On April 6, the Knockturnal was invited by Holland America to spend 24 hours on the famed MS Rotterdam.
After experiencing pickleball, learning about the history of cruise line, and lovely lunch at Club Orange, we were given a tour of the ship.
The ship boasts many impressive amenities, such as a world-class spa, a state-of-the-art gym and sauna along with a meditation room; a glass-enclosed indoor pool; and a deckside pool and hot tub. Roaming around, we passed the Grand Dutch Café, which served Rotterdam 1873 drip coffee and authentic Dutch bites; an all-you-can-eat buffet called the Lido Market; the elegant Dining Room; and neat little bars, such as the Half Moon, tucked away here and there in cute nooks. Atop the ship was the Explorer’s Café, featuring maritime artifacts from Holland America’s history on loan from a museum in Rotterdam, interactive maps of world cities, and a concierge’s desk for booking shoreside excursions. There were also varied artworks scattered throughout the ship’s many stairwells and corridors.
I especially enjoyed popping in to the library. It had a good collection of recent hit books, and several copies of them, so that you wouldn’t have to worry if the book you wanted was checked out. There was bound to be another copy. Some of the books were topical, such as those on Celtic and Indian fairy tales, which were sure to stoke in guests a sense of adventure.
Guests on the MS Rotterdam can also take arts and crafts classes for things like doodling, painting, origami, and arts studio coloring.
After our tour, we settled in for a delightful happy hour at the Ocean Bar where we were treated a De Lijn cocktail demonstration. The gin consists of inspired botanicals including orange and rose along with elderberry, lemon verbena, lemon, raspberry, and juniper. The cocktails we tried, such as Holland America’s Dutch 150, the 150 Martini, and the gin & tonic, all used De Lijn gin.
We also had the chance to imbibe Holland America’s pilsner beer made in partnership with Pike Brewing. The beer is made with mosaic hops, an iconic hop from the Yakima valley, yielding floral and light melon flavors.
Next, we headed to Tamarind Restaurant and Bar for a scrumptious Southeast Asian dinner. Perched on deck 10, the restaurant offers romantic ocean views. To start, we tried the Satay Sampler, which included Malasian lamb, Chinese beef, Thai chicken, Indonesian pork, Vietnamese shrimp, green mango, Yuzu Kosho, and shitake and tofu spring rolls.
For our main course we dined on Mongolian barbecue lambchops, and dam dan noodles, which was a tofu stir fry sauteed with celery, mushrooms, choy sum, and sesame chili sauce. On the side we enjoyed crab-fried rice and Asian eggplant with spicy cocoanut. For dessert we had Yuzu cheesecake.
Overall, we had a fabulous dinner.
To end the evening, we attended some live music events on the ship. We visited the Rolling Stone Rock Room, B.B. King’s Blues Club, and Billboard Onboard Lounge. At B.B. King’s Blues Club we heard a blues band perform Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long” and other classic blues tunes. The Billboard Lounge featured dueling pianos performing classic showtunes and pop hits. Last but not least, we listened to a band at the Rolling Stone Rock Room performing classic rock songs, including “Hotel California,” “Night Moves,” “Downtown Train,” “The Weight,” and “Hard To Handle.”
In the morning we attended a talk with cruise historian Bill Miller.
We had a wonderful time on the Holland America Rotterdam, and we can’t wait to visit again.