LIVE - Koningsdam Oct 17th - ¡Mexican Riviera!

[canadianbear]

10 minutes ago, aring75 said:

So. Clearly I cannot time zone. 
 

It’s a three hour difference. I blame the flight. It sure feels like more!!

Just like us when we have to fly to Ft Lauderdale from Vancouver.  We are exhausted!  Lol. 

[triiip42]

3 hours ago, aring75 said:

Airport to the hotel took about 10-15 minutes, even with traffic. Room looks just like the photo. 
 

 

 

 

And look what I see right outside our window!  Okay, so it’s not the Koningsdam (yet), but still…what a view! 😊

 

 

We are thinking of this hotel in Feb.,  what transportation did you use from the airport?

[erewhon]

Thanks for deciding to write a "live" review. 

How long was the flight from Chicago to San Diego? 

Bon Voyage.

[jimbri]

Have a great time.

[Sea42]

4 hours ago, erewhon said:

Thanks for deciding to write a "live" review. 

How long was the flight from Chicago to San Diego? 

Bon Voyage.

It's about a 4 1/2 hour flight.

[aring75]

9 hours ago, triiip42 said:

We are thinking of this hotel in Feb.,  what transportation did you use from the airport?

We just grabbed a taxi. I checked Lyft, but after tip there was only a couple dollars difference in price. Plus, the taxi was right there waiting and no line. 
 

After tip, the cost of the taxi was right around $16.

[aring75]

4 hours ago, erewhon said:

Thanks for deciding to write a "live" review. 

How long was the flight from Chicago to San Diego? 

Bon Voyage.

 

3 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

It's about a 4 1/2 hour flight.

 

Yep. Sea42 is right. I think the Southwest Flight Tracker app had it at 4 hrs and 45 minutes.
 

Our total travel time was 7 hrs and 45 minutes, but the first leg was TPA to Chicago. That took a little over 2 hours, then we boarded more passengers in Midway. 

[Sea42]

3 minutes ago, aring75 said:

 

 

Yep. Sea42 is right. I think the Southwest Flight Tracker app had it at 4 hrs and 45 minutes.
 

Our total travel time was 7 hrs and 45 minutes, but the first leg was TPA to Chicago. That took a little over 2 hours, then we boarded more passengers in Midway. 

That is a long day! Especially when you have travel time to and from airports and all the fun airport time. For some of us who live quite far from any airport, it can another 4 to 6 hours,

[aring75]

It’s Cruise Day!!

 

[Sea42]

What a happy feeling that must be! Have a wonderful time!

[dobiemom]

Bon Voyage! 🙂 

[sprinkles]

Bob Boyage!

[Lady President]

Having a cup of coffee while I wait impatiently. 

[aring75]

Woke up way too early. Apparently I still need to adjust to Pacific Time. 
 

But, excitedly, I jumped out of bed to take a good look at Koningsdam and…wait…no ship. 
 

What??

 

Where’s my beautiful Koningsdam?

 

Checked the Cruise Mapper app. 
 

 

 

Oh! There she is. 
 

 

Isn’t she pretty? 😍

[aring75]

1 minute ago, Lady President said:

Having a cup of coffee while I wait impatiently. 

That’s a lovely photo!

[aring75]

Took a trip to the 5th floor for breakfast. On the hot station they had scrambled eggs, scrambled egg whites, potatoes, and extra crispy bacon. 
 

They also had hard boiled eggs, yogurt, fresh pineapple and honey dew melon, apples, bananas, assorted cereals (with regular or almond milk), bagels, toast, and several juice options. 
 

 

 

Took our coffee to-go and we are currently overlooking the port area while we enjoy the coolest temperatures we’ve seen since April. 
 

[Hogladyrider]

Looking forward to your postings from on board the ship.....we really love cruising with HAL!

[Calnev1]

20 minutes ago, aring75 said:

Took a trip to the 5th floor for breakfast. On the hot station they had scrambled eggs, scrambled egg whites, potatoes, and extra crispy bacon. 
 

They also had hard boiled eggs, yogurt, fresh pineapple and honey dew melon, apples, bananas, assorted cereals (with regular or almond milk), bagels, toast, and several juice options. 
 

 

 

Took our coffee to-go and we are currently overlooking the port area while we enjoy the coolest temperatures we’ve seen since April. 
 

And likely the lowest humidity since (fill in any date) too!  Ha.

[Roberrrrrt]

Do you all know how hard it was to reserve a room with this exact view?! 🤣🤣🤣

[Hogladyrider]

When we cruised out of San Diego, we winter in Yuma AZ, we booked a hotel pkg that included transportation to and from the ship and we parked our vehicle at the hotel for the week we were gone. 

 

We stayed at Comfort Inn, if I remember correctly, great location right across the street from the waterfront.  We enjoyed walking the waterfront looking at all the boats and we had a lovely dinner before settling in our room for the evening.  Very comfy hotel room with huge TV and king bed and complimentary breakfast in the morning.

 

The hotel took care of calling the Lyft driver who picked us up and dropped us off at the ship easy peasy both ways.

 

While those high rise hotels across from the ship look wonderful we are glad we drove to the port and chose the option we did.  There are several hotels that offer the fly/park/transportation to the port right in the San Diego area.

 

Hope the weather is amazing for your cruise....we especially enjoyed that since we opted not to get off the ship in any ports, we could pretty much see everything from the ship, including the arch, as several ports were tender ports.  We look forward to cruising again someday and we will do this same itinerary as well.

[aring75]

24 minutes ago, Roberrrrrt said:

Do you all know how hard it was to reserve a room with this exact view?! 🤣🤣🤣

Perfect!!

[aring75]

19 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

While those high rise hotels across from the ship look wonderful we are glad we drove to the port and chose the option we did.  There are several hotels that offer the fly/park/transportation to the port right in the San Diego area.

This is great information for anyone who is close enough to drive to the port. When we cruise from FL, we have (at most) a 3 1/2 hour drive no matter where we go out. Even with the short drive, we often choose the park & cruise hotel option and get to the port a day early. It’s a much more relaxing start to the cruise!

 

Driving from Tampa to San Diego definitely was not an option so I really have enjoyed this hotel with the view. We almost never have to fly to the cruise port, so this was a happy splurge!

[triiip42]

What's your boarding time and are you just going to walk on over to the ship?

[Hogladyrider]

@aring75when we were fulltime Floridians we lived 90 minutes from Port Canaveral or Tampa so we'd drive to the port and utilize Park N Cruise, easy peasy.  When we would sail out of Miami we would drive down day of and park in the garage splitting the cost 4 ways.  The worse part would always be the drive home after a cruise 😞

[Cruisin MarcnFran]

@aring75 Did you stay at the Residence Inn or the Springhill Suites? We have picked this property for our January ‘23 cruise on the Koningsdam. We’re trying to determine the difference in the two other then the price. We will be coming in several days before cruise.

 

Edited October 17, 2021 by Cruisin MarcnFran