Excellent! Love the Southern Caribbean itinerary! Love HAL, love the Koningsdam. Ten days was too short!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Excellent embarkation process. We arrived at Ft Lauderdale port around 11:00 and we were sitting at lunch in the dining room by 12:00. Our cabin was ready when we boarded so we were able to drop off our carry on bags and start enjoying our cruise!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Dining venues were excellent, as usual! We really enjoyed the selections and quality of food in the mdr, but we also enjoyed excellent meals and service at the Tamarind (our favorite) and the Pinnacle Grill. For more casual meals, we loved hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries at the Dive In, pizza and salads at the pizzeria, and a few lunches at the buffet. HAL does a great job at organizing the buffet with separate specialty stations which really minimizes lines. Excellent!
Tamarind Restaurant
5 out of 5
The Tamarind is a “must do” venue if cruising with HAL. Impeccable service and the food selection and quality is exceptional. I love the coconut curry and others enjoyed the hot and sweet shrimp and the wasabi encrusted filet mignon. Your meal is a five course Asian fusion experience that you won’t regret and the upcharge is an affordable $25. Enjoy!
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
HAL could use a little more creativity for their onboard activities. The daily schedule was very repetitive and lacking in variety. They held one line dancing class during a 10 day cruise and that class lasted only 20 minutes. I would have enjoyed more food demonstrations or craft classes.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The magician was entertaining but a little amateurish. We could actually see how he did some tricks when he came into the audience for some up close tricks. And the singers and dancers were good but I think HAL relies too heavily on the projection capabilities in the World Stage which leaves the actual stage sets lacking in creativity and flare.
Billboard Onboard
5 out of 5
We enjoyed Billboard on Board with the dueling pianos and it’s nice that they have an appetizer table set up every afternoon/evening.
Children's Programs
No children traveled with us.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
The service is exceptional on HAL.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The Koningsdam is in pristine condition! The public areas are well maintained and very clean as are the staterooms. No complaints at all! I love all the fresh flowers throughout the ship!
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
The cabin was very spacious and we loved the shower! It was nice having a walk-in shower rather than stepping into a tub and the water pressure was great! And it heated very quickly. I wish my home shower was as good! We were traveling with family so we had the bulkhead opened on the balconies which was very nice. The bed was very comfortable and we had plenty of storage space. The A/C worked great and our room steward did a nice job of keeping the cabin clean, although I had to keep leaving him notes to take away dirty dishes. I’m not sure why that was a problem when it was obvious they were no longer needed. But he took them when I asked him and he always kept our ice bucket full.
Ship tip
Definitely eat at least one dinner in the Tamarind!
Love HMC! We reserved clamshells which provided nice shade in the afternoon. We took the swim with the stingrays excursion which was very interesting. The bar-bq lunch was excellent with hot dogs, hamburgers, fish tacos, short ribs, jerk chicken, and lots of sides and salads. Our only issue was with having to evict squatters from our clamshells when we returned from our excursion and lunch - even though we had left some of our items on the chairs. People just ignored our receipt that was hanging on the clamshell. I’d recommend you bring your own “reserved” sign to place on your chairs if you go.
Loved it! We spent the day at Margaritaville. We rented a cabana which worked out well, especially when it rained for a short period. It kept all our things dry!
We were very impressed with the Dominican Republic! We took an excursion that included lots of local flare - rum tasting, a traditional Dominican lunch at the botanical gardens, craft fair shopping, fresh coconut milk (incredible how the vendor used a machete to open those coconuts!), and a tour of the fort. Oscar was a great tour guide!
We loved Bonaire! We took the aqua sub excursion. It was beautiful going out on the water and snorkeling. The crew was terrific! We started drinking rum punch early and they prepared snacks for us to eat while we cruised. It was nice to go below the waterline in a glass bottom catamaran and see the sea life for those of us who did not want to snorkel.
Another beautiful port! You can really see the Dutch influence with the colorful buildings. We took a nice overview tour and enjoyed our guide, Misha. But we could have skipped the museum - not much to see here.
Not bad. It’s nice that HAL lets you wait in your cabin until they call your tag number. It would have gone even more smoothly if other passengers would be patient and follow the process rather than trying to skip the line.
Love Holland America! 2nd time on the Koningsdam and it never disappoints. I love cruising and HAL makes it so comfortable that I never want to disembark.
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