Koningsdam - Southern Caribbean Wayfarer - 4-15 March 2020 - a review

[whitford]

Thanks for the post I hope to be on this same cruise in Jan 2021

[Belgian fry]

Saturday 14 March – Halfmoon Cay

 

I think we were on the second tender to Halfmoon Cay, where we had booked a clamshell. We decided to head down the beach to where it would be quieter. Once we had found a spot we liked, I went to the Water Sports Center and asked for someone to set up a clamshell. This took quite a while to sort out and I think I ended up asking 3 times. The process here could certainly do with some improvement.

 

We had the island beverage package and had chosen a spot between cabanas 6 and 7. It wasn’t too far from the Captain Morgan bar, so we headed up there a few times. The first time, the bar wasn’t set up yet so it took a while to get a drink. Choices are also very limited. Just after 1pm, my husband set out to get us drinks. He was gone for ages. It turned out the Captain Morgan bar was closed, as was the “I wish I could stay here forever” bar, so he had had to head all the way back to the Rum Runners bar, where they were basically out of drinks and gave him a random cocktail made with whatever was left over. We wouldn’t take the package again. The last tender was at 2:30pm, yet more than an hour before that it was no longer possible to get a drink!

 

The shops were also a disappointment here. We would have liked some HMC t-shirts, but the only size available was 4XL!

 

We spent the day mainly round our loungers, in and out of the sea. We enjoyed the BBQ, even though it is pretty basic. We also walked all the way to the end of the beach, which was nice. Halfmoon Cay really is the perfect venue for the perfect beach day.

 

When we returned to the ship, the captain informed us of HAL’s decision to suspend sailing operations. He explained that everyone would be required to disembark when we arrived in Fort Lauderdale and that the ship would then sail away with crew only. I guess this is when we realised just how serious things had become.

 

We spent part of the evening packing (my least favourite part of the cruise).

[Belgian fry]

Sunday 15 March – disembarkation

 

Disembarkation was delayed for a while (I guess for health checks), but as soon as our group was called, we headed off the ship, picked up our bags and passed through the checks with no difficulties.

 

We had booked a transfer to Miami airport via HAL. This was very easy and good value for money. From the airport, we immediately took a shuttle to a hotel where we had booked a day room. Our flight was at 11pm and we had the room until 8pm, which was perfect. We spent the day catching up on the news, relaxing by the pool and reorganin our suitcases for the flights home.

 

After the constant cleansing and hand-washing on the ship, the airport and planes were scary. So many people. Long check-in lines too, with many people desperate to get on flights out of the US (ours was overbooked). We made it home without any trouble though, later hearing that our Aer Lingus flight to Dublin was the last flight the company operated out of the US before suspending operations.

[Cruise Suzy]

Thanks for posting. About the time you started the review I realized I had never finished editing my photos from this itinerary on the K'dam. Ours was a slightly different order and we didn't have any ports cancelled. It was nice reliving our cruise through your commentary and working on my photos at the same time.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Just finished reading your reports.

 

Wonderful pictures.

 

Thank you for doing your review of your cruise.

[SandraH]

Yes, thanks again.  This was lovely reading and such gorgeous pictures of Half Moon Cay.

I was glad to read that you and your husband got home okay too.

 

[erewhon]

Thank you for completing your review, and sharing your photos.

You were very fortunate with your flight out of the USA.

[Belgian fry]

Thank you all for your kind comments. We look forward to being able to cruise again when all this is over, whenever that may be.

Stay safe everyone!

[bcnvcanada]

THANK YOU so much for reminding us why we enjoy cruising so much.

The pictures were outstanding and loved the review.  Hopefully, we all

will soon enjoying this life style again.   Thanks again.   

[Lido deck main]

Thank you very much for posting, just found your review today.  Thoroughly enjoyed reading it and seeing your wonderful pictures.  We were on Koningsdam for 21 days Fall 2017, also had a cabin on deck 11, not being sure if we would like it, and we ended up loving being up there too.   

[Love the beach]

Thank you for your review and the lovely photos. We got off the ship the day you got on! Love the Koningsdam and hope to sail her again! 

[dontworry]

amazing pictures and great review......got me looking forward to cruising again     thank you

[NapTown Jim]

Thank you for posting this review.  It was interesting and I really liked the pictures.

 

We are looking at booking this itinerary on the Nieuw Amsterdam next year.  We'll probably pull the trigger on it in a few weeks.  Thanks for sharing your experience.

 

 

[Dismomx5]

Thank you for posting your review. We've done this itinerary in the past, as well. We were on the NCL Breakaway that week, and they shut down the buffet early in the cruise, so that all guests were served, including the drinks, tea/coffee/juice. Some people didn't get the whole served at the buffet thing, but it made me happy (and reminded me of being on HAL 💝)