The second day of this Holland America Southern Caribbean Seafarer Cruise on the Rotterdam was a sea day and being so allowed me to compare the crowd levels on the ship’s outside decks compared to the last segment of this cruise which ended Friday. With the average age dropping a bit the pool and sun deck is getting used a lot more. Previously there were no issues getting lounge chairs around either of the ship’s pools, but that is no longer the case. Many are securing their spot first thing in the morning. However, most are not used to the Caribbean sun and are bailing around lunch time after getting scorched.
As the day went on, it started to get windy with the ship rocking quite a bit, and that continued into the evening. The Captain did manage to steer us away from rain showers throughout the afternoon with the deviations not going to impact our arrival time in Bonaire on Monday.
In the previous segment’s Day 12 report, I talked about the ship’s laundry services and packages that can be purchased. Today, I’m going to touch on some of the “extras” in the staterooms. The first is the mini bar. On Rotterdam, the stateroom has a refrigerator – not a cooler, like many other ships have – this is a full-fledged, keep ’em cold fridge that is well stocked with alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.
Instead of small bottles of whiskey, vodka, and gin, the fridge is stocked with pre-made On the Rocks brand cocktails, which include a Cosmopolitan, Old Fashioned, Mai Tai, and Margarita each is $12. There are also cans of Bombay Gin & Tonic, beer, red and white wine, prosecco, sparkling and still water and soda. The mini-bar is restocked daily and charges posted to your account. If you have any of the drink packages offered, mini bar drinks are NOT included. Your steward will also fill your ice bucket in the morning and in the evening when he/she services your room.
This reminds me, your room is cleaned each morning and refreshed at night during the evening turndown service. While other cruise lines have gotten rid of twice-a-day service, Holland America continues the tradition complete with chocolate on the pillow.
A note about soda. Rotterdam just arrived from Europe on October 22nd and they are still using Coke products from overseas. These Coke products have a noticeable difference in taste. Coke Light is currently being served in place of Diet Coke and is made in the Netherlands. The airline and marine version of Coke Original Taste that is offered is made in South Africa along with Coke Zero which tastes NOTHING like Coke Zero in the United States and is just downright nasty. American versions of the soda were brought on in Fort Lauderdale and are just started making an appearance, but they haven’t made their way to the mini bars yet.
To make your stateroom as comfortable as possible, there is a menu that you can either fill out via the Navigator app or the old-fashioned way on a card in your room. You can select how you want your bed configured, whether you want extra pillows, blankets, towels, even an extension cord. The app also allows you to request a laundry pickup or a shoe shine.
The evening’s entertainment was from the ship’s in-house production team and if you’ve been following along, I’ve skipped going to these shows after walking out of the first one during the last segment. Pre-recorded music plus bad choreography does not add up to a good show. While the guest performers have been great, Holland America needs to step-up their game with their own shows as they’re pretty bad.
Before dinner I stopped at the casino and yep, you guessed it. No luck at all. However, my points are racking up and hopefully there will be some good casino rates coming up for future cruises like I get from Carnival.
Dinner this evening was in the ship’s main dining room and it also happened to be the first of two Gala nights and this one offered the 150th anniversary dinner menu.
I started off with the shrimp cocktail and once again forgot to tell them to bring it without egg. I’ll get it right yet!
A very simple, unremarkable mixed green salad was next.
For my main course, I opted for the 15oz Pinnacle Grill Ribeye which had a $20 supplement tacked on to it. If you don’t want to spend the $46 per person + 18% charge to dine in the steakhouse, you can get a steak from there in the main dining room simply by paying the upcharge.
The presentation was much different than how the ribeye was prepared in the Pinnacle Grill, however. The photo below shows how it is served there:
…and here is how it was served in the main dining room:
As you can see, the steak was covered in an aged balsamic sauce which wasn’t bad, I just wasn’t expecting it to be in this quantity. The steak however was cooked and seasoned perfectly. The sides however were disappointing, just two pieces of asparagus, a spoon size amount of creamed spinach, and a very tiny baked potato.
It’s definitely not the Pinnacle Grill experience, but if you’re looking for a better cut of meat in the main dining room, you have options – and the steak selection changes daily.
I also opted for a side of the cheese ravioli, which were remarkably good. Unlike the tortellini I had the other night which were taken right from the freezer to boiling water, these very well may have been scratch made.
For dessert, I went with the no sugar added Blueberry Cheesecake which turned out to be nothing like a cheesecake – it was more like a rectangular shaped piece of vanilla pudding with the blueberries not in the cheesecake itself but on the side.
After a walk around the Promenade Deck a few times it was off to bed as I anticipated gaining an hour of sleep as we bid adieu to Daylight Savings Time, but there’s a story coming about that in tomorrow’s report.
Oh, by the way… Starlink installation continues…
Thanks for following along!
Links to Rotterdam Restaurant Menus
Restaurant menus for November 4, 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 – (150th Gala Night 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
