Live and Life from Koningsdam on her Mexican New Year's voyage

[summer slope]

Bon voyage. 

[shipshapegirl]

Have a great trip!

[lobsternight]

Have a great cruise, will be following as I just booked on Koningsdam

[rwmiller]

See you onboard. The boarding process was smooth as silk and we were in our stateroom 35 minutes after leaving our hotel room. 
 

Bob

[highland cruiser]

Have a wonderful cruise. We are on the Koningsdam in January to,Hawaii.  Our first time on this ship.  Can’t wait!

[dchip]

BON VOYAGE!!!!!!

[albingirl]

Love to follow along! Bon voyage!

 

 

[erewhon]

@Copper10-8  John,  Thank you for taking time to write a "live from"   thread.   

Wishing you both  a wonderful cruise.

[SDARCH]

4 hours ago, rwmiller said:

See you onboard. The boarding process was smooth as silk and we were in our stateroom 35 minutes after leaving our hotel room. 
 

Bob

agree. This was tan excellent boarding process. 40 minutes from living room to stateroom. Latest we have ever boarded. The ship seems packed. 

[Nickelpenny]

10 minutes ago, SDARCH said:

agree. This was tan excellent boarding process. 40 minutes from living room to stateroom. Latest we have ever boarded. The ship seems packed. 

I was WAY early for my boarding time 2:30 but they said it was open boarding. So I went in about 11:30   Waited patiently for my J group to be called. All board by 1pm and I was sipping drinks by 1:30!!!!

[DAllenTCY]

Not "Open Boarding" at 11:30 am.  There is a difference from the terminal being available to enter as in the "terminal is open".....and going onboard.

 

As far as I can recall today's Group E (12:50pm) and F (1:10pm) were called to board the ship about 15 minutes prior to their scheduled "times".  Then "Open Boarding" was announced to all present after check-in about 1pm.

 

There may have been 300 people in the terminal at 11am; however, they would have been seated in "A", "B", "C", "D", etc. groups until that group was called to board.

 

David.

 

 

[Sharon in AZ]

Bon Voyage to you and your bride!  Enjoy!

[Copper10-8]

THU 29 DEC 22 - Leaving for San Diego

 

Left home at around 1000 hrs. after saying goodbye to our 12-year-old cat Stiv, not a happy camper we’re on a road trip, and Maria’s mum who’s house/cat sitting, and got on the 110 (Harbor Fry northbound. But first made the obligatory stop for a cup o’ Joe at the local SB’s. Transitioned to the 405/I-5 southbound. Traffic was surprisingly light for a weekday but that changed after an hour when we arrived in the San Clemente/San Onofre area where it was stop and go due to volume. That happened twice more near Oceanside and Encinitas (traffic collision in the northbound lanes so, naturally, lookie loos in our lanes) That all added to our driving time, and we arrived at the Broadway Pier at 1230 hours to drop off our baggage with one of the porters.

 

We then made our way to Aladdin’s multi-story parking garage on Kettner where we found a nice spot for the Bayerische Motoren Werke, AG X-5 who had handled the road trip very well while alluding any lurking Chips along the way. Aladdin provides a free shuttle to the pier in all about 10 minutes, a pretty comfy experience. Btw, taxis with passengers ARE allowed inside the Broadway Pier lot to drop off the latter, I asked one of the traffic directors. Good thing to remember for April!

 

We entered the Broadway cruise terminal proper where the eastern portion is a taped off "slinky" path where you first show your picture I.D, and boarding pass to an agent and then go through airport-like X-ray machines operated by contract security. Had a short conversation with the friendly operator and learned that the former HAL SECO, first name Mike, no longer runs the security operation at the San Diego cruise ship piers. After security, we moseyed in a westerly direction through said terminal for the actual check in process which via the “fast lane’ assisted by another friendly agent who looked us up in her laptop. She actually used our head shot I.D. pictures from our last cruise in August so we could by-pass the still relatively new "facial recognition" machines.

 

Your actual /ship's I.D./room key is in a sealed envelope in the mail slot outside your cabin. Last up was the obligatory welcome aboard pics by K-dam’s photo staff before boarding HAL lead Pinnacle-class ship via an escalator and the shoreside/airport like retractable gangway. Even though the “slinky process” tends to look intimidating when you first enter the terminal building, the entire process before boarding took all of twenty minutes! Certainly not bad; thanks San Diego

 

Our cabin is on Shubert deck, starboard side, smack caddy corner from the Neptune Lounge where concierge Vinnie from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil “resides” and does one heck of a job keeping their guests happy. Since it was now lunch time, we accomplished that on Deck 3 mid-ships at the Grand Dutch Café where we each had a “Broodje Kroket” and a cup of “Erwten soep”, Dutch split pea soup. Had that really good lunch and then strolled to our muster station, 3C where a crew member (Moyo, one of the shoppies in real life) gave us a short and sweet brief with instructions to watch the onboard “Safety at Sea” video and listen to the captain’s safety speech over the P/A. This is the current “Covid-style” muster procedure on HAL which eliminates large groups getting together and standing in very close proximity to one another. Btw, your TV channel is set to that safety brief, and one is unable to change channels until after you watch/listen to the entire brief; good idea!

 

Our two stateroom stewards are Putu from the beautiful island of Bali, the lead, and his assistant Aris from Jakarta, the capital and largest city on Java, the world’s most populous island, who together have 28 cabins on Shubert Deck assigned to them. By the time we got back from lunch and muster, our valises had arrived so time to unpack and put away stuff. Btw, Koningsdam is named for the current King (Koning in Dutch) of the Netherlands, Willem Alexander, hence the portrait of him and his very nice looking wife, Maxima, originally from Argentina.

 

Around 3:15 PM, Captain Robert Jan Kan came on over the ship’s P/A system with his safety announcement as well as our departure and route info once leaving Point Loma behind us, making a hook shank to port, and heading southbound towards Mehjeeko. At around 4;30 PM, Koningsdam let go of her lines and shoved off her berth with Capt. Robert Jan (great name) backing his big ship up, turning her around in San Diego Bay, being vewy, vewy careful not to back her into the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and, joined last week by one of her big sisters, USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), both berthed at their home port, NAS North Island.

 

He then followed the perimeter of that same Naval Air Station North Island, passing Naval Base Point Loma (working on a nuclear attack sub inside auxiliary floating dry dock "Arco" ARDM-5) and old Point Loma lighthouse on our starboard side, and headed towards the Pacific Ocean where the San Diego harbor pilot was dropped off on his fast boat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Copper10-8]

THU 29 DEC 22 - Leaving for San Diego (con't)

 

We decided on dinner tonite inside the Lido Market. Why? Because in the “Distant Land” section of same, they were serving “a taste of Indonesia” For us, that meant feasting on Nasi Goreng (Bali fried rice), Beef Sumatra (spicy and hot) and Green Beans with Sambal (spicier and hotter). Enak sekali/delicious!

 

From dinner, we strolled over to the World Stage showroom all the way up front for the now standard embarkation night presentation of Holland America Line’s “Origin Story”, a maritime journey of HAL’s history back in the 1800’s out of the city of Rotterdam, the Netherland's second city behind Amsterdam!! The movie was presented by K-dam’s cruise and travel director Nick Hollevoet. Nick pronounced very Dutch names like “Nederlandsch Amerikaansche Stoomvaart Maatschappij” flawlessly but I have a feeling he’s South African, rather than Dutch. The presentation itself about HAL’s history was informative and well done!

 

Upon its completion, we caught the final numbers of the BB King’s All-Star band in their Blues Club on Deck 2 where there were lots of folks cutting a rug. After their last set, the place turned into a night club with a DJ providing more dance music. We called it a night around 11:30 and found a scorpion towel animal on our bed. Tomorrow, Friday, is a sea day on our way south to Cabo San Lucas.

 

See ya then!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

/

 

 

 

[dixiejen]

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

being vewy, vewy careful not to back her into the USS Abraham Lincoln

🤣🤣🤣 Loving your travelogue!! Have a lovely cruise!

[Cruise Suzy]

1 hour ago, Copper10-8 said:

Our two stateroom stewards are Putu ..., the lead, and his assistant Aris

 

Putu and Aris were our great stewards on the Westerdam in July. (Upper Verandah Signature Suite)

[leerathje]

Putu!  He was our lead room steward when we were on the K'dam in March! Great guy, and so very accomodating.  Every little accomodation, he fulfilled.  You're in good hands, my friend!

 

L.

 

[Copper10-8]

Found out today that Nick, K-dam's cruise and travel director hails not from South Africa, but from Belgium, as does her GRM, a good friend and former co-worker

[Quartzsite Cruiser]

1 minute ago, Copper10-8 said:

Found out today that Nick, K-dam's cruise and travel director hails not from South Africa, but from Belgium, as does her GRM, a good friend and former co-worker

 

We met the GRM last spring on Koningsdam, and she and I share the same first name although we spell it differently.  We were fortunate to visit with her a couple of times over 28 days.  She's a very nice lady.

[USN59-79]

4 hours ago, Cruise Suzy said:

 

Putu and Aris were our great stewards on the Westerdam in July. (Upper Verandah Signature Suite)

My understanding is that many Indonesian men have the same first name and Putu is one of the more common.  I believe it means something like first son.

Ray

[Copper10-8]

1 hour ago, USN59-79 said:

My understanding is that many Indonesian men have the same first name and Putu is one of the more common.  I believe it means something like first son.

Ray

 

 

Yes, Putu is an Indonesian boys/men's name but, more specifically, it is a Balinese name from the island of Bali. All Balinese people are generally named one of four names: Wayan, Made, Nyoman or Ketut. This is applies to both men and women. 

 

Every Balinese child is simply named by his or her order of birth. The first born, boy or girl, is Wayan. The second born is Made (pronounced ma day). The third born is Nyoman. And the fourth born is Ketut.  If a family has more than four children, the cycle repeats itself, and the next ‘Wayan’ may be called Wayan Balik, which loosely translates to ‘another Wayan’.

 

Girls/women are given the ‘Ni’ before their name, as in Ni Wayan. It’s much like ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’. Men use ‘I’, as in I Wayan, much like ‘Mr.’ 

 

But if you thought it was done, you are wrong since here it tends to get a bit confusing!

 

The first born child could alternately be named Putu, the second child could be named Kadek or Nengah instead of Made. The third could be Komang (or Koming for girls) or even NgNga (a very rural name) instead of Nyoman. However, the 4th child (and multiples of 4th) is destined to be Ketut, and only Ketut.

 

For girls however, there is another name for the first born; Luh (which makes it Ni Luh and usually called Iluh). A first born boy can be called Gede, which only applies for boys which makes it I Gede.

 

Balinese people also give their children a second or third Hindu name that has a positive meaning. Examples include Suardika, which means ‘guiding light’, Setiawan (faithful), or Dewi (goddess). Sometimes Balinese people use this Hindu name or shorten it to create a nickname. For example, Budi might be short for Budiasa, Widi could be a shortening of Widiarta, and Nuri might be short for Nuriasih.

To make it even more confusing, almost every Balinese has another nickname, given by their friends in school or in the village. For example, a guy that is called I Made Budiasa can have the nickname of Lompok. Or a girl that is called Ni Wayan Wardani can have the nick name of Desi.

 

 

To summarize it:

 

First born	Second born	Third born	Fourth born
Wayan	Made	Nyoman	Ketut
Putu	Kadek	Komang
Luh (girl)	Nengah	Koming (girl)
Gede (boy)		NgNga (very rural, hardly used)

[ski ww]

You're right that is very confusing. Have a great cruise, Happy New Year.

[LouChamp]

Aloha.  May you have a wonderful voyage and a blessed new year.  We have sailed over the holidays and on HAL during that time as well. They are truly special voyages with fabulous memories.  Enjoy and as I always ask…take food pictures lol!

[puppycanducruise]

You're off to a great start.  Thanks for the pictures and info.

Looking forward to reading more. 

[mcrcruiser]

John your  travel log is very interesting  .We just left  Kdam  Dec 22nd  after  12 days . We also had a wonderful cruise & wish you & your wife the same , Have a  Happy & Healthy  New  Years on the ship 😃

 

We will follow along  .you make interesting &  in depth  comments .Thanks for your  thorough   coverage 😀

 

Cliff