LIVE from the Koningsdam Holiday Sailing - Dec. 17th - Jan 7th - exploring my first Pinnacle Class ship 🤞

[kazu]

For last night the hot tub in the Lido pool was chilled and filled with champagne.

 

 

 

Sorry for the blueness - couldn’t fix it - that’s how it was.

there were little munchies passed out - apple fritters and other such goodies.

I confess - I wasn’t there for midnight - it was just too crowded - no place to sit - tables not cleared.  I just caught it and left.

[ger_77]

They're really cutting loose with the crackers!!!  

[kazu]

Here is today’s Daily:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Sea42]

2 minutes ago, kazu said:

For last night the hot tub in the Lido pool was chilled and filled with champagne.

 

 

 

Sorry for the blueness - couldn’t fix it - that’s how it was.

there were little munchies passed out - apple fritters and other such goodies.

I confess - I wasn’t there for midnight - it was just too crowded - no place to sit - tables not cleared.  I just caught it and left.

It sounds like a very festive evening!

Happy New Year!

[kazu]

1 minute ago, ger_77 said:

They're really cutting loose with the crackers!!!  

 

I know right?  😂 When they went to remove my bread and butter plate, I said no - I need that for the cheese. There’s barely a cracker on the plate.

 

Maybe that’s why I got a whole 3?  😂 

[kazu]

Ok, I NEVER do this and I don’t like taking pics or posting them of myself.  But a fellow casino player said I had to do it so I let her take my pic.

 

And WTH how often does this happen and believe me, I was owed. 😉 

 

What a way to bring in the New Year

 

 

 

[Sea42]

4 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

I know right?  😂 When they went to remove my bread and butter plate, I said no - I need that for the cheese. There’s barely a cracker on the plate.

 

Maybe that’s why I got a whole 3?  😂 

Oh, good strategy! For my cheese plates on my balcony I have to remember to score some bread from the Lido!

[Sea42]

2 minutes ago, kazu said:

Ok, I NEVER do this and I don’t like taking pics or posting them of myself.  But a fellow casino player said I had to do it so I let her take my pic.

 

And WTH how often does this happen and believe me, I was owed. 😉 

 

What a way to bring in the New Year

 

 

 

Excellent! Congratulations🎉🎉

[kazu]

So back tracking. - yesterday we were in Cabo and what a day we had.

 

3 of us decided to hunt for our own whale watching excursion.  and we found one - just 5 total on the boat (the 3 of us and a honeymoon couple).

 

OMG can you believe with my foot I managed to get in this boat?

 

[kazu]

We had an absolutely fantastic day.  Unbelieveable.

 

The boat moves so I couldn’t snap fast enough.  And sadly didn’t get the best pics but @Vict0rianngot some better ones so with luck, she will post some??

 

Anyways here’s the start of the day.

 

Arriving in Cabo ( after seeing a pile of whales from the Sea View area)

 

 

 

 

 

There were the Hal tenders

 

 

and the shore tenders.

 

We didn’t score the shore one for the way there but we did for the way back.

 

Pat and Ann were on the first one with me so we set off to find a whale excursion.  And what a good one we found.

 

[ger_77]

Congratulations!   That's the same one that DH was finding favour with on the Oosterdam!  I'll have to tell him, as I'm sure he'll seek it out on the Rotterdam in a couple of days.

[kazu]

our driver / pilot was wonderful - took us everywhere and even though I went to a few of the spots on my HAL tour last week, ….up close is amazing

 

 

 

 

 

One side of this spot is the Sea of Cortez and the other he Pacific Ocean. Wen ended up on both sides.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The obligatory ship pic 😉 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See the grey on the rocks?  Here they call it Mexican snow 😉 

 

[*Miss G*]

49 minutes ago, kazu said:

Ok, I NEVER do this and I don’t like taking pics or posting them of myself.  But a fellow casino player said I had to do it so I let her take my pic.

 

And WTH how often does this happen and believe me, I was owed. 😉 

 

What a way to bring in the New Year

 

 

 

 

OMG that is SO AWESOME!!!!  Congratulations!!!  🥰

[StLouisCruisers]

54 minutes ago, kazu said:

Ok, I NEVER do this and I don’t like taking pics or posting them of myself.  But a fellow casino player said I had to do it so I let her take my pic.

 

And WTH how often does this happen and believe me, I was owed. 😉 

 

What a way to bring in the New Year

 

 

 

 

Way to go, Jacqui!!

[Seasick Sailor]

@kazu

Jacqui you are making me nervous! I hope the service gets better. We really love the dining staff on Rotterdam and they are hard workers.

 

We only have 11 specialty dinners for the 35 days on the K. I hope it improves.

[VMax1700]

@kazuthe three crackers were a portent of what was to come!

Lady Luck has shone down on you at last.  A win and three crackers. 

💥   🚀

[Seasick Sailor]

15 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

@kazu

Jacqui you are making me nervous! I hope the service gets better. We really love the dining staff on Rotterdam and they are hard workers.

 

We only have 11 specialty dinners for the 35 days on the K. I hope it improves.

 

Oh no. No. No!

 

Our sweet Maitre d Artha just said the Konigsdam only has 4 stations upstairs in MDR. The Rotterdam has 9! 

[kazu]

And yes, we saw a baby seal, the mother close by, the infamous seal that travels on the back of boats. Pelicans and whales - lots of whales - mostly pods of 4.

 

Instead of taking pics, I was pointing with my mouth wide open.  So close (in Canada that is against the law)

 

These don’t even come close to what we saw.  I really started to feel guilty about being in the boats chasing the whales.

 

 

I circled them in this one = there were 4 but I was too slow

 

 

Diving back in.  I missed the breaches.  

 

 

Look for the spouts and you will find them and they come up.

 

 

 

 

Our boat had a little glass bottom portion and if we were in a fish area we could see them.

 

 

 

And when we got to the right spot - he gave us some stuff to feed them and they just milled around the boat.

 

 

 

 

 

[JazzyV]

@kazu Jacqui, congrats on the slots win!

[kazu]

7 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

 

Oh no. No. No!

 

Our sweet Maitre d Artha just said the Konigsdam only has 4 stations upstairs in MDR. The Rotterdam has 9! 

 

I am not impressed with the MDR on this ship nor the staffing.  I would do club Orange in a nano second over that g-awful dining room.  (I’m honest and call it like I see it).

 

I know I am not alone - I hear others complaining.  

Some things are nice on the ship but service in a number of areas is lacking IMO.

[REOVA]

51 minutes ago, kazu said:

Some things are nice on the ship but service in a number of areas is lacking IMO.

Yes and as stated before, we noticed it in 2019 so it's not really a "Covid" reason - for us. Our memories with HAL have always been smaller ships with the best crew whom you actually can have time to talk with and get to know (and then see on other ships) and they were happy and relaxed. On the new ships you can feel the stress from the crew (yes many are new) and their tension carrys over to the passenger experience. (We've witness managers tell servers not to spend too much time at the table and also had extended wait times, even getting water in Lido after initial sitting for a while. Many of the experienced crew will tell you they like the other ships better.) Obviously not everyone will notice this and we try to make the crew feel better with their hard work and their attempt to do the impossible, but for some reason the coordination on Pinnacle ships hasn't been there for HAL. We do hope it will get better for everyone's sake. 

[SusieKIslandGirl]

That’s a photo worth taking. Congrats on the big win and the proof it wasn’t a dream.

[BetsyS.]

Jacqui - Congratulations on the big win!  🥂 That's a great omen for the year ahead! 😊

Thanks for posting your wonderful pics.

[Chickadee910]

Thank you for all the intel on the koningsdam.we board on Saturday…glad to see you won. Glad to see a game I like too. I’m in the slot tournament,my first on ship. Good luck with your final bingo days. Happy New Year..

[mcrcruiser]

3 hours ago, kazu said:

Ok, I NEVER do this and I don’t like taking pics or posting them of myself.  But a fellow casino player said I had to do it so I let her take my pic.

 

And WTH how often does this happen and believe me, I was owed. 😉 

 

What a way to bring in the New Year

 

 

 

Jacqui did you win that amount .If so that is GREAT !! 😃 Looked at your picture of the hot  tub   New Years Eve . Can totally understand those big crowds .We took duck them  as well .Happy New Year😀

 

 Cliff