YXU AC*SE

Related / unrelated. Looking at the same(ish) cruise 18-day ex-NYC. Seeing the same sort of pricing gradient for the cabin we're looking at. Have not sailed since HIA's introduction? Is HIA (or CO) ever pitched as an upsell post booking? ie offered with some sort of sweetener / incentive post booking but pre sailing? And is that via the booking agency, or direct to the end consumer (ie me) Initial booking would be a self-serve booking via an high-volume, cruise-only TA. Scott.

You realize the band's horn section is the first row of the bus stop? 🙂 Scott.

60%? https://photos.app.goo.gl/2wPQUyseeqrWGSRn6. hmmm. Scott.

Alaska, Europe, Mexico from April > October 2023. Link below. Appears to be stackable w/ Black Friday prepaid gratuity kicker offer. Scott. https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/find-a-cruise.html?ICID=HECIZ1108222565#{!tag=destinationTag}destinationIds=M,E,A&{!tag=departTag}departDate=2023-04-01T00:00:00Z,2023-10-01T00:00:00Z&{!tag=durationTag}duration=&{!tag=embarkTag}embarkPortCode=&{!tag=portsTag}portsOfCall=&{!tag=shipsTag}shipId=&{!tag=regionTag}regions=&{!tag=cruisetypeTag}cruiseType=&soldOut=&sort=&group.sort=&start=0

Not as a standard item it would seem. Today's Rotterdam MDR dessert choices are listed as strawberry pavlova, chocolate caramel tart, almond fruit cake, or 'ice creams and hot fudge sundaes with nuts'. Scott. PS @cruisemom42 --> three of today's mains? Farfalle Boscaiola, aubergine cannelloni parmigiano, and, wait for it, rustic home-made lasagne. Rounding out the choices? Caribbean curried lamb (the Exc special), Caribbean jerk chicken breast, grilled salmon w. capers and dill, 8 oz NY striploin, flat iron steak chimichurri, parmesan panko baked hake + upsells.

For hotels log into your HAL account, and bring up your current reservation. Select 'Travel Planning' and then pre- and or post-cruise, hit 'Begin' then select 'City Stays & Pre-Post Overlands' and you will see your hotel roster and pricing. Scott.

On the Nieuw Statendam inaugural, we received DeHeer chocolate letters at turndown, which comically did not relate to any letter in our first or last names ... we laughed and put it down to a Dutch to Malay to English translation. Tasted all the same ! 🙂. Scott.

Now CFC Renaissance got a little bit sideways in very strong winds at Brest, FR where she is being refurbished for Compagnie Française de Croisières. The other ship involved was a LNG tanker, Hoegh Gannet. Scott. https://www.tiktok.com/@chris29400/video/7168542468609150214?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7050926389583103493

Yes. Scott. https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/deals_CAD/military-appreciation-offer.html

source: https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/worry-free-promise/travel-well/frequently-asked-questions.html. Scott.

(1) Consumer preference leans toward pedestrian menu choices ? (2) One is averaging down one's food cost ? I won't piss and moan about cutbacks, but simply note the apparent linkage between menu choice and inflation [un-]adjusted pax per diems paid. If I didn't perceive value, I wouldn't be cruising w/ HAL. It all comes down to tradeoffs, right? Fora like these help to inform that consumer value proposition decision. Scott.

For those of us who have upcoming cruises booked, in the Navigator app you can see the day's MDR menus for the ship upon which you're booked-- Tonight's mains on Rotterdam? : Penne caprese Rustic home-made lasagne Spaghetti meatballs Parmesan-crusted chicken breast Chili prawns w/ garlic butter Eight-ounce New York striploin Grilled salmon w/ capers and dill + upsell menu. follow for a few days and draw your own conclusion. Scott.

Yup - onboard shops and Swarovski. Scott.

Every Donna needs her Rod(erick) and every Rod needs his Donna. I tend to downplay everything, (my threshold for crisis is (1) actual babies are dying and/or (2) I have been named in an above-the-fold front-page story in The Globe and Mail.) I sometimes need to be reminded that I am actually paying for the vacation experience I am receiving, and not be so go-with-the-flow. Scott.

I think it's more a case of they decide - then they cave to the commentariat? I sometimes wonder if HAL were a car instead of a cruise line, it would be FWD, but still have tailfins. 🙂 Scott.

I think you're going to need to go to your original booking agent to have the reservations linked. That person will need to go into POLAR (or their GDS / booking engine) to create a TWID (travel with ID). The 'have another booking' functionality is in HAL's instance a subsequent booking (for the same or different itinerary) tied to the same mariner number. Scott.

It would seem not. But with the lagging state of HAL's IT department - the below may or may not be current. https://www.hollandamerica.com/en_US/cruise-destinations/hawaii-tahiti.excursions.html?sort=name asc&start=0&rows=12 Scott.

I think the vision right now is stranded in two streams -- one being the hard product itself -- the Pinnacle class of ships support an entirely different cruising experience than say the R or Vista class ships. The other stream is pax profile - which is in full view every day on this board. And the marketing challenge is -- does one yield to one's most loyal, often demanding demographic, who are resistant to change (ie dance with girl who brung ya) -- or do you position your product to groom the next generation of customers that will sustain you going forward. Given HAL's demographic profile - older, well-travelled, well-educated, [likely] top decile brand loyalty and the industry's need for immediate revenue given the COVID interregnum -- what's the solution? Look backward or look forward, -- or try and do both, and make no one happy. It truly is the marketer's sword of Damocles. Scott.

"Do you - Cuz I'mma do me, truly." -- Funkmaster Flex (featuring DMX), from the album Volume IV 🙂

I expect few ppl wandering the halls of HAL have much connection to either except to walk past their portraits in an elevator foyer somewhere ? As Pres Kennedy has said, "But Goethe tells us in his greatest poem that Faust lost the liberty of his soul when he said to the passing moment: "Stay, thou art so fair." And our liberty, too, is endangered if we pause for the passing moment, if we rest on our achievements, if we resist the pace of progress. For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future." Scott.

Well it sounds like you have your solution at hand, Mikey. 🙂 Respectfully, as Mr. Lanterman has been retired nearly 20 years and deceased for three -- I don't think we can count on his steady hand to [re-]shape HAL to the product you fondly recall ? I liked your Buick example, and your expressed brand loyalty there -- that product has evolved, right ? As an example, if I were to go back 20 years, one can't find a LeSabre equivalent in today's Buick line-up -- the sedan chassis / unibody has been retired and everything has evolved to the cross-over / SUV body style? Interesting how we can selectively accept / adapt to some changes, but not others. Consumer behaviour is always interesting, and oftentimes difficult to predict. Scott.

@rkacruiser, HAL isn't Buick and GM isn't CCL ? For the record, I'm a marketer / management consultant in a discretionary consumer [and small/medium and enterprise] services field (pls don't judge) You seem to have two issues -- (1) you aren't being proactively marketed to with 'encouraging reasons' to sail HAL, and more importantly (2) you seem to suggest that the brand promise of HAL has eroded since the days of Mssrs Lanterman and Kreuse. I'm not sure how a once a quarter glossy brochure on 80 pound silk cover delivered via USPS is going to fix your second issue ? Personally, I'm already at a loss b/c the ppl I see depicted on those marketing materials look leagues apart from the ppl I see wearing their bathrobes to breakfast in the Lido? LOL. 🙂 If (2) is the real issue here (I believe you referenced consistency of product) then perhaps MSC + YC is a better fit for you and HAL is wise to conserve its marketing spend ? Alternately, they could migrate you up the CCL value chain into their Cunard or Seabourn products to better meet the refinement you seek? All I can suggest is how pretty standard marketing indices can be used to determine whether you warrant marketing investment as a high lifetime value and high sales propensity customer to book a future cruise, based upon your demonstrated past behaviour(s). Scott.

Recall @Ready2go11 'opted-in' doesn't mean you're going to get picked up by a targeted marketing campaign - it simply means you consent to be contacted via the five comms channels you have listed. You would still need to qualify for whatever the offer is based upon HAL's selection criteria. Random example: why would HAL push a casino offer to you if you have no casino spend history? Scott.

See above re yield management / lifetime value. HI. Let's call you a life-long Coke drinker. Not Diet Coke or Coke Zero or Pepsi or Dr. Pepper.or President's Choice. You simply prefer the wondrously refreshing taste of Coca Cola full stop. Isn't your five-star status with HAL saying the same thing (at least to HAL) ? Yeah, you might buy the occasional case of Seven-Up or Cranberry Ginger Ale for kicks -- but you're principally a Coke drinker. Knowing this consumer behaviour as a marketer, why would I discount my product offering to you ? One can only personally consume so much soda, right ? If I discount Coke to you, are you going to buy more ? And if you do, are you going to purchase enough incremental cases of Coke that the net revenue of the additional Coke you buy (realizing there is marginal cost to making Coke) offsets the discount I have offered ? One thing to consider -- is there a revenue protect element to my discounting Coke to you ? If I don't give you a price break, will you drop Coke entirely and become a Pepsi Max drinker ? In your personal instance, your five-star status indicates likely not. And just remember your personal consumer response may or may not be predictive of the entire class of five-star Coke drinkers out there -- which is what marketers have their eye on. Consumer inertia is a factor to be very much considered here. Overarchingly, there is maximizing shareholder value considerations here -- where post-COVID, and possi-probably entering recession, discretionary spend like cruise travel will remain under pressure ? Why would CCL want to give away top-line revenue to long term high-value customers with little incremental upside? Does it make much sense from a shareholder POV? Scott.