Holland America - Rotterdam Reviews

I thoroughly enjoyed the Rotterdam, one of the newer Holland America ships. though large it does not feel like a mega ship. The ship is beautifully decorated and has a feel of quality perhaps above the standard cruise ship. The food was also a step above which all together made for a beautiful cruise.

1) Boat too crowdy: Very old passengers with reduced mobility. 2). We spent too much time on the sea.

Loved the fjords. Disappointed how 14 days was actullay like 2- 7day cruises with everything the same except the ports.

Buffet food outstanding . Service excellent. Will cruise HAL aga6

We throughly enjoyed the spa. We wished there was more entertainment. Lots of senior citizens. Would not recommend for a family with teenagers. Food in dining room was delicious. Great room service. Ports were fun. We had a relaxing vacation.

Ship was nice and stable with quiet cabins. Food and dining service were fair to mediocre. Some servers appeared very apathetic about their job. Food and service in all the specialty restaurants were good except the food at Canneloti Italian wasn’t very good for a specialty restaurant (service was good). The burger at Dive In is stated to be the best burger at sea but I found it to be just average and the fries were not fresh or hot. I did have a good milkshake across from it. Beef brisket (pot roast) was excellent in the main dining room on the last night. The dinner rolls were always great.

Lovely ship one of hollands new launches but wish they didn’t skimp on size in cabins. Space at foot of bed to wall just about able to navigate your luggage let alone your self. Balcony lovely. Bathroom sink not made to wash your face in. Slops water all over ! Very cramped size as well and no night light. Just seemed alittle more cramped in this stateroom. Service in room ok but missed the nightly chocolates. Had two on a 9 day cruise. Dining food options very small. The Pinnacle Grill same as on previous vessels very good , entertainment in main venue so so, lido same as expected. The holland brand client is of our vintage so sure we will return but maybe try for an older vintage ship.

Sarah ,Was a fantastic help thank you so much.

The "accoutrements" of this trip did not measure up to our other experiences on Holland America. For example, with the exception of the calypso group called Island Magic, the "entertainment" seemed left over from the Ed Sullivan show! Dario the Magician would have been perfect for Ed Sullivan and the dancing group as well. Hygiene was also lacking on this cruise---NOT by members of crew or staff but by GUESTS! Some boarded the ship coughing and sneezing while others contracted the coughing and sneezing through exposure. So many guests sneezed into their hands and then handled food, salt and pepper shakers and other utensils. By the end of our two weeks, a good percentage of the ship was ill and we manifested bronchitis bordering on pneumonia two days after we returned. What's more, the smoke in the casino was not merely off-putting but stifling. And you had to pass through the casino to get to the World Stage for "entertainment". THE WONDERFUL PART OF THE CRUISE WAS STAFF AND CREW! April and Porfi in Guest Relations; Dimas a cleaner on deck 2; Ade in the Lido. They exemplified what we always considered the best of HAL! LUGGAGE DIRECT is a new feature offered by HAL and it is surely worth the price! Luggage Direct takes a guest's luggage before debarking and sends the luggage through to the guest's ultimate destination. What a wonderful innovation this is: the guest is not bothered with lugging baggage or check in at the airports. It's all covered by Luggage Direct. The guests receives boarding passes and luggage tags and it's all done! It's great!

could not be happier ,ship was beautiful , staff was great , weather was perfect .highly recommend Holland America ! ! !

Food in main dining room not up to par and very small portions.Too many extra fees while on board. Service was good. Pools not large enough to accommodate comfortably number of people on sea days. Overall a fair experience.

The ports of call were quite nice, though we visited one port twice (a change that was made after we booked and paid). Don't miss Norway, it is beautiful. As usual on HAL the food was good, cabin was spacious and convenient with lots of storage, the bed was comfy, and the stewards were readily available. The decor on the new Rotterdam is simple, though it seems rather it's that way to reduce cost. The effect is nice anyway. This itinerary was sold as a 14-day cruise but it was really 2x 7days back-to-back with complementary itineraries. We expected that was the case because the itinerary looped back to Amsterdam for a night. What we didn't expect was that the food and entertainment on the two legs were identical. That made the second seven days rather a dud for "onboard experience". Add to that our impression that the new Rotterdam seems to have been designed by accountants looking to maximize return on every square meter of space. There are no grand spaces, the ceilings feel low, the promenade has no deck chairs and has some areas where two folks cannot pass each other, the stairwells have a stingy narrow layout, the bars and public areas don't have enough room to accommodate all the guests on sea days. With both legs sold over capacity we found the onboard experience disappointing. The now-very-small Ocean Bar and the revamped Explorer's Lounge (old Crow's Nest) have very limited seating, so there are very very few places to hang out with friends away from the cacophony of the Music Walk. Other disappointing changes are that lobster is now a chargeable menu item, there are many fewer bar staff so that it is better to just go to the bar to get your drinks, and they eliminated port talks except for reviews of the available excursions. On our other cruises with HAL the port talks would start with an EXC guide giving an overview useful to those not taking excursions, followed by the Excursion people reviewing all the available paid options. We will sail HAL again, but never again on the new Rotterdam (all the charm of ocean cruising gone on this ship), and never again on back-to back round trip cruises.

What a wonderful experience. Only downside was the Hamburg tour. We went past a lot of great shopping areas that carried what the tour said we would find only to stop somewhere where there were only a couple of shops. Also,the nobility and working farm was nothing like the tour said. Even our tour guide was shocked stating the farm had not been a working farm for two+ years. Nothing hardly was seen about nobility. Now, the VASA was amazing as was Berlin, Denmark Copenhagen. All wonderful. Love Holland America

What a great vacation. Just the see and time to do what you want or don't want! Great food, no work and nice people. What more can you ask?

Couldn’t have been better!

We enjoyed a wonderful family trip aboard the Rotterdam. The staff was excellent and The Retreat was amazing.

That ship seemed overcrowded, not enough staff. The bar areas and pool areas had a hard time keeping up with demand and discarded plates, glasses etc. laid on the tables for an extended period of time.

Ship is pretty new and is in great shape. Crew was friendly and the meals were good. Entertainment was not as good as other ships, though the Runaround Kids were great.