Wonderful great to be back!

Rotterdam Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 10
Helpful Votes: 107

Overall rating:

4.7 out of 5
Rotterdam

7 Night Southern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 16, 2022

Ship: Rotterdam

Cabin type: Suite

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

So great to be back! They are doing a wonderful job with keeping people healthy. Feel bad for staff having to wear masks outside. Yes it's not the most fun wearing a mask all the time but I like it's way less likely to get any kind of sickness. I like you cant put your grubby hands on things at lido....its good things are served to you. Staff was appreciative to be back and very friendly. Was a wonderful time go now you won't regret it. Amazing to have ships fairly empty so relaxing and special. Get more bingo tablets and it would be nice to have stands on the back of them so they could be held up to see on a table. Love they are doing away with plastics.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Smooth and fast way better with app

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Food was good, especially breads! Some deserts were weirdly gelatin heavy textures were weird but most were amazing. Meats every good too.

New York Deli & Pizza

4 out of 5

Good place. Wasn't impressed by a guy named Aframe though. He was very attentive and friendly then the 2nd day he asked me if I could go on the navigator app and comment to praise him he showed me where to do so which I did. Then after he saw I did that for him his helpfulness and politeness disappeared. Only he did this, any other person I gave a compliment to in the app was very happy and kept being friendly anf helpful.

Explorations Cafe

4 out of 5

Good service, comfy seating, Mochas are too sweet though not at all Starbucks good or I'd have many a day 🤣. Team up with Starbucks 😄 they are from Seattle that should be easy.

The Dining Room

4 out of 5

Was okay. Would like more chairs without arms I use a walker and it's easier to have armless chairs to turn and get up and down.

Pinnacle Grill

4 out of 5

Great dinner, we only went once though because the 1 lady waitress would stop talking to us at out dinner. My husband didn't enjoy that.

Grand Dutch Cafe

5 out of 5

Love the giant chocolate cream puffs....will dream of them 😋.

Tamarind

5 out of 5

Always our favorite we went a couple times. Amazing staff and manager in this venue. A must to go to.

Lido Market

5 out of 5

Was good especially the bread on this ship. Who ever is your bread baker give them a raise....amazing!

Gelato

4 out of 5

Very good but kept too cold on this ship. Never saw hazelnut flavor unfortunately. Mint chip was my favorite on this cruise. Ice cream in lido was very very good too.

Dive-In

4 out of 5

Burgers are amazing, miss the old fries they use to have that were kind of battered. These are still good as they are crunched up bit not as amazing as the old fries.

Canaletto Restaurant

4 out of 5

Good, love the chairs here very comfy. Dinner was good and so is service.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
Ship is new so great, retreat was wonderful, like the addition of hot tub up there. Husband enjoys the running track. Bingo is always my favorite activity. Shops are better on step smaller ships. Mostly just high end stuff to but on the largest ships. I enjoy the Eurodam and neiw Amsterdam ships for the larger cabana retreats room and larger walk through shopping. Neither of us cared for the cruise director but it was her last cruise contract job she said. If you ask me she had already checked out.

Guest Services

5 out of 5

They were great

The Library

5 out of 5

Beautiful

Half Moon Cay

5 out of 5

Always a favorite place

Art Gallery

5 out of 5

Beautiful

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Not amazing but not really what Hal is known for anyway. I enjoy the good music better than shows anyway. Can't expect high paid acts for dance groups or things when ships are empty. The rock group was great so were all musicians on board. The comics were pretty awful.

World Stage Theater

4 out of 5

Not the most comfortable chairs. Like the older ships for that, but the walls of visuals are so great. The dancers weren't amazing but it was more a lack of good choreographing than them. The visual effects saved it some.

The Shops

3 out of 5

They were ok. I always buy perfume on a cruise and usually buy some jewelry. Wasn't much on this ship I found it was mostly effy stuff. Wish they carry swarovski rings and more mid priced items

Rolling Stone Rock Room

5 out of 5

Great Rock band

Lincoln Center Stage

5 out of 5

Always great musicians love this.

Billboard Onboard

5 out of 5

Comfy searing and liked the bingo here

B.B. King's Blues Club

5 out of 5

Great music

Children's Programs

No kids on board this time

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
They were all wonderful!

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
It's new and nice of course, love the Dutch cafe on this class of ship.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Vista suite cabin was nice enjoyed the deck too. Nice sized TV at bed. Comfy small couch.

Ship tip

Get a room midship and you won't he walking walking walking too far you'll be fast to get around.

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

4 out of 5
No excursions we fly in night before and get on ship in the morning and go straight to mariners lunch. Terminal was smooth.

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (Private Island)

5 out of 5
Always beautiful, got delayed getting onto island. Bahamas port employees were not there in time ship said.

Kralendijk, Bonaire

5 out of 5
We love bonaire, Crystal clear water even nice to see if you don't want off ship. Go sit at the crows nest and have some drinks play games or read a book and enjoy views! Husband went shore diving as its the best there. The island didn't know we were coming as it was a port change so people commented no shops were open but that also was due to us being there late at 4pm. Wish we were there earlier and more cruises stopped in bonaire.

Willemstad, Curacao

4 out of 5
Looks a bit more run down here than last time we were there. Still nice though but prefer bonaire to curacao.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Smooth and fast. They were late to start disembarkation but when it went it went fast!
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8 Comments

CruiseQueen021    2 years ago

Loved the detailed review. Glad you had a great cruise!

1CruiseGram    2 years ago

Thanks for the review

javawoody    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruising experience

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

izrgreen    2 years ago

Thank you for taking the time to write a review.

AuntPinkie    2 years ago

Appreciate your detailed review. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

cruising2004    2 years ago

Thank you for sharing your cruising experience.

Marnia    2 years ago

Thank you for the review. We are sailing Rotterdam Feb 20th, same locations. Love HAL. Glad you enjoyed your cruise

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