Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Koningsdam Eastern Caribbean Jan 29 - Feb 5 Review

Kobeattle

By Kobeattle,
in Holland America Line

 Share

Recommended Posts

Kobeattle

Kobeattle

Posted
Posted

In short, we had a fantastic 7-day Caribbean cruise on Koningsdam. This was my 3rd HAL trip (Eurodam and Zuiderdam previously). In fact, this cruise’s itinerary was identical to the one we took exactly 2 years ago on Eurodam.

 

Embarkation

The weather was actually horrible with pouring rain all day. The embarkation itself was very smooth and civilized with no chaos whatsoever. I felt very strange wearing my thick sweater and being photographed. We didn’t receive our luggage until 6pm. I ran into some passengers who had nothing to wear for their early seating dinner. So apparently we weren't the only one. The drill was very different from my previous experience. We first watched the safety video on the screen in the cabin, then had to go down to the station located in the MDR.

 

Ship

The ship is absolutely beautiful. I would describe her as elegant casual chic. It never felt crowded to me. I really liked the color scheme throughout the ship. I was not a fan of muted colors of Eurodam. But Koningsdam really lifted up my spirits. (I still love the hot pink and turquoise blue of Zuiderdam’s decor the best, though…) I noticed that the shopping area isn’t as spacious as the other two ships we were on, which didn’t really matter to me because the primary purpose of this trip was to float and enjoy the sea. The biggest letdown was the promenade. We started walking around but quickly turned around and went inside.

 

Lido

I read about possible confusing layout of Lido, but I had no problems. I noticed that “Rise” station (breakfast stuff) stayed open for longer hours. It was nice to be able to sleep in and still be able to find croissants and muffins after 11. There are less things we can just serve ourselves to, but if this is the way to offer quality food by controlling portions and limiting food waste, I think its a great idea. The choices and quality are just excellent and far exceeded my expectations.

 

New York Deli

We went there thinking we’d love their pizza, but we were disappointed. Maybe it was the cook, who know. On the other hand, the pastrami sandwiches were delicious. I could happily eat that everyday.

 

Gelato

We absolutely loved it. We lost count how many times we went there. It turned out $2 was totally worth it. Sometimes we just split the 8oz cup and it was still more than enough. Their pistachio gelato was one of the best I’ve tasted.

 

Dive In

Cannonball cannonball cannonball… I am drooling as I type. We usually ended up splitting a burger with 2 servings of fries with extra sauce. I noticed that there was a vegetarian option. I think I’ll try next time!

 

MDR

We could not be happier eating in MDR. The food was so good that we ended up just cancelling our reservations in the specialty restaurants. The quality of meat is very good. The portion is very generous. If you get a change, try the “loaded mashed potatoes”. It was the star of the night. Special thanks to the pastry chef. I am not a very picky eater, but when it comes to desserts, I am very critical. For example, when you call something a creme brûlée, I expect to see a creme brûlée, not a cruise ship version of creme brûlée. On this ship, I ordered 2 desserts every night. Koningsdam totally delivered a fantastic selection of desserts. Thank you! The chocolate soufflé, crisps, dates pudding, key lime pie, just to name a few.

 

Royal Dutch Cafe

It was our first time to eat fries with peanut sauce. It was surprisingly good! I am going to try making it at home.

 

Room

We had an aft balcony room. I really liked the bathroom, especially the shower with no curtain! I enjoyed taking the shower at least twice a day. Since I am not very tall, I had no problem with the positioning of the toilet. The interactive TV menu worked really well. There are decent movies and shows to watch. We actually watched many BBC documentaries at night. One problem was that I witnessed our neighbor next door lighting up a cigarette (I could see it through the crack) on the balcony. Hopefully, the non-smoking message will reach over the course of next several months.

 

Entertainment

We enjoyed the skinny German guy a lot. He was excellent at improvising with the audience and made us laugh so many times. Frozen Land was an excellent production. I think it was the best entertainment for me. Having those projection screen surrounding the stage really works.

 

Captain/Director

The funny thing was I heard the captain’s voice more than the director’s on the ship. As a matter of fact, I didn’t find out the director’s name until the last day at the bingo. The ship was very quiet overall.

 

Disembarkation

We booked a transfer to FLL. It was a very smooth process. We were sitting at the airport before 10am. It was such a tease to leave FLL on such a beautiful sunny day…

 

I hope you find the review helpful. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kobeattle

Kobeattle

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Thank you for taking the time to write your review and impressions.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Did you ever find out why the luggage took so long to be delivered to the cabins?

 

Thanks! I was looking forward to writing the review.

 

We never found out the reason for the luggage delay. It could've been the heavy rain. Who knows. We had the main seating, so it never was a problem. We were joking that evening we were in Seattle sailing to Alaska. :rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jbhcw

jbhcw

Posted
Posted

Thanks for your review...lots of good info.....we sailed the Koningsdam Jan 8th and were unlucky enough to have some really bad weather:(

 

We also loved the ship....especially being served in the Lido...bet it's cutting down on the spread of germs!!

 

We have seen Hilby, the skinny German Juggler on the NA...and were so disappointed he wasn't on the K when we were. He puts on a good show!!

 

And lastly...I just was so impressed with Captain Bowland...we sailed with him to Hawaii several years ago...We saw him out and about during the whole cruise....and he did a great job of keeping us informed of the bad weather...missed ports and closed outside decks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jobinhume

jobinhume

Posted
Posted

I'm really glad to read this....my first trip on HAL is coming up in April and it's on this ship for 29 days.

 

So many of the complaints in the existing reviews about the look, getting served, etc. sound to me like people who aren't comfortable with change.

 

I am usually on Celebrity so the look of this ship really appeals to me.

 

I think we have a similar travel style based on your review. Thanks for all the details!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kobeattle

Kobeattle

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Very enjoyable review.

 

How were the ports?

 

For us, visiting the ports wasn’t the top priority this time, so I don’t have much to write about unfortunately. Throughout the cruise, the weather was ok at best except for San Juan (ironically not the beach day)

 

Grand Turk

A typical beach day. NA docked right next to K-dam around noon. After being back on the ship, we went out to the aft deck and checked NA out. Being side by side, it’s really easy to compare the two ships. I think that was really cool.

 

San Juan

In terms of weather, this was the best day. We just got off the ship, walked around, sat at a cafe and went back to the ship. The whole visit took just over an hour. We spent the rest of that afternoon relaxing at the Thermal Spa.

 

St-Thomas

We took the Magens Bay beach excursion because of the favorable 11am departure time. (I refused to get up with an alarm clock during this trip…) I much preferred Havensight to the other bay. There was a lot more going on. The weather was a little muggy with a lot of clouds. We really liked the soft sands on the beach. We had drinks, swam a bit, chatted with NCL passengers present at the beach, and went back to the ship.

 

Half Moon Cay

We saw a lot of clouds when we docked and the temperature was around 73-74F. This is what I was afraid of… Chilly weather in HMC. Well this is the chance we take in early February. Finally around 10:30 it felt warm enough to go to the beach. Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate, so we ended up giving away our clamshell to another couple and went back to the ship to warm up at the spa. I think it’s the universe saying, “You need to come back here again.” So we will happily oblige.

 

 

One unrelated thing:

HAL really seemed to be pushing the new “Privilege Program” onboard. We even talked to one of the associates and discussed the options a lot, but in the end just didn’t see the fit.

 

The thing is if we had a few thousand dollars to spend, we just go on a cruise, not a land vacation. “How about a 7-night vacation in Mexico?” we were asked… well, no thanks, I’d rather be on a ship with good food I can appreciate and water that I can drink without worries. We are not big spenders of “lifestyle merchandises”, either. So we decided against joining the program.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
iflyrc5

iflyrc5

Posted
Posted

Thanks so much for the excellent and detailed review. We are on the Rotterdam this year (boarding Sunday) but are trying out the Koningsdam for 21 days in Jan 2018 so this review really is great to help us plan for 2018.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kobeattle

Kobeattle

Posted
  • Author
Posted
You said you were sitting in the FLL airport by 10. What was the earliest time to begin the disembarkation? I'm wondering about flight times on the way home.

 

The earliest time slot for those who booked the FLL transfer was from 8:30 - 9:00. But there were earlier disembarkation groups starting around 7:30 for people staying at the suites, mariner 4/5 star members, and excursion groups. I think people disembarking independently were assigned later time slots after 9:30 or so.

 

Our bus left the terminal around 9:15 and at the airport by 9:30. Fortunately, we were taking a Virgin America flight at 11:55 and there was no lineup at the check-in counter. On the other hand, I saw a huge line for United. We had TSA pre-check also, which also reduced the time at the security. So I still wouldn't book a flight before 11:30.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Kobeattle

Kobeattle

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thanks...very helpful.

 

Did you mean you booked a transfer to Ft.Lauderdale airport from the ship?

At the front desk?

 

Yes it'a a pre-booked transfer to FL airport from the ship. We actually booked in advance with TA. We knew it would be a busy Sunday with 7-8 ships, so didn't want to take a chance even with an inflated price of $20 per person.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...