2011 Visit Reports
Revisited ships in 2011 will not be shown unless significantly revised since previous visit

Crystal Serenity

Rotterdam

Saga Ruby

2010 Visit Reports

Aurora

Black Watch

Boudicca

Braemar

Crystal Symphony

Discovery

Empress

Eurodam

Funchal

Marco Polo

MSC Opera

MSC Poesia

Ocean Countess

Prinsendam


Previous Visit Reports

Arcadia

Arion

Black Watch

Hebridean Princess

Ocean Majesty

Van Gogh

The Rotterdam is the sixth ship of this name in the Holland America Line (HAL) fleet and was their largest ever vessel when delivered in 1997. She was built at the Marghera, Venice yard of Fincantieri in Italy (yard no.5980) as a larger and faster version of the Statendam class vessels and specifically as a replacement for the much-loved 1959 Rotterdam (5) (which reopened as a hotel in Rotterdam in 2010). The Rotterdam (6) is the flagship of the fleet, although eclipsed in size by subsequent Vista Class deliveries. She is 78ft long, 62,000grt and carries 1404 passengers. She has a cruising speed of 25knots designed to ensure she maintains schedules on the many long distance voyages she makes. From 2012 she is due to be based at her name city of Rotterdam all year round.

Holland America Line has been steadily upgrading all their ships in their Signature of Excellence programme. The public rooms have been given a brighter feel and she is an attractive ship with interesting bars and restaurants. Only the Crow's Nest bar was a disappointment to the extent that I wondered if it had yet to be upgraded.

We were provided with detailed maps and allowed to explore the ship at our leisure. In my opinion, for those with any previous experience of travelling on a cruise ship this is by far the best way for a company to arrange a ship visit. We do not need a PR rep. to explain in great detail the purpose of a gym, restaurant, bar, etc. Full marks to HAL for allowing this freedom.

After plenty of time to visit the whole ship, we met at the restaurant for lunch. My choices were really quite disappointing, although previous HAL experiences have been much better.

Thanks, as always, to Peter Godliman for arranging this visit.

I started at the top of the ship and worked down, the images reflect this. We were unable to visit cabins since the ship was not on a turnaround.