Rotterdam Background Information
In the zoomed map of Rotterdam, note the following. Rotterdam Centraal railroad station in the upper left, with the Marriott Hotel across the street. Just below the center of the map, find the Erasmusbrug bridge, and below it the Cruise Terminal. In the lower left corner is the Euromast, where one can ascend and take pictures from aloft. Somewhat above the center is the Markthal (Market-hall) where all sorts of foods are sold and there are many themed restaurants. Just to the right of Markthal are the Cube houses (Kijk-Kubus), which look like cubes resting on one corner. Below and to the right of Markthal is a sign for highway S100; the waterfront there is where our River Navigator river-cruise-ship docked on our cruise in 2014. Just below the bottom-left edge is the ship Rotterdam V, now a hotel and restaurant ship and tourist attraction. D & I cruised on her in 1995 to Alaska.
Clicking anywhere on the map will open a new page with Google Maps for you.
In the zoomed map of Rotterdam, note the following. Rotterdam Centraal railroad station in the upper left, with the Marriott Hotel across the street. Just below the center of the map, find the Erasmusbrug bridge, and below it the Cruise Terminal. In the lower left corner is the Euromast, where one can ascend and take pictures from aloft. Somewhat above the center is the Markthal (Market-hall) where all sorts of foods are sold and there are many themed restaurants. Just to the right of Markthal are the Cube houses (Kijk-Kubus), which look like cubes resting on one corner. Below and to the right of Markthal is a sign for highway S100; the waterfront there is where our River Navigator river-cruise-ship docked on our cruise in 2014. Just below the bottom-left edge is the ship Rotterdam V, now a hotel and restaurant ship and tourist attraction. D & I cruised on her in 1995 to Alaska.
Clicking anywhere on the map will open a new page with Google Maps for you.
The picture below shows the Cruise Terminal on the bottom edge, and the Erasmus bridge in the center. Our river cruise berth in 2014 is at the right edge, on the far side of the Maas, just beyond that bridge. The train station and hotel are off-picture to the upper left.
Our narrative begins below the picture.
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I slept poorly, too hot under the duvet. Put it aside, better. Woke up over Ireland. Juice and nibbles for breakfast. Landed at 0141 EDT or 0741 CEST (Central European Summer Time (GMT+2)). All times CEST henceforth.
The plane taxied for miles to get to the terminal. Then we walked for miles to the baggage claim. D was really pooped. Through immigration out into the main arrival hall. Found a train ticket kiosk & bought tickets to Rotterdam Centraal (today's picture at right).
Crowded local train, double deck coach so no over-seat luggage rack. Stuff them under seats. Arrived ok at 0933, walked the bags across the street to the Marriott. Room not ready but they sent us to the twelfth floor M lounge, and a while later the person came with keys to 1202. Nice room. Another person showed up with luggage.
D got under covers and crashed immediately. I stayed awake to help Fran & Duane when they arrived.
Later, Fran called to say they were at Centraal and didn't need help. I went down to meet them anyway.
After meeting and separating for a bit we got back together over wine to plan something. We decided on the Harbor Tour. And to get there, we found a tram line to it. After some debate we caught the tram at Centraal across the street to the Spido company for the cruise. There probably weren't 50 people on the boat which could take 599. it was a beautiful day on the water and we saw many interesting things, including Rotterdam V, which we cruised aboard in 1995.
Back to the hotel, get ready, and go to dinner in a little Italian place next door. Decent food, and two entree's with four wines cost 44 Euro.
But then we were really fading so we returned to the room to meet again at 1000 tomorrow. Now to get some sleep.
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I woke at 0400 but rolled over until 0700.
I'd left my spare hearing aid domes at home, so I walked to an audiologist office and asked if they had any. She found a couple and handed them to me in a small bag. I asked what I should give her for them, she said she hadn't a clue but please take them and have a good tour.
I walked back through a series of pedestrian streets with stores like Gap that I found out later is the main downtown shopping district.
When I returned to the hotel 1.9 miles later we went down for breakfast in the main dining room. The usual buffet (which we did - perfectly adequate) but many things to order (tomorrow).
In passing the Cruise Terminal, we saw MSC's Preziosa tied up where we'll be tomorrow. We also saw he cute Kube houses in the above picture.
After the round, Duane got off to do other things and Fran to hike to the Markthall but we stayed on to go to the Markthall (Market Hall), a huge horse-shoe shaped building with dozens of food stalls up the center and food oriented stores in the side bases. Offices and penthouses are in the upper floors - picture at right.
I found a good port wine for D in a wine shop, and a Gruner Veltliner for me. I remarked to the shopkeeper on the friendliness of everyone today, like the audiology office. She returned with a smile that it must be the fine weather after the long spell of bad weather they'd had.
D found a stall with many nuts. Lots of nuts covered in chocolate, so we must have some. We bought chocolate covered cashews. She found a couple of little items for the grandsons.
Then we found a kitchen tools store and wandered around in it to get ideas for home. We found some cute little molds for eggs or pancakes to search for later.
We went back outside (glorious weather). Waited quite a while for the next Hoho bus, then got tired of waiting and went to a nearby tram stop. We rode the next tram to the stop across from the hotel. There, we grabbed coke & beer to take to the room and do computer things with pictures and this note.
After a while we got together in the lobby bar for wine. But people coming in made it too loud to stay, so we moved to the 12th floor M room. Another glass, talked with folks also going on the cruise. Finally decided to take a break and do the hotel dining room. Adjourned to break.
We got back together at the dining room around 1945. We ate great food of reasonable portions and told stories to each other. Starter, main, sorbet, dessert, with wine, and port with dessert. Made plans for tomorrow, and finally went to bed around 2230.
A great day.
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A good website for Norwegian information is VisitNorway which opens in a new page. Drill down to what you want. Another is Cruise Norway on-line magazine. An interesting website is one giving information to crews, Cruise Center.
We overslept. So we hopped up and went down to breakfast, which was quite good. Then back up to the room for showers and packing. At 1100 we went down, checked out, grabbed a taxi and went to the cruise terminal to board Rotterdam VI.
Check-in and boarding was the usual hassle. We waited in the cabin for luggage to be delivered, then unpacked. Had the cabin reconfigured to suit us.
We found in the stack of literature a notice that said we would not visit Flåm but Skjolden. Also not Geiranger but Hellesylt. The reason given was "issue with tenders" and a reassurance that despite the "issue" there are plenty of lifeboats aboard. Hmmm. So now we won't be tendered at any port, which is nice.
Terrible flap with on-line internet ship-board "Navigator". Finally worked with Melanie to get that solved. Then I didn't have the Full-Time off-ship Internet package I'd paid for. Had to go get my confirmation. Then everyone realized the price had gone up. So I had to buy a new $229 package to get access, after which they're refunding the $229 to get me access as previously paid for. Whatever works, I guess. When I bring up the external internet it shows Paid $229.
We sat on the aft deck with wine until the ship got underway, then split to join at dinner. We had a nice table facing port and watched things go by. Over 100 shipping cranes - fantastic. Makes Jacksonville look like Dogpatch.
Food and wine were good, but we're all fading after going through the stress of the day. So we said good-night and returned to our cabins. Joko (cabin steward) did the turn-down, including make a crab bed-animal from towels. He's a happy guy we're going to enjoy. And that's it.