R M.
Yelp
After I boarded the ship for my10 day cruise, I sat down in the main dining room and ordered a salad, chicken tacos, and a Campari spritzer. In my opinion, the food and the service was certainly lacking, so I never ate another meal in the Main Dining room for the rest of the cruise. After I left the main dining room I was still hungry, so I went up to the Lido Deck 9, where I found a station which had the absolutely best hand-made Mexican food, and had all the extras for either soft or hard shell tacos. In my opinion, the Lido should be your choice of venue for all meals, but especially for lunch. As for dinner, I was extremely happy I joined Club Orange (CO). I never waited at breakfast or dinner there, and the Maitre 'd, Edgar, was the best of the best, in managing this specialty restaurant.
If you are like me, and hate second-hand smoke, then you will hate sailing on the Rotterdam. I thought that there was no smoking anywhere inside the ship, but I was wrong, because there was a portion of the casino that permitted smoking. There is a second pool at the back of the ship on deck 9, right outside the Lido dining room, but I would never go out there because of the smoking.
One of the other issues I had was the entertainment. I went to see the dancers in the World Stage on the first evening, and for a major show in their only large room on this ship, in my opinion, it was mediocre at best, and would not be worth wasting your time. With regard to the entertainment, it seems the Rotterdam has really cut-back on its entertainment.
I mentioned second hand smoke as a serious problem on this ship, but the other problem, which in my opinion I found to be just as horrible, and maybe worse, was the noise level, the Decibels (dB), at 2 of their music venues: The Rolling Stone Rock Room, and BB King's Blue's Club. All the shows playing at these two lounges were extremely loud with decibels that I measured on my Apple Watch at 97 and 98 decibels, and I was not even sitting down inside the venue near the music; I took the readings on the walkway connecting all the music venues.
Speaking of loud noises, from my experience the noises from the slamming entry doors, and even the bed-shaking noises from the verandah doors slamming was a regular occurrence. In my opinion, the noise is really startling and very loud. Of the two, the worst is the verandah doors that open and swing outward onto the seating area, so when the ship is moving, the pressure variation between the stateroom and the outside is extreme, plus the wind from the moving ship, forces the balcony door to slam with such a force and intensity, that it literally shook my bed every evening when my neighbors went out onto their verandah. The ship sails every evening, so you can expect any neighbors who go out on their verandah's to have their doors slam closed. Also, the entry doors do not have a pump-type device on the back of the door to control the closing of the entry door, which therefore caused the neighbor's doors to slam every-time they leave or enter their stateroom.
If you like the taste of aluminum in your water, you will love the Rotterdam. The company, has switched-over to everything aluminum when it comes to canned-water, at least that is what I believed until my last day onboard. Prior to that time, if I ordered water, I got a very small aluminum can with water, and because I paid for the special drink package, I was able to get these cans without any additional charge. I was very disappointed when I discovered on my last evening onboard that one of the dueling piano entertainers was drinking from a regular plastic bottle of water. I asked him where he got that water bottle, and was told it is provided to the entertainers. It took me 4 days after I returned home to get the aluminum taste out of my mouth, and that was an experience I will never forget.
I know one thing for sure, that I got horribly sick from food that was either not cleaned properly and/or served raw at one of the dining venues on the Rotterdam. I was so sick with serious diarrhea, both day AND night, and vomiting one night, that I could not leave the ship for many days. Because my symptoms were so horrible and debilitating, I was planning on possibly having to rent a hotel room upon arrival in Ft. Lauderdale, so I could get better before I tried to safely travel home without having an "accident." Fortunately, the medicine the doctor prescribed for me worked.
Let me be clear that I had the worst "stay-near-my-stateroom-experience" for a number of days AND nights, and no amount of monetary credit, the few hundred dollar future cruise credit, can repay me for what I endured. Based on my experiences, I would never recommend anyone I know to sail on the Rotterdam, or any of the other Pinnacle Class ships, based on my personal experiences on the Rotterdam. Fortunately, there are many other well-run cruise lines to choose from.
