SilvertoGold

Great introduction! Looking forward to your cruise reports!

Captain: Ane Jan Smit

 

Hotel Director: Francois Biranrda

 

Cruise Director: Michael Harvey

 

Dining Room Manager: Bagus Sugiantha

 

Guest Relations Manager: Yvonne Buitendijk

 

Never met the DRM. Never came to our table to introduce himself.

 

Yvonne was good. Took care of a problem we had.

Thanks for the names.

I am a little surprised about Mr Birarda. We had him for 32 days on the Rotterdam and he seemed very professional, but perhaps a little stiff. Not many of HAL's HD are all that "friendly".

It appears that few of the DR Managers come around to tables any more. Now it is more the Assistant DRMs who do that, but mostly at fixed dining upstairs.

Good that the GDM was helpful: so often they are a part of the Front Office problem.

What kind of answer is that?

What are you supposed to do if you arrive at the ship and they deny you Explore4? I'd ask they at least send you an e-mail confirmation stating you have Explore4 as part of your booking.

 

If it isn't written down, it just may not exist.

 

 

This is a very good point. You really and truly need to have something in writing to take on the ship, just in case there is a "mix-up". This does happen, some would say a lot.

As a "Gold" 5 star I thoroughly enjoyed this cruise and there were many wonderful things to say about it.

Oh, and yes we did anchor off Sorrento. And there were food hogs. I especially disliked seeing plates full of strawberries taken so there were none left & then see those plates left on the table with mounds of NOT eaten strawberries.

This cruise had so many 4 & 5 star cruisers it was unbelievable. However, my only complaint is when you have so many 4 & 5 stars. Why does the front office lack in the skills to say NO to some people and to understand the benefits these people are or are NOTentitled to.

They say "NO" to % off for LeCirque, [wrong] they send messages to Seattle's Mariner office and they agree[wrong]. Then, the guests have to fight for what they shoud NOT have to even give a single thought to. This happens on Maasdam time & time & time again. A guest has to battle the front office. You notice I say again & again that is because I DO love this ship. But, why are the front office & night auditor NOT trained in benefits for 4&5 star when the ship is full of them. Amazingly I hear 5 star is new and I reply yeah since Jan. its now November.

 

Interesting about the 4/5 star problems.

 

I have experienced the lack of knowledge and lack of interest in the benefits for these levels, especially from the Front Desk staff.

 

Some have been clueless about the 5 star benefits and I HATE having to argue with someone who should know.

 

I sometimes think that the ship would prefer no Mariner Society at all: all the better to simplify things: eveyone equal, everything the same, with no special benefits to keep straight.

So, who were the Hotel Director, Captain, Guest Relations Manager, Cruise Director, Dining Room Manager?

I would really like to know.

Thanks!

You've got the wrong ship!;) Boban Zivkovic is still one of two HD's on Zuiderdam; the other is Frank Ulbricht. Ryan Whitaker is a staff captain on Zuiderdam

 

Capt. Robert Jan Kan will have Noordam on 01/27/14 and the HD is scheduled to be Mark Pells

Can I just say that this Noordam cruise has hit the jackpot? Captain Kan and HD Mark Pells, a dream team!

I should think about booking this!

Thanks very much for this review.

HAL and inconsistency is becoming ingrained.

Would you let us know who the Captain, HM and CD were?

My opinions as expressed above is that so much of how well a cruise is done comes from the top management. Captain and HM set the tone; CD, GRM, DRM, Front Desk staff make it or break it.

As this was a long cruise one would think there would be a bit of extra effort made. At least this is how it used to be on the longer cruises, as little as 2 years ago. Now....

Again, thanks for the descriptive review. Hope your next (Gold!) cruise is better.

We got off a 42 day cruise on the Maasdam today. I was going to write a short review of our cruise and call it your "Signature of Inconsistency". I will give details later.

 

But I may have coined a new cruise term; we have "chair hogs"' now we have "food hogs"; hoarding of food by both staff and passengers!

Looking forward to your views and review. Food hoarding is an interesting idea, so let us know!

Hope you had a great cruise.

Our experience of the "Signature of Excellence" program/motto is inconsistent. Many others might agree from the sound of it.

HAL might consider "Signature of Inconsistency".

Really: some ship/officers/crew try hard, very hard, others maybe not so much, to put out the product Seattle is specifying.

Seems so much depends on the few officers who decide how to handle individual elements of a cruise. Front Desk, menus, Dining Room, Pinnacle, Shorex, Shops, entertainment, on and on -- all turn in widly inconsistent service and product.

I asked a friend in the Seattle office if it is true that Mama Lou has 10,000 days. I knew she didn't...and if she had 5,000 in 20087 it is arithmetically impossible to go from 5,00o in 2008 to 10,000 in 2013.

 

Here's the answer to my question if her claim is true:

 

"No one in our Mariner base has 10,000 days on HAL."

 

She is a member of the President's Club but hasn't nearly the number of days claimed.

Thanks for posting this.

I find it interesting that the Mariner Society won't say how many days she does have, not even an approximation. Privacy, I suppose?

Suggest Condor, a Lufthansa company, for air from and to Europe. Our one-way fare Amsterdam to Vancouver was $530 pp and that was less than half the going rate on any other airline.

An excellent flight, lost of food (free), even on the flight from Amsterdam to Frankfurt. Nice planes, much better than we have had in the past, paying a lot more.

The carry-on is empty, and the big suitcase is on the bed. (Chelly's version of my priority list not withstanding. ;))

Excellent progress! Now find the chocolate you brought home, sit down and enjoy a rest!

This is quite standard. The Collectors cruises can cost even less on a per diem basis sometimes. Air fare is the problem, but overall these Transatlantics can be very good deals

Thanks for the review. Glad you had a great time on a super cruise.

I nominate that FCC for the prize for poorest performance by any HAL FCC. We've had a couple of tyros in our time, making all sorts of minor mistakes but this one must take the prize!

Welcome home, Ruth. As noted, you were missed! Both for your concise comments and your super attitude!

Hope you had a great cruise. Please take your time with the review: we are all very lucky that you will take the time to do one and appreciate it.

Just got back to this thread - time difference and all that. You all certainly have whetted my appetite for a South American cruise. I would really like to add Antarctica, but don't know how keen my DH would be. Just have to work on him!

I would say do either the Amazon or the Antarctic period. We've done a couple of S.A. without either and while these were great cruises, the Amazon was outstanding (being on the river for so long, Manaus, botos) Antarctic was way beyond words in every respect!

You can do both on the Grand S.A. and it is worth it!

I know we are all saying that mathematically the 10,000 days would be impossible but could they now be stating "Mariner Days" Do we know what type of cabin Mama Lou stays in? I thought I once read she had a Verandah so that would give her double days on a S class ship. :confused:

The one time we were on a ship with Mama Lou she was in an inside on main deck forward.

The Christmas Eve dinner in the MDR is fantastic! Sort of an international menu with some really outstanding offerings. Much better than the Christmas dinner: most seemed to be having turkey that night. That menu was more like for a Formal Night

Short carol singing in the atrium, with mulled wine and cookies. The bar guys who were serving were completely overwhelmed by the number of pax who showed up for this. Get there early!

Christmas day had a Santa visit in the Show Lounge with eggnog.

The decorations throughout the ship are outstanding!

(Things do vary by ship, so you need to be aware.)

Have a super time!

In over 80 HAL cruises, we have always had our luggage by 3:30 - 4:00 at the latest..... often earlier.

Probably Suite guests get priority because this is not the way it usually works for others, Sail.

Try googling: hart sugarman stateroom direct, for the best article on this program.

Stateroom Direct

 

That is the new program that HAL started a while back where boarding begins around 11:30 and you can go directly to your stateroom once you are on the ship to drop off your carry-on luggage, etc. and then go have lunch or do whatever you want to do.

 

It has nothing to do with delivery of regular luggage.

Thanks, KK, for explaining.

The program uses crew other that just the cabin stewards to get the rooms ready for the next load of pax by 11:30 am.

Once that is done, the cabin stewards have more time to get the luggage delivered. We have seen an improvement and think this program is excellent.

You could try googling and read all about the Stateroon Direct program.

It can depend on length of the cruise. On longer cruises, pax tend to have more luggage, so it does take longer to get it all on board and delivered.

This use to drive me nuts, because I would always worry that ours ended up on another ship and that was why at sail-away our bags hadn't been delivered.

With the "Stateroon Direct" program I find the luggage comes a lot sooner. Thanks to Mr Sugarman, HAL Seattle, for introducing that program!

Have a great time on your cruise, Joanie.

Any time you post you will have an avid audience!

Thanks for your posts so far -- looking good!

Have a great day, Lisa!

Mama Lou is a sweetheart! So glad to hear she is still sailing HAL.