Cost Cutting in full Swing

[jayisgerman]

I find it hard to understand how the addition of the BB King group, which have received rave reviews here, is a sign of cost cutting.

 

Bruce - my comment was related to the fact that the group performed every night in the Queen's Lounge. Then - 1 night - they just stick them into the Vista lounge (leaving the QL dark that night) and call it a "show". That is cost saving and cheap. The BB King group is already on board and gets paid the same no matter which venue you stick them in. However, since you are not booking an entertainer that night for the Vista Lounge and just use "in house personnel" - you are saving money.

 

I personally do not know if they are good or bad. I just think 6 nights of song/dance/band shows is a little much.

[Murray's Pop]

It was mentioned but no day of the week rugs in the elevator, this ship never had them from the beginning. None of the Vista Class had them but I believe they were added to the Oosterdam when they replaced her carpet 2 years ago.

 

While I can't speak for the Westerdam, we sailed on the Noordam (a Vista ship) on 6 cruises, and unless I was hallucinating, there were "day of the week" carpets in the elevators. Have also been on the Oosterdam (in 2006) and there were "day" carpets there as well.

[Tampa Girl]

What I was trying to say is IMHO HAL ships are run down. On my last trip the ship had major AC and plumbing problems. Big cuts in service personal. Carnival seems to me to be taking money from HAL without making any investments in upgrades or maintenance on the ships. The only way small ships can make money today is to be able to charge a high price for the cruise. Azamara and Oceania can, HAL can not.

 

 

Unless you have traveled on all of the HAL ships within the last year or so, aren't you over-generalizing a bit? I did not find these "cost cutting" measure on the Ryndam, and that ship is in great condition. I think Lisa's point is well taken, however. The Caribbean cruises may be a different kettle of fish.

[Wakepatrol]

I find it hard to understand how the addition of the BB King group, which have received rave reviews here, is a sign of cost cutting.

 

 

Another interesting observation is. These shows are standing room only

and you must get there early (from what I've read) they jam, they play

K.C. and the Sunshine Band.

 

What happened? The old (rhymes with tarts) had a nervous breakdown if a band played 4 songs at the pool. Now these new shows are standing room only.

 

What happened? Is the crowd getting younger?

Is sitting on a deck chair with ear buds listening to "The Good Stuff"

not so good?

 

Or does everybody just love K.C. and the Sunshine Band:)

Edited December 10, 2013 by Wakepatrol

[iancal]

None of those cutbacks bother or impact us in any way.

 

We care primarily about our cabin...clean, working a/c and plumbing, reasonable DR service, and well prepared meals with good ingredients. The odd good entertainer would also be nice. But alas, it seems that some of these preferences are being compromised from time to time.

Edited December 10, 2013 by iancal

[Copper10-8]

Another interesting observation is. These shows are standing room only

and you must get there early (from what I've read) they jam, they play

K.C. and the Sunshine Band.

 

What happened? The old (rhymes with tarts) had a nervous breakdown if a band played 4 songs at the pool. Now these new shows are standing room only.

 

What happened? Is the crowd getting younger?

Is sitting on a deck chair with ear buds listening to "The Good Stuff"

not so good?

 

Or does everybody just love K.C. and the Sunshine Band:)

 

Ain't nothing wrong with KC and the Sunshine band! ;)

[startwin]

While there are differences between ships, I think some decisions and cutbacks are gradually spreading through the fleet. For instance, we had no days of the week elevator mats on the Zuiderdam in April, 2012 - when I reported that some didn't believe me.:rolleyes: Last Aug/Sept there were no chair covers on formal night on the Zuiderdam, no dessert extravaganza either (no loss to me, I hated to see so much waste). I got lotions supplied freely whenever I asked. I did think, too, that the shampoo/soap/conditioner in the dispensers had been watered down.:(

[innlady1]

The last couple of times we have sailed on the Westerdam -- there were never any of the cloth covers for the chairs in the dining room on formal nights.

I do not like the fact that this ship also has show times of 7 and 9 PM as compared to the other ships. As a result we have not seen a show on that ship in many years.

I can't ever remember that ship having the days of the week in the elevators.

We did have an afternoon dessert extravaganza last spring in the Atrium. I can see why it has been stopped on many ships -- there was a lot of waste.

I think all ships have now changed to the cheap new pillow chocolates. We had them on our recent Nieuw Amsterdam cruise. I tried one -- too sickenly sweet for me.

 

We had them on our recent NA cruise. They were nothing special.

[Chelly]

To the OP:

Did the Westerdam sail full passenger capacity?

[mamaofami]

I can easily live without cloth covers on the MDR chairs and without days of the week mats. I'm not happy about the cutbacks in stewards, but what I'll miss the most is my bedtime chocolates.

[cbr663]

Just off the NA and there were several cut backs that we noticed - you have to ask for ice now for your room and we didn't receive any menus at all in our state rooms. I would have thought that instead of printing them that HAL would have broadcasted them on the television, but that didn't happen. We would have to go to the dining room each day to see what was being served.

 

We didn't receive a lot of soap and creams for our room either, but this isn't an issue for us as we both have skin allergies and cannot use anything that is provided on the ships.

 

The dessert extravaganza was gone, but like others have said, we didn't miss it. The quality had deteriorated so much over the past several years.

 

I am not surprised with the comments concerning the Neptune Lounge. We had previously sailed in a Neptune suite and feel that the premium was over charged for such low value. This previous cruise on the NA we went back to a verandah stateroom and had twice the experience at half the cost.

[zcruizer]

I just got off the Zuiderdam 12/9. We had white linen covered chairs for formal nights. We had a dessert bar in the buffet between 10pm and 11pm. The BB King All Stars played a completely different show in the Vista than they did in the Queens. There was a comedian, magician and ventriloquist. This was a 1/2 to 2/3 full cruise. The Panama Canal tax for the ship was $360,000 alone. In my section in the main dining room, there were 2 stewards for 3 people and I had a table for 8 all to myself. None of us were asked to move. A group of 7 of us were on a flight that was delayed. HAL provided a 55 passenger charter bus and 3 staff members to make sure we made it to the ship. There were about double the Princess cruisers on the same plane that were transported to their ship crammed into a passenger van. I don't feel like I had a low budget experience.

[FredT]

What do you all expect? Sure, when we first sailed HAL in the early 80's it was a lot more luxurious. But then we paid $1600 each for a one week cruise. Fast forward almost 25 years, and prices have gone DOWN, while fuel has gone up $3.00/gal, labor costs have quadrupled, insurance soared, etc etc etc.

 

SOMETHING has to give! (And looking at the HAL forum week to week, I can tell you a LOT of passangers are not willing to pay $10.00 more, much less the inflation adjusted 30% more!

[jayisgerman]

To the OP:

Did the Westerdam sail full passenger capacity?

 

I never asked, but it seemed pretty full overall. Maybe at 95% or so? Just my best guesstimate. :)

[Typhoon1]

I think cost cutting began system wide several years ago. Every year something new disappears.

[alwaysfrantic]

On Zuiderdam in February we had chair covers but no day of the week rugs

[sos1720]

We have not noticed any cutback in service and we've been on 5 different HAL ships since 2007. Each cruise has a dynamic all its own, some are just better than others. Some, I appreciate more when I get home and look at the pictures. Sometimes the entertainment is better, the food better and the reverse happens also. I don't see a plot to reduce service.

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

We had covers for the chairs on formal nights. We had day of the week mats in the elevators. The service was good overall. The food in the Lido was "OK", nothing special. I think some of the ingredients for dishes at lunch were possibly "recycled" from previous night dinners.....steak becomes "pepper steak stir-fry" to cite an example (not exact) ie:"names have been changed to protect the innocent". Maybe I am wrong on this but I got that impression somehow.

 

Some evidence of "Carnivalization" were seen, the most glaring example were the ever present photographers at every exit of the ship trying to snap casual shots. We find this very annoying, and usually don't participate. We had a good cruise overall, not a whole lot to complain about. The pillow chocolates were not exciting, the same as other lines we have been on in the past. But we don't sail for the pillow chocolates (my apologies to Ruth C.!:)). I got one bar of soap at the sink, and one small bottle of moisturizer (which is wonderful, I still have it at home and would love to order some more) but that was it. No "special amenities" in the bathroom, I hate to say. But it didn't affect my overall experience, and we had a good time..........

Edited December 11, 2013 by Irish Eyes Are Sailing

[Randyk47]

To us it's been the "death by a thousand cuts" routine over nearly 20 years with HAL both literally and figuratively. :( Even the definition of the saying is "Creeping normality, the way a major negative change, which happens slowly in many unnoticed increments, is not perceived as objectionable." Not sure all the changes have been done in "unnoticed increments" and I do understand that what we notice or matters to us may not be noticed or matter to others.

[RuthC]

But we don't sail for the pillow chocolates (my apologies to Ruth C.!:)).

No apology necessary. I don't sail for the chocolates, either. But I -dam well take them home at the end! :D

[sail7seas]

We have not noticed any cutback in service and we've been on 5 different HAL ships since 2007. Each cruise has a dynamic all its own, some are just better than others. Some, I appreciate more when I get home and look at the pictures. Sometimes the entertainment is better, the food better and the reverse happens also. I don't see a plot to reduce service.

 

 

In the last three or so years, we have sailed on Maasdam, Oosterdam, Westerdam, Noordam, Veendam, Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam. We have seen measurable cutbacks.

 

NOT to say we didn't enjoy our cruises because we did but there was no question we saw real cutbacks.

 

 

 

Edited December 11, 2013 by sail7seas

[Watson's aunt]

Hi

My Last ccruise On the zuiderdam November 8. The food in the MDR was outstanding. Pinaclle grill was nont. They had covers on chairs. Sorry I am typing blind as I have not been able to fix the ad blocking. The Zuiderdam is a nice ship but I love the Amsterdam. Since I only have started to cruise its the Zuiderdam and Amsterdam. I really love the Amsterdam. The service on Zuiderdam was outstanding. I huing out in the Ocean bar and loved my servers. The wine steward in MDR never disoppinted me and I never waited for my glass to be filled. I did trust his wine selections which never disappointed.

 

Mary

[SeaSharp]

Ain't nothing wrong with KC and the Sunshine band! ;)

 

Now you're talkin'!!!!!

[jimmy2x]

I truly wonder how many times I've read reasonably identical threads over the past fifteen years or so. If you read the boards of the other mass-market lines, you'll see similar threads on a regular basis.

 

Nothing ever stays the same and, has been often pointed out, the price has not changed, but real operating costs have gone up considerably. Something has to give and the most obvious will always be in staffing (as in most other industries). We may not like it a whole lot, but there it is.

 

Addressing service issues is best done nicely, but firmly. Maybe we've just been fortunate, but have never had to do it twice.;)

[rajkr74]

On Zuiderdam in February we had chair covers but no day of the week rugs

 

Would someone confirm for me, that we have never seen any day of the week rugs in any of the Vista class ships we have been on, Zuiderdam, Westerdam and the Nordam? I don't think there have been any? Or am I loosing it??????