Holland America Rotterdam 12-Day Eastern Caribbean Cruise Review – Day 12: November 27, 2025

Today marks the final day of this 12-day segment of my latest adventure aboard Holland America Line’s Rotterdam. While most passengers are packing up and getting ready to disembark tomorrow morning in Fort Lauderdale, I’m doing the exact opposite — I’m staying put, although I will be changing rooms. Once this cruise ends, I roll right into the next 9-day sailing. More on that later.

We’re spending this last day, which also happens to be Thanksgiving, at sea making our way back to South Florida. It’s been a great run these past twelve days. We kicked things off in Half Moon Cay, then made our way to St. Maarten, Castries, Tabago, Barbados, Pointe-à-Pitre (my surprise favorite of the whole trip), and wrapped things up with a perfect long day and late-night departure from San Juan. Not a bad lineup.

Rotterdam’s Missing Passenger Update

Before diving into more ship happenings, there’s one loose end from earlier in the week that finally got tied up — our “missing passenger” situation. If you’ve been following along, you’ll remember that one of our guests failed to return to the ship during our stop in St. Maarten. For days, information was minimal. It took nearly a full week for the St. Maarten police to release an official missing-person alert, stating that she’d left the ship for a tour, didn’t return, and was last seen disembarking in Marigot on the French side.

Later reports indicated she even checked into a hotel using her passport.

Well, today the story finally came to a close: she’s been located, she’s fine, and the authorities have stated that no further information will be released.

And honestly? This outcome is exactly what I suspected. This isn’t the first time someone has used a cruise ship as their one-way ticket to a new life — whether it’s running from someone or something, seeking asylum, dodging a bill collector, or following an internet lover to a new country. It happens more often than people think, and it rarely has anything to do with foul play. In this case, the authorities treated it as a missing-person incident, as they legally must, but the end result was the “left the ship intentionally” scenario.

So with that drama officially wrapped, it’s time to enjoy one last sea day.

Quick Service Food Spots on Rotterdam

Throughout this cruise I’ve taken you on a little tour of some of Rotterdam’s busiest and most important spaces — Deck 2 and Deck 3 with their entertainment venues and restaurants, the ever-popular Deck 9 Lido with its pools and buffet, and of course The Retreat where I’ve practically taken up residence in my cabana. If you’ve been following along, you’ll remember that my days up there have come with top-notch service from the cabana team: Jeanette, Stefano, Satria, and Franceska.

Take a tour of The Retreat and see the cabanas in the short tour below:

But today, since it’s a sea day and everyone is out and about, I want to shift gears and talk about something every cruiser eventually wonders: where can you grab a quick bite without trekking to the Lido Market?

For as much as I enjoy the Lido — and for as many times as I’ve walked through there pretending I’m “just looking” — sometimes you just want something fast, easy, and not buffet-style. And Rotterdam actually has a few great spots scattered around the ship where you can grab something quick without committing to a full sit-down meal.

First up: Dive-In, right next to the Lido Pool on Deck 9. This is HAL’s version of a poolside grill, and honestly, the burgers are far better than those grease soaked things Carnival has at Guy’s Burger Joint. You walk up, place your order, they hand you a pager, and when it buzzes you head back to the counter and grab your goodies.  Dive-In is only open for lunch through 6pm — so if you show up at 7 craving a Dive-In burger, you’re going to be outta luck. The Cannonball and the fries with Dive-In sauce continue to be faves, and it’s perfect when you want something simple without trekking inside.

Now, head upstairs to Deck 10, and you’ll find one of the best-kept secrets on the ship: New York Deli & Pizza. Most people think it’s just a pizza place, and yes, it is that… but in the mornings, it quietly turns into a little breakfast nook. Bacon, scrambled eggs, sausage, hash browns — nothing fancy, nothing Instagrammable, just a fast, hot breakfast without standing in the Lido omelet line behind six people ordering “egg whites, no peppers, add cheese, no cheese, actually yes cheese, but shredded…” You know exactly what I’m talking about.

For lunch, dinner, and late night, NY Deli pumps out fresh 10″ pizzas (and they’re GOOD), sandwiches, and grab-and-go salads, fruit, and mini desserts. Same setup as Dive-In: order, receive pager, retrieve food when it buzzes. And here’s the part I love — after 8pm they also have a late nigh snack menu with wings, pretzels, nachos, fries, sliders, popcorn, and more.  Great for when you want to grab a fresh baked pizza, some wings, and head back to your stateroom and just chill.

They also sometimes put out thick, square-cut, deep-dish-style pizza slices that are already ready to go — and they’re really good — but availability is hit or miss. When you catch them, grab them. When you don’t… well…

Both the Dive-In and NY Deli and Pizza also allow you to order via the HAL Navigator app.

And finally, the holy grail for HAL loyalists: The Grand Dutch Café on Deck 3 off the atrium. If you’ve ever sailed on one of the Pinnacle class ships, you already know how popular this blue-and-white piece of Holland is. If you haven’t, think Dutch snacks that you probably can’t pronounce, Dutch desserts which you probably also can’t pronounce, Dutch beer, Dutch coffee… you get the idea. Grab a coffee made with HAL’s Rotterdam 1873 blend and sit by the atrium to do some people watching over at guest services… that’s always a treat.

So yes — Rotterdam absolutely has options when you want quick, easy food that doesn’t involve the buffet. You could eat all day between Dive-In, NY Deli & Pizza, and the Dutch Café, and never once step foot into the Lido Market.

Thanksgiving Dinner on Rotterdam

Since it was Thanksgiving, you’d expect Holland America to roll out some sort of special menu — and they absolutely did. Both the Lido Market and the Main Dining Room had all the classics: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie — the whole spread. And while it’s nice to have those staples, let’s be honest… turkey is not exactly a food most people crave. Nobody sits around in July thinking, “You know what would really hit the spot right now? A 15-pound roasted turkey.” Turkey is one of those things we eat because it shows up on a holiday.

Growing up, turkey was what my mother attempted a few times a year, and considering she couldn’t boil water without turning it into a disaster, the bird was always overcooked, dry, and one step shy of becoming ashes. So I’ve never been a die-hard turkey fan, but in the spirit of the holiday — and not wanting to break tradition — I decided to head to the Main Dining Room for the official Thanksgiving dinner.

But here’s where things got interesting. The Lido Market opens for dinner at 5:30 p.m. By 5:15, the line to get in practically stretched to Cuba. I’m not exaggerating — people were lined up like the turkey was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

Lido Market Thanksgiving Menu

Main Dining Room Thanksgiving Menu

I headed to the Main Dining Room around 8:20 p.m., fully expecting it to be busy — and it was. There was a short wait of maybe five minutes before my name was called. Clearly Thanksgiving dinner is popular.

Once I was seated, things took a… different turn. A basket of festive little “pumpkin” rolls arrived — complete with tiny green fondant stems — which was a cute touch.

But then my server walked over, order pad in hand, and just stood there. No “good evening,” no smile, no greeting… just silence. I said “hello,” and without missing a beat he responded, “What do you want to order?” Not exactly a warm holiday welcome. I asked for a couple minutes since I had literally just sat down, and he walked away.

A few minutes later he returned, again saying nothing, so I just started rattling off my order. I started with a shrimp cocktail and the bibb lettuce salad — both perfectly fine and exactly what you’d expect.

For the main, I went with… what else… the traditional turkey and asked if they could toss a bit of ham on the plate too, since it was also on the menu. A turkey insurance policy, if you will, because after 55 years I still carry mild PTSD from dry turkey. Thankfully (pun intended), the turkey was actually moist — yes, I had to use that word — and it came on top of sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, mashed potatoes, a “touch” of stuffing (seriously, if it was there, it was in hiding), and some corn. Not bad at all, and it fulfilled the Thanksgiving tradition without any of the childhood trauma.

Dessert, however, got interesting. I ordered the pumpkin pie… and pecan pie arrived instead with a little white “Happy Thanksgiving” chocolate. Not my favorite, but at that point I wasn’t about to ask for pumpking pie because things at my table were already strange enough.

And here’s the part I hate to even write: my server absolutely, positively, beyond any shadow of a doubt, did not want to be there. His energy, his body language, everything just screamed “I wanna be somewhere else” — no smile, no chit-chat, not even basic pleasantries. After twelve days of nothing but warm and friendly crew interactions, it was offputting. HAL crew are usually rockstars, so seeing someone so visibly checked out was honestly kind of sad. Whatever was going on — a bad day, personal stress, spending a holiday away from family — I hope he was able to get it sorted out, because that wasn’t the version of himself he probably wants to bring to the job.

Still, the meal did its job: it delivered Thanksgiving at sea, moist turkey included. And now, with the holiday officially checked off, it’s time to talk a bit about disembarkation.

Disembarkation & The Back-To-Back Cruise Process

For those leaving the ship today, Holland America gives you two ways to wrap up your voyage: self-disembarkation and checked-luggage disembarkation. Self-debark is exactly what it sounds like — you keep all your bags with you, carry them off the ship yourself, and you can leave the moment the ship is cleared. Folks who do this are usually the first group called to disembark. The alternative is checked luggage, where you put your bags outside your stateroom the night before and they magically reappear in the terminal the next morning. Less schlepping, but you do have to wait for your group to be called, and you lose access to your luggage until you’re off the ship.

For me, disembarkation day was a little bittersweet because it meant saying goodbye to two new friends I met onboard — Lowell and Linda — who ended up becoming my unofficial cruise buddies. They had the cabana next to mine up in The Retreat, and we shared the same bar stools at Half Moon Bar pretty much every night. We all met up for one last cocktail with Reema (the unofficial Queen of Half Moon Bar) before parting ways, promising to keep in touch and hopefully meet again on a “dam” ship somewhere in the world.

As for my own plans… I’m staying on Rotterdam for the next nine-day voyage, but I am switching staterooms. That meant packing up all the dirty clothes and whatever could go into a suitcase, but leaving everything else on hangers. One of the perks of doing a back-to-back on HAL is that housekeeping handles the transfer: they collect your belongings and move everything into your new stateroom, hangers and all. This service is a blessing.

Rotterdam docked around 6:15 a.m., and self-debark guests were called shortly after 7:15. Those of us marked as “in transit guests” — the term for back-to-back cruisers — had to be out of our rooms by 9 a.m. and report to World Stage. As each of us entered, our cards were scanned, and we waited under the firm command of HAL shoreside legend Jeff, who has been wrangling back-to-back guests since the first time Noah’s Ark arrived at Port Everglades.  Seriously, the guy has been here FOREVER.  He walked us through the process with the kind of patience only someone who has done this for decades can possess.

Once every back-to-back guest was accounted for we were finally released. We walked off around 9:50 a.m. and headed into the terminal for a very quick encounter with immigration. You stand in front of the facial-recognition scanners, wait for the green light to pop up, and get out of the way. Then you wait… again… because you can’t board until the ship hits “zero count,” meaning every single passenger from the previous cruise has been verified as off the ship.  Stowaways, ya know.

Of course, like what happens every time… there’s that ONE guest who wants to be the last one off the ship and holds up the entire process for everyone.  And today we had one.  Eventually they were found, still in their stateroom, and given the heave-ho.  That single person kept us standing around until about 10:40 when we were finally cleared to head back aboard. When I opened the door to my new stateroom, everything was already there — bags delivered, clothes hanging neatly in the closet.

Magical.

Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the terminal: the back-to-back process these days is a hassle. Not HAL’s fault — this is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection thing. Years ago, the B2B process was simple. You didn’t get off the ship at all. Immigration officers came onboard, checked your passport in a venue like the theatre, and you were free to go. But now? Everyone must get off, be counted, be scanned, and then re-enter. It’s clunky, it’s tedious, and it’s done purely to satisfy government bureaucracy, not because it provides any benefit to passengers. And yes, it’s the same across every cruise line.

But hey — I’m back on board, I’ve reclaimed my cabana in The Retreat, and passengers for the next sailing are slowly making their way aboard. This upcoming nine-day leg will take us to Curaçao, two days in Aruba, and then back to Half Moon Cay to wrap things up.

This ends the 12-day segment… but not the adventure.  Click here to follow along with the next report — the journey continues!

Daily Schedule

Personal Day-By-Day Rotterdam Cruise Review: