In September 2024 my parents in-law will be joining Sam and me on a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords. As they have never done a cruise before Sam thought it would be a fun idea to take them on a weekend trip to visit SS Rotterdam to give them a first taste of what life on a cruise is like. A few years ago I already visited the SS Rotterdam with Timothy for a tour behind the scenes, this time we would also dine and stay overnight.

The SS Rotterdam was the last Dutch “Ship of state”, launched in 1959 to work the line between Rotterdam and New York. As at that time it was already clear that aviation would take over the transatlantic trade it was built to be easily used as a cruise ship as well (and even a troop ship in case the cold war became hot again).  After a few years combining the Rotterdam to New York line on which it was a segregated ship (First and tourist class passengers where kept separate using moveable partitions) and cruising on which the ship was fully accessible for everyone it changed into a full cruise ship for most of its career.

It sailed for the Holland America Line all the way until 1997 after which it was transferred to the Greek owned Premier Cruise Line. After barely 3 years in Premier cruises service, the company declared bankruptcy and the ship stopped sailing. At this point a number of Rotterdam based people and organisations worked on getting it back to Rotterdam and restore it to its original 1959 state to be used as a permanently moored floating hotel, museum, conference centre and business hub.

Upon arrival at noon our rooms weren’t yet ready, so we dropped off our bags at check-in and had some lunch at the Lido Restaurant. This is the ships main restaurant where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served. This space is not in an original state, but is nicely decorated to provide a nice atmosphere. We had a nice lunch, I had a nice burger while the others enjoyed a typical Dutch lunch plate.

After Lunch we had a tour in the belly of the ship, visiting the fomer indoor pool and machine room. We finished our tour in the exhibition room where an original cabin was shown as well as some other memorabilia of her long career.

By this time it was 15:00 and our rooms where ready for check-in. Sam had chosen to book the Executive rooms, these where former Officer quarters at the front of the ship and where mostly in the original 1959 state. They featured a spacious lounge area with some nice seats, also a huge cupboard where you also could find the coffee and tea facilities. Unfortunately we found some garbage and used handkerchiefs behind one of the doors which housekeeping missed when cleaning the room.

Next to the entrance you had the main wardrobe, here you had some slippers and bathrobes for each guest as well as the minibar stocked with 2 cans of coke, 2 cans of Heineken, 2 bottles of water and 2 bottles of wine (red and white). This minibar was included in the room rate of the Executive Room (just like the complete tour of the ship), which where deciding factors on booking the more expensive executive room (better value for money).

The bed was located a bit downwards, as the floor sloped up towards the front of the ship. The bed was nice and comfortable and framed by authentic cupboards. They were modernised to include light switches and power plugs, but they were located next to your head behind the pillow. There were no real night stands next to the bed, but if you opened the cupboard doors you could use them as a night stand. The “bedroom” also contained make up seat with a big mirror and a wall mounted flat screen television (not a 1959 original obviously).

The bathroom was in typical cruise ship fashion a small cell in a corner of the room. It contained everything you needed, but was quite cold as it had no proper heating. The shower head wasn’t the best, a true rain shower head would have improved the experience. Plenty of nice and soft towels where provided. The soap, body wash, conditioning shampoo and body lotion where located inside the small mirrored cupboard, if you didn’t look inside you would have missed it. There were no other amenities provided (no shower cap, sewing kit etc. ) and when I discovered I forgot to pack a toothbrush I was charged €2 to receive one from reception, I thought this was quite stingy as most hotels just provide this as a complimentary service.

All in all the room was nice and comfortable and provided a time capsule back to the 1950’s.

In the evening we had dinner reservations in the Club room, the upscale dining restaurant on the ship. This was still in the original 1959 styling and featured some nice art works as well as an open fire. As we were there on a Thursday night no one else had reserved so we were the only one in the restaurant all evening. However service was never rushed and very personalised.

The Club Room serves either a 4 or 5 courses dinner, they don’t have a menu so it’s always a surprise. In our “arrangement” a 4 course dinner was included, we also had the matching wines but we had to pay them separately as they were billed by the glass.

All dishes where wonderfully executed and very tasteful, this a restaurant experience we would do again.

After a nice night’s sleep we had some breakfast in the Lido Restaurant. Upon check-in you had to choose between one of 2 breakfast shifts, either 7 to 10 or 10 to 11. As we had a late night with food and drinks the night before we opted for the late shift from 10 to 11. This was the busiest we would see the ship as the restaurant was more than half full when we entered. The breakfast was organised in a typical buffet style. There was a corner where you could get several types of juices, tea and coffee. At the other side was the food area where there were some hot options, breads and cold cuts. If you wished you could have eggs made to order.

After finishing breakfast we also walked the second part of our tour around the ship. This part included the former public areas and bridge, mostly using an audio guide but several volunteers where posted along the way to show us around and tell us more about everything we saw. As most of the volunteers actually sailed on the ship in the past we heard a lot of interesting stories and it really was a very nice experience.

In the end my parents in law very much enjoyed their experience and are now looking very much forward to their cruising experience in September.

Even though it was a second visit for me, I still found it as magical and interesting as the first time and I can only recommend it if you are into cruises to see where it came from or if you have doubts whether a cruise would be something for you to try out a night. In the world there are only a number of ocean liners left to experience. There is the Queen Mary in San Diego USA , the Queen Elizabeth 2 in Dubai and of course the SS Rotterdam in Rotterdam, all moored and operating as hotel ships. The last remaining Ocean Liner in Service is Cunard’s Queen Mary 2, on which you can still sail from Southampton to New York.

So whenever you are looking for a special experience, the SS Rotterdam surely is one.