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

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Photos of Thanksgiving dinner onboard. Best turkey meal we have ever had on a ship. It left us feeling like we ought to always sail on Thanksgiving.

goat cheese appetizer

chocolate pecan pie

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Dutch Cafe. Beautiful space and some yummy goodies in that case.

Nice beer choices. Even draft beer. We got beer bottles to go and stored them in our fridge for later enjoyment.

Good pizza.

We chose vegetarian. Took the photo after we dove in.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Half Moon Cay day

Shared the day with the Nieuw Statendam.

Last tender back was awfully crowded.

canadianbear · December 4, 2021

Loving your review & photos. Your flower bouquet is beautiful. It looks like you tried the Apple pie at the Dutch Cafe! Mr Bear’s favourite.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Canadian Bear, Yes we tried the dutch apple cake. It was good but a bit undercooked. Perhaps we should have given it another try.

Thank you for enjoying the review and photos.

I appreciate everyone’s comments.

Gail & Marty sailing away · December 4, 2021

Thanks for sharing..

AnnieBelle · December 4, 2021

Oh my goodness, this makes me even more excited for my upcoming cruise on her. This will be our first trip on a pinnacle class ship. We always have at least one night in the Tamarind- those shrimp crackers are so good! I have a feeling our Christmas cruise will be a little more full of people. Thanks for sharing your trip!

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

Our day in Curaçao began with the bridge closed but soon it opened back up. We got drenched walking to lunch. Nice warm rain but soaking wet is soaking wet! We returned to a lunch favorite of ours on the water within walking distance of the ship. It is called Perla del Mar.

Some holiday decorations were up in the port shops area.

the bridge was moving to the open position.

Perla del Mar, Willemstad, Curaçao

in the background is the Mein Schiff 2

Does anyone know what tree this is? Maybe the Wayaca tree? Please help. The bark was very interesting.

so pretty!

KirkNC · December 4, 2021

3 hours ago, Rick-n-MeMe said:

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!!

Thanks for the balanced review.

57redbird · December 4, 2021

Wonderful review! Thanks.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 4, 2021

To let you know our level of happiness on the ship…we wanted to stay onboard and if we could have, we would have. We did have a lot of fun. We surely enjoy the music venues and how easy it is to get around on the ship.

We were pleasantly surprised that we only had neighbors on one side of us. The room was super quiet and our neighbors barely came onto their balcony. We know that balconies can sometimes get noisy but this cruise was especially quiet. yes, there will always be those that make loud phone calls on their balcony (or other public areas) or generally just speak loudly. We always try to speak in hushed tones and I guess we just wish others did too.

The room was laid out well and was very comfortable to hang out in. We enjoyed the on-demand movies. Cannot say much good about the regular tv shows…not much going on there.

We also liked the extra charging ports and electrical outlets by the bed and the nightlights. You could also turn out the overhead lights at the bed. Some very nice features for sure.

I may try to take a little break from posting here but do have more photos and little stories to tell. So stayed tuned to future posts.

FlaMariner · December 4, 2021

Great review and thanks for sharing all those photos......

Just one comment....and shows how folks see things differently.....We were on the Rotterdam in October and our favorite entertainment was Sidney and Matt at Billboard Onboard. We thought they were great and talented....Sat at the bar stools at the pianos almost every night......And they would have been the same two when you sailed.....Funny how we see their performance differently.....it's all good!

Thanks again for sharing...we love the Rotterdam and look forward to sailing on her again as well!

Caribbean Chris · December 4, 2021

Really good, detailed review. Thank you!

We had drinks one night in Tamarind on Rotterdam and the bartender was exceptional. I ordered a Negroni (certainly not Asian, but I was in the mood for one😀). It was one of the best Negronis I’ve had anywhere and one of the best cocktails aboard any ship ever.

Edited December 4, 2021 by Caribbean Chris

whogo · December 5, 2021

Great review and pics, Rick-n-MeMe, thanks for posting.

SJSULIBRARIAN · December 5, 2021

Thanks for review and fabulous photos.

jimbri · December 5, 2021

Great review and photos!

Rick-n-MeMe · December 5, 2021

Thank you to all who have remarked and enjoyed the photos.

I did remember some things I may have forgotten to mention. The brand new Rotterdam sailed so smoothly. Granted we were midship this time (and aft on the Koningsdam previously) but we really enjoyed the smooth seas and the captains and staffs abilities. We never woke when docking and the room had no creaks at all. Not a one. Hard to believe for a new ship. We were previously on the Celebrity Reflection when it was very new and we had some awful balcony noises. So, we were very thankful for a “quiet” cruise.

At embarkation we boarded the ship quickly. We noticed that at no time did any port terminal staff look at our boarding time. The worst part was waiting just to get in the terminal. There was no separate line outside for priority boarding. All entered from one door and then we were funneled to the correct area. Once they got two people working that door, we sped along. We kept wondering when they were going to give us our keycards but realized we are now boarding so they must be at our room door. We went straight to our room and we found our cards there. The room was ready and we were so very excited to finally be back onboard and soon ready to sail out of Fort Lauderdale after many months!

We then went to the embarkation lunch in the MDR and it was a lackluster meal but we really don’t like the Lido area for the first day. So, it was really nice to relax for awhile. When we returned to our room, we relaxed for awhile on the balcony and soon our luggage arrived. We unpacked with plenty of time before sailing and it sure was nice not to have to jump up and go to muster. Really love the new style of muster post pandemic. All you do is check in at your muster station (ours was at music walk area) and then watch a safety video in the room. So easy and convenient. No crowding and no dragging our rear ends up 4 flights of stairs…which isn’t easy for those with knee and hip issues!

I will post the other things I was thinking of as soon as I remember what they were! ha!

Rick-n-MeMe · December 5, 2021

We had never been to Dominican Republic before so we initially booked a private tour guide to tour us around Puerto Plata and then had plans for lunch on the beach and some time for swimming and relaxing. We ended up canceling the tour when our itinerary changed and even the arrival time changed. We now were arriving at 2pm I think it was and we decided we might be cemented to our balcony chairs by then and didn’t want to risk not feeling like going on our tour.

We arrived to Amber Cove and realized we wanted to see the port and pick up some local rum at duty free. We did not leave the port area. We have another cruise in February and we stop in the DR so we will have another go at a tour.

Al Aboard · December 5, 2021

Thanks for your reviews and photos. We are on the Rotterdam February 13-27 in a V category on deck 5 (not a bump out like yours).

We have the signature drink package from the HIA package. Do you remember if the smoked cocktails at the Half Moon Bar were covered by that package ($11 max)?

Pia1913 · December 5, 2021

20 hours ago, Seasick Sailor said:

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

Thank you very much for posting your cabin number. We are getting on for 21 days on December 12 and we have that same balcony on a different deck. I know the ship is wonderful because we were on the maiden voyage.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 5, 2021

We never knew the price of the smoked drinks but I think they may not be covered by your package. We were very happy we changed to the elite package. I don’t recall exact amounts but think it was only about 180 extra for the both of us. Anyway, it allowed us to get some of our favorites at Notes and some favorite bourbons. We even got a Midleton Irish Whiskey (which isn’t cheap on land!) at 15 dollars per shot.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 5, 2021

Some food loveliness!!!!

This had to be a favorite of mine. The potato fennel purée was so good that when we got home we recreated it. Nice piece of fish this night for sure but cannot recall the name.

Rick-n-MeMe · December 5, 2021

We arrived into San Juan, PR on a beautiful sunny day. We have been here several times so opted for a short walk into the old city and enjoyed lunch at Puerto Criollo and then walked a very short distance to a small but wonderful rum bar at Scryer Rum. Please consider stopping by this business that is struggling to stay alive. We really enjoyed our talk with the bartender and hearing the local’s point of view of hurricane Maria and other devastating acts by mother nature and the US response. Eye opening.

our lunch place very close to the port

the pork dumplings were great

stuffed mofongo with pork chunks. we have had better but they were fine.

the ship isn’t too far away!

this drink was pure perfection!

we walked right onto the ship with our paper sack with the rum bottle in it and no one stopped us or said a word. In Dominican Republic we were stopped with our rum purchase that was inside a backpack and we gave it over but was returned on the last sea day with no issues.