Okay, folks: with this picture, the cat is officially out of the bag.
Holland America Line photo.
This is Holland America Line's flagship, newest and largest vessel in their fleet, the Rotterdam. And, yes, I am currently on board and off on another adventure.
This was the cruise I booked for myself after my December cruise on the Rotterdam had to be cancelled because of illness. This time, too, I was afraid illness was going to do the plan in, but this virus proved to be an exemplar of good taste, doing its dirty work and then exiting with commendable haste. And here I am, on the high seas again.
Once again, I have opted to travel down to Fort Lauderdale for embarkation via Montreal rather than on a nonstop flight. The reason is simple. Flying nonstop from Toronto with Air Canada during the winter, you either have to get up at 3:00 AM to catch the morning flight, or you have to arrive on the later afternoon flight after dinnertime. Going via Montreal takes longer, but you leave at a more civilized 9:00 AM and still land in Fort Lauderdale just after 5:00 PM.
First piece of advice: never, never fly to board a cruise on the day the cruise is leaving. Between weather, crewing issues, mechanical glitches, air traffic control backups, and so much more, the odds are getting longer and longer every year. Go the day before and you don't have to worry.
To prove the point, look what happened to my perfectly planned day before this cruise. I arrived at Toronto airport at 6:35 AM, ample time for a 9:00 AM flight to Montreal. And then I waited and waited and waited.... At 10:15, the flight was cancelled due to a mechanical problem. At 10:55 I got to the customer service desk after waiting a while in line. The agent was soon able to rebook me on the last direct flight from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale that night, since there was no way I was going to get to Montreal in time for the reserved flight. I paid no extra money for the rebooking, but took a massive kick in the value equation by ending up in a regular economy seat on Air Canada Rouge when I had booked and paid for Premium Economy on Air Canada mainline. Such are the perils of travelling at the peak of March school breaks. Since this flight too was delayed, it took until about 2:00 AM on Friday to get my bags and get to my hotel.
For the night-before-cruise stopover for those flying in, this hotel is a good bet. It has a free on-request shuttle 24/7 to and from nearby Fort Lauderdale Airport (even when arriving in the wee hours), a paid shuttle to and from the cruise ship docks (by reservation), and a decent restaurant on site for dinner and breakfast. This is the Crowne Plaza Fort Lauderdale Airport/Cruise Port.
The first four floors of the building are a parking garage. The fifth floor up holds the lobby, restaurant, bar, meeting rooms, and the outdoor pool. Then the six storeys of guest rooms begin above that point.
The restaurant is rather more straightforward than elegant, but has a more diverse menu than many hotel restaurants I have used in the past. The breakfast buffet is decent but not super-impressive, and the cost of the buffet at this writing is US$20 plus tax per person. With that number in mind, you may want to consider getting a breakfast-included rate.
Once I got to the dock, the check-in process took 20 minutes, and then I sat for perhaps 30 minutes more in the large waiting area for my numbered group to be called to board. Since this was now just a few minutes before 1:00 PM, the rooms were available. Once I did get into my room, the rest of the day passed with unpacking, a time out to watch the video safety briefing, and then a quick walk upstairs to the theatre to show that I knew how to find the muster station for emergencies.
By this time, I was decidedly hungry, and headed for an old favourite from my cruise on sister ship Nieuw Statendam last year: the Grand Dutch Cafe. And here's my light lunch:
For those not familiar with traditional Dutch snacks and light lunches, this is a Broodjekroket, which means a hot croquette on a crusty bread roll. Broodjes of all kinds were a huge deal in Amsterdam when I first went there in the 1970s, and even though the once-ubiquitous chain Broodje van Kootje is no longer in existence, there are other places selling them , and the croquettes here on Holland America are just as good. This one, by the way, is a vleeskroket, a croquette with a creamy filling of finely minced veal. The cappuccino is in a league of its own, made with rich, dark coffee from Rotterdam which would only be ruined by adding any kind of sweetening. The lunches and snacks (and the desserts) at the Grand Dutch Cafe are included in the standard menu, but premium drinks like cappuccino are surcharged. And notice the frequent use of the Dutch national colours of orange and dark blue.
The Cafe is on Deck 3, overlooking the atrium. The tall sculpture in the atrium, unlike the massive piece on Nieuw Statendam, allows you to see the atrium around it!
After all of that, a tipple of prosecco from the minibar in my cabin was just the ticket to celebrate going to sea again.
Just as I was about to pour it, my steward arrived with my big suitcase. A good thing, too, as the bow thrusters were fired up in preparation for departure right after he left. I'd be worried if my bag hadn't arrived by the time the ship sailed! And here's the view from my window as the ship pushed sideways off the dock, before gliding smoothly forward and out to sea.
The cabin I'm in is one of the dozen single cabins which can be found on Rotterdam, and on the almost identical sister ships Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam. It's on the lowest passenger deck, all the way forward, and with a window for the sea view. Look at the picture of the ship above. You can see a row of windows just under the inscription of "Holland America Line" on the hull. My cabin is the third one back, but on the other (starboard) side.
Here's what it looks like. Yes, it's a full queen-sized bed as in any of the standard staterooms, but due to the smaller size of the cabin the bed has to be pressed against the outside bulkhead. These cabins are located where the ship's sides are curving in towards the bow, hence the deep well in the wall containing the window, and the decision to market them as singles.
It's a smart move. More and more singles are cruising every year -- many of them, like me, widows or widowers. Cruise companies are belatedly realizing that it's a bit of a dirty trick to force single travellers to pay a full double fare, as most of them do if you take a normal cabin. What percentage do you actually pay? That depends very much on the itinerary and the time of year. For this cruise, it was about 160% of the normal adult fare when two are sharing.
The next question, on a Caribbean cruise, is naturally about the outdoor recreation spaces. Rotterdam has the new essential of the modern resort and cruise trade: a pickleball court which can be reserved for time slots throughout the day. The ship also has two pool areas. This is the midships Lido pool. It is equipped with a sliding glass dome which can be opened, as here, or closed.
The Seaview Pool, at the stern, is my favourite -- it has much better sun exposure, and the best feature of all: signs at every entrance proclaiming it "Adults Only Pool." That fact alone tells you a great deal about the typical Holland America cruiser.
Rotterdam is every bit as dramatic a floating art gallery as her older sister, Nieuw Statendam. One of the joys of cruising with Holland America is the huge and diverse range of artistic riches waiting around every corner -- all of them commissioned from various living artists for this ship (a long-standing Holland America tradition). Here are a few of the intriguing, whimsical, puzzling, or dramatic pieces I've spotted around the ship, in addition to the big sculpture in the atrium.
There's only one holdover from Nieuw Statendam, and even the twin pieces outside the Tamarind Asian-fusion restaurant have different colours on them.
I'd like to say that the striking, sculptural main Dining Room is the biggest artwork of them all. It never fails to give me a sight to study.
It is identical to the Nieuw Statendam, as far as I can see, but how did I ever miss the impressive sculptural shape of the wine cellar, accessible from both decks of the Dining Room?
Well, that's enough about the ship. I chose this particular cruise because it includes four full sea days out of a nine-day cruise, and because of the selection of port calls. There will be more to see and report, and photograph, when we get to that first port in two more days. For now, relax and enjoy life at sea, a true pleasure in its own right for me!
Final note: I've made frequent references to my previous experience on Rotterdam's sister ship, Nieuw Statendam. If you'd like read more about that vessel, and see some more photos of another floating art gallery, here's a link to that post from last year:
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