SS Rotterdam cabins

[mgmike]

A similar approach was adopted for many of the Rotterdam's cabins. There are quite a number of "original" cabins, which in reality are probably two cabins merged, retaining much of the original layout and (marvellously) furniture. We did a cabin cavalcade when a group of us was there and found a most inspiring mix of layouts and some beautiful furniture, well preserved and obviously treasured.

This is something to watch out for when staying on the ship. The other cabins also have some original furniture, combined with standard hotel furniture.

Hi Isabelle, I am interested in your comments on SS Rotterdam's cabins.  I stayed on board Rotterdam a couple of months back, and the cabin I was given (outside on the starboard side) was clearly not original apart from some furniture.  The following day I was talking to one of the volunteers on the bridge (who was an ex Rotterdam cabin steward) and he indicated that in the rebuild, the cabins had been merged "3 into 2" meaning that there were no original cabins left.  He said one original suite remained, but everything else was new.  The cabin I used certainly looked very much like an original but it was clear that all the joinery was new, however there was some original furniture in place.  Did you find some original cabins still in place?

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Hi Isabelle, I am interested in your comments on SS Rotterdam's cabins.  I stayed on board Rotterdam a couple of months back, and the cabin I was given (outside on the starboard side) was clearly not original apart from some furniture.  The following day I was talking to one of the volunteers on the bridge (who was an ex Rotterdam cabin steward) and he indicated that in the rebuild, the cabins had been merged "3 into 2" meaning that there were no original cabins left.  He said one original suite remained, but everything else was new.  The cabin I used certainly looked very much like an original but it was clear that all the joinery was new, however there was some original furniture in place.  Did you find some original cabins still in place?

You obviously had a far better source of information than we had!

From what I have seen, the (two) cabins I have personally used on two different visits, were a fair bit larger than presumably the original cabins were, with a layout showing that more than one cabin was involved. Three into two sounds interesting, and may explain why the layout of the cabins differs greatly from one to another (it is well worth doing a cabin cavalcade if one is in a group).

The cabins which we were told were original (and which one could book as "original") mainly excel by having some superb original furniture, again different from cabin to cabin. The layout is not original, but a friend who knew her in her "Rembrandt" phase thought that the ceilings were very similar, if not identical.

I have not yet visited her since she was bought by WestCord but hope that she is much the same, but with greater access for visitors to all public rooms.

[mgmike]

The cabin I was in looked very original in appearance, but on close inspection all the joinery was new and the cupboards etc were clearly completely new.  There was some original furniture in the cabin, which was nicely restored - and very heavy!  The crew member I spoke to said they went to great lengths to recreate the exact same features in the cabins, including identical bathroom tiling to the original.  I was a little disappointed that all the original joinery had gone, as apparently the cupboards and other fittings in the original cabins were of superb quality.  However, the cabin size was significantly larger than the first class cabins aboard Queen Mary in Long Beach.  I could not tell what had happened to the original inside cabins though.  I did ask several people if I could have a look at the "behind the scenes" areas but this was met with a polite "not possible sir"!

Yes all of the public rooms were open when I was on board, and they had staff in some of the major rooms to explain the features to visitors, which was a very nice touch.  The two original dining rooms were being set up for functions when I was on board, however the staff (who were very friendly) allowed me in to take some photos.  My engine room tour was quite memorable, the guide was a ships engineer and I ended up being the only one on the tour, so had a long and fascinating conversation with him.  I was interested to learn that during the ships days with Premier, mechanical maintenance was neglected.  In her last year, she only ran on one engine as one turbine was in need of repair and Premier would not fund it. 

I enjoyed my visit to Rotterdam, and apart from the fact that the food on board was expensive, I had no criticisms at all of the operation.

[Hank Hargrove]

Interesting. I didn't know that Rotterdam's cabins were merged.