We are a retired couple who have cruised regularly since 2000 in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, transatlantic, Scandinavia and Asia. We have cruised with several cruise lines but mainly Celebrity Cruise line/ RCCL. After Celebrity redesigned their Solstice ( Equinox etc.) series introducing more suites with their own deck space we found it difficult to find a quiet space on deck , something we had really enjoyed previously. This was the main reason why we chose to try Holland America for our annual trip to the Caribbean this year.

As many reviewers have already mentioned the Rotterdam is a new modern ship with a light interior. The balcony CABIN on deck 7 was very light and comfortable with a well planned bathroom. The shower, with a glass door was certainly bigger than on other lines. The hanging space to the left of the door was good but the drawers were shallow to take a folded shirt etc. The balcony was average size with two chairs, two stools and a table. There was no sliding door but a door which we found very heavy to open. This design was obviously to save energy but we have always enjoyed having the sliding door open sometimes coming from a cold climate.

The main RESTAURANT was completely different to anything we had experienced before. On other cruise lines we have been able to prebook a time online for each night of the cruise not so on HAL. Precooking was only for dining ar 5.00 -5.30 or after 20.00 which was not suitable for us. The first night we went down to the dining room at around 18.15 onlt to be given a pager a told to wait in the nearby cold corridor or have a drink. The first few nights we waited up to 30 minutes but things did improve towards the end of the cruise when there was no wait. Not knowing when you are to eat is not easy for a diabetic so precooking is definitely something we prefer.For a new ship we found it strange that there were not windows all around the room but instead some of the space was taken up by service areas. Read more