Live Review Koningsdam Feb 17-March 23, 2024. Hawaii/Tahiti

[BermudaBound2014]

2 minutes ago, chawkjewel said:

you are correct - you are beautiful!

My knees disagree, but you are so sweet!! I am glad you are my people 🙂 

[canadianbear]

Sorry about not dropping by the Wyndham gathering we ended up going for dinner to Filippi’s Grotto in Little Italy for our last night here then to Seaport Village for ice cream dessert.   Hope you all had fun!  

[Toad]

I will enjoy cruising vicariously with you!

[julia]

Aaaaahhhh, this ex-San Diegan enjoyed your pics very much! And to all the Cruise Critics boarding the Koningsdam tomorrow, I wish you a wonderful, memorable cruise! 

 

We were there last year (at the Wyndam on Harbor Drive) and I woke early (too excited) and pulled out the binoculars and sat on the balcony in the dark and watched the K'dam sail past Pt Loma and slide into her berth. Magical!!

[ottahand7]

On 2/15/2024 at 3:27 PM, BermudaBound2014 said:

Hi Ottahand (great screen name). Seems we are both cruising thru Michigan winters. Im on this exact cruise again next Feb. Are you on the Koningsdam? Or a different ship?

We are on the Konigsdam, 7 aft cabin.  

[BermudaBound2014]

1 hour ago, ottahand7 said:

We are on the Konigsdam, 7 aft cabin.  

Ahhhh…. Threw me when you said 70 days away from Michigan winter. You must be doing a few back to backs or some land trips to add days also. It’s amazing the planning I will undergo to make sure I avoid Michigan winters. Looking forward to meeting you on next years cruise 🙂

[ottahand7]

2 minutes ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Ahhhh…. Threw me when you said 70 days away from Michigan winter. You must be doing a few back to backs or some land trips to add days also. It’s amazing the planning I will undergo to make sure I avoid Michigan winters. Looking forward to meeting you on next years cruise 🙂

We are looking forward to meeting you too and perhaps share shore excursions.  Yes we board January 11,  so a 17 day, then an 18 day then the 35 day Hawaii South Pacific.  Until they offer a Grand Voyage other than a world in January back to back is how we can accomplish our get away at sea. 

[Ipeeinthepools]

The Koningsdam has entered the harbor.

[Chris-n-Shawn]

11 minutes ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

The Koningsdam has entered the harbor.

 

[BermudaBound2014]

She’s here!!!

 

Please let me know if the video loads for you. 
 

 

[canadianbear]

Right outside our room at the Wyndham!  Great service 😂😂

[canadianbear]

@BermudaBound2014 great video!!

[BetsyS.]

Bon Voyage! 🥂😊 I'm happy for all of you. Very exciting!

[BermudaBound2014]

Let’s back the bus up to last nights meet and mingle. Some folks were even Ubering  from the high rise hotels downtown to hang with us in the low rent district. We easily doubled the count from Thursday night.  Whoa!!! So many people. So many names to forget. 

 

I’d say half the folks were from cruise critic and the other half from another social media platform, but everyone just merged into one super happy, friendly, and knowledgeable group of DamCruisers. I am happy to report that I  have found my people!! 

 

 

 

Out fearless leader for the meet and mingle onboard had to cancel last minute. She was a great roll call leader. Simply the best. She will be missed on the cruise but we all enjoyed meeting her last night where she passed the baton (aka bag of yet more nametags) to me. 

 

Just to show how wonderful this group of cruisers are, we already have a team of 4/5 who will take on the meet and greet responsibilities to ensure the event goes on as scheduled. We have 300 in our roll call so someone is going to need to use the trusty microphone for a group photo. See everyone on the Monday the 19th at 10:30 am in billboard onboard.

 

In true HAL fashion there is yet another confusing bit of communication regarding boarding on the app. Someone needs to walk the plank at corporate. 

 

I am not about to fight any embarkation crowds and have a shuttle booked for 2:15. Those much braver that I are heading over earlier and will give me the scoop on how things are progressing. If I have to make a running leap for the gangway as they slide her up, so be it. 

 

Some random photos from last nights gathering. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 17 by BermudaBound2014

[canadianbear]

We were surprised  today to have a smooth and easy boarding.  I hope everyone else did too.

 

We have late dining and the food was plentiful and delicious the service was quite slow but it’s only the first night so no biggie.  
 

We are now playing cards in the Crow’s Nest & can feel the rocking of the ship. 
 

Sweet dreams to all! 

[Mary229]

Compared to other ports we found the security line very slow. Once past the port inspections everything on the HAL went very quickly.  

Lines were short at shore excursions where I switched my pre-purchased excursions to OBC and was able to purchase one of my waitlisted excursions on OBC.  Always check the first day for those waitlisted excursions.   Of course the line was very long at the guest services desk - I have no idea what could be so wrong so early that one would wait in that long of a line!

 

The spa was also an easy in and easy out.  Appointments set.

once muster was completed we headed to the lido.

We are salads for lunch as it was getting pretty late by time we settled down to lunch. Service was quick enough and a table was found fairly easily.

 

We had early fixed dining - far too early but late is just beyond my tolerance.  Service was slow and as my first hair appointment was at 7:00 I left DH in the fine company of our next table for two neighbors and had to skip dessert and coffee.  The Koningsdam MDR is the slowest in the fleet and notoriously poorly managed. Everyone is super nice but it just doesn’t gel.  The food was very good and served at the right temperatures.  NEW MENU FEATURE: Vegetable of the day!  It is a vegetable serving ordered separately as a side.  Tonight was snow peas. Also the menu now features at least one Indian entree and one crew national entree.  There was a Filipino dessert also.  
 

My room stewards were great, we are in an obstructed verandah on the 4th floor. We were surprised to have chocolates even though it wasn’t a dressy night.  That was a pleasant surprise.

 

We asked about our totes as I didn’t bring a beach bag and were told we would receive a  newly designed bag later in the cruise. 

 

 

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

...Lines were short at shore excursions where I switched my pre-purchased excursions to OBC and was able to purchase one of my waitlisted excursions on OBC.  Always check the first day for those waitlisted excursions...

 

The Koningsdam MDR is the slowest in the fleet and notoriously poorly managed. Everyone is super nice but it just doesn’t gel...

 

My room stewards were great, we are in an obstructed verandah on the 4th floor....

 

We asked about our totes as I didn’t bring a beach bag and were told we would receive a  newly designed bag later in the cruise. 

Hey @Mary229 I always have excursions moved from CC to OBC as soon as I'm onboard and am glad to hear you were able to do so w/no issues. Congrats on getting tickets for a waitlisted tour.

MDR service was painfully slow Dec/Jan - sounds like that's still a struggle. It never got better, but the food was good.

The deck 4 obstructed verandah I had was looking over a lifeboat, not into one - is that what you have? It was the first time I've been in one. It was different than the aft wake view I usually have, but I  really didn't mind it since my view wasn't blocked at all. Would love to see a picture if you can share one.

Would also like to see a picture of the newly designed tote when you receive it. I normally don't use them a lot, but I really gave mine a workout on the HI cruise going to the Thermal Spa and library a couple times every day.

Safe travels - enjoy your cruise!

Edited February 18 by Haljo1935
Typo

[Ipeeinthepools]

4 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Compared to other ports we found the security line very slow. Once past the port inspections everything on the HAL went very quickly.  

Lines were short at shore excursions where I switched my pre-purchased excursions to OBC and was able to purchase one of my waitlisted excursions on OBC.  Always check the first day for those waitlisted excursions.   Of course the line was very long at the guest services desk - I have no idea what could be so wrong so early that one would wait in that long of a line!

 

The spa was also an easy in and easy out.  Appointments set.

once muster was completed we headed to the lido.

We are salads for lunch as it was getting pretty late by time we settled down to lunch. Service was quick enough and a table was found fairly easily.

 

We had early fixed dining - far too early but late is just beyond my tolerance.  Service was slow and as my first hair appointment was at 7:00 I left DH in the fine company of our next table for two neighbors and had to skip dessert and coffee.  The Koningsdam MDR is the slowest in the fleet and notoriously poorly managed. Everyone is super nice but it just doesn’t gel.  The food was very good and served at the right temperatures.  NEW MENU FEATURE: Vegetable of the day!  It is a vegetable serving ordered separately as a side.  Tonight was snow peas. Also the menu now features at least one Indian entree and one crew national entree.  There was a Filipino dessert also.  
 

My room stewards were great, we are in an obstructed verandah on the 4th floor. We were surprised to have chocolates even though it wasn’t a dressy night.  That was a pleasant surprise.

 

We asked about our totes as I didn’t bring a beach bag and were told we would receive a  newly designed bag later in the cruise. 

 

 

 

I'm glad to hear that boarding wasn't too bad, if the true holdup in San Diego are the security inspectors, then that sounds like something they could improve by adding more security screening.  Of course, it's a matter of money and if San Diego really wants to improve.

 

I'll be interested to see how all of your refunds for shore excursions are handled.  Getting credit for canceled shore excursions doesn't work well for me a lot of the time.  It seems like it's a two-step process and someone in accounting actually needs to process the refund.  About half the time I need to make multiple trips to get the credit to show-up in my account.  

 

It's great to hear that you enjoyed the food in the MDR, but slow service on the first night seems to be common.  I'm glad it works for some people, but a Vegetable of the Day will probably not be a memorable feature for me.  😉  It seems like staff are always switched to different jobs between cruises and there is a learning curve for the new jobs.  Hopefully it will improve during the cruise.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

 

[Mary229]

6 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

The deck 4 obstructed verandah I had was looking over a lifeboat, not into one - is that what you have? It was the first time I've been in one. It was different than the aft wake v

Exactly the same.  I will try to get some photos.  I actually gave up my aft view cabin to help pay for my new air conditioners  last summer and as you know one does not skimp on an ac in Texas🤯

 

about the slow MDR, I experienced the same problem on the K in 2019.  I have never experienced it on any other ship in the fleet.  I don’t know if it is management or perhaps a design flaw in the floor plan. 

[POA1]

Thanks for taking us along!

[57redbird]

For some reason the MDR just isn't our favorite venue...too loud, slow service no matter the day of the cruise or the meal, feels like a high school lunchroom & on our cruise last year the lunch menu never changed.

Edited February 18 by 57redbird
added comment

[canadianbear]

17 minutes ago, 57redbird said:

For some reason the MDR just isn't our favorite venue...too loud, slow service no matter the day of the cruise or the meal, feels like a high school lunchroom & on our cruise last year the lunch menu never changed.

We had enjoyed our late dining on the Eurodam as a table for just us two in November.  Found it extremely efficient-in & out in an hour.  Unlike last night on the Koningsdam-late dining, table for two & very slow & busy.  It was our first night on the K so hoping it goes better.  Tonight we are going to Pinnacle so will see on Monday how our late dining if improved. 

[Haljo1935]

11 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

We had enjoyed our late dining on the Eurodam as a table for just us two in November.  Found it extremely efficient-in & out in an hour.  Unlike last night on the Koningsdam-late dining, table for two & very slow & busy.  It was our first night on the K so hoping it goes better.  Tonight we are going to Pinnacle so will see on Monday how our late dining if improved. 

K'dam Dec/Jan not one MDR dinner were we out in less than 2 hours; first night or last made no difference. PG service was a tad slow, but significantly quicker than MDR.

[canadianbear]

9 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

K'dam Dec/Jan not one MDR dinner were we out in less than 2 hours; first night or last made no difference. PG service was a tad slow, but significantly quicker than MDR.

Sigh…we aren’t into 2 hour dining.  Let’s hope…

[Haljo1935]

7 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

Sigh…we aren’t into 2 hour dining.  Let’s hope…

🤞