Live from the Koningsdam 1-30-24 RT Hawaii

[misguy]

49 minutes ago, misguy said:

It is just after dawn on day 2, our first full sea day. The seas are not bad, but it is a grey cloudy morning, no sunrise to speak off.  Looking at the navigation information, it is going to be windy on deck.  We have a 12 knot head wind, and the ship is making 19 knots, so that make about 31 knot wind across the deck.  We are on deck 1 with an ocean view accessible balcony, and we can feel the ship moving, but it is not bad, the Captain told yesterday to expect significant seas by this evening.  

 

If it gets rough tonight, we will be glad to have a deck one cabin and it is right by the mid-ship elevator, so the best possible location to cope with rocking and rolling.

 

The Starlink connection is not so good now.  I am getting about 100 K down and 380 K up, I purchased the highest bandwidth connection they offer.  I hope it improves, or I am going to be very disappointed.

Ocean view room, not balcony

[oaktreerb]

1 hour ago, misguy said:

They were checking for 4 star, 5 star and Club Orange guests and they went first.

Neptune Suites and Pinnacle Suites also have priority.  

[SonuvaBeach]

1 hour ago, misguy said:

Ocean view room, not balcony

How do you like the OV room so far? We will be in one on the Koningsdam for 35 days on the cruise right after yours.

[cruise47]

Thanks for your response.

[misguy]

We like our room down low, deck one and midship make it move much less than other rooms, and ship movement is definitely increasing.

[GTVCRUISER]

I was on the Kdam cruise to Hawaii December 21 , 2023 🙂  Have a Great Cruise 🙂  ALOHA 

[misguy]

This afternoon the weather is more rainy, and the internet bandwidth is no better.  I am hoping that when the weather clears the internet will improve.  The seas are getting higher, and in our room, we are only feeling a slight side to side motion.  I did a quick walk around the ship, and I found they had closed the roof over the pool, and that area was quite comfortable, and people were swimming and in the hot tubs.  Cheryl was disappointed since they had removed the puzzle she worked on last night. 

 

Tonight we were planning to attend the Captains party before the show and then we stopped for a wine flight, think sampling 5 wines for 9:00.  That put us past the Captains party, but we did attend the show.  It was supposed to be a dance show, but the ship was moving too much so they had the comedian and he was really funny.  

 

After dinner it was happy hours in the Crow's Nest where Cheryl stayed to work on a puzzle, and I went down to BB Kings and listened to an excellent blues band.  Then off to the Rolling Stone lounge to listen to some rock and roll.  Both venues were full, and people were dancing to the bands.  

 

[misguy]

I am going to catch up on some pictures though yesterday we did not take too many, but I also have some clips from various things to share.  I am going to upload the menus and meal pictures from the cruise so far, you have seen the images, but it will be better with the menu.

 

Shrimp Habanero Cocktail   - Shrimp was good but not very spicy

Green Chile Corn Chowder - Good but not spicy at all

Grilled Salmon with Capers and Dill - Very good

Fresh Mahi Mahi Diablo - Good with a little spice

Chocolate Fudge Brownie Cheesecake - Not nearly as sweet as it sounds, but very good.

 

[misguy]

Out of sequence, but lunch onboarding day.

 

Burger and Fries, and both were very good.

 

 

Tomato Bisque - Cheryl thought it was exceptional

 

The mac and cheese and again Cheryl loved it.

 

[mkcurran]

Thank you for doing this. I am enjoying your travels.

[misguy]

The captain said at noon that seas were running about 16' and would start to diminish this afternoon and evening.  Neither Cheryl and I have had any issue, but there are some onboard that aren't fortunate.  The Starlink bandwidth has been very inconsistent today, but much better than yesterda.

[CruiserBruce]

42 minutes ago, misguy said:

The captain said at noon that seas were running about 16' and would start to diminish this afternoon and evening.  Neither Cheryl and I have had any issue, but there are some onboard that aren't fortunate.  The Starlink bandwidth has been very inconsistent today, but much better than yesterda.

The West Coast is very active right now with storms originating near Hawaii.  You are sailing right through a stream of moisture coming to the West Coast. 

[Hogladyrider]

On 1/31/2024 at 5:36 AM, BermudaBound2014 said:

@misguywhat time did you arrive at the pier? I’m a low priority gal and thinking of just waiting until after 1 to arrive. 

We are on this cruise.  We drove in day of sailing 

 

We opted to wait until the masses passed.  We pulled into port dropped off our luggage, returned rental car.to airport, took city bus back to port.  Arrived at port 1:30 walked right in no crowds at all walked onto ship no wait room ready and with 5 minutes our luggage arrived...easiest embarkation ever in 30+ cruises.

We don't need or want to be 1st on the ship or with the masses.

[Hogladyrider]

We have a balcony room on deck 8.

We don't dine in dining room by choice.

We use room service for coffee and sometimes lunch.

Comedian last night was great.

Attended a game show that was a lot of laughs.

BB Kings is awesome.

Today we attended How to Wear Your Sarongs...very interesting and audience participation.

Now we are at Travel talk on what to see and do in port.  Very interesting that they are not pushing HAL tours these are in your own things to do.

Again very informative.

 

First cruise for us with the Have It All...easy and for us worth it.

 

Hope you don't mind others sharing on your live.  If you do I apologize and will move on.

[Hogladyrider]

I have a spa pass for the duration of the cruise.  I have visited both days before noon not busy at all.  I am guessing because of the ship rolling so much from the swells.

Plus it seems folks are more laid back.  We went up for breakfast on Lido this morning and it was pretty quiet..  now when I walked back to our cabin thru Lido at 1 pm it was wall to wall cruisers eating.

 

Food has been plentiful and good.  Tonight is the first formal night.

[misguy]

23 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

We have a balcony room on deck 8.

We don't dine in dining room by choice.

We use room service for coffee and sometimes lunch.

Comedian last night was great.

Attended a game show that was a lot of laughs.

BB Kings is awesome.

Today we attended How to Wear Your Sarongs...very interesting and audience participation.

Now we are at Travel talk on what to see and do in port.  Very interesting that they are not pushing HAL tours these are in your own things to do.

Again very informative.

 

First cruise for us with the Have It All...easy and for us worth it.

 

Hope you don't mind others sharing on your live.  If you do I apologize and will move on.

Why would I mind you sharing, it is for the good of others.

 

[Hogladyrider]

15 minutes ago, misguy said:

Why would I mind you sharing, it is for the good of others.

 

Thanks just wanted to make sure.

[Haljo1935]

Was on K'dam Dec 21 from San Diego to HI - we also left a few hours late; it was due to the very large number of pallets of provisions.🤷‍♂️

We also had rough seas early on with spotty internet then both improved greatly.

I'm excited to follow you and look forward to pictures and adventures. 😊

[misguy]

Going forward I will post little bits here, but I will also share my blog, it is just easier to do the blog post and share it rather try to create the posts from scratch on all the platforms.  Here is the part one, Getting To San Diego. https://www.travelingwithachair.com/blog/Hawaii24

[dfish]

5 hours ago, misguy said:

The captain said at noon that seas were running about 16' and would start to diminish this afternoon and evening.  Neither Cheryl and I have had any issue, but there are some onboard that aren't fortunate.  The Starlink bandwidth has been very inconsistent today, but much better than yesterda.

 

I normally am not bothered by the seas but both of us are miserable tonight.  We tried green apples and that was a mistake.  I'm hoping things get better.

1 hour ago, Haljo1935 said:

Was on K'dam Dec 21 from San Diego to HI - we also left a few hours late; it was due to the very large number of pallets of provisions.🤷‍♂️

We also had rough seas early on with spotty internet then both improved greatly.

I'm excited to follow you and look forward to pictures and adventures. 😊

 

I pray that is the case for this cruise.

[canadianbear]

Enjoying follow along on your adventures…hope the seas calm down for all on board.  Like others on here we will be getting on when you come off.  
 

Also enjoying your blog and photos.  

[crystalspin]

On 1/31/2024 at 8:23 AM, misguy said:

The Starlink connection is not so good now.  I am getting about 100 K down and 380 K up, I purchased the highest bandwidth connection they offer.

It's all one bandwidth or speed -- the only difference between Std and Premium is the number of sites/apps and abilities (like video/streaming) that are blocked. This was the case even before StarLink.

 

Edited February 2 by crystalspin

[js1357]

12 hours ago, Hogladyrider said:

We have a balcony room on deck 8.

We don't dine in dining room by choice.

We use room service for coffee and sometimes lunch.

Comedian last night was great.

Attended a game show that was a lot of laughs.

BB Kings is awesome.

Today we attended How to Wear Your Sarongs...very interesting and audience participation.

Now we are at Travel talk on what to see and do in port.  Very interesting that they are not pushing HAL tours these are in your own things to do.

Again very informative.

 

First cruise for us with the Have It All...easy and for us worth it.

 

Hope you don't mind others sharing on your live.  If you do I apologize and will move on.

Does the daily list movies by the pool in the evening?

[cat shepard]

9 hours ago, dfish said:

 

I normally am not bothered by the seas but both of us are miserable tonight.  We tried green apples and that was a mistake.  I'm hoping things get better.

 

I pray that is the case for this cruise.

 

Debbie, I am so sorry to read this. Hope conditions improve fast. 

[misguy]

Today is our 3rd sea day, and the waves are calming down some, though the ship is still rocking and rolling quite a bit, Starlink speed is fair with 1.4 up and down, and yesterday I was able to join a Google Meet session and participate, which pleased me.  I will have another blog segment out, and I am putting finishing touches on a video about the walk from the hotel to the ship.  I am also going to try and scan the dailies and attach them to the blog posts.