for suites and aqua class (which we sometimes book), and benefits for repeat customers.

We are balcony dwellers and have little interest in going to beaches or sunning since we now live in Florida. We read a lot. We sometimes do not even get off at port stops in the Caribbean, especially if we’ve been there a few times.

We will post some photos of the ship and food, etc once we get through this initial post.

We will list some likes and dislikes and these are our own personal observations and hopefully we won’t annoy too many people! Thank you in advance for those of you who enjoy or benefit from our remarks. Our intent is to be helpful!

We stayed in a V category balcony and upgraded to Club Orange. We had the elite drink package.

Things we liked:

The ship was brand new so all areas of the ship were clean and well maintained including our stateroom and balcony which were magnificent!

The stateroom bed was very comfortable but despite trying different pillows, we never did find the “perfect” one!

The bathroom still has the no-fog mirror with nice bright lights. Gotta love that! The shower is large and user friendly.

Like the two hooks in the room and truthfully, there was plenty of room for two more. Alas, we did not have any extra hooks with us.

The closet space was large and plentiful. The cabin has plenty of drawer and cabinet space and we did not use all them.

Love the open storage underneath the TV set.

We really like that the new Holland America ships have the refrigerator at waist level in a higher-up cabinet. So much appreciated! All ships should get the fridges off the floor level.

The curtains were nice room darkening with privacy sheers.

The sofa was comfortable and improved over the Koningsdam. No silly round arm rests that kept falling off the couch.

Loved all the soft close drawers, toilet seats in the stateroom and throughout the ship.

Our balcony was large and private and very clean. Two very comfortable reclining chairs with footrests.

We never encountered any smoke odors on our balcony or in our stateroom and thank goodness for that! We were on the port side of the ship, halfway between mid and aft.

Room service food was tasty and hot (coffee too) in the mornings. Coffee even tasted good. The menu items have been reduced for Club Orange/Suites which is disappointing overall but the good news is that when we hand wrote in certain items, they were delivered to us with no issues. The room service staff was friendly, timely and responsive. Even when calling at other times of the day, they answered fairly quickly.

We had three dedicated stateroom stewards and they were great! Very quick at servicing the room and always willing to please. We did ask for evening turn down service so our room was serviced twice daily.

The ship is gorgeous. We loved the new Half Moon Bar outside Club Orange on deck 2. Paola and Philip were pure perfection there. Only wish there was more seating directly at the bar. It is a tiny area, for sure. The specialty cocktails were great and Paola puts on a nice show especially when making a smoked cocktail. One of our favorites was the Three Mile Run cocktail with bourbon called the Gold Rush.

We liked the Ocean Bar and especially Marvik. At Notes (only open in the evening around 7pm), we enjoyed some specialty bourbons and scotch with a knowledgeable, nice guy named Cheng.

We enjoyed the buffet area which was laid out nicely and the food items were varied, tasty and fresh. The staff in the Lido were very attentive about asking you for drink orders or clearing dishes.

It was nice to preorder lunch at Dive-In and NY Deli and Pizza on the Navigation app. Worked like a charm! Food was good too!

The pool areas seemed to have a lot of seating with numerous open seats and loungers. Thanks to reduced capacity!

Club Orange ended up being a very nice upgrade for us despite a rocky start. After changing locations in the dining room, we ended up with a waiter named Sony who was very friendly, quicker and more attentive. We loved Anne, the hostess. She remembered our names and was so sweet. We might do Club Orange again but only if the price was right.

We only ate in the main dining for lunch at Embarkation. Service was slow and the food was not the best but the space is gorgeous! Loved the decorations, the table settings….all of it.

We do really enjoy the Music Walk and on this particular cruise, our favorite was the Rolling Stones Rock Room due to the wonderful band. They varied their music so much that even if you went to the early show each evening they played, it wasn’t the same set. The BB King Blues Club also had a very good band but we were not too impressed with the female singer.

Things that we did not like so much:

No dining table in the room/balcony. I know this is what ships are going to but we had a very large balcony and no dining table. Sure is nice to eat breakfast or any meal at a table or even use it to play cards or to set your drink on. We used the room garbage can turned upside down as a side table since there is only one side table on the balcony.

The Club Orange room service menu has been reduced. Not happy about that. The good news is we did hand write extras on the breakfast door hanger menu and got what we had requested.

Club Orange amenities pretty much don’t exist. The dedicated concierge (same on Koningsdam we had previously sailed on) is just guest services. Bah. Also, there was no offered activity for Club Orange as advertised, like a kitchen tour or something. Not that we would go, but you shouldn’t advertise things you cannot or will not fulfill. The Club Orange bag seems to have improved and we did actually use it a couple of days. Definitely not the best design or “fabric” but it was usable.

If you want to reach your room steward staff for extra ice or anything….you have to call guest services. Hate that! Give these staff members phones…goodness.

The bathroom in the stateroom is on the small side but at least the shower was large. The toilet didn’t seem to be as crowded with the shower door as we found on the Koningsdam.

Club Orange was incredibly slow on the first night. No one refilled water glass, no one asked us if we wanted wine, no one asked us if the meal was fine or if we needed anything else. We were ready to throw up our hands at the end of this evening but we continued to return to Club Orange and at around day four, we asked for a different section and our new waiter, Sony, was an incredible improvement. So, all in all, we enjoyed the experience and would do Club Orange again if the price is right.

Room service lunch—only used it one day and it was nearly horrible. Food was cold and just not tasty or good. We never tried to order lunch again.

We did find the casino to be very smoky. The smoke drifted into the shops and into BB King Blues Club. What happened to the ventilation system, if it exists at all?! We couldn’t use the casino due to the smoke and we do like to play slots on the ships. I just don’t understand how the ship can say wear your mask when not actively eating or drinking and then turn around and ignore smokers who obviously are not wearing masks! Seems pretty inconsistent and unhealthy. We are not smokers and have little tolerance for the smoke. We wish all ships would limit smoking areas and would not allow casino smoking. Even some land-based casinos have gone to no smoking.

Billboard Onboard: The Billboard Onboard had a couple of pretty bad singers and we sure hope that HAL doesn’t renew their contracts. The female was especially bad! She needs to just play piano and give up the singing part! We did not go to the shows in the theater but sure wish they would use this space for comedians as the Blues Club sometimes has standing room only for shows.

Notes: Although we love the concept, we were disappointed that Notes did not offer tastings throughout the cruise as we had on the Koningsdam. The only one the entire cruise was on embarkation day at 530pm and it was “introduction to whisky/bourbon”. The Notes staff member was overheard having a conversation with the bar manager about no one coming to the 530pm tasting so why have them? I say to that, why have it on embarkation day right before dinner and while people might still be unpacking or getting oriented to the ship? Seems obvious they don’t want the Notes tastings to be a success!

So, after a bit, we can try to post some photos if we can remember how!!

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Edited December 4, 2021 by Rick-n-MeMe

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Edited December 4, 2021 by Rick-n-MeMe

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

aliaschief · December 4, 2021

Thanks for the review.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Main dining room deck 2 at embarkation. Gorgeous space.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Hallway on deck 2 outside Club Orange looking towards main dining.

Half Moon Bar

Club Orange

Edited December 4, 2021 by Rick-n-MeMe

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

the dreaded and awful “temporary?” slot machines in the Ocean Bar. At least they were not too loud.

Florida_gal_50 · December 4, 2021

I completely forgot about the extra activity that you get with club orange. I didn’t get it either on the koningsdam. Hal is not good at updating amenities. Several things listed for cabanas I have not seen ever or in years. Service is not consistent in club orange. For several days it would be great then it wouldn’t be. Even on days when it wasn’t super busy. Thank you for sharing your experience.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

BB Kings Blues Club

Billboard Onboard

Notes

Rolling Stones Rock Room

kazu · December 4, 2021

Great pics and review.

thank you so much for sharing 🙂

Seasick Sailor · December 4, 2021

Appreciate you taking time to post. We will be on her next week.

sevenseasnomad · December 4, 2021

Hi Rick and Me-Me,

Which section of Club Orange had the slow service? I've read several reviews now that mention slow, inattentive service in CO, but it improves drastically when the posters changed sections. We board Dec. 22 w/Club Orange, so we're hoping to avoid the "slow" section, unless, of course, the wait staff rotates sections from cruise to cruise. Then, it will be hit-or-miss for us. Thanks.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Ocean Bar and bartender Marvik

Half Moon Bar with bartender Paola

Rotterdam VII cocktail

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Hi Seven Seas Nomad, I don’t want to call out the waiter we had by name but once we switched to Sony’s section, we were much happier. So ask for Sony’s section. His wife, Barbara, known simply as Ara, works in Tamarind and is lovely. Tamarind was great and we loved her service.

You will love your cruise. The ship is very nice! Ask anything else you can think of and we will try our best to be fair in any answer we are able to give.

Seasick Sailor · December 4, 2021

MeMe, will you share your cabin # please? That is an unusual balcony (to me)

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Tamarind entrance

wonderful taste treats prior to meal. Don’t recall what they were called but very good.

Specialty cocktail with variation. See next photo.

Shiso Sour minus the wine. Was a very good drink!

Tempura shrimp. Yummy!

Pot stickers. Really good.

Tom Ka Kai. Very nice. The food was very authentic Thai and close to land based Thai restaurants we have been to. Best were in Seattle where we lived most of our lives.

chicken penang curry. also quite magnificent.

Wasabi beef tenderloin. Cooked perfectly.

regular rice, eggplant and crab fried rice. All good.

Mango something or other dessert. Forget the name but so tasty! Yes, we ate waaayyyyy too much.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Seasick Sailor…do I hafta? I don’t wanna! My DH said I shouldn’t post the balcony photos but shoot…too late now. I will live to regret this!!

Okay, Okay…

6128

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

The flower arrangement was some of the best flowers we have ever had and lasted the whole trip.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Rick-n-MeMe

Seasick Sailor · December 4, 2021

17 minutes ago, Rick-n-MeMe said:

Seasick Sailor…do I hafta? I don’t wanna! My DH said I shouldn’t post the balcony photos but shoot…too late now. I will live to regret this!!

Okay, Okay…

6128

Lol MeMe, I promise I won't tell a soul! 😉

Cruise Suzy · December 4, 2021

In Feb, we'll be in 7118, directly above 6128. DH picked it for the balcony. (Halfacts has the balcony dimensions of 7116 Nieuw Statendam, same location.)

We ate in Tamarind last week on Nieuw Amsterdam and had similar meals. Other than the soy sauce in pot, I don't recall the names of the dips served with the pre-appetizer "cracker" - from left to right in photo they are hottest, jalapeno and sweet. I had Tom Kha Kai, Sweet & Sour Vegetable Tempura, Dungeness Crab Fried Rice, Mango Posset. DH had Satay Sampler; Wasabi & Soy Crusted Beef Tenderloin; Asian Eggplant, Spicy Coconut; Yuzu Cheesecake. All were very yummy.