QuattroRomeo

We didn't really care for the layout of the ship. I guess we prefer the smaller ones. The route to the back deck or the aft end of the Lido would mean going through the casinos, bars, shops etc. on decks 2 or 3. Deck 10 was kind of a pain to walk through, going around all of the couches and loungers. The promenade deck was the fastest route.Love having a wraparound promenade deck! ( p.s. this one is 3 laps for a mile). But, the lifeboat placement obstructs the view greatly on this ship deck. I guess they want to keep you inside shopping.. My memory of HAL was that the promenade was a big deal. Now, I don't know what to think.

My apologies to Agatha Christie- it is murder, not death!

Yikes, sounds a little nerve-wracking!

The traveller information you registered initially, such as passport and vaccine, stays there in ArriveCan's database from trip to trip. Then for each trip, I enter the destination details in the 72 hrs before arrival, using the website. Email comes right away, then I print it.

They had quite a few to choose from and were listed by category - action, comedy, drama, fantasy etc. Fairly recent ones. Death on Orient Express with Kenneth Branagh for example. No charge.

When you register online there is an opportunity to put in your credit card number for onboard purchases and you can put both on one card, or separate cards, by passenger. The account screen in the stateroom shows purchases by person if you set it up that way. As far as the shopping bag goes, it is one per stateroom. At least that is what we got and we are both past customers.

The tv offerings were pretty minimal for live shows, but there were several movies and travel shows. We didn't much like the music channels, no jazz. The onboard account screen didn't always work. Kind of irritating when you no longer get any printouts, not even on the last night.

There was one big umbrella in our balcony cabin on Koningsdam. Hard to spot, but in there!

Some cabin photos.

Tile and shopping bag.

Our cabin stewards provided twice daily service, with towel animals every night. The chocolates arrived only on the 2 dressy nights. Two voucher cards for a Mariner cocktail came early on ( some wine spritzer thing). The one drink area we thought to ask for one told us it was a specific drink and only at certain bars. Didn't bother after that. One night there were spa vouchers for $70. The ceramic tiles showed up another night. We are 2 star mariners so that was about it. Oh yes- I forgot the one shopping bag... hardly as nice as the canvas ones of old...! I did notice a Mariner reception on deck 2 on the last day. I believe it was for 4&5 star Mariners.

The last day was at sea, and it was gray, raining and cool. Inside the ship, it was a bit dark in the morning, so they had hallway floorlighting on- first time we have seen that during the daytime:

We did have beautiful weather - in the 20s°C for all but the last day. We brought too many warm clothes, but not complaining! Lots of people enjoyed the outdoor pool and hot tubs on the aft deck/ Seaview lounge area.

Given the times, we had sort of expected a higher level of cleaning, maybe for door handles, counter tops and the like, but there was no evidence of anything other than the usual. Masks were required when boarding or leaving the ship. Other than that, nothing. I can recall only one announcement recommending social distancing and wearing masks. There were signs in the hallways that read "Masks Recommended". Some people were good about social distancing. Many were not. Maybe half of the passengers wore masks; crew members always did. Some crew members were double-masked. Don't blame them! Crew are tested weekly. The only other signs I saw were in the Explorations Cafe, Dutch Cafe and Guest Services:

The mug was not there. I like to collect mugs with the specific ship name on it. I had to hunt for it onboard, eventually found wrapped in a bag somewhere in behind Guest Services. It turned out to be a generic logo mug. I had to try and find the proper one myself. None of the shops had anything but the generic HAL logo. Finally I found one in Photo Services...and I mean ONE. They would not allow a straight exchange. Had to get a refund for the generic one and then buy the new one. So much for the couple of bucks pre-cruise order discount! There were about 1600 passengers on board, 50/50 Canadian and American. Apparently the week before was busier, with about 1800, 60% Canadian. Makes sense given that it was a long weekend here. The port shopping ambassador told us that during the previous week, the TV area in the Casino Bar was packed with people watching the Flames vs. the Oilers!

Our boarding slot was also 12:40, although it didn't seem to mean anything. Passenger counts coming up!

Hmm, I don't recall any special line. Hopefully someone here will know! To be fair, some folks we met later had a smoother embarkation; just depends on timing, who is working, etc.

Sunday and Wednesday were "Dressy Attire" nights. We did not have to test before flying home as it was a domestic flight for us. Although many people did manage it virtually onboard.

We just returned from our Alaska Inside Passage cruise, May 28- June 4, on the Koningsdam. We are regular cruisers but haven’t cruised on HAL since 2011, nor had we used the Vancouver cruise port before so we thought we would do a short cruise just to see what sailing is like these days. We are both vaccinated, boosted and mask-wearers. We had an early flight and had booked the HAL transfer to the ship. There was only one transfer kiosk set up in the airport just past the luggage carousel area. Finally found it. We were informed that no bus would be boarding until after 10 am, so a couple of hours' wait. In retrospect, wouldn’t do that again. Anyway we finally left on the full bus ( all cruise lines together). Took half an hour to get to the terminal. It was about 11:30 when we got there. The lineups weren’t terrible; I had completed Verifly before and that seemed to help- the shortest line – and all they checked for was the “green” message ( Ready to Sail) and we moved on to the next checkpoint. Things got much slower then… The HAL rep told me my photo wasn’t in the system ( I loaded both of our photos in Navigator at home); she took at least 3 photos of me before it seemed to load. We moved on to whatever the next pit stop was; it went on and on; US customs lineup was slow as they had passengers do their own passport scanning, many needed help. Then some pit stop checking ArriveCan and some young guy looking all concerned and mumbled something unintelligible. I had entered everything beforehand so we just kept moving. Finally got to a seating area where we waited 10 minutes for our row to board. This all took at least an hour. Once we got to the embarkation kiosk on the ship, the crew lady told me my photo wasn’t there.. surprise, surprise! And that I would need to go to the Guest Services desk. Oh goody- Guest Services on Embarkation Day! I waited until the next day when there was a shorter line. Asked them why the photo didn’t “take” earlier; “Oh just some sort of glitch” is all that I got from them. The room keycards were waiting by the cabin door. We watched the safety video while unpacking (no TV services available until after you play the video), then went to our muster station to have our cards scanned. Finally done! We had an obstructed sideways balcony cabin on deck 4 forward. The room was a pretty good size, as was the balcony. Bath robes were there. I had pre-ordered mineral water, flowers and a ship mug. The water was there and the flowers, which were beautiful and fresh- lasted all week. This was our Astrid bouquet:

What we did get was a port shopping "guide" basically showing where the various ship-sponsored stores are, but it does have a little town map in them with the main streets outlined ( and shops highlighted...)!

We have used ArriveCan a few times through the website. You do receive an email, which includes the QR code, a receipt reference code, and the names included as travellers all in one page. I just print it out and carry it.

On the K-Dam last week, every day except embarkation the daily programs show: Happy Hours: Buy a drink, get the second 50% off 4-5 pm Crow's Nest and Billboard Onboard 8-9 pm Ocean Bar 9-10 pm Crow's Nest 🍸🍸

Just off the Koningsdam, and one thing that IS still on HAL - real cloth hand towels in the public restrooms..!