Page 25 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL WINTER SPRING 2022

GOURMET CRUISING ON HOLLAND AMERICA’S KONINGSDAM

e didn’t have high seriously considered doing the same.
expectations for our Ultimately, the cruise line’s requirement
recent Mexican Riviera that all crew and passengers be
New Year’s voyage on vaccinated and have a negative antigen
WHolland America’s test convinced us to take the risk. That,
Koningsdam. We just needed a post-
holiday cruise fix and this seven-day
adventure conveniently sailed round-trip
out of our hometown port of San Diego.
So we put aside memories of past so-so
trips on Holland and booked.
Happily, this cruise changed our
minds about this venerable line. Our
opinion of Holland rose from ordinary to
outstanding. The ship was beautiful; the
service was top-notch, and the food was
superb. Koningsdam was a seagoing
restaurant row of fine dining we’ll never
forget.
We were fortunate to make the trip.
Over the holidays, the Omicron variant
surged around the world. Cruise ships
reported outbreaks and ports shut their
doors. We almost pulled the plug,
especially after the Koningsdam made and our Covid-free experience on a ten-
day Mediterranean cruise four months
news in December when Mexican
authorities banned passenger earlier. We figured the voyage would be
debarkation at Puerto Vallarta without safer than our weekly run to Trader Joe’s,
where vaccination and testing were not
negative Covid tests. According to
reports, more than a dozen crew onboard required.
had tested positive for the virus, Strict covid protocols on the ship
although most had no or only mild were also key in our decision to board.
symptoms. Blog postings on Cruise Critic from
passengers on the cruise immediately
Those headlines pushed four friends
who had booked with us to cancel. We prior to ours were reassuring. There was

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