Rotterdam Review

4.0 / 5.0
0 reviews

Back to the Baltic

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Rotterdam
User Avatar
Bluenose 47
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

Rating by category

Value for Money
Embarkation
Dining
Public Rooms
Entertainment
Service
Cabin

Additional details

Sail Date: Jun 2009
Cabin: Vista Suite

This cruise took me back to where it all began for me in cruising - my first cruise was in the Baltic on this very same ship in the year 2000. I have now completed 13 cruises in all - 5 on Holland America, 6 on Princess, and one each on Oceania and Royal Caribbean. Despite having been here before, I enjoyed this cruise immensely.We embarked in Copenhagen on a very rainy June day. It kept on raining the next day while at sea, but after that the rain was never a problem. It showered and/or was cloudy on several days,but we never got caught in anything but a brief shower on any of the shore excursions. The temperature was about 15 degrees C (60 F) most of the time, warming up to 21 on a couple of days. I will not do a detailed port review, but in summary, we stopped at Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Warnemuden, Arhus, and Oslo and finished in Rotterdam. Most  of the ports were great. I was disappointed in Arhus and we didn't take the Berlin excursion (13 hours) in Warnemunde but rather stayed in town and explored this beautiful port and then enjoyed the uncrowded barbeque on the Pool deck and the great German music played by the Rostock Brass Band who came on board and played for several hours in the evening. It was like being at Oktoberfest.The ship is now almost 12 years old, but is in very good shape overall, thanks no doubt to being the flagship of HAL, along with twin ship Amsterdam. She is due for a major drydock this fall, with some major structural changes being done at the stern, with the addition of new staterooms on decks 6 and 7. Our stateroom, located on Verandah deck was large and comfortable. It had a few maintenance problems. The original refrigerator, which is supposed to be contained in a cabinet, had been removed and a new slightly larger frig stuck in the space below the dressing table, which my wife did not appreciate, as there was no room for tucking your feet in under the table. A piece fell off the whirlpool part of the tub and was never fixed. Our door did not close properly and we continually found it ajar after being out for awhile. Our stateroom attendants kept the room neat and tidy at all times and responded to requests willingly. The public areas of the ship are in great condition - far better than I have seen on newer ships. The only sign I saw of the ship being tired was in the Queens Lounge where the sofas had badly faded fabric on the upper level.Captained by Master Rik Krombeen and with Cruise Director Susan Wood, the onboard experience was fantastic. The crew were uniformly friendly and seemingly happy in their jobs. The Captain was very visible, which is not always the case on other ships, and Susan Wood is an awesome Cruise Director. She seems to be everywhere from first thing in the morning to late at night. While she is British, most if not all of her staff were Canadian and very easy to understand (since we are Canucks!) This has not been my experience on Princess Ships lately, where a lot of the Cruise staff have very heavy accents (often Australian or New Zealand) and I find them very hard to understand. HAL is not noted for having fantastic Production shows, in part no doubt because of the smaller ship size,but of the five shows on this cruise, the last two were pretty good. The entertainers they brought on board were not the best either, but still not bad. We liked  Kyle Esplin the best - he did a lot of Jerry Lee Lewis material. On three nights, there was nothing going on in the main show lounge at all (except movies). We enjoyed the half hour game show format each night at 7:30 in the Queens Lounge - it had a lot of passenger involvement and was typically very funny. A particular highlight were the talks given by Chris Taylor - another Canadian, who had an encyclopedic knowledge of the ports we were visiting, and gave several excellent enrichment talks as well. He was awesome.We ate most of our meals in the Dining Room (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Service was excellent. We were on Anytime Dining but found a table we liked on the third night and stayed with it each evening. Herry, one of the hosts, was always friendly and welcomed us by name each evening and got us our preferred table. Our waiters were not particularly talkative but served us well. The wine steward, Nestor, was great. I found the food very good the first few days, but after that it seemed the flavor was not as good on some dishes, such as soups and meat. It seemed you could only get meat done one of two ways, no matter what you requested - it was either well done or medium to medium rare. The presentation was excellent. We ate one night in the Pinnacle Grill and it was outstanding. Incredible flavor in the Filet I had, and done just right. We tried lunch one day on the Pool Deck when we got back too late for the Dining Room, and it took 20 minutes to cook my hamburger, with no one in front of me. It was tasteless to boot!  But I stress again overall the food was fine, certainly a cut above what you would get on Princess.We debarked in Rotterdam and it is quite an experience to be on this particular ship, coming into the port for which it is named. We were accompanied by  a fire boat spraying its water cannons. and as we passed by our ship's predecessor, Rotterdam V, we gave a salute on the ship's whistle. It was painless getting off the ship and we took a shore excursion on the way to the airport in Amsterdam, which is a very pleasant way to end the cruise.Overall, a fantastic cruise and I can't wait to sail on Holland America again.

Cabin Review

Vista Suite

Ample storage, good sized bath with tub and whirlpool, large sofa, great bed. Frig had been repaced with one that didn't fit in cabinet. Verandah average size but with only one chair and one lounge, plus very small table.

previous reviewnext review

Find a cruise

Any Month

Get special cruise deals, expert advice, insider tips and more.By proceeding, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

© 1995—2024, The Independent Traveler, Inc.