Koningsdam 9 - 22 May 16

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 45

Review summary

Sir/Madam   Here is an overview of our trip  
  Pre-Board:  The process can be still be improved on.  As guests arrive, they should be able to board the ship at that time and not wait until the terminal is full.  I know guests were getting off and cabins needed to be prepared for arriving guests, however, allowing us on board prior to cabins being readied could help to increase your bottom line as more folks on board would benefit from using the bars and increase your profits.     Accommodations: Our Veranda, 6098, was very nice.  Storage was sufficient for our belongings. Cabin steward was outstanding as on previous sailings on other Holland America ships.  He did forget to stock shampoo upon our arrival   other then that, he did outstanding work..    Shore excursions:  We signed up for three tours and two of them were below standards in our opinion.       - Rotterdam Gouda Tour:  The advertising lead you to believe that we were going to visit a cheese factory that made Gouda cheese, but it was only a walking tour of the city of Gouda.  Other folks on the tour thought the same as we did and were not pleased.  First of all the buses were late(about 30 to 45 minutes) getting to the ship to take us on the tour; When we arrived in Gouda, we were  rushed to the church with the stained glass windows  five minutes before they the church closed and we were in the church ten minutes before we were asked to leave.       - Lisbon - Three city tour bus trip through the hills.  First stop at the seaside was for 10 minuets after an hour bus ride - enough time to get off - take a picture, find a bathroom and get back to the bus.  Second stop was in Sintra - it was  back in the hills,  was very disappointing - lack of time to enjoy the castle and partake of refreshments from the local vendors.  The final stop at the Place of Queluz  was another disappointment.  The literature should have been more specific as to the current condition of the facility and the furnishings, the smell of mold was everywhere.  We could have had more time taking in the local culture and visiting the pubs and restaurant's.    Both of these tours should have had less travel or less stops.  They were ill designed and poorly executed.  The money we paid for these trips was a waste.       - The Sherry factory/Horse Training tour was outstanding.       -Cherbourg;  Better directions for reboarding.  Lots of folks tried to come back in the same way they when out.  No signs out front to show where to enter for boarding the ship.  I had to ask a few locals for the entry point.       - Dining room and Lido: Service was professional and met our expectations.  Well done by all.       - Bar pricing:  Different charges for the same drink at different bars or at the same bar on different days.   I could not understand that at all.        - Evening shows:  Well below the standard for Holland America.       - Adam (Ship shops) excellent service.       - Ship's Christening:   We were informed by the ship staff that guests would be able to sign their name to the board on the day of the event and the following day.  Due to the large crowds for the ceremony, we waited until  the following morning to go sign the board and were  told   the signing" could only be done the night before.  That was very disappointing to my wife and me and added another disappointment for us on this cruise.   The front desk staff were not very considerate or obliging.     We ask to speak to a supervisor but according to the          receptionist who answered our questions, there was none available.  No apologies was  made.    Amsterdam:  Great night at the Rijks museum .  Thank you very much for that pleasure.  Job well done.  Great Service by the staff.   Disembarkation - The best we have had.  The only problem was that the first announcement indicated that we could stay in our stateroom (terrific) and we never heard another announcement in our stateroom for our call (Red 2).  However, we made our way to the disembarkation point and finding our luggage was the easiest ever.         Alan D. Tremaine, CHA    

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Other reviews of this sailing