JennysUncle

Errata - in the PDF of the Rotterdam Art Brochure the last page is duplicated and the next-to-last is missing.

Folks, "I Pee In The Pools" is just trolling us to see how long this thread can be kept going.  Look at the screen name.  We've said whether we like or dislike single or dual pianos. HAL has their own opinion, which we will eventually discover.  Let's close this out.

Having fun at the piano

HAL may also be experimenting with the Billboard limitation to playlists. On the Eurodam Jan 13, the third set every night was all requests, and one night all three were requests. There were printed slips, and the two guys would pick through them. Still obviously for ones they knew somewhat, but they did have a big fake book app and could use the Internet.

The performers were Gabriel and Steven, on the last cruise of their contract. Both good pianists, and Gabe with a wide vocal range and vocal styling to fit the songs. Best of many duos we have heard, and usually been unimpressed by. Gabe got a last minute rehire to start on the Nieuw Statendam shortly. 

Currently on the Eurodam, with Starlink antennas. Very good speed at sea but seems much worse in ports. I just ran an Ookla speed test, and it says it is connecting through a shore side service.Maybe some contractual issue.

2 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

Barry Rocklin aka Barry from Boston is a great piano bar performer, but I fear he has long moved on to other ventures and may no longer be interested in being a shipboard performer. 

From Barry's Facebook page it seems that he has done a few cruise ship gigs since the resumption after covid, so is probably available. 

Maybe they can get "Barry from Boston" back

16 hours ago, POA1 said:

I forgot to post this with the Skyride images. It's the safety signage on all the landings on the Skyride stairs.

 

 

Apparently if you fall, you are supposed to deploy razzle dazzle jazz hands.

poor "Stick Man" ....

https://www.chroniclebooks.com/products/stick-man-s-really-bad-day

3 hours ago, POA1 said:

To me, the PR pix of Morimoto standalone on the Nieuw Amsterdam looked more like it was where the sushi was.

Some publicity pictures -- it doesn't look like the bar area.  Maybe it's Nami Sushi that is being replaced, not Rudi's.

The HAL press release says that Morimoto By Sea will be added to the Nieuw Amsterdam by Tamarind.  It would fit nicely as a replacement to the Tamarind Bar which, as I recall from some years ago, was extremely pleasant but very underused.  You can do a Google Images search for Nieuw Amsterdam or Eurodam Tamarind Bar for pictures.

There is no mention of it replacing Rudi's Sel de Mer on the Pinnacle ships, which seems to be just a rumor.  Granted, Rudi's is underutilized compared to when it opened, but that would change quickly if they dropped the price back.  That's a volume versus profit margin business decision.

12 minutes ago, canadianbear said:

We just did this and my husband took a screen shot so I’ll attach it here with our info blackened out.  Hope it helps. Of course we had the help of the Neptune concierge so maybe that helped?  She did have to make a phone call & get I think a supervisors approval.  It seems also she had to take my $17.50 a day gratuity and divide the amount I wanted to add over our 10 day cruise. So just watch on the line where you put the amount you want per day.  

Well, that's what they wanted me to do. Needlessly complicated, adjusting the daily rate over the whole cruise so the total winds up incrementally more. What there should be is a form to put X, over and above, into the Crew Appreciation fund. 

On 11/17/2023 at 2:35 PM, oaktreerb said:

so I remembered  something I had read on CC.  I could go to the guest relations desk and fill out a simple form to donate the excess nonrefundable OBC to the crew gratuity fund.  The amount was confirmed, I signed the form and I had spent the overage on a good cause. 

I tried to do this, I think last year on the Nieuw Statendam.  The front desk stonewalled, said there was no such thing - on two visits, three agents involved.  Told me the only possibility would be to adjust the whole Hotel Service Charge rate, and that that required approval of one of the senior Hotel officers.  I'd be interested if someone could post a copy of the form, to have for future proof.

Periodically someone will ask if you can take the bathrobes, towels, etc. that are in the stateroom. Yes -- but there is a charge.  Here is the pricelist page that was on the stateroom TV on the Rotterdam in October 2023.

18 hours ago, Sonora5 said:

Have you played trivia or done any games? We really liked Tomas who ran those things on our cruise.

Tomas left the ship in Helsinki. He has been promoted to do training of other Entertainment Hosts, and then will be doing the World Cruise. 

I presume this is supposed to be enticing, but what an interesting comparison to a HAL veranda cabin.  The $5910 is phony - at online TAs, Virgin 7-days seem to be more like $2300, but even so...  That room is *bare*.  https://www.insider.com/virgin-voyages-sea-terrace-room-balcony-photo-cruise-cabin-tour-2023-8

3 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

 

 

As for cold weather cruises, read up on the Prinsendam rescue here:

 

This book goes into more detail 

https://www.amazon.com/Burning-Cold-Cruise-Prinsendam-Greatest/dp/0760320799

On every cruise, and on the survey after, I suggest that they post somewhere or sometime the names of the musicians in the groups onboard. Considering that they manage to do that, with bios besides, for the Lincoln Center, it can't be an impossible task. It seems like it would be a decent bit of recognition. But it must be toooo difficult.

However, if you ask at the front desk in writing, they will print the roster for you, so they do know the names. 

9 hours ago, asebastian said:

I wonder if this is a requirement to provide crew with more open space, post-Covid. As far as I'm concerned, they seem to be occupying space unused otherwise and they certainly deserve it!

That space is the Sun Bar. It is on all three Pinnacle ships. Last May on the NS it was roped off for crew. Last Oct on R it was not roped but not staffed. This Feb on K it was operating. On both R and K, the counterpart space on the starboard side was roped off for crew. 

15 hours ago, Giggleypuff said:

The library looks beautiful! I might spend the week there

Where is the library relative to other rooms? I can't figure that out from the obsolete deck plan online. 

5 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Yesterday I mentioned that we were again overcharged for drinks. HAL, following a message from me, again corrected the errors without comment.  The onboard staff seems competent at correcting errors (only after pointed out by passengers).  But the question that remains is why we keep seeing these accounting errors.  I sometimes think we are in a contest with HAL called , “find the billing errors!”  Those that spot the errors are rewarded, but others simply pay the extra price without having a clue.

Hank, since you are going to be aboard for another segment, why not ask the bartenders how this happens? Then maybe you could "head them off at the pass" and save your self having to continually contact guest services.

6 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Last evening was also notable because it was the 5th day (our of 15) when we have been overcharged for drinks (covered by our HIA package). 

Have you been able to check at what point the error is made ?  It appears that the bartender's computer screens have menus and submenus with buttons to click for most drinks, with the computer looking up the price.  And I would have thought that the computer would then look up your account, see that you have the drinks package, and adjust the charge - so that would imply a programming problem.  But on the other hand, perhaps the waiter is supposed to be clicking an additional button to get the discounted price.  Do your cards have any marking that the waiter should be noting ?  That could be why it's erratic - a training issue.

9 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

It looks like Third Ave West kicks off tomorrow, playing in the Ocean Bar at 5pm, 6pm, 8:30pm and 9:30pm, so will report back. Sounds like some much needed musical buzz will be welcomed.

Elsewhere it was reported that Third Ave West is a Piano / Guitar / Bass trio.  That would make it a resurrection of the Neptunes.  A search online turns up that they are assembled by RWS Entertainment, the same outfit that supplies the Rolling Stone Rock Group and the new Rolling Stone Lounge.

https://victoria.cruises/

https://www.businessinsider.com/victoria-cruise-lines-majestic-residential-cruise-ship-8000-month-photos-2023-2#-while-storylines-has-plans-to-launch-its-first-547-residence-ship-in-2025-starting-at-about-1-million-for-a-studio-apartment-38

For open-ended round the world cruising.

https://cruiseradio.net/former-holland-america-ships-to-operate-as-floating-residences/

We are just back from the Koningsdam (March 2023). Our dining room service was slow, so was getting drinks from servers in the bars, and our room stewards had 34 cabins to take care of.  They managed well, but partly by taking longer in the morning to get to everyone, and many people dispensing with the nightly turn-down.  Pre-covid on the Koningsdam I think they had only in the high 20's.

At one session, the CD said that there were 2580 passengers and 952 crew onboard.  The TA we use lists the ship capacity as 2650 and the crew compliment as 1036.  That puts the staffing level down by 84 (8%) with the passenger load not much below normal. I suspect the engineering, navigation, galley, and administrative staffs are not susceptible to much shrinkage, so most the the cuts are probably more from the room stewards, dining servers, and bar attendants.

Has anyone else heard comparable staffing figures?  We hope that this is temporary - not because our experience wasn't as good as we expected from HAL, but that the crew are really being pushed to compensate for the shortage.