HAL no longer offering duplicate sanctioned bridge play on cruises less than 30 days.

I was terribly disappointed to learn that there will be no bridge program on our 17 day cruise to Hawaii on the Eurodam. With 11 sea days I was sure I'd be able to enjoy playing bridge. I hope they will reverse this very bad policy as very few of HAL's cruises are 30+ days. Having a bridge director on board costs HAL just the cost of a free cruise and there are many of us folks who enjoy playing competitive bridge who will be very disappointed. Am I the only one who cares? If not, let HAL know!

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My friend is a certified something or other with regard to duplicate bridge and she had been talking about how cruise lines have stopped supporting it for years.

Everything has a cost and every cost must be the very best way to use the associated money otherwise the cruise line is being foolish.

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Over the last few years, we noticed that many of our 21 day cruises only had bridge playing on your own. No director was in charge.

I have let them know my disappointment with this change. The new policy began this year.

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I seemed to remember reading about this years ago. Checking the archives I found THIS which indicates that a decade ago it was limited to 14+ day cruises only, and THIS which indicates that at that time they were getting ready to cut it down further to 21+ day cruises only. The changes are reflecting (and actually, trailing by years) a change in the overall interest in all forms of contract bridge.

We were on the Zuiderdam transatlantic crossing in April, 2017 from Fort Lauderdale to Copenhagen. There was no organized bridge either duplicate or social. Passengers organized their own bridge, and the cruise director found cards, boards and bid boxes. It took a couple of days to get organized. We played in a section of the upper level main dining room. The meeting rooms were being used by a mountain music tour group. The mahjong players had to find their own space, but there were several mahjong sets on board. The bridge players in the main dining room had to finish by about 3 PM so staff could set up for 1st dinner service.

This has been the practice for many years. Unlike six star lines, HAL does not provide this service. I suppose one might suggest you get what you pay for.

harry

I don't really miss bridge on cruises. I have friends who direct on cruise ships--Cunard and Oceania. I guess people who want to play in an organized game will have to shift over to those lines or take one of the cruises with an organized group. The Bridge Bulletin always advertises several of these each month. The ACBL has two Regionals at Sea scheduled for next year. The February one is more affordable than the November one since it's on a Royal Caribbean ship versus a Crystal one.

We had a pretty comprehensive discussion about this last fall.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2426221

Anyone for Bridge on Zaandam 15th Dec from Santiago to Buenos Aires? Surely we can sqeeze a bit of bridge on those sea days. I play Acol in some English Bridge clubs. Would love to meet up with other Bridge players. My husband can also play so could make up a fourth if needed. maybe find a quiet spot on the ship:)

Anyone for Bridge on Zaandam 15th Dec from Santiago to Buenos Aires? Surely we can sqeeze a bit of bridge on those sea days. I play Acol in some English Bridge clubs. Would love to meet up with other Bridge players. My husband can also play so could make up a fourth if needed. maybe find a quiet spot on the ship:)

You might want to post this on the roll call thread for your cruise. That is the place to meet others who will be on the same cruise you are.

I was terribly disappointed to learn that there will be no bridge program on our 17 day cruise to Hawaii on the Eurodam. With 11 sea days I was sure I'd be able to enjoy playing bridge. I hope they will reverse this very bad policy as very few of HAL's cruises are 30+ days. Having a bridge director on board costs HAL just the cost of a free cruise and there are many of us folks who enjoy playing competitive bridge who will be very disappointed. Am I the only one who cares? If not, let HAL know!

 

 

 

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Hi all,

I enjoy playing Duplicate bridge on sea days and take this into account when booking cruises. Last cruise was with Oceania with a bridge director and next cruise with HA is 31 days on Maasdam and expecting a cruise director. The cost to cruise line if cabins not fully booked immaterial therefore a policy of over 30 days is in my view 'not smart' and will cost them passengers.

We should start a list of things that got better for profit and worse for customers because the provider now has and uses data to manage their business instead of gut feel.

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It is not just on HAL, but there are plenty of other lines who have eliminated Bridge Director's from most cruisers. Look at it from the cruise line's point of view. A Bridge Director generally cruises for free and takes a cabin out of inventory. And the organized Duplicate games do not generate on board revenue. These days the big goal is to maximize onboard revenue so the lines look towards activities that contribute to the bottom line. Hence we see more Bingo, Art Auctions, alternative restaurants, etc. We recently did a last minute 10 days cruise on the Regal Princess. That particular cruise is not a very popular itinerary (its a repo from the Northeast to Florida with only 3 ports in 10 days) so Princess works at filling the ship. They really promote the voyage towards gamblers....some of whom pay near nothing for their cabin. But those folks really did pack the casino (night and day) and generate a healthy on board profit (the Casino always wins). Take some of those folks out of the casino and put them in a decent Duplicate game and they are generating nothing....and even expect free coffee :). Giving the Bridge Director's cabin to a gambler is a win-win for the cruise line.

On HAL you can see other ways in which they have freed-up cabins to earn more revenue. Quartets have become Duets, 7 piece bands have become 5 piece bands, Cruise Director Staff have been reduced, etc. If you take a good look at RCI's massive Oasis Class ships, those vessels have been carefully designed to produce on board revenue (and they are very successful). We think that this is a real problem for HAL, who often attracts older cruisers who go to bed early (they are not up late drinking booze, gambling, etc), no longer feel the need to buy tons of photos, don't shop (in the on board shops) to the extent of younger cruisers, etc. One Senior Officer told us that HAL cruisers have already "done it all" and no longer need to spend money :). Think back 25 years to when on board Bingo was simply a fun game (along with the horse races) that involved low cost tickets, some decent prizes, and very little revenue for HAL. Now, BINGO has been turned into a nice profit center with high prices, colorful promotions, and relatively lousy prizes. It is the same with Trivia. We remember when prizes might be a bottle of decent Champagne, nice coffee mugs (we still have some excellent mugs we won on Princess), etc. Now you are lucky if you get a lousy prize.

HAL continues to look for ways to cut their onboard costs and increase revenue. And we old HAL cruisers are a real tough nut to crack :).

Hank

This has been the practice for many years. Unlike six star lines, HAL does not provide this service. I suppose one might suggest you get what you pay for.

 

harry

You are exactly right . We do both and the difference is big. We will book a ocean view on six stars for same price as neptune suite . When you figure in all the extras you do not have to pay for it work out

You are exactly right . We do both and the difference is big. We will book a ocean view on six stars for same price as neptune suite . When you figure in all the extras you do not have to pay for it work out

And you have done a great job explaining our own personal philosophy. Many home buyers understand that its not often a wise investment to own the most expensive home in a neighborhood. Likewise, we have long had problems spending the really big bucks for a large suite on a mass market line. We generally spend no more then 3 waking hours in our cabin and having a suite means little unless you are awake and in the cabin. And even the biggest suite folks get the same food (on most lines), entertainment, and ship as those in the cheapest inside cabins. So when we decide to spend lots per passenger day we look to the high end luxury lines where are money gets us more then a few extra square feet. We would rather have a normal cabin (which are still very large) on an upscale line...then the largest cabin on a mass market cruise line. But each to their own.

Hank

Holland America does indeed offer a bridge cruise. My wife and I are going on the HAL Koningsdam on January 23 round trip 11 days round trip out of Ft. Lauderdale to the Caribbean.

17 minutes ago, jevans9772 said:

Holland America does indeed offer a bridge cruise. My wife and I are going on the HAL Koningsdam on January 23 round trip 11 days round trip out of Ft. Lauderdale to the Caribbean.

It might be interesting to see how this plays out. My wife and I just did a TA on the Oo. We had to deal with a "Bridge Group". I large number of us had been playing Mah Jongg on the previous leg and were displaced by the "Bridge Group". We,"the Mah Jongg group" found that the "Bridge Group" had no official standings. They came on board, brought there lessons and competion to the game rooms and demanded a blessing. The activities people had no knowledge of their existence and the front desk insisted that the game rooms had no reservation and were first come first serve. A Mah Jongg Vs Bridge head butting ensued. We deferred and retired to the screaming wine sales pitch in the MDR.

If you want a bridge lesson in the morning, and a directed

game in the afternoon sail on Crystal or Regent.

😏