Holland America Line Koningsdam's Multi-Million Dry Dock Refit - What's Changed? Including Photos!

Koningsdam’s underwent a significant refurbishment, but what’s changed onboard?

I’ve just returned home from a cruise onboard Koningsdam, one of the Pinnacle Class cruise ships from Holland America Line. This cruise ship, which was christened back in 2016, underwent a significant refurbishment in 2026 and I was among the first passengers to step onboard after she was re-floated and re-launched.

Throughout this article, I’m going to share with you some of the main updates that have taken place on the ship. Whether you’ve cruised on Koningsdam before and are keen to see the changes, or you’re completely new to this ship, I hope you’ll enjoy this article. If you do, then please support my content by signing up to receive my free email updates (click here), and also by subscribing to my YouTube channel by clicking here.

On the topic of YouTube, if you’d rather watch a video covering the dry dock updates rather than read this post, here’s the link that you need!

I’m going to tell you about 7 key areas today: staterooms, music venues, the casino, the jewellery boutique, the fitness center, dining venues and then finally one of the smaller touches that you might not even notice that has changed during this recent upgrade programme. 

1. Staterooms

Did you know that brand new staterooms have been added to Koningsdam during her 2026 dry dock? The new cabins are on Deck 1 of the ship, and they’re all C-Grade ‘Large Ocean-view Staterooms’. These accommodations are on the Starboard side of the ship, just by the Main Atrium’s Art Gallery.

They accommodate up to four guests, and they feature a sofa bed and also twin beds that can be made up to become a queen-size bed. Interestingly, four of these cabins are connecting cabins, which allows larger groups of friends or families to have more options when looking to cruise together.

Take a look at the below deck plan images - can you see the new staterooms? Two of the conference rooms have been removed, which has allowed for the space to create these cabins to become available.

Five New Ocean-View Staterooms have been added to Koningsdam during her 2026 refit.

The new staterooms can either be presented with Twin beds, a Queen-size bed, or as an option for four guests.

It’s not just these cabins that were impacted by the 2026 dry dock of the ship. 22 Vista Suites were also upgraded and new sofa beds were added, which allows families to have more options for their cruise. Unfortunately, I don’t have any imagery of these newly upgraded Suites to show you.

Personally, I stayed in a Balcony or Verandah stateroom, and was really impressed with it. If you’d like to see my cabin in more detail, here’s a link across to my room tour over on my YouTube channel.

2. Music Venues

If you’ve cruised with Holland America Line before, then you’ll already know that they take the topic of music very seriously. You’ll find venues onboard these ships that you’re not going to find on any other cruise ship, and some of them are among my favourite music venues at sea!

There has been a significant alteration to the part of the ship housing both the Piano Bar and the Rolling Stone Lounge on Deck 2: the central staircase to connect these spaces to the Casino has been removed! Not only has this made the venues feel much larger and better connected to each other, as they’re now not separated by a staircase, it also allows these venues to be uninterrupted thanks to the removal of Casino noise, which could quite easily pass downstairs previously.

The other huge positive of removing this staircase is that there is no risk of smoke from upstairs coming down and affecting these venues. For those who aren’t familiar, at the point of writing this post (May 2026), smoking is permitted within the Casino onboard Koningsdam. Now that the Casino is closed-off, it’s far more difficult for smoke to reach the venues downstairs, making it a much more pleasant space to spend time in.

This space, prior to the Dry Dock, is where you’d find a large staircase that connected the Piano Bar and the Rolling Stone Lounge to the onboard Casino.

Looking across the Piano Bar, you now don’t see the large staircase in the distance.

It’s not just the removal of a staircase that you’ll notice here - they’ve installed lots of bar stools, or higher chairs that allow you to have a slightly elevated position above the rest of the seats in each venue. These seats also allow you to spend time in the central section between both venues, therefore taking in the music from both sides without having to move across to another seat - a great idea! 

It’s worth adding - if you’re cruising with more limited mobility, then these new chairs aren’t all high - some have been installed at a much lower height at a lower table, which could be more comfortable for you.

Personally, I really like the fact that these higher stools allow you to take on a more elevated position in this venue. Personally, I’m not a dancer, and so I’m happier to be sitting further away from the dance floor…! This style of seating is often great for solo passengers, too. If they don’t sit at a bar stool seat like this, they could instead sit at a table for 4 passengers, which personally I don’t enjoy doing when I cruise on my own.

The new seats offer an elevated view across the audience at both the Rolling Stone Lounge and also the Piano Bar.

3. Casino

Let’s now head upstairs to Deck 3, where we’ll cover the changes that have taken place in the onboard Casino.

As you know, the key change that you’ll notice here is the removal of the spiral staircase. This doesn’t mean that the Casino is less well-connected with the other areas of the ship - you’ll find the forward passenger staircases a short walk away towards the front of the ship.

The removal of the staircase within the Casino has allowed for a fairly significant expansion in capacity of this space. You’ll find slot machines running down either side of the room, and a large number of gaming tables in the central section. Previously, the staircase being here would have meant that less tables would fit in this central area.

One other aspect that I’ve noticed since watching more YouTube ship tours of Koningsdam is that new carpets have been installed in here at some point. I’m unable to confirm if this was during the 2026 dry dock or not, but they’re in really good condition so I’d suspect this may be the case!

Looking over from the Bar, you would have previously seen the staircase going downstairs. Now, you see extra Gaming Tables.

The increased capacity of the Casino is clearly visible as soon as you walk in to this venue!

From a smoking point of view, the Casino was smoking-permitted during my cruise in April 2026. All slot machines down one side of the room were smoking-permitted, with the other side of the room being non-smoking. The tables in the centre of the venue did allow smoking, which in turn meant that smoke did move across the whole venue.

There is a very small additional room, just outside by the B.B. King’s Blues Club, which functions as a non-smoking Casino, but it’s much smaller than the main space next door. There aren’t any gaming tables in there - only slot machines.

Here’s the non-smoking Casino. As you can see, it’s much smaller than the main space next door.

4. Effy - Jewellery Boutique

Next, if you’re a fan of Effy (the jewellery company) when you cruise, then you’re probably going to really appreciate this upgrade.

You’ll find the main Effy store on Deck 2 of Koningsdam, directly next door to the B.B. King’s Blues Club. This is where you’ll go if you’d like to browse or purchase any of their jewellery during your cruise.

During the dry dock, this boutique was completely upgraded. There’s new flooring, new wall finishes, new lighting, new display fixtures and also upgraded signage and merchandising. I’m not a jewellery shopper, but I can appreciate that this space is now really bright and it does feel really premium - I’d imagine it’s a welcome modification for any Effy fans out there. 

The Effy Boutique has had a major facelift during Koningsdam’s 2026 dry dock.

The newly refitted and upgraded Effy store onboard Koningsdam.

5. Fitness Center

You’ll find the fitness centre onboard Koningsdam on Deck 9 at the front of the ship. It’s within the Spa complex, but it’s completely included in your cruise fare.

This isn’t a new space, but during the 2026 upgrade programme, new equipment has been installed in here. Hopefully that’ll mean that you’re able to keep up your workout routines from back home while you’re cruising!

One additional observation that I was able to make within the Spa while onboard is that the condition of the ‘included’ saunas is very good - they felt brand new in April 2026. From looking at older YouTube ship tours, these spaces have certainly been upgraded over time, and I suspect this may have been at the point of the refit.

New equipment has been installed in Koningsdam’s onboard gym facility, offering you more choices when you work out during your cruise.

The ‘included’ saunas are in very good condition onboard - these felt brand new during my cruise in April 2026.

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6. Dining Venues

There haven’t been any huge changes to dining during the 2026 dry dock of Koningsdam. I’ve seen it happen with other cruise lines where brand new venues that are completely new to the cruise line can appear on ships following upgrades, but not this time.

The key changes on this ship when it comes to dining are on the subject of adaptability. Several of the speciality dining venues including Pinnacle Grill, Sel de Mer and Club Orange, have been updated to allow for a more adaptable dining experience. Some fixed tables have been converted to movable table arrangements, which in turn allows for greater configuration flexibility. The restaurant teams are also able to accommodate different group sizes much easier as a result of this, too! 

Most people will never notice changes like this during their cruise, but you might notice it if you cruise as an awkward group size and have previously struggled to be accommodated in the Speciality venues as a result.

Cruising in a more unique group size and want to dine at Pinnacle Grill? Hopefully the new seating arrangements will mean that’s not going to be a problem!

Club Orange is now a much more adaptable venue thanks to the 2026 dry dock of Koningsdam.

7. More Discreet Changes

Throughout this article, we’ve covered the changes that you’ll be able to clearly see when you walk around the ship. However, there are also a number of changes that might be more difficult to spot, so let me tell you about one of them now… Carpets!

The carpets throughout most of the public decks have been refreshed, and it’s difficult to miss once you start looking for them. In almost every venue on the ship, the flooring feels new and fresh - it’s amazing how much a new carpet can refresh a space, isn’t it?

Many of the public venues on Koningsdam are now enjoying new carpets.

The new carpets are difficult to miss once you start looking for them!

All of the improvements I’ve shown you in this article are from a ‘passenger experience onboard’ point of view, but one of the most important reasons to dry dock a ship is to complete essential maintenance and upgrades of the ship’s technical equipment, and also to repaint the exterior where necessary. I’ll not go into the technical detail of this dry dock in this video - I’ll have to leave that to an expert! 

I hope you’ve enjoyed having a look around the newly refreshed Koningsdam. If you have, then why not come over and watch the below YouTube video? In this video, I take you on a full tour of the ship, showing you inside every venue onboard!

You’ll also find more of my Holland America Line website content below.