The Inside Cabin - Live on the Koningsdam Coastal California

[zgscl]

9 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

The specialty dining has been excellent.  I did tamarind Sunday and canaletto last night. I had originally planned to go back to the tamarind tonight but I enjoyed canaletto so much I'm going back tonight.  I had the crab risotto you liked so much and it was excellent.  Well worth it.  When I got there the hostess greeted  me by name.  I first met her on the n Amsterdam and she remembered me from there.  She is without  doubt the nicest person I've ever met on hal.

 

I feel the service is better in club orange.  I've only been there at breakfast.  It was a zoo yesterday but apparently they got slammed all ar once.

Oh I am so glad you liked the crab risotto! I will be having it again Sunday. Great to hear about Club Orange. For next week I am planning 6 nights specialty dining and one night in Club Orange just to say I tried it. The menus have been quite uninspired and I would rather just pay for the specialty dining which I love. Trying Tamarind and Sel de Mer for the first time. Can't wait to meet the hostess at Canaletto, she sounds lovely. 

[zgscl]

6 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Self assist can leave whenever they choose - in the first group along with the 4/5 stars etc

Did you see anything about luggage direct/port valet type service available? I have heard mixed reports of it being available or not in San Diego. 

[waASPCrusier]

12 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Self assist can leave whenever they choose - in the first group along with the 4/5 stars etc

Thank you.

[CruiseMGM]

13 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

My accounting has been perfect.   Beverage package working correctly.   No beverage charges ever appear.  
 

Cant get photos to appear here.   There are loading on Twitter.   Check em out here

 

https://twitter.com/theinsidecabin/status/1458232647839330307?s=21

 

Thanks for the link! I saw you went to Notes for the Scotch tasting? How did that go? Do you pick and choose one or two from each location (American, Scotland, etc.)? DH is V-E-R-Y interested in this! 😄

 

Thanks in advance, enjoying your review and pictures!

[Florida_gal_50]

8 hours ago, zgscl said:

Oh I am so glad you liked the crab risotto! I will be having it again Sunday. Great to hear about Club Orange. For next week I am planning 6 nights specialty dining and one night in Club Orange just to say I tried it. The menus have been quite uninspired and I would rather just pay for the specialty dining which I love. Trying Tamarind and Sel de Mer for the first time. Can't wait to meet the hostess at Canaletto, she sounds lovely. 

I may get to dinner at club orange tonight.  It’s going to be tight.  I have a 7 hour excursion to Sonoma today that starts at 1:30.  I’m either going to be super grumpy and eating pretzels for supper that I brought with me or try club orange for supper.  Sel de mer has been booked solid this whole week.  It was very good on the n statendam. The mdr menus have not been exciting.  The extra entree appeared to be the Mac and cheese the other day 🙄.

[zgscl]

34 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I may get to dinner at club orange tonight.  It’s going to be tight.  I have a 7 hour excursion to Sonoma today that starts at 1:30.  I’m either going to be super grumpy and eating pretzels for supper that I brought with me or try club orange for supper.  Sel de mer has been booked solid this whole week.  It was very good on the n statendam. The mdr menus have not been exciting.  The extra entree appeared to be the Mac and cheese the other day 🙄.

Fingers crossed for making it back in time!! Mac and cheese as an extra entree is truly not exciting. Maybe the lobster Mac from Pinnacle would meet that threshold but short of that I would be unimpressed 

[figmentdj]

15 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

My accounting has been perfect.   Beverage package working correctly.   No beverage charges ever appear.  
 

Cant get photos to appear here.   There are loading on Twitter.   Check em out here

 

https://twitter.com/theinsidecabin/status/1458232647839330307?s=21

Remind us please, which Beverage package you had.

[Sir PMP]

2 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I may get to dinner at club orange tonight.  It’s going to be tight.  I have a 7 hour excursion to Sonoma today that starts at 1:30.  I’m either going to be super grumpy and eating pretzels for supper that I brought with me or try club orange for supper.  Sel de mer has been booked solid this whole week.  It was very good on the n statendam. The mdr menus have not been exciting.  The extra entree appeared to be the Mac and cheese the other day 🙄.

I'm from Napa, you will have at least 16 wine tastings in you...🍷

[cruise kitty]

21 hours ago, The-Inside-Cabin said:

Its working fine for browsing and emails.    Can't get any photos to upload to cruise critic, but that may be a cruise critic thing.    I am going to try uploading some photos to my blog.   I did upload a massive you tube file earlier, that went thru - albeit slow.   Soooooo....it's probably OK for 90% of most of your needs..

 

I seem to be getting better results using Microsoft Edge rather than Chrome.....

thank you so much for your reports so far...  may I ask, do all of the cabins have nightly turn down/cleaning service....  a poster mentioned this only being in Neptune suites...I will be shocked if this is true.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, cruise kitty said:

thank you so much for your reports so far...  may I ask, do all of the cabins have nightly turn down/cleaning service....  a poster mentioned this only being in Neptune suites...I will be shocked if this is true.

I know you didn't ask me but I'm on the koningsdam.  Nope once a day cleaning.  Morning or night.  I have a regular balcony. I wanted it last night so I put my tag out and they did it.  I wanted them to open the chocolate vault too so I could get my first chocolate as I was told only on gala nights.  I've made another request by paper since I heard yesterday that you could get them daily.  I'll see what happens.

[The-Inside-Cabin]

3 hours ago, cruise kitty said:

thank you so much for your reports so far...  may I ask, do all of the cabins have nightly turn down/cleaning service....  a poster mentioned this only being in Neptune suites...I will be shocked if this is true.

Our cabin attendant asked us the first day if we wanted twice a day service.   We said yes and have been getting normal service except for chocolates and towel animals only on gala night.   
 

I guess service varies by zone.   Unusual. 
 

here is what we got last night on the gala night. 
 

we are in 5160.  Regular verandah 
 

Edited November 10, 2021 by The-Inside-Cabin

[The-Inside-Cabin]

5 hours ago, figmentdj said:

Remind us please, which Beverage package you had.

Signature beverage package 

[VMax1700]

On Eurodam in Med during October, turn down was twice a day, chocolates every night, but no towel animals. 

[Florida_gal_50]

13 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

On Eurodam in Med during October, turn down was twice a day, chocolates every night, but no towel animals. 

I think I'd have a better chance getting crackers than chocolates 😉

[VMax1700]

6 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I think I'd have a better chance getting crackers than chocolates 😉

😂

[cruise kitty]

Thank you @The-Inside-Cabin , @VMax1700, & @Florida_gal_50 for the replies,  we will let cabin attendant know first day we would like twice daily service, but no chocolate lol 😉.   

 

We have pre paid tips, but normally tip a little extra as we go along....  since 2X daily service is now optional, should we tip extra daily upon turn down, or is this offensive, & should we wait until end?   Haven't been on HAL in a while....

[RuthC]

18 minutes ago, cruise kitty said:

We have pre paid tips, but normally tip a little extra as we go along....  since 2X daily service is now optional, should we tip extra daily upon turn down, or is this offensive, & should we wait until end?

People who leave extra tips customarily leave them at the end of the cruise. The last night, or earlier that day, is generally the time. 

[zgscl]

4 hours ago, RuthC said:

People who leave extra tips customarily leave them at the end of the cruise. The last night, or earlier that day, is generally the time. 

This is exactly what I do 

[VMax1700]

7 hours ago, cruise kitty said:

since 2X daily service is now optional, should we tip extra daily upon turn down, or is this offensive, & should we wait until end?   Haven't been on HAL in a while....

As far as I am concerned twice daily service is not optional but is the default.  Certainly, we were not asked if we wanted twice daily or only once.  Also I would not give extra tips on the basis of the evening service being an additional optional service, but on the basis that I expect twice daily service. If the two services then became perfunctory, I would not give any extra tips. 

[Caribbean Chris]

Just off Rotterdam’s first US departure (a 5-day with only 800 passengers on board, as it turned out) in a Vista suite with Club Orange added. Stateroom service was twice daily without any discussion. Pillow chocolates only second night out. Towel animals nightly. 

[The-Inside-Cabin]

If you want to print something on the ship you have 3 options - bring your own printer - which I have done on longer cruises.   (canon pixma TR 150 is my favorite)   Email the attachment to the front desk and they will print it for you. Or open your email in the crows nest which has a printer attached.  
 

I needed to print out something but the ships internet was so bad (in port!) I could not get a 2 mb attachment to successfully send.   If you can't figure out how to deliver fast internet at pier 27 in San Francisco - somethings wrong.  
 

Aside from that - great cruise and great service    
 

A great evening in SF overlooking the SeaView pool       (PS ....I am posting this from my cell phone) 

 

[dchip]

Good Wifi is the only thing Princess has over HAL in my opinion. We cruised from Pier 27 last week. Wifi was fast then and the entire cruise to Ensenada and back. Our 2019 South Pacific cruise on the Amsterdam was hideous when it came to Wifi. We had no service for several days on the way back from Nuka Hiva. 

[Florida_gal_50]

I've had no problems with the internet.  To me it seems the same as it's been on any other cruise.  That said, I don't upload pics or videos and I haven't opened emails with attachments so I can't speak to that.  I'm just happy with it working because I had concerns with everyone reporting how bad it was.

 

Because I got back so late last night I ate at club orange.  It was really good.  I would definitely purchase it again.  It's been really worth it for breakfast.

[canadianbear]

16 minutes ago, dchip said:

Good Wifi is the only thing Princess has over HAL in my opinion. We cruised from Pier 27 last week. Wifi was fast then and the entire cruise to Ensenada and back. Our 2019 South Pacific cruise on the Amsterdam was hideous when it came to Wifi. We had no service for several days on the way back from Nuka Hiva. 

I’ve been reading various reports of not great wifi experiences.  We have a long cruise booked next year to the South Pacific and I was thinking whether to purchase internet or relax and go without.   Sounds like it would be a waste of money.  

[The-Inside-Cabin]

17 minutes ago, dchip said:

Good Wifi is the only thing Princess has over HAL in my opinion. We cruised from Pier 27 last week. Wifi was fast then and the entire cruise to Ensenada and back. Our 2019 South Pacific cruise on the Amsterdam was hideous when it came to Wifi. We had no service for several days on the way back from Nuka Hiva. 

Internet was better on the Amsterdam on the 2020 world - which isn't saying much.     Internet is OK for light web browsing and email.