misguy

We did a really nice tour of the Napali coast,  It was narrated by Kristen and we were close to shore, it is an amazing sight.  Video coming, we did see a whale close in to the ship.l 

They just canceled our call to Kaui, the waves were coming over the breakwater, and the wind was 35knts both of which are too high to make it into port we are going to cruise around Kauai, and then on to Oahu and Honolulu tomorrow.

We are in the Islands and should be docking in Kauai this morning.  If the seas outside the window are the same as near the Island, I am not sure if they will be able do water based activities, the seas are still running at least 10'  which is better than the last few days at sea.

We have no definite plans we are planning on going ashore and exploring.  

This is our fifth sea day and the wave action is still pretty strong.  Most of the time 12' to 18' . The ship is moving pretty good but not enough to bother us, we are still eating well, and the only things the movement does it help us sleep longer than normal.

I am uploading the talk with the hotel director to YT, but it is a slow process since the motion of the ship degrades the bandwidth.  I am working on the blog and will have another post today and start posting the dailies and the menus.

6 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Your  outside cabin is very much like the handicap balcony cabi except we had not hallway coming into the bedroom like your cabin does .when the automatic door opened we drive in to a wide open area  in the handicap balcony  .I do like your cabin a lot 

it is working really well for us, and since the water is pretty rough, having a first floor midship cabin is perfect.  

16 minutes ago, AroundWithMAPTravels said:

Have only been on Zaandam, so have no experience with Dutch cafe…. Are there any gluten free options on menu? (Currently?  Ever?)   Everything I have seen from there looks sooooooo yummy. 😋. 

on current K-dam, have there been any Desserts listed as GF? (Other than fruit or crème brûlée)

On the buffet, they have a GF desert, and I will be posting menus starting with the next blog.

Here is the video tour of our cabin on the Koningsdam.  

For any that are taking this cruise in the future, both the Coffee Talks with Kristen and Main Stage presentations are well worth your time.  Videos coming from both of this mornings.

For any that are taking this cruise in the future, both the Coffee Talks with Kristen and Main Stage presentations are well worth your time.  Videos coming from both of this mornings.

Here is another blog post 

https://www.travelingwithachair.com/blog/Hawaii24P2

24 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Following your cruise report .Thanks for positing it . Would expect a lot of Mariners on Hawaii cruises & Trans Atlantic cruises . 2000 is about 2/3 of the pas on  your cruise . Did they have anything special for the Mariner luncheon or just order from the menu ?

Aloha & Mahalo 

Cliff

 

It was a special menu.  I will post it when I get caught up this far.

We just came back from Mariner's lunch the Captain said that there were over 2,000 mariners on board.  The seas are much calmer today, but that won't last.  Tomorrow will be about the same as the last two days.  We shot some video tours today of the empty restaurants, and they will get posted.  I am trying really hard to get caught up.  

1 hour ago, dmcfad2 said:

We are on the cruise after you and the daily events show a masquerade ball. Are they doing that on your cruise and, if so, what is it exactly? 

I haven't seen that but I will see what I can find out.

1 hour ago, rollie said:

Loved your video.  I'm not sure I could do that walk, seems like a long way with two big suit cases and a back pack.  I think we're going to price the Wyndham.

 

Rollie

I would say it is about 4 long blocks.  The walk took us a while because we stopped and looked and took pictures.

Here is the video of the walk to the Port

Today is our 3rd sea day, and the waves are calming down some, though the ship is still rocking and rolling quite a bit, Starlink speed is fair with 1.4 up and down, and yesterday I was able to join a Google Meet session and participate, which pleased me.  I will have another blog segment out, and I am putting finishing touches on a video about the walk from the hotel to the ship.  I am also going to try and scan the dailies and attach them to the blog posts.

Going forward I will post little bits here, but I will also share my blog, it is just easier to do the blog post and share it rather try to create the posts from scratch on all the platforms.  Here is the part one, Getting To San Diego. https://www.travelingwithachair.com/blog/Hawaii24

23 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

We have a balcony room on deck 8.

We don't dine in dining room by choice.

We use room service for coffee and sometimes lunch.

Comedian last night was great.

Attended a game show that was a lot of laughs.

BB Kings is awesome.

Today we attended How to Wear Your Sarongs...very interesting and audience participation.

Now we are at Travel talk on what to see and do in port.  Very interesting that they are not pushing HAL tours these are in your own things to do.

Again very informative.

 

First cruise for us with the Have It All...easy and for us worth it.

 

Hope you don't mind others sharing on your live.  If you do I apologize and will move on.

Why would I mind you sharing, it is for the good of others.

The captain said at noon that seas were running about 16' and would start to diminish this afternoon and evening.  Neither Cheryl and I have had any issue, but there are some onboard that aren't fortunate.  The Starlink bandwidth has been very inconsistent today, but much better than yesterda.

Out of sequence, but lunch onboarding day.

Burger and Fries, and both were very good.

Tomato Bisque - Cheryl thought it was exceptional

The mac and cheese and again Cheryl loved it.

I am going to catch up on some pictures though yesterday we did not take too many, but I also have some clips from various things to share.  I am going to upload the menus and meal pictures from the cruise so far, you have seen the images, but it will be better with the menu.

Shrimp Habanero Cocktail   - Shrimp was good but not very spicy

Green Chile Corn Chowder - Good but not spicy at all

Grilled Salmon with Capers and Dill - Very good

Fresh Mahi Mahi Diablo - Good with a little spice

Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cheesecake - Not nearly as sweet as it sounds, but very good.

This afternoon the weather is more rainy, and the internet bandwidth is no better.  I am hoping that when the weather clears the internet will improve.  The seas are getting higher, and in our room, we are only feeling a slight side to side motion.  I did a quick walk around the ship, and I found they had closed the roof over the pool, and that area was quite comfortable, and people were swimming and in the hot tubs.  Cheryl was disappointed since they had removed the puzzle she worked on last night. 

Tonight we were planning to attend the Captains party before the show and then we stopped for a wine flight, think sampling 5 wines for 9:00.  That put us past the Captains party, but we did attend the show.  It was supposed to be a dance show, but the ship was moving too much so they had the comedian and he was really funny.  

After dinner it was happy hours in the Crow's Nest where Cheryl stayed to work on a puzzle, and I went down to BB Kings and listened to an excellent blues band.  Then off to the Rolling Stone lounge to listen to some rock and roll.  Both venues were full, and people were dancing to the bands.  

We like our room down low, deck one and midship make it move much less than other rooms, and ship movement is definitely increasing.

49 minutes ago, misguy said:

It is just after dawn on day 2, our first full sea day. The seas are not bad, but it is a grey cloudy morning, no sunrise to speak off.  Looking at the navigation information, it is going to be windy on deck.  We have a 12 knot head wind, and the ship is making 19 knots, so that make about 31 knot wind across the deck.  We are on deck 1 with an ocean view accessible balcony, and we can feel the ship moving, but it is not bad, the Captain told yesterday to expect significant seas by this evening.  

 

If it gets rough tonight, we will be glad to have a deck one cabin and it is right by the mid-ship elevator, so the best possible location to cope with rocking and rolling.

 

The Starlink connection is not so good now.  I am getting about 100 K down and 380 K up, I purchased the highest bandwidth connection they offer.  I hope it improves, or I am going to be very disappointed.

Ocean view room, not balcony

1 hour ago, cruise47 said:

What are the total number of days for this cruise ?

Will a suite guest travler be directive to a difference line for boarding?

Yes, I'm new to the Holland America Line. We have only sailed with Royal Caribbean,  Disney and Celebrity Cruise Lines. 

They were checking for 4 star, 5 star and Club Orange guests and they went first.