The final day of the first segment of this 21-day cruise on Holland America’s Rotterdam has arrived. It’s a sea day as we head back to Fort Lauderdale where most passengers will disembark while 258 of us will stay on for the second segment, a 9-day Southern Caribbean Seafarer Cruise that will call on Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, and Half Moon Cay. After 12 days onboard, I’m still pretty satisfied with how things are going so far. Is it perfect? No. Can things be improved? Yes.
Some of the good stuff:
- The stateroom is beautiful, and comfortable, cleaned twice a day, and the minibar is restocked daily.
- Well-staffed ship with the crew constantly checking on you, seeing if you need anything, and are always ready to assist.
- No overcrowding at any of the pools and when inclement weather is around, they close the roof over the main pool.
- The ship is beautiful, laid out well, easy to navigate, and is kept spotless. I saw an officer on the ground, using a flashlight looking for dust on one of the polished floors to make sure it was clean.
- Pinnacle Grill, Tamarind, and Rudi’s Sel de Mer have both been excellent for dining with Rudi’s taking the top spot.
- The buffet is well laid out with multiple offerings, self-service is pretty much nonexistent as the crew serves you on the line, and many items are made to order.
Some of the not-so-good stuff:
- Food quality in the main dining room can be hit or miss.
- Service in the main dining room is entirely too fast.
- If you’re hungry after 9:30 pm or happened to have missed dinner, forget it. You’re eating pizza, calling for room service or getting snacks from the buffet. There is nothing else available.
- This is an early-to-bed cruise line. Don’t expect anything to be going on after 11 pm except in the casino. Entertainment is over and bars are closed.
- Guest entertainers are great, the ship’s production shows are not.
Let’s talk laundry for a moment. Packing for a 21-day cruise was tough! I probably overpacked. Well, not probably, I did. The ship’s laundry service came in handy, however. To use the laundry service, you can pay by the individual piece to have things cleaned, pressed, or dry cleaned. You can also purchase laundry packages:
- Laundry by the Bag – $25 – whatever you can stuff into the small bag is cleaned at a flat rate (dry cleaning not included)
- Unlimited Laundry and Pressing – for a 12-day cruise, it’s $102 and for a 9-day cruise it’s $76.50. For this 21-day cruise, it was $178.50.
- Unlimited Pressing – for a 12-day cruise, it’s $48, and for a 9-day cruise, it’s $36.
The unlimited package has been worth every penny… including getting a thank-you note from someone in the laundry.
The evening’s entertainment was comedian Cisco Duran for his second show this cruise and one noted as being adults only. The adult content was pretty tame, as he mentioned that he had to tone it down for Holland America, but it was spicy enough to have a few people clutch their pearls. Once again, he kept the audience laughing the entire 45 minutes even during some uncomfortable when he paired up a single man and a single woman in the hopes that they would hook up after the show.
Afterwards, dinner was in the main dining room where once again service was rushed.
I started out with the Beef Carpaccio, which turned out to be pretty good and something that I would have expected to get at the steakhouse, not the dining room.
Next up I went with the strip steak cooked medium rare, which is how it came out. It wasn’t a steakhouse quality steak, but think TGI Fridays or Applebee’s quality and you’ll be pretty close.
I also went with the crispy shrimp which was a bit interesting. I’m still not sure if the shrimp was ground and mixed with the coating, or if there was a full shrimp underneath all the breading as these were some skinny-ass shrimp covered in a lot of breading.
After dinner, I stopped by to say goodbye to one of the bartenders who has been a fantastic host for our little group who gathers for pre-dinner cocktails. Her contract is up and she’s heading back to the Philippines when we arrive in Fort Lauderdale on Friday. She will be off for three months before she flies to Hawaii to join sister ship, Koningsdam.
Since this was the end of the first cruise segment, I needed to go to the casino to either play what was in my player bank or cash out, as it would reset with the start of the next segment. I had some free play to burn through and added a few more bucks to see if I would be lucky.
Nada.
However, someone won $10,000 on a slot machine while I was there.
Wasn’t me.
Links to Rotterdam Restaurant Menus
Restaurant menus for November 2, 2023, on Holland America Rotterdam:
- Lido Market – Breakfast Menu
- Lido Market – Lunch Menu
- Lido Market – Dinner Menu
- Main Dining Room – Breakfast Menu
- Main Dining Room – Lunch Menu
- Main Dining Room – Dinner Menu
- Club Orange – Breakfast Menu
- Club Orange – Dinner Menu
- Pinnacle Grill – Lunch Menu
- Pinnacle Grill – Dinner Menu
- Canaletto – Dinner Menu
- Nami Sushi – Dinner Menu
- Tamarind – Dinner Menu
- Tamarind Bar – Lite Bites Menu
- Rudi’s Sel de Mer – Dinner Menu
- Rotterdam Room Service Menu – All Day Menu
- New York Deli & Pizza – All Day Menu
- Dive In Burgers & Hot Dogs – All Day Menu
Daily Planner for Day 12:
