LAFFNVEGAS

We are back from our tour went to the Lido to get something to eat but at 1:30 most everything was closed down so got burgers at the Dive In then did some more exploring of the ship.

First photo was taken when we returned to the ship.

I really wish that tours told you when there were lots of narrow steep winding roads [emoji37] I sadly only suffer from motion sickness on busses when very windy. I did take Bonine but has not helped much

Otherwise as you can see it has beautiful scenery.

Well so far I am not impressed with the Neptune Lounge.

The only thing I like about it are the shelves with all the food instead of a dome. I don't see a toaster -- guess there isn't one.

KK, no there is no toaster also nothing offered to toast. I few croissants and muffins. Also nothing is refrigerated or even on ice. The milk is just sitting out as well as the cheese that looked very dried up already at 8 am. Lots of boxes of cereal. Smoked salmon did not look appealing either having sat out. My coffee pods for regular coffee were not replaced last night but they do not have extras in the NL. But would make sure my cabin steward gives me extra.

Here more info the interactive TV on the Koningsdam will not have your account you must log onto your smart phone or tablet to see everything. As well as they will not be providing the menus because the link on your tablet or phone they claim has the menus for each night on on line only but so far the sample menus have not changed. Nor are they on the TV. They also are NOT displaying them in front of the Main Dining Room on either deck. So it is a guess what we are having [emoji14]

On the subject of TV no forward or after cameras to see from on the TV. We have missed that. But like the huge map showing where we are.

It's starting to clear up and look like a nice [emoji1303]

Unfortunately it is the same one they have had for 12 months. You would think they could update it now and then.

 

 

 

We didn't go to the Gala night last week - we looked at the menu and decided to give it a miss. Nothing wonderful about it.

I have to agree with you we are not at all impressed with the food and menus I had thought maybe it would be just a step up for the Koningsdam overall quality seems lower than our last NCL cruise so we are a bit disappointed in that respect. Thought for this ship they would turn it up a notch ☹️

And another photo of arriving into Corfu

I mentioned pictures would not post last night so let me try now. First is a beautiful Adriatic Sea sunset

Then these are food porn from Sel de Mer

We are just arriving in Kerkira Corfu Greece. First look out side reminds me of Alaska and it feels cold this morning it is 7:41 am

Good Evening from the beautiful Koningsdam.

Tonight we had dinner in the Sel de Mer.

First I will say the four and five star Mariners do get the 50% off. This I was surprised about, our total came to $61.00 before the discount.

I will say it was good but was not amazing ?......The Sea Bass was not Chilean Sea Bass and while it was prepared slightly better than Tamarind it tasted like a typical white fish. They showed the the fish first then baked in a salt bake counting. Then debone it. It was good but not amazing. The sides were a bit on the strange side.

I am definitely not staving this week but nothing is standing out.

Tomorrow we are in Corfu Greece.

My eyes are so heavy I am calling it a night.

I have tried to post the pictures and it will not go tonight so will do it later.

Btw I asked about our chairs, long story short they ran out and if we want chairs they can find us some but they will not be in till the Christening Cruise.

Neptune Lounge.

 

 

 

Rather dull and dark.

 

 

 

Completely enclosed or perhaps one window on one side?

 

 

 

Not much sitting area and not a good view on the TV screen.

 

 

 

Not much room to sit between the Concierge and the screen.

 

 

 

Hate fake wooden deck.

 

 

 

Not the luxury you would expect for a Neptune Lounge.

Stephen, you are right, not one single window in the Neptune Lounge. You almost miss it walking down the hall.

Here are more pictures from around the ship.

And more Gala night pics

Here are some pictures from Gala Night, last night

Here are some pictures of the Neptune Lounge.

Greetings from Croatia, we had perfect weather today and an excellent excursion called Riviera Highlights. We were very impressed, it even took us to a restaurant for a snack with wine. Beautiful scenery and it ended in Old Town where we had gem to shop before we were brought back to the ship..

Here are some pictures from today.

What do you think the nationality mix is for this special cruise?

 

 

We feel we are on the Star Trek Enterprise with you, going where no "man" has gone before. ;)

Thanks for the detailed reports. And you do emphasize you are on the "beautiful" Konigsdam. That is good to hear.

Interesting you should ask because that was a conversation that I had with Tom my DH just last night. The Hotel Director spent quite a long time talking with us last night at dinner last . I said next time we see Stan we need to ask him the nationality demographics.

Shockingly my observation has been I hearing language spoken most sounded like they were from North America meaning Canada or US. While yes I have heard other language spoken but predominately English. Announcements were only done one time right after we boarded in Italian and it was asking Fincantierri workers it was their final announcement to disembark. From that point forward no other were a different language but English.

I will definitely ask the Question because I want to know as well.

Also while yes people were dressed up but not nearly as formal as a few years ago. We are traveling with friends that just got off the 91 day Rotterdam and they had mostly Dutch passengers and he said towards the end you could not tell any difference between Gala or not nights because it was always pretty casual.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Were you able to book your thermal suite pass before the cruise?

Unfortunately you can only purchase the package for your full voyage. But they will take you on full tours to see it to see if it is something you want.

I did pre purchase mine. It was not available on line so I called Hal Guest Services. That was part of my first problem with the spa because Seattle charged me less than what the ship was charging. The Spa is actually owned by Steiner not Hal.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Prices for 7 day couple on thermal suite seem quite high. Thought we paid 399.00 on our 21 day cruise recently.

Going to be a lot higher for the Koningsdam because of what all it offers.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Yes they include everything in the Thermal suite with the Steam and Saunas, Hydro therapy? Single cost is $199 couples cost is $350.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Ciao from the beautiful Koningsdam!!!

Just spent the last 20 minuted typing in my phone yes I got it working this afternoon, was able to get some pictures of Gala night. The menu and food. Then it went out down near the Queens Lounge, finally got it to reboot to have it go out totally again while I was writing. It has something to do with the wifi network and being logged into Koningdam Guest and website that you pull up to see you on board account I believe. Our Friend Tom and Joe had the same problem while they were on their 90 day Rotterdam cruise. I tried to get it back on but no go. With any luck it will be fine once we are in Dubrovnik tomorrow. It seems to go out when the internet fades in and out the most.

Well I had written about was my not so great service in the spa which was a first for me with a therapist that knew I had to be done by noon since we had Pinnacle lunch reservations at 12:30 but long story short the treatment is finished and I find it is 12:45 and Tom has been waiting for me.

Then I must have totally missed here on CC Hal board that the Pinnacle lunch menu changed. I was devastated to find the Southwest Five Onion Soup was gone [emoji22]like hearing of the passing of an old friend. I loved that soup. It seems a lot of the lunch menu mirrors the evening menu.

After Pinnacle lunch I went back to spend the afternoon in the Thermal Suite, I met up with CC member TylerRose and we both thought they had far more than the 30 that is to be the max.

But this Thermal suite is considerably different than Vista and Signature Class ships. I will try to get pictures to post in the up coming days. The Hydro therapy pool is Huge. It has a rainfall that surrounds it. There is an infrared sound that heats you from the inside out. Aroma therapy steam, an interesting thing that you lay on your stomach on this flat surface and there are these rows above of water that beats down. Kind of hard to explain. There are separate Men's and Women's saunas and several different unique types of showers, one that has light therapy.

I look forward to enjoying several more days in the Thermal Suite.

Tonight was the first Gala night we saw less than 10 guys in a Tux, about 70% had a sports coat on the rest just an open collared shirt about 50% of the women wore something that resembled formal. I did take pictures of the menu but will have to post later. The dinner was good, not bad nor was it amazing. I will say the Creme brûlée was the best part [emoji6]

Afterwards went the the World Stage to see the second of three shows tonight called Off The Charts Billboard Hits Rewind. It was pretty good, excellent singers the the large screens give a new dimension to the entertainment.

Tom and I just did something we have not done in years and that is order room service. He had gone up to the Lido and said not much was available. It appears no where can you get pizza by the slice it's a whole pie or nothing. Still cannot figure out the pricing it sees if you take it out to you room via box or room service they charge you but if you eat it by the pool it's free?? Jus not sure on that. Anyway it was 10 after 11 and I said to Tom I was hungry. Well we ordered Club Sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies [emoji1303][emoji1] they were tasty.

Well better be some sleep, tomorrow is Dubrovnik and we meet for our tour at the World Stage at 10:45.

Ciao!! Signing off from the Beautiful New Koningsdam.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Ciao again, I need to start to remember to write everything off line or those 1000 minutes will be gone by Monday [emoji848]

Ok back to the room thing I would assume my SA cabin is the same as everyone else except for an HC cabin. Truthfully not much room for chairs, size wise it is the same as an SS on the Vista Class. The bathroom is definitely lager and wide.

As many know I love the suites on NCL and yes have done The Haven but love the aft category SF. In my mind I basically had planned to compare this to them based on the price point in all the voyages being equal or much higher with Hal and comparing pricing to their newest to Hal's newest. But I will wait till later to do met of my comparisons. But the one I will do now is the coffee machine. I LOVE my coffee in the morning in the room. I do love that this cabin has the chair and desk set up just like a Vista Class signature suite. The Mo Coffee machine is easy enough to work, but it makes only two sizes of coffee an espresso tiny cup or a very small regular cup of coffee. They give you only three choices already here of 2 regular coffees they call Lungo, 2 Espresso capsules and and 2 Decaffeinsto which they can keep and three little creamers. Lol I brought my own French Vanilla non dairy creamers [emoji6]

This is definitely NOT enough to coffee, especially since it makes such a small cup [emoji45]

If both people in the cabin drank coffee it would just be a sample. Of course I know this is such a new concept for Hal they will have to learn. Also don't see they will offer tea which I know many like. Definitely a work in progress to get Hal up to 2016 lol. The coffee itself is not too bad tasting but since the machine is small the reservoir of water is also so could be why they don't give you much coffee. Definitely not the way NCL has it.

Ok you were discussing the couch in taking a good look yes the upholstery is not great [emoji57]

I do like the mauve coloring. The closets are nice and yes the rods light up. I do not mind not having the dressing area, was not a fan of it prior, it would get humid from the shower and the lighting was terrible for putting on make up. But I am not one who likes to sit in a chair to do my make up and hair either like this cabin suggests. I actually would prefer the fill length mirror in the bathroom. Lighting is actually quite good and I can get close to the mirror with out my glasses on. But with none of those plugs working for my curling iron it does not help. I did bring another curling iron that is a dual voltage that I could use my voltage converter but the curling iron does not get as hot nor is it a ceramic rod which I prefer. .....oh the problems of being a women [emoji6]

I have my spa treatments starting at 10 then will spend a little time in the Thermal suite. Then Tom is making Pinnacle lunch reservations. He went to the Pinnacle for breakfast although no where in anything were we given info that Pinnacle Suites can go there for breakfast or the hours. Never saw menus, don't have any hours of the Pinnacle Lounge. I am guessing the breakfast hours are same as dining room which today was 8:00am till 9:30.

Ok need to get ready so will post this [emoji4]

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Ciao from the Koningsdam. I did get a good nights sleep, a bit short but getting caught up on sleep.

Unfortunately phone still is not working, not sure I want to start taking pics on my mini iPad but may have to. Hoping when I get into Dubrovnik I can get my phone reactivated.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

And here's the one we got a tour of:

Brad was't this a H/C cabin?

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Actually lots of drawer space just hidden, more than Vista class has. The fridge is under what looks like a hutch. The safe is in he closet. The room itself feels smaller as well as the balcony

Ok signing off will fill you all in with more tomorrow ...... I hope [emoji45]

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Good Evening from the Beautiful Koningsdam.

Overall it has been a good day but not perfect. The most frustrating part is my iPhone went whacky while we were out and about taking pictures on the ship. It acted like I needed to do a hard boot. It will not let me get to my home screen and it is trying to reset me up. I am not so sure it does not have to do with the very poor internet on board. First we do not have the great deal the Westerdam has, this has the normal painfully slow internet. With many areas in several of the public areas that there is no coverage at all. Our cabin is one area that runs with with low to no bars. I am writing off line in hopes this will post. The pricing is the same over priced with no unlimited plan. I paid $250 for 1000 minutes. The seven day unlimited on NCL IS $199.00 with drastically faster internet. I honestly had high hopes for this to be better.

This evening we had dinner with friends that just got off a 91 day cruise on the Volendam. We dined in Tamarind. It has been since the Nieuw Amsterdam's inaugural year that we last dined in Tamarind. We always would go the first night knowing the fish was brought on fresh. Let's just say I was very disappointed in the Sea Bass and sashimi. After our 2 and a half hour dinner we went walking around the ship I was taking pictures and we were checking everything out was when my phone went wacky.

It wants me to activate my iPhone then says it cannot be activated since it cannot find an activation server.

So right now cannot post any of my Pics. ☹️ Using my iPad to write.

I had pre paid for a week in the thermal suite and they charged me in advanced the usual $149. The price is actually $199.00 they are not sure yet if they will charge me more till tomorrow[emoji15]. Then they want me to sign for what I pre paid for on Thermal Suite and my Head to Toe massage and facial claiming they need to charge me but then it will credit back so I will not be double charged.......hmmm not so sure about that.

Answers to the TV, correct no extra chairs and you have to lay in bed to watch, yet I feel it is too far away despite it being large. There is a dressing table at the window but if you use a curling iron on your hair there is no where to plug it in there because the type of plug used will not fit into but there just one plug in the whole cabin and that will work and it is by the high sofa type table by the mirror in the main cabin. Not sure what you can plug in for the bathrooms. Unknown what for sure what some of the fixes will be.

Well I am extremely tired so will write a lot more tomorrow, hopefully phone will work to post pictures.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk