This has been quite an adventure, and this 21-day journey is quickly coming to an end! The next two days will be spent at sea as we make our way towards Holland America’s private island in the Bahamas, Half Moon Cay on Saturday followed by our return to Fort Lauderdale on Sunday. Being that it’s a sea day, there were more events stacked up throughout the day to keep people occupied such as origami and dance lessons, art and merchandise events, trivia, bingo, and even “coloring for adults.” If you’re not up for any of those, there’s plenty of food, drinks, and sun to help you pass the time.
Quick note about the weather, while sunny and hot, we have been sailing through some strong winds since we left Aruba. The captain announced that they deployed the ship’s stabilizers to minimize the motion, but there still was a lot of rocking and rolling going on all day and into the night.
While sitting out by the pool, I overheard a conversation between two older ladies that was centered around one of them being treated rudely by a waiter in the dining room. As she explained what happened to the other woman, she was told to “march down to guest services and have your tips removed.”
Since the pandemic, tipping has become a sore point for everyone. It seems no matter where you go or what you purchase, you’re presented with the option to add a tip. While good service is expected to be rewarded back home, on a cruise it’s a little different.
Unless your cruise fare specifically states that daily gratuity, or sometimes it’s called a hotel service charge, is included, you will incur daily charges for crew gratuity. On Holland America, for non-suite guests, this is currently $16 per person, per day. This is split among all the crew members who take care of you during your cruise including your room steward, dining room wait staff, maitre’d, etc. Some think that the entire $16 goes to the room steward, but it does not. The fee is spread out based on percentages across the service staff.
So what about removing gratuity? You certainly can request that the gratuity be removed from your account. However, by doing so you’re essentially “stiffing” the folks who worked hard to make your vacation enjoyable. Now there can be plenty of time set aside for debate as to whether or the cruise lines should pay the crew more and not rely so much on this added charge, but I’m not going there.
Some people will remove gratuity for service reasons, not understanding that the charge would be added on and didn’t budget for it, and then some remove it because they would rather tip in cash. By removing it for one reason or another you reduce the amount in the “pool” that gets spread out to the crew – many of which you never see.
Tipping should always be a personal issue, but it’s important to remember that the daily gratuity is an important piece of the crew’s overall compensation, and by removing it, you’re reducing the amount of money these hard-working crewmembers earn.
So my rant about tipping is complete, but for more information on how tipping works on cruises, you can check out this article.
For entertainment this evening, the Island Magic Steel Band was the headliner on the World Stage. A few days ago their show was all about classical and Broadway music played on their steel drum instruments. Tonight’s show featured more of the music one would expect to hear played on steel drums and once again they packed the house and had everyone entertained with their great sounds.
The B.B. King’s Blues Club band had the night off, they must have needed a rest from the Orange Party last night, so the showroom was used for “The Game of Love” a typical love and marriage type show found on almost every cruise line. Once that was over, a DJ took over to finish off the night.
Over on Music Walk, the Rolling Stone Rock Room Band and the piano players from Billboard Onboard had continuous sets from 7:30 pm up until midnight and both these venues were packed right up until the last note was played.
Time for food, but first… once per cruise a section of the Lido Market is set aside for a Seafood Boil dinner. At $35 pp + 18%, you get a pot full of seafood including shrimp, crab, mussels, clams, salmon, and all the fixings to go with it. Since I’m not that big into seafood, I didn’t give it a try so I can’t attest to whether it’s worth the money or not, but passing through the Lido during dinner, there were quite a few people taking advantage of it. Oh, and man…. it smelled like fish in there.
Since the Seafood Boil wasn’t going to be dinner for me, I headed to the ship’s Pan-Asian restaurant, Tamarind which is also home to Nami sushi which is in a small corner of the restaurant where you can sit at the sushi bar and watch as the sushi chef works his magic. While Tamarind comes with a $35 pp + 18% charge, Nami is 100% ala carte.
I started off with the Satay Sampler, which had small skewers of lamb, beef, chicken, shrimp, and pork along with some peanut sauce for dipping. Each piece of meat/seafood was delicious and piping hot – a recommended appetizer to get and share.
Up next, I went with the Chinese Five Spice Baby Back Ribs which were two small ribs slathered in a sticky sauce. The ribs were completely overcooked making the meat tough as nails and pretty much inedible. Big fail.
For the main course, I chose the Wasabi & Soy Crusted Beef Tenderloin which I asked to be cooked rare. The filet was incredibly tender and the crust on top gave it remarkable flavor. Paired with mushrooms and crab-fried rice, except for the ribs, the meal was five-star.
After all that food, I walked around the ship taking in some of the live music on Music Walk and enjoying the sights of the night sky as we sailed the warm waters of the Caribbean.
Thanks for following along!
Links to Rotterdam Restaurant Menus
Restaurant menus for November 9, 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 7:
