HoogieNZ

We are doing a Viking River Cruise "Grand European Tour" departing Budapest 14th November 2019 ... first river cruise so will be interesting to see how we go 🙂

hi there, we too are doing a cruise close to this time (Nov-Dec) from Budapest to Amsterdam with Viking (not sure who you are travelling with).  We are going to have 4 days pre cruise in Budapest doing our own thing and then 4 days post cruise doing our own thing stopping off in Singapore for 5 days on the way home to break the trip 🙂  interesting to hear what others say re timing....

We are booked on our first River Cruise with Viking in November this year "Grand European Tour" from Budapest to Amsterdam and really looking forward to it.  We are both in our 50's but we have previously done Holland America Ocean cruises so like the quieter cruise companies :-)

Thanks for the review. I am so glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

I have heard that a number of cities are limiting cruise ship visits because of the numbers of tourists arriving. When I first starting cruising it was because we had read an article in the Saturday Evening Post which said you could cruise to Charlottetown, PEI and see the Anne of Green Gables site. We saved our money and booked a cruise. At the time, Charlottetown was limiting the number of cruise calls and the year we chose to cruise was one of the years the HAL ships were not on Charlottetown's port schedule. Having since been to Charlottetown a number of times on other cruises, I kind of wish the port would go back to limiting cruise ship calls. I kind of wish more cities would limit cruise ship calls. Some ports are not ready to deal with two whole new cities' worth of people arriving daily during the season. In order to keep the delightfulness of the ports, especially the smaller ports, I think limiting calls, even if it disappoints a number of tourists, is really a good idea. (And yes, I realize that Amsterdam is not a smaller port, but the same ideas apply, the cruise ships may be causing more issues than the money brought in is worth.)

Totally agree with reducing tourist numbers ... we come from NZ and struggle with the huge crowds in some places ..

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We recently went on a B2B cruise on the Koningsdam from 21 April until 13 May starting in Rome and ending in Amsterdam. I will try not to repeat myself too much but apologise if I do in advance [emoji846]. We had previously cruised with Holland America in Alaska so knew what style of cruising it was and it didn’t disappoint,

Embarkation Day

Embarkation Day was so easy... we were greeted at the transfer van by the terminal staff who took care of our luggage whilst we went through processing. The staff were super efficient and before we knew it we were boarding. We were able to go straight to our cabin (7051) and drop our stuff off before heading to the Lido for a bite to eat.

Drinks

We pre-purchased a Soda Card, water package and also a Beverage card as we didn’t believe the drinks package was what we needed as we aren’t huge drinkers. We did however also pre-purchase the Cellar Door Wine No.1 Package which was 4 bottles of wine to use throughout the cruise along with the 2 bottles of wine we were able to take onboard when we first arrived. It may sound like a lot but we were on board for 22 nights and still worked out cheaper than the beverage package. We would pop along to the Lido deck if there was happy hour which usually meant buy 1 beer get another one for $2 which worked out not to bad when you converted it to NZ dollars.

Cabin 7051

Our cabin was a balcony cabin on the Schubert Deck and was really good except for the connecting door. The first part of the cruise was good as our neighbours weren’t that noisy but we had a change of neighbours halfway through and the new people obviously had hearing issues as we could hear most of what they had to say when they were on their room. Our cabin staff were amazing and always greeted us with a smile and our name which was amazing they could remember us. Our cabin was an unobstructed view.

Speciality Restaurants

We ordered the package that included the Canaletto, Tamarind and Pinnacle. The cruise line did put us down for all three restaurants for the first leg of our trip which we asked to change as we wanted to spread it out over the 22 days. Our favourite was Tamarind by far and we actually booked another night whilst on the 2nd leg of our trip. The Pinnacle was a bit disappointing to be honest.. the staff were not as friendly and efficient as the other restaurants but that was just our opinion.

Grand Dutch Cafe

Oh my goodness this was excellent, the staff were always friendly and it was great to try Dutch treats like apple pie, pannekoeken (Dutch pancakes) etc.

Tours

We did a few tours through HAL and they were very organised however we did notice that some people may have had differing ideas of what their physical abilities were. We went on a couple of tours that were described as ‘strenuous’ and yet some of the guests were out of breath walking from the ship to the bus which resulted in less time being spent seeing things. We totally understand that people have health issues but perhaps choosing tours more appropriate to your abilities would be suggested.

Overall Opinion

Since the increase in terrorism security had been beefed up, even to the point where we had to have a shuttle from the ship to the port exit in Belgium which was only 40 metres max away and took so much longer not to mention very frustrating.

Overall though we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise and would still recommend HAL to people we believe would suit that style of cruising (not ideal recommending it to people who want to be entertained 24/7).

We have heard that Amsterdam are looking at trying to stop cruise ships going there in the future as they can’t cope with the number of tourists so not sure if/when that may change.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We recently went on a B2B cruise on the Koningsdam from 21 April until 13 May starting in Rome and ending in Amsterdam. I will try not to repeat myself too much but apologise if I do in advance [emoji846]. We had previously cruised with Holland America in Alaska so knew what style of cruising it was and it didn’t disappoint,

Embarkation Day

Embarkation Day was so easy... we were greeted at the transfer van by the terminal staff who took care of our luggage whilst we went through processing. The staff were super efficient and before we knew it we were boarding. We were able to go straight to our cabin (7051) and drop our stuff off before heading to the Lido for a bite to eat.

Drinks

We pre-purchased a Soda Card, water package and also a Beverage card as we didn’t believe the drinks package was what we needed as we aren’t huge drinkers. We did however also pre-purchase the Cellar Door Wine No.1 Package which was 4 bottles of wine to use throughout the cruise along with the 2 bottles of wine we were able to take onboard when we first arrived. It may sound like a lot but we were on board for 22 nights and still worked out cheaper than the beverage package. We would pop along to the Lido deck if there was happy hour which usually meant buy 1 beer get another one for $2 which worked out not to bad when you converted it to NZ dollars.

Cabin 7051

Our cabin was a balcony cabin on the Schubert Deck and was really good except for the connecting door. The first part of the cruise was good as our neighbours weren’t that noisy but we had a change of neighbours halfway through and the new people obviously had hearing issues as we could hear most of what they had to say when they were on their room. Our cabin staff were amazing and always greeted us with a smile and our name which was amazing they could remember us. Our cabin was an unobstructed view.

Speciality Restaurants

We ordered the package that included the Canaletto, Tamarind and Pinnacle. The cruise line did put us down for all three restaurants for the first leg of our trip which we asked to change as we wanted to spread it out over the 22 days. Our favourite was Tamarind by far and we actually booked another night whilst on the 2nd leg of our trip. The Pinnacle was a bit disappointing to be honest.. the staff were not as friendly and efficient as the other restaurants but that was just our opinion.

Grand Dutch Cafe

Oh my goodness this was excellent, the staff were always friendly and it was great to try Dutch treats like apple pie, pannekoeken (Dutch pancakes) etc.

Tours

We did a few tours through HAL and they were very organised however we did notice that some people may have had differing ideas of what their physical abilities were. We went on a couple of tours that were described as ‘strenuous’ and yet some of the guests were out of breath walking from the ship to the bus which resulted in less time being spent seeing things. We totally understand that people have health issues but perhaps choosing tours more appropriate to your abilities would be suggested.

Overall Opinion

Since the increase in terrorism security had been beefed up, even to the point where we had to have a shuttle from the ship to the port exit in Belgium which was only 40 metres max away and took so much longer not to mention very frustrating.

Overall though we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise and would still recommend HAL to people we believe would suit that style of cruising (not ideal recommending it to people who want to be entertained 24/7).

We have heard that Amsterdam are looking at trying to stop cruise ships going there in the future as they can’t cope with the number of tourists so not sure if/when that may change.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

hi there, we are doing the Koningsdam departing 21 April for 22 days and we are from New Zealand. We have signed up for two meet & greets on our tour as we are doing 2 B2B tours so we are being great :D

The BON VOYAGE THREADS are derived from this listing.

 

If you would like to receive a Bon Voyage I need the following details posted:

 

Your EMBARKATION date

the SHIP you are on

Name of your cruise

# of days (including if you are on a Collector's or B2B).

 

B2B? - if you want Bon Voyages for them, please give the DATES.

Please revisit the thread to make sure there are no questions.

 

Thank you :D

 

Does anyone know of a good app like the one we used to use called Travelpod as that has now been bought and closed down. We are heading off on the Koningsdam in about 3 weeks so want to get something set up before we go. We like to keep our friends posted via Facebook but we won’t have wifi on the ship so want to be able to type stuff up off-line including pics we take and then download them when we get to somewhere with free wifi [emoji16]

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

You can choose one bottle at a time. Usually, there is a wine tasting on one of the first sea days. However, they will probably have two whies and two reds, and the whites and the reds will be one from each of the first two packages. At least that was the case on the Westerdam in February.

Thanks for that [emoji846] I was sure I had seen something about wine tastings hehe

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We are heading away on the Konigsdam in three weeks and we have purchased the 4 bottle wine package. What we are wondering is ... when do we choose the wines we want? Do we have to choose all at once or when we finish one bottle do we order the next? Do they do tastings for you first?

thanks for that Freestylin.... we are still reasonably new cruisers as we have only done 1 cruise prior to our upcoming one and the first cruise was linked to a land tour we did and we ended up hooked on cruising after that trip which was also on HAL in Alaska.

So what can you actually use your OBC for as we both received some through our cruise broker :-)

We had to buy lanyards on our first ever Cruise as wasn't aware of how everything worked (and hadn't found Cruisecritic at that point :-) )

I am surprised they don't have a few fiction books (other than the 'O' book club ones by the sounds of it) or a few magazines or something.

We are heading off on our second cruise in April for 22 nights on HAL Koningsdam so hoping the shop situation will be all sorted by then

Thanks so much for reviewing. We are heading away on the Koningsdam in April for 22 nights and my husband has just actually purchased the Distinction Dining package so it is great to hear it was a wise move (not that i would ever doubt my husbands choices :-) I mean .. he chose me obviously hehehe )

Out of interest sake, what floor were you on? How did you find the stability - I have read lots of people saying it is one of the most stable ships in the fleet

Can you please add us to your list for April 2018

Holland America - Koningsdam Departing 21 April 2018 - 22 night Mediterranean Dream

Thanks

I am just wondering.... we booked our cruise over a year ago and we were advised about half way through last year of what our cabin number was for the cruise we are on at end of April this year so confused why people aren't finding out their cabin numbers until so close to cruising. My husband printed off the luggage tags already with our cabin number on it. We have ended up with a balcony on the Konigsdam that is an adjoining cabin so was secretly hoping we might get reassigned :-)

I think the wine packages are a much better deal than the beverage package - unless you get the Explore4 as a free promo! You definitely would not want to get both at the same time. We drink only wine, and even at Happy Hours (buy 1, get the second for $2), we would just have a glass of prosecco each. Of course, if you drink cocktails, outside of Happy Hour, and a lot of them, the beverage package might be worth it.

Thanks for that. We did Alaska on Niue Amsterdam couple of years ago and found the happy hours a good reasonable way to have a drink. We only really drink beer and wine and if we bring a bottle or two onboard with us when we start we can have them in our room to enjoy on the balcony in the evening if we wanted :-). Do you need to purchase the wine package before boarding or can you do it once onboard? Sorry for all the questions :-)

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

So just wanting to clarify as we are going on the k’dam in April ... can you purchase the wine package without having the beverages packages as we wouldn’t drink enough for the beverage package 🙂

can you use it if one person has an iPhone and the other has a Samsung?

I see on one of the recent threads someone had the Holland America Navigator app but i am not sure where to find it. When we cruise next year in April we are taking one of our cellphones but won't be signing up for Wifi so just wondering if it needs internet or whether it is bluetooth activated on the ship? Also is it available to use on both Samsung and Iphones/iPads?

We are going to be onboard for 22 nights so keen to see what the navigator offers. I think someone said you could get a timetable of the days events on it rather than carry the paper version around with you but i am be wrong.

Thanks in advance...

Kiwi Cruisers

We're still 10 months out. Still no excursions.

Yes we have been waiting for the excursions to appear as well. They had half up for a while then they disappeared and now nothing

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We were able to view our Shore Excursions recently and then HAL did their 'upgrade' and now we also get the 0% loading screen and nothing else. I managed to print off the shore excursion booklet the last time i could view it but it only had half the cruise as we are doing B2B two cruises so went back to see if they had updated with the next cruise and now can't even see the one we could previously view... very frustrating... we check daily to see if it has changed and still nothing....

Is anybody able to tell us what the power sockets are on the Koningsdam? Are they American or European outlets? We are from New Zealand and want to make sure we bring the correct adapter :-)

NZ Career Operational Firefighter (Senior Station Officer) and wife here. Completed one HAL cruise already in Alaska and due to go on a 22 night cruise with them in April 2018