ZGSCL Live from the Koningsdam - Mexican Rivera - March 6, 2022

[zgscl]

Well I am off again with a trip identical to the last one since I enjoyed it so much. Looking forward to another great solo cruise. This was my first time using Flight Ease and so far, so good. They mashed my first name and middle name together with a Mr at the end of it which had me a bit nervous that it would not accept my TSA-Precheck. Happy to report that I received Pre-check with no issues whatsoever. Getting ready to board my flight and can't wait to be back onboard. For those who followed along last time - I will try really hard to not drop my phone in syrup at breakfast tomorrow. 

[dfish]

Enjoy!  I'm looking forward to all of your insights.

 

[kazu]

Always enjoy your “LIve reports”

 

Bon Voyage !  Have a great cruise and a WONDERFUL time !!!!!

[SilvertoGold]

Looking forward to your posts!  If not the phone, how about trying something else? :)

[ger_77]

Looking forward to tagging along with you!

[boards]

Thank you for taking us along on your cruise.

[zgscl]

3 hours ago, SilvertoGold said:

Looking forward to your posts!  If not the phone, how about trying something else? 🙂

Hopefully nothing electronic. At least I can use soap and water on my glasses. 

[canadianbear]

I snuck in your suitcase-don’t tell Mr Bear!  Lol 

 

Have a great time.  Will be following along.  
 

[zgscl]

I am happy to report that upon arrival in San Diego there was a HAL representative who greeted me at baggage claim and helped me with my excessive luggage collection over to the hotel shuttle. Easy checkin with only a couple folks ahead of me and my room was ready when I got to the hotel shortly after 3. 

 

 

The HAL representative was in the lobby at 5 and took down my room number and how many bags I have. Only 11 people staying pre-cruise at the hotel this week (she said that on a previous week week there were over 100 from HAL and over 100 from another cruise line). We will meet at 10:45 in the lobby and the hotel will be picking up luggage in the room at 9. This is the best part of the cruise hotel, having your bags magically disappear from your hotel room and reappear in your cabin onboard. 

 

I have great room. While not the suite I was upgraded to last time I have a much better view and should be able to see the Koningsdam sail in from my balcony if I manage to get up at 5 or 6 AM (very unlikely). 

 

 

 

 

 

[zgscl]

8 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

I snuck in your suitcase-don’t tell Mr Bear!  Lol 

 

Have a great time.  Will be following along.  
 

My lips are sealed! I probably have room in there. We took 5 to Alaska last year, so 4 should be no problem 

[canadianbear]

2 minutes ago, zgscl said:

My lips are sealed! I probably have room in there. We took 5 to Alaska last year, so 4 should be no problem 

Lol!  Mr Bear would know exactly what cruise I would be on just not who I went with 😂😂 

 

Glad your arrival in San Diego went well. It is wonderful for you to be able to put our your luggage at hotel and see it again on board.  Well worth it-especially if you have lots!

 

Nice photos.  Enjoy your evening and wake up early to take photos of your ship arriving! 

[leerathje]

We arrived in San Diego about an hour ago....see you on board!

 

L.

[zgscl]

1 hour ago, leerathje said:

We arrived in San Diego about an hour ago....see you on board!

 

L.

Glad you made it! See you soon! Hopefully we all have a very easy boarding process. 

[Florida_gal_50]

Your ship has arrived 

[Cate1]

Fun , thanks for posting.. traveling solo from San Diego in March.. Cate

[zgscl]

Well I did not manage to wake up in time to see the ship come in this morning, but it is a beautiful 61 degrees and sunny here in San Diego. Everyone keeps complaining about how cold it is (the HAL rep who met me at the airport was very concerned that I was not wearing a jacket). After the last few months in Seattle this weather is really perfect.   

 

At first glance I couldn't spot the ship at all but after putting on my glasses I found it! 

 

As I was headed down to breakfast at 9:15 the bellman came and took my luggage. It really is such a luxury having it transported for you. Now if only HAL will bring back the luggage direct service for ship to airport transfers.

I decided not to risk the french toast today and went with a breakfast burrito. I managed to take a picture without getting any catchup, salsa or potatoes on my phone. The breakfast burrito was good. Should be headed downstairs in about 10 minutes to meet our small group and head over to the ship. 

[SilvertoGold]

Very good, an excellent start to the day :) Now for embarkation, hope it is smooth and easy.

[leerathje]

The things you see on a sailaway!

 

L.

[DAllenTCY]

San Diego does have a ship to home airport luggage service.

 

Perhaps you should ask Guest Services about it.

 

I'm sure that the flight choices are limited; however, It is something that I see (more of the longer voyages than your 7 night one) often.

 

David

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

I debarked the Konigsdam this morning - a wonderful 7- day cruise on a near empty ship  (a little over 700 passengers I was told). Hope to put together my thoughts and write a brief review in the next few days.

[zgscl]

47 minutes ago, DAllenTCY said:

San Diego does have a ship to home airport luggage service.

 

Perhaps you should ask Guest Services about it.

 

I'm sure that the flight choices are limited; however, It is something that I see (more of the longer voyages than your 7 night one) often.

 

David

Thanks for the info! I’ll have to ask about that 

[zgscl]

2 hours ago, leerathje said:

The things you see on a sailaway!

 

L.

Oh I absolutely love this! I should have ventured up to the top deck for sail away!

[quilty964]

Enjoy your cruise!  Wave to our DD and DSIL....they are staying in Cabo this week! 🙂

 

[Love the beach]

Bon Voyage! Thanks for taking me along.....

[zgscl]

Good Evening from the Pacific Ocean! I was going to post yesterday but somehow my trip of doing nothing has been quite busy! I am so happy to be back onboard the Koningsdam. Most of the crew I met last cruise are headed home over the next few weeks and for several this is their last cruise. The timing couldn't have been better and I love catching up with old friends! I am always amazed at the memory of the crew members. They see so many guests every week and will still greet you by name months later. 

 

Transfer & Embarkation
We were advised to meet in the hotel lobby at 10:45 for our bus transfer. 9 of the 11 people were there right on time or within a couple minutes. The last two came down at 11:03. I guess there is one in every group. After they got onboard we departed for the pier and arrived around 11:10. One of my favorite things about departing from San Diego is how close the airport & hotel are to the pier. It makes everything so easy. It is also a pretty drive and if you sit on the right side of the bus you get a nice view of the ship on the way over. 

 

 

 

With only 11 of us there was no wait for the health screening. For some reason my boarding pass would not scan so they pulled me up by name and printed out a receipt paper to use instead. They checked my proof of vaccination and negative test and I was off to security screening which also had no line. After security I went to the kiosk for checkin. Just like last time there was someone there to operate the kiosk. The facial recognition technology worked well and they took a picture of my passport. The whole process from entering the building to completing check in took no more than 10 minutes including being behind two very slow couples in the security line. 

 

The ship was not quite ready for us so we waited in a large room with areas for each boarding group. There were probably 100 or so folks there waiting to board. Get a seat outside of the group A area on the opposite side of the building from the ship and you can be among the first out of the room. At 11:30 or so they announced they were ready and we were off. I was probably the 5th or 6th person to get on after bypassing the embarkation photographers. 

 

Last time we went upstairs and over the jetbridge type gangway (not sure the technical term when it is a ship), but this time we went on to deck A. 

 

The only problem I had with embarkation is that after getting off the mid-ship elevators and walking aft I was greeted with the quarantine zone door. No problem, I walked over to the other side and unfortunately that side is closed too. Deck 4 aft can only be accessed via the aft elevators. So I had to go back to the midship elevators (which you cannot catch because they are all being used for embarkation). For me it was no problem to take the stairs down and then go aft, but for some this would have been a problem. Given that there was a crew member in the elevator asking for our deck and taking us there, it would have been nice if they checked the room number and told us to get off at deck 3 and go back. 

 

For reference the area that is closed off is from 4120-4146 and 4135-4167.