CruiserBruce Posted December 25, 2004 #1 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Happy Holidays! Like jhannah, I am working today, so will put in a few thoughts about our cruise. Clopaw- haven't heard your thoughts on the cruise- you are probably tied up with holiday celebrations. The Rotterdam is very pretty and in great shape. We did notice two broken interior windows- one at the Neptune Lounge, and I forget where the other one is. Probably leftovers from the Atlantic storm. The crew is superb. Capt Peter Bos is very friendly and approachable. He witnessed a lady have a minor accident at a meal, and literally ran over to fix the problem before anyone noticed. I only noticed because I was standing next her. We have sailed with Robert Versteeg 3 times now. He has just been promoted from Beverage Manager to HM, and does a great job. Peter the CD, as mentioned in another post, is funny, friendly and extremely good at what he does. Our Room Steward- Bambang, Dining Room staff- Nugie and Yono, and Arthur and Maureen in the Neptune Lounge were all outstanding, and earned the extra tips we gave them. The food was very good. The Pinnacle was awesome- the best meal I have ever eaten on a cruise- 11 cruises now. The Filet Mignon was so tender I almost didn't use my knife. DW and I felt the Volcano Cake was good, but not the best chocolate on board. (A room service only menu cake takes that prize. Thanks Nugie for forcing us to have it every dinner after he recommended it to us!) And we are serious chocoholics. We became friends with a chef that was a passenger, and they ate in the Pinnacle 3 times. I would consider that a recommendation! We dodged most of the weather problems (we beat the big Midwest storm out of Dulles by less than 24 hours), but it was a little cold at HMC, and it rained most of the morning in the Panama Canal. Otherwise weather was warm and humid most of the time. Seas were flat to moderate. Tours were great. The Jolly Pirates in Aruba, which were at first, canceled, then re-instated, were a kick. White Water rafting in Costa Ria was fun- great crew/tour guides, and great group of passengers. Kayaking in HMC was fun as well. As reported by maril, there is a great Internet cafe at Puerto Limon. There is also a pretty good one at Aruba, in the small shopping center immediately to the right of the ship dock. I think it was $2.50 for 30 mins. Some minor problems- a poorly planned (time was not used well) tour at Curacao. Embarkation was a little sluggish- possibly due to Customs. A number of older passengers spent a long time standing in the hot sun, while a wedding party was brought inside as soon as they arrived. When it started, boarding was very smooth. We sailed on a Sunday. There were 6 ships in port, the Rotterdam being the smallest. I estimated 20,000 arriving, and 20K departing passengers that day, and the area was jammed. But, all in all, things went very smoothly. A great cruise! I would be happy to answer any questions anyone has about this route or the ship. We saw on board that the Veendam will be doing this route next winter, and the Rotterdam will be doing So. America, I think. Happy Cruising! Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clopaw Posted December 25, 2004 #2 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Bruce, I'll post more later, but wanted to say we had a wonderful time and were quite impressed with our first HAL cruise. We did not arrive home until yesterday (Christmas Eve) at 3 pm. That was not our plan, but Mother Nature thought otherwise. We made it to Atlanta on Wed, and were there for two days. The Columbus airport was closed, as were any airports anywhere near to us. The big problem here was very thick ice, rather than snow. We stayed in a cheap motel for two days, with nothing but our carryons. We pretty much stayed in the room except for meals due to dirty, not very warm clothes. Pretty chilly in Atlanta. But we made it in time to have friends over for dinner last night, and we are going to other friends tonight. We are lucky to have electricity. Much of Columbus still does not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
localady Posted December 25, 2004 #3 Share Posted December 25, 2004 Thanks for your lovely review. We had just departed the Rotterdam when you boarded. We also had Bambang as a steward, a delightful man who has been with HAL for a long time. We also enjoyed the cruise a great deal. My review was published in the CC Review area just a few days ago. :) Clopaw- Glad you finally made it home. Bet you need another cruise just to relax from the trip home!!:eek: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted December 26, 2004 Author #4 Share Posted December 26, 2004 Locallady: I noticed your comment about the Pinnacle staff. On our cruise most, if not all, were European. The Pinnacle Chef, Jorg was his name, I think, is very friendly. He came around while we were eating, and as he is in charge of food to the Neptune, we also talked to him there. He had a great chocolate crunch cookie in the Neptune which was our second favorite chocolate food. It came in white, regular (DW's favorite) and dark (my favorite) chocolate variety. I told him how much we liked the cookies, and he suggested ordering some for our room. (Arthur- Neptune concierge slipped some in our room a couple of days). I said we were talking about ordering them for our HOUSE! He actually looked into it, but gave us the amazingly simple recipe instead. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted December 29, 2004 Author #5 Share Posted December 29, 2004 Clopaw: Thought I would say "hi" as a easy way to bump this up a little. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sail7seas Posted December 30, 2004 #6 Share Posted December 30, 2004 Locallady: The Pinnacle Chef, Jorg was his name, ...... He had a great chocolate crunch cookie in the Neptune which was our second favorite chocolate food. It came in white, regular (DW's favorite) and dark (my favorite) chocolate variety. I told him how much we liked the cookies, and he suggested ordering some for our room. (Arthur- Neptune concierge slipped some in our room a couple of days). I said we were talking about ordering them for our HOUSE! He actually looked into it, but gave us the amazingly simple recipe instead. Bruce I remember those cookies and they really are wonderful. Would you share the recipe with us? Please. Thanks (in advance...hoping you will share. :) ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CruiserBruce Posted December 31, 2004 Author #7 Share Posted December 31, 2004 I am not a cook, so if you are, please extrapolate as needed. Jorg said all the cookies are is "cooking" chocolate of the type you like (dark, regular or white) melted, then poured on a room temp tray. Then, quickly, add any crunchy cereal, like granula. If the granula doesn't sink into the chocolate, add a drop or two more choclate to top. Let chocolate cool and harden. I am not sure if the "cooking" chocolate is sweet or semi sweet. But as he didn't say to add sugar, I imagine it is sweet. He said the key for personal taste was the cereal. Whatever cereal gives the taste/consistancy you like. It seemed there were different cereals in the cookies over the several days we ate them. For a big flake cereal, you may need to break the flakes down a little. Simple as that! But soooo good! Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martina.V Posted September 24, 2005 #8 Share Posted September 24, 2005 We have sailed with Robert Versteeg 3 times now. He has just been promoted from Beverage Manager to HM, and does a great job. Thank you, He is my Dad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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