Alaskafitzway

If you choose not to take a HAL excursion, do they bus you from Catania to Taormina or do they leave you in Catania to find your own way?  The information on the itinerary is not specific and there's no Taormina on your own excursion. We would like to meet relatives in Taormina so no need for an excursion but we'd like to pre-book transportation into Taormina if necessary. 

Unfortunately for those who have flights booked already this puts people in a pretty precarious position. You can take the chance that internet on the ship will be good enough to do an online test or wait until you disembark and scramble. I understand why HAL wouldn't want to take on the burden of this testing but it's too late to change policy at this point for people who are cruising imminently. Ending the policy for future cruises makes sense but backing out of a commitment will definitely make me hesitate to take future cruises on HAL. 

We brought 6 bottles on board - went to the table beyond security where they wrote up the corkage and gave me stickers for the bottles. The charge never showed up on our bill though until I went and reminded them twice. There was a guard at the metal detectors who didn't seem to know that you could bring extra bottles and started yelling in Dutch when the other guard told me to take the bottles to security but we just kept walking and they started yelling at each other :-)

We were in Koningsdam cabin 6147 - a verandah cabin mid-ship. We loved the location it was sort of in the middle of everything. 3 floors up to the Lido, 3 floors down to guest services and the grand dutch cafe and the MDR. I can get a little bit of motion sickness and we hit rough seas and I was fine here. We turned down an upgrade in order to keep our location. I posted a live from Koningsdam thread a few weeks ago that have pictures of this cabin - 6147

We recently used unlimited laundry services on the Koningsdam for a 14 day cruise and it was well worth it, I will never go without again. We use the fitness center and it was great to not leave sweaty clothes in the room. We sent out a bag about every other day and it always came back promptly and in great shape.

I am hesitant to directly ask "would we like Holland America?" because it is impossible for anyone to answer that question for complete strangers. With that said, I'm wondering if you give me an idea of what we can expect.

 

My husband has a business trip in Vancouver in September 2018 so I thought that might be a good opportunity to see Alaska via cruise ship because it is one less airplane ticket from DC for me to purchase. :-)

 

We were last on Holland America in 2002 when we were both grad students. Frankly, I remember very little. Since then, we've sailed suites on the mainstream lines and over the past few years sailed solely with Oceania and Azamara. This gives you an idea of what we are used to.

 

I'm told HA attracts an older crowd but for us, age is just a number. We once had a paddle board excursion in the Bahamas with two women in their 70s. They were quite active and put us to shame (we are in our mid-40s). We do not care about the entertainment because we never attend. Cruising for us is having a nice hotel that moves from one location to another. We are not food snobs but we do care about the quality of food, which is why we like Oceania, Azamara, and the suites-only restaurant on Celebrity. So I guess when it comes down to it, how is the food on Holland America?

 

Any input is appreciated. If it helps, I'm looking at a corner-aft Neptune Suite on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

 

Thank you

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Sounds exactly like us. We're in our mid-50s and have also cruised HAL in our late 40s. We cruise solely for the itinerary and the convenience of having our hotel room move with us, and not wasting time traveling from city - go to sleep and wake up in the next location. We don't do the shows, we don't gamble, and my husband doesn't drink at all and I just have wine with dinner. We loved our recent HAL cruise. The food was very good. We had a dinner at the Pinnacle, and that was excellent. We could get good breakfasts at the Lido in time to get off early and take advantage of all of our time in port. On at sea days we enjoyed using the fitness center. We found excursions that were active enough most of the time but some of the all day bus tours were geared towards riding and viewing from the bus. We'd avoid those in the future. We did HAL in Alaska and they were super organized and it was a great trip. We did a land a sea tour. I did a day by day write up of that trip on this board.

Just back from the Koningsdsm. We used a power strip. There are outlets on both sides of the bed and several over the desk but the ones at the desk were not working. We didn't have any issues with the power strip we brought

Final thoughts on the Koningsdam and the cruise -

First I promised some photos of the ship and our stateroom 6147

Sport Track

Explorer Cafe and Crows Nest - this is the place to go to use a computer, find a quiet place to relax, see and hear the narration on scenic cruising days, print boarding passes, get great coffee, and the only place I found with Hot chocolate - 12th floor forward (not all stairways or elevators go to the 12th floor, go forward first, then go up.

The pool area with the roof closed

Fitness Center

Gelato - deck 9 near the pool Christian is usually manning the area and he's great! small upcharge

Dive In - hear the pool area offers great burgers, hot dogs, and fries. Part of your dining options at no additional charge.

Caneleto - the italian restaurant - really an extension of the Lido during breakfast and lunch, and a specialty restaurant during dinner. We didn't try this one because it was not really separate from the Lido except by a wall. Didn't seem like it would have the ambiance that we wanted in a specialty restaurant.

Lido - Floor 9 the buffet

View into the 3rd floor atrium from the elevator area

Grand Dutch Cafe - good coffee, lattes for a small upcharge but the coffee at the Lido is just awful so we went here quite a but. Also a bar at night serving dutch beers. Good food (which is free) good service, nice little tables and larger cafe height seating in a fairly central area - deck 3 center right near guest services. Great staff here.

MDR - we ate here almost every night. Great food. Our waiters Suna and Alit and our wine steward Melvin were fantastic!

Culinary Arts Center

Ocean Bar

Theater

Casino

Views of the Verandah stateroom 6147

Views of the stateroom 6147

We thought that the Koningsdam was a beautiful ship. It never felt crowded with the exception of the Lido during breakfast and lunch. Most of the excursions that we took were great, and the organization around excursions got better and better as the cruise went on.

We thought that Pinnacle was well worth the upcharge once during the cruise. We thought that the food and service in the MDR was great and the state room staff was also very good and made sure that we had everything that we needed.

We will definitely cruise with HAL again.

Bergen Norway -

We did another full day tour in Bergen - arriving in port by around 7:00 AM and heading off by 8:45.

Photo of Bergen from the ship -

This tour had very similar scenery as the tour in Alesund but it was a bright sunny day and the addition of the old wooden church from the 1700s and the ferry crossing of a fjord made it just different enough that it was still enjoyable.

We left the ship and headed out of Bergen through the town, which is a thriving university town with loads of cafes and stores and bars. It's also a very large center where people work day to day, and we would pass some of the areas where they love and commute from on the way out of town. Since it's on a fjord you either need to live a close distance away near the part of the fjord where Bergen is located or in a town where there is a railway that crosses the fjord instead of having to go around.

If you are up early enough it's interesting to see the large bridge that the ship crosses under on the way into the town.

We started off along Fusafjor and eventually got to a really cute little port where we waited for the ferry -

After crossing the fjord on a ferry that had restroom facilities, we almost immediately stopped again at a restroom in a gas station to accommodate additional people going to the rest room who chose not to use the one on the ferry. This would become a theme through the day. We had a rookie bus driver and a fairly new guide and they didn't really have the tour under control. We were running so late that when we finally got to the waterfall towards the end we had only a few minutes to spend there.

After about 30 minutes at the restroom stop be headed to a beautiful wooden church from the 1700s. Unique because many of these churches were destroyed. The woman speaking at the church knew a lot about the history of the church and was very interesting.

After the church we headed off to another bathroom stop. Our lunch stop was about an hour away but yet we spend almost 45 minutes at this stop waiting for the bus who arrived before us, and then our bus to use the 2 restrooms that were there.

We headed off along Hardangerfjord which was beautiful and large and had beautiful scenery all along the shores. We passed many little villages and orchards and other scenic areas. Many of these are vacation areas for the people of Bergen.

We arrived at a well developed resort town on the fjord and had lunch at a hotel. They had a good hot and cold buffet set out, they had everything very well organized and you could self service everything including beverages. We spent an hour at this stop. We could probably have made up some time here since almost the entire group was waiting by the bus for the last 10-15 minutes.

Here are some photos from that resort

We moved on from the fjord to get to the waterfall but by the time we got there we had 15 minutes to spend there and so most people didn't have time to make the climb up to walk behind the waterfall which was the unique thing about this waterfall. We ran up to the top and back down and then had to get back on the bus.

Here's a photo of the waterfall

We got back to the ship at 5:00, a half hour after the all aboard. It was formal night so for those who had the early seating 5:15, it was very tough to get dressed in formal wear and make it to dinner on time.

We did get to dinner and had lobster and filet which were both well cooked and flavorful. The desserts were also really good.

Alesund Norway -

Our day in Alesund was a fairly gray and overcast day so the photos won't be great. We took the excursion to see the troll wall and the troll path.

First of all many of the crew told us that Alesund and Bergen Norway are nice cities to just walk around, and since we had already booked full day tours, we just didn't have time to do that.

Photo of Alesund from the ship-

In Alesund we took the full day troll path and troll wall tour. The scenery in Norway is beautiful. We saw so many waterfalls as we drive that were different and really interesting. Here are some photos of the fjords and countryside along the way -

We found the troll path to be really amazing. You climb up to it from the less steep side of the mountain in a slower climb so it's surprising when you get there how high you really are. When you get to the troll path there is a large parking lot and a gift shop and a cafe which had good coffee/latte etc... but we headed out on the path first.

You go our on a manmade walkway, paved in concrete, with viewing areas extended over the falls and mountain. It's easy to navigate and not steep. Anyone can walk out on it, and we even saw a few wheelchairs on the closest overlook. Looking down at the road that we would travel to get to the bottom in the bus was pretty cool.

This is a photo where you can see the walkway on the far right

And one looking down at the road we would soon drive down, from the top. Imagine getting a huge buss down this

We left the troll path down the hairpin turns to the bottom and then travelled on to the Troll Wall - an internationally known climbing location. It was very hard to understand the scale from the bottom, but it was interesting to see it, and right across the mountain that they call the Norwegian Matterhorn because of it's shape.

We returned to the ship by 6:30. It was a full day, and the tour was well run, but we wished that we had been able to spend a little time in town as well.

Quick review on the Pinnacle - We were getting back late from our excursion in Alesund yesterday so we reserved at the Pinnacle. I had let my wine steward in the MDR know that I was doing so and he made sure that the wine I asked for was available in the Pinnacle. We were given a treat from the chef to start which was Escargot in a tiny espresso type of cup in a few spoonfuls of sauce/soup. I had the opportunity to try Escargot in Paris and didn't so I tried it here, and it was delicious, and the soup/sauce was like a fantastic chowder.

We then had the crab cakes and shrimp cocktail for appetizers, both of which were very good. The cocktail sauce with the shrimp cocktail was excellent and everything about the crabcakes was good.

We had a strip steak and a petite filet for dinner with baked potatoes and creamed spinach. The steaks were perfectly cooked to the temperature that we requested, they were very flavorful and really didn't need the accompanying sauces but they were very good so we tried them as well. Baked potatoes were served with all of the usual accompaniments and the creamed spinach was tasty but barely warm.

Dessert was Gelato (that's the ice cream at the Pinnacle) and the volcano cake, both of which were excellent.

The atmosphere was intimate, quiet, and very nice. We decided that it was well worth the up charge once per cruise to try a specialty restaurant and we enjoyed the Pinnacle very much.

I am very curious to know' date=' once you get there, if while cruising the fjords, does HAL provide any narration or interpretation of what you're sailing by? Thanks! looks wonderful![/quote']

 

Yes there was narration on the outside decks and in the Explorations Cafe/Crows nest which turned out to be a great place to see the views. Unfortunately a thick fog rolled in shortly after we started our scenic cruising and they called off the narration because all you could see was fog.

We visited our last port in Iceland yesterday Akureyri. This is the 4th largest city in Iceland but they appear to have a fairly active shipping industry so they had a port large enough for us to dock. We took a tour to see the Botanical Gardens, Godafoss (a waterfall), and the Laufas a historical farm with turf houses and a beautiful church. As we found in the other Icelandic ports, the guides were local, very knowledgeable, and the tours were organized and well run. We enjoyed all aspects of this tour although the waterfall wasn't as impressive as the previous 2 that we visited, it was very pretty and you parked at the top so the less mobile folks on the tour were able to view it from the top which was nice.

We also got up close to an Icelandic horse at the farm which was nice since we had seen so many from the fields as we drive. Here are a few photos from our day.

Good gelato ... great to hear!

 

Is there included ice cream available anywhere?

I think that you can get ice cream in the Lido and it's on the dessert menu every night for dinner but honestly it pales in comparison the the Gelato.

I am a day behind on my updates but we are at sea tomorrow so I'll catch up then.

At Isafjordur we took a tour of the Dynjandi waterfall as well as Sudureyri a small fishing village.

Isafjordur is also a tender location and things went much more smoothly here than they had in South Queensferry. They used only lifeboats to tender but it was calm water and a short trip.

The guide on our tour - Petur was fantastic. He was originally from the area, and although he is attending university in Reykjavik and only lives here in the summer now, he had all of the local information and history to make it a really excellent tour. Isafjordur is spectacularly beautiful and we enjoyed our bus ride through the mountains almost as much as the stops.

Here are a few photos from the ship, the bus, and the waterfall - Dynjandi.

The fishing village was interesting and beautiful in it's own right. I thought that the tour of the fish factory wasn't really a highlight, but it did help to understand the tiny town.

We really enjoyed the day and this area of Iceland, the landscape and the beauty are really indescribable.

We did the obligatory tourist trap the Blue Lagoon yesterday. It's touristy and cheesy and we still had fun and enjoyed it. We left the pool a bit early to walk the path through the lava and outlet pools etc which was also neat.

When we got back from the Blue Lagoon (9:00 - 12:00) we went directly to the shuttle into town and walked up to see the church on the hill as well as do some shopping. We had coffee and sweets in a little cafe at an outdoor table. Everything was extremely expensive - the Kroner (sp?) is very strong right now, but hey it's vacation!

We also walked along the path at the waterfront to take a photo of the sculpture and enjoy the gorgeous weather. A quick shuttle back to the ship for sail away. Here are a few pics of Reykjavik.

Have really enjoyed your review. Will be in the Koningsdam in 2018. Are you thoroughly enjoying the ship? Any hidden gems on board we need to know about?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

I have a lot of pictures of the ship which I'll post on our at sea day tomorrow.

Gelato near the pool is really good small additional charge, and Christian who works there most of the time is fun and efficient.

Grand Dutch Cafe if you're having trouble with the coffee in the Lido. They make a nice latte, and both of the gentlemen who work there regularly are well travelled and have good advice on what to see.

We asked ahead of time to be assigned to a window table on our early seating, and were told that they would put in the request but couldn't guarantee anything. We arrived the first night and found that we were assigned to a beautiful table for two next to the window looking out the back of the ship and that has been really wonderful.

The crows nest is a nice place to find a quiet spot and read.

Reykjavik - We did a shortened Golden Circle tour when we got into port yesterday which was fantastic. We are so happy that HAL made accommodations for us to still take this tour despite the late arrival.

We were able to see Thingveiller National Park which was beautiful and had a large lake, and a huge geological fault which we were able to walk down into.

Next we went to The Geyser which erupts every 4 minutes so you can't miss there. Also we visited the cafe at the geyser "Geysir" and had the best soup - minestrone.

We drove on from there through the rugged interior of Iceland to Gullfoss - a stunning waterfall. The sun was setting while we were there. The waterfall is massive and the amount of water that is rushing over it is hard to put into words.

Our guide Herman was excellent and the scenery was not to be missed.

We recommend this tour.

Have a great cruise. Donot forget to see how the ship goes into the lock at IJmuiden, about 2 hours after sail off.

Thank you - we loved this part!

We ran into a storm at sea which was about 15-18 foot waves. It has delayed the landing in Iceland today. The team here onboard did a great job of adjusting the excursions and keeping everyone informed.

Lots of passengers and crew were feeling under the weather yesterday but it was handled well by the remainder of the crew and we had a nice at sea day, if a bit bumpy. The outside portions of the ship were closed in response to the weather. The pool was closed with a net over it but we sat beside it and enjoyed some Gelato and watched the big waves in the pool. It sounded like the ocean!

Formal night went off as planned and we both had the Filet and Lobster Ravioli which was excellent.

No photos for the at sea day but now that I have the process working for pictures I'll try to post some of the common areas of the ship.

Instead of arriving in Iceland at 2, we will arrive at 5:30. We had booked the Golden Circle tour for 8.5 hours and it has been revised to leave at 6 and run for 5.5 hours. We will skip the lunch, and the thermo nuclear plant but should see most of the other sights. We'll review that when we get back to the ship and have a chance.

You may be able to get a small amount of the currency needed for Iceland and Norway at Guest Services.

Thanks!

Here are some photos from Invergordon and our Photography Excursion

Oil Rig in the mudflats outside of Invergordon

Balmore Distillery

A hotel outside of Invergordon

A local Loch

In the Highlands

Invergordon - We arrive in Invergordon on time and pulled in past a number of Oil rigs waiting to be serviced which was interesting. We thought that since we were not tendering, that it would be smooth sailing off the ship but they still seemed to struggle to get people off. We arrived at 8:00 for what was supposed to be an 8:30 departure They started to call groups at around 8:30 to leave the ship but the lines were so long to get off that by the time we were called and left the ship it was 30 minutes after our scheduled departure. Our excursion was very small - 8 people in 2 vans, so meeting at the end of the pier would likely have made more sense. Certainly there should have been more than 1 person scanning the people getting off the ship.

The excursion was wonderful. We did a photography of the Scottish highlands tour. Our guide/photographer Tim did an excellent job. He was a local photographer who knew exactly where to go to get great pictures and was very helpful and interesting.

We wandered into the little town by the port, but there wasn't much there. We were planning to get lunch, but unfortunately no credit cards accepted here either. Interestingly they did take USD or Euro in at least one cafe as long as you had small bills that required very little change. Just FYI to those hoping to go ashore and have something to eat so that you can plan ahead.

Back on the ship we tried The Dive which had great burgers and fries in reasonable portion sizes so that we were not over stuffed.

Dinner also proved to be excellent, the Chili Prawns and Farfalle dish were excellent.

We ran into some rough waters on the North Sea overnight and the ship was really rocking. We didn't notice as much in our room which is mid-ship location wise and also on floor 6, which is also about mid-ship floor wise. We were fairly stable but in the Lido and other locations you could really notice the rocking. The Captain said that the waves were about 12-18 feet. We expected that this would be the case and it wasn't a problem, and the ship's crew handled it quite well.

Why on earth would you expect places to take anything but local currency ... ????

Because Holland America information said to just use credit cards, not get local currency, so my point was not so much that they wouldn't take USD or Euro but that the information provided was incorrect, I wanted people to have better information - so credit cards are not accepted at most places, and you will have to get local currency. BTW Local currency for Scotland, Iceland and Norway is all different.

I'd love to post some photos here of the Journey but the sizes are so restrictive and I don't want to waste time using internet minutes sizing them differently for different things so here's another update from today. If you'd like to see pictures of our journey we are posting a blog at www.smallworld.photos

We went on the Troussachs Panoramic yesterday. Our opinion was the this particular excursion is not worth the time. We drove from South Queensferry north to Stirling Castle where we literally drove through the parking lot. We then took pictures from a vantage point below the castle for a few minutes. We then drove on the Aberfoyle, stopping once along the way at a scenic overlook and then spent 50 minutes in Aberfoyle having a rushed cafeteria style lunch. There were several little bars and cafes in town but there really wasn't time to go to them. The bus was once again uncomfortably hot and they couldn't seem to cool it off so it was an uncomfortable ride for most of the way.

One other thing of note - when we went to dinner we heard from the tables nearby that they had returned from the Military Tattoo the night before and had waited an hour for a tender on shore because there were only 2 running. There are still some kinks to work out with the tenders at South Queensferry.

We''re off to Invergordon and hopefully I'll figure out how to size my photos so that I can post some here. South Queensferry was really lovely and the bridges were also very pretty.