Konigsdam - Is it as bad as the reviews?

[summersigh]

I remember when the HAL Dive-In started using the individual buzzer call system when the order was ready which eliminated its lines, there was a complaint because the poster liked standing in line and chatting with the other passengers. :cool:

 

LOL ... It is amazing. I think that if cruise lines started giving free cruises someone would complain about something.

[Tennessee Titan]

LOL ... It is amazing. I think that if cruise lines started giving free cruises someone would complain about something.

Some people will bitch if they are hung with a new rope!

[Sir PMP]

My wife and I were interested in booking the Konigsdam for a Caribbean cruise, but the recent reviews have given pause to that plan. A 51% approval rating on CC is actually pretty shocking for a HAL ship, particularly a new one. The major complaints seem to be overcrowding, long lines, and excessive nickel and diming, and MDR service. These issues never came up on our 4 previous HAL cruises.

Any feedback from recent passengers would be appreciated.

 

Watch out there are a lot of phony travel agents here that make it sounds better then it is....use your own judgement

[PatsyAnne]

Watch out there are a lot of phony travel agents here that make it sounds better then it is....use your own judgement

 

 

I'm not a travel agent and don't play one on TV, but my friends (4 star) who didn't think they'd like a larger ship, loved the Koningsdam. For myself, I'll find out in August. I guess it all depends on what makes you happy.

[travelinjones]

We are excited to be trying the Koningsdam this Sunday, and will share our thoughts on a "live" thread (depending on internet quality.)

[freestyling]

We are excited to be trying the Koningsdam this Sunday, and will share our thoughts on a "live" thread (depending on internet quality.)

 

Look forward to following along if internet is working well. If not please do a revue. Thanks

[theduffys]

We are excited to be trying the Koningsdam this Sunday, and will share our thoughts on a "live" thread (depending on internet quality.)

 

We are boarding on the 17th, when you are debarking I think. will be reading any tips and descripitons you post.

[jumpjump]

We are excited to be trying the Koningsdam this Sunday, and will share our thoughts on a "live" thread (depending on internet quality.)

 

Ohh also post on the ports... I'll be doing the same ports in August..:)

 

Have fun!

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We were on the first voyage and really enjoyed the new ship. Sure, there were minor issues since it was new, but by the end of the trip, things were running normal.

 

That is good to hear.

[0bnxshs]

We were on the Christening cruise in May and absolutely love the ship. The crew was excellent; many of them were experienced staff from the rest of HALs fleet and knew their jobs well and how to please passengers.

 

Sure, there are differences and a few issues. However, I feel that the low ratings and oft-repeated complaints reflect the disappointment that the ship doesn't meet the personal expectations of those who have done reviews. With anything new, we all have certain hopes and expectations set, rightly or wrongly, and when they are not met, we are disappointed.

 

Yes, there are some fixes needed here and there on the ship and there are people who experienced real problems on board. But, IMHO, she is a beautiful ship with a great crew and a new experience for HAL cruisers.

[cbr663]

OP, the K has been in service for several months and in that time she has welcomed thousands of passengers on board. I don't know whether the ship sailed at maximum capacity, but with a passenger capacity of between 2650 and 3194, it is safe to assume that the ship has welcomed more than 20,000 passengers.

 

Of these, 53 provided a review to CC. Of these 53, 17 rated the experience as Very Good or Excellent, hence the 51% approval rating. Ten rated their experience as Poor or Terrible.

 

I am not trying to dismiss anyone's experience. My goal is to try and provide some perspective around the CC reviews. We also have a cruise planned on the K and have been carefully reviewing feedback on the ship.

[JamesFic]

We sailed on May 22. Loved the ship and was very impressed with the quality of the food in the main dining room. The ship is beautiful and yes there are some design features that I feel reflect the changing profiles of cruisers. My only negative was the Lido - really tough to find seating, but that wouldn't stop me from booking this ship again.

[teltrainer]

OP, the K has been in service for several months and in that time she has welcomed thousands of passengers on board. I don't know whether the ship sailed at maximum capacity, but with a passenger capacity of between 2650 and 3194, it is safe to assume that the ship has welcomed more than 20,000 passengers.

 

Of these, 53 provided a review to CC. Of these 53, 17 rated the experience as Very Good or Excellent, hence the 51% approval rating. Ten rated their experience as Poor or Terrible.

 

I am not trying to dismiss anyone's experience. My goal is to try and provide some perspective around the CC reviews. We also have a cruise planned on the K and have been carefully reviewing feedback on the ship.

 

..thank you for the voice of reason!

[Karennella]

Well as it seems many people find the complaints to be somewhat groundless it firms my view that the experience of cruising on a large ship is not for me. I previously wrote that I found the Lido very crowded and that it was often difficult to find seats, to the extent that once we had to take our meal back to our cabin.

It would seem then, from what you all say, that this sort of experience is somewhat the norm and should not be a negative.

Our previous cruise was on the Prisendam and i certainly preferred the smaller ship. sounds like I need to stick to that size in future.

[igraf]

The Koningsdam's high passenger load is a kink that will never be ironed out. The math is simple. Be prepared for a crowded lido buffet.

 

A 50% overall rating on Cruise Critic is abysmal. The Westerdam, as a comparison, is 77%. Even the often maligned Pride of America is 71%.

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

I would imagine that by the time the winter cruising season starts,the kinks will be ironed out. There are many dedicated HAL cruisers who have booked for its first season in the Caribbean. HAL has lots of competition for the winter travelling crowd so it's in their best interests to fix any problems.And really, in the scheme of things,it's a really small percentage of people who post reviews on CC or any other site,for that matter.

[aljo66]

Just off the Koningsdam this morning and had a fantastic two weeks. I think the problem for many people is that the Koningsdam is different to the other dam ships and the old HAL cruisers don't like this. For us it was great with wonderful food and service and very few queues.

 

Sent from my ALE-L21 using Tapatalk

[mancunian]

We went on the K in April and I did a long review here on the forum. To be honest I do not recognise K from some of the reviews I have read. We had excellent embarkation and disembarkation, good food and excellent service in the MDR. We loved Tamarind. We only went to the Lido at lunchtime always about 12 noon to 12.15 and never had trouble finding a table. We were on open sitting in MDR and apart from on one occasion a two minute wait with bleeper in hand were seated immediately.

 

Cabin and cabin stewards were excellent - cabin well looked after. Yes they are slightly smaller but quite satisfactory.

 

Some of the entertainment was not to our taste, but that always happens. We liked the Lincoln Centre and we also had an excellent Beatles tribute in the theatre.

 

As I said in my review we will not be sailing on K again because no library - massively important to us, no sitting on promenade deck and not even good for walking. We enjoy going to the cinema but do not like it next to the pool on the deck. However, the greatest complaint was distances to walk without any chairs available to rest, I am disabled. If none of those things matter to you go and have a good cruise.

[OlsSalt]

Bottomline: I hope all those who had such a positive experience on the Konigdam take the time to write a CC member review of the ship and raise its scores to something that more properly reflects these positive experiences.

[whogo]

Bottomline: I hope all those who had such a positive experience on the Konigdam take the time to write a CC member review of the ship and raise its scores to something that more properly reflects these positive experiences.

Shouldn't those who had negative or mediocre experiences also submit reviews? Are you trying to artificially raise Koningdam's rating? Koningsdam is not wowing her passengers like she should.

[Tennessee Titan]

Unfortunately, you can't please everyone.

On a 3000 passenger ship, there will always be 100 or so who complain about something, maybe 10 or 15 who complain about everything. Some of the mlldly negative reviews contain personal problems/ issues, and I respect those.

A forum like this (again unfortunatly) gets a lot of the complainers. We are going on the K in September, and as long time, 4 star mariners, we fully expect to enjoy it as we always have on HAL.....

Edited July 3, 2016 by Tennessee Titan

[OlsSalt]

Shouldn't those who had negative or mediocre experiences also submit reviews? Are you trying to artificially raise Koningdam's rating? Koningsdam is not wowing her passengers like she should.

 

No, please do not read anything more into this suggestion. Thnx.

[dockman]

//// "As I said in my review we will not be sailing on K again because no library - massively important to us, no sitting on promenade deck and not even good for walking. "

 

 

I could not agree more...no matter how good the rest of the ship may be these

"amenities" are simply something i must have....fortunately there are many other HAL ships that still have great libraries and prom decks wide enough for chairs and walking.

 

For those who don't use these amenities perhaps the Kdam is your choice.

 

Not mine.

[Pukkepuk]

We've been on the 5/29 cruise from Amsterdam and you best read my review.

Our Stewards were fantastic, most of the "common" crew also! But the negative stories about the MDR are true! Also about the Lido restaurant. As a Dutchman, I could appreciate the Dutch cafe and dining at Pinnacle Grill was superb. The staff was mostly assembled from other HAL ships, so they were not inexperienced! It was mostly the attitude of higher ranks that was disappointing! We had better experiences on other cruises. We will never sail with HAL again!

[Lovely other]

having sailed on her twice now , once for 19 days and then a further 14 days that I returned from just yesterday I would say the reviews are a little harsh.

 

The service has improved dramatically since the premier cruise and while I miss the old HAL library it certainly wouldn't stop me sailing on her again. I think she is a good combination of traditional paired with more up to date facilities and I may find it hard to sail on the older ships now ...

[Carnevale]

Since we all arrive onboard with different expectations, interests and needs it makes sense there are both positive and negative reviews of K'dam. What saddens me are the posts in this thread that dismiss those reporting negative experiences as complainers. My hope is that CC will remain a place where all points of view are welcomed, not just the positives. That's the only way readers will get a broad picture that will help them match their vacation plans with what might be the best option for them.

 

We have sailed on K'dam and came to the conclusion that it is definitely not the right ship for us. From our point of view, the negatives reported by CC posters align with what we experienced. Our mistake was booking it before there were any reviews - had we seen the reviews posted to date, we would have made a different decision.

 

Contrary to what has been suggested in this thread, the negatives that had the most impact for us were not related to K'dam being a new ship that is still settling in. Had that been the case, we would not be so negative. Rather, the problems were mainly due to design and service quality decisions made by HAL.

 

I have voiced our opinions via the onboard surveys, the post-cruise survey, and by email to HAL. Unfortunately, the reactions from HAL have not left me with confidence that the things that HAL can change without a refit will be addressed (e.g., excessive volume levels near and in the Queen's Lounge, too many things with extra charges resulting in a feeling of being "nickled and dimed" all the time, only 2 hours of ballroom dancing in 13 nights, very poor communication with guests prior to and during the cruise, no rebroadcasting of the excellent port lectures via stateroom TV, limited and low quality entertainment/activities, and many others). From our point of view, it is surprising that the CC rating of K'dam is as high as it is.

 

As I've said on other posts, I'm happy for HAL's sake there are people who like this ship and there were some things we really enjoyed (e.g., Tamarind, Dutch Cafe, High Tea).

 

I encourage those considering any cruise, but particularly a cruise on a ship they haven't been on before, to do what the OP has done: read the reviews and raise questions and concerns on CC in the hope that open exchanges of all points of view will be welcomed. I value CC as a place where I can learn the good, the bad and the ugly but with the caveat that every post and review is a personal opinion which will vary from one person to the next - what I love someone else might not and vice versa. My job in reading all posts is to stay open and focus on learning as much as I can in the context of how I might experience or relate to what others report. Thanks to all of you who have supported my learning here over the years!