Koningsdam August 31st to September 7th Review

[Cruise Junky]

I should entitle this the sceptic returns after 15 years.   This was our first HAL cruise in 15 years after a not great trip on the Zuiderdam.  Since then we’ve mainly stuck to Princess and Celebrity.  I had heard great things about the Pinnacle class though and wanted to give them a try.

 

We booked an after final payment deal for a 7 day Alaska Inside Passage Cruise.  We originally booked an inside cabin at a good price and then closer to sail time were offered an upgrade to a balcony cabin that we jumped on, we also added in the HIA package after realizing their pricing was in Canadian.  A good deal for two people that like to drink and socialize.  Our balcony cabin was midship on 5.

 

Embarkation was a breeze through Vancouver. There were only two ships in port and the lines moved very quickly and efficiently, we were pleasantly surprised by how quickly we were onboard.   From drop off by taxi to being onboard was about 20-30 mins.  We had completed check in online and had our barcodes.   Very shortly after boarding our rooms were ready and we could dump our carryons and head to the Lido for lunch.  We departed Vancouver on time under sunny warm sky’s.

 

Ship

Koningsdam is lovely.  She’s a great size and other than a couple of areas where you can’t get there from here, we really liked her.  We didn’t find any areas of wear and tear and she looked to be in great shape everywhere we went.   Lots of great viewing decks for wildlife watching as well as lots of higher plexiglass to protect from the wind.

 

Entertainment venues

We’re not into shows, so this class of ship is a perfect fit.   We loved the live music venues and spent more than a few nights in BB Kings.  We also spent an evening in the Rolling Stones Lounge when BB Kings was dark for a night.  I was pretty surprised at how much the Rolling Stones lounge was rocking.  Ozzy, the Doors, etc.  not what I was expecting on a HAL ship and we loved it.

 

As I mentioned, we’re not into live shows so didn’t miss that at all on Koningsdam but I can see if you’re used to that type of entertainment every night you would miss it on this ship.

 

Food

Good to excellent.  Main dining room and Lido were good. Pinnacle Grill was Excellent.   Hubby had a burger from Dive In one day for lunch and really liked it and we had Pizza from the NY Deli twice.  First time they completely messed up the order and our pager kept going off for other people’s food.  But the second time was without incident and we got the correct pizzas.

 

I noticed a real decrease in portion sizes in the Main dining room.  That’s not a bad thing but was definitely surprising compared to other lines.  It’s good to see food not going to waste.  Some of the side pairings were a little off to me, a lovely piece of Filet served upon a pile of mushy spinach.  Sadly the spinach had further absorbed all the yummy sauce for the steak and just got pushed aside leaving nothing for the steak.  Neither of us had any real complaints about the food onboard.  Some desserts were certainly lacking flavour though.  Had the Chocolate Fudgy Brownie cheesecake one night in the main dining room and by that description you’re expecting something decadent…it wasn’t.

 

Dutch Café was excellent – their almond croissants are delicious.  This is also where my daily latte came from.  Very good coffee and even better chocolate martinis.

 

Lido.  Fine, nothing to get too excited about, the stations they had seemed to have something for everyone.

 

Pinnacle Grill  Outstanding. One of the best meals I’ve had at sea.

 

Tamarind Bar we only went for drinks one night and it was lovely.  Caught a double rainbow out the window

 

Beverages

This is where we had issues.  Pre cruise we had read the menus from places like BB Kings and the Crows Nest and were looking forward to trying some of their cocktails.  BLECHHHH.  Horrible.  I swear, no one can actually make a margarita, cosmo, any mixed cocktail without their sugary corn syrup based drink mix.    They were all awful and you could barely taste any alcohol, just sugar.  From someone that hangs out at Celebrity’s Martini Bar…a LOT this was a giant turnoff.  Drinks like Vodka Coke, Gin and Tonic, etc. were all very good. In fact I had one of the best Gin and Tonics ever in Pinnacle but their “Cocktails” are awful. 

 

Also issues with the wine lists.  We had the basic drink package and I have no issues at all paying the upcharge for a better glass of wine, the issue was finding one.  Wines that are on the menu in Pinnacle and Crowsnest I was looked at like I had two heads and assured that wine had not been in stock in  months…. And then I see it in the Lido the next day.  Found a decent red in BB Kings, next day they were out of it.   In hindsight we probably should not have booked HIA and just brought on wine.

 

Ports

(As we’ve been to Alaska twice before, we didn’t do too many tours.)

In Juneau we did the Hatchery, Mendenhall Glacier and Salmon Bake.  This was really good.  We had decent weather to be able to walk the trail to Nugget Falls and the salmon bake was great.

Skagway  we just walked around town.  Called in at Skagway Brewing and did a little shopping

Ketchikan was absolutely pouring with rain.  We tendered in and walked up to Creek Street.  The salmon were running and the seals were feasting. There were about 8 large seals in there trying to catch a salmon.  We stocked up on tins of Salmon at Salmon Etc.  so delicious. And then started walking around the town. By the time we were ready to reboard, Koningsdam had come into Princess’s spot so we didn’t have to tender back. 

Canadian Inside Passage.  Beautiful weather both up and down but much more whale activity on the way down. It was  glorious sunny and warm day and the scenery is breathtaking.

 

Summary

Would we cruise HAL again?  Yes but we would certainly look to a Pinnacle class ship first for the many dining options and the music offerings. 

[Lido deck main]

Appreciate the review.  We find the mixed drinks too sugary as well.  We like the Pinnacle class as well due to music venues.

[albingirl]

Thanks for your review.  I have had no experience with drinks made on the ships, except for an occasional dark and stormy, but that must be a disappointment for many.  Thanks for your review.  I really love the Pinnacle class ship, probably because of the Dutch Cafe and the Club Orange dining room. Glad you had a (mostly) good time!

[cruisingrob21]

Agree about drinks.  The best and worst Pina Colada I've ever had were on two consecutive days on the Eurodam from 2 different bars.  The presentation and taste was wildly different.

[oz61]

Hi, I am new to HAL going on Koningsdam in Alaska next year. (Most cruises with NCL and Princess). Are there really no shows on any night, just music? That’s a disappointment.

 

Are there activities to do on the sea days?

 

Do we need to book for dinner or can you just arrive at the MDR? If we have 3 in our group, would we be sharing a table? (We are happy to share).

 

I also dislike sweet cocktails- can you ask for a traditional Margarita with just lime, tequila and triple sec?
 

Anything else relevant to a newbie?

 

 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing.

[*Miss G*]

Thanks for your review, @Cruise Junky!  I, too, am a fan of the pinnacle ships.  Totally agree with you on the cocktails.  I always have to specify that I would like them made with fresh lemon and not sweet… and especially no bar mix!!  Mostly I get tired of that and just ask for vodka and soda. 😂 The frozen mango drink in Billboard is great and I never have to ask them to adjust it!

 

1 hour ago, oz61 said:

Hi, I am new to HAL going on Koningsdam in Alaska next year. (Most cruises with NCL and Princess). Are there really no shows on any night, just music? That’s a disappointment.

 

Are there activities to do on the sea days?

 

Do we need to book for dinner or can you just arrive at the MDR? If we have 3 in our group, would we be sharing a table? (We are happy to share).

 

I also dislike sweet cocktails- can you ask for a traditional Margarita with just lime, tequila and triple sec?
 

Anything else relevant to a newbie?

 

 

 

Welcome to Holland America!  Yes, there are shows at night.  Take a look at some live report threads where some post the dailies and you can see what type of thing is on offer.  You will not find elaborate production shows like they do on Princess (which I am with the OP and do not like).

 

You can book for dinner or you can arrive at your own pace.  Ask the Maitre d’ to recommend the best times to arrive to minimize your wait time.  You can share a table or you can choose not to.  Usually they will ask or you can offer to share.

 

Yes, definitely tell the servers how you want your drinks.  I always specify no bar mix because they are too overpowering.  

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

Edited September 10 by *Miss G*

[oz61]

Thanks for the advice!

[Tropical PJ]

Thanks for the review, would you mind sharing how much your upgrade was from inside to a balcony. I cruise in 3 weeks and I just received a chance to upgrade from inside to a balcony on deck 5 but have to call in to find out the upcharge. Last one they sent me was $2020 more !!

[Cruise Junky]

38 minutes ago, Tropical PJ said:

Thanks for the review, would you mind sharing how much your upgrade was from inside to a balcony. I cruise in 3 weeks and I just received a chance to upgrade from inside to a balcony on deck 5 but have to call in to find out the upcharge. Last one they sent me was $2020 more !!

No issues at all. The email offered me a family ocean view for $228 pp. I really wanted a balcony so phoned them to see if I could get that instead. The guy on the phone was super helpful and offered us a V balcony for $310 Cdn pp. 

[MaxThrusters]

Thanks for the review! I've got a b2b 24 day sailing in the spring on Konigsdam, so I like hearing reports from people sailing before then.

I have not sailed for seven years, and quite by coincidence the last sailing was also on Konigsdam! You mentioned portions in MDR; I seem to recall back then thinking portions were too big! If they are smaller now I won't feel guilty ordering an extra appetizer or whatnot, hah!

[POA1]

Thanks for the birthday review!

[*Miss G*]

13 hours ago, Tropical PJ said:

Thanks for the review, would you mind sharing how much your upgrade was from inside to a balcony. I cruise in 3 weeks and I just received a chance to upgrade from inside to a balcony on deck 5 but have to call in to find out the upcharge. Last one they sent me was $2020 more !!

 

I wonder why you have to call in?  The prices are always in my emails.  Do you go through a TA or something?

[BBQ Bacon]

We will be getting on the Koningsdam in just over 3 weeks.  Thank you for the review.  I hope our experience is just as good as yours.

[Tropical PJ]

10 hours ago, *Miss G* said:

 

I wonder why you have to call in?  The prices are always in my emails.  Do you go through a TA or something?

No apparently its because I had expressed an interest over the phone to possibly upgrade to a balcony so they keep sending them again today for deck 5 but it would have been an extra $2000.

[cruisingrob21]

On 9/10/2024 at 3:26 AM, oz61 said:

Hi, I am new to HAL going on Koningsdam in Alaska next year. (Most cruises with NCL and Princess). Are there really no shows on any night, just music? That’s a disappointment.

 

Are there activities to do on the sea days?

 

Do we need to book for dinner or can you just arrive at the MDR? If we have 3 in our group, would we be sharing a table? (We are happy to share).

 

I also dislike sweet cocktails- can you ask for a traditional Margarita with just lime, tequila and triple sec?
 

Anything else relevant to a newbie?

 

 

The HAL of today is very similar to Princess cruises from about 10 years ago, for example in the past few years HAL has been bringing more and better comedic talent onboard and now there are occasional game shows with audience participation (this was rarely on HAL cruises in the last decade or so).  For HAL, ships have gotten a bit bigger, but the biggest are no bigger than the original Grand class ships.  Service and food are excellent, always a slight bit better than Princess in my opinion.  There won't be as many activities of Princess or NCL of today, but still usually plenty to do.  

[mac_tlc]

Thanks for the review! We were just in Alaska on Edge and the Koningsdam was with us at a couple of ports. 

We loved Skagway Brewing, so did a lot of other folks !

 

We are on Koningsdam in January to Hawaii for our first HAL experience. I made a note about the almond croissants! It’s our favorite at Cafe alBacio on X. Looking forward to a new ship and experience! 
 

mac_tlc