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RSVP Feb 5-12, 2017 on the Koningsdam

Boytjie

By Boytjie,
in LGBTQIA+ Roll Calls

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patrick401ca

patrick401ca

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Welcome to you and your husband. You will have an interesting opportunity to compare and contrast Atlantis and RSVP. I would love to hear more about your Tahiti cruise, as yesterday I booked a South Pacific Crossing cruise on Noordam for April 2018. It doesn't go to Tahiti, but it visits two islands in New Caledonia, Vanuatu, two islands in Fiji, and Pago Pago in Samoa. It sails from Australia and ends in Hawaii. Did you visit any of those? (I'm just a bit excited. :o)

 

Cheers. And just curious, how did you book? Lots of folks are anxious for the cruise to open to bookings for folks who weren't on Nieuw A in February, and it appears you were not. Thanks.

 

 

To book with RSVP I just called them and booked. No questions asked!

 

Tahiti was amazing. The islands were really beautiful and not commercialized with tacky little shops. I snorkelled and it was great - lots of brightly coloured fish, kissed a stingray and saw a few too many sharks.

 

 

Also the people on the cruise were great - older and less buff than your typical Atlantis cruise and no attitude.

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Cruiser Bruiser

Cruiser Bruiser

Posted
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Found this thread loaded with lots of great pictures of the beautiful K

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2347682

 

I'm so glad the "other Brad" has been generous with sharing his photos. HAL just killed it with their new aesthetic. Modern, yet warm. I absolutely love the carpets, especially in the Crow's Nest. ;)

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bradpole

bradpole

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I'm so glad the "other Brad" has been generous with sharing his photos. HAL just killed it with their new aesthetic. Modern, yet warm. I absolutely love the carpets, especially in the Crow's Nest. ;)

 

I agree, she really looks great! Nothing like any HAL ship before her.

 

The only negative I can see right now is the theatre, or World Stage as they are calling it, looks awfully small!

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  • 3 weeks later...
RandRCruiser

RandRCruiser

Posted
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Hey Guys (and Gals?) -

I'm going to be back with you on the Koningsdam after a 3 year hiatus. I am so happy that we'll be sailing on a brand new ship with HAL. The Feb, 2014 cruise on the Divina really was less than spectacular.

 

I bit the bullet and booked single occupancy in an interior, since I've never spent time in the cabin - and I didn't feel like playing roulette with the room-mate share program again.

 

See you all in 260 days!

 

Jeff

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monumax

monumax

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Welcome Jeff,

We, also, have not cruised since the Divina and are happy to back on board with RSVP. We have an Alaska cruise scheduled for August, but we find we are more excited fo!r the February RSVP cruise

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Cruiser Bruiser

Cruiser Bruiser

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Posted (edited)
I agree, she really looks great! Nothing like any HAL ship before her.

 

The only negative I can see right now is the theatre, or World Stage as they are calling it, looks awfully small!

 

From what I'm reading, HAL is staggering all of the start times for evening entertainment so that folks are forced to make choices. That's likely to shrink the audience. I'm guessing they've also done research that indicates a lot of their core (i.e. old) passengers don't attend shows in the Showroom at Sea/World Stage so they felt like they could get away with a smaller space.

 

I'm guessing RSVP will be sailing Nieuw Statendam in 2019. ;) We can see then what HAL decided to modify from Koningsdam. In the meantime, I'm hoping Koningsdam's new-ship smell will still be lingering in February.

Edited by Cruiser Bruiser
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Cruiser Bruiser

Cruiser Bruiser

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Hey Guys (and Gals?) -

I'm going to be back with you on the Koningsdam after a 3 year hiatus. I am so happy that we'll be sailing on a brand new ship with HAL. The Feb, 2014 cruise on the Divina really was less than spectacular.

 

I bit the bullet and booked single occupancy in an interior, since I've never spent time in the cabin - and I didn't feel like playing roulette with the room-mate share program again.

 

See you all in 260 days!

 

Jeff

 

Welcome to the roll call, Jeff. We met on NA way back in 2012. If I remember correctly the roommate program worked to your advantage that year because you ended up not having a roommate, right? I did the share last year and counted myself as very lucky because my roommate was as good as I could have reasonably expected. I'm booked in one of the new single outside cabins on Koningsdam. They were booked shockingly fast. I had booking form #168 aboard NA, and I took the 10th out of 12 OO-category staterooms. Let me know if you want to see the cabin when we're aboard.

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RandRCruiser

RandRCruiser

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Welcome to the roll call, Jeff. We met on NA way back in 2012. If I remember correctly the roommate program worked to your advantage that year because you ended up not having a roommate, right? I did the share last year and counted myself as very lucky because my roommate was as good as I could have reasonably expected. I'm booked in one of the new single outside cabins on Koningsdam. They were booked shockingly fast. I had booking form #168 aboard NA, and I took the 10th out of 12 OO-category staterooms. Let me know if you want to see the cabin when we're aboard.

 

Hey John! Yes, I had the room to myself starting the 3rd day after the medical issue with another guest that opened a cabin for my roommate to pay single supplement to get by himself, which left me by myself too.

 

The 2nd roommate share on Oosterdaam wasn't quite as lucky. He was a good guy, but I found out I kinda would prefer to be in my own space.

 

I'd love to visit your room when we are on board. I'll be in 8012.

 

Jeff

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Boytjie

Boytjie

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Posted (edited)
From what I'm reading, HAL is staggering all of the start times for evening entertainment so that folks are forced to make choices. That's likely to shrink the audience. I'm guessing they've also done research that indicates a lot of their core (i.e. old) passengers don't attend shows in the Showroom at Sea/World Stage so they felt like they could get away with a smaller space.

 

That may work for regular cruises but not so much for Church Bingo! :eek: Or Amy and Freddie.

Edited by Boytjie
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Cruiser Bruiser

Cruiser Bruiser

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Hey John! Yes, I had the room to myself starting the 3rd day after the medical issue with another guest that opened a cabin for my roommate to pay single supplement to get by himself, which left me by myself too.

 

The 2nd roommate share on Oosterdaam wasn't quite as lucky. He was a good guy, but I found out I kinda would prefer to be in my own space.

 

I'd love to visit your room when we are on board. I'll be in 8012.

 

Jeff

 

I'm in 1003, the second smallest of the OO-category. But still bigger than a studio on NCL, and there's a picture window.

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Cruiser Bruiser

Cruiser Bruiser

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That may work for regular cruises but not so much for Church Bingo! :eek: Or Amy and Freddie.

 

Valid points. They may just have to have more performances of the above. I'm going to be very curious how RSVP works their entertainment into the new spaces. With Billboard Onboard, for example, there's no longer a real piano bar. So is RSVP going to hire two pianists to do dueling pianos, or are they going to leave one without a player? For myself, I would like to see a good sampling of the HAL entertainment just so I can say I saw it.

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Boytjie

Boytjie

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Valid points. They may just have to have more performances of the above. I'm going to be very curious how RSVP works their entertainment into the new spaces. With Billboard Onboard, for example, there's no longer a real piano bar. So is RSVP going to hire two pianists to do dueling pianos, or are they going to leave one without a player? For myself, I would like to see a good sampling of the HAL entertainment just so I can say I saw it.

 

When RSVP does an onboard site visit in a few months they will evaluate all the options. Usage of the Queens Lounge would be interesting and also the video at the LidopPool. I think they have interesting options that are different from previous dam ships.

 

Just because there are two pianos doesn't mean they must have both playing but I don't see an issue with dueling pianists. :)

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Darrell6t

Darrell6t

Posted
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I am just back from the Atlantis Anthem of the Seas, which is an amazing ship. One of the shows was Snuggling Pianos, with two pianos and two guys doing the playing. So they don't have to have a duel. Just put on a show.

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Cruiser Bruiser

Cruiser Bruiser

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I am just back from the Atlantis Anthem of the Seas, which is an amazing ship. One of the shows was Snuggling Pianos, with two pianos and two guys doing the playing. So they don't have to have a duel. Just put on a show.

 

Thanks for the heads-up. That show seems like a natural fit for Koningsdam. I'm glad you liked Anthem OTS; with 9 (nine! :eek:) solo cabins, that class of ship is on my to-do list. The only problem is there are never any solo cabins available. :mad:

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Cruiser Bruiser

Cruiser Bruiser

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My husband and I are looking forward to our first RSVP cruise! We've done Atlantis and Aquafest, but really excited about the new ship and meeting new friends on RSVP.

 

Welcome to the roll call. And welcome to Cruise Critic--your first post. RSVP is a lot of fun.

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bradpole

bradpole

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That may work for regular cruises but not so much for Church Bingo! :eek: Or Amy and Freddie.

 

Exactly our concern. Too bad RSVP can't charter the MSC Divina, just the ship, and staff it with HAL and Princess crew :):). Physically that ship was perfect for RSVP...especially the theatre...it was huge!

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rojjodc

rojjodc

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Posted (edited)
Exactly our concern. Too bad RSVP can't charter the MSC Divina, just the ship, and staff it with HAL and Princess crew :):). Physically that ship was perfect for RSVP...especially the theatre...it was huge!

Sorry, but it was far from 'perfect'. You must not remember the main restaurant layouts and the pain in getting to one main restaurant when the other was full - a lot of people were unhappy about that. And I could never understand why they did not put urinals in men's public bathrooms but only stalls, which caused excessive bathroom lines. The food was not that great either. But I do agree that the theater was although oddly decorated.

Edited by rojjodc
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Boytjie

Boytjie

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Very few topics are off-topic here. We are a tolerant people. ;)

 

Just keep it somewhat about discussing RSVP cruises and the Koningsdam cruise principally! :D

Edited by Boytjie
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