Setting off for New York from Rotterdam on the new Rotterdam ship was exciting as we were accompanied by other boats and ferries and ships horns. But I don’t think this happens on every cruise. There were several passengers with Covid who had disembarked from the previous cruise, which meant that boarding had been delayed due to an extensive cleaning on arrival in Rotterdam. Assigned boarding was cancelled, we expected chaos, but boarded straight through with no delays at all. We had used the Verifly app to give us priority boarding.

The ship was immaculate, everything functioned perfectly, cleaning was incessant, but we had to wear masks for six days, and wash hands regularly. Well done to the ship for its handling of Covid, no worry there.

Bill Miller, author, gave a lecture each day, twice, on his specialist topic, transatlantic ships. He was outstanding, entertaining, amusing, informative, and a masterclass on holding the attention of a large audience (1000?). The theatre (World Stage) was outstanding as well, with 270’ wrapping video screens. Most entertainment was good, the blues band in BB Kings were extremely good, though audience was small. Food good, as would be expected. On our cruise the passengers were largely American, with a few from the Netherlands. The latter escaping from the former in the Grand Dutch Cafe, which we liked a lot. Read more