Feeling crowded on Nieuw Statendam and Koningsdam

[CRu1853!!]

Just looking for opinions from you all (southern a little) on whether or not you feel crowded on these ships. My DH and I have been on the Zaandam twice and the Nieuw Amsterdam once but that was only for 3 nights. 

Thanks

[Cruise Suzy]

We were on the Koningsdam for 11 nights in February - never felt crowded. Plenty of spaces in Lido (where we ate most meals), Pinnacle Grill (1 lunch and 1 dinner), Canaletto (1 dinner). No long lines at Grand Dutch Café, Deli, Dive-In or bars. Maybe our timing was responsible for that but we weren't ever the first or last to dine.

 

Plenty of space to browse the shops, art gallery, etc. Never had trouble finding a place to sit for shows or talks - and we never went especially early. Didn't use the pools, but as we walked through the pool areas, there seemed to be unoccupied lounges.

[canadianbear]

I’ve been on over 40 days on various cruises on the koningsdam and the only place it felt crowded was on sea days when it was hot out and no lounge chairs to use-this was the aft Sea View pool area.  Otherwise, never felt crowded at all.  

[Taters]

We loved our Baltic cruise on Koningsdam a couple of years ago.  It never felt crowded to us.  We love this ship!

[doone]

I was on the Koningsdam this past March, never once did I feel crowded, loved the ship........can't wait to sail the Nieuw Statendam in 2 years!!!!!!

[RedneckBob]

I felt crowded. Ships too small for number of passengers. Celebrity has same passenger load of several of their ships like the Equinox but ship has 25% more tonnage than HAL. Can really tell the difference in public areas.

[Mary229]

Yep.  I don't usually sail on ships larger than 1500 people and got a super deal on the Koningsdam.  We enjoyed our cruise, don't get me wrong, but vowed never to do a large ship again.  And by industry standards the Koningsdam isn't even large.   We were in line at the airport with a couple about our same age who had just gotten off of a ship of 6000 passengers and they were beaming about how great it was and they would nevvvvver sail on a small ship again.  Variety is indeed the spice of life.

[Tennessee Titan]

Very individually subjective. Impossible to interpret results/replies. IMHO I have never felt crowded on the NS or the K. I really did feel crowded on the Royal Princess....

[grsnovi]

I didn't feel crowded on K'dam and generally I don't like crowds.

[cayman09]

Just returned from a transatlantic on Nieuw Statendam and did not feel crowded except during the breakfast rush in the lido. That was solved by going to a very empty MDR or heading to the crows nest for a coffee prior to trying for a seat at breakfast in the lido. Dutch Cafe was also only sporadically busy.

[Wehwalt]

I did the premiere on the NS and also spent a week on her in March. I did not feel crowded. And I've been on many Princess and RCCI ships where I decidedly did.

[Fouremco]

We've had one ten-day cruise on the K'dam and it never felt crowded. Lots of people, but lots of ship too. We're booked for 2 weeks on the NS next month and are confident that we'll not feel crowded there either. These two ships have the lowest passengers-to-space ration in the HAL fleet, but use it well.

[sevenseasnomad]

Spent one week on the K in 2017, one week on NS during 2018 and will spend two weeks on NS this year.  Obviously, if these ships felt crowded to us, we wouldn't have repeated the experience nor would we be going back again this Christmas and New Year's. 

 

As others have said, people scatter, except for the Lido main pool area, which I avoid on all ships, large or small.  Both ships are lovely.  Be sure to visit the Dutch Café.  Wonderful treats.

[CRu1853!!]

Thanks for all of your opinions and ideas. 

[rkacruiser]

2 hours ago, Tennessee Titan said:

Very individually subjective. Impossible to interpret results/replies. IMHO I have never felt crowded on the NS or the K. I really did feel crowded on the Royal Princess....

 

December/January just past, I sailed on Royal Princess and Nieuw Statendam.  Your opinion of the "crowd" issue precisely is mine.  The Horizon Court/Bistro on Royal Princess, at prime meal time, is significantly more chaotic than such a time on Nieuw Statendam.  Prime time events on Royal Princess were also more crowded than on Nieuw Statendam.  (Leave your seat and you'd lose it.)

[Sunshineliving]

7 hours ago, CRu1853!! said:

Just looking for opinions from you all (southern a little) on whether or not you feel crowded on these ships. My DH and I have been on the Zaandam twice and the Nieuw Amsterdam once but that was only for 3 nights. 

Thanks

I was on NS in March and it felt crowed to me, even up in the Retreat. NA was great to me and a never felt crowed. 

[Lovely other]

As an extreme introvert I hate crowds. but having done 33 days on the Koningsdam and 14 on the N.Statendam neither felt crowded.  Yes there are areas that get busy , such as lido at midday and crows nest at happy hour, but nothing unpleasantly so. I’d be the first to avoid a return trip if it felt crowded and as I’m on the N.statendam in just over 2 weeks time you can guess I found it fine. 

[rj42]

A lot depends on the weather. If it's rainy or cold out, everybody stays inside and the Lido and other public areas get crowded. My solution is to bundle up and go where people aren't, particularly the outside promenade deck, or places like the deck 2 lounges by a window during the day. The buffet area between meals is also a good option, as is the Crow's Nest in the evening, or the Lido pool deck in the evening, where I can sit on a deck chair and read my Kindle in peace. If you want to avoid crowds, then you can eat dinner in the Lido or order room service or eat at 5:15 or after 8, avoid the buffet during lunch (order room service or grab a salad and sandwich or Dive-In burger), and wait until the initial crowds have gotten off the ship in ports. And when you disembark, either choose self-disembarkation and be the first off the ship (carrying your luggage), or wait until everyone else has gotten off. Those practices work for me both on 1500 HAL ships and the 3800 on the Norwegian Joy last week. 

[Copper10-8]

Was on the K-dam in March. The only time she felt semi-crowded was in the Lido Market on sea days for breakfast (still were able to find a seat) and, low and behold, in the Main Stage for the 10:00/10:15 second shows. And here I was made to believe that the HAL ships "died out" at 9:00 PM and everyone was in La La Land after a nice glass of prune juice

[Palm Bay Cruise Couple]

We have cruised on both the Koningsdam and the Nieuw Statendam and never felt the ship was crowded and the sailings were Sold Out.

[GlennG]

My wife and I traveled on the Koningsdam in January for 21 days.  We felt that the ship was crowded, cluttered, and congested; - particularly on the Lido Deck.  The Lido Market on sea days was really crowded, and the swimming pools have to accommodate many more people than the similar sized pools on the older ships.  Compared to the Vista Class ships, we felt a little uncomfortable on the Koningsdam.

 

We also found our balcony room to be smaller than corresponding rooms on Vista Class ships.

 

Then there is the congested and narrow promanade on Deck 3.  Space doesn't permit me to express our disappointment with Deck 3 of the Koningsdam.

[Mary229]

3 hours ago, GlennG said:

My wife and I traveled on the Koningsdam in January for 21 days.  We felt that the ship was crowded, cluttered, and congested; - particularly on the Lido Deck.  The Lido Market on sea days was really crowded, and the swimming pools have to accommodate many more people than the similar sized pools on the older ships.  Compared to the Vista Class ships, we felt a little uncomfortable on the Koningsdam.

 

We also found our balcony room to be smaller than corresponding rooms on Vista Class ships.

 

Then there is the congested and narrow promanade on Deck 3.  Space doesn't permit me to express our disappointment with Deck 3 of the Koningsdam.

You are so right, the pools, hot tubs and the promenade are not sufficient.  

[RMLincoln]

We were on K'dam for 3 weeks.  We found the feel of the ship mostly ok for us with a few exceptions.  Yes some times were more crowded in the Lido than other times so for breakfast we tended to take our meals outside and ate in the Dive-In seating - they served OJ and coffee there also during breakfast.  The hot tubs were crowded, most are quite small.  Our biggest complaint was that the MDR was very noisy, I don't think it was from crowding but from the fewer but larger serving stations which were always clattering with plates and silverware.  We had Open Dining so we were able to eat later when there were fewer diners and found that to be more pleasant for us, so maybe one could call it a crowding issue.   m--

[Himself]

The Lido can be crowded at Breakfast and lunch. I have been on the Nieuw Amsterdam, Koningsdam and her sister the Nieuw Statendam.  The only other time I felt crowded would have been at the Saturday Evening Mass on the Pinnacle Class ships.

[qoap24]

Just got off the NS on Sunday and the only time it felt crowded to us when we were in the Lido Market. We never went there for breakfast, but it did not seem to matter what time it was in the afternoon it was always cramped.  My group felt it was way too small and the aisle ways were not nearly big enough.