Welcome to Your Favorites, where you have the opportunity to share your travel experiences with fellow Internet Travelers around the world.

Holland America Line

MS Rotterdam (VI)

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Allen V. Whipple
# previous cruises: 10 to 20
Date of Trip: September 14, 2004
Itinerary: Transatlantic

This was a remarkable trip, in that the ship was rendered powerless and adrift for over three hours on September 24 by Gale force waves and wind, with several serious injuries to passengers and serious (non-structural) damage to the ship. The reason for the power failure is still undetermined but apparently involved the failure of either the lubricating oil filters or an engine control program. The ship behaved well during the emergency, which began at 6:10 PM ship's time, and despite being at the mercy of the elements did not appear to roll more than 25 degrees. Passengers were kept well-informed of progress (at least once every 30 minutes) by the Captain and the serious if cosmetic damage was largely repaired at sea during the next day. The exact nature of the engine problems was not diagnosed and therefore there was some tension during subesequent storms, particularly a full Gale which occcured the day before the "Rotterdam" docked in New York (September 30). The ship had to cancel two port calls, the first at Plymouth, UK (a Tender port) owing to high winds and swells and the second at St. Johns, Newfoundland owing to the damage caused by the storm on 24 September. This was a remarkable month for hurricanes and despite the careful attempts of the Captain to avoid them (including reversing our intended course to sail south around Ireland rather than North, then diverting some 500 miles toward the Azores) it was impossible to avoid the remnants of hurricanes Carl (24 September) and Jeanne (29 September). It should be noted that Holland-America Line will refund half of every passenger's fare so long as the passenger will sign a hold-harmless release. In general the cruise was enjoyable if occasionally overexciting, and no one should book a transatlantic cruise in September who is prone to seasickness.

The Rotterdam is a beautiful ship, just a tad glitzy, with very nice pieces of Dutch, Chinese and modern art well-displayed in all her public rooms. The fabrics and treatments are elegant but not so restrained as on, for example, a Crystal ship,and the overall effect is pleasant. There are several rooms (the Crows Nest and the Spa Wating Room, for example) where some of the chairs are very uncomfortable, nearly impossible to sit in. The corridors through the Public Rooms on Upper Promenade -- the only easy way to get from forward to aft for access to the Dining Room -- are notably narrow and congested, so that a couple going aft to dinner cannot pass a couple coming forward without fancy footwork. This is bad design (as if the location of the Galley, which prevents anyone from going directly aft to the Dining Room on Lower Promenade) --but is a feature of all the "Statendam" class ships and the "Rotterdam/Amsterdam" as well.

However, there are many quiet places for reading or relaxation and they are not overxcrowded, and the general decor is of a very high standard.

Food in the La Fontaine (Main) Dining Room was acceptable -- steaks and roasts acceptable, fish often quite good, but the standard was uneven, presentation sloppy, nothing memorable -- slightly below the level of Celebrity and way below Crystal. Service very good, if a bit casual (the Indonesians are irrepressibly playful). Food in the Lido cafe was really awful, for every meal (breakfast just bearable, but they don't do special orders or omelettes). The Pinnacle Restaurant (extra $20 per person) was better but not up to the standards of Celebrity, with nearly-congealed sauces, tasteless lobster, lots of fuss but not sparkling service -- which is surprising since the restaurant was never more than half-full. Wine lists in both restaurants was dreadful, with no wines from France, Germany, New Zealand, or Australia -- all California, and not much variety. Even at the second seating -- where there should be no rush, waiters constantly interrupted conversation to take orders or make suggestions.

Cabins on the Rotterdam -- mine was a Verandah on deck 6 -- are the great redeeming grace of these ships. They are larger, with excellent closet and storage space and very good bathrooms. Standard outsides are also larger and better than their rivals'. Sound insulation on Rotterdam was notably better than on Zaandam (a later ship). Verandahs are larger and deeper than on Princess or Celebrity. I did not hear a single complaint from another passenger about a cabin.

I attended a couple of shows and both crew shows. The regular entertainment was okay, not to my taste but popular, I thought the individual (comedy, musician or magician) shows much better than the group Vegas-wannabe "extravaganzas." Crew shows should try to eliminate Karaoke entertainers (we had an Indonesian crew member in a black leather suit who gave us 10 minutes of gruesome Jakarta/Sinatra "My Way", which was the closest I got to seasickness on this cruise) and stick to ethnic/cultural set-pieces.

We hit every grimy channel port for a short day -- Rotterdam, Le Havre, Gurnsey, Plymouth (skipped), Cobh, Dublin, Belfast, St Johns (Skipped) and Halifax. From LeHavre you could ride a bus for 3 hours to the Eiffel Tower (closed because of a strike), get out, go back to the ship and say you had been in Paris. I had a nice afternoon in Honfleur instead. Cobh was lovely, Dublin fine, Belfast entirely unnecessary, and Halifax a great port as always. But such short visits don't allow enough time. And having a cruise like this one with six port days in a row followed by six sea days made everyone exhausted, then bored, in turn. There has to be a better way to schedule an itinerary with longer stays in port or more days between ports. And the "Rotterdam," which can do (on paper) 25 knots, never made more than 18 except when outrunning storms -- but is fast enough that a more interesting and flexible itinerary could be made up within the same time frame (16 days).

Wonder Bread. All-american. An amazingly homogenous group of some 1300 Americans between 55 and Death with about 4 black people, 6 Spaniards, and 20 Canadians. They were all very nice people, but they were perhaps the most boring people on earth -- riding in a bus, each row would read out the road or shop signs in turn, so that you had a continuous echo-like recitation of things you had just read. Once you got to know them, they would turn out to be very nice people, but it was nearly impossible to tell them apart. There were a lot of New Yorkers aboard, who livened things up a bit, but there was nothing remotely exotic or stimulating about the group. I like a cruise with some diversity among the passengers, and this cruise had none.