ScottishMaid

We did one of our best HAL cruises from Southampton in 2013 on the old Rotterdam - 88 days, with 14 of them around Indonesia and 6 in India. Suez Canal twice, Dubai, Petra, Luxor, Tunisia, Morocco and much more. Not a Grand Cruise and many sections were available. They ran that itinerary for 3 years.

Blog just updated. Hoping the plans to get home work out.

Great to follow your cruise especially as we met you years ago.. Where does your portable chest of drawers fit in the cabin and what kind of cabin? I've being trying to visualize going for a long cruise on a Vista class ship. Please comment as you go along on the pluses and minuses compared to the Amsterdam. Thanks!

Maybe about 10:30. We could drive our car in then.

I used it frequently with family on our recent cruise. Just like texting but no need to pay for ship internet.

There was on the Koningsdam two weeks ago. It was very quiet there because everyone was being directed to th Lido as they got on. I firmly asked if the Dining Room was open and the staff member said yes somewhat reluctantly. That was about 12:15.

On the Koningsdam last week I had CCL OBC and the gratuities were deducted from it.

The Koningsdam had 2900 passengers last week. On the sea days the inside pool area was totally full at lunch with lots of (happy) noise and lines for NY Pizza, Dive In, and Gelato.The back pool area has tables on the smoking side and only a few tables on the other side. Otherwise sofas and coffee tables plus lots of people. Also very busy on sea days. The Lido itself had lines and crowds and the Dutch Cafe tables were filled (some just sitting there not eating). So the options were to eat no lunch, eat very late lunch, take your lunch to the room or use room service, which was surprisingly quick. The MDR had lines too.

Thanks for the great information. We board next Saturday the 17th and will be taking our own cars to parking. Will it work to drive into the port to drop off the luggage then get the cars parked and return by shuttle or Uber? If so about what time would we be able to drive in? Or should we have a better plan? Out of the 2917 passengers do you know how many will be children? We will have a restless 5 year old with our group. Thanks again.

Thanks. I've been reading recent threads on the Koningsdam (Thanksgiving etc.) in San Diego where they are saying people are being lined up by boarding time outside the dock gate. I have boarded at San Diego many times and never encountered this.

We will be boarding on Saturday and have an assigned check in time of 12:10 group C. Do you know when the MDR closes for embarkation lunch? Also do you know if 5 star Mariners can go to the head of the check in line? And lastly we had an email saying to fill in Verifly. Was anyone checking this? I realize that the ship is likely not full this week whereas it is next week. Thanks!

It doesn't look very rough at Nome. Maybe there was a problem with the dock.

Nome was on the itinerary for the Massdam July 2019. We sailed the two days north from Dutch Harbor. At Nome it was too windy and rough to tender so we sailed back south in grey weather. From what we could see it is very flat around Nome and the port is exposed to weather. I say I went to "Nearly Nome". It was disappointing as there is nothing to see on the way. Maybe the Westerdam will be lucky. We had a beautiful day at Dutch Harbor where the weather can be bad.

Your blog has brought back memories of our cruises from the US to Australia in 2015 and around New Zealand in early 2020. Your comments on the Westerdam are encouraging but do you miss a smaller ship such as the Massdam? Thanks for writing the blog and Happy Holidays Jill

Please be aware that the Indonesian crew are not Christians so don't celebrate Christmas. The Filipinos are Catholic.

Thank you so much for all your comments. Now I know what to expect but will hope the Koningsdam has learned from Thanksgiving and is more organized for the two/three cruises over the Christmas school break. We are two grandparents and two parents traveling with one 5 year old in connecting balcony cabins so we can take turns to do things with him if necessary.

Please can you give as much information as possible about sign up. Is it embarkation day for the week? or on embarkation day for certain sessions? or? Our grandson is 5 and looking forward to Club HAL. We are on the Koningsdam for the 17-22 December cruise and it has been booked out for weeks. Kids cruise free and it is school vacation for most. The cheapest fare of $299 per adult totals to $1098 for a family of 4 for 5 days, including port taxes, and for a while there was a private fare of $209 making a total of $918.

We are wondering what the capacity is of Club HAL, especially for the youngest kids. Can we can sign up in advance or is it first come first served for every three hour session? We are traveling with our 5 year old grandson for the fist time, and also son and DIL on December 17th Koningsdam. We usually cruise during school time so any other comments re cruising with hordes of kids are welcome. For example do you see kids in the MDR and in the show lounge? Thanks!

Great photos! We went to all three of these places when on the Maasdam in January/February 2020. The Gallipoli exhibit was very moving. My Scottish grandfather fought there. Sorry you missed Kaikoura. We did visit it on the Maasdam. The 7.8 earthquake in 2016 was devastating to the area. It is described well in the museum and also as you tender in you can see the rocks of the uplifted seabed. Of course in the good old days of the Maasdam there were biology and geology speakers onboard to explain everything.

We are going on the 5 day Koningsdam to Mexico just before Christmas. We have adjoining balcony cabins with our son, DIL and very lively 5 year old grandson. It will be an "interesting" experience and all new to our curious grandson. Kids cruise free, school vacation, and the inside cabins, in fact most of the ship, is sold out. We are accustomed to no kids and smaller ships on long cruises. So keeping an open mind.

All inside cabins for the Koningsdam 17 December 5 day Mexico cruise are sold out. It looks balconies are sold out too and only outsides are left. The insides were selling for $209 per person plus $145 tax at one stage and kids cruise free (taxes only). That would attract many people who normally cruise with other lines to try HAL.

The last voyage was Auckland NZ to San Diego. Some passengers were supposed to leave or board the ship at Tahiti but that was not allowed. Ports were missed. We left the ship at Auckland on March 1 2020, coming from Sydney, so we were on the last voyage where all the ports were visited as in the itinerary.

I've really enjoyed reading your posts and have saved them in case we go next year. It's a good cruise to take to get away from the summer heat. Thanks for posting!

Sue from Canada and Btimmer thanks for your comments on Prince Christian Sound.

Hi Tim, I'm enjoying your descriptions and great photos. Am I correct in thinking you went through Prince Christian Sound on the outbound journey but not on the return? In the recent Voyage of the Vikings they went through the Sound twice, in both directions. However for next year's Circle Iceland plus Greenland it is not shown in either direction. It seems the trip would not be the same without it (we have been to three of the ports in Iceland). What do you think? Also if you get the chance please ask an officer to clarify this. Thanks, Jill