We selected this cruise due to the itinerary. I was very surprised as how organized and fast embarkation and disembarkation went. Holland America really has this down to a science. Overall the ship is in great condition and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to sail on Holland America. The crowd is a bit older on this ship, but it was very comfortable for all age groups. The spa is wonderful and I do recommend getting a spa pass if you want peace and quiet with an uncrowded lounge and pool area. Dining was good, but it is hard to get a table with just your party and at a decent time which forced us to the Lido Cafe or specialty venues more than I wanted to go. Service was good especially in the cabins. Other parts of the ship, I did feel service was lacking and due to the auto service charge, I feel that the employees know they will be tipped regardless of the service they provide. I was willing to tip even more had it been better service. I was in a Balcony Cabin (6021) and impressed with the room. It was located FWD on the ship near the elevator but not close enough that I had to hear any noise. The room was super quiet, super clean balcony and a nice big shower for a cruise ship. I would book a balcony again although I did hear inside staterooms have just as nice of a bathroom. I would take this trip again for sure! Read Less

I chose this cruise because of the timing, the destination, and the fact that it appeared to be tailored more toward older clientele. I loved not being crowded by rambunctious 20-somethings and noisy children. Embarkation and disembarkation went quite smoothly. Regarding the staff, they were exceptional in all aspects.The in-room tv offerings were also far above average and the amenities on both levels around the pool were pleasing Frankly, the pool area and its offerings were the best I have experienced, far superior to other cruises. I did experience some issues onboard, several of which were mentioned by other guests so I won't repeat them except to say that HA's extra charges are reminiscent of flying on certain discount airlines. Okay, I will mention one that particularly irritated me, the pay extra gelato bar by the pool instead of offering ice cream. Very cheap shot and unworthy of a line as distinguished as HA. However, in spite of those things, I do give credit to HA for many positive aspects of this ship and this cruise. It was very relaxing most of the time and I would consider doing it again but for the one remaining issue that is a dealbreaker for me. No one wants to talk about this issue but it has to be addressed. Here goes: HA's guests are overall fairly mature and subject to problems that arrive with age, i.e., some of us have sprung leaks - in varying degrees, but leaks nonetheless. We quietly bring our own supplies when we travel but occasionally we miscalculate. I was faced with that situation and unsuccessfully attempted to locate a pharmacy on the next stop, then discovered that incontinence products are not carried anywhere on board the HA ships. Both a cashier and the medical office confided to me that they receive many calls from distraught guests who are desperate to locate emergency supplies, but repeated pleas to HA's headquarters to carry these have been denied. (I was lucky in that the nurse and I were able to create a substitute to get me by until I was off the ship, but other passengers weren't so fortunate.) I am seriously disturbed by the refusal of HA to acknowledge this situation and believe that future female (and some male) passengers need to be forewarned that HA has decided to ignore this problem and if you leak more than you planned for, you're on your own, even if you are at sea. Because of this attitude I sincerely doubt that I will ever book on HA again. Read Less

This is our eighth cruise on a HAL ship and our first on the Koningsdam which we specifically wanted to try being a new state of the art vessel. The cruise took us from Fort Lauderdale down to the islands of the Netherlands Antilles and back again. I am happy to say that as much as I have enjoyed the other HAL vessels this one is leap forward in both technological and comfort terms. Being a slightly larger ship there are more shopping options on board. Additionally, though HAL has a reputation for attracting older cruisers, the crowd on this cruise had many middle aged people along with some younger families. We were located in cabin 8107 on the ‘Navigation Deck’, midship. This cabin is a vista suite with a slightly different configuration than many cruise cabins, in that the bed was closer to the balcony, and faced a big screen tv on the wall. There was a good deal of storage space, and more electrical and USB outlines than we’ve seen elsewhere. Balcony was a bit smaller than I would like. We experienced no problems with the cabin and the stewards were quick and efficient at looking after the room. At times, noise from the Lido deck above did keep us awake, as staff seemed to be moving equipment at night. I don't know if it was due to calm seas or midship location but at times boat motion was inperceptible. Food options on the Koningsdam were more varied than any other HAL ship. For more formal dining, and In addition to the dining room and Pinnacle Grill, there was Sel de Mer, a sea food restaurant (which we liked) and Tamarind, featuring Asian cuisine (which we didn’t try on this cruise). There’s also Canaletto and the Culinary Arts Dining room, where we had a six course cellar masters dinner. Food was uniformly good through all the locations we tried, although sometimes there was a bit too much! I noticed that even on gala nights, HAL did not stop more casually dressed guests from enjoying the dining room, and my guess is that dressing up to eat is slowly becoming a thing of the past. For more informal fare, there’s the Lido. On this ship, almost all Lido food is served by staff from dedicated stations. I know some don’t like this as much, but it does cut down on waste and possible contamination, and probably helps your waist-line too. Staff are quick to offer table service drinks as well. Seating seemed limited, but there never seemed much trouble getting a table. There’s also New York Pizza, which served great pizza and deli sandwiches, and the Dive Inn, which features grilled fare like hamburgers and hot dogs. Good for a quick meal. There’s also the Dutch café which doubled as a coffee bar and another place for a quick sandwich. There was also the Explorations Café in the Crows Nest, but given the absence of a library and the availability of the superior Dutch Café, not sure why Explorations is even needed. The Koningsdam has a musical theme and its entertainment very much reflected this focus. The Lincoln centre stage featured classical musicians, the BB Kings stage featured blues, and the Billboard lounge featured a pair of piano players playing a variety of top 40 hits. The World stage is state of the art, and its LED wall panels and digital electronics were used for terrific shows using the dancers, singers, and musicians. (There were also comedians, magicians and musical groups, but these were similar to those you’d find on any other ship.) All music seemed to be inside, with none of the usual poolside music you often find on other ships. Embarkation and debarkation were quick and problem free. Didnt use the pool areas but it seemed cramped, the moreso because of rental cabanas taking up space. Service was friendly and top notch. Clearly staff know they are on the lines flagship and are proud of it. I was very happy with our experience on the Koningsdam and would recommend it to anyone. Read Less

This ship is the most gorgeous one I have ever been on. Friendly crew with a few exceptions. Good Dinner - typical cruise food. Only a couple of let downs 1. Pinnacle Grill - my steak was almost raw, and the service was poor. 2. Main Dining room food menus are pretty good, not a wow 3. Grand Dutch Cafe - 2 of the 3 people here are very stoic. 4. The Culinary Arts Center is not doing dinner. Now it's ala carte. 5. The Test Kitchen is under utilized. One demonstration in the first 3 days. :( Sits empty. Highs! 1. Loved the drink fountain so you don't have to wait at the bar for soda 2. All other fee dinings were 5 star 3. Loved the animal wildlife bbc documentaries, the dueling pianos, and the shows - they may be a bit boring for the Carnival cruise crowd. 4. Loved the back of the kitchen FREE tour. 5. The Lido deck is so over the top a WOW with lounge sections. 6. Morning Yoga Read Less

Chose this cruise because of itinerary and because of the excellent things that we have heard about Holland American Line. Despite the problems listed below we had a lovely time, but they do not seem to care one bit about the cruisers opinions, problems, Dining staff excellent, but it took 2 hours to have dinner. Very slow. Dining Captain and Maitradee (spelled it wrong) were excellent. Very helpful. Love to gamble, but the Casino was off limits as it was a room full of smoke. I was a smoker and have nothing against smokers, but I became ill when I tried to stay in the casino. Saved a lot of money. The casino management did not seem to care when I mentioned that they should at least have 1/2 smoking nights and one half no smoking. They only had 1 non-smoking night on a 10 day cruise, again very inconsiderate. Guest services, so,so. A slight attitude. Room service excellent. Enjoyed entertainment very much, BB King and the Dueling Pianos were very entertaining. Nothing to do on sea days. Food was very good, but selections were not so much. Loved the delicatessen. Buffet was very nice. Ship was spotless. The small of smoke was all the way down the hall on the 3rd floor. Passengers were lovely. Read Less

This was a three generation girls cruise for us: 70+, 50+, and 8+ yr old. There was something for everyone. Grandma enjoyed tea time, evening entertainment and dining room dinners. Mom enjoyed pool and beach time. Youngster enjoyed meeting other children and having daily playtime. Loved the New York Pizza cafe at all hours. Loved the yogurt bar in the Lido, complete with many varieties of raw nuts and seeds and non-dairy milks. Wow! You can eat Whole30 on a cruise ship! Fellow passengers were lovely as well. Service was unsurpassed. While we were concerned that this was the biggest HAL ship with 2650 passengers, truthfully we never saw them all. With the number of dining venues and entertainment showtimes, we really felt an unexpected intimacy. Even on port days, it didn't feel like we overwhelmed our Caribbean ports with tons of people. Loved this cruise!! Can't wait to return!! Read Less

My husband and I chose this cruise because of our time constraints and the specific itinerary. We have traveled the Caribbean extensively and had wanted to see islands we had never been to. This was our first HAL cruise and I was somewhat concerned that the passengers would be very elderly and handicapped. We were pleasantly surprised that that was not the case. Our cruise hosted a nice array of age groups with the majority being the boomers. The ship, service, food and entertainment were top notch. It was definitely not a party atmosphere but we weren't looking for that. I would not recommend this line for an active family with teenagers. They would be bored. Our stateroom crew headed by Rifqi, was astounding. The room was kept immaculate and was done so in a very timely manner. We were very impressed by the Koningsdam with its state of the art features, especially with the main evening entertainment on the World Stage. Read Less

Cabin 7109 Southern Caribbean 10-day cruise to the ABC islands Stayed at FL Embassy Suites precruise. Always stay there because we like the way stores and many restaurants are within 3 blocks each way of the hotel. Arrived at the port at 11:30 and we were in our stateroom by 12:30. Was able to just walk past the picture takers. To us the vista suite was the same as any balcony cabin. I specifically picked this cabin to try out the larger balcony and I wanted the couch next to the balcony door. There were lots of storage areas including many drawers. The “couch” was just a very small loveseat. We loved having the larger balcony even though there was just the two of us. I should have asked to see if a lounge chair could have been brought in but I found that the chair and stool worked out fine for me. Mostly I appreciated all the room to dry out all of our stuff after snorkeling. The shower (as many people have elaborated) had an amazing shower head. I always take a plastic shoe holder for the door so I don’t have lots of clutter in the bathroom. If you do that, just be sure to take zip ties to attach it to the metal robe hangers on the door as you won’t be able to use the u clips supplied with the shoe holder. The TV with a great variety of free movies was appreciated. We really liked the location of this cabin……pretty much in the middle of the aft and mid elevators/stairs and just two flights of stairs to the lido market. We didn’t hear a peep out of our neighbors the entire time. The first day we were concerned as we saw two small kids’ feet running around the balcony next to us (it might have been some type of family suite) and they were noisy. However, the only time we ever heard them was when we were in the hall leaving our cabin. So the walls much have some decent soundproofing. We never ate in the dining room – ate only in the Lido Market. We gave up on main dining room meals many cruises ago. Never found the seating too crowded except for breakfast on sea days but we do eat an early dinner and lunch. I know that people either like buffet eating or definitely hate it. We like it so take my comments with that in mind: this was the best buffet we have had on any ship (except Azamara). The different stations kept people scattered and the lines short. The salad station is wonderful. We found the food to be very warm to hot (which is unusual). I think that people complain about cold food because they run around getting everything they want to eat at one time – piling their plates full of food. Our strategy is to get our salads, sit down and eat. Then one of us goes to get more food, then the other. It just never took very long. When I heard one night was Caribbean night I almost didn’t bother going as that is never my favorite. I’m glad I went – delicious shrimp and a wide selection of fresh fruit never seen before or after that meal. Formal night had lobster. I had plenty. Hand dipped ice cream was very good – cookies usually really good. The rest of the desserts pretty bad. Within minutes someone was around offering to get water, etc. Glasses filled throughout the meal. Tables cleaned efficiently. I actually liked having most of the food served by the staff. I think it made the lines go faster and definitely felt more sanitary. The Lido Market is one reason I would cruise on this ship again. We liked the various venues for free food. Dive In was a favorite for lunch after a day in port. Dutch Café had delicious desserts. Gelato was very tasty. Never went to the pizza/sandwich shop or Explorations. We never went to the pools, bars, or activities. Having read all the reviews and boards about the K before the cruise I read how people are bored with the lack of activities. We don’t care as we rarely participate or go to typical cruise activities. It was kind of strange to sit at the Dive In area and not hear any music. It was strange to look at the movie screen and just see screen savers….but then again it made for a quiet environment which is probably much more enjoyable for people who spend their day on the pool deck. I only went to two computer classes as I pretty much know all the information. The Techspert on this cruise was an excellent classroom manager. Presentations were well presented and his explanations were easy to understand. Shows: I went to Off the Charts. Typical cruise entertainment staff skill level. All of the moving around on the little round “stages” was distracting and just weird to me. Individually the singers were good – together sometimes not so much. After that I decided not to bother with One World or 1000 Steps. After reading all the fantastic reviews of Planet Earth and the surround screens, I was excited to see it. My husband and I enjoy nature type shows on TV so I had hyped this one up to him. I was so disappointed. I expected some type of fantastic visual on the 3 wrap around screens with action flowing from one screen to another. Instead it was the exact same thing on all three screens. So after a few minutes we just picked one screen to look at it. We sat right in the top middle as I expected this surround experience but then I was facing the front screen. This screen has the orchestra players that can be seen at the bottom of the screen so that was distracting. We ended up just looking at one of the side screens. I don’t see the need for a live orchestra – recorded music with today’s sound systems would have been just as good. The show itself consists of 5 minutes or so short nature sequences. Some were very interesting some were ok. Anyway, I would never go back. The guest entertainers Alley Cats – an acapella doo wop group were fantastic and funny. They could have gotten by on their comedy alone. Luckily we got to see them twice. The magician Fred Moore was also pretty funny and entertaining. I like magic – I don’t try to dissect it – just enjoy it for what it is (something I could never do). The theater itself seems small but the stadium style seating in the upper half is wonderful. Doesn’t matter who sits in front of you – sight lines are great. We did go a half hour early as my husband insists on an aisle seat and the theater did fill up early (we always went to the first show). We don’t listen to classical music but I could see how popular Lincoln Center Stage was and the musicians were spectacular. Stopped by Billboard Onboard thinking we would sit and listen to the music from the two piano players/singers but the singing was so bad we left after half a song. Now, BB Kings is our type of music. We went to hear them 3 times. This particular group of singers/song choices wasn’t as good as our last HAL cruise but it was ok. They don’t start playing until 8:30 or 8:45 and I wish they had an earlier set. The first time I made the mistake of sitting on the first level thinking I would have a good view of the stage. Instead I had a good view of people dancing. Since I didn’t intend to dance, the next time we sat on the second level and that was much nicer. I had read reviews were people say that the song choice selection is so bad that no one danced. On our cruise, no matter what song was playing someone was dancing and often the dance floor was packed (again this was the early show). The fitness center equipment exercise area was one of the best we have ever used. The weight equipment was varied and top notch and positioned in a way that made it pleasant to use. It motivated us to keep up with our exercise program. We did walk the promenade but it was slightly annoying to have it so narrow in many spots and to be staring at lifeboats. But at least it does go all away around. We enjoyed playing the slots in the casino. Our last cruise was on the Norwegian Getaway and I couldn’t stand being in the casino due to the smoke (and my husband is a former smoker so I can deal with smoke). On this cruise it was so much better. I did smell some smoke but it wasn’t overwhelming to me. They didn’t seem to have a smoking side but I didn’t really look for it I just sat at the type of machine I wanted to use. They had some fun machines. The weather was perfect. We cruise to snorkel in each port. Did the ship snorkel excursion at HMC. Always an average to above average snorkel. At Grand Turk – took the ship snorkel excursion – very well run and extremely safety oriented. After researching the snorkel excursion at Amber Cove we decided to not bother with it but instead spent some time at the really nice pool area. The water was warm and the pool was very empty. It was enjoyable. We happen to like the “sterile” same old shops in every port cruise ship created shopping areas. This center was nice size so we spent some time browsing the ships and buying the grandkids t shirts. In Bonaire we went snorkeling with Woodwind. They were fully booked but they have handling 20 people down to an art. They split us into 3 groups each with its own in the water leader and we entered the water at different times so there was no feeling of being crowded. Very windy but the water clarity was perfect and it was a great snorkel trip. In Curacao we decided to get a day pass from Resort for a Day to the Hilton Curacao so we could decide whether to go back there for a land vacation. I had read about decent off the beach snorkeling. That day the weather was gorgeous but very windy. We didn’t find the snorkeling to be that great so after our lunch we took a taxi back to the ship. In Aruba I couldn’t find a snorkel excursion. To us, Aruba has the best prices on the typical souvenir stuff and plenty of places selling the same stuff so we have fun just walking around for an hour or two. We have stayed on the island before but otherwise it would have been fun to find a private island tour. In summary, we are in our late 60s, select cruises for the best snorkeling ports, spend lots of time in our cabin when not in port. I was asked after our cruise if I would recommend the Koningsdam and I said “depends.” For us, I would say this was one of our favorite trips – I would go back on the ship in a minute. For some of my friends who cruise for the cruise ship itself and the “typical” cruise activities, I said “no.” Even though I don’t participate in most cruise ship activities I always look over the daily planner and I noticed that there were very few “enrichment” activities, no crafts, very little trivia, etc. People who like all of those type of choices would be disappointed. Most of it is designed to sell something in the spa or fitness center. It is definitely not a ship geared toward the younger crowd – so my advice is to research and make your decision based on how you see yourself spending your day (especially sea days). Read Less

Embarked on a ten day cruise on Koningsdam in March. Embarkation was efficient and the ship is beautiful however that was the best part. Our verandah stateroom was clean however the toilet certainly is ill positioned for tall folks. The food was good in the Lido lounge however the dining room fare was at best average and never served hot. The drink and beverage packages are over priced and we were charged for Coke several times even after paying the princely sum of over 90.00 for the cruise duration. The wine package is overpriced and the wine selections mediocre. We did get excellent service from our cabin stewards however room service was atrocious. We waited over an hour for a pot of coffee. We are on our seventh cruise and second with HA. We won't be going back. I thought that this cruise would be memorable and it was for the wrong reasons. The shore excursions were overpriced we visited every island for far less than the 118.00 charged by HA.in Arruba. Read Less

We have sailed with HAL 3 times previously and enjoyed our cruise. This was different. 10 Day Southern Caribbean. I would say the average age was 85. Public spaces were very crowded. You had to be very careful in not being run over by scooters. I have never been on a cruise with so many rude people and I am not just referring to the older crowd. Pushing around and line jumpers and chaos at the Lido Market. Second to last day of the cruise I checked my account and noticed at $13.50 x 2 charge on my bill for a Hotel Service Fee. I thought I had paid for everything on my cruise up front. Went to the guest services desk and inquired and was advised this was a standard charge. I inquired as to why this was not included in my initial payment up front and that it was my error. They were very dismissive in attitude. Felt like they picked my pocket one last time. Lido Market as previously stated was chaos. Each food station had it's own line. Stand in line get one of what you want, take it to your table, go back get let's say fruit, go back to your table and our first plate is cold. Should have trays available so you can get all of your food at once. Main dining room was adequate. We did go to three of the up charged venues, Caneletto, Tamerin and Pinnacle. Caneletto was disappointing. Certainly not worth the money paid. Tamerin and Pinnacle were excellent. Ports of call were OK. We were in Aruba on Sunday and for the most part everything was closed. All in all my general impression was that the cruise was OK but left feeling that it was not money well spent. Time to try another line. Read Less