My main complaint about the Rotterdam is that my stateroom was very noisy with the constant slamming of doors, the worst entertainment I have ever encountered on a ship, the failure of the Hotel Director to replace missing food items during the cruise, and the smell of smoke as one walks through the casino, and out on the rear pool deck. But the real reason I would never recommend anyone to take a Holland American cruise is that I suffered for half the cruise with food poisoning. The doctor and his staff tested me for the norovirus, and COVID-19, and I was negative for both, and had no temperature. I have narrowed it down to an incident of a large lobster tail, that was raw, and was not cooked properly, or one of the juicer carrot drinks, where the carrot was not cleaned properly. I have to say that the medical diagnosis and the help from the doctor and his staff was exceptional. I took the medicine, but I was supposed to eat bananas, but as I have mentioned, the ship ran out of bananas half way through the cruise, and never obtained a resupply. This cruise is cutting corners any way they can to save money. They have a beautiful baby grand piano sitting with no player in a bar on the way to the main dining room, so there is no before dinner entertainment or dancing. The ship is so poorly designed that the music venues are right next to each other, which leads to the bleeding-over of the sounds, which I recorded at over 100 decibels. When I walked through that area, I had to wear earplugs. They were so cheap that they would not put show the World Cup game between the US and Iran, even though their other cruises lines, Princess and Carnival all carried the game. I tried to get some compensation from the Carnival Company for what I had to endure with the food poisoning, and I was only offered a $500 credit for a future cruise on Holland America (HAL). I paid $3,300 dollars, and requested a credit of $2,300 to be used on any other cruise line EXCEPT HAL, because I missed half the cruise ports because I was forced to stay close to my stateroom. This whole cruise was a horrible experience, and all I have to say is, Never Again!
Embarkation
3 out of 5
The boarding was OK, and I was fortunately able to drop my bags at my carry-on bags in my room, so I did not have to take them around with me for lunch. The lunch service in the main dining room was mediocre at best, and the drink I ordered was not properly made. I never ate back in the main dining room again. Fortunately, I signed-up for Club Orange, which was wonderful!!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
I was sickened by something I ate that was an uncooked lobster tail, in a speciality restaurant, or by juicer drinks of vegetables that were not cleaned properly. The Club Orange was something I would recommend, and was great because I never had to wait for a table for breakfast or dinner. I was shocked that for breakfast in the main buffet, they did not serve shredded hash brown potatoes. I was shocked when the chef took out a bag of frozen, what looked like hockey pucks, and dropped them in the oil fryer to cook. That was the only potato served at breakfast.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Fitness center was very nice, but the pool had kids running all around and jumping in without regard to other guests. The company refused to show the US playing Iran in the World Cup, but all the Princess and Carnival ships showed the game. Carnival executives, I suspect, did not want to spend the money to have the HAL ships see the game.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
I was tremendously disappointed in the entertainment, and shows, which were not even better than a high school show. There was no major Broadway type shows, and the music in the multiple venues were so loud, over 100 decibels, and I had to wear ear plugs when I walked along the all the music venues to block the loud ear-piercing noise. There was smoking in the casino, and at one of pool areas at the back of the ship. Sadly, there was no entertainment anywhere you could go before dinner to have a drink, and listen to dance music. They had a big grand piano, and I was told they had a piano player before, but they stopped paying for him, so there was no before dinner music to hear or dance to.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Amazing, amazing, amazing. I have nothing but good things to say about all of the crew that I met and interacted with during my 10 days on board, even though for five days I had to be near to my room and could not leave the ship because I had the worst case of diarrhea, and was sick as a dog. After over 40 years of cruising all over the world, I have never come down with food poisoning on any other ship, so that says something about this ship.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
The ship is poorly designed, and the smoke in the casino, which one has to walk through on one deck, and the noise in the show venues was way too loud. Also, the ship was so poorly designed with the cabin doors and the verandah doors slamming day and night. However, the food was very good at Club Orange. The best thing I did was pay before sailing to be a Club Orange member, because I was able to eat there for both Breakfast and Dinner, with no waiting. The Maitre d’ was one of the best I’ve seen at sea. There was no way to get hash browns in the morning, and they ran out of bananas and the mocha powder for the coffee venues. Then on the last day, they had no more orange juice. Why didn’t they at least resupply the bananas when we docked in the Dominican Republic, or have the mocha powder sent to the ship via an overnight express shipment. Something is clearly wrong with the way they handle resupply of the ship.
Cabin / Stateroom
1 out of 5
I had a verandah room, that was so tiny, that in my opinion it would not be suitable and comfortable space for 2 people .The real problem with the rooms is that the doors have no mechanism on the top back of the entry door to prevent it from slamming. All I heard, all day and night was the slamming of my neighbors’ doors. The worst slamming was the verandah door that continually slammed when the ship was moving because it was not a sliding glass door, and the wind when the ship was moving at night caused the door to slam shut. Almost all other ships have sliding glass doors which would have prevented the slamming veranda door from making so much noise. There were times at night when my bed shook, when my neighbor went our onto his verandah, and his door slammed, which one night, it slammed 7 times. As far as the cleanliness, the 2 stewards who cleaned my room were amazing, as were all of the crew that I met on the ship for 10 days. My room was always kept very clean and orderly.
Ship tip
I would never sail again on the Rotterdam, and any other Holland American ship because of the food poisoning I sustained onboard. Also the loud music levels, and doors slamming in the stateroom was non-stop, and very aggravating, and disruptive.
Sorry to hear that you had a negative experience. My wife and I were on the Rotterdam five months ago and it was absolutely amazing experience. It was our first time on a Holland ship and now that’s pretty much all we cruise with now
Appreciate your detailed feedback. Sorry this cruise didn’t meet your expectations. Not sure what other cruises you have taken, but you probably won’t be happy with other Carnival Corp. ships.
If you knew the Lobster was raw or under cooked, why did you eat it ?🤷🏻, if you have a problem with children go on a adult only ship, but even they just let doors slam shut instead of closing them gently, & I agree with the other comments, if you like the smell of smoke, then just avoid the areas, sounds to me you were just trying to get some compensation.
I have been on this ship a few months before this cruise. There is nothing wrong with the design of the ship. Yes there is smoking in the Casino as on almost every other ship and the only smoking area other than there is one one side of the rear pool area. If your like me and don’t like smoking don’t go there. I find the food poisoning story hard to believe. Kids running around and making noise at the pool, very few children on HA at all and almost none at that time of the year. This is a worthless review by someone who did not research the ship in advance including cabin choice and is whining about nothing to try to scam a refund.
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