Prior to my Costa Favolosa cruise, I took the opportunity to stay on-board SS Rotterdam, a former Atlantic ocean liner of Holland America Line which is now permanently docked in Rotterdam as a hotel and museum.

The SS Rotterdam entered service for Holland America Line in 1959, now known as ‘the Grande Dame’ she had a very remarkable design when built, with no funnel and just two thin exhausts further back. The ship was designed for Transatlantic voyages but even while under construction the designers knew that cruising would have to play an important part.

This meant that the SS Rotterdam has an interesting design to allow flexibility between the rigid class based Atlantic voyages and the more tourist focused cruises. This meant the ship has a specially designed staircase with moveable partitions to allow different passenger flows throughout the ship.

SS Rotterdam’s Transatlantic service was short, ending after ten years, she then moved on to cruising. Subsequently settling into a routine of summers in Alaska, and winters in the Caribbean, along with the very popular world cruise. Holland America Line was acquired by Carnival Cruises as there traditional cruise brand, well capitalised and looking at how to get the most out of its purchase Carnival Cruises began a fleet refresh which led to the departure of the Rotterdam from the fleet in 1997, upon which she joined Premier Cruises as Rembrandt.

Premier Cruises subsequently filed for bankruptcy in September 2000, you can read about this here. The ship was sailed to Freeport in the Bahamas where it was laid up with the rest of the Premier fleet. The fleet slowly dwindled and some were sold for scrap but in May 2003 the Rotterdam Dry Dock Company acquired the ship to return to her home city as a hotel.

In 2004 the slow restoration and refurbishment began, finally the ship returned to Rotterdam in August 2008 but it wouldn’t be until February 2010 that she would finally reopen. In 2013 she was sold to Westcord Hotels who continue to operate her now.

I stayed only one night and despite it being August the weather was not the best in Rotterdam. I did take the opportunity to stroll around the city and see some of the interesting architecture, by the end of the day I had done 36,000 steps and the Rotterdam is quite far out.

Due to a misunderstanding – I had made a mistake on the self-guided tours meaning I arrived just as they were closing. There are two self-guided tours you can do. My original plan was to do both however due to this error, I had to wait until the following morning and that was a bit more time restricted so I had to choose one.
I did the upper decks and got to see some of the great. On board there are tour guides who talk you through the different rooms and tell you about how the ship operated. Rotterdam is a wonderful time capsule of a bygone era.

I was expecting the ship to be operating sort of in a cruise ship style, with you being able to go where you wish and make full use of the ships facilities, however it also derives its income from the tours and functions it operates. So actually it is more separate, the hotel, restaurants, tour and conference centre.

The decks at the back of the ship are wonderful for enjoying a beer in the sun and the tour and tour guides bring the ship to life even two decades after it was withdrawn from service. I did really enjoy my time on board and would recommend for those staying in Rotterdam.

I do have to make an important comment here that I actually originally booked the SS Rotterdam for the wrong weekend, I didn’t notice until Hotels.com sent me an email asking how my check-in was. Realising my error, I quickly dropped them an email and they resolved it promptly and in my favour, moving it to the correct date. Thanks, Hotels.com & SS Rotterdam!

Finally Rotterdam looks to be an amazing city and I look forward to visiting again and having a bit more time to look around the SS Rotterdam too. Have you cruised or stayed aboard the Grand Dame? Share your stories in the comments!
Thanks,

Liam