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LIVE - Koningsdam July 3 - July 17 Norway B2B

sldispatcher

By sldispatcher,
in Holland America Line

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Murdo2012

Murdo2012

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Thanks, Dave for your live comments. We just finished a 14 day Baltic itinerary on the Koningsdam and I concur with many of your observations. We loved the Koningsdam and understand that there will be a few hiccups in the first few sailings. I'm so glad you have noted an improvement with the staff in the various dining room venues. Stan Kuppens, the wonderful Hotel Director was aware of service problems and was working diligently with his staff to address issues brought to his attention.

 

As you observed, the Dutch Cafe patrons stayed long past what is considered polite when others are waiting. Obviously, the Dutch passengers loved this spot and lingered on and on and on, reading books, etc. The same people were occupying the same table for 2-3 hours at a time. There are many empty lounges throughout the ship where guests can congregate if their sole purpose is to read or socialize. The Dutch Cafe's most popular menu items (like pea soup and poffertjes) were often unavailable by mid day. Hopefully, management will take note of the success of the Dutch Cafe and expand the space or encourage time limits which I realize would be impossible to enforce. However, an hour does seem reasonable for most folks. By necessity, many guests, including us, ordered "takeaway" to eat in our cabin.

Edited by Murdo2012
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Sea Belle

Sea Belle

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I so look forward to reading your report each day since we are looking ahead to a Sept. 30 sailing on the Koningsdam. Your insights will certainly help with our planning while on board. Thank you for taking the time and I compliment you on your writing talents! :D

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dot73

dot73

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I am hoping to take this cruise next June and am appreciating your report.

 

As for the Dutch Café and lack of seating, perhaps a suggestion can be made to the Hotel Director that a very courteous sign be placed there asking passengers to vacate the tables once they are finished eating so that others may enjoy the café. I don't think anyone would be offended by that.

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tommui987

tommui987

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I am hoping to take this cruise next June and am appreciating your report.

 

As for the Dutch Café and lack of seating, perhaps a suggestion can be made to the Hotel Director that a very courteous sign be placed there asking passengers to vacate the tables once they are finished eating so that others may enjoy the café.

 

Haven't been on the KDam yet but am wondering whether the Dutch Cafe is HAL/Netherland's version of the Paris Cafe where you siip your coffee, read whatever and just watch the world go by?

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Lovely other

Lovely other

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We noticed how a change in passenger demographic leads to a change in which areas are busy on the ship. On our first trip in April the Dutch Cafe was very quiet and often we were the only ones there ...when we returned in June it was incredibly busy. Obviously the increase in Dutch passengers has a knock on affect on the cafe ... Best coffee on the ship though :p

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sppunk

sppunk

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FWIW when we sailed on Rotterdam from Rotterdam it was impossible to find a seat anywhere in the Lido because the Dutch would sit there all day. They'd do the same on the promenade deck (and move the teak loungers to the rail so you couldn't really walk without playing Frogger). It's just a nationality thing - I don't see it being an issue when not saying with an overwhelming majority of Dutch guests (we had for instance 95% Dutch on our cruise).

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sldispatcher

sldispatcher

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Oslo – Unexpected Delights

 

After the majesty and might of the journey into and out of Flam, can another fjord compare? If this was a symphony, the journey there is all percussion and horns.

 

The journey into Oslo is all strings. If you took a string of New England villages and placed them in and amongst the San Juan Islands in Puget Sound, you would get Oslofjord. It is a gorgeous sail in/sail out if you like the appearance of neat and quaint. Letting your imagination run wild with enjoying being in one of the hillside cottages and bungalows overlooking the marine traffic from your red or white painted house. You would have your flag flying letting others know you were home and welcoming visitors.

 

Today’s theme was sunshine and 68 degrees.

 

We had agreed to do the hop on/hop off bus to hit some of the major sites the rest of the party wanted to see. We couldn’t get to everything of course. The city is tightly wrapped and presented beautifully with clean streets and shops everywhere. Dining al fresco would be no problem here. Of note, there is an old fortress park (free admission) with several museums and tours located within the walls. It was within 30 yards of the ship. If you have been to Oslo and gone into the city and just looking for something to do, this is a nice shaded area. The climbs and walks are not for the less agile. The Resistance museum had great historical appeal and was well done with telling the not often heard story of the German occupation of Norway during WWII. Worth an hour of time.

 

We also had unexpected delights of the sculpture gardens, Maritime and Flam Museums (next to each other and able to buy a joint ticket) as well as Viking ship museum. Which, by the way, the Viking Ship museum pass also gets you into the historical museum downtown. I would love to come back and visit the cultural museum and adjacent market. All of these were unexpected and for the most part unplanned.

 

Getting back to the ship after trekking about is always a pleasure no matter where in the world we are. It’s one of those delights that cruising offers. The ability to shower and prep for dinner knowing that your room will be made back right when you return is just a treat.

 

Sailaway was slight marred, as it has been each time, by people feeding birds from the Lido deck. Oddly enough, we have been received with a nonchalant attitude by onboard staff. Apparently the statement is that it is POLICY to allow people to feed birds from the ship in Norway? What???? There is no prohibition. Well, I don’t like it because the birds are flying over my head. I can see them and know it is the same dimwits who are doing it each day. Perhaps they tried to upgrade from Carnival by trying HAL?

 

At any rate, there are some dramatic twists and turns in the first 1 hour leaving Oslo/entering Oslo. It is worth your attention. I had found a series of port cams at most of our stops so we were waving on the web to the folks back home in the States as we left today.

 

One of my unexpected delights is always hearing people not be very excited about the dining room menu, only to really enjoy the night’s meal. I’m amazed how some evenings look like it is just a guess as to what to order, and others you are struggling to pick from 3 faves! Tonight was an unexpected delight night. The fruit ceviche was devoid of the usual filler of melon (yay!). The 5 onion soup, which I expected to be good, was received as great by another. The bay shrimp cobb salad was superbly prepared with blue cheese to add zip. The desserts, at first glance, looked boring, but turned into a chocolate lovers dream. We thought the so called Chocolate Delight was good with the ganache, white chocolate, and chocolate cake presentation. However, that was the unleaded version! The Premium Grade was the deceptively named Chocolate Tart. If dark chocolate cleans out arteries and keeps up heart health, I will be 127 before I need a stress test. However, my mother-in-law was tipping her dessert glass over to get the last bits of blueberry sundae because of the sauce.

 

So in spite of what looked like a less than inspiring dinner menu, it turned out to be a great delight.

 

The World Stage even was a string of billboard hits tonight. No one in the standing room only audience at 830pm took the bait to sit in the theater seats on the stage. The big screens even occasionally prompted folks to do so. I felt had they made a PA announcement, the chairs would have been filled.

 

My wife commented that this was the best group of voices on a cruise ship she has ever heard. If you knew her background, you would know that is high praise. I must say, the showroom designers have created a setting where voices will always be in the forefront. The 3 shows a night allows for a variety of dining times to be accommodated and still have a show time to attend. Great planning on the part of the entertainment folks as they laid out the plans for the Koningsdam. The electronic backgrounds really have added to the production value without taking away focus on the live action on the stage.

 

For as much as we all post things that we find disconcerting, I hope that you realize we have had a wonderful time so far and are really looking forward to another week onboard with different ports of call.

 

As we now head south towards Amsterdam, the sun has set a little earlier tonight. It did so over some small islands and spits of land in the horizon. It turned some clouds grey and lit others a brilliant pinkish orange as it went to sleep for a few short hours. The last lighthouse guarding Oslofjord is now illuminated and protecting the channel. The ship is sailing along with just the slightest bobble. I like to feel a little bit like I’m actually at sea. The wake is roaring, but providing the juxtaposition of a calming effect. The marine layer of clouds is very broken and scattered with only 10 percent coverage at best.

 

Once you have put away any comparisons of previous HAL cruises or even other cruises altogether and just let this present one be what it is then I think you will find that the Koningsdam, the crew, and the moment can all be an unexpected delight.

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sldispatcher

sldispatcher

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Well, I may regret having let that cat out of the bag if I ever want to go back! With that said, the Flor & Fjare ticket gets you the boat ride (right from the cruise ship pier at Stavanger) along with a tour of the gardens with your language group, lunch, and more personal tour time.

 

You pay once for the whole trip after lunch (not ahead of time). You will be shocked at how nice the restaurant is on the inside as well as the flowers on the outside. If the cruise ships ever get their hands on this, the price will triple. But it is family owned and operated so I have a feeling that national pride will keep that from happening.

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theduffys

theduffys

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Well, I may regret having let that cat out of the bag if I ever want to go back! With that said, the Flor & Fjare ticket gets you the boat ride (right from the cruise ship pier at Stavanger) along with a tour of the gardens with your language group, lunch, and more personal tour time.

 

You pay once for the whole trip after lunch (not ahead of time). You will be shocked at how nice the restaurant is on the inside as well as the flowers on the outside. If the cruise ships ever get their hands on this, the price will triple. But it is family owned and operated so I have a feeling that national pride will keep that from happening.

/thanks for the quick response,however the cost of $508.00 for the 4 of us is out of our range. That must be some lunch.

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SilvertoGold

SilvertoGold

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/thanks for the quick response,however the cost of $508.00 for the 4 of us is out of our range. That must be some lunch.

 

We would book this at 150 pp CND. We've paid more for a HAL shorex that wasn't anything compared to this! It is on our list, as is a lot of what has been discussed on this thread.

 

Thanks, David, for the info!

Edited by SilvertoGold
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hpeabody

hpeabody

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OP .... Just a quick thank you for all you have written here. I have been quietly following your thread. I find your style straight forward and very valuable as I will be cruising on the K in October on her maiden TA. I have not been on HAL in quite a while. I have been sailing on sister line, Princess. I am looking forward to it and I am going with an open mind about the "new" HAL.

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Jb-lhr

Jb-lhr

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Hello David,

I would like to thank you for your incredibly detailed and INTERESTING views on the Koningsdam. I'm enjoying it immensely. We arrived in Amsterdam on a river cruise on the day you left and we have lots of pictures (and videos) of your departure. Let me know and I'll send you a link if you are interested. We will also be sailing on the Koningsdam when you get off the ship (departing on the 17th from Amsterdam ... hopefully). You are on a B2B, arent' you? That means AMS was an embarkation and disembarkation point. What a logistical nightmare for those leaving the ship who had flights out of Schiphol and for those joining the ship who are coming in on overnight flights only to find no ship in the harbour. Oh my!

As it happens, we are booked in a Deck 6 Aft Balcony cabin (we just received an upgrade offer for a Vista Suite Guarantee, but turned it down as it would have given us a few more square feet, but we would have had to give up our aft balcony - I hope this was a wise decision?!?).

I'd love to ask you for any 'hints and tips'. I've read your every word in this 'live' report, but a simple list of things that you would recommend (other than the private Stavanger excursion, which will remain a 'secret') to do (or NOT do) on the ship. Any 'secrets' you care to impart? Thanks in advance.

If you'd like those pictures/videos, just drop me a note at:

jblhr at yahoo dot co dot uk

Enjoy your second week and we can't wait to hear the reaction of the leavers and joiners to the Rotterdam port call.

Thanks again for a WONDERFUL report.

John

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sldispatcher

sldispatcher

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Ship is making arrangements for those who had HAL booked transfers AND for those with private arrangements. Long line at Guest Services, but fully staffed. No one seems to be in a dither. For going to the airport, it is only a 15 minute net difference.

 

It has not been stated on this side, but something tells me that there will be arrangements at the Amsterdam pier to get people to Rotterdam.

 

Overall, they have done very well and keeping people informed.

 

They threw together 3 shore excursions for folks who are doing B2B so that is also nice.

 

Great job HAL with the change.

 

Winds are forecast to reach 30 knots or higher as the evening draws closer. Navigating that lock would be dangerous for the ship. So better safe than sorry.

 

Later.

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mame42

mame42

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Have you noticed whether the Sip & Savor wine tasting before early dinner is listed on the daily program?

 

Have other, more formal, wine tasting events been offered?

 

In keeping with the appeal to younger cruisers, are there fewer Gala Nights?

 

Thanks for posting this thread. It has given me an excellent idea of what to expect from the K.

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