Holland America Rotterdam 9-Day Southern Caribbean Cruise Review – Day 8: December 5, 2025

Day 8 on the Rotterdam was the second of our back-to-back sea days, and it’s that point in the cruise where reality starts tapping you on the shoulder saying, “Hey… this is almost over.” After 21 days onboard it finally hit me that tomorrow is our last port of call, the always-beautiful Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas, before we head toward Fort Lauderdale and call this whole epic adventure a wrap.

Looking back, we’ve had a pretty fantastic itinerary across three weeks. The first 12-day segment spoiled us with sunshine, calm seas, and picture-perfect port days.  Then this 9-day segment kicked off with Mother Nature waking up and throwing wind, rain, and cold fronts at us… it was like she saw how good we had it and said, “Alright, fun’s over.” Thankfully things cleared up once we hit Aruba but those first few days? Not nice.

Since today was a sea day, this report is going to be a shorter one. Sea days are great for relaxing, eating too much, wandering the ship pretending you’re doing something productive, and saying “maybe I’ll go to trivia” fully knowing you won’t. Tomorrow’s report will be a big one – everything you need to know about Half Moon Cay, plus my overall thoughts on spending 21 days aboard Holland America Line’s flagship.

For now… grab a coffee (or a De Lijn G&T), settle in, and let’s talk about Day 8.

Holland America Line – Rotterdam

Dates: November 16–December 7, 2025
Homeport: Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Ship Facts: 2021 build • Pinnacle Class • 99,500 GT • ~2,668 passengers

Three weeks aboard HAL’s flagship Rotterdam with a rare overnight in Aruba, Thanksgiving at sea, and a casino tournament on the second leg. This one’s going to be special and hopefully I win something!

Date	Port	Country
Nov 16	Boarding Day – Port Everglades	USA
Nov 17	Half Moon Cay	The Bahamas
Nov 18	At Sea	–
Nov 19	At Sea	–
Nov 20	Philipsburg	St. Maarten
Nov 21	Castries	Saint Lucia
Nov 22	Scarborough	Trinidad & Tobago
Nov 23	Bridgetown	Barbados
Nov 24	Pointe-à-Pitre	Guadeloupe
Nov 25	San Juan	Puerto Rico
Nov 26	At Sea	–
Nov 27	At Sea (Thanksgiving)	–
Nov 28	Fort Lauderdale (Turnaround)	USA
Nov 29	At Sea	–
Nov 30	At Sea	–
Dec 1	Willemstad	Curaçao
Dec 2–3	Oranjestad (Overnight)	Aruba
Dec 4	At Sea	–
Dec 5	At Sea	–
Dec 6	Half Moon Cay	The Bahamas
Dec 7	Return to Port Everglades	USA

A note about food…

First off, I’ve talked a ton about the food in the main dining room and the specialty restaurants, but haven’t really given much love to the grab-and-go and casual spots around the ship. So let’s fix that with some honest, straight-from-21-days-onboard notes.

New York Deli & Pizza – When they’re making the custom personal pizzas fresh, these things are great. Hot and exactly what you want at 1pm or 1am. But those square slices sitting under the heat lamp? Totally depends on timing. Catch them right as they’re put out and you’re golden. Catch them after they’ve been tanning under that lamp for a while… well, forget it.

Sushi at the Lido – Yes, you read that right. And shockingly, yes, it’s really good. Fresh at both lunch and dinner with a rotating selection of cooked rolls, raw options, veggie rolls – honestly one of the underrated bites on the ship. I ended up grabbing sushi way more often than expected.

The Lido Market – The Lido is consistently solid. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, late-night snacking – the variety is always there, the custom salad station is fantastic, and it’s an easy, reliable place to get something good no matter what time you wander in. For anyone who’s anti-buffet because of other lines, HAL’s Lido Market is a different league.

The Dive-In – Now… here’s where I hit a little disappointment. Dive-In has always been known for great burgers and awesome fries – like, one of the best casual burger spots. So on a sea day, I finally caved and ordered the Cannonball (gouda, bacon, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato). And… sigh. The burger was cold, bland, under-seasoned, and noticeably smaller than usual. Total bummer. It was slammed, so I’m chalking this one up to an off day.

Holland America’s Beverage Package Changes (Effective December 1, 2025)

From food to drinks, let’s talk about something Holland America quietly flipped the switch on December 1 – changes to the beverage packages. While these updates don’t hit this sailing, they will impact the next one, and they’re pretty straightforward once you break them down.

Up until now, HAL had four beverage packages: the Elite and Signature packages that cover alcohol, the Quench package that’s your all-in on non-alcoholic drinks, and the soda-only package. Well… the soda-only package has officially walked the plank. As of December 1, it no longer exists, leaving just three beverage packages moving forward.

And most drinks have gone up by about $1 to $2. As a result, the package limits increased slightly to match:

• Elite Beverage Package: Used to cover drinks priced up to $15. Now covers drinks up to $16.
• Signature Beverage Package: Used to cover drinks up to $11. Now covers drinks up to $12 — again, keeping pace with the à la carte increases.  This package is included if you purchase Holland America’s Have it All package.
• Quench Package: Stays as the non-alcoholic option covering sodas, juices, mocktails, specialty coffees, etc.
• Soda Package: No longer available as of December 1, 2025.

And as always, if you order a drink above your package limit, you simply pay the difference.

I’ve already updated my Holland America Drink Package Calculator with the new pricing and the removal of the soda package, so if you want to run your numbers and see if a package makes sense for your next HAL cruise, you can check it out here.

Holland America Drink Package Calculator

Dinner at Rudi’s Sel de Mer

Now, being that this is the last sea day, it also means one thing – it’s Dressy Night onboard. As I’ve mentioned in previous reports, Holland America doesn’t do the whole “you must wear a tux, or you’re eating at the Lido” thing. Dressy Night here is more of a suggestion than a rule.

If you want to break out the suit and tie, go for it. If you want to throw on khakis, and your favorite polo, also good.  You’re welcome in every restaurant and every bar – no judgment, no walk of shame.

Since it was Dressy Night, the Main Dining Room had a special Gala Menu with a lot of classics.

Lido Market Dinner Menu

Main Dining Room Gala Night Menu

Rudi’s Sel de Mer Menu

Tonight I decided to make a return visit to Rudi’s Sel de Mer, the signature restaurant of the grandfather of celebrity chefs himself, Rudi Sodamin, who has restaurants on Holland America, Carnival, and Princess.

Rudi’s is the priciest of HAL’s specialty venues at $55 per person plus 18%, and it definitely feels like the “special occasion” spot onboard. It’s small, intimate, tucked right next to Pinnacle Grill on Deck 2, and decorated in lots of reds and dark tones.

I didn’t have a reservation… on gala night… so I walked up fully expecting it to be busy. The host started clicking around his computer, then he walked inside the restaurant, stared at the nearly empty room, came back, did more clicking, and finally said, “Let me get you a table.”

Weird start.

After saying I wouldn’t eat any, I scarfed down some of that warm focaccia and baguette with an assortment of oils and sea salt — which honestly could be a meal itself — it was time to order.

Knowing that the bone-in New York strip here rivals the steak at Pinnacle Grill (yes, surprisingly), I went for it. Remember, the menu says – 14oz BONE-IN striploin.

Just keep that stored in your memory for a moment.

I started with the steak tartare, which was delicious, and then the main event arrived.

I upgraded to the $19, 12oz lobster tail as my “surf” portion, making for what was going to be a glorious steak-and-lobster feast on Gala Night.

Well…

The lobster tail was huge – absolutely no complaints there – but it was sitting directly on top of the steak. My server lifted it to de-shell it at the table… and that’s when I looked down.

No bone. Not even a hint of a bone. And the steak was definitely not 14oz. It looked exactly like the same striploin they serve in the Main Dining Room.

I mentioned it, and a few minutes later the manager – who also oversees Pinnacle Grill – came over. He looked at the steak, looked back at me, and yeah… it was obvious. No bone. Then he brought out the chef.

The chef admitted that they had, in fact, run out of the bone-in striploin.

Which begs the question:  If you run out of something… why is it still on the menu? Why didn’t anyone say anything? Why not mention a substitution? Why not give the guest the chance to order something else? Why just substitute without saying a word?

I reminded them that boneless and bone-in steaks taste completely different – which is, of course, the whole reason I ordered it. After some apologizing and quiet conversation between chef and manager, they comped me for the $19 lobster tail. Nice gesture, but the whole thing still felt like a mild bait-and-switch and a lack of communication between the kitchen, the servers, the manager… and, you know, the people actually eating here.

That said, the lobster was perfectly cooked – sweet and tender. The steak was just… average. Definitely not what I envisioned, not what was advertised, and honestly I’d have gotten a better steak next door at Pinnacle.  Unfortunately, Pinnacle doesn’t offer a bone-in steak, so you kinda have to get it at Rudi’s…

Dessert arrived with the pre-dessert chocolates (which are always fun) followed by the warm strawberry tarte, which was excellent.

But overall? For the most expensive restaurant onboard, and one carrying the name of a highly decorated chef, tonight’s experience was… well… not something Rudi would be proud of.

After dinner, I called it a night.  We’re currently cruising through The Bahamas almost at our final port-of-call, Half Moon Cay.  More from HAL’s private island tomorrow.  As always, thanks for following along.

Daily Schedule

Personal Day-By-Day Rotterdam Cruise Review: