Holland America Line’s Rotterdam ship has 11 dining options. I tried them all so you don’t have to. Most are so good, you’ll want to anyway.
In September 2025, I traveled as a guest of Holland America Line on a 7-day cruise from Rotterdam in Holland to Copenhagen, Oslo, and the Norwegian fjords. You can read more about my experience on board the MS Rotterdam in my full Holland America cruise review.
Holland America is known as one of the best cruise lines for dining, offering a wide range of different cuisines. The cruise line has its own culinary school where the kitchen crew trains, and the menus are tailored to include local ingredients picked up at ports along the way. Holland America ships even bake all their own bread fresh daily in the on-board bakery!
During my cruise, I dined at all five of the ship’s specialty restaurants: Rudi’s Sel de Mer, Morimoto by Sea, Tamarind, Canaletto, and the Pinnacle Grill. I also checked out the Rotterdam’s main dining room and some of the casual eateries and bars on board.
I’ll share my takes for the best food and drink on a Holland America cruise, so you can pick the best specialty dining experiences for your own cruise.
Restaurants
As well as the main Dining Room, where meals are included in your cruise price, the Holland America Line MS Rotterdam also offers a range of specialty dining options available for an additional cost. These restaurants have specially curated dining menus, often designed by top chefs like Iron Chef America star, Masahiro Morimoto.
Holland America specialty restaurants have a smart casual dress code, giving you a chance to dress up after you’ve spent a day by the pool or on a shore excursion.
Women might opt for dressy pants, flowing skirts or dresses, and pretty sandals, while male passengers should wear smart pants and collared shirts. Beachwear, shorts, or flip-flops are not appropriate for these elegant restaurants.
Everything I Packed for My Cruise
The Dining Room
The large, two-tier Dining Room is the main sit-down restaurant on the ship and seats several hundred diners at any one time. There’s also a separate Club Orange Dining Room reserved for passengers in Neptune and Pinnacle suites or those who have purchased the Club Orange package.
The main Dining Room is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Brunch is also available late into the morning on Sundays, and an elegant afternoon tea is available on select days. Meals in the Dining Room are included in your cruise package.
The Dining Room looks very impressive, but it was definitely not my favorite restaurant. I ate dinner there on two evenings and also had brunch there on two sea days, when we didn’t need to eat as early.
On one occasion, I had a very plain Caesar salad as an appetizer, followed by a dry, overcooked steak. My brunch dishes were pretty inconsistent. I had a very strange pancake with caramel popcorn and nuts on it, which didn’t work at all, but on another day, I had some truly good crab cakes.
Overall, I felt that the Dining Room was fine, and I was glad that there are plenty of other dining options on the Rotterdam.
Tamarind
I really enjoyed dining at Tamarind, the Rotterdam’s Pan-Asian specialty dining restaurant located on Deck 11. The restaurant’s decor is beautiful with a purple and black theme. The space offers stunning sea views and an elevated ambiance.
This specialty restaurant’s menu features the flavors and traditions of Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. Think crispy duck and yaki udon, Mongolian lamb chops, or Panang red curry coconut chicken. There’s also an impressive range of sushi rolls created in collaboration with master sushi chef Andy Matsuda.
The desserts at Tamarind are particularly delicious, and I especially enjoyed the mango posset served with passion fruit jelly and a light coconut macaroon.
Tamarind was one of my favorite places to eat on the Rotterdam, and I highly recommend it for your HAL cruise. The $35 cover charge for three courses includes one entree, and you can pick additional dishes for extra charge of $10 each.
Morimoto By Sea
Morimoto By Sea is a pop-up restaurant that takes place in the Tamarind restaurant once on each voyage. It’s a collaboration with Iron Chef Masahiro Morimoto and focuses on fresh fish Asian-inspired cuisine.
What really sets this restaurant apart is the chance to experience chef Morimoto’s innovative style. Some of the dishes are cooked or prepared tableside, adding an element of drama to the evening, which we really enjoyed.
I started my evening with the tuna pizza, which is one of Morimoto’s signature dishes. I didn’t enjoy the somewhat chewy flour tortilla base, but I loved all of the toppings.
For my main course, I had the Ishiyaki Buri Bop, a dish of yellowtail sashimi over rice cooked in a hot stone bowl. This creates a crispy layer of rice at the bottom. The dish was prepared tableside, which was really interesting to watch and quite the production.
My friend had the Angry Lobster Pad Thai, which she said was really tasty and not as spicy as it sounded. Other menu options included a beautifully presented sushi appetizer and a sizzling steak entree served with sweet potato tempura.
For dessert, I chose the dark chocolate sphere with marshmallow cream and chocolate sorbet. The waiter drizzled a hot caramel sauce over the sphere to melt the chocolate, which really heightened my anticipation for this delicious dessert.
Morimoto By Sea is available for dinner on select nights, with a $55 cover charge. The food at Morimoto By Sea was excellent, and it was one of my favorite restaurants on the cruise. I’d happily have eaten there a second time if we’d had the chance.
Pinnacle Grill
The Pinnacle Grill is Rotterdam’s signature steakhouse, known for its exceptional menu of prime steaks and extensive wine list. It’s located on Deck 3 in an upscale space, and I recommend choosing a table by the window to enjoy the stunning views of the sea.
The food at the Pinnacle Grill was excellent overall. I ordered a fillet steak, which was absolutely delicious and perfectly cooked just as I requested. I’d say it was probably one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. However, one person in my group had less luck and had to send her steak back twice to get it cooked the way she wanted.
As well as a choice of high quality steaks, you can also order other options like short ribs, lamb chops, and Dover sole. There’s a good selection of side dishes too, like creamed spinach, asparagus with hollandaise, and lobster mac and cheese.
There was also a special range of dishes inspired by Northern European regional cuisine. These included a delicious asparagus risotto starter, an Icelandic turbot dish, and a Norwegian sweet omelet dessert.
The desserts at the Pinnacle Grill were excellent, and I really enjoyed the pillowy-soft meringue of my Baked Alaska.
The Pinnacle Grill opens for lunch and dinner, and the cover charges $19 for lunch and $46 for dinner. It’s a fabulous culinary experience, ideal for celebrating a special occasion on board the Rotterdam.
Rudi’s Sel De Mer
Rudi’s Sel De Mer is the MS Rotterdam’s French restaurant, named after master chef Rudi Sodamin. It’s located on the ship’s second deck near the entrance to the main dining room. The menu here mainly features fresh seafood dishes, though other classic French dishes are available, like steak frites and coq au vin.
The restaurant is quite small, and the decor looks upscale. But despite the intimate setting, I found the food quality was very high but the presentation was lacking.
Someone in our group wanted to order the beet salad, but the waiter said he didn’t recommend it because the beets weren’t very good at the moment. However, when our food arrived, several of the entrees came with beets as a side, which felt confusing. If they weren’t good enough to order, why were they using them in a side dish?
When the desserts were brought out, my friend’s chocolate dessert was the strangest and most unappealing food I’ve ever seen. It was basically a giant pile of very stiff chocolate creme anglaise, topped with a huge mound of poached meringue.
The menu described it as Chocolate Îles flottante, but the portion size was ridiculously large and the dish didn’t look as elegant as that dessert should. It was so unexpected that our group laughed until we cried.
Rudi’s Sel de Mer has a cover charge of $55, making it the ship’s most expensive specialty restaurant. Generally, the food was quite good, but I didn’t have the same elevated dining experience I’d come to expect from the ship’s other restaurants.
Canaletto
Canaletto is an Italian restaurant that serves freshly made pasta, traditional Italian cuisine, and delicious desserts.
Unlike the other restaurants, Canaletto doesn’t have its own dedicated space but takes up a section of the Lido Market during the evenings. The view from our window seats was good, but the setting didn’t feel quite as special or upscale as the Rotterdam’s other specialty restaurants.
I started my meal with a burrata appetizer served with plum tomatoes, pistachio gremolata, and basil, which was delicious. My entree was house-made pasta with a meat ragu, and then I finished my meal with a creamy tiramisu presented in an individual glass jar.
The extra fee for dinner at the Canaletto restaurant is $29, making it one of the cheapest specialty restaurants on the Rotterdam. The food was delicious and the portion sizes were generous, but I wasn’t as wowed by the ambience of Canaletto as much as the other restaurants.
Casual Food Options
If you want a casual dinner in a relaxed setting, a quick snack between meals, or a tempting treat to satisfy your sweet tooth, the MS Rotterdam has plenty of easy options on offer.
Dive-In
Dive-In is an excellent option if you want a casual bite for lunch or dinner, or need a quick snack while you’re poolside. The menu includes burgers, gourmet hot dogs, crispy fries, and freshly made sandwiches, such as the Back Flip grilled chicken breast sandwich with avocado.
Explorations Central & Cafe
Explorations Cafe is a small cafe located in the Crow’s Nest on deck 12. It offers specialty coffees and pastries, and the floor-to-ceiling windows provide a phenomenal view out to sea.
It’s a good place to relax and read while you enjoy a coffee, and there’s also some interesting information about maritime history and ports on the current voyage.
Gelato
If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll love the gelato next to the Lido pool, where you can choose from 12 flavors of this creamy, sweet treat. The gelato is made fresh daily by the Rotterdam’s chefs, who trained at the world-famous Carpigiani Gelato University.
Grand Dutch Cafe
The Grand Dutch Cafe is located in the atrium on the third deck. It’s beautifully decorated in traditional Dutch blue and white, and offers traditional Dutch coffee, a range of Dutch food, beers from the Netherlands and Belgium, and a variety of spirits.
I enjoyed a delicious Dutch pea soup served with pumpernickel bread. Other popular options on the menu include pannenkoek (an apple-and-bacon pancake) and a toasted ham-and-cheese sandwich served with a spiced ketchup sauce.
The Grand Dutch Cafe is a great place to have lunch, and it’s also a popular spot throughout the day for hanging out with a coffee, playing cards, or relaxing with a book.
Lido Market
The Lido Market is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, offering a varied buffet which is ideal for passengers who don’t want to dress up for a more formal dinner. There’s a wide selection, including salads, hand-carved cold cuts, vegetarian options, desserts, and dishes from global cuisines.
The Lido Market is the most convenient dining option on the MS Rotterdam because the food is laid out and ready to go. So, if you’re short on time because you have a class booked or you’re heading to the spa, the Lido Market is definitely a good choice.
We only used the Lido restaurant for breakfast because we were dining at the other restaurants at other times. They offered all the menu items you could possibly want for a traditional American breakfast, plus a selection of pastries and breads, cereals, fruit, and yogurts. In fact, the number of breakfast options was a little overwhelming!
However, I found visiting the Lido Market buffet quite stressful because it gets very busy at mealtimes, especially on shore days when everyone is getting ready to leave the ship at the same time. Service for drinks was quite slow, it was pretty difficult to find a seat, and the staff were struggling to keep on top of cleaning the tables.
New York Pizza & Deli
The poolside New York Pizza & Deli is open for lunch and dinner, offering thin-crust pizza with a choice of signature toppings, such as sweet Italian sausage or roast chicken with barbecue sauce. You can also pick up other NYC-style food like a bagel and shmear, a pastrami sandwich, or a Reuben on rye.
In-Room Dining
If you feel like a change from dining in restaurants, you can also order in-room dining from your stateroom. The 24-hour room service menu includes a range of complimentary options and à la carte dining from the specialty restaurants.
On a couple of mornings, we ordered in-room service so that we could have a relaxed breakfast in our room before a shore excursion. The food and coffee were good, and I preferred that option to going down to the dining room or Lido Market for breakfast. However, you need to remember to put your breakfast order outside your door the night before.
You can eat your food in your stateroom or sit out on your balcony if you have one. We did have a balcony, but September mornings in Northern Europe can be pretty chilly. So, we ate at our desk, which felt a bit cramped but was better than going through the buffet first thing in the morning.
In-room service is available 24/7, so you could also order specialty meals in your stateroom or request a late-night snack while you watch a movie!
Bars
There are 9 bars on the Rotterdam, and some offer limited food options, which are generally muffins and other snacks. The Panorama bar by the Lido Deck pool also offers some food, while the Sea View Bar by the adults-only pool offers table service.
I really liked the Half Moon Bar, which is on deck two near Rudi’s Sel de Mer and the main dining room. It’s exclusive to the MS Rotterdam and has a sort of “speakeasy” vibe. The drinks menu carries on the theme and explains a little bit of the history of the company and the ingredients used in the cocktails.
The idea behind the bar was excellent, but it felt like they didn’t quite get the vibe right. This was partly because the bar was located in a quiet corner of a hallway.
The Wrap-Up
Dining on board the MS Rotterdam was one of the highlights of my Holland America cruise.
There’s cruise fare to suit every taste, whether you prefer traditional Italian cuisine at Canaletto, top-quality steaks at Pinnacle Grill, Asian dishes at Tamarind and Morimoto by Sea, or classic French dining at Rudi’s Sel de Mer.
I was also impressed by the range of casual eateries on board the Rotterdam, especially the hearty Dutch comfort food at The Grand Dutch Cafe and the grab-and-go options at Dive In.
You’re sure to find something to tempt your taste buds and create delicious culinary memories of your cruise.
Which Holland America specialty restaurant would you like to try first?
