22 Night Southern / Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)
Sail date: November 04, 2017
Ship:
Rotterdam Retired
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 1919
Traveled as: Large Group
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
As a first-timer, it would have been nice to have been invited to a tour of the ship, a get acquainted party, something to show us what to do, what to expect, where to find things.
It was 10-days into the cruise when I found out about the Excursion Lounge!
Embarkation
2 out of 5
Delayed by 3 hours. The cruise ship was coming out of dry dock, but was still being worked on. We watched workers going on and coming off for those three hours
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
The food was fine, but way too frufru for my taste. The buffet had the same thing every day. Thank goodness there was a pizza shop on the back deck
Sports Bar
5 out of 5
The bar was MIX! Russel and her husband Henry were wonderful! They had a mixology class that was really fun and we learned a lot. They and their staff treated us very well!
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Too few!!
We did enjoy the trivia games every day, but other than that it was a snoozefest!!
You'd think there would be pool parties or steel drums playing Caribbean music (since it was a Caribbean cruise)!
Entertainment
4 out of 5
JAMM in MIX was great to listen to. He was musically entertaining and funny at the same time. It would be enjoyable to see him again on another cruise
Crow's Next
3 out of 5
The staff seemed to ignore my party every time we were there. I was there with a party of 14. We spent a lot of time in the Crow's Nest playing cards (as there was sooo little else to do on board), and rarely did anyone come over to offer a drink. We mostly had to go to the bar to order them ourselves.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our cabin staff (Widodo) was wonderful and always made us feel welcome
The wait staff in the main dining room (Firmen, Roy, Barbara) were very accommodating. I have a lot of food allergies and they made me feel as though my health was very important to them
Ship Quality
1 out of 5
The ship had MANY buckets collecting dripping water the entire 15 days of the cruise.
The hallways smelled like varnish, the carpet was sticky.
The LIDO pool area was dirty and rarely swept. There was always food/crumbs on the floor
Cabin / Stateroom
3 out of 5
The decor left a lot to be desired - really?
The tv had to be 20 years old
The A/C was not cooling enough. I complained for several days to Guest Services; when they finally came to the room, they measured the temp and stated it was within their range & was "as good as it was going to get".
Ship tip
Unless it undergoes months of rehab, I would not recommend it to anyone
The excursion was supposed to be a tour of Rum factory, Chocolate factory, Coffee factory and Cigar factory.
They were all within one compound. There was no factory tours at all.
HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT!
MONEY WASTED!
Catamaran Cruise & Lobster Lunch
The catamaran was not "luxury" by any means.
We stopped at two beaches...couldn't figure out why, as there was nothing to do there.
We had to RENT the chaise lounge chairs and wooden umbrellas at $20 an hour!!
The staff was nice enough though.
Atlantis Submarine Tour
I did this submarine tour (by the same company) in Hawaii, and this was certainly not anywhere as nice
After sitting so close you became very chummy with your neighbor, they made us swing around to the other side in the middle of the tour - not exactly something easy for everyone to do
It looks like you are a very hard to please individual from what I can see from all your reviews. Does anything meet your expectations ? Maybe traveling in the Carribeen is not such a good idea for you.
First of all, they give you a map when you check in. Did you bother exploring the ship on your own to see where things were? Then they give you a daily paper that outlines all the activities, shows, music venues, shopping, bingo, etc, as well as meeting places for people with similar interests (card players, veterans, etc) Didn’t you review the newspaper and participate in any of the activities? And finally, guest services are very helpful if you have questions, as well as the cruise directors staff. So I’m not sure what more you were expecting. It would have taken only a little initiative on your part to enhance your experience. 🍸
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