Time for the day 2 report from Koningsdam and today is the first full day of the cruise, and we’re kicking things off with two back-to-back sea days as we make our way to our first port of call, San Juan, Puerto Rico. We’re scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, April 1 at 8:00 a.m. and will have a long day there, with departure not until 11:00 p.m., which is always nice because it gives you time to actually enjoy the place instead of doing the usual mad dash back to the ship after lunch.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s report, Koningsdam has just come out of dry dock, where the ship got a bit of a refresh. Some of the changes are obvious, like the fresh exterior paint job, while others are more noticeable once you start walking around inside.
The biggest change, and probably the one a lot of regular Holland America cruisers will be happiest to see, is the removal of that staircase between Decks 2 and 3 forward that connected the Rolling Stone Lounge and Billboard Onboard area to the smoking casino above. For a long time, that staircase basically acted like a chimney, pulling smoke down from the casino into the live music venues below. It was one of the more annoying design flaws on the Pinnacle Class ships, and now it’s gone. In its place on Deck 2 is a guitar display along with more high-top seating around Billboard Onboard and Rolling Stone Lounge, while up on Deck 3 the casino has been expanded with additional table games.
Dry dock also brought five new larger ocean view staterooms meant for families and groups traveling together, with four of them connecting, along with new sofa beds added to 22 Vista Suites to make those rooms more flexible for families. Elsewhere around the ship, some carpets were replaced in staterooms and public areas, dining venues including Pinnacle Grill, Sel de Mer, and Club Orange got some table arrangement updates, the fitness center received new equipment, and the Effy jewelry shop got a full refresh.
Then there were some areas that needed attention, but didn’t get any. A quick look at this carpet with is in the hallway outside of the entrance of the Club Orange restaurant shows that it needed to be replaced, but wasn’t.
Some furniture also should have gotten either a re-stuff or a toss in the dumpster, as there are many chairs like this who have seen plenty of butts over the years and are clearly begging for relief.
Casino Tournament Cruise and the Great Ocean Bar Takeover
This sailing is also a casino tournament cruise, and with that is one of the more noticeable changes. Over at the always-popular Ocean Bar, where the usual seating has been removed and replaced with slot machines. This area is being used for the tournament, and when tournament play is not going on, the machines are available for regular guest use. For a lot of people, that’s actually a welcome change because it gives them a non-smoking place to play, which is a pretty big deal considering the main casino remains smoking.
Not everyone is thrilled about it, though.
There has definitely been some grumbling from guests who are unhappy that the seating in Ocean Bar is gone, especially since that space has traditionally been a busy and popular spot for sitting, having a drink, and people-watching. To be fair, the seating has not exactly vanished into thin air. It has been relocated into the atrium and the adjoining hallway, but for some guests, that is not really the point. They want the Ocean Bar to be the Ocean Bar, not Ocean Bar Casino.
Guests must have made their opinions of this known, in the hopes that it wasn’t a permanent change as a notification appeared in the Navigator app and table tents put up around the ship at various locations letting people know it’s temporary. I’ve been on tournament cruises several times in the past and this is the first time these notices have appeared.
Meanwhile, over in the main casino, things have been absolutely packed at pretty much all hours of the day. And so far, unlike the casino on Rotterdam last week where you could get black lung just walking through it, the casino here hasn’t been all that bad. Less smokers? Maybe better air handling? We’ll see if it stays this way or the Marlboro Dragons will suddenly appear a few days in!
That said, Holland America really does deserve credit for finally listening to guests about that staircase I mentioned earlier. Removing it has made a huge difference. A huge difference. Down on Deck 2 in Rolling Stone Lounge and Billboard Onboard, the atmosphere is noticeably better now. Compared to last week on Rotterdam, where smoke from the casino drifted down and really infiltrated that entire entertainment zone, the difference here is night and day.
On Koningsdam now, you can actually sit in Rolling Stone or Billboard and not feel like you accidentally wandered into the casino. That may sound like a small thing, but if you’ve spent time on these ships before the change, it’s not small at all. It is one of the most meaningful improvements made during dry dock, and it has made those venues far more enjoyable. Plus, the additional seating that was added in these two venues makes it much easier to enjoy the live music.
Dressy Night, Cruise Dress Codes, and the Never-Ending Debate
With it being the first sea day of the cruise, it was also the first dressy night. On this sailing there will be two of them, and like always, dressy night means very different things to very different people.
For some, it’s the chance to put on something nice, get the family dressed up, take some photos around the ship, and embrace the whole “tonight is a little more special” feeling onboard. For others, it means absolutely nothing and they just keep doing what they’ve been doing all cruise long. That is pretty much Holland America in a nutshell when it comes to dress codes.
In reality, the dress code on Holland America is usually country club casual all the time, even on dressy nights. Yes, you will absolutely see some people dressed up. And on this cruise, since we’re still at the tail end of spring break, there are a few families onboard, and many of them did dress up a bit tonight for family photos around the ship. But for the most part, the country club casual thing was the norm.
The main dining room and specialty restaurants still have the usual dress code requirements whether it’s a casual night or a dressy night. Distressed jeans, shorts, poolwear, and beachwear are not permitted. On dressy nights, Holland America recommends slacks, skirts, dresses, blouses, collared shirts, and jackets. Recommended being the key word there. Because if you show up not looking particularly dressy, chances are nobody is going to tackle you at the door and drag you back to your stateroom as long as you are in the required regular attire.
And that brings us to one of cruising’s most heated debates: what exactly should count as acceptable attire in a shipboard dining room, and why does this topic make people lose their minds?
There was a post in one of the Holland America Facebook groups for this cruise from one of my fellow passengers who said he had been turned away from the dining room because he was wearing pajama pants. Well… yes. Of course he was. Pajama pants are not acceptable dinner attire in the dining room. Honestly, they’re not really acceptable in the dining room at breakfast either, but that’s another conversation. He also mentioned that the only things he packed for the cruise were pajama pants and gym shorts. At that point, you’ve pretty much limited your dining options to the buffet and room service, because you have made a series of very strange wardrobe decisions. So don’t complain that you got turned away.
And this is really where the dress code debate always goes off the rails. You’ll have one group saying cruise lines have become too casual, that standards are gone, that nobody respects dress codes anymore, and that formal nights used to actually mean something. Then you have the other group who believes they’re on vacation, they paid to be there, and if they want to show up looking like they just rolled out of a college dorm room, that should be their business. Somewhere in the middle is where most people probably land.
Personally, I think cruise ship dress codes are not that hard to understand. Nobody is asking you to pack a tuxedo, a white dinner jacket, and cufflinks unless you’re on one of the ultra traditional lines like Cunard as I was back in October. But at the same time, maybe don’t show up to dinner in pajama pants and act shocked when someone tells you no. There is a massive middle ground between black tie and looking like you’re headed out to grab a late-night gas station burrito.
That’s especially true on Holland America, where the reality is much more relaxed than some people make it out to be. Dressy night here is more suggestion than enforcement for most guests, and “country club casual” really is the best way to describe the overall look. Some will dress up. Some won’t. Some families will go all in for photos. Some people will wear the same polo shirt they wore the night before and think nothing of it. And honestly, that’s pretty much what happened tonight.
And yes, pajama pants are still a terrible choice for dinner in the main dining room.
Dinner in the Main Dining Room for Dressy Night
Speaking of the main dining room and what was on the menu, here’s a look at what was being served tonight in the Lido Market and in the MDR, where I actually had dinner this evening.
🖼️ Menu Images
Earlier in the day, while enjoying a cigar, I met a fellow passenger, and we ended up meeting up for drinks before dinner. One thing led to another, and before I knew it, I was heading into the main dining room. As my loyal followers know, that is not usually where I gravitate when it’s dinner time.
And honestly, that’s not just a Holland America thing.
Post-COVID, the food quality and service in main dining rooms across pretty much all cruise lines has changed dramatically. Portions feel a little small, menus can feel a little uninspired, and the overall pacing and service experience often feels more about moving people through than creating a memorable dinner. That is not to say the MDR is bad across the board, because sometimes it is perfectly fine, but it is a very different experience than it used to be. And let’s be honest, cruise lines know exactly what they’re doing. The more underwhelming the main dining room feels, the more likely guests who are willing to spend extra will start wandering into one of the specialty restaurants instead.
And these days, every cruise line has plenty of those.
On Holland America, you’ve got Pinnacle Grill, which is on all ships and serves as the line’s flagship steakhouse. It’s consistently one of the better specialty dining venues at sea and one I go back to often. Then there’s Tamarind, the Asian restaurant available on select ships, which remains one of Holland America’s best dining options when it’s offered. Canaletto is the line’s Italian restaurant concept, set within a section of the Lido Market across the fleet, and while it doesn’t have a standalone restaurant footprint like some other lines’ Italian venues, it still manages to deliver a much better dinner than its location might suggest. Then on the three Pinnacle Class ships, you’ve also got Rudi’s Sel de Mer, the more upscale seafood-focused venue that gives these ships one more specialty option the older vessels do not have.
That lineup of specialty restaurants is great if you’re a foodie or just someone who appreciates a better meal and better service. But it also makes the contrast with the main dining room a little more obvious. The MDR used to feel like “the place to go” for dinner onboard. Now on a lot of cruise lines, it feels more like the included default, while the cruise line quietly hopes you’ll decide to trade up.
Still, with all that tonight I gave the main dining room a shot.
I started off with the Coppa, Burrata, Cantaloupe with arugula, roasted pistachio, and balsamic reduction, and followed that up with the French onion soup.
Now, I have eaten my fair share of French onion soup in my life, and I thought I had seen it all.
Apparently not.
My dining companion did something I had never witnessed before. He took the cheesy bread off the top of the soup, put it on a side plate, cut it up into pieces, and then dunked it back into the soup one bite at a time. I gave him a very strange look because, hey, I can look and not judge.
Well, actually, I can look and judge.
Seeing the confusion on my face, he simply said, “I’m French.”
I told him, “Well, I’m not, so I’ll continue to struggle sawing through it with my spoon and making a complete mess, but you’ve very clearly shown me a better way to eat onion soup.”
Now, whether this is how the French actually eat onion soup, I don’t know, but it was kind of genius.
Next up, I went with the $20 upcharge Pinnacle Grill boneless ribeye, a 15-ounce steak served with shallot confit, aged balsamic, green peppercorn, a baked potato, and creamed spinach.
And honestly, for a $20 upcharge, it was a solid choice.
The steak was cooked to my liking and had the kind of flavor and tenderness you’d hope for when ordering something carrying the Pinnacle Grill name into the main dining room. Was it going to beat actually eating in Pinnacle Grill? No. But for the MDR, it was a good option and one I’d order again.
On the side, I also got the baked ricotta and asparagus filled paccheri with pomodoro-basil sauce and Grana cheese.
Unfortunately, that was a different story.
The pasta had clearly been sitting under a heat lamp longer than it ever should have been. It was dry, the edges of the pasta had gone crispy, and some of the cheese spilling out of the paccheri was burned from being left there too long. It just was not good. And that’s the frustrating part, because it easily could have been. The dish itself sounded promising, but it had been absolutely abused before it made it to the table.
When it came time for dessert, we both went with the Strawberry Romanoff with Grand Marnier and Chantilly cream, and that was a nice way to end the meal.
Now, how was the service?
Well…
We walked into the dining room at 8:45 p.m., and the dining room closes at 9:00 p.m. Clearly, our server was absolutely not thrilled about this.
At. All.
The second we sat down, there was no bread, no water, no friendly introduction, no easing into anything. Just an immediate, “Do you know what you want to order?” My dining companion said, “We know we’re your last table, can you give us one minute?” And I am not exaggerating when I say he was back in one minute.
Now, to be fair, there were other people who came in after us, and there were still tables around us finishing dinner, so it was not like we were the only people left in the room and keeping the entire operation alive. But this is one of those things that really frustrates me about the main dining room experience on cruise ships.
I understand that servers are stretched thin and pushed to the limit every night. I get that. But that still does not mean the guest experience should feel like an inconvenience from the second you sit down. If anything, that attitude just makes the whole MDR experience worse than it already can be.
And as expected, dinner was rushed.
One course came right after the next with zero time in between. We even told him he could bring both of our starters at the same time to save time, which he did. From start to finish, we were out of there at 9:25 p.m., meaning appetizer, entrée, and dessert were done in a little under 45 minutes.
Now, some people probably love that kind of speed. In, out, done, back to the casino or the show. Fine. But for me, that is not what I want dinner to feel like on a cruise. I do not want a fast-food version of a dining room meal where the goal seems to be getting plates down and cleared as quickly as humanly possible.
And that is one of the many reasons I will gladly pay extra for a far better experience in a specialty restaurant.
We’re currently at sea with another sea day ahead of us, so in tomorrow’s report, I’m going to compare some of Koningsdam’s public spaces to that of the Rotterdam to see what changed from the first iteration of the Pinnacle-class to the most current.
As always, thanks for following along!
Daily Schedule
| Time | Event | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 7:00 AM | Walk a Mile | Grand Dutch Café 3 |
| 7:00 AM | Abs Class | Fitness Center 9 |
| 8:00 AM | Mass is Celebrated | Hudson Room 1 |
| 8:00 AM | Tai Chi for Everyone | Lido Poolside 9 |
| 8:00 AM | Pathway to Yoga $20 | Fitness Center 9 |
| 8:00 AM | Pickleball Open Play | Sport Court 11 |
| 8:30 AM | Koningsdam Marketplace - Open Today (NEW TODAY) | Atrium 2 |
| 9:00 AM | Guess the Weight of the Sculpture | Atrium 2 |
| 9:00 AM | Art Appreciation: The Devotional Style | Hudson Room 1 |
| 9:00 AM | Coffee with Cruise Director | Hudson Room 1 |
| 9:00 AM | Pickleball Instruction: The Basics | Sport Court 11 |
| 9:00 AM | Cameras and Binoculars Sale (PROMOTION) | Atrium 2 |
| 9:00 AM | Introduction to iPhone Photography (PROMOTION) | Photo Gallery 3 |
| 9:15 AM | Acupuncture for Pain Relief (PROMOTION) | Greenhouse Spa 9 |
| 9:30 AM | Stretch & Release | Fitness Center 9 |
| 9:30 AM | Origami Folding: Fish | Art Studio 12 |
| 9:45 AM | Tighten Your Skin with Thermage (PROMOTION) | Greenhouse Spa 9 |
| 10:00 AM | Learn to Line Dance | B.B. King’s Blues Club 2 |
| 10:00 AM | Explore with Shore Excursions | World Stage 2 & 3 |
| 10:00 AM | Pickleball Tournament | Sport Court 11 |
| 10:30 AM | Art Scavenger Hunt (NEW TODAY) | Art Gallery 1 |
| 10:30 AM | Modern Calligraphy | Piano Bar 2 |
| 11:00 AM | Salsa Dancing Class | B.B. King’s Blues Club 2 |
| 11:00 AM | Effy Jewelry Gift with Purchase (PROMOTION) | The Shops 2 |
| 11:00 AM | Port Talk with Travel Guide KK (LOCAL) | World Stage 2 & 3 |
| 11:30 AM | $1000 Jackpot Bingo Tickets on Sale | B.B. King’s Blues Club 2 |
| 11:30 AM | Increase Your Metabolism | Fitness Center 9 |
| 11:30 AM | Military Meet | The Shops 2 |
| 11:30 AM | Creating Doodle Designs: Lighthouse | Art Studio 12 |
| 12:15 PM | 30 Minute Art History | Rolling Stone Lounge 2 |
| 12:30 PM | Caribbean Shopping Show | B.B. King’s Blues Club 2 |
| 12:30 PM | Single & Solo Traveler Lunch | Dining Room 2 |
| 1:00 PM | Origami Folding: Fish | Art Studio 12 |
| 1:00 PM | Beer Tasting $15 | Piano Bar 2 |
| 1:00 PM | Today’s History Trivia | B.B. King’s Blues Club 2 |
| 1:30 PM | Mahjong Players Meet until 4:00 PM | Half Moon Room 1 |
| 1:30 PM | EFFY Shopping Spree (PROMOTION) | Effy Jewelry 2 |
| 1:30 PM | Learn to Line Dance | Lido Poolside 9 |
| 1:45 PM | Look 10 Years Younger (PROMOTION) | Greenhouse Spa 9 |
| 2:00 PM | Guess the Weight of the Sculpture | Atrium 2 |
| 2:00 PM | Tech for Travelers: The Essentials | Digital Workshop 2 |
| 2:00 PM | Around the World Basketball | Sport Court 11 |
| 2:00 PM | Regional Wine Tasting $35 | Dining Room 2 |
| 2:00 PM | Koningsdam Games (FAMILY FUN) | Lido Poolside 9 |
| 2:15 PM | Solo Guitarist Plays | Crow’s Nest 12 |
| 2:30 PM | Watercoloring: Birds | Art Studio 12 |
| 3:00 PM | Shuffleboard Tournament | Sport Court 11 |
| 3:00 PM | Ask Your Travel Guide until 5:00 PM (LOCAL) | Shore Excursions Desk |
| 3:00 PM | $100 Jackpot Bingo Tickets on Sale | Piano Bar 2 |
| 3:00 PM | Health Seminar: Improve Your Posture | Fitness Center 9 |
| 3:00 PM | Ping Pong Tournament | Lido Balcony 10 |
| 3:30 PM | Trivia: General Knowledge | Crow’s Nest 12 |
| 3:30 PM | Watercoloring: Birds | Art Studio 12 |
| 4:00 PM | Team Trivia Challenge | Piano Bar 2 |
| 4:00 PM | Cornhole Challenge | Sport Court 11 |
| 4:30 PM | Exclusive Effy Jewelry Sale (PROMOTION) | Effy Jewelry 2 |
| 4:30 PM | Dessy Night Portrait Studio until 10:00 PM (PROMOTION) | Photo Gallery 3 |
| 4:30 PM | Solo Guitarist Plays | Lido Poolside 9 |
| 5:00 PM | $61,000 Paradise Lotto Jackpot Drawing | Casino 3 |
| 5:00 PM | Watercoloring: Birds | Art Studio 12 |
| 5:00 PM | Meet the Artist: Robert Neary | Art Gallery 1 |
| 5:30 PM | Ballroom Dance Hour | Rolling Stone Lounge 2 |
| 5:30 PM | Game Show: Majority Rules | B.B. King’s Blues Club 2 |
| 6:30 PM | Friends of Bill W. Meet | Hudson Room 1 |
| 6:30 PM | Pre-Owned Designer Watches (PROMOTION) | The Shops 2 |
| 7:15 PM | Captain’s Welcome (NEW TODAY) | World Stage 2 & 3 |
| 7:30 PM | SHOWTIME: Vocalist Mariana Mazu | World Stage 2 & 3 |
| 7:30 PM | Music Trivia: Rock & Roll | B.B. King’s Blues Club 2 |
| 8:00 PM | Today’s Movie by the Pool: The Senior | Lido Poolside 9 & 10 |
| 8:00 PM | Casino Raffle (PROMOTION) | Casino 3 |
| 9:00 PM | SHOWTIME: Vocalist Mariana Mazu | World Stage 2 & 3 |
| 9:30 PM | Game Night: Operation Imitation | Crow’s Nest 12 |
| 11:00 PM | $616,000 Paradise Lotto Jackpot Drawing | Casino 3 |
| 11:45 PM | Stay & Play Slots All Night | Casino 3 |