We grabbed the second taxi in the queue because it was larger than the first. Our luggage fit nicely. The driver opened the door which went up startling Owen It turned out to be a Tesla, the first we've encountered.
The chatty driver engaged us with conversation all the way to the Marriott across from the Rotterdam Centraal railroad station. Rather pricy, but a fine ride.
We checked in. The room, of course, was not ready. The staff wheeled our luggage away. We were given the key to the "M room lounge" to relax.
At 1040, a staff person found us there and gave us the key to our room 1202, and told us the luggage had been taken there - excellent service.
Our last stay here was in 2019 with cousin Fran and husband Duane prior to our trip up the Norwegian coast to the top. Very nice voyage. We have more time in Rotterdam to look around this trip but we miss having them along.
After a four-hour nap we became alert again. We managed to find enough power adapters to plug in our gadgets and did some research on Milton - still bad.
Started looking for a place to eat tonight.
But we went to the M room at happy-hour time. There was a nice assortment of snacks and tiny dishes. The refrigerator had beer, including a nice IPA. Then back to the room until we regained our appetite.
That never happened. We got comfortable watching the current disasters on TV and doing little computer chores. Time enough to run around tomorrow. Besides, it's raining.
20241010 Wednesday Rotterdam
We awoke at 1015, starting to transition to Central European Standard Time (CEST).
We checked the status of Hurricane Milton, which is much reduced and departing the east coast of Florida. Looking toward home, Jax suffered little damage. The max wind gust was less than that during Helene a couple of weeks ago.
We sipped in-room coffee while watching wifi, seeing opinions of what happened.
A city view to the west, including some cranes at the commercial port is at left.
We went downstairs and next door, into the shopping plaza, to Gallery Kitchen. It's a light-meal place, doing a bang-up business at lunchtime. D had an eggs-plus-goodies thing, while O had a warm ham sandwich. Both were just right for lunch.
The temperature is given as low fifties with feel-like of mid-40's with a goodly breeze blowing out of the north. Not a good day outside, which is where O planned much of our doing.
We consulted the concierge, who told us the HOHO bus has shut down for the fall/winter season; same for the old-fashioned tour tram. Same for the building-top gardens and outdoor gathering places like biergartens.
All that, combined with a time-lag ache, tells us to take it easy today. Back to the room to watch Milton news.
We loafed the afternoon away watching news from the BBC regarding Milton's affects. Bad, but nowhere near as it could have been. It seems the eye spread as it neared land, thus the eye-wall winds dropped. Lots of rain on the west side of Florida, though.
We received a note from son Bill that all was well at his house. Looking at Duval County stats, the highest wind gust was 64 knots, where in Helene we had 74. So all's well at our home. But sad about the people down-state.
We hit the M Room happy hour again. Nice nibbles and syrah. Later we walked to the local Trattoria but were turned away at the door, saying they were fully booked. So we returned to this huge computerized Italian food place in the mall next door to the hotel, named Vapiano. Later, we looked and found we have dined in another Vapiano, the one in Barcelona.
We sat and directions told us to scan the QR code to log in. The two ladies next to us (picture right) handed us paper menus to study. We brought up the app and ordered D's lasagna and O's carbonara plus two Cabernets. The app told us the price and took the card information. Soon, someone brought the wine. The ladies next to us entered into conversation - they're down here from Friesland province up north. We chatted on various subjects. I asked to take their picture to remind us to visit Friesland. Very nice people.
We did our food, which would not make the gourmet list but is perfectly adequate when it's cold outside and raining. We thanked the ladies and promised we'd try to go to Friesland someday.
Then we left to go back to the hotel next door. Bought a few little things for the room. Then we settled in, in a nice warm snuggly room.
20241011 Friday Rotterdam NL Tomorrow we board Rotterdam VIII.
A little cooler today, cloudy with a bit of sun at times and a light rain at times. UV index is 1.
Up at 0900, an improvement over yesterday. We went to the included breakfast restaurant setting and found it very nice. The service was excellent and O found the Eggs Benedict to be just right. D enjoyed her French Toast made with Dutch bread. A person entering said "Holland America people" as he passed us. That caused us to look around; we saw a large number of elderly couples dressed well. It's possible they're all here early to board Rotterdam.
We returned to the room still feeling less than 100%. We're just not eager to go out. Perhaps we're just too accustomed to Florida temperatures and sun.
But we finally charged out into the misty day. First, across the plaza to the train station. D got her Rotterdam pin for the travels board she keeps. O bought another EU to US electric outlet converter which will ultimately join the three at home. We continued the walk out into the Centrum district south of the hotel, but didn't find anything we wanted. Much of one street was food outlets - Burger King, McDonalds, KFC, etc., alternating with personal places like hair-care and exercise.
So we walked back into the mini-mall wherein lies Vapiano and the Casino. D found a display of inexpensive (not to say cheap) fuzzy slippers outside a drug store and bought a pair. She can use them on the ship and at home or lose them.
We returned then to the hotel and booked a taxi for tomorrow noon (also check-out time). HA wants us to board at 1330 but we'll use our 4-star status to board when we wish.
We sat with a Pepsi in the M Room, where D found her banana for the day. Back to our room then to share the half-bottle of Puglian Zinfandel we bought last night. It was a little on the rough side but drinkable. It lived up to the head of the label where it spelled out "Primitivo".
O looked up the position of Rotterdam VII. It's in the North Sea (of course), returning from Copenhagen and a Baltic cruise.
Loafed in room for a while until we went to dinner in the hotel's casual restaurant "Pillars". An order misunderstanding took place, but the food (and wine) was great. D had a veal dish while O did swordfish, which came on spaghetti with a lovely olive sauce. Gruner Veltliner wine was just right with the fish, while D had the house Cabernet Sauvignon.
We picked up things for the room, then went there. We'll organize tonight so all we need to do after breakfast iis to haul the luggage down, check out, and taxi to the ship.
20241012 Saturday Rotterdam
Up and off to breakfast where there was a crowd. We were seated at a table for four with a very unlikely couple - a large obese male with a tiny elderly toothless man wearing an Oberlin sweatshirt. The large person was a talker. We learned he lives in Tampa but doesn't know if his house was harmed by Milton. He graduated Ohio State, his nephew from West Point, and more, ad infinitum. We snuck in a word now and then before excusing ourselves. They're also cruising on Rotterdam.
We did final organizing and packing and are now prepared to begin the transit to MS Rotterdam VII.
Later: We did taxi to the ship. Check-in was not too bad an evolution, aided by our four-star rating. In the stateroom, we found the beds not the way we prefer, so we mentioned that on the care card. Then we found the cabinet door leading to the safe damaged, supported only by the lower hinge - the upper hinge pulled out of the board it was screwed into. Noted that to Iman and Agus, our cabin stewards.
We had a light lunch in the Lido, food ok, wine ok, crowded. Back to the cabin to watch the safety lecture. At 1615 we're supposed to go to our muster station.
At 1700 there will be "sail-away" held on the after deck by the Seaview Bar. Also mass for D down on deck 1. At 1845 there will be a reception for Mariner guests at the Lido Pool on deck 9.
The sail-away fizzled due to the cool temperature, breeze and threat of rain. The captain made it down the channel to the sea without our advice.
We went to Customer Services to fix D's internet access problem. Then we went off to the Main Dining Room (MDR henceforth).
I hope we were just caught up in a mob doing first-night dining. I hope. The food was rather good but the service was terrible. We waited over a half hour between finishing the starter and receiving our main. We didn't like being ignored. If this keeps up, we'll be very angry.
We stopped at Customer Services again because a tour we'd purchased did not show up on our Navigator app. It turns out our tour to the Abbotsford Swannery was canceled without them telling anyone. Swans must have all died off.
Then to the shops because D needed a tee-shirt for sleeping. After that we stopped at the Ocean Bar for our nightcap - a Port for D and a Manhattan for O.
Then to the stateroom, ready for bed. O finished this note. Go to the next page.
