The few downsides to our experience on the Konigsdam will not dissuade us from sailing HA again as we have had wonderful experiences with them in the past, especially on Statendam.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Probably one of the more organized ports we have encountered. The process onboard the ship was smooth.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
I thought the food was exceptional everywhere, and I consider myself to be somewhat of a “food snob.”
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
I am not a cruiser that cruises for onboard activities. IMO if you want a slew of activities, choose Royal Caribbean. It’s not what Holland America is about. For me, the activities were just fine. Plenty of space around the decks to lounge, although directly near the pools was crowded.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
Repetitive and rather boring. I had to go alone, my husband preferred the casino. The choice for movie night was HORRENDOUS (Bullet Train???). Come on HA, know your audience - do better! The only show that was mildly entertaining was the last night’s show. The classical quartet at Lincoln Center was very nice to relax to.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Very slow table service at the Lido buffet. Long-ish lines to be served food; extremely long lines to get pizza or burgers near the pool; slow service in the dining room at times, but no worse than any other cruise serving hundreds of people at one time. Loved the Dutch Cafe for coffee/snacks.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Really liked the design of this ship. You could literally walk from the dining room (aft) to the showroom (forward) in two minutes. Within 10 minutes of embarkation, we were completely oriented. Never had an issue with elevators. Ship was very clean although could probably use a facelift at some point in the not-to-distant future.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Very well laid out with lots of storage. Don’t forget to utilize the HUGE under bed drawers of the beds! Bathroom seemed larger for some reason, with a full walk in shower. Very comfortable beds. Veranda furniture could use an update. Sofa had some tears in the upholstery (not a huge deal).
Took the Old Town Trolley tour one day. An excellent way to see everything as it’s “hop on/hop off.” The Hotel del Coronado was a nice stop, although extremely pricey. We also visited the San Diego Zoo on another day, which was really really nice. Plan on at least 4-6 hrs there to see everything.
Excellent excursion on a catamaran to sail around the point. Extra bonus was seeing a pod of 8 whales. The only reason I don’t give this 5 stars is because of the immediate area around the port with locals hounding you to take tours with them or buy their goods.
Avoid at all costs the Stone Island excursion. What a disaster and complete waste of money. From what we understand, it was once a lovely day at an all inclusive resort. That resort has now been sold and instead we were taken to the other side of the island by farm tractor pulling a cart a’la hay ride style (yes you read that correctly) down a dusty dirty road to a dilapidated restaurant, supposedly on a beach(?) if you could call it that. No beach to speak of with dirty water I wouldn’t put even a toe in. About 7 beach chairs. The food was cold after being advertised as a hot buffet. Also advertised a 4-hour open bar …. turned into about 90 minutes of watered down alcohol. Oh and did I mention the stray dogs in dog fights and aggressive NON STOP local vendors. There were also numerous patrons being stung by bees, one needing attention from a medic that was called to the scene. When we got back to the ship, this was all brought to the attention of Guest Services, who did not seem to care one bit. DO NOT make the mistake of taking this excursion. HA should be embarrassed by even offering it to its passengers.
Nice excursion to all inclusive Marival Emotions resort. Beautiful pools and beach. Nice buffet. Although the bar was open, the types of drinks were limited. We did wish it could have been a longer day as we were in port until 8:00 pm.
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