Koningsdam

About the ship, the Koningsdam.

It is the biggest cruise ship we have ever sailed on with about 2,500 passengers. It’s a very modern ship built in 2016. These newer ships have improved stabilisers so there is very little rocking action, sometimes it is hard to tell whether we are moving at all.

The rooms better features are;

·         Excellent bed

·         Great bathroom and shower. The shower even has an inbuilt washing line.

·         Glass balcony rail so that you can lie in bed and watch the scenery go by.

·         Good wardrobe and drawers with plenty of coat hangers (on some cruise that has been a problem in the past)

Our only complaint is the internet. Its over priced like crazy and works only slowly in our room. After going up to check with the internet support person we found that it worked better up at level 12 next to the server.

Apparently as of the 13th of May the entire fleet is getting an internet up grade, so that it will work faster and will cost about half the current rate. Great that’s the day we are getting off the ship.

So far it’s hard to fault the food and service we have encountered for the first five days. I find it hard to have any breakfast other than the freshly cooked omelette station. You get to choose the ingredients and it’s cooked right in front of you.  I have already asked the cook if he can come home to cook my daily breakfast. Claire starts with a healthy cereal breakfast and always seems to finish with waffles topped with berries and cream.

On board the yanks are the biggest population group followed  by the Dutch but surprisingly lots and lots of Aussies. We sat at a table of six just the other day with two other couples. There were three Peters at the table.  Pete, repete and repete.

The world is a tiny, tiny place. On day two, past Holland America guests were invited to a special Mariners Club lunch with free Champagne.  We were standing in the line to have our seats allocated when someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind. It was Bruce from my golf club, we play in the 9 hole veterans comp every Tuesday. There are only 40 people who play in this comp and we meet half way across the world doing the same cruise.  Weird.

It doesn’t feel right to post without a few photos, so here are a couple of our towel creatures.

 A photo of the ship, taken from the top of the Rock of Gibraltar.

There are some wonderful pieces of art throughout the ship. This one caught Claire’s eye.