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

[Florida_gal_50]

Not that it matters too much but I believe the towel animals are only at the suite level nightly.  I did get them in a vista suite last time.  I’ve only gotten one so far.  Same with the chocolate.  Both on gala night.

[trk_koa]

We were in an ocean view deck 11 forward last week and had them every night. I think I does depend on how busy the steward is. Our steward told us he had just 15 cabins occupied. Only got chocolates once, however, on the first gala night. DH doesn’t like dark chocolate anyway so I got both😉

Edited March 11, 2022 by trk_koa

[zgscl]

6 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Not that it matters too much but I believe the towel animals are only at the suite level nightly.  I did get them in a vista suite last time.  I’ve only gotten one so far.  Same with the chocolate.  Both on gala night.

I was actually getting 2 a day for the first 3 or 4 days but now back to just at night. I had a collection going for a while but I had to start using them so I wouldn’t run out of space. 

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

In a Neptune, on deck 5, Konigsdam, and only got towel animal and chocolate on gala nights.  Passenger capacity on that sailing was 700. No rhyme nor reason I guess.

[DaveOKC]

3 minutes ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

In a Neptune, on deck 5, Konigsdam, and only got towel animal and chocolate on gala nights.  Passenger capacity on that sailing was 700. No rhyme nor reason I guess.

In my experience, the Neptunes NOT on the same deck as the Lounge and most of the other Neptunes do not get quite as good service for some reason.  I suspect that it is because the stewards only have 1 or 2 Neptune cabins and do nt keep up with all the little perks that they get.  Plus, I suspect that the Neptune cabin stewards are assigned based on experience and perhaps performance.

[CruiserBruce]

20 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

In my experience, the Neptunes NOT on the same deck as the Lounge and most of the other Neptunes do not get quite as good service for some reason.  I suspect that it is because the stewards only have 1 or 2 Neptune cabins and do nt keep up with all the little perks that they get.  Plus, I suspect that the Neptune cabin stewards are assigned based on experience and perhaps performance.

Agree. Was on the same cruise with @SJSULIBRARIAN ( and the following cruise) in a Deck 7 SA, and have received a towel animal, if not every night, almost every night. Chocolates only on Gala nights. On a previous Koningsdam cruise in a Deck 7 aft corner Neptune,  frequently missed Suite announcements and related stuff... the cabin attendants seemed to forget we were a suite. A conversation with the Neptune Lounge fixed that.

 

I have to note that on a Noordam cruise one time, the fact we were in a "hump" SB, around the corner from the SAs caused the same problem for a portion of a cruise.

[victory2020]

Have there been any comedians so far?

[CruiserBruce]

9 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

Have there been any comedians so far?

Yes. 

[zgscl]

1 hour ago, victory2020 said:

Have there been any comedians so far?

We have two onboard. I only listened to one for a couple minutes and didn’t laugh. I might try again tonight I heard from a few folks that one is excellent. 

[zgscl]

10 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Not that it matters too much but I believe the towel animals are only at the suite level nightly.

That could be but given HAL’s consistently inconsistent offerings I wouldn’t be surprised if it came down to the individual stewards preference. 

[DENIE]

We will be on this cruise on 12/3/2022, so following this post! Loving the pictures!

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Comedians seem to perform in the BB Kings venue. There were 2 on last week's cruise as well; probably the same.

[jhsocal]

Is there only one show at World Stage, at 8:30? 

[CruiserBruce]

11 hours ago, jhsocal said:

Is there only one show at World Stage, at 8:30? 

Frequently,  yes, with the low passenger loads.

[zgscl]

17 hours ago, SJSULIBRARIAN said:

Comedians seem to perform in the BB Kings venue. There were 2 on last week's cruise as well; probably the same.

This has been my experience since the restart. They do "Laughs at BB's" with one to two comedians on most nights. In Alaska we had 6 nights, this cruise it was every night except the first and last. I definitely missed out, one of them (AJ) is hysterical. The other one is good but I think he was on my Alaska cruise so I heard the material before. 

[zgscl]

14 hours ago, jhsocal said:

Is there only one show at World Stage, at 8:30? 

Yes that has been our experience this cruise. In November they had two but the ship was close to 50%. This time around it is just the one show time and we are at 40%. I did not see any of the main shows, but the EXC talks were empty. I could even find a seat in BB Kings when coming late to a show which is extremely rare. 

[zgscl]

Tuesday for breakfast I went to Club Orange. Service was efficient and attentive. I was relatively short on time (because the spa people found me and forced me to book a treatment at 9) so I just had a chocolate croissant and the bread pudding. The bread pudding is quite good and while it seems weird for breakfast it really isn't all that far off from french toast. 

 

 

 

 

After my spa appointment I went up to the cabana and had a parfait from the Dutch Cafe. The cabana attendants are always so wonderful and really take such good care of you when you are up here! 

 

 

For lunch I stayed in the cabana and ordered off of the Lido menu in the Navigator App. Sesame Tuna salad, tortellini & London broil. I have found the Lido food to be quite good this cruise. 

 

 

 

 

After returning to my stateroom mid day I found another new friend! 

[zgscl]

I actually ventured off the ship in Cabo San Lucas which I did not do last time. It was nice to actually step off the ship. We arrived early around 10 or 10:30  and they started tendering right away. I was really surprised that by 11:15 or so they announced open tendering and you could proceed directly to the gangway. It is so amazing what 40% occupancy does! 

 

I did the Deluxe Coastal Whale Watching tour which brought us by the arch & lovers beach and then out into the Pacific to find whales. The captain did a great job and we saw around 15 whales including their tails as they dived down. Really incredible to see though I was not fast enough on the camera. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[zgscl]

After a quick tender ride back to the ship I had an afternoon snack in the Grand Dutch Cafe. This is such a great venue and I will really miss it when I am on the Eurodam in July. The sandwich was hot and the fries were exceptionally hot. Both were very good, and I also had a chocolate chip cookie that was excellent but was sadly eaten before I could take a picture.

 

 

 

 

Around 3 they brought out the afternoon snacks for the cabanas including the fruit and cheese as well as frozen grapes and chocolate covered strawberries. Again I passed on the champaign but it was available for those who wanted it. 

 

[zgscl]

For dinner I went to Tamarind with some cruise friends that I met at lunch in the Pinnacle. To start with I had the Thai Beef Salad followed by the lamb. Both were wonderful. On the side are the crab fried rice & bok choy. For desert I tried the ice cream trio (lychee, lemon basil & yuzu lemon). 

 

 

 

 

 

Afterwards I had a craving for mac & cheese so I went over to the Club Orange to indulge. The waiter highly recommended the banana tatin which I tried though I was not really hungry at this point and didn't like it all that much anyway.

 

 

Back in my cabin I found my favorite towel animal so far! 

 

When & Where for Mazatlan

 

 

 

[canadianbear]

Looks like you’re having a great time!  I sure miss not doing the Mexico cruises these last couple of years.  Love Cabo and was great you saw whales!  
 

Nice you’re being spoiled in the cabana and having some spa time.  Enjoying your reports and photos! 
 

edited:  I do not like those scary monkey towels!!!  Lol 

Edited March 12, 2022 by canadianbear

[zgscl]

18 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

Looks like you’re having a great time!  I sure miss not doing the Mexico cruises these last couple of years.  Love Cabo and was great you saw whales!  
 

Nice you’re being spoiled in the cabana and having some spa time.  Enjoying your reports and photos! 
 

edited:  I do not like those scary monkey towels!!!  Lol 

I think the Mexico cruise is my new go to for the winter. As much as I like the Caribbean, it is so much easier to stay on the west coast. 
 

Full disclosure I had to put him away in order to go to sleep. 

[Sea42]

Yes, beware the evil monkeys

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Love those frozen grapes at the Retreat!!!!

[canadianbear]

4 hours ago, zgscl said:

I think the Mexico cruise is my new go to for the winter. As much as I like the Caribbean, it is so much easier to stay on the west coast. 
 

Full disclosure I had to put him away in order to go to sleep. 

Us too since we live on the wet, I mean, West Coast.  Easy flight for us.  I love San Diego too-very walkable & great restaurants.  
 

Ha ha, poor Mr Monkey!    
 

Hope to meet you one day on one of these cruises.