Koningsdam January 15, 2017 Western Caribbean

[BBT]

This is not a review so much as a description of my experience and thoughts of my Western Caribbean Cruise on Ms Koningsdam January 15 - January 22, 2017. I didn`t experience everything so this is limited to what I did.

 

I have cruise HAL before but it was 15 years ago on the previous Westerdam. I may make note now and then of changes/differences I noticed.

 

I chose this cruise primarily because of the cost. I cruise solo and this was the best price I could find. I just wanted to get away and the ship/itinerary itself really didn`t matter.

 

Embarkation at Port Everglades was smooth. Pretty fast too it seemed. I was in Group 15 for boarding and I don`t feel I waited all that long. There was a large Christian group sailing on this cruise which boarded pretty early and even so it didn`t seem to impact boarding speed much at all.

 

Once onboard the first difference I noticed between 15 years ago and now was that there was no HAL crew member dressed in traditional garb & white gloves escorting me to my room. Pretty much just pointed in the right direction. No real big deal. But a difference.

 

My cabin was inside on Deck 6 starboard aft.The cabin itself was nice and big enough for me. Lots of storage. Two people should have been comfortable. Nice big shower. Room for two! Only a little bench/stool for seating though. That`s a negative in my book.

 

But. Here is a little slip from what I expected from HAL. Found and old tea bag in a bedside drawer. Who leaves a tea bag in a drawer? And why wasn`t it found & removed prior? Also the little liner for the fruit basket was dirty with pieces of old dried fruit and skins. That shouldn`t ever happen either.

 

Other than those things I was fine with my cabin. My cabin steward was great as well and handled any requests promptly.

 

I found the ship itself to be quite nice. The layout was generally pretty easy to navigate. I only got turned around a couple times.

 

Food. Overall food was quite good. Only had one main dining room meal that wasn`t so good. Weiner Schnitzel was tasteless. Blah.

 

I found the coffee on this HAL cruise to be much better than it was 15 years ago. A nice improvement. The best coffee of the cruise was the French press coffee in The Pinnacle Grill.

 

I only ate in the main dining room 3 times during the cruise. Usually was able to just walk up when I wanted and get seated. Might an advantage of sailing solo.

 

I found the main dining room to be very bright. It seemed pretty spacious to me. But it didn`t feel special like I have experienced on other ships. Also curious at noting that some tables had very cheap salt and pepper shakers. An odd thing to note but when trying to give the ambiance of fine dining it is something I noticed.

 

Other food options:

 

The New York Deli pizza was very good. I wanted to have more of it but was never hungry enough (another good thing, or bad thing if you want to try out different eating experiences). I liked the hot dogs from Dive In as well.

 

The Lido Market buffet was good. Different ffrom other ships where you serve yourself but here they have servers behind the counters getting & preparing food for you. This worked pretty well for the most part., Popular stations could be slow. The stations are set up t showcase different foods, like sweets and fruit, baked goods, sushi and Asian, more traditional American, salads, ice cream and so on. Everything I had was quite tasty and no complaints at all regarding the food. One thing I didn`t like is that there were no trays. Made it hard to get foods from different stations & sit down to eat at one time. I would get a salad then have to go get my main meal separately.

 

For the most part the servers were quick to get you drinks when you sat down and quick to clear and re-set tables, Good marks.

 

One highlight from the Lido Market was a mid-afternoon snack I had. Fresh carved roast beef on a deli bun. Really good. Nice and tender meat and cooked just right.

 

I liked the salads they would make to order. Lots of variety available. And as big or small as you would like.

 

I did two specialty restaurants:

 

Pinnacle Grill. Oh so good! I had been craving a good steak for some time and I was not disappointed here at all. Excellent filet cooked just right. I really enjoyed it. The wine recommendation was spot on. Only mistake here was mine. I initially ordered the large filet and then my server suggested the 5 oz lobster tail. Sure! I should have switched to the small filet. With the sides and appetizer I was stuffed and could not quite finish my steak. Almost criminal.

 

The decor and ambience were what one would expect in a nice old-style steak house. Great service as expected. Big thumb up.

 

Canaletto. This one is a little mixed. First the food. Again, excellent. I had the seafood alfredo, with a really good salad before hand. The wine recommendation was again on the money. I recommend eating here.

 

Canaletto features plates that are meant for sharing. They had no problem cutting portions down to a single size for me.

 

Where Canaletto let me down is primarily its location forward of the Lido Market. This made it noisy and there was a lot of traffic walking by in the corridor. A lot of trays and carts running by from the Lido Market kitchen and prep areas. I felt a little too much on display which I don`t like. If they could maybe close off the corridor walls a little bit would maybe enhance the atmosphere a little.

 

Entertainment:

 

This is the area I felt most let down on this cruise.

 

Koningsdam is a music themed ship and that is reflected by the lounges along Music Walk on Deck 2.

 

Let me first say that all the musicians I saw were very good. I have nothing bad to say about them or the talent. There is also a good variety acommodating many tastes.

 

My first complaint is that there isn`t enough music going on. Shows are generally short, 45 minutes.

 

The best music show was the two pianists in Billboard Onboard. They were great and this was reflected by their shows being the best attended. Each set would have a differrent theme with the late night request show being their best show. They interacted with the crowd really well and did some great improvisations. A+ for these guys.

 

Queen`s Lounge/BB King`s Blues Club featuring the BB King`s Blues Club All Star Band. This was my biggest disappointment with the music. I suppose it was my own fault expecting such a venue and band name to provide me with blues music, which I love. Nope. The whole week I only heard two blues songs. Otherwise, Motown, Earth, Wind and Fire, Prince and so on. No knock on these guys for their abilities. Great musicians and singers. Just not what I wanted and expected to hear. But I was in the minority. Most people that stopped by here enjoyed them and there were a lot of people dancing to the music. I heard from a crew member that the band is told to play certain selections to staisfy the customers. Mission accomplished.

 

The Lincoln Center Stage. This one surprised me in how much I enjoyed the performances here. I am no classical or chamber music aficionado but the 5 young ladies performing here were very good in my mind. I liked how they added some more contemporary tunes to the mix. Too bad some casino noise from the deck above trickled down the staircase.

 

The Ocean Bar I found odd. I didn`t see much ever going on in here. A pianist a couple nights. He was good and played a continuous strings of tunes when he was on. I found the venue oddly laied out, with the bar and one seating area separated from the piano area by a wall. The area near the piano also suffered from engine noise. To me this venue may be too big for its intended use.

 

i only saw one main theatre show - a magician. I liked his show and thought he gave a great performance. I sat on the aisle slightly to left of the stage pretty much in the middle of the theatre, Very good sightlines.

 

A note on some things that weren`t there or maybe I missed them. No real sail away party. They announced one but it seemed so low key as to miss it. Was there one?

 

Also a couple times leaving ports of call it was announced therre would be drinks of the day and hors d'ouvres at the Sea View Pool. I never saw anybody going around with trays of food.

 

Speaking of pools, why was there rarely a band playing near either the Lido Pool or the Sea View Pool? There was space and equipment in place for them. Instead at the Sea View Pool they used the obvious space for a second, temporary bar and then the steel drum player would have to set up top the side when he did play. Piped in music otherwise. Disappointing.

 

I was happy that HAL has done away with formal nights and are instead going with Gala Nights. While I certainly won`t begrudge people dressing up if that`s what they like I am glad it isn`t mandatory. I did see a good number of people dressed up on these nights, including a fair number of gowns and tuxes. On another sailing I might have been inclined to join them.

 

As usual the crew members were great. Always smiling and polite and with a greeting whenever they saw you. This is something that helps make cruising so enjoyable.

 

I may be missing a few things. A few things I wanted to do but missed out because I timed it wrong, like a few shows in the main theatre. Some of my ratings seem low but really those are mostly ones I didn`t use (like fitness) so can`t assess them.

 

Overall, I enjoyed my cruise. It was good to get away to the sunny Caribbean while home was cold and snowy. It just wasn`t the best cruise I have been on.

 

My conclusion is that HAL & I are not much of a match.

[Cruizer Bill]

That was a wonderful review! Thanks for sharing your cruise experience with us. I have not been on the Kdam yet but your reactions are identical to mine from the Eurodam.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

Many of the changes you noticed have been happening for several years now.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[erewhon]

Thank you for describing your cruise experience.

[djhsolara]

We're just off Koningsdam this past Sunday and will review soon.

 

Funny though, that we noticed the exact same thing about the salt and pepper shakers in the MDR. Sitting there, I said "why do we have dollar store salt and pepper shakers". It's like they forgot to order them.

 

 

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[Clarea]

Thanks for the informative feedback.

[jhsocal]

Thank you for that comprehensive review. Based on other threads, changes in Ocean Bar will eventually affect other HAL ships. The combos that played dance music are gone. Were the piano players there on a regular basis?

[kftw]

Thank you for posting a review.

[easyboy]

It was nice knowing your different experience from 15 years back.

I am glad that despite your recent cruise lacking on some aspects than before, you still enjoyed it.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

[BBT]

Thank you for that comprehensive review. Based on other threads, changes in Ocean Bar will eventually affect other HAL ships. The combos that played dance music are gone. Were the piano players there on a regular basis?

 

In Ocean I only saw the piano player a couple of times. Just might have been timing as this was not a venue I was particularly interested in. Most evenings piano was 5:30 to 6:15 and 6:45 to 8:45. The venue was used for other events during the cruise as well.

 

As to the two piano players in Billboard Onboard played almost every night, but the times could vary. Some nights three shows, others only two. Each set would highlight a different musical theme or genre. The last set each night was usually requests, which were very well attended. I enjoyed these guys.

 

This venue is also used for other activities, as is usual on most ships.