Lovely other

It is from the Daily Mail and therefore not even worth the effort to read ... I believe they also special in 'alternative facts' :D

I'm saddened to hear that your wife was subject to such boorish behaviour from your fellow passengers.

From the first time we cruised my husband has had to deal with at least one passenger thinking he is crew. He is Chinese but to some it seems being Asian is enough to justify that assumption. In the past he's been asked for towels, drinks and directions, and even once had a HAL staff member try and usher him through the crew check in line in Amsterdam ... We usually laugh it off but there has been the odd passenger who has upset him. One lady prodded him with her cane as he was walking by the pool on the Koningsdam. She was berating him for there being no clean towels available and when he explained he wasn't crew she said he shouldn't walk around looking like a crew member then ... We've yet to see any other crew members in a pair of green flowery swim shorts and not much else !!!

The bus incident I feel could have been handled much better by the passenger involved. You can't just go around thinking everyone thinks the same and so him quietly explaining that seats are usually (although not exclusively) kept to the same occupants would have been better than going off on a rant. Bravo to your wife for wanting to stand her ground on this matter ...

The decision you want to make is this: will it bother you to be in the minority in terms of dressing on "elegant" nights? While black tie and tuxedo is only worn by about 20% of the men, the vast majority will be in suit and tie or jacket and tie. Only about 20% will be meeting the minimum and nothing more. You need to make the decision for yourself.

 

 

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You make it sound like being in a minority is a bad thing ... ?

I spoke to the librarian on my first HAL cruises about various book related matters, and also because I was fishing for information about being a cruise ship librarian. Like myself he was a qualified librarian which I understand is unusual on cruise lines.

I think there are benefits to librarians onboard ... We are capable of a lot more than checking out books but alas opportunities in this area are no more :(

We have always done our own thing until St Petersburg last year ... We went with a group from the roll call and I hated every minute of it! I hate being shepherded around like a school kid and walking at a snails pace whilst being told I couldn't go in the hermitage gift shop in case I got lost! I have lived and travelled all over the world and can read a map of a museum perfectly well but this obnoxious woman kept talking down to me until I told her I paid her and we would meet her outside when we'd seen what we wanted to see ... After warning me she would leave without me if I wasn't at the meeting point on time she and the rest of the group were then 30 mins late !

I have learnt from that one ...never again !! :rolleyes:

Apparently there is some sort of device on Kickstarter that helps alleviate the sound of snoring. I have no clue how it works but my hubby has ordered one due to his snoring being so bad it can reduce me to sobbing with frustration in the night ... I feel for both you and your husband as it is not a great situation to find yourselves in. Please don't take offence at this but I found my hubby was a bit quieter when he was slimmer and off the dairy products ....although I'm in no way implying that's the case for you.

 

Exactly. I must disagree with bicker (bUU). The only HAL cruise he has done was one we did mutually on the Noordam in '08. New York to the Caribbean. 20 foot seas out of New York and Noro once we hit the Caribbean. I could not forget him or that cruise...I organized the Cruise Critic M & G as I usually do on cruises.

 

My DH and I have done a dozen or so HAL cruises since then, one, two or 3 a year if you count B2B's. I have noticed the cutbacks with each cruise....and they are very obviously money-related.

 

IMO, HAL's passenger demographic is "steady as a rock"..an older demographic whose taste is consistent. HAL consistently tries to capture a younger demographic but I've never seen much success in that area.

 

On any and every cruise there are hundreds at the Mariners Lunch. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 star Mariners. If their taste had changed, wouldn't they jump ship? I suspect so. HAL is cutting costs...not changing because their passengers' tastes have changed. So far, not enough to cause a significant reduction in loyalty from their customer base.

What maybe you don't realise or haven't seen is that there is a definite change in how the generation following you live their lives, spend their vacation time and what they enjoy. When my grandmother was 60 she enjoyed laid back music from her younger days and and tea dances but her daughter who is now 63 wants rock music and lively dancing ... Like it or not the tea dance generation will start to diminish and what then? Will HAL just cease to operate ? Not if it has any sense because it needs to attract a multigenerational clientele in order to survive and it needs to do it now.

As for the Mariners status ... I'm 3 star and I'm only 43 while my friend of the same age is 5 star so your assumption that all regular HAL clientele is the tea dance generation is flawed .

With the BB Kings ... I don't think it's too loud ...you know what they say "if it's too loud your too old " :p

Very disappointed not to see mention of the Ocean Bar. We have loved past sailings were we could enjoy pre and post dinner dancing in the OB with a few musicians playing. Why HAL doesn't down size the BB Kings by just two musicians and add them to the one they are paying for in the OB is a mystery to us. Seems an easy way of distributing their expenses in a way that would offer another entertainment venue. We are looking seriously at returning to Cunard as a result.

That makes no sense ... You can't just take two musicians out of an established band format! Why not just accept that ballroom dancing has probably had its day and try something new?

Very true. I should have been a little more explicit. Before gifting the decorations, I always ask first if the staff member celebrates the holiday.

 

My husband was in the UAE shortly before Christmas one year, and brought me some lovely holiday decorations made there, even though this area is predominately non-Christian.

As Christmas has become more secular nowadays it's common to find Christmas related items pretty much anywhere. My hubby and I are both atheist but still enjoy some Christmas fun and a nice tree etc ...

Usually I'll choose closest to the bathroom or door dependent on where we are ... At home I sleep on the left when hubby is home , which isn't that often so I mostly sleep starfished in the middle :D

We've only ever had two bathrooms in one apartment we rented lasted year in Belfast ... He got the ensuite and I got the main bathroom. Not by choice it's just that he moved on a month before I did . We did discover we both hate the ensuite bathroom concept though so our new build we are planning will not be having one.

Thinking of double sinks took a while ...not that common in smaller uk homes, and then I remembered a hotel in Thailand that had two sinks and I gave him the one nearest the bedroom ...no reasoning tbh I was so overwhelmed by the actual hotel I was in a dream world ... It had a bath outside built into rocks !!

The smaller promenade made way for Grand Dutch Cafe.

 

Point, Koningsdam!

So I can eat the delicious fries and peanut sauce they serve and then just pop outside to burn off the calories ... Result :D

Thoughts...

• check daily in the MORNING. On another cruise line, they shift passengers in the afternoon and evening. When I looked in the afternoon/evening the prices were higher and often said it was sold out. Then checking in the morning, low prices and availability.
  
• if one category is sold out.... you might need to get a inside or verandah cabin.
  
• do cruise lines have wait lists?
  
• are you calling the cruise lines directly?
  

I think you misread the gist of the original post ....

No there are no loungers on the promenade deck ... Personally I liked that as I always hated feeling watched as I did my thrice daily laps

I have not sailed on Oasis but I did 19 nights on the Koningsdams maiden voyage followed by a further 14 nights two months later because we loved the ship so much.

I find HAL's food choices to be great as a vegetarian (a fussy one at that) and I love the relaxed ambience of the Koningsdam coupled with the new more contemporary style.

I would choose her over Oasis simply because I don't like the huge all singing all dancing ships ...oh and just to clarify I'm not in the typical HAL older demographic and my hubby certainly isn't (toy boy!! ) ... We found on Koningsdam the demographic has changed dramatically from our first HAL cruise and partying till the early hours is entirely possible ....

A good ship for a mixed age group I think ... Let us know what you decide ...

Can anyone explain to me why it is that HAL has a Catholic priest in particular onboard ? And why the daily mass? ... I'm an ex-catholic so understand the catholic faith but know of no church that offers mass daily whilst on land ...

Hello

 

Looking for feedback on this beautiful ship. It is one of the contenders for our nye cruise this year (yes we are booking this late). It is a 9 night carribean and the prices are still pretty decent.

 

We are easy to please like to go hang by the pool during the day, watch a show in the theatre and people watch at a bar and use the gym daily. Can someone tell me about the entertainment, places to grab a drink and relax during the evening?

 

Oh and the house Pinot Grigio. What brand would it be. If I buy up, will they just charge me the difference from the regular drink package?

 

Thanks so much!

I don't think you booking late ... We booked our first Koningsdam cruise 4 weeks before sailing and the second one 2 weeks before !

I found the entertainment onboard to be pretty good, although I don't do production shows as such or piano bar usually. The BB Kings were excellent, and it would be the same group of musicians on your NYE cruise as we had earlier in the year as they start a new contract back on the K next week ....

I enjoyed the Lincoln Centre Stage as I like a nice glass of Merlot and classical music to go with it on an evening. I found the way they gave background to the music and composers really interesting ....

There is always a variety of comedians , magicians , performers onboard and these are really dependent on taste ...some I loved , some I only lasted 5 minutes of watching before sneaking out ! The frozen planet live was excellent ...

We are usually Crows Nest dwellers but on our first K sailing my hubby became good friends with a Barman in the casino bar so we tended to frequent wherever Ryan was ... That said we have tried all the bars except the Sun deck one ... The Billboard bar does the best cocktails, the crows nest is great for a chilled out in a big chair kind of drink , the silk den which is a tiny spot in the Tamarind does an amazing cocktail called the 'Black Pearl' ...I can taste it now sigh ....

Movies by the pool are good dependent on child levels ... We were unfortunate on our second K cruise to have a bunch of particularly rude children onboard who played there own music by the table tennis tables upstairs whilst the movie was showing ... As long as you don't have that then grabbing a pizza and some fries and settling down to a starlit movie a great way to chill on an evening

I can't advice you on the wine as I'm much more of a cocktail or shots kind of girl :p

Personally speaking, I believe the cruise director and his or her staff plays a big role in the overall "enjoyment" factor of any cruise. Afterall, they are responsible for planning most of the events (or lack there of) while you're on the cruise aren't they?

 

Just for curiosity I wonder how many different cruise directors the K'dam went through their first year? We had Shawn on our 14 day mid July Norwegian cruise. If you sailed on the K'dam this year, do you remember your cruise director's first name?

We had Jonathon on both of our Koningsdam cruises ... Actually he has been the CD on all our HAL cruises these past few years. We have always called him the invisible man as he very rarely conducts any activities instead just delegates everything to his hardworking assistants ... Previously on the RotterdAm the joke amongst passengers was that he did all his announcements from his bed !

Yikes! Where do they poop and pee?

We wondered the same when we encountered our first dog onboard until we saw the little patch of turf on the promenade deck ... Doggy toilet.

What really made us laugh though was the dog in question wouldn't go if anyone else was walking by and we'd often hear his owners companion pleading with him to go :p

Certainly you can get water but I never asked for or saw iced tea ... I think there wouldn't be a problem with bringing your iced tea with you just as in the explorations cafe I guess ...

I can't abide clutter or ornaments at home but I do love vintage style advertising postcards so I keep an eye out for these .... It all started when I took my now husband on our first date. We went to Paris and he bought me a Le Chat Noir postcard ....

I also like small saint charms which I keep on a bracelet ... An odd choice for an atheist but I really like things like iconography so ....

I know fridge magnets are terribly popular but here in the UK the trend is more towards built in appliances behind cabinet doors so I wonder what happens to all those fridge magnets then. :D:D

There were 3 shows or acts most evenings bug times varied

Even worse on our second time aboard the scrabble game had gone missing !

There is something that sounds a lot like that on the Koningsdam but not sure about any other ships

I'm going to ask my question again since there was no response to my last post.

 

Are there any Biodex machines available?

Could you explain what a Biodex machine is please ? I'm an avid gym bunny but have never heard of this ...

A coffee in the Dutch cafe is far superior to those in the explorations lounge in my opinion ... The explorations lounge uses an automated machine whilst he Dutch cafe utilises a real barista coffee machine ... Less milk and a better flavour ...