Thoughts on our recent Koningsdam Mexican Riviera Cruise 12/10 to 12/17

[san diego spartan]

Just off the Koningsdam Mexican Riviera cruise 12/10/22 to 12/17/22.  Great time and cruise.  Of course there are always some pluses and minuses, but overall it was good!  Love cruising out of San Diego!  As we live here it is so convenient not to have to fly anywhere.  I wish more cruising options were available. 

For a bit of perspective of my review - this was our 2^nd time on the Koningsdam (last was Oct/November 2021 California Coastal Cruise).  We have cruised about 25-30 cruises, are in our mid-50s and the majority of our most recent cruises were on HAL, but our most recent was on Discovery Princess (1^st Princess cruise) to Alaska from Seattle to Vancouver (where unfortunately I came down with Covid-19).

 

Embarkation – in San Diego it was quick and efficient.  Our boarding time assigned about 1 week out was Group B 11:50a.m.  We had an Uber drop us at about 11:30 a.m. – bags given to porter and then processed super quick.  There is no longer a Verifly line – fyi.  There was minimal waiting and then they directed us to a line, that started letting us on the ship and we were on by 11:50 a.m, in the cabin by Noon.  I did not experience the long lines that others had reported on earlier cruises.  As I posted on a separate thread MDR was open for lunch from 12 to 1pm – so we made a beeline there to eat and have our 1^st drink. Had a wonderful cobb salad sans bacon with grilled salmon.  Of course the bread all week was delicious.  I rarely eat bakes goods/bread - but treated myself to them all week - no I'm in carb withdrawal....do I hear a chocolate croissant calling me??🤣  Please note that the staff did not tell you the MDR was open for lunch.  They direct you to the Lido.  However, we went to our cabin (which was ready) and the program showed the MDR was open.  

 

The itinerary – been there done that many times – but always a fun one and the sailing itself was so smooth!  I only felt the ship move a little bit when we were leaving Puerto Vallarta.  The best port for us is PV.  Not a fan of the tendering in Cabo and while we had excursion tickets so did not have to worry about getting a tender ticket - the tender was so packed!  Did not like that.  coming back on the tender there were about 10 of us total.  What a difference!  Took one of the open air cabs in Mazatlán to the Golden Zone (after walking a bit to the city centro).  It was a much longer ride than I remembered.  In PV, got off and took a public taxi to the Old town/Zona Romantic and walked around, beer at Sea Monkey and then over to Joe Jack's for our favorite whole red snapper lunch and refreshing mojitos.  Then walked around some more and had a drink (or 2) at some of our other favorite bars.  It is a beautiful town. 

 

We had some FCC left over so booked this cruise early in 2022.  For the 1^st time in a long time we booked a GTY verandah cabin.  Was assigned the cabin about a week and a half out – given a VC category, Deck 6 mid to forward ship.  We liked the location as it was easy to get to the stairs/elevator and liked being more forward than aft, especially since we purchased the 7 day thermal suite pass pre-cruise.  Wow – I highly recommend the thermal suite – so worth the money – I feel we spent a LOT of time there – every day and it was so relaxing.  Just what I needed!  I do not know the daily pass fee, but for the week I think it was $140. 

We did have the HIA package included. As mentioned in other reviews the WiFi included is not for streaming.  I read and responded to emails no problem, read articles on line, etc.  It was fine for that.  Make sure you have the WhatsApp to text with your friends and family on board and on land. 

 

Our stateroom was in good shape and comfortable.  The balcony door initially stuck (with us on the balcony making for a oh-oh moment).  But our cabin steward was notified and maintenance quickly took care of the this and it was fine the rest of the week.

 

I like that the bathrobes are still included.  Got a lot of use since we had the thermal suite pass.  I was sorry to not receive the tote bag (had received one in 2021).  I read some people did – maybe in suites? I love that all the bathroom amenities are included and in the wall containers.  So easy and convenient.  Did not watch much TV since it seemed a lot of the channels did not work while at sea.  They did have two NFL channels, which was nice.  A selection of movies that was pretty decent.  No Mariner tile this time – just a note saying you could ask for one in the future if available.  No big deal to us. HAL really should in my opinion get on board with the other cruise lines and show more sporting events on the big screen (pool) or at least have a public venue (other than the 1 tv in the casino) for sports viewing on TV. 

 

Staff – excellent (with one minor exception in the MDR one night – maybe he was having an off day?).  We truly appreciate how hard they work and it did seem there were understaffing issues.  We were told that the ship had about 2700 passengers.  The Christmas cruise was going to 3100-3200 passengers.  When we sailed her last year I think it was about 1600 – so I did see noticeably more crowds and lines.  We always had a line for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the MDR.  Did not seem to matter what time we showed up.  Nice that they served coffee while waiting for breakfast.  The pagers for dinner were nice and you could go to the Ocean Bar for a cocktail.  The longest wait I think was about 25 minutes.  Not a big deal.  However, it would be nice if you could make daily dinner reservations on the Navigator App.  I did ask if we could make a dinner reservation for every night but was told we could not (not sure if that was true, but we decided that we liked the flexibility of dining when we wanted to instead of a fixed time).  Last night we had the most excellent waiter in the MDR!  I so wish we would have found him earlier in the cruise. 

 

Just one specialty dining – Pinnacle this time.  After the last 2 times being disappointed – we were happy to have a lovely dining experience and food was excellent!  I had the halibut and it was cooked perfectly.  Hubby had the bone in steak and said it was delicious.  I did see there is an additional charge ($7 I htink ) for an extra appetizer now.  I looked at Rudi’s but for the price it just did not appeal.  Also for some reason the Orange “upgrade” dining did not look appealing to me – you are basically stuck in a fish bowl IMO.

 

Food – subjective of course.  I think the MDR breakfast is a great menu with lots of varied choices.  I was very disappointed with the Discovery Princess’s choices for breakfast so was happy to be back in the land of HAL for breakfast.  The MDR (sea days only) is the same – a bit repetitive other than the fish of the day changes.  Ate there 3 times.  I like the Cobb salad with grilled salmon.  It was tasty.  The chocolate tort is so good!  The Lido – I’m not a fan. Too hectic for me, but we did have 2 lunches there – thankfully the Asian station is pretty decent and I had a nice chicken veggie stir fry to order one day.  There did not seem to be much drink serve in the Lido other than water, ice tea and lemonade. The MDR for dinner was pretty good – some hits and one night a real miss – the 2^nd Gala night I had the duck breast and did not care for the dish and the duck was so overdone (partly my fault for not asking for medium rare).  I do miss at least one “free” lobster night – but on the 1^st Gala night I did the $20 upgrade for the 12 oz lobster tail and it was delicious and well worth it.  You can ask for a cheese plate though not on the menu.  They are so accommodating.  I wish HAL would bring back some more choices for MDR dinner. Room service menu - was not as good as I recall.  I wish there were a few more choices.  I did order the cheese plate one time and it came with only 2 crackers....The chicken soup was decent.  We did eat at the Dive In and it was good, but I really wanted to try the vegan brat - but they did not have it available.  Was unclear if that was just that day or the whole cruise.  The NY Deli is not great for breakfast, I found the bagels terrible (only bread product that was not good on the ship).  The pizza is fine.  They do not offer make to order pizza during the "rush" lunch times - only after 2pm.  The gelato was super good.  The Dutch Cafe good as always. Hubby loves the pea soup.  

 

Bartenders/Beverage Servers – all great.  There were some wine that was not available at all bars and/or just not on the ship, though listed.  That was a bummer, but was able to try some different wines and found some we liked.  

 

Casino – it is fine, but the smoking is an issue for me.  I wish there were more TVs there since that seemed to be the only place to watch sports other than in the cabin or if they were shown on the Lido pool TV (which they were not – and which was a bummer for us).  We could not believe no World Cup Soccer shown, but must have to do with having to pay for a Fox channel broadcast.

 

Like the music walk – in fact love it.  Was one of the things I did not like about the Discovery Princess.  We enjoyed all the venues.  Really liked the BB King’s All Stars and singers.  The Rock Band (like when we were on in 2021) as just so so – some good songs and energy but the voice of the lead singer was not as strong.  The billboard piano players were fun and the Lincoln Center Stage very good (though not as good as last time).  We did see the comedian one night -ok.  Did not go to any of the production-ish shows. I believe we may have seen one of them before.  

 

I like the layout of the ship – easy to get around.  I love that they can close the roof over the Lido pool – it was closed some days and open others.  Really is a plus for me (something the Discovery Princess needs/was lacking).  I love the Crow’s Nest lounge (and bar!).  This is a great place to hang out and great views. Fun to play games.  Also the Exploration Cafe - good place to get a tea/coffee (and chocolate croissant) in the morning.  It was never crowded when I went there.  

 

Activities – I found that this area was somewhat lacking over my recent Princess Cruise.  I also found that the trivia, which we enjoyed almost always conflict with our dinner plans so that we missed it.  We did make some and it was fun – but maybe on sea days have one in the morning or early afternoon?  The EXC talks (sp) were good that we attended.  The library was disappointing.  I remember it used to be nicer (and larger?).  I think that offering some more education talks would be welcomed.  

 

The Navigator App – it was OK.  Worked fine.  I actually missed the Princess medallion to open my cabin door instead of having to have the key card available.  I wish pre-cruise you could order shore excursions on the Navigator App and book daily dinner times.

 

Disembarkation – again, quick and easy.  Did not need your passport – they have the face recognition technology in San Diego now – so it was easy. 

I’ve read some negative reviews of the ship lately so I was a bit concerned, but we luckily did not experience anything like those negative reviews.  I would sail the Koningsdam tomorrow if I could.  Yes, some wear/tear in the Lido dining room – but not a big deal.  I did notice one day when walking on deck 6 Aft some vibration – so not sure if that was just a momentary thing for more frequent.  Both times on this ship we have been mid to forward without the vibration being a concern.  No odd smells from our balcony or weird noises.  Yes, unless we were at a table for 2 service was a bit slow in the MDR.  I’m sure that has to do with staffing shortages.  Hopefully as time goes by there will be less shortage of staff.  No turn down service in the evening (though I believe you could request it if you wanted).  Due to the staffing shortages we decided not to do so.  Frankly we are spoiled having service 1 time a day – have nothing like that at home!

 

[Sea42]

I'm glad you had a great cruise! Thanks for sharing your experiences.

[Florida_gal_50]

Omg 3100 to 3200 at Christmas.  Where the heck are they going to put them?  I’m glad the mdr was open for lunch on embarkation.  I remember you posting that. I wished it was open for my cruises.  I love hals breakfast menu.  Everything you could possibly want imo.  I’ve read people being disappointed that they don’t have specials.  What could they offer?  The Princess breakfast menu sucks. My next cruise will likely be with them so I will miss the hal breakfast.  I too wish hal would have some more variety of cruises from San Diego.  I would love to see more 10 or 11 day Mexico that aren’t near the end of the month.  I can’t get away from work at that time.  Thanks for the review.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, san diego spartan said:

 The Christmas cruise was going to 3100-3200 passengers. 

 

We’ll see soon enough what we have (I’m on board now).  There are 2960 on board and the HD said our numbers for tomorrow’s sailing will not exceed that.  He said the maximum capacity is 3,000 for this ship.

I’ll wait until the announcement tomorrow and I guess we will see 😉 

Enjoyed your review very much 👍 

[Seasick Sailor]

We have 450 kids 1 to 21 onboard Rotterdam today. Crazy, crazy! 

[san diego spartan]

20 minutes ago, Seasick Sailor said:

We have 450 kids 1 to 21 onboard Rotterdam today. Crazy, crazy! 

Yes suspect the increase in passengers will be directly related to increased kids.

[san diego spartan]

56 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

We’ll see soon enough what we have (I’m on board now).  There are 2960 on board and the HD said our numbers for tomorrow’s sailing will not exceed that.  He said the maximum capacity is 3,000 for this ship.

I’ll wait until the announcement tomorrow and I guess we will see 😉 

Enjoyed your review very much 👍 

Well hope the info I got was wrong.  I thought it seemed like a lot of passengers.  

[san diego spartan]

1 hour ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Omg 3100 to 3200 at Christmas.  Where the heck are they going to put them?  I’m glad the mdr was open for lunch on embarkation.  I remember you posting that. I wished it was open for my cruises.  I love hals breakfast menu.  Everything you could possibly want imo.  I’ve read people being disappointed that they don’t have specials.  What could they offer?  The Princess breakfast menu sucks. My next cruise will likely be with them so I will miss the hal breakfast.  I too wish hal would have some more variety of cruises from San Diego.  I would love to see more 10 or 11 day Mexico that aren’t near the end of the month.  I can’t get away from work at that time.  Thanks for the review.

Glad I'm not the only one feeling like that re Princess breakfast.   I'm on a Celebrity next in February.   B3en about 5 years so looking forward to see how it is.  Yes MDR lunch is a staple for us so was so glad to see they were open.

 

Agree end of the month is difficult to take time off for me. I am looking  at a Panama canal cruse that either leaves or disembark in San Diego. 

[Florida_gal_50]

3 minutes ago, san diego spartan said:

Glad I'm not the only one feeling like that re Princess breakfast.   I'm on a Celebrity next in February.   B3en about 5 years so looking forward to see how it is.  Yes MDR lunch is a staple for us so was so glad to see they were open.

 

Agree end of the month is difficult to take time off for me. I am looking  at a Panama canal cruse that either leaves or disembark in San Diego. 

I’d love a canal cruise from San Diego too.  I’m just reading a thread on the Princess board on a ship I’m considering.  She posted the breakfast menu and it’s disappointing as I remembered.  She’s also posted lunch menus and I swear they are the same from when I sailed on them several years ago.  I was considering celebrity but their cancel for any reason insurance sucks for Canadians.  I’m not interested in traditional insurance.

[DAllenTCY]

2,842 embarking tomorrow....plus 78 who will be B2B.

 

Great weather in the forecast...enjoy your trip.

David

 

 

 

[julia]

@san diego spartan

Great, informative, well written review... thank you!  Will be on the Feb 18th sailing for 35 nights.

 

@DAllenTCY

Curious... how is it that you know those #'s?

[san diego spartan]

1 hour ago, julia said:

@san diego spartan

Great, informative, well written review... thank you!  Will be on the Feb 18th sailing for 35 nights.

 

@DAllenTCY

Curious... how is it that you know those #'s?

The MDR manager told us at one point and the HD also mentioned it in one of his talks.  

[Florida_gal_50]

5 hours ago, julia said:

@san diego spartan

Great, informative, well written review... thank you!  Will be on the Feb 18th sailing for 35 nights.

 

@DAllenTCY

Curious... how is it that you know those #'s?

Dallen works at the port of San Diego.