Reporting from on the Rotterdam January 14 through February 25

[Copper10-8]

5 minutes ago, oakridger said:

 

I thought about that too, but you know what?  It doesn't matter if you have Covid, syphilis or an ingrown toenail, it's still a safety hazard!!!  I spent my career working in safety sensitive areas (chemistry labs, refineries with hazardous and deadly chemicals) and clear egress pathways are major safety policies for many places.  Think about theaters, sports arenas and ship hallways!!

 

I know that some people have been instructed by the ships own staff to leave room service trays there but it's probably against the ship's own safety manual to do so.  HAL used to put cards on all room service trays to specifically call them for pick up and DO NOT put them in the hall.  They didn't do that on my trays post shutdown.  

 

Can one of our great Maritime experts on CC offer the companies' policy regarding clear egress??

 

@Copper10-8 or @chengkp75 or @Heidi13

 

Thanks for letting me share my obviously strong feelings on this!!!

 

~Nancy

 

 

Unacceptable and a major safety issue! Those occupants should have been instructed to call the IRD extension when done feeding and, if this occurred and they all ignored those instructions, should all be on the short list for a "talking to" to cease and desist said activity   

[johnnyswitzerland]

37 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

when done feeding

 

😆🤣

[Minoushka]

Could you postmpix of new smoke free casino ….its in a former bar 

what is your opinion ?

[barbon2]

1 hour ago, iflyrc5 said:

OK - I found out more about what is going on with the dishes on the floor.  We are on the main deck aft and the photo is of the 5 cabins aft of ours.  In talking to our room steward he said these are set aside for new crew members that are joining the ship.  They stay in quarantine for a short period of time when joining the ship before joining the rest of the crew members in the crew quarters. 

Thanks 

[RuthC]

1 hour ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

Sure.  It’s not a problem.

For anyone not using a mobility device, maybe. 

[Copper10-8]

1 hour ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

Sure.  It’s not a problem.

 

Sure; let's hope it's not you and/or yours being hauled away on a wheeled stretcher on the way to the infirmary down that particular corridor

[Seasick Sailor]

26 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Sure; let's hope it's not you and/or yours being hauled away on a wheeled stretcher on the way to the infirmary down that particular corridor

 

John.... My husband's wheelchair barely fits past the trays in hallways. Also. A very rude man insists on parking his scooter outside his door and we can not go around it 

 

We have sent numerous messages on Navigator to no hope. We have to go all the way down to the art elevator to get to another floor.. Infuriating!!

[Copper10-8]

1 hour ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

John.... My husband's wheelchair barely fits past the trays in hallways. Also. A very rude man insists on parking his scooter outside his door and we can not go around it 

 

We have sent numerous messages on Navigator to no hope. We have to go all the way down to the art elevator to get to another floor.. Infuriating!!

 

Hi Ma'am;

 

I believe you only have one day left - tomorrow - in your cruise, but a friendly heads up for your next cruise; Scooter operators - and I know there are a few here reading this blogette- get specific instructions NOT to park their, usually 3-wheeled, mobility transport device in the public corridor outside their seagoing abode, because doing that, you guessed it, presents the same hazard we're discussing here re: used food trays.

 

The options for those individuals are to park their scooter, wait for it....... inside their cabin! or, when done using same for an extended period like, dare I say, during the witching hour, contact their room steward who will be more than happy, sorta, kinda, to beam that device to the legally authorized "scooter parking" on the ship.

 

That area can be across from an elevator or stairwell lobby (providing enough room is available there without impeding elevator/stairwell traffic), and/or any other available temporary storage area; I've seen them parked in the gangway lobby when same is not being actively used (there is lots of other gangway-related "stuff" stored there), and/or any other available area where the device does not pose a hazard, except perhaps on the bridge and/or in the ECR. The individual you describe no doubt knows those rules, but appears to be selfish at a minimum, and/or a "rules don't apply to moi" type of person!

 

On your next cruise when/if you encounter a similar situation, call guest relations and advise them of your situation with your DH and his wheelchair in relation to the self-absorbed/egotistical boor that knowingly is violating the ship's safety rules. Ask them nicely to contact the occupant and remind him/her of the rules re: scooter parking.

 

A second option is to ask your room steward (depending on what time of the day you encounter the scoo-tor in the corridor) to have one of the asst. housekeepers and/or cabin inspectors pay you a personal visit in your stateroom so you can relay your concerns face-to-face to him/her  and request action be taken versus the ruffian with the Vespa

 

Hope you enjoyed Rotterdam VII regardless and safe travels homeward!    

Edited January 24, 2023 by Copper10-8

[Ipeeinthepools]

3 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Sure; let's hope it's not you and/or yours being hauled away on a wheeled stretcher on the way to the infirmary down that particular corridor

They can pass just fine. Thank you 

[onthelido2]

Iflyrc5, just a quick question. We will be joining you on your last 21 days of your sailing and know there is a turnaround day on Feb 15. We have never done a b2b and are interested in how HA handles?  Are we going to have to leave the ship and reboard?

[oakridger]

5 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

Unacceptable and a major safety issue!

 

Thank you for responding John!  I find it so hard to understand why some people have so much push back on just keeping their damn things off the hallway floors!!  What's so difficult about that?

 

~Nancy

[iflyrc5]

27 minutes ago, onthelido2 said:

Iflyrc5, just a quick question. We will be joining you on your last 21 days of your sailing and know there is a turnaround day on Feb 15. We have never done a b2b and are interested in how HA handles?  Are we going to have to leave the ship and reboard?

You will find many references to how turnaround days are handled on the ship and if varies by ship and port.  Here is the instructions we received for our turn around day on Jan 25.  All guest continuing on the next cruise can do one of 2 things.  If you wish to get off the ship you can do so when the debark starts.  Take along you ship card and the "in Transit" card that we got in the info envelope.  Go off - do you business/what ever.  When you return show you "in Transit" card and you can get right back on.

 

For those guests continuing we are to report to the World stage at 0930 with our ship card and passport.   Once all the guests that are not continuing for the next cruise are off and all the guests that are continuing are in the main stage the we are escorted as a group into the terminal and are seen by the customs and border patrol officials (this was done via facial recognition stations in Nov).  Once everyone has gone through this process then you can get back on the ship.  

 

If everyone does what they are supposed to do it is a quick and easy process, however, there always seems to a handful of guests that think they don't need to follow the process.  They don't leave the ship when told - they don't show up in the World Stage - they don't have their passport - etc.....  which can lead to the process being delayed by as much as an hour.  Back in Nov when we were on the NA there were 3 families that basically took their own sweet time leaving the ship.  They delayed our turnaround by almost any hour while we stood in line in the terminal and watched one lady wheel her luggage off and she was so drunk she could hardly walk.

[iflyrc5]

When I get up in the morning I usually turn on the TV to the chart channel and see where we are and our speed and heading.  When I did that this morning I noticed that we had made a course change sometime in the early morning and had been to Puerto Rico but at 0830 we back on course for Ft Lauderdale.  Later found out that we had a medical evacuation.  We sailed in near Puerto Rico about 0600 and by small boat took a guest to shore to a local hospital.

 

below is the daily program for Tuesday - Jan 24

[Zanne208]

That means your sleeping well through the night🙂

[Seasick Sailor]

10 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Hi Ma'am;

 

I believe you only have one day left - tomorrow - in your cruise, but a friendly heads up for your next cruise; Scooter operators - and I know there are a few here reading this blogette- get specific instructions NOT to park their, usually 3-wheeled, mobility transport device in the public corridor outside their seagoing abode, because doing that, you guessed it, presents the same hazard we're discussing here re: used food trays.

 

The options for those individuals are to park their scooter, wait for it....... inside their cabin! or, when done using same for an extended period like, dare I say, during the witching hour, contact their room steward who will be more than happy, sorta, kinda, to beam that device to the legally authorized "scooter parking" on the ship.

 

That area can be across from an elevator or stairwell lobby (providing enough room is available there without impeding elevator/stairwell traffic), and/or any other available temporary storage area; I've seen them parked in the gangway lobby when same is not being actively used (there is lots of other gangway-related "stuff" stored there), and/or any other available area where the device does not pose a hazard, except perhaps on the bridge and/or in the ECR. The individual you describe no doubt knows those rules, but appears to be selfish at a minimum, and/or a "rules don't apply to moi" type of person!

 

On your next cruise when/if you encounter a similar situation, call guest relations and advise them of your situation with your DH and his wheelchair in relation to the self-absorbed/egotistical boor that knowingly is violating the ship's safety rules. Ask them nicely to contact the occupant and remind him/her of the rules re: scooter parking.

 

A second option is to ask your room steward (depending on what time of the day you encounter the scoo-tor in the corridor) to have one of the asst. housekeepers and/or cabin inspectors pay you a personal visit in your stateroom so you can relay your concerns face-to-face to him/her  and request action be taken versus the ruffian with the Vespa

 

Hope you enjoyed Rotterdam VII regardless and safe travels homeward!    

 

Thank you John. We love Rotterdam. We will be home for a few weeks, travel over to San Diego to see our new great nephew, then hop on the Konigsdam on Feb 18th for Hawaii/Tahiti. 

 

We will be in an accessible room again and hoping for kind neighbors who keep scooters out of the hallways. 😉

[thecruiserman]

For those who don’t have fixed dinner time seating,

 

Is it possible to reserve dinner times, or do passengers need to stand in line ( or be given a pager) and wait to be called for dinner?

 

Can you reserve dinner times for the entire voyage?

[westcoastcruiser]

We have.  First night were given a table that was not a good fit for us.  Then next night we were more specific and have been assigned same table, same time, same servers each night.  So even though we have open sesting on deck 2, we go to the “reservation” line and get seated almost immediately.  There is a line for those without reservations and it moves along albeit a bit slower.  

[thecruiserman]

27 minutes ago, westcoastcruiser said:

We have.  First night were given a table that was not a good fit for us.  Then next night we were more specific and have been assigned same table, same time, same servers each night.  So even though we have open sesting on deck 2, we go to the “reservation” line and get seated almost immediately.  There is a line for those without reservations and it moves along albeit a bit slower.  

How do you make the reservation? On-line? With the Maitre d’?

[kazu]

On 1/17/2023 at 10:50 PM, iflyrc5 said:

I have included a photo of the sign with the taxi rates to the various locations along with the daily program for Jan 18 and also a sign posted as you entry the Sea View pool area.

 

 

 

Just catching up and enjoying your thread. I find it interesting that the Rotterdam does not allow children In the Seaview pool, whereas the Koningsdam was permitting children 16 and under as long as they were with an adult. I like the Rotterdam’s policy better 😉 

[RMLincoln]

We made our open dining reservations at the MDR podium or by phone. They will reserve two or maybe three nights out. They do not reserve for times between 5:45 and 7:15, or so. We got a 5:45 but in the books it was 5:30. We were going to Lincoln Center Stage 5:00 performance and their sets were usually 30-45 minutes but we were at the podium about 5:40, worked great. 
m—

[Ipeeinthepools]

On 1/20/2023 at 11:27 AM, Seasick Sailor said:

@iflyrc5 There still seems to be confusing facts on Sea View Pool. One sign says children under 16 require adult supervision.

 

50 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

Just catching up and enjoying your thread. I find it interesting that the Rotterdam does not allow children In the Seaview pool, whereas the Koningsdam was permitting children 16 and under as long as they were with an adult. I like the Rotterdam’s policy better 😉 

Kazu, if you go back to post 57 (I think) you can see the problem is mixed messaging.

[Zanne208]

4 hours ago, westcoastcruiser said:

We have.  First night were given a table that was not a good fit for us.  Then next night we were more specific and have been assigned same table, same time, same servers each night.  So even though we have open sesting on deck 2, we go to the “reservation” line and get seated almost immediately.  There is a line for those without reservations and it moves along albeit a bit slower.  

Wait, I'm not on board yet - how can you say we weren't a good fit? 😳   😆 🤣 

[iflyrc5]

5 hours ago, westcoastcruiser said:

We have.  First night were given a table that was not a good fit for us.  Then next night we were more specific and have been assigned same table, same time, same servers each night.  So even though we have open sesting on deck 2, we go to the “reservation” line and get seated almost immediately.  There is a line for those without reservations and it moves along albeit a bit slower.  

What time is your reservation.

?  I was told by Adi, Hendri and the lady at the check in desk that we could only reserve a time at 5:15 or 7:45 and it would not be a specific table.   We have been doing the walkup at 7pm and the last few nights there was no wait - seated immediately.

[Seasick Sailor]

2 hours ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

Kazu, if you go back to post 57 (I think) you can see the problem is mixed messaging.

 

And both signs are still there tonight..

[iflyrc5]

We are getting a new Captain starting with the Jan 25 cruise.  Not sure who it is going to be but I am guessing it is Captain Timmers.

 

Here is the daily program for Wed, Jan 25