OMG - will HAL ships become shopping malls?

[VermeulT]

I'm not a shopper either but I can think of a few items they could stock and that I would pay a mark up for:

 

SDHC cards or minis (popular items for the camera). If we were in a film world I'm sure they would be selling rolls of 35mm. But if you forget or fill a card you are spending port time trying to get one. ( and some ports that can be a challenge)

 

Better quality pens with ship names. I collect the blue ones. The last batch broke before I got home. I'm thinking quality of a Dr. Grip or better and a price range to $15. Maybe some of a better quality. How about a tablet stylus with ship logo?

 

On out Antarctica trip there were NO Antarctica tshirts available. None. That scores a real "needs improvement" in my book. I had been planning on bringing some back after seeing the ones Princess sold.... And HAL. offered. None.

 

How about nice canvas totes? Better quality than the ones they used to give away. And close it with a zipper and add gussets.

 

I happen to like fabric and embroidered patches and buy them when we go certain places. They go on my day packs. ( I have been making these with my machine for our RCs but I wouldn't if HAL had them for sale.)

 

HAL china- we've talked about this one in other threads. How about order on board and it gets shipped to your home? No added baggage, etc. (and you can be sure it didn't "walk away" which you can't be certain of if you buy off eBay).

 

I would have said to drop the art auctions and the Mirabella shop. Never saw anyone buy anything there. I guess it's there for a big casino winner to hide their winnings. Now if they had a HAL store selling real memorabilia I might be interested. Like old tiles, posters, other things not available in the current gift shops.

 

Originally Posted by MrsMuir

Years ago I suggested that HAL sell prints of Captain Card's fabulous ship paintings (assuming he wants to be marketed, of course), books on HAL's history, and REAL ship model kits of HAL ships, old and new. Wish I'd received a survey!

 

Mrs M

 

Lots of great ideas here. I also love the quote about a shop at Hampton Inn.... :D

I understand it would be extra stock that would not be able to be moved amongst ships, but I loved the mugs that were specific to the ship... not just a HAL item.

Even reproductions of the old tiles, etc would be nice. The same one ornament (which looks so cheap) and the same items from ship to ship are just boring. IF I buy anything - it's going to be something to remember THAT trip by... not just some generic piece of crap

[Cruising-along]

Just finished the survey, ugh. What a waste of time. I'm not a shopper either. I think the point made earlier that those of us who don't shop a lot are the ones who got the survey is valid. ;)

 

Also, my last cruise is so atypical of my usual cruise. It was just a 3-day coastal cruise! Most of my spending was done off the ship, post-cruise and the trip home. I mentioned this in the comments section. Not that I spend that much on a longer cruise either. :cool:

[solocanadian]

I did not get the survey, and hope if I do that there is a lot of space for comments.

 

I don't like to shop when at home, and like it less on the ships. I can spend entire cruises staying out of their shops. What I can't do easily is avoid the space the shops take over outside their doors, and even worse, up by the Lido pool. When they do this, it totally jams up the area, making passage through just about impossible.

If the idea is that there would be even more of these cramped quarters, then it would be a worse restriction, and impediment on movement. Ugg. :mad:

 

I understand the concept of generating revenue with on-board spending, but I take a cruise to relax, and enjoy the sea/the cruising experience. If I want to go to the mall, there's one at home, and I don't have to pay the per diem.

So well put, as usual, Ruth!:):)

[bra1nchild]

Like many other responders, we did not get the survey, but that didn't stop me from having some thoughts about it.

 

If HAL wants to know what you spend on board, all they have to do is review your past bills. All of that must be in some department's computer. After all, they use your spending to award extra Mariner days. [i used to hate when a central office asked for information which was already available and assumed I had nothing better to do than feed the machine.]

 

My other thought involved the ultimate purpose. I don't think they are going to retrofit shopping during a dry dock but, rather, incorporate some of the ideas in new builds. The RCI floating destinations are taking over the world!

 

I guess the same people who shop at high end stores in airports might do the same on a cruise ship, but it's a sad commentary on current priorities.

[carri cruiser]

:eek:

 

Just got a mariner survey from HAL. I am not supposed to forward it or post links but I can certainly discuss it.

 

It was all about shopping on board. There was an incredibly detailed list of questions about what we spend in port and on the ship and what and how we spent our money in the ship' shops.

 

Finally they proposed a few "new" ideas that they wanted my reaction to.

 

First idea, name brand shops on board like Gucci or others. Then they proposed more special sale events, two hours sales with merchandise only offered once. Sales of local souvenir items on board and finally -- this is the one that sends me overboard:

 

Shops that appear temporarily all over the ship selling items that you might wish to buy and use in that area of the ship.

 

Frankly folks, I do not cruise to shop. I consider the on board shops a convenience for items that I require and do not have to buy in port, or items that I need right now. In addition I usually buy a couple of souvenirs - like I appreciate the "floating cruise ship pens" - they used to have the name of the ship on them and I bought one each time I cruised.

 

I know others shop more seriously on board and I have no problem with that.

 

What I would have a problem with would be the proliferation of on board shops "in my face" all over the ship. That might send me overboard.

 

Anyone else receive this survey? Anyone else have thoughts on this?

 

I received their survey just yesterday, I cruised HAL as recently as January 2014, but I didn't write everything I spend and where I spent it on anything I could refer to!! I cruise for the fun of cruising , not to keep books!! I got to about page 3 and decided they hadn't offered me any incentive to do the survey, and it was so involved, and time consuming, I just backed out of it, and didn't really go any farther, so didn't know till I read this that they were thinking of putting those new shops in.... personally, for the value (?) I find the shops very expensive.

I needed to sew a hat I bought on board for $10.00, the brim bothered me, so I went to the "convienence" store onboard, and bought a tiny sewing kit, the kind that many business give away for free, it cost me $11.95!! I bought it, but it was a real rip off!! lesson learned!!

[Linda&Vern]

I received their survey just yesterday, I cruised HAL as recently as January 2014, but I didn't write everything I spend and where I spent it on anything I could refer to!! I cruise for the fun of cruising , not to keep books!! I got to about page 3 and decided they hadn't offered me any incentive to do the survey, and it was so involved, and time consuming, I just backed out of it, and didn't really go any farther, so didn't know till I read this that they were thinking of putting those new shops in.... personally, for the value (?) I find the shops very expensive.

I needed to sew a hat I bought on board for $10.00, the brim bothered me, so I went to the "convienence" store onboard, and bought a tiny sewing kit, the kind that many business give away for free, it cost me $11.95!! I bought it, but it was a real rip off!! lesson learned!!

It's too bad you didn't do the survey. Now your opinions will not be known. I think that's the whole idea of a survey. It didn't say they were putting in new shops on the ships - the survey asked hypothetical questions. We don't even know who commissioned the survey. It may (as another poster mentioned) be the results are for the company responsible for the on-board shops and the answers have nothing to do with HAL.

[Cruising-along]

...

 

If HAL wants to know what you spend on board, all they have to do is review your past bills. All of that must be in some department's computer. After all, they use your spending to award extra Mariner days. [i used to hate when a central office asked for information which was already available and assumed I had nothing better to do than feed the machine.]

....

 

True, but they asked many more questions about why you spent money onboard or in port. They wanted to know why you chose to shop off the ship if you did, not just how much you spent. The computer wouldn't tell them why.

[kelleherdl]

Gosh. I got a completely different response to the survey. Yes I was a little surprised at the depth of the question, particularly about $$ spent where and on what. The more I thought about I realized HAL was trying to get a good view of a potential to differentiate their product going forward, particularly with the new builds. To be frank I would far rather deal duty and tax free with known luxury brands on board if given the opportunity.

 

Sent from my VS950 4G using Tapatalk

[navybankerteacher]

I got the survey and started filling it out, but it just went on and on - with essentially repetitive questions. After a few minutes, I lost patience and dropped it. I would have skipped to the end assuming that there would be a "comments" space, but the form would not let you skip - insisting that every question be answered. I am so disinterested in on board shopping that I just logged off.

[Ineke]

Yes, I received the survey, couldn't figure out what that was all about- We cruise to cruise, not to shop! I don't even ever shop for fun! I don't understand tge shopping mentality, but hey, that's just me.

[carri cruiser]

It's too bad you didn't do the survey. Now your opinions will not be known. I think that's the whole idea of a survey. It didn't say they were putting in new shops on the ships - the survey asked hypothetical questions. We don't even know who commissioned the survey. It may (as another poster mentioned) be the results are for the company responsible for the on-board shops and the answers have nothing to do with HAL.

 

The survey was just too long and involved to spend the time filling all that out! my opinion doesn't carry much clout anyhow, HAL can do what they want, if I like them, I'll sail with them, if not, I won't.... simple!!

[RuthC]

Here's a question for those who made an honest effort to complete the survey thoroughly, and did finish it:

How long did it take you to go through it all?

[arzz]

It took me about the fifteen minutes that they promised -- but it was an annoying and tedious instrument. The same set of questions applied to every damn detail of my less than $50 worth of purchases! I know I purchased a cap to shade me from the sun and a floating cruise ship pen. To me the only reason to shop on board is to fulfill an immediate need. Other than my comment at the end of the survey it was very difficult addressing the list of questions. They really did not apply.

 

I do not mind if others like to shop while they cruise as long as the shopping is confined to a discrete area on board that can be sought out when needed and avoided if one wishes.

[flamingogal]

Here's a question for those who made an honest effort to complete the survey thoroughly, and did finish it:

How long did it take you to go through it all?

 

About 15 minutes. It was confusing trying to compare shopping onboard to shopping at home/mall. Somehow I don't think this survey is going to really affect the "shopping" on any HAL ship. As said by others, the things that people want to buy they don't have and what they do have really isn't all that special.

 

Jeanne

[Linda&Vern]

Here's a question for those who made an honest effort to complete the survey thoroughly, and did finish it:

How long did it take you to go through it all?

No more than the promised 15 minutes. And I did put a lot of thought into my answers. As I said before, I was thrilled to "get my say" about shopping on a cruise and what I wanted and didn't want to see/buy. :D

[RuthC]

Thank you for the replies.

 

I do a lot of on-line surveys for fun & profit, and have a real idea of how long and tedious some surveys can be. Not to mention repetitive! I know just what you're talking about there. I have done some that go on for 30-45 minutes, and have been known to close out after getting too sick of working on them.

Fifteen minutes is a little past the outside limit, I think, of how long a survey should go if they want valid results.

But it does sound as if it was designed along the same lines as other surveys typically are.

Edited April 5, 2014 by RuthC

[Vict0riann]

I think I took about 15 minutes to do it, as well, except for a gap where I waited to find out how much we had spent on everything, on board and ashore, plus pre- and post-cruise and flights, etc. (My husband put it all on a spreadsheet.) I thought it was a pretty smart survey - my one big shopping expense on the trip was a camera battery (in Singapore) which cost almost $100. The survey kept asking me questions about that camera battery! It had a section all to itself on each page - like "would you buy a camera battery on board", etc.

 

It was a rather silly survey in some ways, though. I imagine it is all about the new builds, as they really couldn't retrofit all the older ships to have individual designer shops!

[Mary Ellen]

...my one big shopping expense on the trip was a camera battery (in Singapore) which cost almost $100. The survey kept asking me questions about that camera battery! It had a section all to itself on each page - like "would you buy a camera battery on board", etc.

In DH's survey, they really focused in on our $50 purchase before boarding. The survey didn't ask what the items were, but in our case it was Hard Rock Cafe pins from our embarkation city. Even though he answered one question with the response that the souvenirs purchased were "unique" to that location, the survey kept wanting to know if we'd have purchased them on board if available. Hard Rock Cafe pins? No.

 

The other thing the survey was fixated upon was sunglasses. I don't remember how many about buying sunglasses there were, but it was quite a few. We wear Rx sunglasses. I don't see us EVER buying them on any ship.

 

We were both floored when he got to the 'fill in the blank' question about what stores available at a mall would we want to have on board. That would be zip, zero, zilch. If we want to shop at "mall" stores we'd do that at home, not on a ship. The next question had 'suggested' stores that weren't appealing either. Places like Dior, Mont Blanc, D&G, and Fossil among many others. Sorry HAL, the idea of taking a vacation on a floating mall isn't at all desirable.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Mary Ellen

[AlexandNessa]

I took the survey too. It was annoying. My bar bill was 10x the amount of any shopping I did, but they seemed to hone in on my 15$ purchase of a locally crafted item. Would I buy that on the ship? No, so stop asking! Kidding, but it was definitely a tedious survey.

[hehny]

Eurodams shopping was abysmal. We love picking up souvenirs and can usually find something to buy anywhere. HAL was the exception. Which was great for our wallets :)

Edited April 5, 2014 by hehny

[alwaysfrantic]

I didn't purchase a single thing in the shops. Maybe that's why I didn't get a survey. I would live to fill one out.

[wander]

I also did not get the survey, but considering that on a recent 75 day cruise I bought all of one tee shirt in the ships - no wonder they skipped me. I agree with many others, I do not cruise to shop! And, thankfully my suitcases have made the ship with me to date.

 

However, I have had dinner table mates and other cruise friends who do buy a lot of jewelry (thousands of dollars worth) on board. I do not understand why, but then I would guess they do not understand some of my cruising habits and interests.

[ellieanne]

In DH's survey, they really focused in on our $50 purchase before boarding. The survey didn't ask what the items were, but in our case it was Hard Rock Cafe pins from our embarkation city. Even though he answered one question with the response that the souvenirs purchased were "unique" to that location, the survey kept wanting to know if we'd have purchased them on board if available. Hard Rock Cafe pins? No.

 

This is what I had the issue with. I buy my souvenirs in port because the port shops have the things I want -- and I can only get at those shops. This last cruise I bought specific teas at shops in PEI and Bar Harbor. I bought particular soaps from a shop in Charlottetown and ice cream from Cows. I also bought a new pair of tap shoes in Sydney and a Clan Tartan blanket in Halifax. None of those items were available on the ship, so there was no way I could have bought them on the ship.

 

I loved the on-board bazaar on my Baltic cruise, because it meant I got quality souvenirs from Russia without worrying about trying to find reputable vendors. If I were in the Baltic again, I would absolutely do my souvenir shopping at the bazaar on board rather than on shore in port.

 

The only things I routinely buy on-board are "cruise ship shirts." Our family tradition is to get a cruise-specific t-shirt from each cruise and wear it to board the next cruise. We also have "cruise ship shirt" days for family reunions and celebrations. We have been disappointed lately because the designs are far more generic than they used to be. On our first cruises, the shirts were itinerary specific, now they are really very generic. And since I have one of all the current designs, unless they decide to bring back the initerary-specific designs, I doubt we'll get new ones on the next cruise.

 

I definitely do not like the idea of "pop-up" stores taking over public spaces. I had very strong words with the Art Director, the Cruise Director, and the Front Office staff on my last cruise after I was ejected from the Ocean Bar a full hour and a half before the Art Auction began. I hate anything that takes public space away on sea days -- it's not like I have the option to just pop off the ship until it's over. And I really would not like Branded stores on board. If I want mall shops, I'll find a mall in one of the ports.

[Tarpeian Rock]

In DH's survey, they really focused in on our $50 purchase before boarding. The survey didn't ask what the items were, but in our case it was Hard Rock Cafe pins from our embarkation city. Even though he answered one question with the response that the souvenirs purchased were "unique" to that location, the survey kept wanting to know if we'd have purchased them on board if available. Hard Rock Cafe pins? No.

 

The other thing the survey was fixated upon was sunglasses. I don't remember how many about buying sunglasses there were, but it was quite a few. We wear Rx sunglasses. I don't see us EVER buying them on any ship.

 

We were both floored when he got to the 'fill in the blank' question about what stores available at a mall would we want to have on board. That would be zip, zero, zilch. If we want to shop at "mall" stores we'd do that at home, not on a ship. The next question had 'suggested' stores that weren't appealing either. Places like Dior, Mont Blanc, D&G, and Fossil among many others. Sorry HAL, the idea of taking a vacation on a floating mall isn't at all desirable.

 

 

 

A Mont Blanc store? Wow. Nothing says "cruise vacation" to me like a $300. ballpoint pen.

[LindaM]

I got the survey. I spent a LOT of time filling it in and trying to remember. Then, there was an error and it got messed up and I thought "forget this". Why am I spending my time for HAL's benefit, especially for something that doesn't interest most of us???

 

I love to shop, but my watch would have to be lost before I would buy another on the ship. I check out the sale stuff and have bought merchandise. I got a great deal on a Seiko watch years ago, but haven't seen deals like that in years. I do like to buy costume jewelry in Europe, but have never seen anything on the ship that wasn't something I would consider. It all looks like cruise ship jewerly, like the Murano glass pieces. I don't think HAL is going to be successful, but what do I know???