erdufylla

The only time I was asked to leave positive feedback in the survey on my last cruise aboard the Koningsdam was on the last day, when I was talking to one of the floor managers in the Lido deck. I’d flagged her down to ask about how I could best get a tip to a particular waiter in the MDR whose section we ended up in several times, and whose service, attentiveness, and friendliness was over-the-top excellent. She took the card I’d prepared with the tip I wanted to leave for him, saying she’d make sure it was passed on to him, but that naming him specifically and leaving positive feedback in the survey would be extremely helpful, as it could mean he’d get promoted to one of the specialty restaurants. I had no problem with this request, and unless it felt pushy or demanding, I wouldn’t feel put off about someone else asking me to leave positive feedback. I know it’s just how the service industry operates these days. It’s kind of like tipping in North America — you may not like it, but it’s how things are.

Every cruise is different, but we never had any trouble getting a table in the MDR with open seating on the Koningsdam, even when we were requesting just a 2-top. We tended to go on the early side (5:30 or 6:00-ish) because the teen club always had events at 8pm that we needed to be finished before. We never bothered making reservations because we were just two people and were ok being seated at larger tables with other people if that was the only option, but if you’re concerned about getting a table quickly, especially if you’re a larger group and/or you don’t want to be seated with other people, that could be something you could try. We never tried room service for dinner, so I can’t speak to how quickly it would come. But you might find it uncomfortable for two people to eat a full meal in your room, depending on what size cabin you have. I know in our verandah room, it was fine for morning coffee and some yogurt, but I wouldn’t have wanted to have a full meal for two people in there.

I was on the ship the week prior, and I thought I’d offer my $0.02 on these questions, if it’s helpful. — I found temps inside the ship to be very comfortable, almost unnoticeable most of the time. I was quite comfy wearing leggings or jeans and lightweight short or 3/4-length tees or blouses in most areas of the ship. The Lido pool area was a bit warmer. The only time I needed anything heavier was when I went out on the outer decks, especially when we were moving. (And on some of those times, especially when we were further north, I was glad I’d brought a winter coat and a hat and scarf, and my teenage nephew was kicking himself that he did not.) — Some people got very dressed up for the gala/dressy nights, but it’s a far cry from what it used to be for most people I saw. Average was slacks and a button-down shirt for men and a casual dress or slacks/blouse for women, but I also saw a lot of what I’d consider really casual wear even on fancy nights. Not quite “going to the beach” wear, but still really casual to my eyes. I never saw anyone turned away for wearing jeans or leggings or sneakers in the MDR, though, even on gala/fancy nights. — I saw some people wearing masks, but not very many. Most that I saw were staff, or in enclosed spaces like tour busses on excursions. — I didn’t find too many places that were genuinely quiet on the ship, aside from our stateroom. But the two places I really enjoyed for some quiet time and journaling or card games during the day were port side of the Sea View Pool (on the Lido deck 9, at the very back of the ship), and the hallway on deck 2 (I think? operating from memory here) outside the Club Orange restaurant. That latter area is almost always quiet, aside from some foot traffic, and is set up with 2-top tables (with USB chargers!) and porthole windows. It was a definite favorite place for some quiet time.

So here’s a hypothetical question: If you book a lower category stateroom and add on Club Orange, and then later accept an upsell to a category that includes Club Orange benefits, do they credit you for the CO add-on that you’ve presumably already paid for? Or do you just have to suck it up and eat that cost?

No arguments here! Travel always makes me stressed out enough. No need to add feeling rushed and panicked to the mix! 😂

Another thing to consider is that if you book through FlightEase, that means HAL knows your flight itinerary, and if they can, will hold the ship if your inbound flight is running behind. The Koningsdam was something like 90+ minutes delayed in departing Vancouver on May 27, and the reason I heard later was that there had been bad weather in Denver, and several passengers were delayed arriving to the ship. If you book your own flights, you don’t get that kind of consideration.

It’s a really nice place to eat. Just be aware that that’s usually the deck where the smoker’s lounge is, too. (I say this as a smoker, and we sometimes got nasty looks from people who wanted to eat out there and didn’t like that there were also smokers present.) In my experience, the smoking section is usually limited to one side of the deck, by the bar, and the bulk of the tables were on the other side, away from the smokers.

I was on this cruise, as well, and while we were just in a standard veranda room and not anything as fancy as a Pinnacle suite (which sounds amazing!), it sounds like our experiences were pretty similar for most of the ship. FWIW, here’s my take on the cruise: — I’d agree that overall, bar service was somewhat lacking in what I’d come to expect from HAL. The drinks were good, and some bars were better than others, but I got the impression that they were vastly understaffed, especially in some areas, and that a lot of the staff was on the newer side. No one was ever rude, but there was a lot of waiting to be served (both initially, and for the ordered drink to arrive), especially in the music venues and at the Lido pool. There also wasn’t a lot of knowledge about specific drinks that weren’t on that specific bar’s menu. I’m not a big drinker, and I tend to find one or two drinks I like and stick with it, and I had difficulty ordering them at some bars, because they had no idea what I was asking for, even though it was a drink offered on another bar’s menu. It didn’t bother me, but it was something I noticed. — I ate primarily in the MDR. Breakfasts and lunches were often slow, but the waitstaff was usually very good, and the food was always hot and delicious, even if it did take a while. We had open seating dining, and while I agree, the getting-to-the-table bit was always a little bit of a clusterfuck (really not enough waiting room for everyone, and staff didn’t always know where they were taking us), we never had any problems getting a table for two when we wanted it, and the dining experience itself was always very good. (We ended up with the same waiter several times, Amri, who was amazing and attentive and remembered our drink preferences and even my steak preference, and I think he made the MDR experience that much better.) I was always impressed with the food options and the food that came out to us. — I avoided the Lido market for the most part, eating there only when there wasn’t time for a meal in the MDR. Nothing I got was ever bad, but it was chaotic most of the time, which is not how I want to spend my vacation. Staff didn’t always understand the menus or what people were asking for. (I had one hilarious Caesar salad that had hard boiled eggs on it.) But I think that’s what you have to expect with the Lido market. — I didn’t do too much on the entertainment side of the ship, but what I did was kind of underwhelming. I enjoyed trivia and bingo, and what I heard from BB King and Rolling Stone sounded good. I did not care for the performers at Billboard on Board. I found it actually kind of painful to listen to. I didn’t get a chance to attend, but I heard excellent things about the comedian on board, and I’m sorry I missed his shows. — I have no direct experience to recount for this, but my teenage nephew adored the teen club activities. This normally fairly introverted video-games-only kid attended *every single* teen event they held and really enjoyed his time at those activities with the other teens on board. Overall, I loved the cruise. I thought the crew and staff were almost always very accommodating and polite, sometimes even downright kind, though I did feel at times they were understaffed in some areas. 95% of the food ranged from very good to amazing. Everything was clean and modern. The beds were comfortable. I’ve never experienced such an easy time at ports getting on and off the ship. I miss the smaller ships, with fewer passengers and a higher staff-to-passenger ratio (and Lincoln Center Stage, RIP), but I wasn’t nearly as overwhelmed by the size or number of passengers on the Koningsdam as I expected to be.

I was on Koningsdam last week, where e had the HIA package with the surf wifi. When I logged in to the internet through the Navigator app, it loaded an external browser page that has a button you click to connect to the internet. Below that was an option to upgrade to the premium package. On the first day, it listed options for upgrading for X number of days (something like 24 hours, or a 5-day package, IIRC), and as the cruise continued and the number of days left on board decreased, the upgrade package lengths became smaller, too. We didn’t opt to upgrade, but my impression was that the upgrade would apply to just the single account that selected it, not both accounts included in the HIA promotion.

I thought I’d provide a few additional notes from my experience with the standard wifi plan aboard the Koningsdam last week. — They definitely block some services on the “surf” plan — both TikTok and Discord were reported to be blocked. I don’t know if it was related or not, but I had difficulty loading the CruiseCritic boards while on the wifi, too. — Sending photos via iMessage often took ages, even if they were smaller ones. I had far more success sending images through FB Messenger, which went through almost immediately. — Text messages through iMessage went through quickly and seamlessly. No lag. — I didn’t try making calls over wifi, but we did do FaceTime Audio calls a couple times, which seemed to go OK. — Also, a note of clarification: I had been interpreting their “one device at a time” rule as per cabin, not per passenger, which turns out not to be the case. Each passenger in the cabin can have one device operating on the wifi at any time, which makes it nice for keeping in touch with and tracking down your fellow travelers while on board! For anyone wanting to take photos on your iPhone, edit them on your iPad, and then revert back to your phone for posting/sharing, switching the wifi between devices was pretty seamless and easy, but I think I’d rather just leave my phone connected and AirDrop the photos back and forth between my iPad or computer, which would go faster than syncing the photos up and down through the internet. Just my $0.02, though.

Yeah, I was pleasantly surprised how good it was. I’m not going to enlighten the 14yo I’m traveling with. I told him I’d be too slow for streaming, so no TikTok this week. 😅

I’m on the Koningsdam right now, and this is what I’m getting on the standard WiFi plan.