So long Duplicate Bridge

Word is out that HAL will only have duplicate bridge

on cruises 30 days or longer, starting Jan 1st.

Another sad cutback.

Right -- another cut back.

It wasn't even on our 21 day cruise this past spring.

My wife is an avid bridge player. We cruised on the Zuiderdam Voyage of the Vikings this past Fall and the bridge lessons given along with the afternoon duplicate bridge sessions were certainly one of her cruise highlights . I hope that you will contact HAL and ask them to reconsider .

I assume you mean lessons as there is nothing to stop people from playing. I wonder how many showed up for lessons? I know on our TA it was only two.

I noticed one entry in an issue of ON LOCATION from the Ketchikan day on the Vancouver r/t itinerary:

"12:00pm Board Game Players Meet Explorations Café, 11"

From my standpoint, as someone who loves board games - the more complex the better - and really doesn't care for card games, I hope to see more of a move in my preferred direction. :)

I assume you mean lessons as there is nothing to stop people from playing. I wonder how many showed up for lessons? I know on our TA it was only two.

Of course people may continue to play "regular" bridge. You just have to gather four people.

Duplicate bridge (subject line of this thread) is logistically another matter entirely. It requires an ACBL-certified director and some equipment. I believe that HAL is unwilling to pay directors (or comp their rooms or whatever the agreement is) except on the long cruises. On my 14-day Maasdam a couple of months ago only enough players for 2-4 tables showed up on any given day. So I can see why HAL doesn't perceive this to be an economically-sound deal.

Each cruise has a different mix of passengers and my wife was lucky to be on the August Voyage of the Vikings with Barbara as the Bridge Director. Her lessons were excellent with take home handouts and the card room was filled for the afternoon duplicate bridge sessions . In the evening bridge players would meet again to play social bridge. Plenty of bridge players on this cruise .The nicest thing was the more experienced players helping the newer players to learn the game in these evening sessions . Write HAL and let them know your disappointment .

Of course people may continue to play "regular" bridge. You just have to gather four people.

 

Duplicate bridge (subject line of this thread) is logistically another matter entirely. It requires an ACBL-certified director and some equipment. I believe that HAL is unwilling to pay directors (or comp their rooms or whatever the agreement is) except on the long cruises. On my 14-day Maasdam a couple of months ago only enough players for 2-4 tables showed up on any given day. So I can see why HAL doesn't perceive this to be an economically-sound deal.

Thanks for the bridge lesson.

Well its not surprising to me that HAL is unwilling to carry the cost if only a few people play. Heavens, they have reduced (or eliminated) dance hosts which have far more participation. I don't think its realistic to expect HAL to continue having infrastructure in place for something that is declining so in popularity. I understand those who are not happy but they shouldn't be surprised.

When questions of cost-cutting are raised, I tend to go right over and look at the company's fundamentals. If they're struggling against something, that would be apparent there, and if rather they were milking cash cows that would also be apparent there.

While it is hard to dig into the one brand, three year revenue growth for the corporation as a whole is negative, but not by a lot. Three year net income is up, but only slightly more than average. Operating Margin has been recovering from 2013, but isn't excessive.

It is natural, for any company to eliminate services that only a few people make use of.

This is not a sign of a declining company. It is the sign of a company continuing to be healthy. Every company, regardless of what their business is, makes changes like this continuously.

It would be a much more ominous sign, if they were discontinuing a service that was popular.

This is why things like this and dance hosts and libraries are disappearing, there just isn't enough usage of these services by the passengers. Yes, it will ruffle the feathers of those who used them, but the other 95% of the passengers will care less.

HAL has to keep their prices down in order to compete.

It's also important to note, I think, the extent that legacy services are replaced by new services. For example, libraries on cruise ships across the industry are morphing into Internet Cafes. This is vitality (at an objective level) not degradation (as would be indicated by how it is perceived by a portion of passengers).

I, myself, expressed concern in another thread last week that as I'm looking through the On Location newsletters from a recent Alaska cruise, I didn't see highlighted in the daily events presentations by naturalists. I still have a question in that regard, but at the same time, I wonder how much of that is being replaced by a continuous loop of video presentations available on the on-board televisions. The loss of the human element would be a step down imho, but [a] it would mean that the need is still being serviced to some extent, and perhaps the human element is simply concentrated - the naturalist being available for the portion of the service that is interactive rather than both the lecturing (for lack of a better word) and the interactions with passengers. (And again that's an open question I have: Is there really a naturalist on-board all week, who is reliably available somewhere during a number of hours for people to chat with...?)

My husband and I are avid bridge players. We just returned from a TA on the Eurodam. Our total cruise was 22 days, with 9 sea days. The director didn't show up and two passengers filled in and ran lessons and games. We had standing room only. The room held 16 tables and they were all filled with duplicate players, with some being turned away. Our numbers dwindled later in the cruise, but that may have been because people gave up finding a vacant table.

I have been writing Seattle regarding the new policy. Their first response was directors will only be on cruises of 30 days or more after January 1.

We take many long cruises, including our next which is a B2B with more than ten sea days. Duplicate is an important part of our cruising experience. One lady I met on board sailed on a HAL just because of bridge. When a cruise has numerous sea days, people need to have something to do. Think they are making a big mistake by eliminating duplicate. It is not an expensive investment that pleases dedicated mariners.

I meant to relay a conversation I had during lunch after church on Sunday with a friend who, as I understand it, is a very highly skilled duplicate bridge player and teacher. She indicated that she had looked into the idea of going on cruises to serve as a duplicate bridge "director" (as I guess you refer to them) and decided against it because she would have had to pay a good amount of her cruise fare and would not be compensated enough for her work as a duplicate bridge director to make it worthwhile.

So apparently the cruise lines have not been putting that much into this aspect of cruise operations for a while and what we're seeing now I suppose is just the realization that if this service has been continued there would be more folks like the previous poster disappointed by the fact that the director didn't show because many people who are qualified to do that work just don't see doing it as a worthwhile proposition, or perhaps not motivated to be particularly conscientious because of how little they personally get out of it.

And I wonder if this is the same thing that we saw with dance hosts and perhaps even will see with Protestant ministers. These people doing this work on cruise ships to some extent may have been doing it for modest discounts on their Cruise fare rather than as a profit-making venture for them and it may be extremely difficult to maintain services that are reliant on people willing to spend some of their cruises doing work in return for a discount.

It's also important to note, I think, the extent that legacy services are replaced by new services. For example, libraries on cruise ships across the industry are morphing into Internet Cafes. This is vitality (at an objective level) not degradation (as would be indicated by how it is perceived by a portion of passengers).

I don't mind the libraries are morphing into Internet Cafes, but they need to keep (or re-instate) the Internet Manager position. On my last cruise, all questions regarding the internet had to be asked/answered by Front Desk Staff. This meant that I stood in line a full 30 minutes(!) behind people with internet connectivity issues. I was waiting to get my keycard to work again. The person directly before me had the front desk officer go through each and every icon/app on his phone to show him how they work with the ship internet. I'm sorry, that's not the job of the front desk officer. And if there had been an Internet Manager on the ship, I would not have been locked out of my cabin for that 30 minutes!

My husband and I are avid bridge players. We just returned from a TA on the Eurodam. Our total cruise was 22 days, with 9 sea days. The director didn't show up and two passengers filled in and ran lessons and games. We had standing room only. The room held 16 tables and they were all filled with duplicate players, with some being turned away. Our numbers dwindled later in the cruise, but that may have been because people gave up finding a vacant table.

Well, having read your post and compared it to mine (post #6) I believe that the disparity in interested participants may be due simply to the number of sea days relative to total cruise days. The cruise that I mentioned was an Alaska route -- and those routes are very, very port-intensive. That Great Land Explorer route that I was on has only 2 sea days out of 14!! Of course very few were willing to spend the port afternoons on the ship. But close to half of your route was sea days.

Perhaps Seattle should consider providing a director on cruises with many sea days -- not necessarily limited to cruises of 30 days. I'm going on an 18-day Circle Hawaii in April. Ten of those days are sea days! Would certainly be nice to have bridge available. But I can understand corporate's unwillingness to provide a director on routes with as few sea days as those Alaska routes and some of the Caribbean ones.

I might poke in her to offer a few comments.

We have been cruising for 50+ years and have virtually seen it all..

With respect to bridge, I think you will find that it has been replaced by professionals creating specific bridge cruises. These are top world class players/teachers and they create bridge cruises on many lines that can olny be booked for that event via a related travel agency and usually at a premium price.

The Bridge pro gets paid from the booking proceeds by the Travel Agency-they generally aquire a designated area on the ships and not only teach, but provide ACBL sanctioned games throughout the entire cruise.

Perhaps this is one reason the cruise lines feel comfortable in diminishing their participitation in this.

With respect to the libraries, I have always brought my own books and now bring a tablet full as well. The libraries these days are so devoid of material that they may as well be a coffee shop. Years ago we could read all the current periodicals....now they have mostly gone digital and most every ship library no longer provides them. I also remember when one could actually find some comfortable seats in the libraries to sit and read...now..??

We are seeing the world we knew morphing into the new generations...that relates to lack of quality acoustic music being replaced by ear shattering volume, lack of meaningful lectures other than where to shop in the ports, and so on.

The cruise lines are in business and they know where the markets are going...and we will not be part of it for too much longer...but our kids and grand kids will be.

We booked a Circle Hawaii on the Westerdam in January with the understanding bridge would be offered during the ten sea days. We didn't expect it on the Mexican Riveria portion because it is port intensive. We have met many lovely people during interaction at the tables. It is a huge disappointment bridge is eliminated.

Think the idea of only offering bridge on crossings and itineraries with at least 6 sea days is a great one. Hope Seattle reads these posts.

The cost to Carnival Corp. is minimal as the directors only get a reduction on the cost of their cruise.

It

The cash-cost to the company is minimal, surely. The broader cost could be, and seems to have been, significant enough to prompt action, though.

The broader cost includes the cost of customer dissatisfaction, such as from the director not showing up and passengers basically having to volunteer to do that work themselves without compensation. The broader cost could also include the cost of guest recovery in terms of how much of the officers' time is taken up in cases where the directors drop the ball in some way. Don't underestimate that: I was just reading in another thread that there is a significant cost to eliminating the Internet-specific crew member: It means that front desk officers spend sometimes 15-20 minutes working with passengers having trouble with their Internet service, sometimes just to learn how to use it properly (from what was reported in that other thread). This not only represents a cost in terms of taking up the front desk officers' time, but also in terms of the dissatisfaction that causes when someone is locked out of their cabin and has to wait 15-20 minutes to get to the front of the line at the front desk to get assistance, because the person before them in line has an Internet issue (again, which was the case in the thread within which this was reported).

The cash-cost to the company is minimal, surely. The broader cost could be, and seems to have been, significant enough to prompt action, though.

 

The broader cost includes the cost of customer dissatisfaction, such as from the director not showing up and passengers basically having to volunteer to do that work themselves without compensation. The broader cost could also include the cost of guest recovery in terms of how much of the officers' time is taken up in cases where the directors drop the ball in some way. Don't underestimate that: I was just reading in another thread that there is a significant cost to eliminating the Internet-specific crew member: It means that front desk officers spend sometimes 15-20 minutes working with passengers having trouble with their Internet service, sometimes just to learn how to use it properly (from what was reported in that other thread). This not only represents a cost in terms of taking up the front desk officers' time, but also in terms of the dissatisfaction that causes when someone is locked out of their cabin and has to wait 15-20 minutes to get to the front of the line at the front desk to get assistance, because the person before them in line has an Internet issue (again, which was the case in the thread within which this was reported).

Carnival -- Caribbean (3)

NCL -- Western Caribbean

HAL -- Old New Amsterdam April 1993 -- Western Caribbean -- 7 days

Princess -- 8 Cruises in Caribbean

Tauck -- Isabella -- Galapagos 2006

AMA Waterways -- St. Petersburg/Moscow -- 2009

Viking River Cruises -- China/Tibet -- 2010

Berlin/Prague -- 2011

Tauck River Cruise -- Amsterdam/Prague/Bucharest -- 2007 -- 24 days

A & K -- October 2008 -- Sun Boat IV -- Egyptian/Jordon (Nile) -- 14 days

Rotterdam -- May 1999 -- Baltic -- 14 days

Noordam -- July 2000 -- Mediterranean -- 10 days

Statendam -- January 2001 -- Circle Hawaii -- 15 days

August 2001 -- Alaska Tour -- 12 days

Ryndam -- February 2002 -- South American Explorer -- 17 days

Maasdam -- May 2002 -- Western Caribbean -- 7 days

Rotterdam -- September 2002 -- Canada/New England -- 10 days

Prinsendam -- March 2003 -- Asia Singapore/Hong Kong -- 14 days

Asia Hong Kong/Osaka -- 14 days

Oosterdam -- November 2003 -- Greece/Turkey -- 12 days

April 2004 -- Panama Canal -- 14 days

November 2004 -- Western Caribbean -- 7 days

Prinsendam -- July 2006 -- Voyage of the Vikings -- 21 days

Windstar -- August 2006 -- Nice to Rome -- 10 days

Ryndam -- January 2008 -- Hawaii/Tahati/Marguesas -- 30 days

Statendam -- May 2008 -- Alaska Glacier Bay -- 7 days

Prinsendam -- January 2009 -- Amazon/South America -- 31 days

Niew Amsterdam -- August 2010 -- Venice/Barcelona -- 24 days

Eurodam -- August 2011 -- Baltic & Voyage of the Vikings -- 29 days

October 2012 -- Canada/New England -- 10 days

Oosterdam -- February 2013 -- Australia/NZ. 14 days

Prinsendam -- August 2013 -- Celtic Enchantment -- 14 days

Rotterdam -- March 2014 -- Singapore to Southampton -- 42 days

Prinsendam -- August 2014 -- Amsterdam to Northern Cape to Amsterdam -- 14 days

Eurodam -- August 2014 -- Copenhagen to NYC -- Voyage of the Vikings -- 18 days

Zuiderdam -- January 2015 -- Panama Canal -- 11 days

Costa Mediterranean -- January 2015 -- Southern Caribbean -- 12 days

Ryndam -- February 2015 -- Banana Coast/Central America -- 7 days

Volendam -- April 2015 -- Hong Kong to Vancouver N. Pacific Crossing -- 31 days

Maasdam -- October 2015 -- Ft. Lauderdale to Rome Atlantic Adventure -- 22 days

Zaandam -- January 2016 -- South America/Antarctic Explorer -- 21 days (Favorite cruise ever[emoji3])

Booked[emoji924]

Eurodam -- Mediterranean & Passage to America -- October 2016

4 day Key West/Mexico -- November 2016

24 day Mexican Rivera & Passage to Hawaii. -- January, 2017

14 day Alaskan Explorer -- July, 2017

Have Passport, Will Travel.

Alas, cruising doesn't really give you a good grounding in marketing and customer satisfaction management.

Sorry about the cruises showing up. I tried unsuccessfully to remove. Anyone know how to remove?

I could never tell they had duplicate bridges on a ship by looking at the ship. If they had two bridges and got rid one do they have to remove the 2nd. bridge in dry Dock?

Which bridge do they keep and what are they gong to do with the empty space it the front of the ship, put in cabins?

What is the purpose of having a duplicate bridge? Is it in case the controls fail the captain can go to the duplicate bridge?