A Lot of Positives about the Koningsdam, But.....

[Keith1010]

I enjoyed your report.

Keith

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info.

[woody14h]

We've booked the K for the TA in March. Totally forgot about the smoking policy. Damn. We love to spent some time in the casino after dinner but with the smoking, we will have to forgo that. It is a stupid rule. We chose K for ports we hadn't been to which is why we left Celebrity for this TA. Thanks for the review, we will act accordingly.

[*Miss G*]

We've booked the K for the TA in March. Totally forgot about the smoking policy. Damn. We love to spent some time in the casino after dinner but with the smoking, we will have to forgo that. It is a stupid rule. We chose K for ports we hadn't been to which is why we left Celebrity for this TA. Thanks for the review, we will act accordingly.

There are smoking and non-smoking nights.

[colonialinnkeeper]

We sailed on the K and loved her with the exception of the wafting smoke from the casino. If they allow smoking there, the design should ensure (and the extraction equipment to clean the air) and be efficient enough to keep the smoke contained. Thanks for your balanced review.

[tommy]

We just returned from a 11day cruise aboard the Koningsdam, our first HAL cruise in about four years. All cruises intervening have been on Celebrity including a couple of TA's. I couldn't help but compare and also wanted to list some positives about the K-dam and a But..

Just before sailing I got a up sale offer from HAL to go from a Vista Suite to a Neptune B. the cost was about 33% of the difference between what we had paid and the listed cost at the time for the NS. I took it for a 50th gift for myself and my wife. I'm glad I did but probably wouldn't in the future. It was nice but the cost difference could have bought a lot of Mimosas. We got one of what I will call the Mini-Neptunes at the back of the ship, a little smaller than I believe the mid-ship suites are but with a nice wrap-around balcony. It was a long walk to the Neptune Lounge so we only took advantage three or four times during the entire cruise. The outstanding thing abut the lounge was the coffee machine, I just wish it had closed a little later that 8:30PM as we usually weren't finished supper until after that and an after-supper cappuccinos or two would have hit the spot.

THINGS I ENJOYED:

The Suite- The room service breakfasts were great. The steak and eggs with the morning Mimosas can really spoil you. They were on time and the food was pleasantly warm. So good in fact that we only visited the Pinnacle for breakfast twice during the whole cruise. The suite was nice and the stewart outstanding. Only two little disappointments: HAL doesn't seem to know what a Memory foam pillow is and the large couch taking up so much space is almost impossible to use for anything but to lay things on as it really is designed a as bed (too wide).Advantage HAL

Lido Market- Very good food and outstanding service for this venue. I kinda like Celebrity's layout (one big room) but we seemed to always find a good table with someone there right away asking if they could bring us tea or other drink. The problem is the temptation of trying a little of everything including the custom stir-fry and pasta. Also to my country taste, the sushi was great. That is something Celebrity is trying to capitalize on with an expensive sushi venue and they have eliminated it in the dining area. Advantage HAL

Dining Room- Very good food and service. We took advantage of the free choice and usually ate at 8:00 or after. We only had to wait more than five minutes twice and while sitting with our pager in the hall leading to the dining room, were offered a glass of wine. A nice touch.

Advantage HAL

Entertainment -With four primary venues, I think HAL has done it right on this ship. The world stage is the most impressive show stage I have ever attended on a ship and we have been on about twenty different ones. Also a big plus-three shows a night most nights. This makes it so much better with the off-hours dining times. The Lincoln Center is real class and the Billboard lounge was great. The two entertainers playing and singing songs I actually know the words to was a highlight, I only wish they had played Sweet Caroline all the way thru. BB King's was packed almost every night and I can see why with such a high energy band. So different from the almost dead entertainment that I remember from past HAL cruises. Advantage HAL

Pools and decks-As others have commented there is somewhat limited seating at the pools and the aft pool whirlpools are very small. It just isn't comfortable to be in them with anyone else. I was, however, able to find both a chair and an empty whirlpool on three port days. Service was good without any hard sale of drinks. Advantage Celebrity

Outdoor food venues- Both the Dive in and New York Pizza were great. The burgers, dogs and fries were "Five-Guy's" good and it was so nice to get a custom dressed burger and dog. Pizza's made to order with good salads topped the slices Celebrity serves, mostly made some time before and left to warm. Both took a little waiting time at peak hours but were worth it. Big Advantage HAL

Culinary Arts Center- We were invited as suite guests to dine here on the first night. It was a different experience and the food was interesting and tasty. Our main was Tenderloin of Beef and it was not only very good but an awfully big serving. I think it was about two hours from start to finish, a lot longer that we usually can sit for but certainly worth trying once. Celebrity has nothing like this so I can say Advantage HAL. We didn't try any of the other speciality restaurants.

Shops and Other Areas- Mainly way too upscale for country folks, with limited real sales of things we could afford. The art auction was like on the other ships we have sailed on, selling nice limited and open edition reproductions mostly for far more than their e-bay cousins. The ship's staff was friendly and helpful in our limited interaction. Saw the ship's officers only in passing a couple of times. Liked the instant access to on-board charge statements. No Real Advantage to neither line here.

AND NOW THE BUT!! HAL still allows smoking in the Casino. For someone as sensitive to smoke as my wife, that made playing the slots or even walking thru there impossible. And with that nice wide staircase leading down from the Casino to the Lincoln Center and Billboard areas and with the smoke stench that drifted down, she could even sit thru a performance in either area. As a former smoker (32 years ago) I have always tried to be tolerant of smokers but as I have gotten older, I can't hardly stand the smell anymore either.

Big Advantage Celebrity and probably why this might have been our last HAL cruise. It's really a shame and I wish HAL would limit smoking to an aft bar. I do remember when they allowed smoking on the balcony's. One one cruise we could hardly use ours at all due to the neighbors. I guess they feel that was a far as they needed to go. But that is their decision. Maybe in the cruise marketing world, with other lines really limiting smoking, HAL figures it pays to be Smoker Friendly.

Just off Eurodam,no smoking in their casino.

[tommy]

We just got off b2b on Eurodam.There was NO SMOKING in casino.It was nice not to have sore throat every night.We were just about to book Konningdam.We now will look into a different ship,or back to Celebrity.