Hunky Dory named as HAL Employee of the year

We just got in from the Oosterdam today. Many of you have probably met Hunky Dory. He was named HAL EOY for all HAL ships. How terrific !!! He deserves it. He was running the elevator today during debarkation.

We just got in from the Oosterdam today. Many of you have probably met Hunky Dory. He was named HAL EOY for all HAL ships. How terrific !!! He deserves it. He was running the elevator today during debarkation.

He certainly personifies the ideal employee with his warm smile, friendly greeting, and people skills. It's not an easy job to be pleasant and efficient and to deal with the broad spectrum of travelers out there today and their varied expectations.

Good for him and good for HAL for having such a great ambassador for their line.

A great big congratulations to Hunky Dory! He must be beaming to have garnered this award.

Fantastic! He's earned the honor!

We thought he was great when we were on Oosterdam this past April...I just wish I even had a little bit of his memory for names.... a very deserving honor...not only does he remember everyones name, but he is so considerably considerate and makes one feel truly special... DB

YAY!!! What great news. He sure is deserving!

We met Hunky Dory on the Zuiderdam in 2005, and there were 6 of us traveling together. Whenever he'd spot one or two of us, he'd greet us by name -- and then ask where the other 4 or 5 people were -- all by name!

We still talk about him as one of our fond memories of that cruise.

DD's in-laws recently cruised on the Oosterdam and when they came home, they had tales of Hunky Dory as well -- and were surprised that my DD and SIL had already met up with him on the Zuiderdam.

I hope this means a great big BONUS!

I hope this means a great big BONUS!

But I'm confused. On November 17th, Veendam Captain Albert Schoonderbeek noted in his blog that the EOY "...is our ships printer, Mr. Balthasar Rafales." The blog contains a photo of Balt and the Captain.

So what's the deal with Hunky Dory?

I was wondering the same thing, Jim.:confused:

I was onboard when Balthasar (the printer on the Veendam) received his award and $5000. check. Capt. Albert said he was the Employee of the Year---only one is handed out and he felt honored that he was on his ship.

Strange!

Well I do hope H.D. got acheck for $5000.00 as well. I am sure it would mean a lot!

I cannot see two individuals getting EOY in such a short time span. Something's not computing here. Could Hunky Dory have been named Employee of the Month on the Oosterdam?

This could not have happened to a more deserving person....we were so amazed at his ability to remember each persons name after only meeting them one time....Congratulations to Hunky Dory!!

Was HD maybe the EOMonth onboard the OS?

We were told on the Oosterdam that he (Hunky Dory) was Employee of the Year for all the HAL ships and were also told how lucky it was to have him on our ship.

He is a great guy. Met him on the Zuiderdam in 2005.

I agree with Jim and others there has to be some confusion. Captain Albert was very clear in his blog that the Veendam printer had been named Employee of the Year for all HAL ships. There can be only one.

More than likely, Hunky Dory is Employee of the Month on the Oosterdam which is still to be commended and I'm thrilled for him. On our cruise last week on the Veendam they also featured the Employee of the Month and made quite a deal of introducing her (sorry, can't remember the name).

Captain was very excited about it and even posted pictures of the event so I feel I have to go with that source. This is just some sort of misunderstanding, I'd say.

Perhaps Lisa and Tom will find out this week while they're on the Oosterdam :confused:

Employee of the Month is now introduced at the Captain's Welcome Aboard Toast on Maasdam and I think probably most of the ships. He was very proud to stand on the stage and be recognized and we were delighted to see him up there. Captain Draper made a lovely introduction of him.

Hunky Dory sarted the whole 'copycat' thing about trying to remember as many guests' names as possible. He does an admirable job of remembering many. We find it fun there are now some other stewards doing the same and it's nice they make the effort IMO

We've known Hunk from way back when he first started this friendly effort..... sometimes he remembers our names; sometimes not. :D

I'm copying here from Captain Albert's blog because he explains the awards in more detail.

Today I had something special on my hands, something I had not experienced in my 26 years with Holland America. The Veendam has the employee of the year on board, or better said the recipient of the Presidents Leadership Award. As I explained in one of my earlier blogs; the company has several ways of recognizing crew for outstanding performance. The selection of the employee of the month is the best known one. However the President and CEO of the company Mr. Stein Kruse also selects once a year three employees who will receive the Presidents Leadership Award. One award goes to the fleet, one award to a person in the office and one award to a person in Holland America Tours, the latter being the hotels, the buses, the trains etc etc.

With 13 ships and two more coming, there are over 9000 employees at sea. Thus it is a great honor if you are the employee chosen to receive this honor. Everybody can make suggestions to the office and bring candidates forward. A committee of wise men and women read the motivations and arguments that go with each nomination and then a final selection is made.

The recipient receives a company pin with 10 precious stones, a engraved glass plaque, the congratulatory letter from the President and a cheque of $ 5000,— The latter is normally the most appreciated. It is then up to the ships captain to make the appropriate recognition and to ensure that the crewmember is duly recognized. As you can understand I am very happy to have the employee of the year on board. I consider TEAM Veendam the best crew in the fleet and now having the EOY on board gives that argument a considerable bit more weight.

The employee of the year is our ships printer, Mr. Balthasar Rafales. The printer has a job that unfolds fully behind the scenes. It is a one mans job, except for on the world cruise when there are two. If this man falls ill, half the communication to the guests come to a grinding halt, as nothing gets printed anymore and stop gaps have to be made by using copy machines. When I just started sailing in 1981, I once worked a few days as the ship printer, as it turned out that I was the only one who could read in mirror and could operate a Heidelberg printing machine. I had just learned that the weeks before from the real ships printer as I had been fascinated by that old fashioned machine; that still printed with lead characters. Because of that only just acquired skill I was quite the bees-knees for a while with Hotel manager and Purser hovering around making sure that I was oke and not falling ill as well. So I know from past experience that the printer has a very vital job on board as a cruise ship operation relies on proper communication a lot via printed matter.

I presented Balthasar, who goes by the name of Balt here on board, his reward during the disembarkation talk when we had the crew farewell. As expected he received a standing ovation from our guests and caused a lot of envious eyes from the whole TEAM Veendam behind him on the stage, when the $ 5000 cheque was presented. Balt is a very worthy recipient as he is always doing a job that ranks under the 125% header and he is capable to anticipate problems arising and correct them and ring the bell when print requests are coming to his shop that are incomplete or do not make sense.

Congratulations to Balt. I have added a section under the My Ship page with a post about Balt in more detail.

 

We've known Hunk from way back when he first started this friendly effort..... sometimes he remembers our names; sometimes not. :D

 

Sorry..... I just saw my typo on "Hunky's" name and it was too late to edit. :)

I hope this means a great big BONUS!

Toad...... :)

I think he probably gets lots of bonuses every week with additional tips from folks who appreciate his recognizing and interacting with them. I've seen a number of folks extend an extra tip or two. Good for them!

Good for Hunky Dory! Btw, there seem to be some Hunky Dory copycats at the head of the Lido buffet line on the other dam ships handing out trays, saucers and silverwear. Anybody else notice that? We had one on Rotterdam in September.

Also:

1. Anybody have a pic of the real Hunky Dory they can post here?

2. Anyone of the recent Oosterdam cruisers know how much longer HD is going to be onboard?

Sorry about all them questions. I seem to be in a "inquiring minds want to know" type of mood:eek:

Yes, John.......there are 'copycats'. That is what I was referring to in my post. We've sailed with the real HD a number of times and then others tried to pass themselves off to me as the original.... :D Didn't work. There's a fellow named "Sly" who has started the same fun game of trying to learn as many names as possible. There's another well known fellow and his name escapes me right now.

Sorry.....no picture to post. Wish I did.

Yes, John.......there are 'copycats'. That is what I was referring to in my post. We've sailed with the real HD a number of times and then others tried to pass themselves off to me as the original.... :D Didn't work. There's a fellow named "Sly" who has started the same fun game of trying to learn as many names as possible. There's another well known fellow and his name escapes me right now.

 

Sorry.....no picture to post. Wish I did.

 

Burt Reynolds?

Burt Reynolds?

Burt's good. He remembered my name during my first Noordam cruise. Then, when I returned ten months later, he recognized me immediately---although he didn't remember my name without prompting.

He's really nice to meet up with in the morning when I haven't had my coffee yet. ;)