Trip Report - Rotterdam - Ship was Perfect but our Worst Cruise Ever

[plane2port]

We were also on this cruise, and I was tempted to write a review, but the OP has just done such a great job with this review, I will just add my comments here. 
 

This was our first cruise after a cruising hiatus of about 6 years. We were enticed on board by a casino offer that we couldn’t refuse. We upgraded to a balcony which I’m glad we did since the weather made it hard to enjoy the promenade and pool decks. 
 

The staff was excellent and we found the food to be very good. The first night we ate in the dining room at a large shared table because we enjoy socializing with others during dinner. However the meal stretched out to about two hours, which tested my stamina, so we had out other meals up on the Lido deck, taking our plates to the aft deck. 
 

Other than the excellent band in the Rolling Stone Rock Room, we found the entertainment to be lackluster. We missed the first production show because the first show was packed and the second show was cancelled and never rescheduled. The second production show was mediocre as was the comedian (our opinion). We did enjoy the talks on the world stage with the curved triple screen (who remembers Cyclorama from the 60’s?). Plenty of movies available for streaming in the room and we had books on our IPads so we were never bored. 
 

We really enjoyed the ports. Here’s what we did:

1.  Grand Turk—rented a golf cart and toured the island, stopping for a swim. 
2.  San Juan—Walked to Castillo San Cristobal and then through the old town through the old sea gate. Fantastic that we docked right at the Old Town. 
3. St. Thomas—took the local bus to town and walked around, then took the Skyride (one and done.)

4.  Half Moon Key—walked down the beach to the rocks and snorkeled there. 
 

All in all a good cruise. Our only suggestion to HAL is that they step up their entertainment options. 

[Ipeeinthepools]

@plane2port How was the snorkeling at Half Moon Key?

[plane2port]

Nothing to see but the swim was nice!

9 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

@plane2port How was the snorkeling at Half Moon Key?

 

[Ipeeinthepools]

4 minutes ago, plane2port said:

Nothing to see but the swim was nice!

 

Thanks

[CruiserBruce]

37 minutes ago, plane2port said:

Nothing to see but the swim was nice!

 

The snorkeling has never been good there...the best is on the south side of the harbor area.

[Chrissy6299]

5 hours ago, plane2port said:

4.  Half Moon Key—walked down the beach to the rocks and snorkeled there. 
 

 

How was the snorkeling? We're leaving on Wednesday and are wondering if we should bother... what was the water temperature?

Edited December 25, 2023 by Chrissy6299

[cruising sister]

Thank you for your review.  You can use Pro Tip all you want. I was not put off by the phrase. 

[canadianbear]

54 minutes ago, Chrissy6299 said:

 

How was the snorkeling? We're leaving on Wednesday and are wondering if we should bother... what was the water temperature?

We were there in November (and always take our gear on warm water cruises).  There’s not much-even the resident octopus we could always find had his area diminished I guess with the storm they had there.  We did see a turtle though.  We are Canadian so most water in Caribbean is warm to us!   

[plane2port]

2 hours ago, Chrissy6299 said:

 

How was the snorkeling? We're leaving on Wednesday and are wondering if we should bother... what was the water temperature?

In my opinion it wasn’t worth it to bring our gear. Although check out CruiserBruce’s suggestion above about snorkeling on the south side of the harbor. 
 

At this time of year the water temperature in the Bahamas is noticeably chillier than in the Caribbean. I would call the temperature “refreshing” rather than “bracing” (like swimming on Cape Cod. 🥶)

Edited December 26, 2023 by plane2port

[0106]

@Chrissy6299Nothing to see at HMC but there is excellent snorkeling in Grand Cayman and good snorkeling in Cozumel if you go out on a catamaran.  I always take my own mask but not my fins.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I've done the HMC snorkel by boat, and they take you to a reef with a fair amount of fish. Of course, you have to pay for it, but I've found it worth the cost. I travel with my own snorkel and mask and just borrow fins. But for those who don't have their own, the gear on the boat has always been good quality. 

 

Last winter, HAL took bookings online even though they knew the boat was going to be out of commission for a few months. I was disappointed when I learned of the cancellation on board, because there were no tours left that I wanted to do. So that wasted part of my HIA credit. I hope the boat is running again, because I've booked the tour for February.

[leerathje]

On 12/24/2023 at 5:53 PM, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

PRO TIP - you don’t need to use the phrase “PRO TIP” so often. Your helpful tips will be noticed, and appreciated, regardless. Sorry about the lousy weather and medical incidents. Those can definitely put a damper on the whole experience. Glad you were able to find the positives and that the ship/crew/food seemed to exceed your expectations. 

 

I personally liked the "pro tip".  I thought it was a funny way of lightening up the posts.

[ChinaShrek]

On 12/23/2023 at 6:26 PM, Seasick Sailor said:

Bad title folks.

 

We've been onboard since the day after Thanksgiving. Will spend 51 days, disembarking on Jan 14th.

 

This is our 3rd holiday (30+ days each cruise) onboard Rotterdam. The crew, food, decorations have been top notch.

 

It is sad the OP had bad weather but it's no fault of the ship.

A lot of people will not go on a cruise if the weather is going to be bad. 

[OlsSalt]

On 12/25/2023 at 3:20 PM, Chrissy6299 said:

 

How was the snorkeling? We're leaving on Wednesday and are wondering if we should bother... what was the water temperature?

 

Water temperature at HMC best in late Fall, and gets cooler as this warmed up Caribbean water  from the hot summers moves into the Gulf Stream to warm Northern Europe winters. Then these waters get replaced by cooler water coming up from the depths - the Gulf Stream is a fascinating ocean current rotating beltway.

 

I did not want to get out of the water on an early November HMC stop once, but usually avoid it at other times. Still a gorgeous stop however, just to be lazy.  One needs to go to the ABC islands to get warmer water later in the season, and better snorkeling.

[65Mommy]

On 12/23/2023 at 6:03 PM, friendswithdave said:

Day 3 - Grand Turk. Wife still wasn't feeling well from the rockin ship so she stayed on board while I made a quick trip to shore early in the morning. Looked like the rain would hold off - but it didn't. I got halfway down the pier when the rain got heavy and I got good and wet. I waited in the shops for the rain to end, walked around the pool and beach area, and headed back to the ship. We didn't plan to spend much time in this port since we'd seen it before. 

 

We had another morning visit to the thermal spa, wife had a massage, and enjoyed the pool relatively crowd free. Friend G and I enjoyed some football by the pool like we did yesterday. We looked at the menu for dinner and it was underwhelming. We looked at the Lido menu and it looked great. For the first time in memory, we decided to skip the dining room / Club Orange for Lido dinner. It was a great choice. I had seafood paella which was full of great seafood and chicken tikka masala which had a nice spice level. The only issue with dinner was the food was so good I ate too much and was uncomfortably full. PRO TIP - if you always eat in the dining room, take a look at the dining room and lido menus. You might find the Lido to be a nice change of pace. 

 

The seas were still high and wife didn't feel well so we had a quiet evening watching football on the pool deck.

 

Next - St Thomas

Is this normal for winter Caribbean cruises?

[kazu]

6 hours ago, 65Mommy said:

Is this normal for winter Caribbean cruises?

 

No, it’s not.  It was a rough week with the storms that hit the Atlantic Coast and other areas constantly on the move.  Climate change.   One ship bypassed the Caribbean all together and did a Canada/New England cruise.  Brrr. 🥶   

[Dancing Shoes]

I was on the Rotterdam in May and enjoyed your review.  Your title was catchy.  After a couple of paragraphs, I was waiting for the let-down.  Sorry for the crummy weather and all of the little mishaps.  My first cruise was to Western Caribbean middle of December 1983, and we had good weather.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Dancing Shoes

[POA1]

8 hours ago, 65Mommy said:

Is this normal for winter Caribbean cruises?

No, not at all. We were on the Nieuw Statendam, inbound, when the Rotterdam was coming out of Port Everglades. (We probably overlapped in the storm by 3 days.)

 

Many of our cruises have been in November and December in the Caribbean. Bad weather happens, but usually not now.

[USN59-79]

On 12/26/2023 at 1:02 PM, ChinaShrek said:

A lot of people will not go on a cruise if the weather is going to be bad. 

Not many people can accurately predict the weather three months before embarking.  It would be nice if you could cancel and get your money back when you know a week or two before the cruise that a storm is coming.  So people do go on a cruise if the weather is going to be bad.

[OlsSalt]

Prior roll call member suggested using the website "windy.com" for pretty comprehensive weather patterns and conditions forecasting.  

 

Lots of variables to track: wind, waves, temperature, rain, visibility etc. Looks like slides from a recent cruise talk posted here, even the bridge might rely on it?

[AroundWithMAPTravels]

56 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

Prior roll call member suggested using the website "windy.com" for pretty comprehensive weather patterns and conditions forecasting.  

 

Lots of variables to track: wind, waves, temperature, rain, visibility etc. Looks like slides from a recent cruise talk posted here, even the bridge might rely on it?

It is probably good bet that HAL bridges do use windy…I know that other ships do, as the captain of my Antarctica trip (not HAL) had it on his screen in the bridge constantly and showed us screenshots of the “reasons” we had to alter our course 😀