HAL has great service!

[cruisin4thedeepblue]

:) We have sailed Hal many times and love the fantastic service you get from the wonderful crew. We have sailed (3) times on (3) different ships with an incredible guy named Alwyn. He is now a Wine Steward onboard the Rotterdamn. We still keep in contact from time to time. For thos of you who will be sailing on the Rotterdam please find him and order lots of wine!:D He is trying to become a Master.
Also tell him Danny & Rita from Ohio ( he calls us Mom & Dad from Ohio!) says hello and keep up the great work!:)

Next cruise ..Noordam Dec 7th, 2008
Great to be back with Hal!:p

[May4]

I'll second that! The service aboard the ships of Holland America is, in a word, fantastic.

I'll be on the Rotterdam in November. I wonder if I'll have a chance to meet your wonderful "son" and wine steward.
Maybe.:)

[cruisin4thedeepblue]

I would be proud to actually have him as a son!;)
Alwyn said he is taking his vacation Sept 17th. I think he will be gone at least 2 months or more. He has not written back to let me know how long he will be gone.
We have been on 5 Hal ships and have really never encountered a service problem. Always treated so terrific. They remember your name and really want to make sure you are enjoying yourself. We first met Alwyn on the Zaandam in 2002. He was working the Ocean Bar. He was a lot of fun, made us so many flowers and sketched us a drawing and of course painted up a dutch white ladies hat. Saw him again in 2004 on the Volendam. Read a message on cruise critic where someone was raving about a crew member on the Volendam. Turned out to be Alwyn. So we surprised him onboard and he remembered us!
Last time was 2006 on the Oosterdam. We did not know he was onboard. Saw him like 2 days into the cruise. He was working the nightclub. Had such a great time spending time in the club with him and his other "Mom and Dad" from Texas! not sure why he calls us that..but it's cute.:p
I could go on and on...sorry
Here is one of the hats

[hammybee]

I think it's great when passengers name names. I hope someone provides Alwyn with a link to this thread. Imagine how tickled he and his family would be to read this.

It also says a lot about the OP. :)

[sail7seas]

What a nice way you have displayed your painted hat. We have a collection of them and some are so beautifully done I'd love to display them but can't find a wonderful way to show them off. It is rare to see them made and presented anymore. We used to receive a number of them on every cruise. Miss getting them as they were such a lovely signature of HAL crews.

[cruisin4thedeepblue]

What a nice way you have displayed your painted hat. We have a collection of them and some are so beautifully done I'd love to display them but can't find a wonderful way to show them off. It is rare to see them made and presented anymore. We used to receive a number of them on every cruise. Miss getting them as they were such a lovely signature of HAL crews.



Thanks, they are beautiful! Did they do away with giving them out? We have not been on HAL since 2006.
We have had the pleasure of meeting and really enjoying so many wonderful crew members from all over the world as I am sure eveyone on this board has. We have as much fun if not more with the crew as with fellow passengers.
Alwyn tho is the only one we have had the pleasure to see more than once. Destiny has taken a hand it seems!:)

Hammybee...
Thanks so much...I think the crew does such a great job most of the time and we love getting to know them and remembering their names like they remember ours! HALs crew to us is a step above the other lines we have sailed.;)

[Krazy Kruizers]

cruisin4thedeepblue

Oh we do miss getting those wonderful peronalized Dutch hats. We have lots of them from various crew members that we knew on previous cruises. Right now all of mine are in scrap books.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I do have to say that we have had wonderful service on 99.9% of our cruises. Remember -- not everyone is perfect.