jennymaxgirl

I can choose between two obstructed balcony cabins. Looking at:

VH4135 and VH4062

Any insight? 4135 has a deeper angled balcony, but is an adjoining cabin. Larger tender in front. Also wonder if there could be more or maybe less obstruction in this one? Hard to tell by any pics I can find online.

4062 is not adjoining cabin and regular size balcony with the smaller lifeboat in front.

Thank you!

Does anyone have feedback on cabin 4135? It looks like the balcony for this cabin is much larger and may not have much of an obstructed view?

Would love to know what you thought of this cabin Jenny! Do you have a pic of the balcony view? Thanks, Jennifer

Would love feedback on ship condition and whether you noticed leaks and sewage odors. Been reading lots of concerning reviews about the Golden. Thank you!

Watched her sail away on the webcam this afternoon. Very sad for us as we were supposed to be on this sailing along with my parents. My 10-yr-old son suffered an accident at school and broke both his femur and arm. Leaving us unable to go. Could not be more disappointed to miss our opportunity to sail this lovely ship. Will rebook for next year, but would love to hear how the sailing goes this week and live vicariously thru those onboard.

~Jennifer

The place and time to meet with the dining room manager to try and get your dining time changed will be listed in the daily program. You have to be patient as there are times when a lot of people line up to change dining times.

 

 

 

Open Seating does allow you to make reservations for times between 5:15 - 6:15 and 7:30 -9. You can ask for a specific table and make reservations for 3 days at a time at the same table.

I am also interested in this as we are sailing on the K in March. Can I ask the best way and time to make the reservation for the first night? Do you recommend visiting the maître d or dining rm staff upon embarkation? Will we be able to walk into the dining room to pick out the table or will they select the location? New to HAL so eager to learn how they do it. Thanks a bunch. Jennifer

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Hope it's legible!

 

 

 

 

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Excellent review. Thank you for posting all the pics and details. Is this wine package available for purchase in the dining room on embarkation day? Or do they set up tables around the ship on embarkation day for purchasing the package? I can't help but notice these prices are far better (cheaper) than what is offered to me for purchase prior to sailing. Did they recently change the prices onboard? Is this package available to everyone or do you need to have a high Mariner status? Thank you kindly . Sailing Koningsdam in 48 days!!

Getting ready for our cruise on Koningsdam.....bringing older parents with us for the trip. I would like to be fully prepared and would like to know - what is the protocol if there is a medical emergency while ashore? What if we need to dial '911' while at the beach at any of the islands? Who do you call?? I have no idea how one would go about this situation, so thought I better look into this so I am educated on this topic.

Anyone know how to handle these type of unexpected emergencies?

Thank you!

Chatted with the Holland America rep this morning and she informed me that my Spring Break sailing, 10-nt Southern Carib, is only 75% sold out. I am new to Holland and I find this so surprising. Having sailed with Princess and RC in the past, the ships were always sold out or very close to sold out. Especially over Spring Break, I assumed it would sell out. Is this the norm for Holland? As a side note, I will be very pleased if it remains 75% sold.....less bodies on board.

Thank you

I would like to order the Quench Beverage Package for my daughter but due to allergies I cannot have smoothies, hot chocolate or coffee drinks so I want to order a Soda Package for myself. While looking on the HAL website, I read that everyone must order the same package. Is this true? If it is then I won't purchase the Quench package for my daughter and HAL would just lose the sale. Am I reading this correctly?

I confirmed with HAL that not all guests need purchase the non-alcoholic packages. One guest can while the other do not. I went to hollandamerica.com and have an online chat with an agent. Might be worth trying to reconfirm this information.

When you get a message, does it make a noise to alert you of the msg? I hope so....Princess system does not and it ended up that we didn't use it because of this.

Is the aft pool area smokey - where the loungers and pool are? Would love to hang out at the aft pool and enjoy the sunshine and swim, but cannot tolerate the smell of cigarette smoke with my asthma. Thx.

Has anyone sailed recently and know what the wine prices are like? This will be our first cruise on HAL and we usually purchase a wine bottle pckg on Princess. However, on HAL it is considerably more expensive to buy the wine package, so I am hoping to find out the most affordable way to have a couple of glasses of wine with dinner....? Order by the glass? Order by the bottle? Buy the wine package? Of note, we usually drink the cheaper of the wines that are offered on the menu.

Any tips or insight greatly appreciated. Thank you. :)

I mostly stYed around seaview pool at back of ship ..lovely place .I was on deck 4 deck 3 promenade looked fine

Enjoy ..Koningsdam is lovely

I really like Holland America..i have loads to comparewith after56 cruises ..yes ,..that many ...I love ships

I had a repeated problem with AC ...they were very nice about it ...

Like I said lovely ship ..lovely everything

Great review! Thanks for sharing. I will be doing this exact itinerary on the K in March with my parents and our young children. Can I ask if you found the aft pool area smokey? Did you see kids there? HA told me that kids are allowed in the Seaview pool with adults supervising. This pool looks beautiful with its aft view and wide open to the sunshine - thus appealing to us. Thanks.

If we book the Holland America Water Taxi Tour to Klein Bonaire, does it depart closer to the ship than it would if we were to walk and find our own water taxi there? I am hoping to find out which water taxi will get us there with the least amount of walking.....traveling with older parents. Thank you .

Have a verandah category stateroom booked for the four of us (2 kids) on the Koningsdam. Should we expect the berth to be above the queen bed or above the pull-out sofa bed?

Thank you

RE: Koningsdam - any complaints of more-than-normal vibration on this ship? Have read some reviews with complaints of vibration. Stateroom is deck 4 near the aft of the ship.

Just off the Koningsdam. Don't believe all the horror stories you read about the Lido Market. Yes, it can be rather crowded at peak times so we choose to avoid those. Being an early bird helps as well. We often found seats for breakfast in the Canaletto section which is rather quiet. We quite like the Market idea where there are stations and your food is given to you ( as much as you like of course) and not sneezed at and picked at. We quite often change our breakfast ideas and choose a station that is not that crowded - why stand in a long line for an omelet if there are lots of other choices? We had bowls of fresh berries for breakfast every day for example. Another good choice is the Dutch café - no charge for the meal but for coffee ( they don't offer the regular coffee that is available in the Lido or in the MDR).

You ask about breakfast - but for lunch they started a new option this cruise a delicious light lunch ( twice in 2 weeks and so far complimentary) at the Culinary Arts Centre.

One more good thing we love about HAL: On disembarkation day you are not herded off the ship as fast as possible but can enjoy a leisurely breakfast in your room, at the Lido buffet, in the MDR... ( up to 8.30/ 9.00 o'clock which is fair)

Hi. Do you recall if the Grand Dutch Cafe is open early for their breakfast items? I see on the website it states it doesn't open until 1130 am. Would love to have an occasional breakfast there. Thx

My room is on deck 4 directly in line with the Sea View bar's location. Do you think there's a chance I could smell the smoke from the smokers at the Sea View bar coming down? Thx

Can you smell the smoke from the smoking area when sitting in the pool loungers or swimming in the pool? Sailed not the Regal Princess recently and couldn't even use the aft pool as it was overly smokey from cigarettes. Thx

can anyone who is sailed the Koningsdam tell me what time the pool is close to leaving? Thank you

Oops! Used voice dictation this one 😜 Thanks for the the answers. That's all I need.

Can you also use the Beverage card for alcoholic beverages in the Dining Room?

What about the 10-nt Caribbean leaving March 18th? Think it would have a younger age demographic as well? Even though it's 10 days not 7.....?

Book this cruise......you will find plenty of young people here:

 

7-DAY WESTERN CARIBBEAN - leaves FLL March 17th

 

https://www.hollandamerica.com/details?webItineraryIdForAudit=C8W07W&fromSearchVacation=true&guestsCount=2&voyageCode=I826&selectedMeta=Interior&shipId=NA

can anyone who is sailed the Koningsdam tell me what time the pool is close to leaving? Thank you

I enjoyed reading your post just now - as we will be taking our 8 and 10 year olds on the Koningsdam in March. Can I ask if you took your kids to the aft pool? I have been told that the aft pool is ADULTS ONLY, however the signage at the pool states those 14 and over require supervision. I plan on taking our kids to this pool, while supervising them of course. Hoping we don't get any glares lol. Did the staff enforced the max capacity of the pool that you noticed? It's posted as being only 8 people. Thx :)

I will try to reply to questions not answered, or from a family perspective.

 

We have had our two children in the bars for happy hour many times. They can not sit at the bar but neither do I.

 

Our two love Club Hal and the Loft so we never saw them during opening times. The Loft, for 13-17 year olds has no closing time. There are computers up there with the games they will like. Everyday they are allowed exclusive use of the sports desk. But they can sign out the balls/rackets any time. There is usually a make your own breakfast in the culinary arts centre once each cruise for the enrolled in the children's programs.

 

Children are allowed to dance but the pool it highly dependent on the people onboard. The sea view pool sometimes is for 16+ unless supervised...sometimes one "adult" complains then nobody under 16 is allowed. The Lido pool is for everyone. On our last cruise through the Panama Canal we had a few bad experiences of our two being very respectful and staying in the deep end so as not to upset the "senior adults" who were standing and talking. It was like clockwork every time our two got in a few would decide to swim laps and swim right at them and then scowl. The pool would be empty, our two would get in and 10 minutes later the pool was over capacity. But that was their problem, not my two who just wanted to be in the pool that they are allowed in. I brought a float ring and a few water balls. One day the whole pool made up a ball game with our two and the adults were the rowdy ones. I got many thanks for bringing the balls (and the kids) and comments like it was the most fun they had on a cruise in years.

 

So you never know. Running is not allowed but children are!

 

The Pinnacle Grill is also open for lunch. It is less expensive and they make an awesome burger!

 

Every bar makes slushy drinks. I pre purchase each child a $50 drink card which is good for all nonalcoholic drinks.

 

If the kids do not want to change for dinner then the same food is available through room service or in the Lido.

 

My best tip: get a family portrait taken on gala nights. Photographers will be in multiple locations each with a different colour background. The portrait makes the best momento of your trip.

I have seen pics of pool rules signage. It states max 8 persons at a time in the pool. This seems ridiculous given the number of people onboard. Is this rule enforced by staff? Or enforced by other passengers keeping eye?

Thx.