ZGSCL Live from the Koningsdam: November 14th 7 day Mexican Rivera

[zgscl]

8 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Because you need to slip the card into it.  They will not punch your card like they will on other ships.  I keep my card in my purse because some of my pants don’t have pockets.  It makes it easy to find.

Oh I didn’t even think of this. The cards are RFID for opening doors so that makes sense.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 minute ago, zgscl said:

Oh I didn’t even think of this. The cards are RFID for opening doors so that makes sense.

That’s what the guy at the front desk told me.  I didn’t think the doors were different from the nieuw statendam but I guess they are?

[bluesplayer]

Thank you for that info!!  WHO KNEW??  I would have been in the same “boat”..   standard lanyard!!

[Florida_gal_50]

1 minute ago, bluesplayer said:

Thank you for that info!!  WHO KNEW??  I would have been in the same “boat”..   standard lanyard!!

I edited my post to say it doesn’t have to be plastic, just something to hold the card.  Don’t know if they make something else.  Brought 2 lanyards with me, but none with pockets so now I have a “special” one for the koningsdam 😛.

[bluesplayer]

8 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I edited my post to say it doesn’t have to be plastic, just something to hold the card.  Don’t know if they make something else.  Brought 2 lanyards with me, but none with pockets so now I have a “special” one for the koningsdam 😛.

I assume the other newer ships would be the same?

[zgscl]

45 minutes ago, bluesplayer said:

I assume the other newer ships would be the same?

I would think so too. If you know where the rfid chip is in the card there should be no issue punching a hole, but if they don’t know where it is then obviously you wouldn’t want to do that. Wonder if this is a decision someone onboard made rather than an actual issue on the card. 

[Florida_gal_50]

45 minutes ago, bluesplayer said:

I assume the other newer ships would be the same?

This is what you would think but the nieuw statendam wasn't like that.  I could punch it.  I probably still have my card from that cruise.

[zgscl]

Just now, Florida_gal_50 said:

This is what you would think but the nieuw statendam wasn't like that.  I could punch it.  I probably still have my card from that cruise.

Were the doors RFID also or did you use a mag stripe? 

[Florida_gal_50]

8 minutes ago, zgscl said:

I would think so too. If you know where the rfid chip is in the card there should be no issue punching a hole, but if they don’t know where it is then obviously you wouldn’t want to do that. Wonder if this is a decision someone onboard made rather than an actual issue on the card. 

That's what I'm thinking.  Either that or its because most quests requested it that way ;).

Edited November 27, 2021 by Florida_gal_50

[Florida_gal_50]

1 minute ago, zgscl said:

Were the doors RFID also or did you use a mag stripe? 

I'm almost 100 percent sure they were the same as the koningsdam.  

[rkacruiser]

19 hours ago, RuthC said:

Sure. How? Do you want to post something here? 

 

Let's try the following:  rkacruiser at aol dot com and put "Cruise Critic Friend" in the subject line. 

[jer_l]

On 11/24/2021 at 7:21 PM, zgscl said:

That is so odd! Did they tell you what the problem was? Glad to hear you have your boarding pass in hand, those 39 days will fly by in no time! 

No explanation. Just that it appeared that there was activity on the booking the day I called and that I should try again the next day. I did and everything was printable. 
 

I think the “activity” occurred during one of the very long holds I was on while the agent went to find help, perhaps not wanting to say “Oops, it was our mistake”?
 

Whatever, I’m glad to have the boarding pass even with a 2 pm boarding time. (Our flight actually arrives around that time, but 24 hours earlier. I guess they missed the arrival date on the check in data.). Since we will need to check out of the hotel at 11 am we will head across the street and hope for an earlier boarding time. 

 

[VMax1700]

5 hours ago, bluesplayer said:

May I ask why you need a lanyard with a plastic pouch?   Thank you

I am 99.9% certain that our cards were punched on Koningsdam.  I will dig them out to check, but I remember posters mentioning prior to our cruise that the front desk wouldn't punch the cards.  We had no problem getting them punched.

[Caribbean Chris]

4 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Because you need to slip the card into it.  They will not punch your card like they will on other ships.  I keep my card in my purse because some of my pants don’t have pockets.  It makes it easy to find.  It doesn’t have to be plastic but it needs to be something to hold the card.

The key card on Rotterdam comes with a pre-punched slot at one end which someone could use to attach a lanyard. (Sorry if the photo taken on my iPad shows as upside down, not sure how to fix). But I prefer using the plastic sleeve on a lanyard cord anyway - easy to slip the card out and hand to a bar waiter. 

[Florida_gal_50]

54 minutes ago, Caribbean Chris said:

The key card on Rotterdam comes with a pre-punched slot at one end which someone could use to attach a lanyard. (Sorry if the photo taken on my iPad shows as upside down, not sure how to fix). But I prefer using the plastic sleeve on a lanyard cord anyway - easy to slip the card out and hand to a bar waiter. 

I’m sure mine came like that as well on the nieuw statendam.  I found it on my desk this afternoon and it was punched.  The lanyard I bought was a bit of a pain to get out of the plastic sleeve so I’d prefer mine without. The koningsdam seems to do things the way they want such as not giving discounts on prepurchsed dinners until they end.  They did this approximately 4 years ago.  They told me the reason they do this is because they had a system upgrade.  I asked doesn’t a system upgrade usually make things better?  I don’t want to wait for discounts because I’m likely to forget.  I do really enjoy this ship.  It’s just some nit picky things. 

Edited November 28, 2021 by Florida_gal_50

[PSR]

On 11/20/2021 at 2:04 PM, Florida_gal_50 said:

There was a wait again this morning in club orange.  It opened at  8:00 and I got there at 8:05.  I was at one of the last tables

 

How late can you go to get breakfast service? We don't usually go to sit down breakfast until 9am when they are open to 9:30am.

[Florida_gal_50]

35 minutes ago, PSR said:

 

How late can you go to get breakfast service? We don't usually go to sit down breakfast until 9am when they are open to 9:30am.

On the koningsdam it was 7:30 to 9 on port days.  On sea days 8 to 9:30.  It mirrors the mdr hours for breakfast.

[Greysandy]

Did the cruise director or other staff share what % of the ship was full? We are sailing on the Koningsdam on Dec 26th, and just got off the Majestic Princess with friends today, and it was only 45% full.

[trixiee]

How far is the cruise ship terminal from the airport?  Wondering if I should book a Hal transfer or just take a cab?  My flight lands fairly early- 10:30-ish...

[Greysandy]

1 hour ago, trixiee said:

How far is the cruise ship terminal from the airport?  Wondering if I should book a Hal transfer or just take a cab?  My flight lands fairly early- 10:30-ish...

It seems very close, around 5-10 miles max, but you can put both locations into Google Maps to check. We just take the train down from Orange county and walk 2 blocks to the cruise port, so we don't have to pay for parking.

[VMax1700]

Just to show the inconsistencies again, here are keycards from Koningsdam, all punched by the front desk.  Even note that one (on its side) has been punched just inwards of the RFID sign.  All of them worked perfectly.

[Florida_gal_50]

1 hour ago, VMax1700 said:

Just to show the inconsistencies again, here are keycards from Koningsdam, all punched by the front desk.  Even note that one (on its side) has been punched just inwards of the RFID sign.  All of them worked perfectly.

That is crazy!  I asked the front desk guy why could I have it punched on every other ship but not this one.  That's when I got the RFID story.  Maybe the hole punch is in the vault with the crackers and chocolates ;)!

Edited November 28, 2021 by Florida_gal_50

[Florida_gal_50]

9 hours ago, trixiee said:

How far is the cruise ship terminal from the airport?  Wondering if I should book a Hal transfer or just take a cab?  My flight lands fairly early- 10:30-ish...

I would take a cab.  I don't know how much the transfer is.  That said, I stayed at a hotel right across the street from the port and it was a flat $20 to get there.  

[Florida_gal_50]

9 hours ago, Greysandy said:

Did the cruise director or other staff share what % of the ship was full? We are sailing on the Koningsdam on Dec 26th, and just got off the Majestic Princess with friends today, and it was only 45% full.

I believe the OP said 49.5%.  Now I did hear that they were hoping to be at capacity by Christmas when I caught the end of a Q and A I happened to be passing by.  Personally I don't see that happening but that is based on nothing more than a feeling.

[VMax1700]

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Maybe the hole punch is in the vault with the crackers and chocolates ;)!

🤔 Maybe you are on to something there! 🤣