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San Diego does indeed have a lot to offer. In non-COVID times we have often taken the train down; very convenient. 

PHOTOJOURNAL LINK: https://www.wildeadventures.com/koningsdam

Twenty months or so before we would embark on this back-to-back (14 days) Mexico cruise out of San Diego we booked it--with high hopes in our hearts and a firm realization that it might not ever happen. We were missing our cruising days so much, yet at our ages (80+; healthy and fully mobile, but yet . . .) we were fully  hunkered down at home and so, so ready to cruise again. As 5-star members, and having sailed this cruise before, we knew that if all we could do was to stay on the ship it would be enough. More than enough. We booked the cruise just for the ship experience and except for a quick trip over to Walmart on the second leg of the cruise we didn't leave the ship.

This blog, part of our "WildeAdventures" cruise log, is mostly photos, accompanied by menus and some deck plans, taken from HAL literature, so if the Konigsdam is new to you, you can get a feel for the experience. We never felt that we were in COVID- danger during the cruise; we were following every precaution known and avoided any show or activity where there was no way to socially-distance or where masks weren't in abundance. We often ate lunch or enjoyed afternoon tea or snacks on our verandah--but we would have anyway. (We always bring a tablecloth for "gracious dining" on the verandah!)

We know how fortunate we are to even be able to cruise, to be able to stay in a Neptune suite, and to have, out of sheer luck,  selected two weeks which truly fell between the waning of Delta and before Omicron really hit. Because we live within driving distance of San Diego our only transport risk really was the shuttle from where we left our car to the port, but the shuttles weren't crowded and are less than 10 minutes from the port. 

Again, the LINK: https://www.wildeadventures.com/koningsdam.

Thanks everyone! I just wanted to get a general idea of changes in dress once cruising resumed as over the years it’sdefinitely become less formal. We’ve been cruising with HAL for some time (we are 5-star) and definitely don’t mind if no one but us dresses up but I thought I’d try to get a rough idea of what tnose who’ve   sailed already have noticed. Maybe a hot new trend that I’ve overlooked has appeared! It’s true I’ve never planned a formal night outfit that included a mask but since I mostly design and sew my own dressy clothes I’ll incorporate a scrap somewhere on the mask. A thin fabric now over each ear perhaps? 🤔

A question as we ei be B2B on this ship starting 11/21. What are people wearing on  Gala nights? My DH is reconsidering the usual tux and after all these months of bring stuck at home I’d rather take a couple of pretty colorful dressy  dresses than my usual  floor-length evening wear black. Black just seems so dull right now. We will be in Pinacle dining if that matters  And we enjoy dressing up!

What is the usual configuration on the veranda? On other classes if HAL ships we have found 2 loungers with ottomans or foot rests. A low table between and a dining-height table with 2 chairs. Looking at the deck maps it doesn’t look like there is that much room on the veranda, even at the Neptune level, except perhaps for the SA cabins aft on each side on 3 of the decks. I’ve read here that space is very limited on the deck 11 forward starboard/port two but what about the more numerous cabins along the sides? Interested in kneeing about SA ,SB,SC

Thanks for your help. We love eating at the table and for that,  the low drinks table doesn’t really work. 

The earthquake/tsunami disaster in Indonesia has surely affected some crew families. Are you getting any information?

Not raining but looks like it could

Aboard here on the NA and we are moving.

Per Captain estimated sail away is now 4:30

We are on board for this cruise and the next; expecting drill at 3 pm and on time sail away at 4 pm. at least as of now. From our hotel yesterday we saw the Maasdam's on time departure and majestic she appeared as we watched from the beachfront at the Ocean Beach Marriott on Holiday Drive/Hwy 1A. . The hotel is less than 10 minutes from the cruise port

Last night we made luggage direct reservations for FLL on American Airlines (Nuew Amsterdam mid Dec); we have a confirmation and a notice that we will be charged thru our shipboard account once the cruise commences. It's a bit hard to find on the HAL website but it seems straightforward after that. We accessed the correct site thru the search feature which then transferred to our booked guests portal. There's a mention that the service in a limited fashion initially will expand to Copenhagen soon with just a couple of airlines initially so this does not sound like an option that is going away.

We were on the ship Apr 17-May 1; this moro problem started during the second week of the cruise. The ship was clean and in very good condition we thought, and the crew worked tirelessly to try to solve the moro problem but apparently this is continuing; so sorry to hear that.

But the crew is fabulous, the ship was very much to our liking, and we will be selecting it again in the future.

We used the service on May 1, off the Maasdam in FLL and were very pleased with the process. The airline for us was American and in the past the reason we couldn't use it was that with a status level on American, we don't pay for luggage and with Luggage Direct back then, there was no way to remove those fees. But there is now, so all we paid was the $19.95 for each of us; set the bags outside the door as usual and the next time we saw them was coming off the luggage carousel in Los Angeles.

I doubt this actually cost us much, if anything, when you consider how long the line for customs was in FLL. We had 3 full-sized pieces of luggage (usual stuff plus a lot of water-fun gear) and a bunch of electronic/camera stuff in day bags on our backs, so we probably would have gotten a porter. As long as we stood in the line (and others were standing there with their porters patiently standing with them) we would have felt it only right to tip a considerable amount for tying up the porter for 45 minutes, which was the length of the line's time when we were there. Standing there with just our day bags, and no porter to take into consideration, we considered it a wash, cost-wise.

If you can use the service, I certainly would recommend it. We hope never to have to fly home again without it. (Of course we'd prefer to not have to fly at all, but that's not always possible!)

I understand from someone I know who was on the sailing that ended today in Boston that there were plans to super sanitize again today (Saturday) in Boston. Don't know if that was precaution or problems with the sailing just ending.

I think how a participant sees these things could be a function of previous experiences--perhaps a cruise where the prizes were substantial, or hearing that was the experience of others; just a different expectation.

A year or so ago a HAL CD told our CC group that the CD has a very limited budget for prizes, meet/greet favors, etc. This wasn't where they wanted to spend their entertainment budget; high value prizes too often led to arguments and hurt feelings. Of course this philosophy saves HAL some money, but his explanation was that the goal is to encourage people to join these activities for fun, not to win something valuable and in the process it does keep down arguments that can arise when the prize is valuable or hard to get any other way.

And the DAM Dollars (DDs) thing has been explained many times in about the same way to many of us (but of course not everyone happened to read about it, so I'll mention what I've been told by several cruise directors) is that there was way too much photocopying of old DAM dollars and bringing them on board for a new cruise to present a big stack, for a gift of some value. Sometimes the CD was presented with more DDs than had been printed for that entire cruise and they often didn't have that much merchandise on board for so many DD prizes. It is not their policy to call anyone out for cheating . . . thus, out went that program that a lot of us enjoyed. The original idea, I believe, was that generally the most that the average passenger could earn would lead to a modest prize--this too wasn't meant to be anything more than just for fun.

Many might see these decisions as "cutbacks" but others might see that there's always a budget--how should it be allocated? And if there are expensive, or unusual, prizes, what kinds of arguments will it lead to if people fight over them?

I'm not sharing any inside information, I dot have any source for that, n't I've led a bunch of CC M/G's and when you tend to work with the same CDs on these several times, you do hear snippets of this or the other. I know that once a CD, on a long cruise, offered to host a second M/G for our rather large (more than 50 people) group--he'd do all the arranging and inviting of the whole group; he said he had enough little HAL souvenirs he'd donate so everyone would get one; we wouldn't have to do anything to plan this but come, and one of our people actually asked if instead of souvenirs the "gifts" could be HAL sweatshirts for all of us! (As the CC M/G contact, I was mortified!)

If you don't opt for unlimited laundry but plan to do the "by the bag" option, I think you'll be amazed at how much you can stuff into that laundry bag! Experiment with your particular clothing, but I found that folding jeans to the shape of the bag and laying them in flat first, then rolling the other items very, very tightly and stuffing those in, forcing socks and small items into the corners and then using the best wrist action you have to force the rolled items down even more, could allow a whole week's worth of clothes for two people to fit in that bag. We have enough days with HAL now to have unlimited laundry, but my DH used to say that it was a wonder that I didn't break a wrist, stuffing that laundry into the bag!

Write your laundry list as you go; you won't want to have to undo your stuffing work to make sure you counted everything correctly. We've always been very pleased with the quality of the work done by the ship's laundry team.

I am so very sorry to hear this. Their home is not that far from ours and we've enjoyed a few lunches together at a nearby Mimi's. Lyle would always bring a copy of his latest Photo CD to share. Recently it seems that our cruise schedules have conflicted with our getting together so we've lost touch in the past few months. Indeed, this is a loss for our entire group, and my thoughts go out to Marjorie and the family.

I just heard from non-CC members that I know who are part of this cruise that the Code Red has been lifted and that they will immediately go back to normal service. Great shouts of joy could be heard from throughout the ship. :)

So happy for all of everyone aboard!

Asst. DRM Imam, better known to many of us as "Hunky Dory" is on the Maasdam, where I believe most of his recent assignments have been. As often as we've sailed with HAL we've not encountered this remarkable person before because we are not frequent visitors to the Lido, where as "Hunky Dory" many people were amazed by his ability to remember their names as he distributed Lido trays (back in those days) or assisted in other ways. After his promotion you'll see his name tag says Imam but he seems pleased to be remembered as Hunky Dory.

And what an asset to the Maasdam he is! On our just-completed sailing (April 17-May 1) Hunky Dory was the Asst DRM who greeted those arriving for breakfast and/or lunch, assigning tables, and his ability to remember cabin numbers is just as good as his ability to remember names, which he still does, as well. And he's great entertainment for those who are waiting in the line, because after the first time or so you appear before him to state your cabin number he'll know it. So, when he arrives to begin the meal's table seating, and there's a line of people there, he looks back at the line and starts reciting cabin numbers as he makes computer entries. If you've been there before, he'll know it, and since most have after a couple of days, no one has to say anything! After 7 or so entries he'll pull off the paper slips, still attached to each other for those tables, wave it in the air and start calling the names that match those cabin numbers as quickly as he can get stewards up to escort people to the tables. He remembers the cabin number, your name(s) and the table size you particularly like if you have a preference, and he's quite entertaining, calling off numbers and waving his papers in the air, all with a big smile on his face. You don't hear grumbling about a line as you so often notice when people have to wait a bit!! People are enjoying the little show. It's fun to watch and to be remembered.

Actually, I can't speak highly enough about the entire Maasdam dining set up at the time we were on the ship. The DRM is Bagus, and it's clear that this kind, gentle man is loved by his crew as much as he's loved by many long-time passengers. The dining room is calm, yet really efficient, and mealtimes can be really short if that's what you want. I mentioned to a steward how much we enjoyed how Bagus comes around regularly to visit with everyone, how he'll keep listening to the guests as he reaches over to provide a little help to a passing steward with a heavy tray, or to replace something that's fallen from a nearby table and the steward I was talking to said that everyone in the dining crew likes to work under him as he shows them in so many ways how much he values them and wants to help them do a good job. It really shows, and the dining crew really works well together, whether there's a management person in the area or not.

And the food during this cruise was outstanding in the dining room. Interestingly, I attended a Culinary Arts demonstration where the chef said they are working really hard on being able to offer gluten-free and vegetarian options that parallel as much of the regular menu as possible. For example, that day a soup was being made and the chef pointed out that if possible, they thicken a vegetable soup with the actual vegetables pureed very, very fine, but if that's not sufficient, rice flour works for all varieties, and it's easy to add a couple of shrimps to the top of the soup for the regular diners, substituting a garnish of some sort for vegetarians, and for those who need gluten-free, the rice flour is permissible for them too. I think we'll see many more such options in coming months; they really seem to be working on many areas of this "base product with variations" idea.

In response to a question, we were told that the chocolate extravaganza was eliminated not to "save money" because they are using that money to develop and serve more dessert varieties, but they aren't doing it because it is a very labor-intensive process to set it up; the food costs are high (chocolate's not cheap!) and studies show that hardly any of it is actually eaten. Essentially all that food and effort goes into producing a display that people take pictures of, maybe eat a bite or two, and that's it. If they do an extravaganza it's more likely to be a lunch display because people do eat that. We've been to a couple of those and they are quite elaborate too, with many photo opportunities as well.

Jordan, the current Culinary Arts hostess (this is the job that used to be called a "party planner") does a really nice job MC'ing these culinary demonstrations even though she says she was doing it for the first time on our cruise. You wouldn't know it if she hadn't mentioned it! She's good at the banter back and forth with the presenters that makes these events so much fun; she's great at her new job!

The numbers reported seem high to me. I heard of only 2 ill crew. I heard of about 10 -12 cabins affected but there could have been more if there were more than 2 each per cabin . I know that there was one more at least on Thursday as we saw the sanitizing going on-- it was near us. They started working to eradicate at 4 cabins sick on day 8 but it was like herding cats. People didn't want to miss their ports probably. For sure the crew was wiping down constantly. I don't think our door handle was ever dry the second week. Someone was constantly mopping foors and walls and railings. Sorry this is choppy. I'm in the airport for the flight home

Since all we have left is Half Moon I don't know if they will formally lift the Code Red but talk around the ship is that there were really not many cases; they acted quickly to contain it and that everything is coming back to normal.

We are on the Maasdam right now; so very happy with the cruise overall. The ship is in beautiful condition, at least it seems that to us; we noticed immediately how nice everything looked. Food is outstanding to our taste; have hear many people comment that they prefer it to the Pinnacle this cruise.

Dining room is really great; getting out in about a half hour from breakfast if we want out; dinner is running about an hour. We are table for 2 which does make it faster. The whole room is so calm and has such a good feel to it; staff is very fast; the whole atmosphere is delightful. Dining stewards have mentioned how well everything is running.

You do need to know that we have had a few days of Code Red; no one knows where this has come from as it came about too long after FLL to be that; these ports have not been a problem all season. Apparently the control is good as of today; no new cases recently but they might sanitize in FLL before next cruise; I have no idea on that from any official source.

I would not hesitate to recommend the ship. Must do this quickly; minutes are ticking! Internet has seemed much better this cruise than recently.

We are in the terminal. Upstairs. Two of our roll call are here too

Doblemom, I think this is a phone-thingie only but I could be wrong. I know that Twitter works on my laptop as well as on my iPhone, but I don't know about the Periscope part. You could try; I'd love to hear what you learn!

We're on this cruise and will be heading over to the terminal about 11. Also, our CC friend Cruisinetta who builds the little ship models is on the Celebrity Equinox today! We're hoping to meet up before heading off to our respective ships.

I'm going to try something new at sail away today. If all goes well I'm hoping to live-stream the sailwasy from the ship side; just for a short time, while all of you are watching the web cam.

If you want to join in here's what you do:

1. Use your Twitter account and follow us: WildeAdventures

2. If you don't have it already, add Twitter's Periscope app to your smart phone.

3. When the live stream is ready you'll get a tweet from WildeAdventures and the link will be in it; just like any other links you get in Twitter. I have noticed that often you have to pull down the top of your phone image to start the feed and it doesn't hurt to tap on the phone too. Once it's over, it's over; you can't reclaim it later. I won't run it for very long; the web cam sail away is much more exciting.

If I don't have a good connection to the land-based internet I won't do it; I can't do it from the limited bandwidth on the ship.

So excited to be on this cruise!