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Rotterdam VI August 10 – August 22 2000 Baltic

Reviewed by: Sima Malca & Ronit Selig
email: sima1111@yahoo.com

The itinerary was: England (Harwich), Olso, Helsingborg, Warnemunde, Stockholm, Helsinki St.Petersurg, Tallinn and Copenhagen.

We (party of 3) flew from Tel Aviv to London on the 8th of August 2000, the flight was OK. We booked two nights at the Landmark Hotel. The hotel is very comfortable with spacious bedrooms and all the amenities of a 5 star hotel. We bought in advance tickets for Buckingham Palace for the 9th of August, so the next day we took a taxi to Buckingham. The Palace is very beautiful, the most beautiful Palace we’ve ever visited.
The weather in London was 17 degrees C not too cold.

On the 10th of August we ordered from the Landmark a limo to take us to Harwich. The drive there was very long. Finally at about 2PM we arrived and saw the Rotterdam for the first time. She looked lovely.

Embarkation:
This was the smoothest embarkation we ever experienced, just to wait for a few minutes for checking in and then we could enter the ship. Even better than Princess embarkation.

The cabin:
We booked a category E cabin. The cabin has two beds, and a sofa bed, large picture window, very nice bed covers and curtains. The bathroom was very nice with a hair drier, a bath with a shower, a cabinet with shampoos soaps and lotions.

There was a desk with large drawers, TV, a basket of fruit and some soft drinks and ice bucket. The sofabed was as comfortable as other the beds. The closet was superb, the best I’ve seen on a ship and many hotels. There were four closets, with a lot of hanging and shelf space, and the nicest thing was you could change the layout, open more shelves or close them if you want more hanging space. There was a table and a chair. The air-condition was excellent.
The furnishing was new and modern. Our room steward was excellent, he cleaned the room very quickly and we hardly saw him.

The food:
The La Fontaine restaurant is beautiful. Located on two levels. We had a table for 3 on the lower level. Our waiter and assistant waiter were very good. The menu was varied and there was a large selection each evening. We mainly ate fish and chicken. The quality was very good and we enjoyed every meal. The ice creams and cakes were wonderful, the baked Alaska was fantastic. There was a large selection of fresh baked breads every day, they were wonderful.

Lunch in the La Fontaine was as good as dinner.

The Lido buffet restaurant had a large selection varied each day, the food quality was good but not as good as the La Fontaine. There was ice cream parlor open at lunch time and also a salad bar.

We didn’t try the alternative restaurant. It looked lovely.

The ship:
Rotterdam is one of the most beautiful ships we’ve seen, with a lot of antiques and artwork. The public rooms are magnificent! The atrium is beautiful. The lounges and bars are lovely, decorated beautifully with shiny colors. The Crow’s Nest was our favorite place, very relaxing, one can sit on the blue leather armchairs for hours. The movie theatre is wonderful, small and cozy. We saw 3 movies there and it felt like it’s a private theatre. The card room is comfortable, but it could use more games. The library and internet cafe are very nice. The library has a great selection of books. The internet connection is good but using it is still expensive. The Queens Lounge, which is the most impressive public room on the ship, located in the front of the ship. The theatre is very comfortable, and very grand with good sight lines especially from the upper level.

Since it was too cold to swim we didn’t try the pools. The shops have very nice things. They have some lovely evening dresses, other cloths, jewelry, chocolates, souvenirs ect. There was a big Russian bazaar after we left St. Petersburg. We bought some Babuska dolls.

The elevators were efficient and they were hardly crowded.

The photo shop was OK, we bought some of the picture they took, but we didn’t develop our films there.

The ports:
The Rotterdam docked right next to the Akershus Castle in Olso, which was the first port and it was near our window. We booked a shore excursion to the Viking ships and the Vigeland Park. The weather in Olso was very good, half cloudy and no rain. About 21 degrees C. After a short drive in Oslo we drove to the Vigeland Park, the park is very beautiful, large with a lot of sculptures. Afterwards we went to the Viking Ship Museum. It contains 3 large wooden Viking ships, we felt they would show them better if they put on the sail but they were impressive enough. Then we drove to see the Kon Tiki Museum, which was the most interesting museum of the tour. The exhibition was great with the Kon Tiki itself and more smaller models, a lot of pictures and detailed models and figures.

Helsingborg:
We tendered ashore. The tender service was very good.
We took the Helsingborg and Sofiero Parklands. This was the most enjoyable shore excursion. Helsingborg is a lovely town, very peaceful. The weather was great about 21-23 C. We visited the Ramlosa spring the Raa village and the Sofiero Park. The park is wonderful with fabulous huge trees, lovely flowers, shaped trees and beautiful lakes. Very peaceful and relaxing, we were sorry to leave it.

Stockholm:
The night after we left Germany which we didn't visit, the ship had a problem with one of the propellers and she couldn't dock in Stockholm itself but in a nearby town, so we had to tender to shore and there was a ride to Stockholm. Because of that we had to buy another shore excursion and to cancel the Limo we ordered in advance. We took the Vasa Museum and City Hall tour. The weather was great 23 C. After getting off the tender there were buses to take us to Stockholm, the crew gave everyone a lunch box which contained sandwiches, cakes, mineral water, fruit and other things. The ride was not too bad as we soon arrived in Stockholm. Stockholm is very beautiful. We first went to the Vasa Museum. The Vasa ship is very impressive fantastically huge. You can see it from 3 levels of the museum. Very beautiful ship, very recommended to anyone who visits Stockholm. There is also a restaurant and souvenir shop. Afterwards we went to the city hall, beautiful architecture, great mosaics.
The ride back was less enjoyable and seemed twice as long. The tender service was fast and efficient and got us back to our ship.

Helsinki:
In Helsinki it was the only day it rained. It was pouring. We booked the Helsinki city tour, which turned out to be a panoramic tour mainly because of the rain. Some people got off at the Rock church, but we didn’t. The city is lovely. We saw the most important buildings from the bus. We passed near the yard where they build the new Carnival ship.

Tallinn:
We booked a panoramic Tallinn tour. It turned out to be not a panoramic one but more of a walking tour. We didn’t like it at all. The city looked dirty and gloomy and there was nothing to see except for the Millennium docked just in the middle of town, when we had to dock in Muga was 20 minutes away.

Copenhagen:
After disembarking in Copenhagen. We stayed at the D’anglanttre hotel. One of the only two 5 star hotels in Copenhagen. The hotel is not recommended. It needs refurbishing and our room was big but with old furniture and not what we expected. The bathroom was even worse. The service lacked the graciousness that one supposed to find in such a hotel and was cold and unhelpful. The heating didn’t work, so we had to ask for a heater.

The city however is really wonderful. We visited Tivoli, the palace, Nyhavn and the biggest shop in Denmark. We’ll want to visit Copenhagen someday again. It could be nice if the ship would dock there for 2 nights.

The entertainment:
The Rotterdam singers and dancers are great, they gave 4 wonderful and enjoyable shows, ranging from Broadway to newer songs, very glamorous and wonderfully performed. There was a magician, comedians, juggler and more. One of the most enjoyable shows was with a ventriloquist who was very funny and gave a great show. There was also entertainment in the bars every night.

Activities:
There is a lot to do on the ship. Bingo, trivia games, art auctions, art tours, port lectures, scarf folding and more. We didn’t use the casino, but it looked large and comfortable.
Coffee, lemonade and iced tea was served during the day.

Disembarkation:
We disembarked at about 10:20. It was smooth enough, but we were surprised to see the luggage was in a tent not a terminal. To our luck we booked a limousine to take us to the hotel. The limousine was the best we’ve ever used. We found our luggage and the driver found us before we started to look for him and quickly helped us to the limo.

It was a wonderful cruise. We love the Rotterdam, she is a beautiful ship and we’d like to return to her some day.