The heart and soul of HAL is missing on the Koningsdam.

We cruised the HAL Koningsdam Dec 14-23. The main reasons we choose this cruise was to sail the Koningsdam during its inaugural season and to have our Christmas on-board. The desire to have Christmas on-board was based on the great experience we had two years ago on the Zuiderdam. It was decorated beautifully and even had Merry Christmas and Happy New Year painted on the hull.

In stark contrast, the Koningsdam was virtually devoid of holiday decorations. In conversations with the crew we learned that the Koningsdam represents a turn in a new direction for HAL. This includes a more minimalist presentation which in this case meant little in the way of holiday adornment. It is also reflected in the interior design which is very modern and Scandinavian looking. All together it boils down to trying to be more appealing to a younger demographic and reduce costs (or increasing profit?).

As you might imagine, this didn’t go over well with many of the veteran HAL cruisers. We heard few favorable comments during the cruise and those tended to be from younger and less experienced cruisers. The older cruisers who love HAL for the traditional cruising experience were disappointed, some bitterly.

It’s hard for me to objectively review the ship since we were among those who were expecting a more traditional HAL experience. Had it not been Christmas time the lack of decorations would not have been the disappointment it was. For the record, we learned that the older ships did decorate as usual. So let’s try to talk about just the ship.

As long as you like modern décor the ship was attractive. The woods and colors were light. The entire ship is also incorporates a music theme which we thought was overdone. The atrium, the least impressive part of the ship, has a circular chrome abstract sculpture that is supposed to represent a stringed instrument. Unfortunately, it vibrated and ratted in a decidedly non-musical fashion when in rough seas. The end result was that it looked cheap and at times sounded as if it would come down.

The cabins were very nice. Of course, everything is new. The bathroom toilet seating is cramped. Those with long legs will feel uncomfortable. The large flat screen TV is a Samsung so the picture is excellent. The ship has a good selection of movies although we had the transmission interrupted on two occasions, presumably from network congestion.

The entertainment on-board was lacking. Instead of adding more venues they just made bigger ones. This took away the intimacy that the venues on the older ships have. The traditional BB King venue was not as good as the older ships. The performers didn’t know what blues was. They tried to turn everything into high-energy, fast paced rock style blues. The piano bar is now called Billboard On-board. Now we have two performers on two pianos, neither of which measured up to the performers on the older ships. Gone was the Pinnacle Bar/Lounge – our favorite hang out on the older ships. No more big band dance tunes or happy hours there. The World Stage also lacked the quality of performance we have become used to. So after we checked the venues out we decided to watch movies in the evening in our stateroom. The Lincoln Center thing was just the usually classical music venue rebranded to increase the cool factor. The performers were very young and although competent, lacked the passion of the more mature performers on the other ships. There was also a large support pillar right in the front and center of the stage. The stage should have placed to avoid having that obstruction blocking what should have been the best seats.

A new winning feature was the Dutch Cafe. You can get specialty coffees and teas for a small price and the delicious pastries are complimentary. This is a great idea that should be retrofitted to all the ships. You can also get sandwiches and cheese plates. A great idea and well executed!

We also enjoyed the New York Deli. You could get pizza and deli sandwiches – also very good!

We only tried one extra price restaurant and that was the new Farm to Table venue for $39 per person. Sadly, this was one of the worst meals we have ever had! Stay away!

We heard a lot of complaints about the main dining room but we did not have any notable problems with the service or the food. We thought it was all very good although not the best we have had on HAL. The best was the Veendam where every dining room meal was gourmet quality.

One thing that irritated a lot of people was they closed the Dive-in burger bar for renovations during this cruise. This ship has only been in the water for 6 months and you need to renovate? Give us a break! And why couldn’t they use a section of the Lido to do burgers? Just stupid!

The last thing we’ll mention is that there is no library on-board. Some designer really blew it on that and we were told that a library will be put back in the first refit. Sound like a big Oops on somebody’s part.

In summary, the cruise did not meet our expectations. The ship is quite serviceable but in their haste to modernize and appeal to a younger demographic HAL has discarded too much of what has made them so loved by so many cruisers. The heart and soul of HAL is missing on the Koningsdam. We’ll still said HAL but only on the older ships.