Koningsdam Review
Iceland, Norway and Scotland - including the Tattoo
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose this cruise because it left from Amsterdam (a city we like) and it included Iceland and Scotland during the Tattoo. A lot of similar cruises leave from Southhampton and we do not find that to be as convenient as Amsterdam.
We found embarkation to go fairly smoothly. We arrived at the port about 1:00 and were in our cabin by 2:00 with the luggage already there! This was a port intensive cruise, so that affected a lot of things. We did not use a lot of things on the ship because of this. We usually like the big shows, but they just were not very good. However, the smaller venues (ie: quintet), excursion program, culinary shows - were awesome. Our table for six (early fixed) was in an excellent location and Cipto was a wonderful waiter. While the food was pretty good, the wait times were excessive. It often took more than two hours for dinner. The wait staff definitely seemed stretched thin. This did improve over time after comments were made and they stopped filling our area with diners. I am gluten free and will do a separate Holland America post about the GF dining on the ship and in the ports.
The fitness center is very nice. The 7:00 am stretch class was often too full, so you had to go very early to get in. Our meet and greet was well attended. The salmon cooking class in the culinary center was well attended and very well done. This cruise line will be changing to America's Test Kitchen - so there will be changes in the cooking program coming.
Cabin Review
Verandah Stateroom
We loved this cabin. It is probably the smallest cabin we have ever stayed in on a ship, but it had everything we needed. It was on deck 11 and only serviced by the Forward elevators. This can make getting to and from the cabin a bit more challenging, however, it was fairly quiet and we would stay here again. I believe being more forward or aft may be noisier due to the Crows Nest overhead and the doors to the outside further back. But our location was perfect. We did feel more motion on days when we had bad weather (two sea days), so that is a consideration. Tony was an excellent room steward and took good care of us. We liked being two floors above the gym and a short walk to coffee and cold drinks.