iceman93

"'He really is focused on who is the target market for each brand, who is the customer, how do we market to them, how do we sell the product effectively, how do we elevate the guest experience." I'd love to see their definition of the target market for each brand. Just as an example, I was very surprised when a friend of mine went to work for Princess (in the group that developed the medallion) and told me Princess was explicitly above HAL in the CCL pecking order in terms of prestige and sophistication.

The Navigator app is clunky and sputters sometimes, but is useful on board and overall I consider it a plus for the cruising experience. VeriFly is extremely clunky and a total pain in the neck to get everything input and accepted. That being said, when boarding in Sydney last month having the VeriFly green check marks on my phone made embarkation a breeze especially compared to the many, many, many people I saw in the "no VeriFly" lanes having to go over all their documents one by one with a live person.

Thanks for going to the source, Mark! We were on the cruise just before the dry dock and didn't ask too many questions on board, but were told that the Neptune Lounge is getting completely remodeled to make it more like the one on the Pinnacle-class ships.

I agree with you @AFNavigator, but maybe it's just because we've both got Air Force in our blood! The cruise director on our NS cruise last summer (a petite Asian lady) was all smiles and shmarmy, but offered little in terms of activity planning or hosting. We would have appreciated more of the fun, casual activities like the newlywed vs. oldywed game. As for karaoke, I agree with @RuthC that I haven't seen it on HAL in a long time. Honestly, I think the problem is that on a multi-day cruise you end up with just a few people who monopolize the karaoke (and who usually aren't as talented as they think they are, driving everyone else away). If they could figure out a way to "spread the wealth" a bit and get more people to participate, it could indeed be a fun addition to the daily program.

A bottle of Louis XIII.

As an adult who travels with my children on HAL cruises, I actually agree with you--I think the Retreat should be one of the few adults-only areas on the ship. This is one area where Disney excels, as their adults-only areas are both clearly marked and firmly enforced. But I will point out that one of the recent controversies regarding retreat cabanas, the main offender was an adult (at least by age) who was blasting music that disturbed other guests, so even an adults-only designation will not eliminate problems or HAL's need (apparently unfulfilled) to enforce the rules.

I just wanted to add that I'm not advising you to put on a happy face, forget about this, and sing a little tune. You have every right to be upset and, if HAL doesn't resolve things to your satisfaction, never to sail HAL again. But you do have a choice regarding your attitude regarding everything else on the voyage.

That's not exactly what I suggested, but I would counter that it is helpful advice anyway (and advice can be either taken or ignored, so no need to be snippy). You are now allowing this one thing to ruin your entire vacation. That's your choice--it's your money and time with your family. But it is what it is, and pouting or stewing (or complaining on CC) isn't going to change anything. So you can accept it and make the best of the situation, trying to salvage some semblance of a good time, or just focus on the issue and be miserable. It is 100% your choice.

I understand your disappointment, @lagirlforjesus. The family cabana was obviously important to you, and to have it snatched away at the last second under unknown circumstances is certainly frustrating (to say the least). One possibility that hasn't been mentioned yet is that the family cabana may have been taken out of service for some reason (like maintenance). In any case, I think HAL should have offered some kind of compensation for the inconvenience or, ideally, called you to explain in person that the cabana was no longer available and to discuss options that would work to make things right (or at least as right as they could). My final piece of advice, though, is to try your hardest not to let this ruin your cruise. The situation sucks, no doubt, but try to put that behind you. How you approach things from here is all up to your attitude, and if all you focus on is disappointment then that's the way the rest of the cruise is going to go. Try to make the best of a bad situation, and focus on all the other wonderful aspects of traveling together as a family--you can still have a great vacation!

This is a fascinating thread, so thanks to the OP for starting it. My most recent experience was on the NS where we felt the MDR was a bit of a chaotic mess. We always do fixed late dining and are in the "prefer to dine leisurely" camp. We told our waiters that, but they just seemed to have so many tables to take care of that they were always rushing, including serving our food faster than we preferred. Luckily we had access to the Club Orange dining room, which, after we tried for dinner as an experiment, became our go-to spot. In there we got the unhurried, gracious, and relaxing service that we used to expect in the MDR. But, as others in this thread have mentioned, the dinners we used to really enjoy with live strings providing background music and other elegant touches are most likely nothing but memories anymore. I'm glad to hear that others have found the Lido has stepped up their dinner service. While I'm not quite ready to give that a shot yet, it's good to know the service is elevated from the lunch buffet. We're sailing on the Westerdam in a couple of weeks and, since there is no Club Orange, we're really hoping for good MDR dinner experiences. If not, maybe we'll have to give the Lido a try!

Thanks to the OP for the heads-up on this. Just booked a PS for this amazing itinerary, which I wouldn't have even known about otherwise!

@jhannah, I'm sorry to hear HAL is treating you this way. I remember you from a wine tasting party in our PS many years ago, and even then your enthusiasm for the HAL brand was obvious! I'd be upset, too, if they had promised to send me tiles (repeatedly) then abruptly changed their tune and told me to just get them on board my next cruise. I get that the tiles may not be a big deal to some people. But to others it is, and it doesn't seem like it would be that hard for HAL to grab a couple of tiles from their inventory and send them to a loyal brand ambassador like you even if they're not able to do it for everyone.

I'm on the Westerdam 3-19 Jan, and from everything I could tell she's going into dry dock after my sailing. I'm a little nervous, as I've never been on one of those before, and have heard horror stories about maintenance on such voyages. That being said, I agree with you that the timing is odd because my research also showed the same as you regarding a dry dock just a few months ago. Also, for whatever it's worth, my voyage has shown as sold out for several months and I'm very curious to find out if the ship will be sailing at full capacity or if they've limited what "sold out" means...

That's exactly what my wife does! Me, I'm a bit more of a glutton, so I finish it all. The Pinnacle Burger is pretty much the same size as any other burger on the ship, but the difference is that it's part of that multi-course experience which really stretches the stomach. And, as delicious as it is, I've never taken a doggy bag from any shipboard location because it's not like there's any shortage of complimentary food for the next snack or meal. But to get back to the main point of this thread, I wholeheartedly concur that lunch at the PG (on ships where the PG is well-run) is a truly delightful experience and an absolute bargain especially for 4* and 5* mariners.

Long story short, neither of you will get discounts for that cruise. Disney offers CM, military, and FL resident pricing on near-term cruises they are having trouble filling. The CM's will, however, get discounts on on-board purchases just like in the parks.

The Wish has definitely gotten mixed reviews (as have pretty much all Disney experiences since COVID), but I expect you'll find the entertainment and on-board activities superior to pretty much anything else out there. Enjoy it, and I hope you'll return with a similarly even-handed review of that ship and line!

Don't worry about it, @exm, this is a longstanding point of discussion here at the HAL board on Cruise Critic. While there are some vocal opponents of children on HAL at all, the vast majority of HAL passengers range from tolerant to exuberant to see well-behaved kids on board.

While nothing excuses lack of proper parenting, if Club HAL was able to absorb more of the children on board then there would likely have been fewer of them out and about the ship.

That's disappointing to hear, @cruisegirl06. It's not like they didn't know how many kids were going to be on board! If they're still using the "COVID has made staffing hard" excuse, then what about the kid's menus and crayons in the dining room? Supply chain? 🤣

Why is your wedding coordinator not handling ALL of these details for you? A good one isn't only focused on the ceremony, but the entire experience.

My wife and I are whiskey fans. Not experts, but more knowledgeable than the average consumer. We were very much looking forward to Notes on our NS cruise last summer. Our first disappointment was that Notes never seemed to be open except during their paid whiskey tastings. But that would have been okay if the tastings were enjoyable. We tried the first few and found that the bartender who ran them knew, literally, nothing about whiskey. He had a script he read from, but when guests would ask him questions he would either quote verbatim from the script or just make stuff up that was blatantly wrong. So after that we just ordered our own "wee drams" from bars around the ship, but Notes was one of the few things on that cruise that did not live up to (or exceed) our expectations.

I don't recall if the gym is open 24/7, and it might be even more boring than 12 laps per mile, but you could consider getting your 10k in on a treadmill.

The kids' club is great, at least my two girls have thought so. Our youngest (9) just told me last week she's glad our next cruise is on HAL because she likes it better than Disney (and no one was more shocked by that pronouncement than I was). The MDR dress code on HAL has become very lax. We personally follow the guidelines and consider them to apply to all passengers no matter the age. But I'd be surprised if you would be turned away if your kids wore shorts.

I've thought the same thing as @cruisemom42 regarding expectations of a multiple-course fine dining experience. In my mind, dinner at the MDR should be about two hours from start to finish in order to enjoy each course, our company and conversation, and beverages (which usually include a pre-dinner cocktail, a bottle of wine, and an after-dinner drink). Obviously there are others who want to be in-and-out in an hour; trying to keep all kinds of guests happy must make it extremely difficult on the dining room staff.

While it's dangerous to predict anything regarding travel and tourism that far in advance (as the past couple of years have taught us), my prediction is that Club HAL will remain a big plus factor for you. Based on my cruise last summer, the main differences between today's Club HAL and yesterday's was the slightly more limited hours of operation and the lack of any dining options. But the space was the same, the counselors were as awesome as ever, the activities offered the same breadth, and my daughter loved it as much as ever.