Ms Koningsdam

[hockey1963]

Hi we are in our mid fifties and looking to switch from our regular cruise line which is Norwegian. We are interested in a March cruise and liking the ports this ship is going to. Can you tell me please average age on this cruise line for the month of March, hows the entertainment and food and so on? Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

[CruiserBruce]

Every cruise is going to be different, but we spent 3 weeks on KDAM last March. I would say the age was 40s and 50s.

 

Food and entertainment were very good.

[CruisinHarvey]

Traditionally, HAL passengers are an older demographic. It stands to reason since HAL has more longer itineraries than most mass market lines. Most working age travelers can't book those extended cruises. As a result they build an older base of repeat passengers. I haven't been on in March, so I don't know if there's a difference at that time. I can't believe many spring breakers cruise HAL though. I remember someone responding to this type of question before, when asked if an older group cruised HAL. .They said "Older passengers cruise on Celebrity Cruise line. Their parents cruise on HAL". We like HAL, and will be on the Koningsdam in 4 weeks. But, we find the quote not too far off an accurate description.

[MisterBill99]

We were just on HAL in the Caribbean in March (we had sailed them a few years earlier in Alaska). It wasn't a young crowd, but it wasn't THAT old and not as old as I expected (and not as many scooters :) ). Mainly 40's-70's, I guess. But that's no different than our Celebrity British Isles cruise in August, to be honest.

 

We thought the food on HAL was as good as or maybe even better than Celebrity. HAL's entertainment wasn't bad; I personally think that Celebrity's production shows are terrible and HAL's were better, although not great.

 

Anyway, we'll be back on both HAL and Celebrity next year. We're doing HAL in Norway mainly because Celebrity doesn't do a 14 night Norway cruise, although we are looking forward to sailing on Koningsdam. The only things I will really miss are my Elite benefits and decent Internet (for which you can buy unlimited packages).

[Lady Arwen]

My husband and I are both in our late 60s and we were the average age on Kdam this past May. We've sailed NCL 3 times, 3 different ships and will not try again. Just not for us. We found the food on Koningsdam to be very good, although that can be very subjective. We liked this ship even more than Celebrity S class ships.

 

Entertainment is not HAL's strong suit, but we like to spend time in the casino in the evenings after dinner, so shows are just not our thing. BB King Blues Band was very, very good, if not extremely loud. We never get bored on HAL ships and never feel like we're with "old" people.

 

I think you would enjoy Koningsdam.

[Sage]

it all depends on when you go in March. March is typically Spring Break time for a lot of schools, so there may be more young people and children on board. I was on the Koningsdam in Mach of this year, and there seemed to be people of all ages onboard.

[Lady Jane]

Traditionally, HAL passengers are an older demographic. It stands to reason since HAL has more longer itineraries than most mass market lines. Most working age travelers can't book those extended cruises. As a result they build an older base of repeat passengers. I haven't been on in March, so I don't know if there's a difference at that time. I can't believe many spring breakers cruise HAL though. I remember someone responding to this type of question before, when asked if an older group cruised HAL. .They said "Older passengers cruise on Celebrity Cruise line. Their parents cruise on HAL". We like HAL, and will be on the Koningsdam in 4 weeks. But, we find the quote not too far off an accurate description.

 

We have always cruised Celebrity....and this is our first HAL cruise. We sail on Koningsdam in 4 weeks too. Looking forward to it!

 

Jane

[Sage]

Lady Jane, I think that you will enjoy the ship. Enjoy your cruise and come back and tell us what you thought.

[sandiego1]

DH and I will be on the 24 night K cruise at the end of March. The last HAL cruise we did (in late Feb), we were definitely on the younger side. That was on the Eurodam and only a 1 wk Caribbean cruise. We are in mid 50s. We had a great time with our table mates. Age doesn't matter to me. Even though they were our parents age, we had a lot to talk about. Granted, there was limited night life and some complaints about the "noise" level of the BB King band.

[Jade13]

Every cruise is going to be different, but we spent 3 weeks on KDAM last March. I would say the age was 40s and 50s.

 

 

 

Food and entertainment were very good.

 

 

 

We did the transatlantic last year and the average age was over 60. It might have been over 70. So it really depends on the length and time of year.

 

Where did the March cruise go, and how long to have so many in their 40’s and 50’s? We felt out of place on the TA which was very different than the one we did on Celebrity at the same time of year and had many more passengers in the 40-50 age range.

 

The Koningsdam is a beautiful ship and I preferred the design better to Celebrity and I thought there was more open space. The food in the MDR was very good.

 

 

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[CruiserBruce]

Where did the March cruise go, and how long to have so many in their 40’s and 50’s? We felt out of place on the TA which was very different than the one we did on Celebrity at the same time of year and had many more passengers in the 40-50 age range.

 

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As I mentioned, it was 21 days. A Collector's Cruise in the Caribbean, consisting of a 10 day and 11 day eastern and southern Caribbean.

[HawaiianGoose]

Koningsdam VH Cabin #4046

 

There are about 8 of these cabins on the ship and have a different configuration than the rest of the VH cabins. Problem is, you can't find any photos. My wife and I booked #4046 and took a chance. The view is partially obstructed by lifeboats. So, if you need to look straight down into the water, it is difficult. But you can clearly see over the lifeboats, no problem, even when sitting on your 2X balcony! I made it my mission to take photos. I measured the room at approximately 17ft x 12ft = 204sqft and the balcony at 17ft x 5ft = 85sqft. Total is 289sqft. It's basically a square room with a nice sized area in the middle. This made it very easy for two people to move about. I would consider it a junior suite. I uploaded to photos to Google Photos. No account needed. The URL link is below, just drop it in a browser and you'll be right at the album on Google. I had trouble embedding them in this post so I put them there. So now there are plenty of photos of these unique cabins available. Enjoy!

 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZhFsTMyNeYfH2EMN2

[MisterBill99]

Thanks for posting this! I've currently got a VH guarantee booked for next year. I just checked to see if any of the larger cabins were available. Sadly, none of the 4 in that area are. There are 4 others at the other end which are also larger but a different layout and handicapped accessible but the HAL site claimed they weren't available (I found the info on a TA's site). I suspect that HAL won't let me book them if I don't need the handicapped access, or could bump me if someone else needed it, so I guess I'll stick with the GTY for now.

 

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[RuthC]

I suspect that HAL won't let me book them if I don't need the handicapped access, or could bump me if someone else needed it, so I guess I'll stick with the GTY for now.

Just a quick FYI re accessible cabins: that isn't how it works. HAL will let you book an accessible cabin, and will not move you out if a handicapped person needs it. It is taken out of inventory. Accessible cabins tend to be booked well in advance of a cruise because the need is larger than the number of cabins.

That is why it is wrong, wrong, wrong for people to book one when it's not needed.

[MisterBill99]

Just a quick FYI re accessible cabins: that isn't how it works. HAL will let you book an accessible cabin, and will not move you out if a handicapped person needs it. It is taken out of inventory. Accessible cabins tend to be booked well in advance of a cruise because the need is larger than the number of cabins.

Interesting. When I entered the cabin number while checking availability, the HAL site told me that those cabins were not available. Only when looking on a TA site did I see them.

 

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Edited October 11, 2017 by MisterBill99