Trip summary: Koningsdam (post refurb) 18 day circle Hawaii, Vancouver to Vancouver

[robotpony]

Highlights: This was an experiment of how-many-sea-days we like, and it turns out we loved the extra sea days. We had an inside cabin and cabana, which worked well ~4 or so of the sea days were very “Vancouvery”, but that didn’t stop us.  We bundled up and read until we got too cold to do so, then escaped to the Crow’s nest for coffee.

 

This was as close to a perfect cruise as we could hope for. We kept busy, were up later than we should have been, and made many new friends. We also saw a bunch of Hawaii! 

 

The port:  The YVR port was good for us, but not for everyone. Embarking was slowish for a few reasons: this was only the 2nd ship of the season and systems were down in the AM. Despite this, we were on board in about an hour after arriving at the port (so by 1:30PM).

 

Disembarking was super fast, but it helped that we knew Canada Place pretty well. Tip: exit out of the port on the far right and skip the taxi/bus lines if you can, took us less than 15 minutes to be on the road (transit or uber a few blocks away).

 

The ship: It was a full, but not too full cruise (2560 pax I think). There were very few kids and the demographic skewed older (making us younger!). Lines were only bad for MDR for early seating on dressy days (tip: eat later when the crowd skews older)

 

We didn’t wait for anything, but we also planned around known busy times.

 

Entertainment: We found many more entertainment options, and many quality improvements as well. There was a new jazz band in ocean bar (also played with the comedians).

 

There was a new main stage act: the Major 4th singers, 2 new shows.

 

There were 3 different comedians (2 had musical acts), that hit all age groups pretty well.

 

There were many more EXC talks, quite varied as well.

 

BB’s, Rolling Stones, and the duelling pianos were all excellent, the highlight of our trip.

 

There was easily 2x more entertainment compared to November or August of ‘22.

 

We missed a bunch of the entertainment, but speciality art classes were back, the art auction, and the regular game shows, trivia, and such. 

This was Holland America’s 150th, and there was much celebration. They even had a HA Gin and Beer (the Gin was fabulous). There was an Orange party, and a dressy night on King’s day.

 

Food: There were food improvements across the board, and we didn’t have a bad meal or dish. I am an accomplished cook, and quite good at eating too. The MDR was elevated from our last two trips, the Lido was more consistent and varied, speciality restaurants were strong, and the quick eateries were improved.

 

We ate dinners at either the MDR or Lido, about 50%/50% depending how busy we were. We did each specialty restaurant once. Lunches were mostly quick service or the Lido (when on ship). We did High Tea once.

 

We had no bad food, and mostly had excellent food. Service was improved generally, and we still heard too much complaining. We did not wait anywhere for long, but this wasn’t true for early diners in the MDR on a few select nights.

 

Ports and excursions: All port days were excellent, and where we tendered it was fine (tip: remember that tendering can be pretty slow, so plan extra time in your schedule). The highlight for us was the beauty, nature, and stories of the peoples of Hawaii. Fresh poke was a close second.

 

We had one bad tour (a bad guide, poor itinerary), but that’s on us. The other tours were great to fantastic, including the crater national park and wine tour. Our self-directed days were all great, and we found interesting things to do with very little stress, thanks especially to the EXC talks (Betty Ann is a rockstar!).

 

Victoria was a surprise highlight, and walking from the terminal to downtown was perfect during the blossom season. We both grew up visiting Victoria regularly, but hadn’t walked that part of the city in many years. 

 

Ship improvements:  We were on the Koningsdam in August (and NS in November), and we found the ship in, well, ship shape.

 

The library was not complete yet, but they did have books out in the Crows nest, in addition to a nice selection of games and puzzles. The Crows nest changes were nice (more seating, new seating), and the coffee shop wasn’t moved.

 

Starlink was fantastic, as good as 4/5G in most urban areas. You could stream Instagram and Facebook stories. If you had the streaming package you could stream pretty much anything (we saw a lot of sports on laptops and iPads).

 

There were some minimal changes in the cabanas (some new cabana coverings), but no new hot tub.

 

Things we've learned: There is a flow to a particular ship, itinerary, and passengers. Figure it out!

 

We tended to eat lunch late, so quick service waits were super low. We observed the MDR busy times and avoided it, and didn’t wait there. Bar service is about timing and getting to know the staff.

 

Entertainment flow is similar, learn to avoid rushes, and grab a seat early if you really want to see something. Hit up the later shows if possible.

 

Fun facts: The duelling pianos on the Koningsdam are fake (cases around electric pianos) due to a snag during construction of the ship. They’re real on the NS, and we all laughed when George opened up his piano to show an empty box. They sounded great, despite that.

 

Canadian ports have really weird rules for bar service (we’re Canadian, so it’s a fun fact for us). Only 1 bar can operate per floor for “safety” reasons. This makes service in Canadian ports way more work for ship staff.

 

There was some sort of power issue on the ship one night where people got together to sing. That practice continued after hours in a number of venues! We loved seeing guests have so much fun together.

What’s next for us? We have more cruises booked! We booked another on this trip, a bucket list cruise to the Antarctic. We love how booking onboard, especially further out, gets you such fantastic deals.

 

Iberian coast (NS) - September 2023
Eclipse tour; Mexican Riviera (Zaandam) - April 2024
Voyage of the Vikings (Zuiderdam) - August 2024
Antarctica (Oosterdam) - January 2025

 

We’re really enjoying the music, education, and port intense nature of HAL, The great staff and food are a bonus!

 

[vicd1969]

Fantastic review and your postings are always appreciated by me. Glad you had another positive experience on HAL. It does make me regret a bit however that i am booked for Alaska on the Nieuw Amsterdam instead of the Koningsdam in terms of the internet service.

[travelholics]

Thanks so much for your review, it mirrored our experiences in Feb/March on Koningsdam to Hawaii and the South Pacific. We loved it so much that we booked an extra week on Koningsdam in the Fall in Alaska and a Med cruise on Nieuw Statendam! We had expected to dislike the Pinnacle ships, but we were very happy to change our opinion!

What a fabulous group of cruises you have coming up, on all the different sizes of ship! I know you will enjoy them all, with such a positive attitude, and please report back, to balance out all the negative reports we have been seeing lately!

[Florida_gal_50]

I haven’t been thrilled with my last couple cruises on the koningsdam but I always thought the food was really good and hot as well.  Happy to hear the internet is quite good.  It sucked in November.  I wish hal would get it going on the other ships sooner than later.  Thanks for the review.

[diogenes65]

On 5/3/2023 at 3:27 PM, robotpony said:

Highlights: This was an experiment of how-many-sea-days we like, and it turns out we loved the extra sea days. We had an inside cabin and cabana, which worked well ~4 or so of the sea days were very “Vancouvery”, but that didn’t stop us.  We bundled up and read until we got too cold to do so, then escaped to the Crow’s nest for coffee.

 

This was as close to a perfect cruise as we could hope for. We kept busy, were up later than we should have been, and made many new friends. We also saw a bunch of Hawaii! 

 

The port:  The YVR port was good for us, but not for everyone. Embarking was slowish for a few reasons: this was only the 2nd ship of the season and systems were down in the AM. Despite this, we were on board in about an hour after arriving at the port (so by 1:30PM).

 

Disembarking was super fast, but it helped that we knew Canada Place pretty well. Tip: exit out of the port on the far right and skip the taxi/bus lines if you can, took us less than 15 minutes to be on the road (transit or uber a few blocks away).

 

The ship: It was a full, but not too full cruise (2560 pax I think). There were very few kids and the demographic skewed older (making us younger!). Lines were only bad for MDR for early seating on dressy days (tip: eat later when the crowd skews older)

 

We didn’t wait for anything, but we also planned around known busy times.

 

Entertainment: We found many more entertainment options, and many quality improvements as well. There was a new jazz band in ocean bar (also played with the comedians).

 

There was a new main stage act: the Major 4th singers, 2 new shows.

 

There were 3 different comedians (2 had musical acts), that hit all age groups pretty well.

 

There were many more EXC talks, quite varied as well.

 

BB’s, Rolling Stones, and the duelling pianos were all excellent, the highlight of our trip.

 

There was easily 2x more entertainment compared to November or August of ‘22.

 

We missed a bunch of the entertainment, but speciality art classes were back, the art auction, and the regular game shows, trivia, and such. 

This was Holland America’s 150th, and there was much celebration. They even had a HA Gin and Beer (the Gin was fabulous). There was an Orange party, and a dressy night on King’s day.

 

Food: There were food improvements across the board, and we didn’t have a bad meal or dish. I am an accomplished cook, and quite good at eating too. The MDR was elevated from our last two trips, the Lido was more consistent and varied, speciality restaurants were strong, and the quick eateries were improved.

 

We ate dinners at either the MDR or Lido, about 50%/50% depending how busy we were. We did each specialty restaurant once. Lunches were mostly quick service or the Lido (when on ship). We did High Tea once.

 

We had no bad food, and mostly had excellent food. Service was improved generally, and we still heard too much complaining. We did not wait anywhere for long, but this wasn’t true for early diners in the MDR on a few select nights.

 

Ports and excursions: All port days were excellent, and where we tendered it was fine (tip: remember that tendering can be pretty slow, so plan extra time in your schedule). The highlight for us was the beauty, nature, and stories of the peoples of Hawaii. Fresh poke was a close second.

 

We had one bad tour (a bad guide, poor itinerary), but that’s on us. The other tours were great to fantastic, including the crater national park and wine tour. Our self-directed days were all great, and we found interesting things to do with very little stress, thanks especially to the EXC talks (Betty Ann is a rockstar!).

 

Victoria was a surprise highlight, and walking from the terminal to downtown was perfect during the blossom season. We both grew up visiting Victoria regularly, but hadn’t walked that part of the city in many years. 

 

Ship improvements:  We were on the Koningsdam in August (and NS in November), and we found the ship in, well, ship shape.

 

The library was not complete yet, but they did have books out in the Crows nest, in addition to a nice selection of games and puzzles. The Crows nest changes were nice (more seating, new seating), and the coffee shop wasn’t moved.

 

Starlink was fantastic, as good as 4/5G in most urban areas. You could stream Instagram and Facebook stories. If you had the streaming package you could stream pretty much anything (we saw a lot of sports on laptops and iPads).

 

There were some minimal changes in the cabanas (some new cabana coverings), but no new hot tub.

 

Things we've learned: There is a flow to a particular ship, itinerary, and passengers. Figure it out!

 

We tended to eat lunch late, so quick service waits were super low. We observed the MDR busy times and avoided it, and didn’t wait there. Bar service is about timing and getting to know the staff.

 

Entertainment flow is similar, learn to avoid rushes, and grab a seat early if you really want to see something. Hit up the later shows if possible.

 

Fun facts: The duelling pianos on the Koningsdam are fake (cases around electric pianos) due to a snag during construction of the ship. They’re real on the NS, and we all laughed when George opened up his piano to show an empty box. They sounded great, despite that.

 

Canadian ports have really weird rules for bar service (we’re Canadian, so it’s a fun fact for us). Only 1 bar can operate per floor for “safety” reasons. This makes service in Canadian ports way more work for ship staff.

 

There was some sort of power issue on the ship one night where people got together to sing. That practice continued after hours in a number of venues! We loved seeing guests have so much fun together.

What’s next for us? We have more cruises booked! We booked another on this trip, a bucket list cruise to the Antarctic. We love how booking onboard, especially further out, gets you such fantastic deals.

 

Iberian coast (NS) - September 2023
Eclipse tour; Mexican Riviera (Zaandam) - April 2024
Voyage of the Vikings (Zuiderdam) - August 2024
Antarctica (Oosterdam) - January 2025

 

We’re really enjoying the music, education, and port intense nature of HAL, The great staff and food are a bonus!

 

 

[ski ww]

Great review, thanks for posting.