QE2 Story Forum
Non-QE2 Area => Ships => SS Rotterdam => Topic started by: Isabelle Prondzynski on Dec 29, 2009, 08:40 PM
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SS Rotterdam is now set to open to the public on 15 February 2010. The success of the Rotterdam will give us great hopes for the success of the QE2 in a stationary role.
Here is the Rotterdam's web site (at this stage only in Dutch -- it is interesting to see the events already planned around her!) :
http://www.opderotterdam.nl/
The hotel link in Dutch :
https://www.cruisehotel.nl/slapen/
and in English :
https://www.cruisehotel.nl/en/sleep/
"Book now" will give a screen which is not yet totally English.
Here is a small translation service ;D :
eenpersoons = single cabin
tweepersoons = double cabin
driepersoons = cabin for three
1 nacht = 1 night
2 nachten = 2 nights
An advance video shows some of the interiors, looking at least as good, I am told, as they did towards the end of her sea-going life :
... and also expresses hope that people would come to see and stay at the ship.
And this, I believe, shows the first emergency drill carried out there :
One of my wishes for 2010 is that SS Rotterdam will be very successful! And that QE2 will follow in her footsteps and do even better :D .
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thank's Isabel , that's for me the good exemple for the other liner hotel !! good restoration the different spaces of the ship are the same design of the begining of her service life
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Back in 1997 when she was called Rembrandt i boarded her for a few hours.Lovely ship inside.
Louis
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Some photos taken of her in Rotterdam on 25 September 2009 :
http://www.cruisefans.nl/bezoekssrotterdam/bezssrd250909pagina1.html
At the bottom of the page, you will find links to two further pages of pictures.
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I've just seen that link on another forum.
The interiors are great........I must get over there and do some panoramic photos! The dining room is stunning.
The photographer is clearly a ship fan if you try the index page
http://www.cruisefans.nl/cruiseschepenrotterdam.html (http://www.cruisefans.nl/cruiseschepenrotterdam.html)
Select any year (except 09) are you'll probably some lovely pictures of our favourite QE2, like this one - look at the angle she is at during bunkering.........
http://www.cruisefans.nl/qe2121207pagina3.html (http://www.cruisefans.nl/qe2121207pagina3.html)
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There's lots of pages of pictures on that link you posted Isabelle, not just two!
She looks amazing! There still appears to be work to do, but whats done looks great.
I think the interior design is utterly brilliant, blending some modern elements with her original features. Obviously lots of effort is going into retaining what they can. I like it better than QV, for instance, and I'm thinking I like it better than how QE2 ended up. Its genius, especially considering they've had to dismantle much of the interior (i believe) to remove asbestos, and then re-assemble it.
Compared to QE2, her interior design was mostly intact at the end of her service life, wasn't it?
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Thank you, Rob, for making me search the site further.
The pages for a very recent visit (27 December 2009) can be found here :
http://www.cruisefans.nl/bezoekssrotterdam/bezssrd271209pagina1.html
with loads of other pages to be opened from the bottom of this first page.
Stunning views, Rob -- I can't wait for my first visit!
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i like so much her 50's 60's deco i hope i have the occasion to visit her when she open!! :)
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A friend has been going on about this to me for ages but I never really paid too much attention whilst mourning QE2...but when I saw the pics I was blown away....she is so lovingly cared for and looks just as she was launched all those years ago...maybe it would have been better if QE2 hadnt been given all those refits to change her so much.......would love to visit Rotterdam thats for sure....its such a lovely story for such a beautiful lady of the sea......how I wish that would happen for Qe2....
to come home....
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WOW! I had only a passing interest in this ship until I saw what they have done here. Stunning interiors! Don't forget that Carnival sold her off too. Makes me more hopeful that this
could should happen to QE2 and have her in the UK as a national treasure to be experienced by all. Hopefully, behind the scenes, efforts are at work to acquire the ship from Dubai return her home.
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Good evening Rob, everyone, and a very happy new year to all!
Encouraged by Isabelle, this is my first posting. And it has to be about my favourite ship of all time, the Ocean Liner Society's 'Ship of the Century', the matchless (sorry!) S.S.Rotterdam (strictly we should say 'V of 1959' to distinguish her from forebears and successor). Beware, I can bore for Britain on this subject!
In brief though, in answer to your question Rob, yes, she survived to the end having been very little altered at all.
Only one of her many public rooms had been reconfigured and that was in 1968 when the Cafe de la Paix was effectively eliminated to make room for a lido buffet (subsequently extended and now to be the cheaper dining option in her new life)! She retained almost all of her original furniture, all of her art works, fixtures and fittings and really all that had been changed were furniture fabrics.
Stephen Payne referred to her as the perfect ship - he mentioned to me once that the reason she'd not been altered during her sailing life was that there was no reason or need to change anything. Her withdrawal in September 1997 from the Holland America fleet (on the same day that Canberra finished for P&O) was in response to SOLAS. HAL was going through a process of huge change with fleet renewal and expansion. Rotterdam was a steamship, nearly 40 years old and would not pass SOLAS. It was a miracle that Premier stepped in and spent the money on what was a very sensitive SOLAS compliance job.
They operated her as their flagship, S.S.Rembrandt, for three years during which the standards on board were immaculately maintained. Almost everything was carefully conserved. I think the only casualty of note was the specially woven First Class Smoking Room carpet, now, of course, restored.
When Premier went belly up in September 2000 the crews on the other ships trashed them but Rembrandt was recognised as so special that she was carefully cosseted and delivered to Freeport unharmed.
There is a lot more story to tell and its getting late!
One salutary message: it has taken 10 years to get the gorgeous, matchless Rotterdam from lay up in Freeport to where she is now.
Best, David
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Do you think anyone at Carnival/Cunard will look at the wonderful Rotterdam conversion and at least feel some pangs of guilt that Britains last real ship of state was treated, at the end, with regard only for $$$.
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A very interesting first post David TJ. Welcome to this forum.
The interors of the vessel are quite stunning but I still think back to my, to date, only glimpse of this vessel as it sailed down Southampton Water towards the end of its HAL career when I felt that it would have benefitted from a well proportioned traditional funnel as fitted to her fleetmate from the same decade, Statendam. I suppose that would have detracted from her image of cutting edge modernity as shared with the Canberra of the same period. Still at the time I remember thinking how I far preferred the lines of her glorious pre-war stablemate, Nieuw Amsterdam.
Now I am just thankful for the magnificent preservation effort and hope it achieves the success which it truly deserves whilst wishing that I had started actually travelling on such vessels much earlier in my life to experience their delights first hand.
Regards,
Robert.
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Rob,
Having sent my first posting I realised that I should have closed it with one additional phrase: "... and a LOT of dosh!!!". The long, slow journey of S.S.Rotterdam from Freeport to home port has cost hundreds of millions of Euros. I am deeply thankful and relieved that it has all been found and spent but the reality is that it might actually have been cheaper to have built a new ship (Rotterdam Maritime Museum has the complete set of builder's plans and drawings). Will Carnival have regrets? No, not for one moment. The operators of ships as commercial propositions do not see them as we do. They have finite lives. Thats it. And ship preservation is a phenomenally difficult, phenomenally expensive business. S.S.Rotterdam was and is something very special indeed - as much work of art as engineered structure and known and respected as such by a huge proportion of the Dutch public. I am sure that public opinion and national pride have saved the Rotterdam - I don't know, but I don't think Carnival/HAL had very much to do with it.
Best wishes, David
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David, can you recommend ONE good book about the Rotterdam?
Re: 'work of art' - in what ways was she more of a work of art than QE2 (in 1969) ? She certainly looks it to me, but I think that might be to do with the year into which both ships were launced. i'm aware of the 'no expense spared' factors of QE2's interior design and the famous designers used etc.
Re 'known and respected as such by a huge proportion of the Dutch public' - more-so than QE2 is by the British? I think this is more a reflection of the British attitude to British things, and a lack of national pride in them any more.
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Good Evening Rob, everyone,
As for a book recommendation I should hold back as there has been a clutch of beautifully illustrated books over the past two or three years, anticipating her return to Rotterdam, and though I have them (all?) I have not read them all. Stephen Payne's 'Grande Dame: Holland America Line and the S.S.Rotterdam' (Rina Ltd., 1990) provides a technical survey and general introduction with lots of photos but the more recent books are more sumptuously illustrated and possibly address the ship more as a set of interiors than as an engineered stucture (Payne is now Carnival's Chief Naval Architect and was architect of the QM2) .
Why work of art? Rotterdam V was one of the last ships of state, a ship built for the world's most prestigious line route consciously as a floating representation of the Dutch nation, its art and design. It was more than a commercial undertaking, though I believe mostly paid for by HAL rather than state subsidy. Importantly there was one overseeing eye. Jan van Tienhoven was the coordinating architect, commissioning work that not only adorned the ship but to some extent *was* the ship. The ingenious main staircase (I can't explain how it works - think double helix) is not a staircase adorned with art but an art object - a vast, ship-high assemblage of glass and bronze. I am trying to get essentially at the notion that this was not a ship for which nice art objects were commissioned but rather an entire piece. The very best Dutch artists, sculptors and designers were commissioned to make pieces but not for display as in a gallery. The Ritz Carlton Room is probably the best, but not the only, example of how this was done. The room is essentially a scene under the sea. Radiating arms crossing the ceiling are full of coloured bubbles - this is the surface of the sea above the crowd below in the room. At the bottom is the rippled sand coloured and textured bronze dance floor. In between a sea monster with fiery eyes slinks down the stairs that link upper with lower levels. Built into the open railing a filigree of bronze nets has caught a shoal of brightly coloured enamel fish. On the inner bulkhead wall a vast laquered mural, almost two decks high and the breadth of the ship by Cuno van Steene shows a view of islands in th ocean from on high, seen by a flock of flying cranes. Below it, behind the steward's station the wall clock is a sea urchin. The whole room is one coherent piece made up from materials fashioned by a number of artists, brought together for sublime effect. The furniture was chosen carefully - in a ship most of which is bespoke this was not but did come from a high end Danish desiner, Kay Fisker (Bruce Peter will correct me!). So this was the depth of the concept - AND IT IS ALL STILL THERE!!!
Some observations (much influenced by Bruce) on national consciousness of engineering and design in another posting - this is long enough!
David, in very snowy Old Basing, UK
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I know we have discussed this here before, but look at these recently released pictures of the Rotterdam:-
http://www.aadhoogesteger.nl/bezoekssrotterdam/bezssrd271209pagina1.html
If the Dutch can achieve this amazing result with their ship of state, surely QE2 can follow? I am sure we all recall the original press releases from Dubai talking about restoring here interiors back to their 1969 glory, and we thought they were mad, well looking at this, maybe they were not?
I think the success or otherwise of the Rotterdam will be an indicator to all looking at historic ship preservation worldwide. We are staying on her in March....
Alex.
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What a superb effort, I take my hat off to all those involved. The love and care (as well as time and money) that has been spent is clear for all to see.
I'm definately going to visit and spend my money with them to prove that these types of projects can work. now all we need is the cash and vision for qe2.....
Jdl
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Trouble is, maybe the Dutch still have some national pride, unlike some other european countries who've sold out everything to anyone >:(
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at least you guys managed to make QE2 have a future (whatever you may think of it), we got rid off ours in 1974 and didn't attempt anything to get her back 30 years later (I'm from France)
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Great new photos here, from Willem van der Leek's visits on 30 and 31 January 2010 :
http://wvdleek.photoape.com/albums.cfm
Interesting comparisons with the ship's looks in 2004 (Gibraltar) and 2007 (Wilhelmshaven) as well as today.
Greatly looking forward to my visit, in just over 3 weeks' time now!
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What they have done with Rotterdam is really quite amazing. Whenever I was on QE2, although I loved her, I always wondered why they had gone in the refit direction they did. And why the couldn't have gone back. The "bone" were so modern, surely there was a way to take that very futuristic structure and blend that with current design to create something that honored her original intention and resulted in something marvelous, forward-thinking, and luxurious.
If only ...
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I am so glad that at least one lovely ship has been saved from the hellish scrap beaches, and I wish her and her owners a happy and prosperous future. Long live Rotterdam (which I saw when she came to Auckland once) and also of course a long and prosperous life to our lovely Queen E 2. See, it can be done (but needs huge amounts of cash)
The only person I have heard of who collected ships (and hired them out sometimes for hotel use) was a Greek ship-owner called,Mr Latsis (I think). Sadly, when he died, his ships were sold for scrap.
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More photos here now, of those very 1950s interiors :
http://wvdleek.photoape.com/album/index.cfm?albumID=28701
http://wvdleek.photoape.com/album/index.cfm?albumID=28702
... and I am beginning to realise here that the whole ship is a work of art! Looking forward to seeing it for myself soon :)
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Off to Rotterdam tomorrow evening, for a week-end on board the ship with a group of Ocean Liner Society friends. Most of them, I first met on QE2, on a mini cruise to Rotterdam -- so they will be prepared to put up with me for a while if I keep nattering on about our favourite ship!
It will be a new experience to visit a fine classic ship, all tied up and stationary as a hotel. Will she feel like a ship? Like a hotel? We have decided to dress up for dinner at least once to make sure that we catch the mood!
My biggest interest though is to hear about what her restoration involved, what it cost, what her future prospects seem to be... all questions highly relevant to our struggle to save the QE2!
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Have a lovely time, Isabelle.
Hopefully she will rock you to sleep in your dreams!
That is, if you don't stay up all night!
The Netherlands haven't got nearly as bad financial recession as GB
so there's probably less financial concern for them!
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Oh please, if Rob allows you, tell us all about your stay on Rotterdam. Sadly, she is a long way from NZ, or I too, would book a night or two aboard. Lucky you! (and maybe a hint on what could be done for QE2 - hints to Nakheel, especially)
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Oh please, if Rob allows you, tell us all about your stay on Rotterdam. Sadly, she is a long way from NZ, or I too, would book a night or two aboard. Lucky you! (and maybe a hint on what could be done for QE2 - hints to Nakheel, especially)
Rob (and the other Moderators!) has no problems with what we write in this section, just making sure that we keep it to one thread per ship. So there will definitely be a report about Rotterdam (whose refit for stationary use far predates the current financial and economic crisis). Meanwhile, Ellen, if you want to support another grand old museum liner, Hikawa Maru in Yokohama may tempt you? I thoroughly enjoyed my visit there!
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Here comes a slightly lengthy review of the SS Rotterdam week-end! Those of you who follow Liners' List will have seen that some of the other participants have sent in some criticisms of how the ship is managed, as well as some suggestions for improvements. To me, it is a miracle that she is there at all, living a new life as a hotel ship, and I enjoyed the visit and the week-end.
I have finally finished uploading the photos -- they are here :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/prondis_in_kenya/sets/72157623546400484/detail/
I have added some narrative here and there -- a lot of it is incomplete and can be expanded, but it does contain my impressions as I went along, for these two and a half days.
What follows are my notes, written up on the train journey to Brussels. Let me start with the story of the outing.
The scouting excursion of the Ocean Liner Society to the SS Rotterdam started, for me at least, with the arrival at Rotterdam Central railway station. A 15-minute taxi ride took us round the harbour, via the Erasmus Bridge. We caught a fleeting view of the Cruise Terminal, where I had last seen Rotterdam from on board QE2 -- just a few weeks before the SS Rotterdam finally arrived "home" after her major refit for hotel service.
It was already dark when we arrived, and the first sight of the ship which by now I knew well from photographs, was awe-inspiring. A huge ship in port, mast and funnel well lit, downlighters on, and here and there a lit-up porthole -- a living and breathing ship which could have been in port as part of a cruise. We stopped and gazed for a few moments in the dark.
The main gangway is two decks up from the berth, and as the lift was not yet working, we heaved the suitcases up, then entered the ship at last. Check-in formalities were friendly, and soon, we were on our way to our respective cabins. The rest of the evening was spent exploring, before we settled down for supper in the Lido restaurant with the rest of the group and exchanged first impressions.
The next day, Saturday, was spent largely sitting and chatting and taking tea or coffee and walking around, before sitting and chatting and eating and drinking some more. The day ended with me walking up and down all the outdoor decks, enjoying the views in all directions, feeling the wind in my hair and once again thinking of the Rotterdam as a ship spending a night in port and about to set off again before long.
On Sunday, we explored some of the public rooms which had not been open until then, and took the Engine Room tour before setting out by water taxi for a snack in the Hotel New York, the old baggage handling hall of the Holland - America Line (HAL), now a wonderful café / restaurant, so popular that there was a queue of people waiting to be seated. In the evening, David and I dined magnificently in the Club Room -- this dinner was part of the package we had booked, and both food and ambiance made it an absolute highlight of the week-end.
Disembarkation breakfast on the third morning was, as such breakfasts invariably are, a rushed affair, before setting out once more for the station and the return ride to Brussels.
Pros :
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- Free wifi working well in the restaurants and bars.
- Comfortable cabins, clean and with real portholes. Cabins are all different -- it is fun to organise a cabin cavalcade. Those with original furniture have beautiful craftsmanship of the 1950s on display. All of them have original magazines from the 1950s or 1960s, collected over several months from online auction sites -- a great touch.
- Both restaurants (Lido and Club Room) and the Ocean Bar are welcoming, the food is good, prices are reasonable and service is friendly.
- The Ocean Bar is almost in its original state, and is a pleasant place to sit and while the time away.
- The Club Room is justifiably popular, and advance reservation is necessary. It is a beautiful place in excellent condition and looking a lot better than it did under Premier, when it served as a Casino. Dinner there is a three-course "surprise" prepared by the chefs taking customers' wishes into account (in my case : fish or vegetarian), accompanied by wine selected to suit the relevant course. This dinner was the absolute highlight of the stay, every part of it shining with excellence.
- The Odyssee Room is open for lunch on Sunday only; reservation is required. Something to remember as a "must" for a week-end on board! If not taking lunch there, this is an excellent occasion for visiting the room quietly to take some photographs.
- The open decks are huge, generous in layout and offer magnificent views. It is possible to go all the way up to the funnels and the mast.
- The teak decks are in excellent condition after the recent refit.
- The ship is very popular at present with both hotel guests and day trippers, with some coming from distant places within the Netherlands or from neighbouring countries.
- I was with a group of highly knowledgeable people -- without them, I might not have learnt as much about the ship...
Cons :
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- Much of the cabin furniture is not original, and there is no reason why this should be so. Most of the cabins are now quite large, consisting of two or three original cabins -- so there should have been plenty of original furnture to distribute across all cabins.
- Apart from the two restaurants and the Ocean Bar, there are no other places to sit, rest, read, chat -- not to mention getting a drink or a snack. There are no seats in the foyers, on the stairs, on the decks or anywhere else apart from the cabins (until, on the final day, I discovered four chairs and a bigger seat in the photographic exhibition area).
- There are (shortish) times of the day when the two restaurants and the Ocean Bar are all closed, so that neither seats nor snacks are available to visitors.
- The Ocean Bar can become extremely crowded over the week-end, so that service becomes slow and most customers have to stand as they take their drinks.
- Some running-in problems are apparent -- restaurant bookings do not always seem to work on first attempt, some of the cabins were not cleaned while others (including mine) were perfect, the Spido boat voucher was not recognised by the company when presented, the information given by Reception did not always match what actually happened.
- The two swimming pools are closed -- the outdoor one perhaps permanently, the indoor one will be restored some time.
- Some of the artworks have not yet been returned to display -- in some cases because the locations where they were displayed have disappeared and new locations need to be found.
- The ship is run by three separate companies -- that owning the ship itself, and the two tenants running the hotel and the conference centre respectively. Most of the public rooms have been rented out to the conference centre and are not open to the hotel guests or day visitors, nor are they included in the organised tours. We were only able to see most of them by glancing in through the windows. As the conference centre does not seem to be busy, it is a huge shame that these stupendous venues are being neither seen nor used. As the hotel is very busy indeed, these rooms could also take a lot of the strain and the overflow, provide the necessary seating and additional venues for snacks and drinks to be served.
- Some of the decks and some of their stairs are blocked here and there, which seems a totally unnecessary precaution, now that the ship is not travelling!
- More has to be done to make the ship a good place for a day's outing -- more public rooms open to the public when not in use by the conference centre, more places to sit, have snacks and drinks, more events (music, film shows, lectures, weddings, receptions, etc.).
- Hiring the Rotterdam as a venue is prohibitively expensive -- one man we met, who had waited for 5 years to celebrate his wedding on board, was so disappointed with the prices quoted, that he was close to deciding not to do it after all.
- The location is not ideal, as public transport does not go there, and there is nothing much else to see in the area. Spido boats and water taxis are available, however, and the short ride across the port to the Hotel New York is fun.
- The Rotterdam is now a hotel and not a ship -- hence, health and safety regulations have been tightened. This apparently explains why there are no seats on the landings of the main stairway, and why the lighting is a bit harsh in places.
Conclusions :
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I was of course particularly interested to hear about the Rotterdam's preservation, restoration and future. Much of this is still very opaque to me.
But I find it an absolute miracle that this wonderful ship has been saved and that she is open to visitors at all! Whatever one might say about improvements that can or must be made, the fact that she is there at all, is a matter for congratulations all round. Once again, she is alive, in a different way from before of course -- but she is full of people and is earning an income.
I think the experience was a lot more difficult for those among us who had known the ship at sea -- and that made me think that most of us here would probably find it hard at first to see QE2 in a stationary role, if we and she were lucky enough for this to happen. It is so unlikely that she will ever again be the wonderful sea-going ship we knew... and even if this miracle happened, she would be different after her many months in Dubai and her change of ownership. We would have to be prepared to be both disappointed and grateful... if we are ever this lucky!
I do recommend that everyone visits the SS Rotterdam at least once -- it is only in this way that she will continue to live! And if she continues to live, she can inspire those who might wish to save QE2. Go and see for yourselves, and comment / make suggestions / criticise if necessary, so that further improvements can be made. This is the time to do it!
A few bits of personal advice for those about to book :
1. Ask for an ORIGINAL cabin. This will get you a cabin with original furniture and fittings -- we found some wonderful pieces during our cabin cavalcade. Probably a starboard cabin (sea view) is a good idea too.
2. Book the "Rotterdam over water" package -- great combination and good value too.
3. Make sure you have the dinner in the Club Room (included in the package). Difficult to get a reservation otherwise -- this superb restaurant is booked out well in advance.
4. Book Sunday lunch in the Odyssey Room. This is only open for the one meal per week, so if you want to see it in all its delightful state, book Sunday lunch there -- and if it is already booked out, go there anyway and discreetly take photos. We did so, and it was tolerated without any problems.
5. Don't worry too much about the open / closed rooms. Enjoy the places that are open, and that already gives you plenty to enjoy.
6. The decks are all accessible, all the way up to the bridge itself, in between the two majestic funnels, and all the way to the very front of the bow, Titanic movie style. They are lovely teak decks, and I had a wonderful evening wandering around and taking photos everywhere. The few bits of red tape here and there can be easily circumvented.
7. The engine room is preserved and can be visited by tour (included in the package). Only those bits that still contain asbestos are walled off from the rest.
8. The wonderful public rooms containing most of the art treasures are part of the conference centre, not the hotel. As such, they are not easily accessible. Start your charm offensive early enough, and you might manage to get a tour... definitely worth trying!
And finally, the price of the "Rotterdam over water" package for the week-end was very reasonable -- I would have been prepared to pay quite a bit more for the value I got.
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Isabel you re pictures are very very beautiful , i love the concept
and the restauration of this ship is a good work i have thé sentiment to return in
late 50's
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More power to her, and much more success, her success will make it more viable to do this with QE2 or perhaps other ships, Unfortunately the beaches of Alang have demolished many fine ships, one has only to see the Maritime Matters site to see what has already gone.
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her success will make it more viable to do this with QE2 or perhaps other ships,
I fear that the Rotterdam has so far done more harm than good to QE2's prospects by the 4-fold (?) cost overrun on the original budget for her conversion. But yes, if she is a big success from now on, that could help QE2, but it would have to be raking in the Euros to recoup the conversion costs...
She looks fabulous, and I look forward to a visit sometime.
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We could counter that by pointing out that QE2 is currently very well looked after and is also 10 years younger, so should in theory contain fewer unexpected areas of extra work needed, and is therefore more likely to be completed within budget?
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Not sure of the conversion cost, but the highest figure I have heard mentioned was EUR 280 million -- the lower ones were not that much lower.
Much of the extra cost seems to have come from the need to remove asbestos. It seems that this need, or its cost, was somewhat unexpected. In the case of QE2, should it not be possible to budget this fairly accurately?
You are right, Rob, that she really has to earn her keep now. The OLS members have made some suggestions as to how this could be improved. And of course, every visit helps ;) !
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Isabelle - Thank you for giving us a really good account of your visit.
Would that it could be made available to the owners of QE2 as a suggestion for their template!
(Please don't alter - just restore! She's not broken - so best to leave her as she is!)
With your knowledge of other ships - is it possible to describe her as that, in 20th Century English terms, might be called 'Continental', in style?
Apart from the art work on the walls - it would seem that she has more of almost a pre-WWll feel about her.
Post-war, throughout the fifties in the UK and maybe in Holland too, there was a general sense of meeting utility needs, this being reflected in a more utilitarian style as nations began to recover.
Interesting to think of her in terms of the Festival of Britain - Hugh Casson followed his work on this event with his designs of the interiors of the Caronia before he designed HMS Britannia.
It would be interesting to learn more about her in connection with the time she was designed and built!
I agree with Peter - QE2 is currently very well looked after - from both the perspectives of future costs, and style - this must be all to the good, for her and those who hopefully will continue to invest in her.
Like SS Rotterdam V - she needs to be working, and the sooner the better!
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We have just returned from 3 days on the SS Rotterdam and am happy to share our experiences there if anyone is interested - it's amazing. Euro 250M were invested in a ship half the size of QE2.
Alex.
Yes, Alex, very definitely interested!
I have been waiting for you to return so that I could hear / read your story of the visit :D !
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Here is a review which our own Malcolm wrote for Liners' List. Because it does not fit into one posting here, I have cut it in two.
Here comes part 1 :
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I wanted to stay on the SS Rotterdam (although to say that Paul, my partner, really wasn't bothered would be an overstatement!). I wanted to spend two nights aboard but the increase in the cost of the ferry was so great that we decided one night would have to be enough.
The ferry to Europort (the port for Rotterdam) was your average crossing. The only noteworthy thing about it was that the crossing was very quiet. At most I would say the ship was sailing about 25% full.
We disembarked at Europort at about 8-20 in the morning and almost immediately caught our coach for the 40 minute transfer to Rotterdam centre. In the end this transfer took just over the hour due to heavy traffic because of an accident.
The coach dropped us at Rotterdam station. This whole area is one big building site. It is far more unpleasant than Potsdamer Platz in Berlin was at the height of the building work there. The station had a tourist information office that was able to give us directions to the SS Rotterdam.
We started by having to catch a tram to the Water Taxi stop. The fare for this journey was €2.50. The fare for the Water Taxi was €16.00 from the Maritime Museum (where the tram dropped us) to the SS Rotterdam.
We reached the SS Rotterdam at about 11-15am and tried to check-in. As other reporters have said the lift to the reception area is broken so we had to climb the stairs with our luggage. To me this lift looks as if it has never worked. There were no rooms available at that time so the receptionist offered to keep our bags until we returned later in the day. This was an offer we accepted and went off to buy the self-guided tours of the ship. It's possible to do three tours: either a tour of the public rooms or a tour of the engine room or a tour that combines both these two tours. We opted for the latter which at €16-00 per person I didn't feel was expensive.
Once we'd collected our audio handsets we went for a coffee in the Ocean Bar. This room has some original features, such as the lobster sculpture on one wall, but strikes me as mostly a modern rebuild. The best you could say about the coffee was that it was warm (not hot!).
Then we started our tour. The first section of the tour takes you along many of the corridors and past many of the areas that have been renovated. These are very impressive. However it is very unfortunate that you can't get to see many of these rooms. A lot of the rooms were in use for conferences but knowing that there were things there that I couldn't see was disappointing. Several of the guides commented that there is an artwork tour on the last Sunday of each month that does go into a lot of these rooms. As we weren’t going to be there on any Sunday I didn’t bother finding out about it. However the guides did say that they thought it was very expensive.
The tour took us out onto the enclosed promenade deck, then the open deck and then up to the Bridge, the Captain's cabin and his senior officers' cabins. These look as if only essential maintenance has been done on them and they are still in almost the same state they were in when the Rembrandt was laid up in the Bahamas.
One thing of interest is the outdoor swimming pool. It appears to be only about 10 cm deep. I assume that this is a modification and is done to make it look as if the pool is still functioning properly. I think that the pool depth was vastly reduced when the area was restored.
I cannot help but compare the SS Rotterdam with the QE2. Although the SS Rotterdam was both built and went out of service ten years before the QE2 they are both still ex-transatlantic liners and were built to ferry passengers from one continent to another. The big advantage that the SS Rotterdam has is that she avoided the disastrous refits that befell the QE2 and so has far more of her original interiors left to restore.
One comparison with the QE2 comes when you get to the Captain's Cabin. His day room is much smaller and less lavish than that on the later ship. I do not believe that you could have fitted the numbers that were invited for cocktails on the QE2 into this cabin or that there could have been the thrill of getting an invite to this cabin. Another comparison comes when you see the Bridge. On the QE2 the equipment appeared very different from that on the Queen Mary; on the SS Rotterdam you can clearly see how items from that first Queen's bridge have influenced the design.
Throughout this review I use the term "restore" very loosely. The SS Rotterdam has not been restored. Most of the work that has been done on her is renovation. Enough of her 1950s interior has been saved to mean that is still an indication of what she was like at her best but a lot has been torn away to provide the workings of a 4* hotel in 2010.
Once we left the officers' quarters we were halfway through the tour so we decided this was a good time to break for lunch (besides the time was now 12-30 and, having been up since 6-00, we were starting to get hungry!). We walked down to The Lido to get some lunch. This room is obviously not original. It is about half the size of the Lido on QE2 and has just about as much atmosphere. The service however was very friendly and the food good. I was pleased to have eaten here but was very glad that we have booked the Club Room for this evening. One thing that is noticeable about both the Lido and the Club Room is that the kitchens (or at least part of them) are in the main dining area as a feature.
The second half of the tour was through the engine room. This also included the indoor swimming pool. Other than the scaffolding tower standing in the pool itself there has been no restoration work done here yet.
As you head further down the ship you come to the engine rooms. These again have been almost totally untouched post Rembrandt and Bahamas. They are far more interesting than the modernised areas of the hotel. Once we'd finished in the engine rooms the tour returned us to the outdoor swimming pool area.
We headed out onto the quayside to see the ship from the land. As we were at the stern of the ship we left via the exit there - the lift for that gangway is working. The SS Rotterdam is nothing like as big or as impressive as I'd imagined her. I am more used to seeing the QE2 and the SS Rotterdam is much smaller both in appearance and in the length of time it takes you to find your way around. The SS Rotterdam is the only tall structure in the area which does help her to stand out.
We returned to the ship by a third gangway. This one leads onto Deck B and the Business Centre. When I asked the woman on the desk there where the lifts to reception were she tried to send me outside and up the stairs and only, when told that we wouldn’t climb the steps, very reluctantly finally let us use the main lifts just round the corner from her desk.
We finally got to reception and checked-in. The receptionist’s English was far better than my Dutch but he still managed to miss most of the vouchers, cards, etc that we needed as part of our package. Check-in took over 15 minutes!
Our cabin is number 2002. This is the farthest forward cabin on Lower Promenade Deck and as such has a porthole at a very shallow angle. This porthole is 1.5 m down a tunnel that is about 60 cm square and gives only the slimmest view of a section of the local car park. It provides very little natural light to the cabin and we needed to have the cabin lights turned on all the time.
The cabin is not itself original. Judging from the corridors all the cabins on this deck were gutted and new rooms built to fit the space. I think the corridors follow the same lines as the original corridors but that is where any originality ends. The cabin does, at first glance, look to contain one "original" feature. This is a wall unit. On the floor are two sets of three draws, above this is a writing desk, a dressing table and the coffee machine. This unit is in incredibly good condition and, having seen similar things on QE2 that are in nothing like the same condition, I suspect that these were made for the refurbishment. [I am adding this note after a night in the cabin. I am now sure that this unit is not original because it matches the bed head and the luggage rack and the occasional table and chair too well. These pieces are all from the same date and are far too good a condition to be anything other than new.]
The bathroom is entirely new. I think they will start to experience problems there in a little while because the shower curtain only just reaches the shower tray causing the floor to get very wet. I think that the tiles will start to lift in the not too distant future.
One other important thing in the cabin is the beds. They are some of the most comfortable I have ever slept in. I think the mattresses are memory foam which probably explains it.
[One other thought following a night's sleep - the floor has a slight bet perceptible slope. This means that every time you get up, be it from the bed, chair, etc, you are slightly off balance – not important in the day when you are wide awake but it you get up in the middle of the night ...]
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And here is part 2 of Malcolm's review, as well as a link to his photos at the bottom :
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At about 5-30pm Paul needed to go onto the rear deck for a smoke. I went with him and we took this opportunity to poke around some of the conference rooms that had been in use during the day. Some of the doors were now locked but we did manage to see some of the restored public rooms that were not open to the general public on the tour. We still didn’t get to see the Theatre unfortunately.
One thing we found about this ship is that it is possible to get almost everywhere. If the direct route is blocked - so many stairs (especially those on the outside of the ship) have red tape across them - approach from a different direction and you will find that there is open access.
At about 6-00 we went for a drink in the Ocean Bar. The bar itself was packed and the drinks very expensive. As it was the time most conferences were finishing the bar was full of delegates. We felt that we were forced out of the room fairly quickly. Paul had a Whisky and water, I had a Gin and Tonic; the cost was €18.00. I think that's expensive - particularly as we were charged for an entire bottle of mineral water. When we left the bar we went back to our cabin to get dressed for dinner.
Part of the package we booked included a complimentary drink in the Ocean Bar. At about 7-15 the bar was quieter than it had been at 6-00. We had no problem getting a table and there was still space available for anyone else who came in. We had another round of drinks. I didn’t object to the bottle of mineral water this time as the SS Rotterdam was picking up the tab!
The package I had booked included dinner in the Lido. At the time of booking I had said that I did not want to eat there and had upgraded to the Club Room for a supplement of €12-50 per person. This was for a three course meal.
The Club Room is certainly not the best restaurant I've eaten in, it's not even in the top ten; it does come into the top 100 however. We certainly had a better meal here than we ever had in the Queens Grill on QE2. We decided that the Club Room probable warranted one AA Rosette. There are some things however that make it very difficult to compare with any other restaurant in the UK.
When we got to the restaurant it was not full. By the end of the evening there were still four tables that had not been occupied. Despite this, for a restaurant to be running almost full on a Thursday night, shows that it is quite popular.
We got a nice table for two where we were both facing into the restaurant. The waiter came and asked us if we would like a drink before our dinner; we accepted but that was it. No menus appeared nor was there any indication given as to what was going to happen. I remembered Isabelle Prondzynski’s comments in her review and I had seen that on their website it was possible to book a Club Room dinner of 3, 4, 5 or 6 courses so I asked about extra courses. It turned out that there is no choice at each course but more than the basic three courses are available. For a Supplement of €**-** we were able to have all the courses on offer. Wine is done in a similar way. They don't have a wine list but, for €**-**, you get four glasses of different wines each to complement a course. [I left these spaces to fill in when I found out how much we had been charged unfortunately I never did find the breakdown of prices. All I can say is that we were charged an extra €87.75 to include our drink before the meal, six courses rather than three and the wine]While we had our drinks we were served a bread roll. I think this was homemade and was accompanied by both a plain whipped butter and a whipped butter containing peanuts. Both were delicious. More bread was brought throughout the meal as we finished each roll (they were only very small rolls).
There are almost no other English people on board so details of the meal were not available in English. I can therefore only give what our waiter said we were eating or what the dish looked to be. We started with scallops on a traditional Dutch salad. This was followed by Sea Bass. For the third course we ate a Crayfish consommé served over a cauliflower puree (this was delightful). Our fourth course was foal (as in a young horse). This was two small collops of the meat accompanied by two sections of a leek that had been filled with a rich mashed potato mix. Our main course was Pork (although nearer what would be called ham in the UK) served with lentils. The meal ended with a pear and apple compote with a small scoop of a vanilla ice cream and some kind of mousse. We finished dinner off with coffee.
We saw the problems with the meal as follows: There was no choice. We eat most things but, had they served up something that we couldn't eat we'd have been stuck; all the savoury courses were quite heavily salted. They were so heavily salted that it was to the detriment of the flavour of the meal; I felt that my Sea Bass was not cooked as well as I would have liked whilst Paul felt his foal was underdone. There was no opportunity for personal taste to be taken into account. When the waiter asked if the foal was good Paul commented that he would have liked it slightly better cooked. The waiter replied that it was Paul's personal taste and that it had been cooked properly (I do not think the waiter was being rude nor was any insult implied – any criticism taken by us came from his lack of English and was not meant by him); the service was not particularly speedy.
The entire meal took about 3 1/2 hours. This did not seem too long for the meal however until it was time for the pudding. We seemed to wait a very long time after the main course for the pudding to arrive; when it did it was only because we'd asked for it. After our coffee we asked for the bill. Our waiter said "certainly" and disappeared. Five minutes later we saw him serving another table, a few minutes later still he was in discussion with other members of the restaurant's staff. In the end we gave up trying to get a bill. As our room number was on our reservation we just left.
After another brief trip to the rear deck we returned to the Ocean Bar for a nightcap. The bar was much quieter now with plenty of space. We both had a Lagavulin each that cost €17-00. Again I think that's expensive. (I did manage to persuade the bar tender that a glass of tap water was all we needed not a bottle of mineral water).
The following morning breakfast was served in the Lido. It was a buffet format with five stations. Two of these were similar offering a selection of fruits, yoghurt, jams and assorted toast toppings. The third had a selection of cold meats and cheeses. Between the third and fourth were half a dozen metal containers. Each of these held a different kind of bread (croissants, sliced, etc). The fourth held a range of hot food – pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage and hard boiled or fried eggs. The final station was on the bar in the Lido and offered a selection of beverages.
Breakfast was good. The two things that stopped it being very good was that the selection of hot food was almost cold and the difficulty in getting a decent cup of tea from the beverage station.
The previous evening we had noticed some steps leading down from behind the swimming pool on the rear deck. We now took them. They lead to an area under the rear deck that I think would have been used by the crew while she was steaming. From ashore you could see that there was a further deck area below this which had bollards, capstans, etc on it but we could not see any way to gain access to this area.
Finally it was time to check out. This was not the simple affair it should have been. The process ended up taking over 15 minutes while they tried to sort out why I had been charged €187.75 supplement for dinner. In the end they worked out that I had been invoiced for eating in both the Club Room and the Lido and therefore reduced my bill by €75.00.
When we visited the Queen Mary in Long Beach I remembered being told to ask to see an original cabin. I thought that it was also worth asking on the SS Rotterdam. The receptionist told me that while they will have “Historic” cabins on offer soon and that he would be delighted to show me one if it was available all the cabins they have at the moment are newly constructed for the hotel – neither the fixtures not the fittings date back to when she was in service. I think this answers my pondering about the originality of some of the furniture in our room.
Part of the package on the ship was a “Rotterdam Welcome Card”. This included a day’s unlimited travel on the busses, trams and the underground. So, rather than taking a taxi to get back into central Rotterdam we decided to use public transport. This is very easy. There is a bus stop almost adjacent to the ship. From there you catch the 77 bus to Rijnhaven underground station. Centraal Station is then only five stops. Although it is very easy going from The SS Rotterdam into the centre I think that it would be very difficult going to the SS Rotterdam from the station, particularly if you do not know where the bus stops at Rijnhaven.
We were left kicking our heels in Rotterdam for a day before we could catch the coach back to the ferry. There is not much in Rotterdam that interests me but one place that deserves a mention is the Engles café near the station itself. This is a café that was fitted out in the 1950s and is still working today. The tourist information office for the station has been built into one side of the cafe but the rest is original. This café struck me as far more original than any of the public rooms on the SS Rotterdam. This café is well worth visiting. It is not that expensive, the service is good and it provides a more comfortable waiting area that anything offered by the station.
To sum up: Am I glad I went? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Yes. Would I recommend the experience to someone else? Yes, as long as I was sure that they know they were only going to be staying in a hotel and that they understood De Rotterdam’s line about “slip away from everyday life and enjoy the style of the past in the atmosphere of today” gives the wrong impression at the moment. Would I go back? No, I’ve seen the ship. My curiosity has been satisfied. If I were to need a hotel in Rotterdam then I could see me staying there again but I think that is very unlikely. I am very glad that I didn’t opt to pay a lot more and stay onboard for two nights – one night was more than enough time to see and experience everything that was available to the independent traveller on that ship.
My stay on the SS Rotterdam was expensive. The cost for two of us for one night was €301.25 (about £273.00 or USD415.00). This does not include the coffee or lunch aboard (although it does include dinner and most drinks), any other refreshments we had in Rotterdam or the cost of getting from York to the ship and back. The total cost for our three nights away was about £600.00 (about USD 900.00).
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His photos are here :
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrkpnh/sets/72157623613679110/detail/
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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LinersList/message/121449
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These are all great stories and pictures. It seems like they have done a great job with her. ... I happened to walk by her old terminal in New York and there was this great mural. Thought I'd share it.
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I was back on SS Rotterdam for an evening a couple of days ago -- i.e. this time as an external visitor, not staying for the night. It was lovely just to walk on to the ship and be there! There is no charge for simply visiting,. A staff member is on duty in the main lobby in case an arrival wants to ask a question or receive guidance. More detailed questions are treated by the reception, just off the main lobby.
It seemed to me that the ship had now settled down into her new role, that the atmosphere was relaxed, that people felt free to drift in and out. The Ocean Bar was filled with a decent number of pre-dinner drinkers, not over full, just right. The atmosphere reminded me of the pre-dinner Chart Room.
The Maître d' of the Club Room recognised me and welcomed me back -- I must admit that was really nice :D .
The dinner -- with a shippy friend whom I was meeting in person for the first time -- was as delicious as the last one. There is now a choice between a menu and the "surprise" dinner. We chose the "surprise" and were very pleased.
Guided tours of the public areas are becoming easier to obtain; the operators of the different sectors of the ship are beginning to co-operate.
What I enjoyed most, is that the ship is beginning to feel familiar, gaining the sort of "homely" feeling which QE2 had. I might just make her my occasional week-end retreat!
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Well... I visited SS Rotterdam not once, but twice over the past week, and it was fascinating, and I had "hotel QE2" in mind the entire time.
Visit 1 - Wednesday 19th May
We drove to the ship from my ferry, and that was fairly easy. You drive up to the bow of the ship, but you can only see her when you turn the very last corner. This makes for a theatrical dramatic 'reveal' but from what I can make out, the ship is almost entirely invisible from the city of Rotterdam itself, which is a shame. The ship looks beautiful, and ready to sail. First impressions are far better than when arriving at QM in Long Beach. They have strived to make the ship appear to be 'ready to sail', and have succeeded in my opinion.
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3348/4642253778_2b751756fa.jpg)
We boarded via the aft-most gangway, because we were only making a short visit. This takes you to the aft-most lido deck with the bizarre shallow, sloping pool. We walked along the promenade deck, noting the location of the Lido restaurant where we hoped to eat after our tour, and found ourselves accosted - that is the only word - by the tour guide people. They led us to believe we couldn't go further unless we had a tour ticket and were led briskly down to the main deck reception area to buy one. I was annoyed, and irritated by this. We didn't have time to take a tour, we just wanted a quick look around. I decided to just ignore the tour people and asked at the hotel reception opposite (is this original to the ship - its lovely?) - and they told me I could go wherever I liked unescorted and gave me a deck-plan! So off we went for a tour of all the closed-off rooms... So if you only want to visit the ship for a short time, and to self-tour, go straight into the hotel reception and just get a map! There are also audio tours with handsets, but we also felt we didn't have time for these. We toured all the areas we could, and I enjoyed getting a feel for the ship. The public rooms (all empty but closed) looked amazing. However, I can only say that on a chilly quiet May morning, we felt unwelcome and like we were doing something we shouldn't have been. My friend & Co-driver for the trip, Paul, was ill with a bad cold, so we cut our wander short after about 90 minutes, and headed to the lido (the only room open to us...) for something to eat. But there wasn't anything to eat, just coffee and apple cake. If I had known this, we would not have visited the ship at all as we were meant to be getting some late breakfast before driving North into Holland.
We left the ship impressed with the conversion, but wondering why anyone would want to visit like we did. I suspected I would never return to the ship.
Visit 2 - Hotel stay from Thursday 19th May to Friday 20th May
After repeatedly getting stuck in nightmare traffic jams around Rotterdam, one of them lasting for hours, we decided we needed to locate ourselves in the city, because we were meeting friends off the Friday AM ferry. Amazingly, the 'Cruise Hotel' offered pretty much the best rate, so we decided to return! When we arrived (after being stuck in traffic for 3 hours+....) we checked into our very nice room 2112 - which was at the extreme aft end of 2 deck. I was very impressed with it. The people at Hotel reception had been nice too. We then headed up to the Lido deck outdoors (it was hot & sunny) hoping for a better experience... and it was SUPERB! Busy, lively, great food, great cold beer, good friendly service, an amazing view, the ship that evening appeared to be "the place" to be. Various conferences had been running and people had decided to stay on for drinks while other people were arriving for the evening. The restaurant was fully booked and unavailable to us, but looked AMAZING when we looked in later. The Ocean Bar was truly lovely - and I think it was this room that finally tipped me over into a fan of the "Cruise Hotel" Rotterdam. We had a lovely evening there. Our cabin, while lovely, had a few problems - (1) no air at all (2) no cups, or means to make tea/coffee (3) 'clanging' sounds from people above on the lido deck, and crossing the gangway to the aftmost entry. These were OK for one night, but would have been a problem for longer. The stairs and signage were also poor and confusing. There is an aft stairway from the hotel rooms up to the lido, but its extremely difficult to find, even if you have already come down it from above! Breakfast in the Lido was excellent. Parking was €15 - expensive, but OK for a big city. You can also come & go with your car, without incurring additional charges, which is good.
So...
Positives
- Ship looks beautiful and unaltered externally, and the treatment of her attachment to the dockside is well done
- The 50s retro-modern stuff is brilliantly done.
- Cabins are nice and sympathetically converted.
- Ship does not feel "dead". She feels lively, like any decent hotel.
- Ship does not feel dated, she feels stylish, cool and modern
- You do not need to be a ship-geek to enjoy her.
Negatives
- You can only visit 2 rooms - the Ocean Bar (lovely) and the Lido (strange). All the most interesting and original spaces are completely unavailable to visit.
- No sensation of being afloat.
- Location relative to the city of Rotterdam - OK by car, but there are zero other attractions near the ship.
- No food available at all during the morning.
- Felt unwelcome on a day visit
- Ship is invisible until you get to her
- Strange staff
- Shops were mostly shut, hard to find, and could be better
- Teething problems with the room
More photos to follow... am still recovering from a marathon journey in a very small car, contending with truly awful Dutch driving, and only slightly better German driving in their grey/silver/black cars...
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I've uploaded my photos here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lightbody/sets/72157624141098266/
I just wanted to say that, overall, if they did this, or something like it, to QE2, I'd be very happy indeed.
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I just wanted to say that, overall, if they did this, or something like it, to QE2, I'd be very happy indeed.
Rob I would second that. If only we could get the owners of QE2 to see that there are so many options for her other than sitting in a dock. The prospect of preparing the QE2 in her existing design as a hotel and conference centre must be achievable. The options are endless. Executive packages are very financially successful at sports events. The same could be the case for the QE2 with the right marketing. Dinner then Opera on the QE2. Cinema then supper on the QE2. Dine on the QE2. Dinner Bed and Breakfast like your experience on the Rotterdam.
Loved the photos.
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One of the very best things about the Rotterdam, is how she looks like she's preparing to set sail. They've done this SO well.
The Queen mary's operators really need to take a look to see how to do it properly.
The lift/stairtowers are transparent, temporary looking, and the gangways look like proper retractable walkways, that can be removed to allow the ship to sail. This is so crucial to the "feel" of the experience. Also, whatever wires and pipes etc feed utilities to the ship, are completely hidden from view.
With QM in Long Beach the towers are huge, hiding and "shrinking" the ship. Also if you look along her side, you see lots and lots of shoreside connections.
I would LOVE to learn more about Rotterdam's conversion, the people involved, the research they did, their backgrounds etc. etc. - can anyone help?. Its been done so well, they deserve huge congratulations - treading the fine line between keeping ship geeks happy, and also members of the public - I was both during my recent hotel stay.
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I would LOVE to learn more about Rotterdam's conversion, the people involved, the research they did, their backgrounds etc. etc. - can anyone help?. Its been done so well, they deserve huge congratulations - treading the fine line between keeping ship geeks happy, and also members of the public - I was both during my recent hotel stay.
I have asked our resident expert to come back and tell us more -- and he has promised to do so some time soonish :D .
Other insights also welcome, of course!
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Meanwhile, Willem van der Leek has been on board again and has uploaded his photos, including some of the conference centre, which is not normally open to hotel visitors. There are 62 photos on 5 pages here :
http://wvdleek.photoape.com/album/index.cfm?albumID=29753
Willem worked on the ship as a bellboy in her early days (in 1959 / 60) and has since then worked hard to bring her back to Rotterdam.
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Vandelism on the SS Rotterdam V, check it here
http://www.travelserver.net/travelpage/ubb-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=005065
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I cruised on Rotterdam in 1998 when she was Rembrandt of Premier Cruises. It was my late grandfather's favourite ship and he had been on her before, when she was Rotterdam. Overall, I thought she was a wonderful looking ship but in comparision to QE2, she is no match for the Queen. Great conversion though into a floating hotel and conference centre in Rotterdam, shame it hasn't yet happened to QE2.
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UK Only.
For anyone interested - the Tour de France began in Rotterdam today.
There's been a fair amount of aerial coverage of the route, and although I haven't been able to watch much of it, there may well be a glimpse of SS Rotterdam on the highlights programme - 8.00pm UK time on ITV 4 - channel 24 on Freeview, also on SKY TV.
This programme is usually repeated the following day as well - sorry, no time to check now.
Hope this notice isn't too late!
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For anyone interested - the Tour de France began in Rotterdam today.
There's been a fair amount of aerial coverage of the route, and although I haven't been able to watch much of it, there may well be a glimpse of SS Rotterdam
The SS Rotterdam organised a whole week-end revolving around the start of the Tour de France -- it must have been great fun!
Ted Scull has just been there too, and has uploaded a great set of photos to his Facebook page :
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=2035698&id=1582196290 (http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=2035698&id=1582196290)
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The SS Rotterdam organised a whole week-end revolving around the start of the Tour de France -- it must have been great fun!
Ted Scull has just been there too, and has uploaded a great set of photos to his Facebook page :
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=2035698&id=1582196290 (http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/album.php?aid=2035698&id=1582196290)
Isabelle
One of the UK Sunday newspapers has recently published an article, '24 hours in Rotterdam' mentioning a visit to the ship!
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An interesting review of Rotterdam V by Theodore (Ted) Scull
can be found in October's edition of Ships Monthly
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SS Rotterdam was launched exactly 60 years ago. Here is a video taken at the time. What a huge event it was!
https://www.facebook.com/ssrotterdam/videos/405374036659103/?t=60