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LIVE - Koningsdam July 3 - July 17 Norway B2B

sldispatcher

By sldispatcher,
in Holland America Line

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sldispatcher

sldispatcher

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A few summer's ago, Rotterdam's 14 day Norway voyage all but made me swear off HAL. Was going to stick with Celebrity and Oceania. However, old habits die hard and we are back to try this new ship for a variety of factors. We have a soon-to-be 50 year old dear friend of Norwegian heritage so this was a celebration event. He is also enamored with sailing on new ships, so this one hits that mark. Norway is, after all, Norway. We were able to string together aft cabins. Another great check box. It leaves from Amsterdam (one of my personal top 3 European cities).

 

I have become a big fan of specialty dining onboard over the years as it makes the trip seem "bigger". A change of venue is always welcome.

 

Final check box is that it will be an average of 98 to 100 degrees and very high humidity back home. Why not?

 

Some basics: Staying at Doubletree Amsterdam near central station. Overall, really good location. Small rooms with less than stellar a/c, but my guess most would find it more than adequate. My wife is in that season of life where spontaneous combustion is a daily occurrence. At the same time, she likes the weight of heavy cover to sleep under. We keep the air on 65 degrees at night at home. Between the sound cube and the ever present bed side fan, we seemed to be able to sleep well enough last night.

 

We arrived, as most do by overnight flight onboard a United flight from Houston. As always, they pass out blankets and then keep the air somewhere between 78 and 85 degrees on the plane :mad::mad: . The flight attendants were having conventions in various galleys in the plane. You know the kind where they feel it is perfectly acceptable to hold loud conversations at 2am because obviously NO ONE is trying to sleep on the plane. Again...:mad::mad: Can they not train these people to just whisper or keep it quiet? How about common courtesy?

 

The Amsterdam airport was typical. We walked 3 miles from the gate to make a right hand turn to get through useless passport control line to go 4 miles to baggage to back track to the red checked "meeting spot" in the lobby of the busy Schipol airport. The pre-arranged driver's parking pass was eaten by the ticket machine so we spent another 30 minutes letting him hash it out with personnel..over 2 Euros. Yep, 2 Euros.

 

The hotel lobby looked like total chaos, but there was ample cheerful staff on hand that spoke English better than I do. Far better than one of my high school classmates who pronounced the color "yellow" as "yaller".

 

The rooms were ready at 1100 am as we were checking in (that gets a big plus!) We settled in and napped for 4 hours.

 

Molly Malone's Irish pub was within walking distance of the hotel so we ate a bite there of ribs and fish and chips. We were all so still out of it we must have looked like a group of extras from The Walking Dead. 745pm and down we went for the night.

 

Today is dawning partly cloudy. The cruise port is within sight and I am excited to be able to be cruising again.

 

Last summer was aboard the Celebrity Millie from Seward to Vancouver.

 

I have purposefully read almost nothing on this ship other than that of the web site itself and a few little blurbs on the forums here. We are thrilled to even be able to have an experience like this as not everyone in the world is able to see and do.

 

I'm fair with my reporting, but I will tell you that I do not go out of the way to criticize. Common sense should rule the day. Things change. HAL of 10, 15 or even 20 years ago is not the HAL of today. But the same thing can be said of every other cruise line. They have indeed morphed but it is not always bad. Without change, there would not have been a Pinnacle Grill or Tamarind or Dutch Café. Without change there would not be the slew of balcony cabins.

 

The real magic of a voyage like this is the people you travel with and the planning you do to make for special memories along with those moments of spontaneity that no one will ever be able to take from you.

 

So with all of the changes and planning, with all of the waiting and watching, I am looking forward to being treated like a king on the Koningsdam.

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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Looking forward to your continuing:). If the beginning is any indication, it is going to be an interesting Live thread to follow :)

 

Have a wonderful cruise :)

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jebhoward3

jebhoward3

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Thanks for doing this review. We also are getting on as you get off. We will have a United Airlines flight Houston to Amsterdam with arrival time of 9:20am. What was your arrival time? If the same as ours is scheduled that not bad at all to be able to arrive and check into hotel by 11am. If your arrival time was earlier then not so good. How long does drive from airport to hotel take? Did you get dinner and breakfast on the plane?

Thanks for the information,

Joyce

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bobalink

bobalink

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Add me to the list of those who are looking forward to your live review.

 

We will be boarding the ms Koningsdam on July 31. I can hardly wait, and started packing today.

 

Enjoy your vacation and THANKS for taking us along with you!

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sldispatcher

sldispatcher

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Orkin could shoot a commercial here.

 

People are on the streets like ants. Go one block over, and it is almost desolate. Any street that is commercial, etc. was quite busy.

 

The day dawned early with a 5 am creeping sun rising a river with 5 consonants per vowel in the name. I love early mornings and especially on cruise ships. It is the best time to be out and about.

 

We hit the hop on/hop off "bus" boat by Canal tours. Based on a cursory look, I would probably go with the other company (red boats but not sure of name) as they seemed to have surface busses involved in their deal as well including a broader coverage of the city.

 

Shockingly, cafes were full of ants eating before 11:30 which goes against the stereotype of late dining in Europe. Our first choice of eating spots was already full as our aforementioned hop on/hop off boat did a no show per the posted timetable slot.

 

No matter, we just went next door and got a "sam'ich". Nothing special. I actually love this city for the meandering canals, clean streets, and relative pleasantness of the local denizens you meet in stores and restaurants.

 

Now to the ship...we are looking forward to the process of boarding a new ship tomorrow. I am expecting a wait, but could be shocked.

 

For the most part we have been almost ignorant of what to expect onboard on purpose. I love cruise critic and look at these trip reports as a way to give back. In retrospect, like most parts of our lives these days we have surrendered to information overload. It will be nice to just be wowed by a change.

 

As is most common, trip REVIEWS tend to almost always slant to the negative because someone has a beef with some aspect of the trip. I like to "live from" so that the review is real and I cannot get back and think of the one thing that involved 20 minutes or so of my time "ruining" what was really 14 days of wow.

 

So I have sailed HAL 4 times before (Amsterdam 12 night Carib, Ryndam 10 night Mexican Riviera, Eurodam 7 night Carib and Rotterdam 14 night Norway) Celebrity a few times on Solstice and Millenium Class ships in Alaska, Med, and Carib and two Oceania Transatlantic sailings.

 

That is not bragging and meant just to be a background so that you know of the prejudices and predications I might have going into this.

 

Food, comfort, and quiet are all important to us. Activities not so much.

 

Tomorrow we will board the ship going across the gangway like ants on a log. Not sure where in that line we will be, but we are just grateful to be in that line at all!

 

Bon Voyage.

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FunTraveler52

FunTraveler52

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This is great! Thank you for taking the time to tell us about your experiences. We will also be boarding on July 17 so we are anxious to hear all about your trip. Thank you and Bon Voyage

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

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rafinmd "Live from...." Rare

rafinmd

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Very much looking forward to your review...leaving for Amsterdam on Thursday and headed to Norway and other awesome places as well! Can't wait!

 

If you happen to run into the Koningsdam from "that other ship", maybe you can post a picture or two here. I'd especially enjoy a picture of the 2 ships together if the opportunity arises.

 

Roy

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brazilgirl "Live from...." Rare

brazilgirl

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If you happen to run into the Koningsdam from "that other ship", maybe you can post a picture or two here. I'd especially enjoy a picture of the 2 ships together if the opportunity arises.

 

 

 

Roy

 

 

 

Lol...I think we will be in port together on the 10th in Amsterdam. I will certainly try for a photo op!

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sldispatcher

sldispatcher

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All aboard!

Summer lightning bugs had traveled across the Atlantic, grown big, and lit up the night sky in a grand fashion over Amsterdam during the night. The day started dawning about 330am and the sun appeared to need to stretch a bit before scratching and clawing over the horizon. No Koningsdam!

 

Anticipating embarkation like a kid on Christmas morning, I could not sleep much the rest of the night. Sure enough, Koningsdam was sitting at berth at the passenger terminal while a few flat bottomed cotton ball clouds allowed sunlight to bleed through and backlight the ship. Surrounded by an island of tall office buildings, the ship looked like a sleeping building lying down.

 

1045 we were off from the hotel in a passenger van quickly arranged by the hotel front desk and prompt in the arrival. It was a well spent 20 Euros.

Arriving at the terminal in a very short time, we were greeted by an all female porter staff. We must have looked like clowns coming out of the little circus car. The baggage must have been even more daunting. After the nice porter, who was probably wondering what in the world did these people pack quickly escorted us with almost no line to baggage drop off and towards the escalators. Staff were plentiful, available and zero wait to get into a registration position. They were extremely efficient and we were out of there in less than 5 minutes. We were assigned boarding group 5 and assembled into an area with chairs where we waited about 30 minutes before boarding began. In less than 20 minutes our number was called, through security and then on the gangway in 5 minutes.

 

The oft discouraged Mariner lunch in the MDR for us. Not enough info yet to judge the food so I will comment on that at a later time.

 

The ship is beautiful.

 

The carpet is plush.

 

The verandah room is spacious with a huge shower compared to other ships sailed. You normally have to have a suite to have this size of shower on other lines.

 

There was ample storage in the room. Ample. Plenty. Keep in mind that we are on a 2 week cruise.

 

For those familiar with the beloved aft cabins on the smallest class of HAL ships, alas these do not have the depth of balcony as those. However, that is not a detractor, just a fact. The overhang is about 80%, so again, not a deal breaker for those who do or do not want an overhang.

 

Of note, all of our luggage was outside of the stateroom by the time we went up from lunch. There was never a call that staterooms were ready. They just were. That was nice.

 

Muster was not overly complicated and we were assembled in various public areas for a very brief time.

 

Of note, many of the elevators are drafted for luggage service all afternoon so that those were of limited value after boarding.

So far, crew and staff have been warm and inviting overall. The dining room server was efficient if not for lack of warmth, but that is easily overlooked. My goodness, it is just the first day.

 

We are here.

 

We are already well pleased with our selection. Time will tell as we delve into other parts of the experience.

 

The color scheme, art work, and design are all quite lyrical and blend together to form a nice palette. Words like “elegant”, “understated”, “classy” all come to mind.

 

Our stateroom attendant has been around a couple of times already and wanting to know if we needed anything. We do have a malfunctioning toilet, but who cares????? I know they will fix it shortly. I’m trying to remember a recent cruise where that wasn’t at least one small maintenance item that needed attention. It’s part of the deal. Move on!

 

Sailing away from Amsterdam was a delight. A fleet of small personal boats of all shapes and sizes bobbed up and down and then followed us as we weaved our way past passenger ferries, windmills, and conflict of modern industry versus old world city. The skies are mostly sunny with low humidity, 65 degrees, and a nice westerly breeze.

 

I have already performed one of my favorite cruise time rituals, the pre-dinner shower. Again, really two big thumbs up on the space, the wand design and features and amenities. Is the toilet a little tight? Yep, 35 day cruisers may find it even tighter when they began, but that’s for a different post.

 

We are easing towards the locks of Amsterdam where we will be raised up and out into the North Sea. Then off to dinner.

Thanks for riding along…

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

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It is our pleasure to ride along.

 

You are a great writer and this thread is just getting better and better.

 

Hoping by the time you read this that non working toilet has been fixed and is a distant memory.

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