Koningsdam-Activities on Board

Happy problem to have...as casino players, we've been granted an amazing price for a cruise. We're not sure why as we are penny-ante class!! Last time on HAL, March 2015, we felt there was not enough to do during the daytime between meals. We spent a lot of time reading and lounging. To many this would seem to be heaven but for us as retirees, we already do a lot of that. Can anyone say what types of activities are available? Any daily schedules you could post to give us an idea what to expect.

The reviews say the ship is lovely and I know it is new so that part we would love!

We spent two weeks on Koningsdam in May in the Med. Our cruise (as are most of Koningsdam's) was very port intensive. During the day, the ship was mostly empty, so very few activities. By the time we returned from our excursion, we just wanted to eat and rest and had no interest in activities. Lots of entertainment in the evening around the ship, but we mostly spent the evenings in the casino. We're also retired and we also receive the casino rate.

We loved the ship! Beautiful pool area with lots of lounging areas with comfy chairs and sofas. You will find enough to keep you occupied on this ship.

These are from my Caribbean cruise. Sea days will probably be most indicative of what to expect:

https://solocabinchallenge.wordpress.com/programs/koningsdam/

Roy

We took a 10 day Caribbean cruise on this ship in March.

We found very few daytime activities offered unless there was an upcharge or designed to generate revenue, such as spa or jewelry seminars, bingo, or shore excursion talks.

The casino allowed active players to smoke at anytime anywhere in the casino, so that could be an issue or not.

There is a good selection of in room movies and if you have a balcony it is a relaxing place to read.

HAL has cut back drastically on activities staff. We still enjoy doing the trivias in the morning and afternoons and the culinary activities when there's a good culinary host. But it's not like Princess or Royal Caribbean, where there are so many activities programmed during sea days that we have trouble deciding which to do.

Don't get me wrong: The Koningsdam is a lovely ship but compared to the smaller ships like Prinsendam and Zaandam we found the entertainment sorely lacking especially during the day - even sea days. Besides a few cooking shows and trivia most of the entertainment offered either was intended to draw money out of your pockets or was lack-lustre to the extreme.I would have wished for more lectures and enrichment speakers who really had something interesting to say especially on the transatlantic voyage.

I hope Holland America will still offer the kind of entertainment and enrichment programmes during the longer cruises on their smaller ships with their great itineraries like Japan, South Pacific, Antarctica.... Ports like St. Maarten and their shops are not for us - give me Glacier Bay plus National Park Rangers any time!