Koningsdam Review May 28- June 4

[QuattroRomeo]

Entering Caribou Crossing, & grabbing lunch.

 

[QuattroRomeo]

Entrance to the dogs and puppies. And alpacas..

[QuattroRomeo]

Emerald Lake and Carcross. 

 

[QuattroRomeo]

Skagway dock. A little more rustic than some..

[QuattroRomeo]

Glacier Bay

 

[QuattroRomeo]

[QuattroRomeo]

first one is a silt covered glacier

 

[ew101]

19 hours ago, QuattroRomeo said:

We tried the MDR for breakfast the first morning. What a mess. The host led us to a middle table with people all around us; so much for spacing people apart. Took forever for a waiter. Asked for coffee, had to ask again for cream. We ordered the corned beef hash. Wow. A shadow of its former self. Yuck. Lots of staff running around looking busy, but not sure what they were doing. A few of us at different tables just rolled our eyes and shrugged. The coffees were poor, not a surprise on many ships for MDR, but this was bad. Asked for tea instead. The majority of our bill onboard came from ordering coffees elsewhere. We never ate in the dining room again; it was just too disorganized.

p.s. what is it about ships that they cannot provide proper coffee cream? A pet peeve of ours, on all lines.

As an MDR breakfast fan I have a theory here.  So dinner is all set up and assigned by room and practiced.  There is a time tested staff hierarchy.   Breakfast (and lunch) seem to be a pick up team of random, mixed wait staff + managers.   So there is no built in teamwork- you get what you get.  There is no easy way for guests to report poor service- they are not at their assigned /tracked table.  If it is really bad talk to the Hotel or F&B Director.  

 

We were locked out of our room in a hotel recently.  The door lock/card reader batteries last 3-5 years and fail when they fail.  In our case the manager had a screw driver and replaced the battery.  This is an excellent case of technology that needs an upgrade.  Like a flashing light to warn of a low battery.  

Edited June 9, 2022 by ew101

[QuattroRomeo]

2 hours ago, ew101 said:

As an MDR breakfast fan I have a theory here.  So dinner is all set up and assigned by room and practiced.  There is a time tested staff hierarchy.   Breakfast (and lunch) seem to be a pick up team of random, mixed wait staff + managers.   So there is no built in teamwork- you get what you get.  There is no easy way for guests to report poor service- they are not at their assigned /tracked table.  If it is really bad talk to the Hotel or F&B Director.  

 

We were locked out of our room in a hotel recently.  The door lock/card reader batteries last 3-5 years and fail when they fail.  In our case the manager had a screw driver and replaced the battery.  This is an excellent case of technology that needs an upgrade.  Like a flashing light to warn of a low battery.  

EW you are absolutely right about the battery! I can't imagine that ours was the first to fail on the ship and pose such an inhospitable response..A warning light would help!

We had fond memories of the MDR; we also liked a nice leisurely breakfast in such an elegant room years ago. It was also fun to try things you wouldn't normally have at home! (I remember caviar as a  dinner appetizer, but that sure dates us). The room is still beautiful, but unfortunately the food we had wasn't very good. Maybe it will improve as time goes on. But we do like the variety of restaurants that have evolved.

[QuattroRomeo]

Ketchikan

 

Some local colours. 

[QuattroRomeo]

local colour of a different sort!..

[QuattroRomeo]

[QuattroRomeo]

- DH pretending to pan for gold..

- random town shots

 

[QuattroRomeo]

more shots away from the touristy areas

[QuattroRomeo]

lunch place

[QuattroRomeo]

[QuattroRomeo]

FOOD continued.

 

We had good coffees for the rest of the cruise from the Explorations Cafe and Dutch Cafe. Great service at both places. They remembered us and knew what we wanted.

Explorations, being a more confined space,  had miniature croissants, biscotti, and sometimes brownies. 

Grand Dutch cafe had a few sandwiches, pea soup, full-size croissants, muffins, cookies, cream puffs and terrific apple pie- not too sweet.

There was no charge for the food at either venue. 

Almond milk and soy milk were available, although Grand Dutch ran out of soy on the last day. 

Both cafes had stevia available (in small glass shakers).

Both had Tazo Teas.

And for you tea drinkers out there, MDR had PGTips and Lido had Bigelow.

[QuattroRomeo]

Grand Dutch Cafe

 

[QuattroRomeo]

Grand Dutch Cafe. Midship Deck 3.

Edited June 9, 2022 by QuattroRomeo
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[QuattroRomeo]

In Exploration Cafe Deck 12.

[oakridger]

Those pictures in Ketchikan are beautiful!  You are so lucky to be there on a sunny day.  I am really enjoying your detailed review.  Thank you!

 

~Nancy

[QuattroRomeo]

23 hours ago, kentuckycruiser said:

We had Club Orange - great use of $350 to move from obstructed balcony to a VA. We also enjoyed the CO dining room. Fantastic service. I was glad the CO had nice views of the ocean, so long as your table was in the right place. I think the MDR is a hot mess for breakfast even pre-covid. We didn't set foot in the MDR except for one tea. I was glad the ship was at lower capacity, I think it would have been jam packed in the Lido and elsewhere if full.

I think you're right about the Lido. We didn't really take Club Orange into consideration; have to check into it!🍊

 

[QuattroRomeo]

1 hour ago, oakridger said:

Those pictures in Ketchikan are beautiful!  You are so lucky to be there on a sunny day.  I am really enjoying your detailed review.  Thank you!

 

~Nancy

Thanks Nancy! We definitely lucked out on the weather.

[QuattroRomeo]

We ate most breakfasts at Lido. Could always find a seat, and the attendants were friendly. Usually grabbed some fruit and had some bacon and eggs from the station that makes eggs to order.

I like that most things are served to you rather than self serve, although it sometimes means moving from station to station and waiting in a different line each time. We had a couple of dinners here too, one was pretty good, another was bland. Staff were always good and a couple of them were very good. 

 

Our go-to place for lunch turned out to be New York Deli. It is a bit out of the way but worth finding. Loved the reuben sandwiches, salads and Central Park pizza. I asked about the breakfast sandwiches that were on the menu, and was told that since the startup, breakfast was not made there, except for on the Rotterdam. We enjoyed some conversation with good staff here. 

[QuattroRomeo]

Specialty Restaurants

Canaletto- We ate supper here four times, and found that they have a good variety of dishes. The langoustine soup and minestrone soup were both very good, as were the antipasto and carpaccio. Osso bucco is DH's favourite and didn't disappoint- it is the daily special on Mondays. I tried the branzino, spaghetti alle vongole, shrimp daily special and osso bucco and enjoyed them all. DH had the lamb chops and found them a bit tough. (He encountered even tougher ones in Tamarind later, so maybe the the supply wasn't that great). He found the veal scallopine better. Desserts we tried were all good, but the favourite had to be the Sicilian marzipan cassata torte. Different and not too sweet. Affogato was very tasty, but small. The trio of gelato was also good. 

 

We were recognized by staff as repeat customers and developed a good rapport with the staff. Much to our surprise they didn't charge us for the third visit and thanked us for coming. We of course booked another night, and were able to get the Osso Bucco again, even though it wasn't the right day for that special. Great meal again.