HAL-Never Again

[njsonja]

NOORDAM, LEAVING OUT OF NYC, NOV 21 UNTIL DEC 1 (this morning)

Sorry, everyone....this was my 14th cruise, the 1st and last on HAL...the service was so unbelievably bad, it was painful...in the scheme of things, granted, this is not the end of the world...but i expected something more of a cruise company that prides itself on its service.

We ordered breakfast delivered from room service and we are still waiting for it.

The internet manager, after I told him that there was a glitch with the pc system onboard, asked me what I wanted him to do about it.

After those two, we received champagne (we don't drink) and chocolates (my husband is a diabetic) from the management.

I ordered a second glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and was told it was not available.

The people we traveled with were unable to get chocolate ice cream for dessert...funny how the other cruise lines never had a problem getting it.

My room attendant went through my drawers.

The location of the television was on the side of the bed so I had to look over my husband when we were lying down (and this was in a mini suite) The other alternative was that his feet were by my head so we could both enjoy the same movie at the same time.

The clocks were moved ahead one hour before we reached the first island. After we reached the first island, we found out their clocks were now an hour behind us and several people were left on the pier waiting for an hour for their tour.

The shows were horrible except for Justin Miller who was glorious.

The lunch at the Lido Deck every day was basically rotisserie chicken of some sort...just named differently. There were other choices but not main course choices that really did it for me. The food wasn't fantastic....the sugar frees were outstanding, just as an fyi.

Food was virtually impossible to get as a snack between 9:30 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. which is when i would have liked a fruit or cheese. Room service, when they did deliver, took about an hour and the portions were horrifically small. The Surf and Turf was a horror...the tiniest portion of filet...and lobster...I asked my waiter to get me 3 lobster tails...he said he would see if he could...I told him he had a choice...he could get it for me or we would have a scene...guess what?...he found three for me...

People were seated with people who didn't speak the same language...how fun!

WARNING: if you order tea at any time and they bring it to you in a teapot, the handle is as hot as the rest of the pot...please use your napkin or risk scalding your neighbor when you drop the pot.

Pinnacle Grill was fabulous...but then again, I paid for it, right?

I understand that since HAL has been taken over by Carnival, the waitstaff is having major issues with the management and their pay went from little to less than little. For this I am truly sorry.

I opted to take my tips off but was told I could not do so until the end of the cruise. There was no reason for that....I also feel if you tip people for work they haven't yet done, there is no reason to work for it and boy did it show in the service. I spoke to a multitude of people on board who were very disappointed with the cruise.

Oh and as a point of information, there were 140 kids on board and they ran out of chocolate milk for them 3/4 of the way through....

The elevators were fabulous...empty and lightning fast and always available...

Room steward woke up people at 7:30 a.m. the morning before the day we left to deliver the liquor and cigarettes people had purchased on board.

These are strictly the opinions of my husband and me.

Sonja and Jeff

[Gsel]

So? What ship? When?

[esther e]

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise. We started sailing with them back in the '70's and never had a problem then or now.

[FlorenceItaly]

I am so sorry for your poor experience. What ship, and what dates?



Marie

[kakalina]

I almost fell for your story until I saw the part about cigarette delivery. They don't do this on HAL. When you purchase cigs on HAL you take them right to your cabin and enjoy them on your cruise.

Sorry you didn't enjoy it but if you make up one part of it what else did you make up??

[njsonja]

We had our cigarettes delivered from St. Martin along with the liquor. Please do not tell me I made up any part of this story.

Sonja

[LoveMyBoxer]

Boy service must have REALLY deteriorated in the course of one day! http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=664881

[FlorenceItaly]

Sonja,

I am absolutely shocked that this was the Noordam. I have not personally sailed on the Noordam, but have only read glowing reports(I spend too much time on CC). I am sorry that your expectations were not met on this cruise.



Marie

[Copper10-8]

Sounds like a truly miserable experience for you and hubby. Who were your other 13 cruises on?

[DesertDiva]

I did a little "snooping" and Justin Miller has recently been on the Noordam.

So? What ship? When?

[NoNoNanette]

Hi Sonja-

I just did a quickie run-through of your previous posts. It appears as though you had a WONDERFUL attitude prior to this cruise.

It sounded horrid, honey. I don't blame you for your negative post. I'd have been posting the same way. ;)

I wish you the best of luck in the future.:)

[mamaofami]

Since the Noordam is my favorite ship, I'm really sorry this was your experience. Personally, I can't wait till my February cruise on the Noordam.

[NoNoNanette]

I did a little "snooping" and Justin Miller has recently been on the Noordam.

Who is Justin Miller? :confused:

[MrPete]

I understand that since HAL has been taken over by Carnival, the waitstaff is having major issues with the management and their pay went from little to less than little. For this I am truly sorry.



Who supplied you with this piece of information? :confused:

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I really have no comment because I found the Noordam to have one of the BEST Ever Crews and fantastic service but this comment is definitely not accurate
I understand that since HAL has been taken over by Carnival, the waitstaff is having major issues with the management and their pay went from little to less than little. For this I am truly sorry.



A little checking into history might be needed before posting comments as such. Carnival purchase HAL almost 19 years ago. So brining in this make no difference about management with waitstaff.

January 17, 1989
Carnival purchases Holland America Line-Westours Inc.


This information can be verified thru this accurate link.
http://www.hollandamerica.com/about/history.do?date=1980

[DesertDiva]

Here you go! :)
http://www.justinmillerguitar.com/

Who is Justin Miller? :confused:

[NoNoNanette]

Here you go! :)
http://www.justinmillerguitar.com/

Thank you, baby! :)

[WeLoveCruising]

NJSonja
I'm really sorry the Noordam didnt meet your expectations. I read some of your other posts (to see what ship you were on), and I could see how excited you were before you left.

I love the Noordam and had a great cruise, but also realize everyone has their own experience.

[RevNeal]

It sounds like a very sad experience, and I'm sorry that your time aboard Noordam wasn't all that it should have been. That I have never seen (for example) Lido selections as limited as you describe doesn't mean that such wasn't all that you saw. Clearly, that's all you saw or found; I'm sorry you didn't see the wonderful Asian and Pasta Stations, the Sandwich stations, the Burger and Pizza stations (out on the Grill) or anything other than chicken at the Entree station.

Sometimes "it" happens ... milage varies, experiences are different, and people are different.

I hope your future cruises, on whatever Line you chose, are more to your liking than your cruise on HAL.

[WeLoveCruising]

It sounds like a very sad experience, and I'm sorry that your time aboard Noordam wasn't all that it should have been. That I have never seen (for example) Lido selections as limited as you describe doesn't mean that such wasn't all that you saw. Clearly, that's all you saw or found; I'm sorry you didn't see the wonderful Asian and Pasta Stations, the Sandwich stations, the Burger and Pizza stations (out on the Grill) or anything other than chicken at the Entree station.

Sometimes "it" happens ... milage varies, experiences are different, and people are different.

I hope your future cruises, on whatever Line you chose, are more to your liking than your cruise on HAL.

I thought the same thing From my recent Noordam cruise I know they had a different "theme" rotisserie chicken every day at the carving station...Asian, Southwestern, German, etc, but they were all essentially the same chicken with different seasonings. There was plenty more available ..but maybe the chicken was all the OP liked? I'm not sure.

I know how it feels to have a review criticized, so I'm not going to judge the OP. If the cruise didnt meet her expectations, then it didnt.

[Copper10-8]

I.......... etc, but they were all essentially the same chicken with different seasonings. ..

They only had one chicken onboard Noordam and kept turning that poor boy around and around every day with a different coat on?:eek:

[agabbymama]

I think this is a case of different strokes for different folks. That's why there are so many cruiselines to choose from. If you aren't happy with one, then there are always others.

I wasn't happy with NCL's freestyle.

Sorry your cruise with HAL wasn't what you expected or were hoping for. HAL has been the only cruiseline I have cruised with more than once. I have found them to be a notch above the other lines. Even Celebrity didn't reach the heights of HAL in my eyes.

Unfortunately I couldn't find a Med cruise on HAL going where I wanted to go, for the money I wanted to pay. SO I chose Grand Princess. I hope I won't be disappointed with the monolith size of the Grand.

If you've been on 14 other cruises, did you find a line you did like? Or are you still searching?

Good luck on your future cruises.

[WeLoveCruising]

They only had one chicken onboard Noordam and kept turning that poor boy around and around every day with a different coat on?:eek:

Yes, it was horrible!

Ok, you made me ROFL, thanks!

[Seago2]

Oh my God! It sounds like MY HOUSE! We have seriously had chicken three times this week- each time with a different flavoring- and I am about to throw up. Seriously! No. More. Chicken.

Sorry you had a bad cruise. I loved the Noordam- tap natch, as they say around here (Fargo-esque flat Buffalo accents). But there was a couple on the ship who hated it- HATED IT. They were biding their time, miserably, until they could get home and write a letter to Seattle. They were in our CC group, too. Their kids were miserable and the whole family was scared to death of the weather we had coming back up north.

What can I say? Scoop to nuts, flawless.

Just FYI: if we were at a table with someone demanding a third lobster tail we'd be faking Mandarin, too .

[BILLP1]

After our Celebrity cruise , this ship sounds pretty good...

[cnvh]

[quote=njsonja;12535966]

We ordered breakfast delivered from room service and we are still waiting for it.

On our recent (10/31) cruise on the Noordam, we ordered room service on the last day by hanging the tag on our door the night before... when it was over an hour past the time frame we had requested, I called to inquire about it-- and as it turned out, we hadn't checked a time box on the card (we had planned to check between 6-6:30), and the room service department hadn't wanted to call us in the wee hours to verify what time we wanted. So that was our fault, not theirs... perhaps you neglected to check a time box?


After those two, we received champagne (we don't drink) and chocolates (my husband is a diabetic) from the management.

For most people, champagne and chocolates would be a nice peace offering... Sorry HAL wasn't aware of your preferences.


The lunch at the Lido Deck every day was basically rotisserie chicken of some sort...just named differently. There were other choices but not main course choices that really did it for me.

Personally, I found the selections on the Lido for lunch to be quite varied-- certainly more than just rotisserie chicken!!

I asked my waiter to get me 3 lobster tails...he said he would see if he could...I told him he had a choice...he could get it for me or we would have a scene...guess what?...he found three for me...

I was feeling sympathetic for you, up until this point... who on earth tells a server, "get me this or else I'm going to make a scene"?!?!?!?! :eek:


Oh and as a point of information, there were 140 kids on board and they ran out of chocolate milk for them 3/4 of the way through....

I'm reasonably certain that absence of chocolate milk is not going to cause a riot in the under-18 crowd, but I could be wrong....

Room steward woke up people at 7:30 a.m. the morning before the day we left to deliver the liquor and cigarettes people had purchased on board.

Well, since the alternative would have been leaving your liquor and cigarettes out in the hall (for anyone to take), isn't it a good thing that they woke you up to give them to you?!?! How does your room steward know if you're sleeping in, or had planned on vacating your room at 8:00 and waiting in the Lido until disembarkation???

[Ferry Watcher]

cnvh,
Great points - well done! It gave me a good laugh on this snowy Seattle evening.

Mary
Ferry Watcher

[grandgeezer]

Don't judge a cruiseline by just one ship. We got off the Oosterdam today, our 9th cruise, 5th with HAL. It was probably the best cruise we ever had. The food, cabin, entertainment, and service was world class. We had 0 negative feelings about any aspect of the cruise. Take that back, we lost in the casino. In fact 8 out of 9 were wonderful, with the only one being less than wonderful was the Norwegian Sun last month. I'm still willing to give NCL another shot, but not on the Sun. It had too many shortcomings to overcome and I think most of them was management driven.

[cands]

Oh my God! Just FYI: if we were at a table with someone demanding a third lobster tail we'd be faking Mandarin, too .

Very funny!:D

[Jade13]

when they did deliver, took about an hour and the portions were horrifically small. The Surf and Turf was a horror...the tiniest portion of filet...and lobster...I asked my waiter to get me 3 lobster tails...he said he would see if he could...I told him he had a choice...he could get it for me or we would have a scene...guess what?...he found three for me...
Sonja and Jeff

Sonja, you really said that to your waiter? Perhaps he had to make sure there was enough left (for the next seating - not sure what time you ate). There is so much food that we are pretty full after the first two courses that we would not think to ask for 4 main dishes (3 extra).

I agree that Justin Miller is fabulous. We saw him on the Westerdam. He even gave an extra afternoon performance one afternoon. I believe he said he had a special place for HAL since he met his wife on a HAL ship.

[Jade13]

Unfortunately I couldn't find a Med cruise on HAL going where I wanted to go, for the money I wanted to pay. SO I chose Grand Princess. I hope I won't be disappointed with the monolith size of the Grand.

If you've been on 14 other cruises, did you find a line you did like? Or are you still searching?

Good luck on your future cruises.

I am just curious which ports Grand Princess offers in the Med that HAL does not, since we were in the Med this year and doing a diff itinerarty next year?

[jtl513]

All I can say is that the 10 days we spent on the Noordam were wonderful - but we are not the type of who let trivial things bother us - and I do not think that anything on the OP's list was a major problem.

[barbon2]

I know you probably won't, but give HAL another try. We had a less then stellar experience on the Oosterdam last, Dec., and went on the Noordam this past December and had a wonderful experience, we even went ahead and have a booking on the Eurodam. I guess with any ship you can hit a "bad" week or just have a chain reaction of events that lead to a bad experience. We have cruised with HAL 5 times and that was our only unhappy experience. As I have posted in another thread, we too have cruised on other lines with our children (in past years when they were younger), during school holiday breaks and it really is a totally different experience when a large number of children are on board. It's a shame when anyone does not enjoy their vacation.
Barbara

[Toad]

Personally I am not a big fan of the Noordam. It is just TOO BIG! TOO MANY People and most importantly no ability to see down the whole promenade deck because of the elevator bump out. HOWEVER, I think that the service and every other aspect we have come to expect from HAL has been similar to other ships in the fleet. Additionally if someone offered me a cruise on the Noordam, I wouldn't turn them down.

[bepsf]

I have to wonder what cruiselines the OP has been on before, and what her opinions of them were?

Cruiseship staterooms are full of compromises: There aren't many cruiselines where the TV isn't off to one side or another. If the TV had been right across from the bed in her SS, I'm sure we would have heard about how it wasn't visible from the sofa...

How does the OP know that her cabin steward went through her drawers? Was something missing (highly doubtful) or was something left loose on the dresser/bed/floor put away for her?

I wonder why the OP didn't bother to walk to other areas of the Lido for lunch to find where the stir-fry, sandwich, pasta, hamburger, taco-bar, soup & salad stations were? And if she didn't find the Lido to their liking, did they bother to try the Main Dining Room?

Regarding the availability of food between 9.30 and 11.15: I typically don't come out from my stateroom until 10am, and there's always one line open for breakfast food until 10.30. Moreover, cut fruit and cold cereals are available until about 11am - after that, the crew does need time to change that space over to a salad bar for lunch service. She could have also wandered back to her stateroom to snack on an apple or banana.

There was no need for the OP to threaten her waiter for another lobster tail - I'd be willing to bet that he would have gladly brought her 4 if she hadn't threatened him or removed her Auto-Tip. (Yes, word gets back to the crew when one does that...) However, I do find it interesting that the OP chose to complain about how little the staff makes after removing the Auto-Tip: Hypocritical...?

I don't know how anyone can complain about the handle on the teapot being hot - Of course it is!!! If it wasn't hot, the tea inside wouldn't be hot enough!

We do agree on one thing however: The mainstage entertainment on HAL is generally crap. (Bill Prince should have stayed at Caesar's...)

I hope that her next cruise on some other line is more to her liking...
...and that nobody gets between her, the TV and her food.
:rolleyes:

[welove2cruise232]

Wow! Totally the opposite of our recent experience on the Noordam! I don't know what else to say; sorry you had such a bad time, but we didn't -- in fact, we're looking forward to our NEXT cruise on the Noordam in March.

[jimgev]

Oh my God! It sounds like MY HOUSE! We have seriously had chicken three times this week- each time with a different flavoring- and I am about to throw up. Seriously! No. More. Chicken.

Well, I'm up to my ears in turkey leftovers about now. I think I have have had turkey every day for the last 10 days and ther is still more to be had!

[LoveMyBoxer]

Personally I am not a big fan of the Noordam. It is just TOO BIG! TOO MANY People and most importantly no ability to see down the whole promenade deck because of the elevator bump out. HOWEVER, I think that the service and every other aspect we have come to expect from HAL has been similar to other ships in the fleet. Additionally if someone offered me a cruise on the Noordam, I wouldn't turn them down.

I'm sorry, too many people?? We just sailed the Crown Princess this past July, and the ship was basically the same size as the Noordam, BUT with over 1000 more people. We could always find a peaceful place or a chair by either of the pools on the Noordam. Try that on the Crown. Back to the rotiserie chicken in the Lido, did you try to find the paninni, asian grill, or pizza there? As for room service, when we wrote down a time, they were on time. Some of the best moments we had on the Noordam was having breakfast on our balcony EVERY morning. Having recently sailed on Princess and NCL, after having sailed since 1992 on over 12+ cruises on different lines, I can say without a doubt, that the service. food and staff on the Noordam, have been the BEST!

[Toad]

I'm sorry, too many people?? We just sailed the Crown Princess this past July, and the ship was basically the same size as the Noordam, BUT with over 1000 more people. We could always find a peaceful place or a chair by either of the pools on the Noordam. Try that on the Crown. Back to the rotiserie chicken in the Lido, did you try to find the paninni, asian grill, or pizza there? As for room service, when we wrote down a time, they were on time. Some of the best moments we had on the Noordam was having breakfast on our balcony EVERY morning. Having recently sailed on Princess and NCL, after having sailed since 1992 on over 12+ cruises on different lines, I can say without a doubt, that the service. food and staff on the Noordam, have been the BEST!

Ergo, the reason we do not sail on the Crown Princess........

[willowoodf]

A little note about room service. On our last cruise on the Oosterdam, there weren't that many children aboard, but the ones that were liked to play the game of "let's take all the room service cards off of the doors and throw them on the floor in a big pile."

Mary

[barbon2]

Ok,
I have to put my 2 cents in here again :eek: ....If the OP was not happy with their cruise and wanted to post their experience, why not? We may not all agree but there is no reason to attack the OP. I know I have been on both the giving and receiving end of negative posts, and I am trying to be more diplomatic with my replies. I remember several years ago, as a newbe to HAL posting about a negative excursion on the Maasdam (our 2nd HAL cruise) and being told "don't post here anymore and go back to the Celebrity boards." The ironic thing was I never commented on the actual cruise, just the excursion.
So I guess if the OP did not like HAL and does not want to sail the line again, so may it be, but the OP should be able to express their opinion and post without having "us" attack them.
Barbara

[CruisinKiki]

It amazes me what people can find to complain about. How is HAL to know that chocolate and champagne aren't a nice benefit? 99.9 percent of people would think it was a nice gesture. Sorry you had a bad time, but it seems like attitude might have something to do with it. On a recent cruise, our table mates didn't get their luggage until after the first formal night. They had to come to dinner in jeans and T-shirts. Did it affect the fun they had? Not that I could tell. They had a great time because they decided to make the best of it. Wouldn't it be better to enjoy your vacation and not let the little things get to you? What would you do if something big actually went wrong? Personally, I wouldn't even notice where the TV in my room is -- and I'm a TV watcher at home. But when I'm on a cruise, I'm there for much more than watching TV in my room. In the end, if you didn't like HAL, then you are right to return to the cruise lines that you do enjoy. More room on HAL for the rest of us!

[RevNeal]

Regarding the availability of food between 9.30 and 11.15: I typically don't come out from my stateroom until 10am, and there's always one line open for breakfast food until 10.30. Moreover, cut fruit and cold cereals are available until about 11am - after that, the crew does need time to change that space over to a salad bar for lunch service. She could have also wandered back to her stateroom to snack on an apple or banana.

Brian, the OP's complaint was that it was impossible to get food between 9:30 pm and 11:15 pm, not in the morning. This, of course, indicates that the OP had early dinner. And, it should be noted that the "Late Night Snack" usually begins at 11pm.

[Travelbug 2]

Only chicken in the lido?? I wonder if there was a "foul" smell:rolleyes:

Any HAL Lido I have been in has had a wonderful selection of food to satisfy all tastes. :)

Strange post from the OP --------- the most negative I have seen on these boards! Makes you think eh? :confused:

[RevNeal]

A little note about room service. On our last cruise on the Oosterdam, there weren't that many children aboard, but the ones that were liked to play the game of "let's take all the room service cards off of the doors and throw them on the floor in a big pile."

I once observed a kid doing that. He wasn't making a big pile of them on the deck, however, he was tossing them overboard. Security detained him, but the problem was the boy's father, who was angry at the ship's chief of security and the Captain for "arresting my little boy." Figures.

[DesertDiva]

Gee, that gives "tastes like chicken" a whole new meaning! :D

They only had one chicken onboard Noordam and kept turning that poor boy around and around every day with a different coat on?:eek:

[Philip217]

njsonja said:

"I understand that since HAL has been taken over by Carnival, the waitstaff is having major issues with the management and their pay went from little to less than little. For this I am truly sorry."

I also feel bad about your disappointing cruise.
But since HAL was taken over by Carnival nearly 19 years ago, are you saying that they have been having major issues between waiters and management for 19 years?

If it helps you to understand a bit better, pay for HAL Waitstaff has increased at the same rate as all the other cruise lines. In fact, HAL just gave them a major pay increase (and benefits increase) last year.

Your understanding is incorrect.

[Floridaseas]

How is it that you chose Holland America? As a second generation cruiser with HAL, thanks to be introduced to them by my Mom, I have had a few issues with them, but never have I encountered anyone that had a list of complaints so long when it comes to HAL. I do not however, discount your feelings or opinions, I just know that we all seem to have different levels of expectations and our criteria are not quite comparable. One of the interesting aspects of these posts is viewing the different variables in what passengers report as their personal experience. Hope you can research your next cruise with all the wealth of information listed here.

[Vic The Parrot]

People are always trying to look for an excuse not to tip. We had ciggeraette smokers next to us and they smelled up the whole hallway and it was awful.They are going to ban ciggeretss inside the ship soon.



Don' t mean to be rude, but ...

What the heck does smoking have to do with tipping ??? :rolleyes:

[Seago2]

I like to read bad reviews and I have posted one of my own (well, half bad). That's the great part about CC and what gives me an "edge" in planning where I'm going to drop my next 2 or 3 grand.

But COME ON.

I agree that if I had been sitting next to the OP I would have been sneaking up to the Lido for dinner (done it!). DH and I would have our antennae up: if you see her coming, SCRAMBLE!

We were at a table for six once and a couple kept getting three and four apps, always three entrees (they were on a supposedly low sodium diet, early 40's, although they had no problem eating pizza and practically guzzling salt in the Lido) which they complained about because they were "tasteless," soups- after intense quizzing of the waiter about sodium content, and four desserts, eaten across the table. Not pretty. I mean, can't you wait until you get home to do that? Is that what "I paid for this cruise" is all about?

The champagne and chocolate thing is HILARIOUS. HAL should have known and gone to Plan B: small stones from the spa and an assortment of fine ice chips???

Who cares- is this just me???- if they wake you up at 7:30 to deliver your liquor and cigarettes? What- was the baby up all night? Big presentation in front of the boss that day?

I hate to admit it, but one of the first things I do, even before booking, is suss out when and where food is available, 24 hours a day. I just like to. Do not tell me that you are wandering around, hungry, rattling the doors, face like this: :( , at any time on a cruise ship. What else do you have to do during the first sea day but figure out when food is available?

If the OP was so positive and excited before she left then I have to surmise that her DH complained the entire time and that's why she has this attitude. These are the most minor complaints. The lobster tail incident must have been FUN for her tablemates.

OP: "I demand that you get me more than one lobster tail or I am going to make a scene here! Do you understand me? Do we have an understanding????"

Rest of the table: "Is there any way we can all crawl under the table while waiting another half hour for dessert?"

OP: Marches out of dining room after getting three lobster tails.

Rest of table, whispering to waiter: "I'm so sorry about them! The food has been great and the service has been excellent! I'm really sorry!"

[InTheWASide]

I like to read bad reviews and I have posted one of my own (well, half bad). That's the great part about CC and what gives me an "edge" in planning where I'm going to drop my next 2 or 3 grand.

But COME ON.

I agree that if I had been sitting next to the OP I would have been sneaking up to the Lido for dinner (done it!). DH and I would have our antennae up: if you see her coming, SCRAMBLE!

We were at a table for six once and a couple kept getting three and four apps, always three entrees (they were on a supposedly low sodium diet, early 40's, although they had no problem eating pizza and practically guzzling salt in the Lido) which they complained about because they were "tasteless," soups- after intense quizzing of the waiter about sodium content, and four desserts, eaten across the table. Not pretty. I mean, can't you wait until you get home to do that? Is that what "I paid for this cruise" is all about?

The champagne and chocolate thing is HILARIOUS. HAL should have known and gone to Plan B: small stones from the spa and an assortment of fine ice chips???

Who cares- is this just me???- if they wake you up at 7:30 to deliver your liquor and cigarettes? What- was the baby up all night? Big presentation in front of the boss that day?

I hate to admit it, but one of the first things I do, even before booking, is suss out when and where food is available, 24 hours a day. I just like to. Do not tell me that you are wandering around, hungry, rattling the doors, face like this: :( , at any time on a cruise ship. What else do you have to do during the first sea day but figure out when food is available?

If the OP was so positive and excited before she left then I have to surmise that her DH complained the entire time and that's why she has this attitude. These are the most minor complaints. The lobster tail incident must have been FUN for her tablemates.

OP: "I demand that you get me more than one lobster tail or I am going to make a scene here! Do you understand me? Do we have an understanding????"

Rest of the table: "Is there any way we can all crawl under the table while waiting another half hour for dessert?"

OP: Marches out of dining room after getting three lobster tails.

Rest of table, whispering to waiter: "I'm so sorry about them! The food has been great and the service has been excellent! I'm really sorry!"



This totally made my night!!

[Seago2]

This totally made my night!!

Brad! Go to bed! I've been awake for an hour already! Did you have a fun night? Please tell me you were out partying :) .

I've got another hour until my liquor and cigarettes get delivered to my door- in 6 inches of snow.

[InTheWASide]

Brad! Go to bed! I've been awake for an hour already! Did you have a fun night? Please tell me you were out partying :) .

I've got another hour until my liquor and cigarettes get delivered to my door- in 6 inches of snow.

LOL 6 inches of snow here too, and the tv was out.

Spiked cider and video games tonight actually.

Good night though :)

[Pete Jackson]

<snip, snip>

WARNING: if you order tea at any time and they bring it to you in a teapot, the handle is as hot as the rest of the pot...please use your napkin or risk scalding your neighbor when you drop the pot.

<snip,snip>

Sonja and Jeff

Such a minor detail that I never thought to post about it, but, yes, the metal teapot handles are hot on every HAL ship we have been on. I feel sorry for the poor server when he/she picks it up with the bare hands to pour it (and, no, I don't ask them to do this, it's just part of the service for them to do that when they bring the tea; when I pour it myself, I just use the napkin). Please, HAL, it doesn't have to be that way; it is easy to get metal teapots that have a little insulating piece where the handle is bolted on, so the heat doesn't come out to the handle!

[esther e]

We've only been on one ship that we counted the days till we could disembark and that was this past Sept. on RCCL. For various reasons, we found that cruise was the only one that fit our needs, time frame, etc. I have to say the ship was lovely, beautiful. However, 3500 pax is not my idea of a cruise!!!! We knew it before we made reservations but had heard how well-oiled the line was and well run, etc. Wrong. That was 3000 too many pax! Would we ever go back on RCCL? No. And now that HAL has the option of anytime dining, we're in heaven! Different strokes.....

[MrPete]

I
How does the OP know that her cabin steward went through her drawers? Was something missing (highly doubtful) or was something left loose on the dresser/bed/floor put away for her?



Oh it was THOSE drawers. I thought they were looking for missing hidden escargot holder. :eek:

[Vic The Parrot]

Spiked cider and video games tonight actually.




Hope the cider was Strongbow .... :D ;)

[MrPete]

I like to read bad reviews and I have posted one of my own (well, half bad). That's the great part about CC and what gives me an "edge" in planning where I'm going to drop my next 2 or 3 grand.

But COME ON.


Carla....

You trying to up your post count? ;)

I too like to read the good and the bad, and learn something with each post, but when the opinions start flying without supporting facts, almost all one sided, I makes a long read a complete waste of time.

...pinkies up, scrunch your face, sip your tea...

[thomasale]

I don't often read every post of a thread...the only exception is the negative ones...its' like a train wreck...too bad for the OP but this thread has made my day! I love em!

[Lurker1]

On any given day, there must be over 17,000 pax on a HAL ship (13 ships, more than 1,000 pax on most of them, some around 1,800). Not all pax are going to be happy.

I also don't like the OP's tone, but it's a free country.

Personally it would take a lot to get DW and I to a point where we would dislike the entire cruise. On our last cruise on the Maasdam we found the room service for breakfast a bit uneven, but we thought the cruise was wonderful.

[happy cruzer]

Ok, your thread title is No more HAL and I think you main point was that the service was bad. However, based on some of your details I can't tell the service was bad at all. I mean nothing is ever perfect. Your first point which is normally the biggest problem was about a breakfast that did not arrive. Bad service is when that happens a couple of times. Or the wrong food arrives a couple of times or repetitive problems. And you try telling someone about it and it still happens.

A one time occurance is really not that unusual. As others pointed out there are some simple explanations.

Did you ever address any of your problems with anyone who could do something about them?

My take is that you had alot of little things annoy you. And apparently you had built up high expectations of perfect service which made things worse.

It's how one handles the problems that tells the most about us.

Any idea what you will try next? I sure hope you find a good match.

[Sealog]

RE: "The Surf and Turf was a horror...the tiniest portion of filet...and lobster...I asked my waiter to get me 3 lobster tails...he said he would see if he could...I told him he had a choice...he could get it for me or we would have a scene...guess what?...he found three for me..."

I think anyone who would threaten a server probably deserves to be scorned by other members of the ship's crew and staff. My wife and I have made 14 HAL cruises, all different, some better than others. I am quite pleased that this couple will not be sharing our table on future cruises,

[MrPete]

I also can only imagine what was in the butter afterwards.

[Northshorecruisers]

The diningroom incident is just amazing. Why would you ever be that rude to a crew member? I don't care who you are or who you think you are - uncalled for. IMHO HAL is a very classy cruise line and the people I've met on board have been very classy people. The OP is correct in saying that HAL is not a good fit for her. Glad I don't have to worry about meeting up with her on any of my cruises.

[prescottbob]

Ahoy!

After reading the review again I see the OP did not ake advantage of the $100/pp future cruise deposit program.

Bon Voyage and Good Health!
Bob:)

[Seago2]

Ahoy!

After reading the review again I see the OP did not ake advantage of the $100/pp future cruise deposit program.

Bon Voyage and Good Health!
Bob:)

Good point! So there is a happy ending after all!

[Seago2]

BTW, OP:

MSC Lirica serves hardened miniature prawns on lobster night. Clocks show three different times depending on what time it is.

Especially watch out for the 2/28 sailing, aka "The Chocolate and Champagne Voyage."

Please.

[willowoodf]

I once observed a kid doing that. He wasn't making a big pile of them on the deck, however, he was tossing them overboard. Security detained him, but the problem was the boy's father, who was angry at the ship's chief of security and the Captain for "arresting my little boy." Figures.

On our last cruise we had a conversation with the Captain about unruly passengers (not particularly children, just any passenger) and Captain Mercer lamented that it was impossible to keel haul anyone because the paint that they use makes it impossible for anything to stick to the hull!

Mary

[Seago2]

I ALWAYS phone my breakfast order in the night before- never use the cards unless I am getting room service the night before and can give it to the guy personally.

[cruisebunnies]

NOORDAM, LEAVING OUT OF NYC, NOV 21 UNTIL DEC 1 (this morning)

Sorry, everyone....this was my 14th cruise, the 1st and last on HAL...the service was so unbelievably bad, it was painful...in the scheme of things, granted, this is not the end of the world...but i expected something more of a cruise company that prides itself on its service.

We ordered breakfast delivered from room service and we are still waiting for it.

The internet manager, after I told him that there was a glitch with the pc system onboard, asked me what I wanted him to do about it.

After those two, we received champagne (we don't drink) and chocolates (my husband is a diabetic) from the management.

I ordered a second glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and was told it was not available.

The people we traveled with were unable to get chocolate ice cream for dessert...funny how the other cruise lines never had a problem getting it.

My room attendant went through my drawers.

The location of the television was on the side of the bed so I had to look over my husband when we were lying down (and this was in a mini suite) The other alternative was that his feet were by my head so we could both enjoy the same movie at the same time.

The clocks were moved ahead one hour before we reached the first island. After we reached the first island, we found out their clocks were now an hour behind us and several people were left on the pier waiting for an hour for their tour.

The shows were horrible except for Justin Miller who was glorious.

The lunch at the Lido Deck every day was basically rotisserie chicken of some sort...just named differently. There were other choices but not main course choices that really did it for me. The food wasn't fantastic....the sugar frees were outstanding, just as an fyi.

Food was virtually impossible to get as a snack between 9:30 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. which is when i would have liked a fruit or cheese. Room service, when they did deliver, took about an hour and the portions were horrifically small. The Surf and Turf was a horror...the tiniest portion of filet...and lobster...I asked my waiter to get me 3 lobster tails...he said he would see if he could...I told him he had a choice...he could get it for me or we would have a scene...guess what?...he found three for me...

People were seated with people who didn't speak the same language...how fun!

WARNING: if you order tea at any time and they bring it to you in a teapot, the handle is as hot as the rest of the pot...please use your napkin or risk scalding your neighbor when you drop the pot.

Pinnacle Grill was fabulous...but then again, I paid for it, right?

I understand that since HAL has been taken over by Carnival, the waitstaff is having major issues with the management and their pay went from little to less than little. For this I am truly sorry.

I opted to take my tips off but was told I could not do so until the end of the cruise. There was no reason for that....I also feel if you tip people for work they haven't yet done, there is no reason to work for it and boy did it show in the service. I spoke to a multitude of people on board who were very disappointed with the cruise.

Oh and as a point of information, there were 140 kids on board and they ran out of chocolate milk for them 3/4 of the way through....

The elevators were fabulous...empty and lightning fast and always available...

Room steward woke up people at 7:30 a.m. the morning before the day we left to deliver the liquor and cigarettes people had purchased on board.

These are strictly the opinions of my husband and me.

Sonja and Jeff
so glad to read your post.we are just back from the veendam western caribbean(nov18-25.)
our cruise like yours was not what i expected from HAL.our last cruise two years ago on the zuiderdam was great but this cruise was not good.we missed two port and excusions and were given a 25% discount on a future cruise which we will not be using.HAl as a company has fallen short two many times to be forgiven and those who make excuses for poor service etc. get what they deserve.
my others cruises over the past 15 year were memorable ,this one i will try to forget.
in closing i have to say the one saving grace on this trip were the staff,room steward,dining room all waiters,bartenders all fantastic but where did they get the casino staff from and who trained them in customer service?

[loveallcruises]

so sorry you had such a bad cruise. We just came off the Noordam on the 21st and had a wonderful time. I do agree that everyday there was barbecue chicken with different seasonings but there were also a lot of other stations.

I was on the Noordam last November and had a great cruise. i would go back on it again.


Again I am very sorry that your cruise did not meet your expectations.

We had Made, Doti, as our wait staff and Alex as our wine steward. Could not say enough about them.

Again I do hope you find a cruise line that meets your expectations and you have a great time. Everyone deserves a great time and good service and I just feel bad that you did not have the same experieneces as I did.

[starysacz]

We cruised on the Noordam twice and are booked again in March. We found the service to be excellent and crew members very helpful. We enjoyed the Lido for breakfast and lunch and always have found a large variety of choices. We did dine at the Lido on a couple of evenings and were very impressed with the service and food selection. We have never been disappointed with room service which we have used for the past thirty cruises on HAL.

[all4gizmo]

WOW. they must have changed the entire crew in one day. We were on the 11/10 to 11/21 cruise and had no issues. In fact our servers went out of their way for us. One night in the vista our server brought me the wrong dinner. I told him not to worry about it and ate what he brought. No big deal I'm on vacation and I'm not gonna let that stress me out. A couple of minutes later he brought out the dinner I had ordered and offered apologies for the error. My hubby did damage on the second plate of food. No harm no foul.. Personally I didn't find the portions small. As far as being seated with people that didn't speak English, there was always "As you Wish Dining" My hubby and I had a table for two every night. We sat at either the same table or a table close by every nite and had the same wine steward as well. The Lido is what it is.. If you go there mid afternoon, you have pizza, sandwiches, taco's, pasta and hamburgers. If you get there earlier for lunch there are more options, I always missed the more options because I was at some sort of activity or by the pool. But it's not like they shut down operations there is always something to eat somewhere on the ship. Even the exlorations cafe had food up until 10pm if you wanted a little snack with your coffee. My room service came early, my food was hot, the order was correct and my server pleasant. the internet was slow, but we are at sea there was no cable or T1 line to connect us to the internet. Our liquor came at 8am. Honestly, I'm glad it came early. I was able to finish packing early so I could enjoy my last day on a beautiful ship.

It's different strokes for differnet folks, I thought the shows were good.

I also find that in life you get more with a little bit of sugar then alot of lemon. Would you have appreciated being threatened for a piece of fish?? I try to treat others as I would like to be treated, I guess that comes from working in customer service for 19 years or 12 years of Catholic school:D . As far as the tipping goes, there are alot of behind the scenes people that work hard to make your experience pleasant. Like clean public bathrooms. They were always spotless. It was your choice to take the tips away from the people that did nothing to hurt you or your vacation. That just goes back to another post on how much extra to tip and when.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience

[njsonja]

i'm thrilled to learn that so many of you had excellent service...unfortunately this was not my experience....i have been on rci, princess, norwegian and celebrity before this one...

and as for looking for an excuse not to tip? hardly...i tip well for good service and i do not tip for lousy service...

in the meantime, i'm currently looking for a cruise in the spring...

be well, stay safe....

[The Tsar]

People are always trying to look for an excuse not to tip. We had ciggeraette smokers next to us and they smelled up the whole hallway and it was awful.They are going to ban ciggeretss inside the ship soon.

When/where did you hear of the Cigarette Ban? Does the ban include private balconies? As an ex-smoker, I am reluctant to curtail someone else's need for a smoke, but a Cigar smoker recently ruined several days/nights use of our veranda - Had to hide in our cabin, not what we paid for.:mad:

[BumperII]

Like many others here, we are stunned by the bad experience the OP had.

First, let me say that I don't doubt at all the account given by the OP. Ship happens.

From time to time we too have had minor problems, but we have always been able to get everything ironed out with a minimum of effort. Usually by the second day, our cabin steward has our routine figured out and we rarely, if ever cross paths except in the hallways. Some cabin stewards have been better than others, and that is always reflected in the extra gratuity we leave for exceptional service.

HAL has a card that they leave in your cabin to fill out if anything is wrong. On our last cruise, we were in a brand new cabin that was installed during the last retrofit. (Ryndam cabin 565). Very nice cabin, but the walls lacked sound proofing. (Feel free to use your immagination). Anyway, we filled out the card to report this fact and turned it in at the front desk. We received a follow up telephone call from the Hotel Manager, a written acknowledgement of the complaint, and finally a $250.00 onboard credit and a written apology, all before the cruise ended!

We can't comment on the room service, as we don't use it, except that I too am diabetic, so the cabin steward always makes sure we have fresh fruit on hand in the cabin. We don't eat in the bedroom at home, and we don't do it on the ship either.

To be sure, we have run into people who are less than satisfied on every cruise, but like our last cruise, about seventy percent of the passengers are return customers like us. For every passenger with a complaint, I can show you a dozen more who are enjoying the cruise experience.

So, yes, problems do happen, and we think that overall HAL does an excellent job of trying to address these problems in a timely manner. Like many others here, we keep coming back, and we already have the next cruise booked for the Veendam on January 27. We do recommend using those problem cards in the cabin so that the issue can be straightened out right away.

If, on debarkation day ,we are planning our next HAL cruise while walking down the gangway, we figure that they probably did a pretty fair job.:D

[sassyredhat]

Hey, I "hafta" tell you guys----it's all in how you see things.
We cruised on Statendam (our 2nd w/ Statendam) with my sister and her DH.
DH and myself loved the cruise, my sister and her DH hated it enough to never sail HAL again.
We had adjoining cabins, ate at the same table, had some tours together, and they hated it ??

We just don't discuss that cruise anymore. We love HAL.

Pat

[Sundagger]

When/where did you hear of the Cigarette Ban? Does the ban include private balconies? As an ex-smoker, I am reluctant to curtail someone else's need for a smoke, but a Cigar smoker recently ruined several days/nights use of our veranda - Had to hide in our cabin, not what we paid for.:mad:

I think this was wishful thinking on the part of that poster. According to other posts, he wasn't even on the cruise that is the topic of this thread.

[willowoodf]

As others have said, I think it is how you treat minor problems that equals how much or how little you enjoy things, whether it be a cruise or anything else in life. If you let them overwhelm you, you will not be happy. If you have a good attitude and don't let each little thing get to you, you will have a much better experience, in all things.

We have been on several HAL cruises, and while it would be ingenuous to say that every cruise was perfect and that we never had any problems, overall each cruise was great. We tackled each problem as it came (broken air conditioning, non-working toilets, etc., ants in our cabin) and didn't let them ruin the cruise. I think most people on these boards do the same thing. But there are some people that just can't be pleased. Something is always wrong, and they let it take them over so much that it colors every other experience and turns it to the bad side too. So instead of accepting that dinner wasn't that great and moving on and discovering dessert was GREAT, they let that tasteless dinner bother them so much they are too upset to even taste the dessert. So instead of leaving the dining room with the memory of a great dessert, they leave with the memory of a bad chicken with sauce. Just an example, but I think you know what I'm getting at.

I enjoy reading posts of all type, good and bad. I like to read an OBJECTIVE negative review. I think what bothers some people on this thread, myself included, is the attitude of the OP in her original post. Threatening the dining steward she was going to make a SCENE if she didn't get a third lobster tail?! WHAT?! If you act like a child, don't be surprised if you are treated like one.

Our experience in the dining room has been the exact opposite. We've had to turn away food that the waiters try to give us. Of course, we always choose last seating, so maybe that makes a difference as to how much lobster tail or crab legs or whatever they have left. It doesn't hurt that we always treat the crew with respect and make polite requests, not threatening demands.

Anyway, my four cents (inflation).

Mary

[AWED23]

I have to wonder what cruiselines the OP has been on before, and what her opinions of them were?

Cruiseship staterooms are full of compromises: There aren't many cruiselines where the TV isn't off to one side or another. If the TV had been right across from the bed in her SS, I'm sure we would have heard about how it wasn't visible from the sofa...

How does the OP know that her cabin steward went through her drawers? Was something missing (highly doubtful) or was something left loose on the dresser/bed/floor put away for her?

I wonder why the OP didn't bother to walk to other areas of the Lido for lunch to find where the stir-fry, sandwich, pasta, hamburger, taco-bar, soup & salad stations were? And if she didn't find the Lido to their liking, did they bother to try the Main Dining Room?

Regarding the availability of food between 9.30 and 11.15: I typically don't come out from my stateroom until 10am, and there's always one line open for breakfast food until 10.30. Moreover, cut fruit and cold cereals are available until about 11am - after that, the crew does need time to change that space over to a salad bar for lunch service. She could have also wandered back to her stateroom to snack on an apple or banana.

There was no need for the OP to threaten her waiter for another lobster tail - I'd be willing to bet that he would have gladly brought her 4 if she hadn't threatened him or removed her Auto-Tip. (Yes, word gets back to the crew when one does that...) However, I do find it interesting that the OP chose to complain about how little the staff makes after removing the Auto-Tip: Hypocritical...?

I don't know how anyone can complain about the handle on the teapot being hot - Of course it is!!! If it wasn't hot, the tea inside wouldn't be hot enough!

We do agree on one thing however: The mainstage entertainment on HAL is generally crap. (Bill Prince should have stayed at Caesar's...)

I hope that her next cruise on some other line is more to her liking...
...and that nobody gets between her, the TV and her food.
:rolleyes: ....If you read her bio you will notice that she is married to an attorney....Hmmmmmmmm.....Fortunate for her I am sure.:rolleyes:

[AWED23]

i'm thrilled to learn that so many of you had excellent service...unfortunately this was not my experience....i have been on rci, princess, norwegian and celebrity before this one...

and as for looking for an excuse not to tip? hardly...i tip well for good service and i do not tip for lousy service...

in the meantime, i'm currently looking for a cruise in the spring...

be well, stay safe.........Maybe you should try Sea Dream,Crystal,Seaborn,Regent or Silver Seas...???

[KAYEF]

This OP and winemistress 45 should get together and start their own cruise company; maybe they could be satisfied by something they own.

[NoNoNanette]

This OP and winemistress 45 should get together and start their own cruise company; maybe they could be satisfied by something they own.

I'm not aware of Winemistress complaining about her cruise. Perhaps you're confusing her with someone else? :confused:

[Cruisoholic]

Thank goodness.

Cruisoholic-over 40 cruises and never had a bad one.

[mmp13]

Let me first say that I can't imagine ever going on a cruise and not having a good time. that being said, We sailed on the Noordam in Oct and we were very dissappointed. we had high expectations. I had read so much about the fine service etc and that is not what we found on the Noordam. We loved our cabin, and our cabin stewart was excellent, but the food and service in the dining room was just terrible. I've recently read many negative comments about dining service so maybe there is some recent employee problem that HAL needs to address . If that's the case they really ought to resolve it because it is giving them a lot of negative press. We enjoyed the lido buffet.

Justin miller was good but the rest of the entertainment just did not measure up for us.

I'm not going to say we would never sail on HAL again, but I really doubt that we will. In our opinion (and it is only our opinion) they just did not live up to the hype.

I guess that's why there are so many cruise lines. something for everyone!

[Seago2]

Oh My GODDDDD I am never going to get this order done before court tomorrow, BUT

just want to say

On Noordam (you can see it in my review) we ate at the Officer's table one night. This young officer- her first cruise- was treated terribly by the waiter. We all were. She was mortified. The waiter was an absolute jerk. So I can see that if someone got that guy they would have been less than happy. Thank God we got the wonderful Usin!!

But if the waiter isn't great, turn to your spouse or whomever else you are cruising with for conversation. Here's a tip: talk about how much you hate the waiter. Laugh about it. Ask to switch tables the next day.

But you run into so many crew members on a given day- how can they all be bad? I guess if the ship is massively overcrowded.

The OP would have been fine with her small complaints if she hadn't gotten into the "make a scene" thing. Doesn't she know how much we CC'ers LOVE our crewmembers? We don't want to hear about anyone threatening them. We've seen it, been horrified by it, and won't support anyone who treats a crewmember with anything other than respect, kindness and good cheer.

We can also just imagine what it was like to be stuck at the table with her.

OP, I don't know if you have kids, but DH and I have 8. They are 9, 9, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 23. I had five, he had three, and now we are all together, minus the two at college. Do you know how many dinners I've had ruined in my life? Think about it. Do you understand that even my 9 year olds wouldn't care if there was a certain kind of ice cream as long as they were on a cruise? Teapot: HOT! How many times a day do you think I can't see the TV perfectly?

This is why the little things don't bother me on a cruise, whether on Noordam with DH or with four kids in a quad cabin with a rollaway on Elation.

Don't mess with the crew or I'll make a scene!

[the2ofus]

I'm glad njsonja came back and responded on this thread. so many times the OP posts and may read but not respond. I'm also glad she did not take offense when others expressed opinions or related experiences which were different from hers. She has cruised often enough that I am sure she is aware that others can have vastly different experiences even when situations have been nearly identical.

I share willowoodf's point of view. Sometimes one or two incidents can color one's entire perception. That happened to us on one cruise. It was not enough to turn us off to cruising with HAL, because they kept honestly trying to correct the continuing problem. But, as Sassyredhat also experienced, it was enough to convince my Sister-in-law that they never would cruise again so HAL lost a potential customer.

I do want to point out to njsonja as a former boss in a service-oriented industry that kind words and requests rather than demands usually get better results and help the worker to really WANT to go the extra mile and provide service ABOVE that which is expected. She might try that approach next time.

[mmp13]

I agree, I can't imagine making a scene about anything on a cruise. In fact we actually waited a few days to see if our waiter was just having a bad day etc...Hey, it can happen to anybody. When poor service continued ,we said something to the maitre d. In my opinion our waiter just had to many people to wait on, I thought maybe the maitre'd would give him a hand but that was not the case, he just stood around making our waiter, and therefore us, more uncomfortable.:eek: it was just a bad situation .

[tech]

Not to open a can of worms but she mentioned her husband being a diabetic.

So is mine.

This can make the food selections more interesting to say the least.
You can ask HAL prior to cruise about receiving diabetic items.

But something you learn to live with is gazing longingly at food stations that you from which you cannot eat.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you feel about chicken, it is one of the main stays of my husbands diet.

Diabetic friendly meat if no skin.

That may be one of the reasons she saw the chicken so often ?

Food is so subjective but I do think it can vary from ship to ship within the same cruiseline.

Until we took a recent cruise on The Coral Princess, I would have said food was not that important to me , that it was the ship and ports.

But after 10 days of really terrible food in our opinion, we have come to realize that it is a very important part of our cruise.

While on The Coral, I was dreaming of HAL and their food selections. :D

[tech]

Gee, I posted the above after reading the first page only, I didn't realize it went on for pages :eek:

I have now read them....I do agree that it is not the thing to do to speak to a waiter that way and yes, we would be uncomfortable if table mates did such a thing.

I should have known that there were more pages, jumped the gun. :)

[jhannah]

As others have said, I think it is how you treat minor problems that equals how much or how little you enjoy things, whether it be a cruise or anything else in life. How very true. A truly bad experience is a bad experience. I'm not trivializing that. But how one acts/reacts to it can really make a difference.

Looking at my own life, I must say I have reacted unjustly to things that have happened to me. It isn't a pretty thing. Then, one day, I heard a seminar presenter who put it all in perspective.

With his arm and index finger extended, he drew a huge arc in the air in front of him.

"Know what that is? It's a bridge. Get over it."

[Barrel_Proof]

I asked my waiter to get me 3 lobster tails...he said he would see if he could...I told him he had a choice...he could get it for me or we would have a scene...guess what?...he found three for me...


Thankfully I won't have to worry about traveling with either of you in the future!

[mamaofami]

It's beyond my comprehension that anyone would demand to get three lobster tails. I know it's a surf and turf night, and I know that some poeple ask for two tails, but to demand three and say you will make a scene is just awful.

People often get what they deserve in this world. These waiters are people, just like we are. They will treat you with respect and try to meet your needs if you treat them the same way. To threaten them is totally uncalled for.

[innlady1]

NOORDAM, LEAVING OUT OF NYC, NOV 21 UNTIL DEC 1 (this morning)
<snip>
Food was virtually impossible to get as a snack between 9:30 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. which is when i would have liked a fruit or cheese. Room service, when they did deliver, took about an hour and the portions were horrifically small. The Surf and Turf was a horror...the tiniest portion of filet...and lobster...I asked my waiter to get me 3 lobster tails...he said he would see if he could...I told him he had a choice...he could get it for me or we would have a scene...guess what?...he found three for me...
<snip>


I'm sorry the OP didn't have a good cruise, but reading this part is really disturbing. I'm with you, Carol.

[AirGorilla]

This OP and winemistress 45 should get together and start their own cruise company; maybe they could be satisfied by something they own.

Winemistress 45 didn't strike me as being all that unsatisfied. FWIW, I thought her threads were very enjoyable to read. Sounded to me like she and her daughters had a great time together.

Maybe you mean someone else???

AG

[NoNoNanette]

Winemistress 45 didn't strike me as being all that unsatisfied. FWIW, I thought her threads were very enjoyable to read. Sounded to me like she and her daughters had a great time together.

Maybe you mean someone else???

AG

PRECISELY! ;)

[WeLoveCruising]

Winemistress 45 didn't strike me as being all that unsatisfied. FWIW, I thought her threads were very enjoyable to read. Sounded to me like she and her daughters had a great time together.

Maybe you mean someone else???

AG

They probably did mean WM45. She's been the target of alot of criticism, much undeserved, I think.

[WeLoveCruising]

I am really intrigued by this review. I cant figure out why someone would seem so positive pre-cruise, and then have every little thing upset them. I did a search on the OP's posting history to see if she wrote any similar reviews about her prior cruises. I found this quote she posted before another cruise....:eek:

Is that enough? lol....I can't wait to cruise...drink, eat, eat, eat, and eat. My husband had t-shirts made up that read, "It's been an hour, when do we eat?"

My point is, what was her expectation on amount and availability of food?

[manbehindthecurtain]

I am really intrigued by this review. I cant figure out why someone would seem so positive pre-cruise, and then have every little thing upset them. I did a search on the OP's posting history to see if she wrote any similar reviews about her prior cruises. I found this quote she posted before another cruise....:eek:

Is that enough? lol....I can't wait to cruise...drink, eat, eat, eat, and eat. My husband had t-shirts made up that read, "It's been an hour, when do we eat?"

My point is, what was her expectation on amount and availability of food?

Maybe a member of Gluttony Anonymous? ;)

[Copper10-8]

A guy walks into the doctor's office. There is a banana stuck in one of his ears, a cucumber in the other ear, and a carrot stuck in one nostril.

The man says, "Doc, this is terrible. What's wrong with me?"

The doctor says, "Well, first of all, you need to eat more sensibly

[Seago2]

I am really intrigued by this review. I cant figure out why someone would seem so positive pre-cruise, and then have every little thing upset them. I did a search on the OP's posting history to see if she wrote any similar reviews about her prior cruises. I found this quote she posted before another cruise....:eek:

Is that enough? lol....I can't wait to cruise...drink, eat, eat, eat, and eat. My husband had t-shirts made up that read, "It's been an hour, when do we eat?"

My point is, what was her expectation on amount and availability of food?

Good point. It's a funny thought, funny T-shirt, and clearly she has a sense of humor. But... :confused:

[kryos]

I really have no comment because I found the Noordam to have one of the BEST Ever Crews and fantastic service but this comment is definitely not accurate

What can I say? HAL clearly is not for everybody. It seems like HAL is a cruise line that you either hate or love. There is no in between. Obviously, the OP hated it. Hey, HAL is just not for her. No disgrace in that. She'll move back over to one of the lines she is more comfortable with, and all will be right with her world again.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[RevNeal]

.our last cruise two years ago on the zuiderdam was great but this cruise was not good.we missed two port and excusions and were given a 25% discount on a future cruise which we will not be using.

If you're not going to use it, please send it to me. :D

[bepsf]

Not to open a can of worms but she mentioned her husband being a diabetic.

So is mine.

This can make the food selections more interesting to say the least.
You can ask HAL prior to cruise about receiving diabetic items.

But something you learn to live with is gazing longingly at food stations that you from which you cannot eat.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you feel about chicken, it is one of the main stays of my husbands diet.

Diabetic friendly meat if no skin.

That may be one of the reasons she saw the chicken so often?... :D

Tech--

I get your point - and as someone who is Celiac, I have to live with similar issues except mine regard wheat (Which sometimes feels like it's everywhere)

That doesn't mean I feel the need to flip out because the waiter offers bread night after night, nor do I feel the need to go into lengthy explanations when at dinner or in line at the Lido. We simply make our choices from what's on offer, make an occasional special request when appropriate - but most often, a smile and a simple "No, Thanks" is enough.

[RevNeal]

Not to open a can of worms but she mentioned her husband being a diabetic.

So is mine.

This can make the food selections more interesting to say the least.
You can ask HAL prior to cruise about receiving diabetic items.

But something you learn to live with is gazing longingly at food stations that you from which you cannot eat.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you feel about chicken, it is one of the main stays of my husbands diet.

Diabetic friendly meat if no skin.

That may be one of the reasons she saw the chicken so often ?

Food is so subjective but I do think it can vary from ship to ship within the same cruiseline.

Until we took a recent cruise on The Coral Princess, I would have said food was not that important to me , that it was the ship and ports.

But after 10 days of really terrible food in our opinion, we have come to realize that it is a very important part of our cruise.

While on The Coral, I was dreaming of HAL and their food selections. :D

Tech, my initial thoughts were very similar to yours on this subject; I'm not a diabetic, but I have many church members, friends, and some family members who are, so I'm aware of such matters. However, the OP doesn't say that the Lido lacked items that her husband could eat; rather, she stated:

The lunch at the Lido Deck every day was basically rotisserie chicken of some sort...just named differently. There were other choices but not main course choices that really did it for me. The food wasn't fantastic....the sugar frees were outstanding, just as an fyi.

While I don't doubt that this is all that the OP saw, it's a simple fact that such was not all that was there. HAL Lido offerings (for main courses) are FAR MORE diverse than a chicken dish. There are usually 4 or more options, including at least 1 chicken, 1 beef, 1 pork, and 1 fish option; and this doesn't count the Pasta, Stir Fry, Sandwich, salad, Pizza, and Grill options. There's a menu listing at the head of every line and it will list all the various options available.

[WeLoveCruising]

RevNeal,
I agree with you. I just made a "mental" walk through the Lido. On a typical lunch day one would find:

Fresh fruit
Rolls / Butter
Meat / Cheeses
Cold veggie and pasta salads
Soup
Rotisserie Chicken
2 Carved Items (beef, pork, turkey, ham, etc.)
3-4 hot vegetable offerings
Potatos
Rice
2-3 hot entrees (sauteed chicken, fish, pork, etc.)
Pasta bolognese
Fettucine Alfredo
Garlic bread
Salad Bar
2 Stir Fry dishes
Steamed rice
Fried rice
Sushi
Cheeseburgers
Hot Dogs
French Fries
Sausages
Taco Bar
Nachos
Sandwich station with different meats, cheese, and salad special

This doesnt include room service, or the dining room menu

[amd92602]

4,878 views and 105 replies to this post in about 24 hours! That's just amazing! If we could capture all this energy, we could wean ourselves from our dependence on imported oil!

[McVegas]

I just got home from the same cruise and I thought the service was incredible (12th cruise for me, 1st on HAL). I have nothing bad to say about the food at all and the crew was friendly and helpful. I guess I have a different view of the Noordam because I would sail again in a heartbeat.

[rebeccalouise]

Different perspectives from different people.
I sailed this summer with my parents on a large ship. I had sailed it before and loved it. I loved it just as much this time.
My parents didn't like it from the word go because they thought it was too big. They compared it to their small ship experiences and they just decided ahead of time that they weren't going to like a big ship.

Nothing weird or bad happened on the cruise. But I bet they tell their friends a whole different story than I do. Their suite was great. Their butler was great. But I think nothing would have satisfied them.

Don't get me wrong- they weren't complaining but I could tell they were looking for anything that could possibly go wrong.

I am younger and I think I focus on different things than my parents. So, it isn't that one person is right or wrong. Just opinions vary based on past experiences and expectations.

[nchank]

The poster was rude with the waiter regarding three lobsters. If I was at her table I would have asked to be reseated at another table in the future.

[prescottbob]

Ahoy!

Typical CD jokes:

If you've ever cruised, you'll recognize these jokes, or if you just going, listen for them!

The first time you see your cabin, you say, "What could be smaller than this?" Then you open the bathroom door!
"The pool must be ocean water. Look at the size of the waves."
The Letterman Top Ten list was adapted by comics for ship jokes, then stolen by cruise directors and now is used by all of them as the top ten dumb questions asked by passengers. "Will this elevator take me to the front of the ship?"
"Do these stairs go up or down?"
"How far are we above sea level?"
"Does the crew sleep on board?" (No, we tow them in the life boats.) "
"Do the ship generate it's own electricity?" (No, we pull an extension cord from Miami.)
To photographers: "If the photos aren't marked, how do we know which ones are ours?"
"Is the water in the toilet fresh water or sea water?" (I don't know, I haven't tasted it.)
"What do you do with the ice carvings after they've melted?"
"Is there music in the Disco?"
"What time is the Midnight Buffet

May everyone have a GREAT CRUISE! Happy Holidays!

Bon Voyage and Good Health!
Bob:)

[agabbymama]

I am just curious which ports Grand Princess offers in the Med that HAL does not, since we were in the Med this year and doing a diff itinerarty next year?

We leave out of Rome, to Monte Carlo, to Livorno, to Naples, to Santorini, to Kusadasi, to Mykonos, to Athens, to Olympia, to Corfu and ending in Venice. Really wanted to see as much of Greece and Italy as we could.
I didn't see a Hal cruise that included all the ports in Italy and Greece.

Don't plan on going back again, this is the final big cruise, so really wanted to include both.

[ISEA]

Good point. It's a funny thought, funny T-shirt, and clearly she has a sense of humor. But... :confused:

I am really intrigued by this review. I cant figure out why someone would seem so positive pre-cruise, and then have every little thing upset them. I did a search on the OP's posting history to see if she wrote any similar reviews about her prior cruises. I found this quote she posted before another cruise....:eek:

Is that enough? lol....I can't wait to cruise...drink, eat, eat, eat, and eat. My husband had t-shirts made up that read, "It's been an hour, when do we eat?"






My point is, what was her expectation on amount and availability of food?

I was on this cruise and have seen the OP many times on the ship. You couldn't miss her because she had a T-Shirt that said "I Hate People" and she wore it almost every single day. My wife and I witnessed her at breakfast one day in the Vista. She originally asked to be seated with other people when she checked in but wound up moving to another table near my wife and I. We didn't really pay any attention to her until she shouted to the Mater D' who was walking by that "she doesn't want water, take it away!" in a very rude manner. The water had been siting on her table for a while so it looked like she was waiting for a manager to come by to make a scene.The wait staff all looked at each other and rolled their eyes and laughed. She must have been a real joy to serve.

[LoveMyBoxer]

Hmmm, has the OP come back to reply to all this at all??? Where is she???

[Fatfish]

Hmmm, has the OP come back to reply to all this at all??? Where is she???

I think she jumped ship.

We are on the 12/12 sailing and can hardly wait!!!

[Seago2]

I was on this cruise and have seen the OP many times on the ship. You couldn't miss her because she had a T-Shirt that said "I Hate People" and she wore it almost every single day. My wife and I witnessed her at breakfast one day in the Vista. She originally asked to be seated with other people when she checked in but wound up moving to another table near my wife and I. We didn't really pay any attention to her until she shouted to the Mater D' who was walking by that "she doesn't want water, take it away!" in a very rude manner. The water had been siting on her table for a while so it looked like she was waiting for a manager to come by to make a scene.The wait staff all looked at each other and rolled their eyes and laughed. She must have been a real joy to serve.

OK, there is no way you can be sure that was her. That could have been anybody. Come on, now.

In fact...

On our last Noordam cruise (I keep waiting for Annabel to chime in here- she must be on a cruise) we were at a table of six- completely dysfunctional, as you can see if you read the review- and there was a couple.... famous quotes:

"No Ice!!!!!!!!" with hand over the glass and desperate look, as if to say "No icebergs!"

"Low sodium! What is the sodium content. Can I have LOW SODIUM SHRIMP?" The waiter handled this beautifuly, without missing a beat- "We haven't figured out a way to take sodium out of SALT WATER SEAFOOD..." These people were in their forties, healthy as oxen. They just want to get "used to" low sodium, to "try it." This went on for ten dinners and other meals we accidentally had with them. Seriously, every single menu selection had to be quizzed for sodium, then discussed with the poor waiter, and on and on.

How about this one? DH and I are sitting in the hot tub, alone, as the weather turns very cold on the way back up (January). They walk up, get in (hellos all around, secret groaning by us), and start whispering and worrying about something. Bubbles stop and I get up to push the button.

"STOP!!! The bubbles make her BURP!"

Now, what the...???

This was about the 100th wierdo issue that we had witnessed. I could go on here, but you get the message- Oh yeah, demanding to have cranberry juice with dinner. First night, waiter lists three other juices available. Scene with grumbling entire dinner. Next night he has it sitting there for her. On and on. Cranberry juice doesn't taste "right." No "thank you" for having it waiting there, of course not. Then we sit at Officer's Table on last night and the whole scene starts again with the new waiter, including shouting out, as though terrified, "WE DON'T EAT BAKED ALASKA! WE NEED TO ORDER OF THE MENU!!!!!"

Now, these two were on a B2B, this was the first leg. They had the cheapest cabin (nuttin' wrong with that) and were upgraded to a handicapped, but then had to switch for the next cruise. Grumble grumble. Every night we were regaled with tales of incredible cruises they took for like 400 bucks. Last minute bookings, who knows. Cheap? Were they cheap? You cannot imagine.

Last we saw them was when they got off the ship in New York to REFILL THEIR WATER BOTTLES at a hotel lobby and collect the $25pp credit because we arrived late. Should people on a B2B be able to collect that credit considering that they had no plans to disembark? Guess so!

[Seago2]

I was on this cruise and have seen the OP many times on the ship. You couldn't miss her because she had a T-Shirt that said "I Hate People" and she wore it almost every single day. My wife and I witnessed her at breakfast one day in the Vista. She originally asked to be seated with other people when she checked in but wound up moving to another table near my wife and I. We didn't really pay any attention to her until she shouted to the Mater D' who was walking by that "she doesn't want water, take it away!" in a very rude manner. The water had been siting on her table for a while so it looked like she was waiting for a manager to come by to make a scene.The wait staff all looked at each other and rolled their eyes and laughed. She must have been a real joy to serve.

OK, there is no way you can be sure that was her. That could have been anybody. Come on, now.

In fact...

On our last Noordam cruise (I keep waiting for Annabel to chime in here- she must be on a cruise) we were at a table of six- completely dysfunctional, as you can see if you read the review- and there was a couple.... famous quotes:

"No Ice!!!!!!!!" with hand over the glass and desperate look, as if to say "No icebergs!"

"Low sodium! What is the sodium content. Can I have LOW SODIUM SHRIMP?" The waiter handled this beautifuly, without missing a beat- "We haven't figured out a way to take sodium out of SALT WATER SEAFOOD..." These people were in their forties, healthy as oxen. They just want to get "used to" low sodium, to "try it." This went on for ten dinners and other meals we accidentally had with them. Seriously, every single menu selection had to be quizzed for sodium, then discussed with the poor waiter, and on and on.

How about this one? DH and I are sitting in the hot tub, alone, as the weather turns very cold on the way back up (January). They walk up, get in (hellos all around, secret groaning by us), and start whispering and worrying about something. Bubbles stop and I get up to push the button.

"STOP!!! The bubbles make her BURP!"

Now, what the...???

This was about the 100th wierdo issue that we had witnessed. I could go on here, but you get the message- Oh yeah, demanding to have cranberry juice with dinner. First night, waiter lists three other juices available. Scene with grumbling entire dinner. Next night he has it sitting there for her. On and on. Cranberry juice doesn't taste "right." No "thank you" for having it waiting there, of course not. Then we sit at Officer's Table on last night and the whole scene starts again with the new waiter, including shouting out, as though terrified, "WE DON'T EAT BAKED ALASKA! WE NEED TO ORDER OF THE MENU!!!!!"

Now, these two were on a B2B, this was the first leg. They had the cheapest cabin (nuttin' wrong with that) and were upgraded to a handicapped, but then had to switch for the next cruise. Grumble grumble. Every night we were regaled with tales of incredible cruises they took for like 400 bucks. Last minute bookings, who knows. Cheap? Were they cheap? You cannot imagine.

Last we saw them was when they got off the ship in New York to REFILL THEIR WATER BOTTLES at a hotel lobby and collect the $25pp credit because we arrived late. Should people on a B2B be able to collect that credit considering that they had no plans to disembark? Guess so!

[Seago2]

Sorry everyone! I don't know if it's my computer or CC but I keep getting triple posts after almost timing out!

[Rina's Mom]

It's true, you can't be absolutely sure that the woman ISEA saw on the cruise is the same person as the OP, but...

in another thread, the OP talks about how she'll be easy to recognize on board because of her t-shirt which says something like "love dogs, hate people."

Hmmmmm...

[Seago2]

It's true, you can't be absolutely sure that the woman ISEA saw on the cruise is the same person as the OP, but...

in another thread, the OP talks about how she'll be easy to recognize on board because of her t-shirt which says something like "love dogs, hate people."

Hmmmmm...

Get out! Can you post the link?

[MrPete]

...and the plays the "PITY POOR ME" card. :rolleyes:

[ISEA]

It's true, you can't be absolutely sure that the woman ISEA saw on the cruise is the same person as the OP, but...

in another thread, the OP talks about how she'll be easy to recognize on board because of her t-shirt which says something like "love dogs, hate people."

Hmmmmm...


She had that shirt on as well with a website address. In addition the person she was with who I assume was her husband had the T-shirt on that said "It's been an hour, when do we eat?"

[Seago2]

She had that shirt on as well with a website address. In addition the person she was with who I assume was her husband had the T-shirt on that said "It's been an hour, when do we eat?"

OK, I believe you! WOW. I can't believe a CC'er would pull that nonsense.

[osiebosie]

Interesting thread this Monday morning.

Our HAL cruise was wonderful. But I have to agree with OP on one item.

We were seated one day at lunch in the dining room with a foreign family. It was extremely uncomfortable as they were just laughing and talking amongst themselves. We were there first, and had ordered, so ended up just waiting it out.

That brought on a discussion between me and DH. Would HAL seat a foreign-speaking couple/family with an english-speaking one? Would they know?

All I know is that if it ever happened to us for dining companions, we'd definitely change after the first evening.

Shay

[happy cruzer]

OK, there is no way you can be sure that was her. That could have been anybody. Come on, now.

In fact...

On our last Noordam cruise (I keep waiting for Annabel to chime in here- she must be on a cruise) we were at a table of six- completely dysfunctional, as you can see if you read the review- and there was a couple.... famous quotes:

"No Ice!!!!!!!!" with hand over the glass and desperate look, as if to say "No icebergs!"

"Low sodium! What is the sodium content. Can I have LOW SODIUM SHRIMP?" The waiter handled this beautifuly, without missing a beat- "We haven't figured out a way to take sodium out of SALT WATER SEAFOOD..." These people were in their forties, healthy as oxen. They just want to get "used to" low sodium, to "try it." This went on for ten dinners and other meals we accidentally had with them. Seriously, every single menu selection had to be quizzed for sodium, then discussed with the poor waiter, and on and on.

How about this one? DH and I are sitting in the hot tub, alone, as the weather turns very cold on the way back up (January). They walk up, get in (hellos all around, secret groaning by us), and start whispering and worrying about something. Bubbles stop and I get up to push the button.

"STOP!!! The bubbles make her BURP!"

Now, what the...???

This was about the 100th wierdo issue that we had witnessed. I could go on here, but you get the message- Oh yeah, demanding to have cranberry juice with dinner. First night, waiter lists three other juices available. Scene with grumbling entire dinner. Next night he has it sitting there for her. On and on. Cranberry juice doesn't taste "right." No "thank you" for having it waiting there, of course not. Then we sit at Officer's Table on last night and the whole scene starts again with the new waiter, including shouting out, as though terrified, "WE DON'T EAT BAKED ALASKA! WE NEED TO ORDER OF THE MENU!!!!!"

Now, these two were on a B2B, this was the first leg. They had the cheapest cabin (nuttin' wrong with that) and were upgraded to a handicapped, but then had to switch for the next cruise. Grumble grumble. Every night we were regaled with tales of incredible cruises they took for like 400 bucks. Last minute bookings, who knows. Cheap? Were they cheap? You cannot imagine.

Last we saw them was when they got off the ship in New York to REFILL THEIR WATER BOTTLES at a hotel lobby and collect the $25pp credit because we arrived late. Should people on a B2B be able to collect that credit considering that they had no plans to disembark? Guess so!

Yes! Obsessions can be a bumper.

So how were those bubbles entering her body? DH says she needed to move aaawaaay from the nozzle.

Thanks for the laughs.

[rangeley]

Everyone has to realize that some people are just complainers. Nothing makes them happy. We love HAL and we tried Princess last year because of the itinerary. We didnt like it for many reasons but we still had a great time. The crew on HAL are the nicest sweetest people we have ever met. We wondered if they were just putting on a show being so friendly. One night we were walking on the promenade between dinner times, we notice the dining staff getting ready for the next dinner service. They were all alone and they were laughing and fooling around. Just happy people! I read a post once that a woman complained "they had the nerve to serve me lobster tails with the shell on". Well maybe she should go back home to her castle. As with any vacation you have to make the best of it. You are not at home where you can control everything. Nobodys perfect!! My fiance is a quad in a wheelchair. People don't even realize what its like to go on a vacation. Beds to high, islands we can only see from the ship because we can't get off, people who would push over his wheelchair rather than wait a second for him to move. We've seen it all!! But our motto is "just go with the flow." WE are on a dream vacation. How is it possible to have a bad cruise?? You're on a beautiful ship, scenery beyond your wildest dreams, tons of delicious food 24 hours a day and the one you love to share it with. It can't get much better than that!!! So for all the complainers, take a second, sit on your balcony, watch the sunset, and be happy to be alive!

[jhannah]

Everyone has to realize that some people are just complainers. Nothing makes them happy. This is very true. I really feel sorry for these individuals. They are missing out on so many wonderful moments in life.

As to the woman who complained that she was served lobster tails with the shells on, did she not stick around? Our dining room steward has always returned and removed the meat from the shell for us. Every time. Had the tails been served outside the shell, she probably would have questioned if they were real or imitation lobster. :rolleyes:

[Fatfish]

Interesting thread this Monday morning.

Our HAL cruise was wonderful. But I have to agree with OP on one item.

We were seated one day at lunch in the dining room with a foreign family. It was extremely uncomfortable as they were just laughing and talking amongst themselves. We were there first, and had ordered, so ended up just waiting it out.

That brought on a discussion between me and DH. Would HAL seat a foreign-speaking couple/family with an english-speaking one? Would they know?

All I know is that if it ever happened to us for dining companions, we'd definitely change after the first evening.

Shay

This did happen to us on our first Hal cruise on the Rotterdam in 4/05......We were sailing from Rio to Lisbon so there were a fare amount of non English speaking people but we just changed our table...We had requested the 8pm seating anyhow and Hal changed us the following night.

[JDOUGLEJ]

I just have to put in my 2 cents worth. We have been on RCCL, Carnival, and Princess. WE HAVE NEVER MET A CRUISE WE DID NOT LIKE. Is everything always perfect? Definitely not and therein is the rub. There are always people that LOOK for reasons to complain, and they will find a reason. We start every cruise with the idea that little things that might be annoying will not ruin our cruise vacation. We will be on HAL next March for the first time. Our last cruise was with Princess and not once but twice while eating in the Lido we heard a couple complaining about almost nothing. Buffet selections that day and then extremely upset because there were not enough lounges by the pool. My goodness, how could anybody enjoy a cruise with such major distractions. I told DW they must be on a different ship. GET A GRIP!!!!:eek: If you don't like cruises then do something else with your vacation funds.:rolleyes: Isn't this a great country:p BE HAPPY :) and HAPPY CRUISING:D

[Copper10-8]

This is very true. I really feel sorry for these individuals. They are missing out on so many wonderful moments in life.

As to the woman who complained that she was served lobster tails with the shells on, did she not stick around? Our dining room steward has always returned and removed the meat from the shell for us. Every time. Had the tails been served outside the shell, she probably would have questioned if they were real or imitation lobster. :rolleyes:


Thanks Jim, learned something new. I always thought you had to eat the shell. Kinda tough on the teeth, know better now!

[Zeta3]

On our first cruise we were seated with a tour group from Japan none of whom spoke english. We smiled and gestured and things were just ifne. When we would see them in port or around the ship they were very friendly. On the last night on woman spoke to us as their spokesperson in English and said they were happy to have met us and enjoyed sharing meals with us. It was very touching that she and the group made that effort. I don't expect my tablemates ot entertain me so I guess not speaking the same language is not a big issue for me.

[booklady26]

Here's the funniest complaint I've ever heard.

We had just gotten off the plane from FLL after sailing on a Princess cruise. We were waiting at the baggage carousel and were standing next to a young couple who had been on the same cruise as us.

She was whining to whoever had picked her up "The cruise was awful. They didn't even do ice sculptures."

You can't make this stuff up.

[hammybee]

On my first cruise, back when, we were seated with two other families with children, at a table for 12. One family did not any speak English and my grasp of their language was not adequate for a conversation. The other family prayed continuously, thoroughout dinner and condemed alcohol and the debauchery, they perceived surrounded them in the dining room and on the ship. The nearest table was chock full of over-served, loud and demanding passengers, practicing their F-speak, in between inhaling multiple entrees, every night.

It struck me then how fate had put so many people with tremendous differences in close proximity for a relatively longer duration, than might otherwise occur. It was then I accepted when cruising I am sharing my vacation with 2000-3000 others and the only things certain is that some of the others will be quite different from me and I have no control over them.

I have since likened cruising to riding a subway, in NYC. You just never know and it's never going to be all about me. At some point, along the way, I am going to have to compromize some things and either sit back and enjoy the ride or be miserable.

I have enjoyed all my rides.:)

[ISEA]

I just have to put in my 2 cents worth. We have been on RCCL, Carnival, and Princess. WE HAVE NEVER MET A CRUISE WE DID NOT LIKE. Is everything always perfect? Definitely not and therein is the rub. There are always people that LOOK for reasons to complain, and they will find a reason. We start every cruise with the idea that little things that might be annoying will not ruin our cruise vacation. We will be on HAL next March for the first time. Our last cruise was with Princess and not once but twice while eating in the Lido we heard a couple complaining about almost nothing. Buffet selections that day and then extremely upset because there were not enough lounges by the pool. My goodness, how could anybody enjoy a cruise with such major distractions. I told DW they must be on a different ship. GET A GRIP!!!!:eek: If you don't like cruises then do something else with your vacation funds.:rolleyes: Isn't this a great country:p BE HAPPY :) and HAPPY CRUISING:D

Amen! You can't sweat the small stuff. One day our room service breakfast was supposed to be delivered between 7:30am and 8:00am as we requested. We had an excursion that day at 9:00am. Well it didn't come until 8:10am. I was going to call the room service number when the waiter arrived with our food. I wasn't mad at all and especially not at him. He apologized for being late and I gave him a tip as usual. I figured the guy may have had a lot of deliveries that morning and he tried to get to them as quickly as possible. I'm sure he didn't purposely say I'm going to deliver room 6096's food late. I respect and appreciate the hard work the crew does for us all.

[Lynne Myrna]

i'm thrilled to learn that so many of you had excellent service...unfortunately this was not my experience....i have been on rci, princess, norwegian and celebrity before this one...

and as for looking for an excuse not to tip? hardly...i tip well for good service and i do not tip for lousy service...

in the meantime, i'm currently looking for a cruise in the spring...

be well, stay safe....

We had a great cruise on the Noordam 11/10......but.........
hey......everyone does not have the same experiences.....& HAL can't please everyone.....I hope in the near future, you'll have a wonderful cruise on another line of your choosing. Happy Sailings:)

Lynne:)

[Drew358]

Here is the link for the T-Shirt comment. She sounded really upbeat in her posts, I'm not sure she should be this picked apart from her negative review.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=12428013#post12428013

[cnvh]

I don't think most people got upset at the negative review, per se-- it was the "I told my server to bring me 3 lobster tails or else I was going to make a scene" comment. That's just plain RUDE, and bordering on threatening-- just poor behavior by ANY decent person's definition.

And since most people posting here are die-hard HAL fans who dearly love the HAL crew, those people feel protective towards the hard-working crew and take such comments personally. I don't see anything wrong with that, IMHO.

[thomasale]

Joisy! :)

[JDOUGLEJ]

:cool: Not picking anybody apart. Everybody is entitled to their opinion. I just happen to think that people should not expect everything to be perfect on a large cruise ship. Regardless of which cruise line. Keep the right attitude and things seem to have way of coming out for the best. Minimize the negatives and accentuate the positives. Something like that, anyway. IS IT HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY:confused: KNOW WHAT I MEAN:rolleyes: I WOULD NEVER LET ANYTHING RUIN OUR CRUISE VACATION:) , AND GUESS WHAT? WE ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, HAVE A GREAT VACATION. Looking forward to the Noordam in March.

[Seago2]

Joisy! :)

LOL, you're going to get busted for that... :D

[Gerd]

Hello everybody,

You are all right; you will always find bellyacher on any corner of the world, so why not also on a Cruise-Ship.:mad:


On one of our cruise, on a 6 person dining room table, we had a very old and hard of hearing couple, and a barrater couple. They were really funny, because any, and really any piece brought to our table was wrong for them. Name it; to hot, to cold, not enough, wrong quality, again rules, and so on. They even mentioned that everything on the vessel was bad.

They finished up, to be served exclusively by the MaitreD. He did a marvelous job while trying to satisfy this couple – but it was obviously not possible !:confused:

But it was not only this, what really deranged Anna and myself. It was the added remark. After each complaint, they loudly mentioned, "….….. – as on each and every HAL cruise".

O.k. after a while, we understood the message, so I asked, "please tell me, how many Hal cruises you did already" ? Again the above-mentioned phrase, but surprisedly we learned, it was there 23 or something cruises on HAL !?!

This leaves me astonished.

After the next explosion, I was obliged to say "Because each and any HAL cruise is a fiasco for you, you must me either masochist or idiot to be again here.
So please tell me, why the hell you do not stop to book them ??? "





We asked, and got from the MaitreD a new table.

Holidays, and especially Hal cruises are for us a perfect manner to spent our vacation.
Ok, sometimes with small irritations – but nevertheless, we did have 9 marvelous Holland America Line Cruises !!!




Happy cruising

Anna and Gerd



Our marvelous cruises :

MS Ryndam – Wayfarer – March 1997
MS Noordam - Transatlantic Island Hook - April 2001
MS Volendam - Southern Caribbean - April 2002
MS Volendam - Westfarer Caribbean - April 2004
MS Prinsendam - Windmills & Waterford – September 2004
MS Westerdam - Western Caribbean - April 2005
MS Statendam - Hawaii Circle - September 2005
MS Rotterdam - Vikings and Czars – July 2006
MS Veendam - Southern Caribbean – March 2007

106 days - 29'683 Nm


Future Cruise :

=>> MS Volendam, April 1st 2008

http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10731;128/st/20080401/e/MS+Volendam%2C+Panama+Canal/dt/6/k/0b7b/event.png
(http://www.TickerFactory.com/)

[SDHALFAN]

On our first cruise we were seated with a tour group from Japan none of whom spoke english. We smiled and gestured and things were just ifne. When we would see them in port or around the ship they were very friendly. On the last night on woman spoke to us as their spokesperson in English and said they were happy to have met us and enjoyed sharing meals with us. It was very touching that she and the group made that effort. I don't expect my tablemates ot entertain me so I guess not speaking the same language is not a big issue for me.


Thank you so much for posting this because I was thinking to myself: I honestly would not mind being seated with tablemates who spoke a language other than my native tongue - English. I would see it as an opportunity to learn about them and their culture, even if we had to resort to sign language. It is always possible to point to something and say (for example) table, or waiter, or salad and then have them say it in their language. If all else fails then a warm smile knows no barriers.

I speak fairly fluent French but my Spanish is sadly lacking (and then some) but on a recent long cruise (GWV) I met this Spanish family from Madrid. The daughter spoke fairly good English but the others were less than fluent so I tried out my unbelievably awful Spanish on them (believe me, their English was better than my Spanish). They were so happy that I even tried and the father tried to tell me that my Spanish was good - oh what a sweet man, and so deluded:D . I am trying to learn some Indonesian and always ask the stewards on my various cruises to teach me a new phrase, as a result of which when I greet one of them I have never met before with a Selamat Pagi (good morning), for example, they are absolutely delighted that I have taken the time to learn their language.

We are all sharing the same world - we are different, of course, but that does not mean than we cannot embrace the differences and learn so much from them.

Valerie:)

[cruisinjudy]

VAlerie,
Great idea! I have an Indonesian neighbor. I will have to have her teach me a few words before our next cruise in February!

[SDHALFAN]

VAlerie,
Great idea! I have an Indonesian neighbor. I will have to have her teach me a few words before our next cruise in February!

Oh Judy, please do. Just ask her to teach you good morning and thank you, for example, because you have no idea how your Steward's face will light up in pleasure that you have taken the time to learn at least a few words in his language. Believe me he will appreciate your effort and you will have made yet another new friend.

Selamat malam and selamat tidur (goodnight and sleep well)*

Valerie:)

* my spelling may be off but I do know how to pronounce these words correctly;) .

[Copper10-8]

I make it a point to pick up some Indonesian words every cruise we go on. I just ask the guys "how do you say that in Indonesian" and ask them to write it down (got a lot of napkins;) ). Most of it really like it when you show some interest in their language and aim to please:

Here are some words Brian and I posted here a little more than a year ago. Also, Kakalina, is very proficient (much more than I) in the language!

Selemat pagi - Good morning
Selemat siang - Good day
Selemat sore - Good afternoon
Selemat malam - Good evening
Selamat tidur - Good night/sleep well
Makan - to eat
Minum - to drink
Terima kasih - Thank you
Terima kasih banyak - Thank you very much
Kembali - You're welcome
Silakan - Please
Apa kabar - How are you?
Bagaimana kabar anda? - How are you doing?
Kabar baik/Khabar bagoos - I'm good
Nama saya John - My name is John
Ini istri saya/suami saya - This is my wife/husband
Nama istri saya Maria - My wife's name is Maria
Saya cinta istri saya - I love my wife:)
Nama bapak siapa - What is your name?
Saya dari Inggris/Amerika Serikat - I'm from England/America
Saya orang Inggris/Amerika - I'm English/American
Sampai bertemu lagi - Goodbye
Siapa namamu? - What is your name?
Selamat Makan - Enjoy your meal
Enak sekali - Delicious
Sup dingin - The soup is cold;)
Palayang saya bagus baik - The waiter (DR steward) is very good!
Sampai jumpa/Sampai bertuma lagi - Goodbye
Selamat jalan - Bon voyage
Sampai jumpa besok - See you tomorrow, dude!
Sedikit saya - A little bit
Hari ini indah/cerah sekali - Today is a beautiful day
Kamu gila - You're crazy (always gets a response!)
Saya tidak gila hari ini - I'm not crazy today
Hati hati - watch out!
Saya Polisi - I am the police
Hati hati, saya tilang kamu - Watch out, I will write you a ticket
Jangan Ngebut kamu - Don't drive too fast
Angkat tanean - hands up
Toetoe Pinto - Close the door
Kamu bermasalah - You're trouble
Selamat Hari Natal - Merry Christmas
Selamat Tahun Baru - Happy New Year

[maxout]

Here's a little site where you can hear some of the phrases spoken.

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/indonesian/percakapan/indonesia7days/indo7days_fs.htm

[jtl513]

An interesting list, Copper! How about a pronunciation guide on a few of them I'd like to try for starters in 2 weeks:

Selemat malam - Good evening
Terima kasih banyak - Thank you very much
Silakan - Please
Sampai jumpa besok - See you tomorrow, dude!
Kamu bermasalah - You're trouble
Selamat Hari Natal - Merry Christmas

[maxout]

An interesting list, Copper! How about a pronunciation guide on a few of them I'd like to try for starters in 2 weeks:

Selemat malam - Good evening
Terima kasih banyak - Thank you very much
Silakan - Please
Sampai jumpa besok - See you tomorrow, dude!
Kamu bermasalah - You're trouble
Selamat Hari Natal - Merry Christmas

John, check my link above.

[jtl513]

Here's a little site where you can hear some of the phrases spoken.

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/indonesian/percakapan/indonesia7days/indo7days_fs.htm
Thanks for that! I got a couple of the ones I was asking Copper/John about.

[Palms2Pines2Sea]

John and Copper,

I think it would be great if you two would start a new thread with some of those same Indonesian phrases and the seasite link. What a nice thing to reach out to our hardworking crewmembers with words from their native tongue!
I'm sorry I didn't make the effort previously to learn a few key words and phrases for past HAL voyages. I surely will in the future! Thanks!

[jhannah]

Wow! Listening to the words being pronounced made me want to pick up a tray and find breakfast! Thanks for posting.

[osiebosie]

We wouldn't have minded sitting with our foreign neighbors so much except that they kept talking animatedly amongst themselves and laughing and so excluding us. They were a family of four, and obviously had no desire to try to communicate with us. We did try. DH is very outgoing, and was trying to say how much the son looked like the mother. It was a no go, though, and eventually he just became quiet (very odd for him) and we finished out meal and left.

Shay

[jhannah]

That's too bad, Shay. We've been lucky in this regard. Always have had very enjoyable tablemates. Were we ever in your situation, we would ask to be reseated elsewhere. Great dinner conversation with engaging fellow passengers is as much a part of cruising to me as everything else.

[lorekauf]

John and Copper,

I think it would be great if you two would start a new thread with some of those same Indonesian phrases and the seasite link. What a nice thing to reach out to our hardworking crewmembers with words from their native tongue!
I'm sorry I didn't make the effort previously to learn a few key words and phrases for past HAL voyages. I surely will in the future! Thanks!

I second that. Please do. Thanks.

[AWED23]

On my first cruise, back when, we were seated with two other families with children, at a table for 12. One family did not any speak English and my grasp of their language was not adequate for a conversation. The other family prayed continuously, thoroughout dinner and condemed alcohol and the debauchery, they perceived surrounded them in the dining room and on the ship. The nearest table was chock full of over-served, loud and demanding passengers, practicing their F-speak, in between inhaling multiple entrees, every night.

It struck me then how fate had put so many people with tremendous differences in close proximity for a relatively longer duration, than might otherwise occur. It was then I accepted when cruising I am sharing my vacation with 2000-3000 others and the only things certain is that some of the others will be quite different from me and I have no control over them.

I have since likened cruising to riding a subway, in NYC. You just never know and it's never going to be all about me. At some point, along the way, I am going to have to compromize some things and either sit back and enjoy the ride or be miserable.

I have enjoyed all my rides.:):D Well said hammybee but is it okay if I elect to take a taxi ???:)

[Seago2]

We wouldn't have minded sitting with our foreign neighbors so much except that they kept talking animatedly amongst themselves and laughing and so excluding us. They were a family of four, and obviously had no desire to try to communicate with us. We did try. DH is very outgoing, and was trying to say how much the son looked like the mother. It was a no go, though, and eventually he just became quiet (very odd for him) and we finished out meal and left.

Shay

That would be AWFUL. Seriously.

[Bouff]

This thread seems to have moved on somewhat but I would like to add my two pence worth (I'm a Brit!) to the original post.

I am a newcomer to cruising, sailing out of NY on the Noordam in October 2006 on our first cruise. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed excellent service on board.

As a consequence we booked our second cruise with HAL for this October on board the Volendam.

As has been posted on other threads the Volendam is a little tired but only what you would expect for a ship that is 8 years old and in virtually constant service. Nevertheless we had a wonderful time and again enjoyed excellent service and very tasty food. So much so that we have paid our $100 deposit for further HAL cruises, even though we don't know when or where - yet!

Next year we want to cruise to St Petersburg but the HAL schedules do not fit with ours! We are therefore considering X but I have to say I am a bit apprehensive!

I am so sorry that the OP had such a bad experience of HAL. These things are personal but the message seems to be so out of line with most people's experiences. I hope they can find what they want with another provider!

[AWED23]

Here's a little site where you can hear some of the phrases spoken.

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/indonesian/percakapan/indonesia7days/indo7days_fs.htm
:D Great site.....Thanks for posting it...Rob

[peterv]

I love all the posts jumping all over this women for being rude to the waiter.

If I understand the situation correctly, she wanted 3 lobster tails, the correct response from the waiter should have been "Yes Ma'am", not "I'll see what I can do."

Since when has there been a limit on the number of entrees you can order?

Since I did not actually hear the exchange I would also guess that her response was said in an offhand joking manner and not a threat in the least. However the waiter was completely in the wrong here.

Cheers.
Peter

[SmokinActuary]

I asked my waiter to get me 3 lobster tails...he said he would see if he could...I told him he had a choice...he could get it for me or we would have a scene...guess what?...he found three for me...


From the way this is written, it sounds as if the OP has the attitude problem, not the waiter.

[hammybee]

:D Well said hammybee but is it okay if I elect to take a taxi ???:)

I think you are going to have to graduate to Seaborn for taxi service. Even then, the driver may be a character, the AC may not work, street people, trying to earn a buck, may wash your windows and there could be a few bumps in the road. :)

[mmp13]

peter,

You may be correct in that the woman may have been joking around but, it became very apparent to us very quickly that our idea of humor might not be the same as our waiter. I really do think it is important to remember that on a cruise you are dealing with people from many cultures. At least I am hoping the woman was joking. We were very unhappy with our service on a recent hal cruise but we were also very aware of how sensitive our waiter seemed to be. We really tried not to hurt his feelings even when we finally had to complain. It was the service that was the problem not the person!

[drtee]

I love all the posts jumping all over this women for being rude to the waiter.

If I understand the situation correctly, she wanted 3 lobster tails, the correct response from the waiter should have been "Yes Ma'am", not "I'll see what I can do."

Since when has there been a limit on the number of entrees you can order?

Since I did not actually hear the exchange I would also guess that her response was said in an offhand joking manner and not a threat in the least. However the waiter was completely in the wrong here.

Cheers.
Peter

Well, if this was a late seating it is very possible that they may have been running out of lobster tails (especially if more people had ordered three!). If he had agreed that the would obtain them and then discovered that there were no more to be had, then she would have complained that he promised her lobsters and she'd better have them right now or else.

[drtee]

Hello everybody,

You are all right; you will always find bellyacher on any corner of the world, so why not also on a Cruise-Ship.:mad:


On one of our cruise, on a 6 person dining room table, we had a very old and hard of hearing couple, and a barrater couple. They were really funny, because any, and really any piece brought to our table was wrong for them. Name it; to hot, to cold, not enough, wrong quality, again rules, and so on. They even mentioned that everything on the vessel was bad.

They finished up, to be served exclusively by the MaitreD. He did a marvelous job while trying to satisfy this couple – but it was obviously not possible !:confused:

But it was not only this, what really deranged Anna and myself. It was the added remark. After each complaint, they loudly mentioned, "….….. – as on each and every HAL cruise".

O.k. after a while, we understood the message, so I asked, "please tell me, how many Hal cruises you did already" ? Again the above-mentioned phrase, but surprisedly we learned, it was there 23 or something cruises on HAL !?!

This leaves me astonished.

After the next explosion, I was obliged to say "Because each and any HAL cruise is a fiasco for you, you must me either masochist or idiot to be again here.
So please tell me, why the hell you do not stop to book them ??? "





We asked, and got from the MaitreD a new table.

Holidays, and especially Hal cruises are for us a perfect manner to spent our vacation.
Ok, sometimes with small irritations – but nevertheless, we did have 9 marvelous Holland America Line Cruises !!!




Happy cruising

Anna and Gerd



Our marvelous cruises :

MS Ryndam – Wayfarer – March 1997
MS Noordam - Transatlantic Island Hook - April 2001
MS Volendam - Southern Caribbean - April 2002
MS Volendam - Westfarer Caribbean - April 2004
MS Prinsendam - Windmills & Waterford – September 2004
MS Westerdam - Western Caribbean - April 2005
MS Statendam - Hawaii Circle - September 2005
MS Rotterdam - Vikings and Czars – July 2006
MS Veendam - Southern Caribbean – March 2007

106 days - 29'683 Nm


Future Cruise :

=>> MS Volendam, April 1st 2008

http://tickers.TickerFactory.com/ezt/d/4;10731;128/st/20080401/e/MS+Volendam%2C+Panama+Canal/dt/6/k/0b7b/event.png
(http://www.TickerFactory.com/)


I'm sorry I don't know--what is a barrater couple?

[CDRMark]

I love all the posts jumping all over this women for being rude to the waiter.

If I understand the situation correctly, she wanted 3 lobster tails, the correct response from the waiter should have been "Yes Ma'am", not "I'll see what I can do."

Since when has there been a limit on the number of entrees you can order?

Since I did not actually hear the exchange I would also guess that her response was said in an offhand joking manner and not a threat in the least. However the waiter was completely in the wrong here.

Cheers.
Peter
I did not hear the exchange either, but if the waiter had said "Yes ma'am" and the kitchen was lobsterless, hoo doogies imagine the scene.
Lobsters are in high demand. It is not a matter of "limiting entrees".
Cheers back atcha
Mark

[AWED23]

I think you are going to have to graduate to Seaborn for taxi service. Even then, the driver may be a character, the AC may not work, street people, trying to earn a buck, may wash your windows and there could be a few bumps in the road. :):D OK, maybe just a rinkshaw....And, I'll not go with Seaborn until they get their new ship built....The Prinsendam is my personal favorite.....Keep up the good humor, Rob.:)

[hammybee]

:D OK, maybe just a rinkshaw....And, I'll not go with Seaborn until they get their new ship built....The Prinsendam is my personal favorite.....Keep up the good humor, Rob.:)


You don't want to travel only on the ice, in circles, now do you? ;)

Everyone knows you gotta zig when you hit a zag. :)

[AWED23]

You don't want to travel only on the ice, in circles, now do you? ;)

Everyone knows you gotta zig when you hit a zag. :)
I am hoping to avoid most of the Zags.....But I will deal with them if I must.:cool: Now staying clear of the ice in '09 might require some old fashioned Zigging but I am sure that the Prinsendam is up to it....Say good night Gracie......:) Rob.....More GIN...

[SDHALFAN]

I love all the posts jumping all over this women for being rude to the waiter.

Since when has there been a limit on the number of entrees you can order?

Cheers.
Peter

Since the fact is that the ship was at sea and had only ordered a certain number of Lobster Tails (probably figuring that two per person would be an accurate count) - it's not as though they could run down to the local Sainsbury's and get some more for people who are piggish enough to order 3 or 4 apiece.

Valerie:) (former Brit by the way so "Cheers" right back at you!)

Edited to say that I also think that the OP has a definite "attitude problem". Lord, please don't seat me with her on a future cruise because, believe me, the outcome would not be pretty - OMG!.

[nchank]

I love all the posts jumping all over this women for being rude to the waiter.

If I understand the situation correctly, she wanted 3 lobster tails, the correct response from the waiter should have been "Yes Ma'am", not "I'll see what I can do."

Since when has there been a limit on the number of entrees you can order?

Since I did not actually hear the exchange I would also guess that her response was said in an offhand joking manner and not a threat in the least. However the waiter was completely in the wrong here.

Cheers.
Peter
The asking for the 3 tails was not rude, it was the making a scean statement that was rude.

[bepsf]

If I understand the situation correctly, she wanted 3 lobster tails, the correct response from the waiter should have been "Yes Ma'am", not "I'll see what I can do."

Actually, No - the waiter said the correct thing, per his training.
It's called "Managing Expectations": Underpromise and Overdeliver.

Remember that Lobster is served on last formal night - the waiter had obviously had to deal w/ her and her demanding nature for a week prior to this incident. If he had said "Yes Ma'am" and gone into the kitchen only to be told that they were running low on lobster and he could only have two for her, he'd have had to handle an angry, ill-tempered passenger who had "been promised" three or four tails.

The OP was in the wrong for demanding, then threatening the waiter. If it had been me she was dealing with - she wouldn't have been served dinner at all.

[willowoodf]

I'm sorry I don't know--what is a barrater couple?

Drtee - I think the word here is "berate" - to scold or condemn vehemently and at length. It sounds like it fits that couple to a "t"!

Mary

[osiebosie]

On our last formal night on the Maasdam, our lobster was delivered with steak: surf and turf. So the lobster portion was smaller. We all (four of us) ordered another lobster tail. The waiter did say to us he would see what he could do, not the usual ,"sure, comin' right up!" We did get another lobster tail.

Shay

[fcorey]

4,878 views and 105 replies to this post in about 24 hours! That's just amazing! If we could capture all this energy, we could wean ourselves from our dependence on imported oil!

are you including cruise ships which use oil by the ton??? ;)

[pipedreams62]

"We've GOT 174 Posts Can We Get 200"



http://www.wallacespalding.com/Auctioneer.gif

[WeLoveCruising]

Actually, No - the waiter said the correct thing, per his training.
It's called "Managing Expectations": Underpromise and Overdeliver.

Remember that Lobster is served on last formal night - the waiter had obviously had to deal w/ her and her demanding nature for a week prior to this incident. If he had said "Yes Ma'am" and gone into the kitchen only to be told that they were running low on lobster and he could only have two for her, he'd have had to handle an angry, ill-tempered passenger who had "been promised" three or four tails.

The OP was in the wrong for demanding, then threatening the waiter. If it had been me she was dealing with - she wouldn't have been served dinner at all.

I totally agree with Brian. If a waiter said that to me, my impression would be he was checking on availability, not willingness or policy to bring the addtional lobster.

I've also noticed, that be it language or culture, most HAL staff are pretty conservative in their speech ...."please let me check", "I'll look into it for you"...these are all pretty common responses and I dont think the intention is rude at all.

[terrydtx]

I just got off a 10 day cruise on the Volendam, and we ate lunch every day on the Lido and I only remember rotisserie chicken one day, I do remember the stuffed Veal roast, the Barron of beef carving station, the leg of lamb, the beef and chicken Asian dishes, the sushi, the Italian pasta, the baked and fried fish, different beef, turkey and yes chicken deli sandwiches and wraps and the best burgers ever on a cruise at the grill. . Our Volendam cruise was the best cruise my DW and I have been on to date. The food at ALL times was far superior to any other cruise, but again that is only my opinion. I have not been on the Noordam, but I can not imagine that the food on the Volendam could be that much different. I almost have to agree with earlier posters and think this OP either is rather picky, has a full time gourmet cook at home or is just a plant by a rival cruise line to put HAL down:eek:

[Seago2]

I've also noticed, that be it language or culture, most HAL staff are pretty conservative in their speech ...."please let me check", "I'll look into it for you"...these are all pretty common responses and I dont think the intention is rude at all.

That was my experience, also.

We can absolutely get to 200. Yes, we can.

[cnvh]

That was my experience, also.

We can absolutely get to 200. Yes, we can.

What happens when we get to 200???

[jtl513]

What happens when we get to 200???We get to try for 250, I guess! :D

[RevNeal]

What happens when we get to 200???

A bell rings and an angel gets her wings. :D ;)

[Golfette]

Nothing.

[pipedreams62]

What happens when we get to 200???


That this was the original poster:D


http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/51766647.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=E8AD80131F4169CCADB9B93261300BDF284831B75F48EF45

[RevNeal]

Nothing.

Not at all, Golfette. Chances are, if the thread makes it to 200 it will continue on for many more posts.

And, by the way, I did receive your e-mail from November 25th. If you would like to communicate, please send a functional email address to mine (the email address which you typed into the mac.com contact form came back as invalid).

[mamaofami]

Just reread the OP's original post. They also removed their tips from their account. I bet the staff was glad to see them leave!

Right now I'm feeling very happy they are from NJ and not NY.:D

[Seago2]

What happens when we get to 200???

WE get to add up all the time we've spent on this thread and then reflect on how behind we are in Christmas shopping, cleaning the house, paying bills, working, or what have you. Then we call a good therapist.

[RuthC]

Then we call a good therapist.
Better yet, fix a good, stiff drink! Bottoms up. :D

[RevNeal]

Better yet, fix a good, stiff drink! Bottoms up. :D

:)
Make mine a brandy and I'll join ya. :D

[Seago2]

:)
Make mine a brandy and I'll join ya. :D

Fadda, this is your busy season. What do you do to cope with the stress?

Can't say I'm under stress yet, but I have to make the final payment on this MSC cruise coming up and I'm thinking, "and I booked this now because WHY?"

[Jax6S]

People were seated with people who didn't speak the same language...how fun!

Just think about it...if you're bilingual but you're with your family, are you gonna speak your native tounge or the 2nd language?

Heck, I'm gonna speak my native tounge with my family unless I want to include you in the conversation.

[RevNeal]

Fadda, this is your busy season. What do you do to cope with the stress?

I love this time of the year. Yes, it's also a stressful time due to my full-to-overflowing schedule and there not being enough hours in a day to get everything done that I have on my plate. Add to that my mounting excitement about my up-coming South American cruise and it makes this a wild time of the year. The only downer is that this is my first Christmas since my Dad's death this last May, and my mother is having a very difficult time of it (so am I, for that matter).

[Seago2]

I love this time of the year. Yes, it's also a stressful time due to my full-to-overflowing schedule and there not being enough hours in a day to get everything done that I have on my plate. Add to that my mounting excitement about my up-coming South American cruise and it makes this a wild time of the year. The only downer is that this is my first Christmas since my Dad's death this last May, and my mother is having a very difficult time of it (so am I, for that matter).

Oh, I totally understand because my SIL lost her mother in August- she was a constant presence at every birthday party, Christmas party, and was with SIL all the time. It's very sad, especially for the kiddos. My DH lost his mother two years ago and she was the lynchpin of every family gathering, all the holiday organizing, etc. He is still getting over her death on a daily basis.

Sorry for your loss.

[SarasMommy]

Just think about it...if you're bilingual but you're with your family, are you gonna speak your native tounge or the 2nd language?

Heck, I'm gonna speak my native tounge with my family unless I want to include you in the conversation.

I have been with family members who have carried on a lengthy conversation in their native tongue (different from mine), even though they were bilingual.

I was overseas visiting one cousin who took me around the country for two weeks visiting all my aunts and uncles who didn't speak English. Then we made plans to visit some cousins who did. Before we arrived, my cousin commented that it will be nice for me to finally be around people who speak English, instead of having to listen to him translate everything for me. Instead, all my cousins proceeded to speak in their native language only! My host cousin tried several times to switch the conversation to English, but to no avail. Yes, I realize that I was the visitor in their country, but I felt very excluded. Let's just say I memorized every mark in the wall that day!

[jhannah]

If the OP was troubled sitting through dinner with those who spoke a different language ... I guess that means she never had kids! ;)

[mamaofami]

I love this time of the year. Yes, it's also a stressful time due to my full-to-overflowing schedule and there not being enough hours in a day to get everything done that I have on my plate. Add to that my mounting excitement about my up-coming South American cruise and it makes this a wild time of the year. The only downer is that this is my first Christmas since my Dad's death this last May, and my mother is having a very difficult time of it (so am I, for that matter).


Greg, as you probably tell people yourself, it takes a long time to get over the death of beloved family members. It's especially hard at holidays when their absence is particularily felt. When my two year old grandson was born two years ago this Saturday, he was named after my dad who had died 32 years ago. I had to speak about him and it started the mourning process all over again. Hang in there!

[Goofyisme]

If the OP was troubled sitting through dinner with those who spoke a different language ... I guess that means she never had kids! ;)

Great you made me laugh out loud

[Seago2]

I just wanted to say, that as we near the 200 mark (198 and countin'), that it has been really wonderful spending this holiday season with all of you. I think we have three "Never Agains," three "Always HALs," and about 40 "Love HAL along with other cruiselines, in fact, a day at sea is preferable to my miserable land-based existence, just wish I knew how to say 'May I have Some Grey Poupon' in Balinese, I was ok until she said that whole thing about causing a scene, pour me a brandy, The End-ers."

[RevNeal]

Greg, as you probably tell people yourself, it takes a long time to get over the death of beloved family members. It's especially hard at holidays when their absence is particularily felt. When my two year old grandson was born two years ago this Saturday, he was named after my dad who had died 32 years ago. I had to speak about him and it started the mourning process all over again. Hang in there!

Thank you Carol. It's hard, thus far, for me; Christmas has always been big for ur family and that was largely due to my Dad. Dad was big on decorating; he was also big on the family going to Church on Christmas Eve, etc., hence my mind will be continually going back to him in connection both to family events and also Church.

As hard as it is for me, it's even more difficult for my mother; I've had to stop trying to be her pastor and just be her son, and yet she refuses to seek professional help and just continues to spiral more deeply into depression. <sigh>

Again, thanks.

[Copper10-8]

What do I win?

[Seago2]

Sorry! You win, yes you do! What are you going to do with your winnings? Any idea how to get back your lost time?

[mamaofami]

A session with the CC addiction therapist!:D

[RevNeal]

Ding-a-ling .... an angel gets her wings!!! :D

[jtl513]

Ding-a-ling .... an angel gets her wings!!! :DWHO are you calling a ding-a-ling? :D

[Seago2]

WHO are you calling a ding-a-ling? :D

I agree! I paid for this cruise and I refuse to be called a ding-a-ling!

[RevNeal]

"ding-a-ling" ... it's the bell ringing!
Besides, at first I thought I was going to get to be the "ding-a-ling" :D

[pipedreams62]

We finally cracked 200 postings on this review. Good Job!

Lobsters for everyone!

https://www.livelob.com/lobstergram/images/high_resolution/item/just_the_lobsters250.jpg

[Seago2]

Ha ha very funny!

I see five lobsters. Any idea what the rest of the table is going to eat?

[papadave]

I appreciate the original poster going into such detail on her experience. The reason everyone is able to pick her apart is that she gave concrete examples of what she liked and disliked on this cruise. We can all weigh the importance of these particular items, but please consider that a specific list is much more helpful for future cruisers than a blanket statement about everything not meeting your expectations or about everything exceeding your expectations.

My family was on the Noordam in March. Was it perfect? No. Was it better than the original poster's cruise? I'm not sure. Reading her review I wouldn't hesitate to go on HAL again. I can't say the same for NCL.

[hammybee]

Ha ha very funny!

I see five lobsters. Any idea what the rest of the table is going to eat?

I do not eat shellfish, so you may have mine. :)

[HokiePoq]

Ha ha very funny!

I see five lobsters. Any idea what the rest of the table is going to eat?


Crabs!

[Fairport]

We had our cigarettes delivered from St. Martin along with the liquor. Please do not tell me I made up any part of this story.

Sonja

I havent read every post, so this may have been covered. In the original post she stated that they don't drink. So why the liquor and cigarattes delivered to their room, hmmm.

[hammybee]

I havent read every post, so this may have been covered. In the original post she stated that they don't drink. So why the liquor and cigarattes delivered to their room, hmmm.

Interesting observation.

I inferred this did not happen to the OP but rather other people:

Room steward woke up people at 7:30 a.m. the morning before the day we left to deliver the liquor and cigarettes people had purchased on board.

[pipedreams62]

Ha ha very funny!

I see five lobsters. Any idea what the rest of the table is going to eat?



Bread Pudding


http://www.saginaws.com/images/bread-pudding.jpg

[Seago2]

Bread Pudding


http://www.saginaws.com/images/bread-pudding.jpg

Unfair! I'm on ATKINS!

[pipedreams62]

I"m eating Atkins bars and drinking Atkins shakes,just so I can eat the bread Pudding in 4 weeks. Yes I know it sounds crazy:)

[Copper10-8]

Did the Rev just call me a ding-a-ling?:cool:

[RuthC]

Did the Rev just call me a ding-a-ling?:cool:
Oh, great. Now I can't get the song out of my head. :rolleyes:
Wanna play? :D

[RevNeal]

ding-a-ling rhymes with "wing"
ding-dong doesn't. :D

Context is everything.
Read the edit note from the pertinent post.

[Copper10-8]

ding-a-ling rhymes with "wing"
ding-dong doesn't. :D

Context is everything.
Read the edit note from the pertinent post.

You calling me a ding-dong now?:eek:

[Seago2]

I"m eating Atkins bars and drinking Atkins shakes,just so I can eat the bread Pudding in 4 weeks. Yes I know it sounds crazy:)

I'm on my fourth week of induction (ok, maybe a few more carbs). Everything is going SO WELL.

Until....

[pipedreams62]

I'm on my fourth week of induction (ok, maybe a few more carbs). Everything is going SO WELL.

Until....

I've been dipping my Atkins bars in Carmel and Hot fudge,so I'm not doing as well as you.

[jhannah]

You calling me a ding-dong now?:eek: Are you trying to pick a fight with Greg? Why, you ding-dong? :D

[RevNeal]

Are you trying to pick a fight with Greg? Why, you ding-dong? :D

Ding-dongs are yummy ...

http://www.freshchocodiles.com/images/hostess_ding_dongs_300w.jpg

... but I shouldn't eat them. In fact ... NO ONE should eat them. :D

[DesertDiva]

What about Hostess "Twinkie?" I heard that according to the preservatives that are added, that the Twinkie has an "eternal life." :p

Ding-dongs are yummy ...

http://www.freshchocodiles.com/images/hostess_ding_dongs_300w.jpg

... but I shouldn't eat them. In fact ... NO ONE should eat them. :D

[SarasMommy]

What about Hostess "Twinkie?" I heard that according to the preservatives that are added, that the Twinkie has an "eternal life." :p

Does that mean if I eat them, I will be able to cruise forever?;)

What was the original topic again? Rev, it looks like your little angel has taken on a life of her own!

[Copper10-8]

Are you trying to pick a fight with Greg? Why, you ding-dong? :D

Easy does it, cow tipper;)

[RevNeal]

Does that mean if I eat them, I will be able to cruise forever?;)

What was the original topic again? Rev, it looks like your little angel has taken on a life of her own!

LOL ... that does happen! Frankly, I find Hostess Twinkies and Hostess Ding-Dongs far more interesting (and tasty). It's just that they're too fattening (and they're definitely NOT on the Atkins diet plan, are they??). :D

[RevNeal]

What about Hostess "Twinkie?" I heard that according to the preservatives that are added, that the Twinkie has an "eternal life." :p

A twinkie left in it's packaging in the Great Pyramid of Giza, will last for 10,000 years. :) Well, at least for 30 years. (see HERE (http://www.answers.com/topic/twinkie))

[mamaofami]

Maybe King Tut ate them?

[Boston_Cruiser]

I have to say that I was on the exact same cruise as the OP and was thoroughly impressed with the staff and crew of the Noordam. No complaints whatsoever.

I guess to each his own.

[mamaofami]

Since we'll be on two months from yesterday(but who's counting) that's good to know!

[drtee]

A twinkie left in it's packaging in the Great Pyramid of Giza, will last for 10,000 years. :) Well, at least for 30 years. (see HERE (http://www.answers.com/topic/twinkie))

I know people want to believe this myth about the beloved/reviled Twinkie, but the truth is they have a shelf life of 25 days.

I check out all rumors before I spread them further at www.hoax.com or in this case http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/twinkies.asp

[RevNeal]

I know people want to believe this myth about the beloved/reviled Twinkie, but the truth is they have a shelf life of 25 days.

I check out all rumors before I spread them further at www.hoax.com or in this case http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/twinkies.asp

Yes yes yes ... I KNOW they have a shelf-life of 25 days. The company that makes them does that in hopes that people will buy more. Shelf-life does NOT equate to their lasting-power.

Did you check the link I gave in my post to a page on answers.com? I also used to believe every debunking on snopes.com -- and they're usually correct and I DO check it, often, when I get email myths, etc. -- however, sometimes (and note, I said sometimes) they're wrong or misleading. In this case, they are misleading. Click on the link I gave in my post before you answer.

Yes, they have a shelf-life of 25 days. This doesn't mean that they can't last a LOT longer than that ... as in 30 years. Yes, according to the article on answers.com which I linked in my post, a Twinkie survived for 30 years. That's not a hoax, nor is it an urban myth; that's a FACT.

In one small classroom experiment at George Stevens Academy, a single Twinkie, removed from all packaging, did not spoil for 30 years, although it became "rather brittle".[4]

[mamaofami]

But Greg, who would buy them because they liked them and still have them around 25 days later? They aren't chocolate, so I don't care for them, but if I did, they'd not last 25 days or longer here.:D

[RevNeal]

But Greg, who would buy them because they liked them and still have them around 25 days later? They aren't chocolate, so I don't care for them, but if I did, they'd not last 25 days or longer here.:D

hehehehe ... good point!

[cands]

What's happened to this thread?
It has been incredibly entertaining but now seems to have deteriorated to mindless dross. What a shame!

[NoNoNanette]

I know people want to believe this myth about the beloved/reviled Twinkie, but the truth is they have a shelf life of 25 days.

I check out all rumors before I spread them further at www.hoax.com (http://www.hoax.com) or in this case http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/twinkies.asp

Hey! Thanks for the heads-up on hoax.com. I'd never heard of it. (I too grow weary from over-circulated "urban legends".) :)

[drtee]

Yes yes yes ... I KNOW they have a shelf-life of 25 days. The company that makes them does that in hopes that people will buy more. Shelf-life does NOT equate to their lasting-power.

Did you check the link I gave in my post to a page on answers.com? I also used to believe every debunking on snopes.com -- and they're usually correct and I DO check it, often, when I get email myths, etc. -- however, sometimes (and note, I said sometimes) they're wrong or misleading. In this case, they are misleading. Click on the link I gave in my post before you answer.

Yes, they have a shelf-life of 25 days. This doesn't mean that they can't last a LOT longer than that ... as in 30 years. Yes, according to the article on answers.com which I linked in my post, a Twinkie survived for 30 years. That's not a hoax, nor is it an urban myth; that's a FACT.

Well, I don't know if it's a fact or not. Just because it's written somewhere doesn't prove it. And if you follow all the links you'll see that the Twinkie was moldy and brittle. I don't know many people who would eat it.

Regardless, the lasting power of the Twinkie (One wouldn't last a minute around me) isn't that telling. I think honey, which is as natural as can be, is supposedly the longest surviving of foods. Didnt' they find some in Egyptian tombs that was still edible? (Don't ask me for the source on that--I just heard it or read it somewhere--so maybe it's not true!).

Anyway, I'm just sticking up for the Twinkie. YUM.

[drtee]

What's happened to this thread?
It has been incredibly entertaining but now seems to have deteriorated to mindless dross. What a shame!

TWINKIE DEFENSE!!

[toodycat]

Sorry you were disappointed. We were just on the Noordam to Alaska in August and my folks just returned from the Noordam's Caribbean cruise out of NY that returned the day you departed. We both had excellent experiences, so I am surprised to hear things went so badly. Our experience was different in that we love the Lido for the fruits, yummy pastas and the daily selection of fish. Also, you have to love Rudy, the juice guy in the morning. He remembered my preference for grapefruit juice. I also thought the crew there was a lot of fun. It's going to be a while before I forget them playing an air guitar version "Satisfaction" by the Stones while serving. I don't think any of us ever looked for chocolate milk or chocolate ice cream so I can't respond to that.

Yes, the Pinnacle was excellent. I thought it was $30 well-spent. My halibut and king crab leg entree was off-the-hook!

The internet manager should NOT have been rude, but I don't see how management could have known you are teetotalers or diabetic.

The food availability between the end of dinner and the beginning of the midnight buffet is a little weird. We ate so much at dinner that we didn't really notice. Sometimes our son got a bit peckish and we took him to the late buffet as soon as it was available. But, also there was always a generous selection of fresh fruit in our room. Bambang, our steward, got our preferences the first day and kept us well-stocked.

As for room service, we only used it once but found eating pasta primavera and salmon on our balcony and watching the scenery a lovely experience.

When you say a mini-suite---Princess's term---, do you mean an SS or SZ or SY? We had an SS and stretched width-wise across the bed to watch TV. I could see how that would be awkward if you like to watch TV as you are falling asleep. But I'm no fan of the Princess mini-suite two TV configuration either.

I really love HAL so I'm sad that they've lost a customer. Maybe you should write to management in Seattle and let them know about your experience?
Could they give you a discount big enough to entice you to try again?

[cands]

TWINKIE DEFENSE!!

Not being from the USA, I don't even know what a Twinkie is!;) (except in a slang sense which I'm sure would never be used in this forum).

Okay, I just googled Twinkie and up came the info. It even describe Twinkie Defense! Well, you learn something new every day. Very witty!

[iancal]

We live in Canada and usually plan at least a two day pre cruise. Going in Jan. Given where the US dollar is, we are going three days in advance and spending one post cruise day shopping (at least my spouse is). We typically have to change plans BUT we don't take any of this Chicago, Toronto, or Denver business. Always book with AA or Continental so we can fly immediately south. Thought last Dec we had to reroute from AA to Contintal because DFW was closed-ice/snow. I just cannot imaging flying the day of the cruise if you are flying from a location that is prone to bad weather or if you have to change planes at a major hub that has the same issue. We like winding down prior to the cruise. We NEVER use cruise line hotel offerings. They are about forty percent higher than internet or walk in rate.

[jhannah]

http://www.hostesscakes.com/images/box_twinkies.jpg

(Will this cause me to be branded a "Twinkie Cheerleader?") ;)

[MomC]

It never ceases to amaze me that some people actually think it matters to the rest of the cruise world if they didn't enjoy the experience. HAL will not fold if one client dislikes the sailing experience--so, get over yourself. And to all of you who seem to want to argue the merits of HAL, remember that each of us is different. I would never want to sail on Carnival--in fact, I discourage people from going on it, BUT, it is the most popular cruise line going. So there is something for everyone--but then no one truly cares what I think.

Let's allow this particular thread to DIE--I am tired of seeing it each time I log on. I love HAL and want to read e mails from others who are like minded.

Mom C

[pmatch]

What's happened to this thread?
It has been incredibly entertaining but now seems to have deteriorated to mindless dross. What a shame!

I agree....I was reading this thread in it's infancy...is this what happens to most threads?

[Seago2]

What's happened to this thread?
It has been incredibly entertaining but now seems to have deteriorated to mindless dross. What a shame!

A shame???? Don't you like "It's a Wonderful Life"?

[cands]

A shame???? Don't you like "It's a Wonderful Life"?

"An angel gets her wings" ????
I had to search back a few pages. (must have nodded off while reading them the first time;) )

Yes, we love that film in Australia. Every Christmas we snuggle around the air conditioner to watch it, chilling marshmallows while it's 100 degrees plus outside.

Okay, now I'm definitely guilty of adding to the off-topic content of this thread:o .

Steve.

[RevNeal]

Well, I don't know if it's a fact or not. Just because it's written somewhere doesn't prove it. And if you follow all the links you'll see that the Twinkie was moldy and brittle. I don't know many people who would eat it.

Regardless, the lasting power of the Twinkie (One wouldn't last a minute around me) isn't that telling. I think honey, which is as natural as can be, is supposedly the longest surviving of foods. Didnt' they find some in Egyptian tombs that was still edible? (Don't ask me for the source on that--I just heard it or read it somewhere--so maybe it's not true!).

Anyway, I'm just sticking up for the Twinkie. YUM.

LOL ... agreed! :D

[Seago2]

"An angel gets her wings" ????
I had to search back a few pages. (must have nodded off while reading them the first time;) )

Yes, we love that film in Australia. Every Christmas we snuggle around the air conditioner to watch it, chilling marshmallows while it's 100 degrees plus outside.

Okay, now I'm definitely guilty of adding to the off-topic content of this thread:o .

Steve.

Oh, you're much better off than I am- it's 29 degrees out Fahrenheit, misting snow, the streets are slick, and it was a very grey day today.:(

[RevNeal]

I agree....I was reading this thread in it's infancy...is this what happens to most threads?

These threads do, often, drift around quite a bit ... hopefully with nice, light-hearted banter.