Recently off the Nieuw Amsterdam - A quick review with my views!

[VACruiser123]

On 11/30/2022 at 7:18 PM, oakridger said:

 

The signing slips policy has unfortunately recently (end of October 2022) changed on some ships!!  😡

I just got off the Rotterdam a week ago and they had just started making people sign/scribble/look at slips for all drinks and the Dive In food. I immediately sent a message on Navigator "Tell Us" letting them know how much I really, really, dislike that policy.  If you have read Cruise Critic in the last month, I have expressed my displeasure with this several times.  It really frys me to go backward to this antiquated method for drinks package.  End of Rant!   I loved my cruises otherwise!!!   I hope HAL changes this back to no slip signing for drinks!

 

~Nancy

 

Color me cynical but I think the slips are mostly about eeking out some additional gratuities. Even though the top of the slip clearly stares gratuity has been paid....right there where you sign...every single time is the line for "additional tip" that you have to zero out...every single time. I consider that a "soft" coercion to get more of your money.

[oakridger]

@VACruiser123When the signing receipts started on Rotterdam at the end of October, the wait staff was NOT thrilled!!  They do as they are instructed and keep moving.  They get their part of the 18% pooled bar gratuities so I always Xed out the additional tip line.  The $1.17 tip on a $6.50 beer is plenty, I think.  (When I did get to "know" a couple of the bar waiters on Nieuw Amsterdam I did tip extra to them personally at the end of the cruise). Obviously, the paper slip signing thing is a huge pet peeve of mine!

 

~Nancy

[ScubaNPcruiser]

Thank you soo much your review as it was excellent! Haven't cruised HAL since 2001 as first cruise but loved it then. Our daughters were teenagers at the time and loved it also. Now headed to Alaska on NA in 2024. A ways off but still loved reading about your experience. Happy cruising! 

[CafeBruno]

On 12/11/2022 at 12:35 PM, VACruiser123 said:

Color me cynical but I think the slips are mostly about eeking out some additional gratuities. Even though the top of the slip clearly stares gratuity has been paid....right there where you sign...every single time is the line for "additional tip" that you have to zero out...every single time. I consider that a "soft" coercion to get more of your money.

I totally understand your cynicism. But as an auditor I can say with a high degree of confidence that the reason for the new policy of printing the receipt is only due to a desire to have better inventory control.

 

Now, when a bartender hands someone a beer, he's supposed to enter it in the cash register system and hand you the receipt...when he does that, the system shows that there should be one less beer in inventory. So lets say the bar starts the day with 300 beers, and the bartenders give out 100 beers to customers that day, all of which are entered in the cash register system. So at the end of the night they  close the bar's cash register, and the cash register system tells him he should have 200 beers left in his bar inventory. Then, he or his supervisor do their actual end of the night inventory count of beer, and if that count ends up with 200 beers, then great!! But if they count only 160 beers in their nightly count, than the beancounters and the supervisor want to know what happened to the other 40 beers. Could be sloppyness, or could be the staff taking beer downstairs to A deck for an unauthorized crew party. In any event, entering each drink in the cash register system (either paid ala carte of under the HIA) will ensure that each drink is accounted for and removed from the system's inventory. 

 

If the bartenders just give out drinks but don't enter them in the system, then the beancounters get very uncomfortable and nervous, because then there's no way they can tell if inventory is being used improperly; all they can do is count the end of night inventory, and say "Well, we started the day with 300 beers and we have 160 now, so we must have sold 140". 

 

I don't like signing the receipts either, but I'm sure this is why they are now doing it. Trying to save every penny they can, which I guess they have to do to try and survive after 2 years of almost no revenue. 

[CurlerRob]

45 minutes ago, CafeBruno said:

I totally understand your cynicism. But as an auditor I can say with a high degree of confidence that the reason for the new policy of printing the receipt is only due to a desire to have better inventory control.

 

I fail to understand how requiring pax to sign a receipt contributes to better inventory control but I'm happy to be further educated.

 

Just off NA - every time I ordered a drink, the staff swiped my key card and entered the order. At that point, the order has been captured electronically and can be counted against the reduced inventory - the generation of a slip of paper and a signature seems totally redundant in terms of inventory control.

 

I agree that if drinks are given out and not entered into the system, then the process is compromised, but I never saw that happen - my card was always requested and the order entered. If the electronic  systems are so poor that they can't track what was done, it's not clear how someone pouring through thousands of paper slips would catch up with a problem in time to fix it - especially as I noticed that numerous paper slips fell to the deck or blew away.

 

I wondered if the issue was more one pertaining to pax arguing that they had been wrongly charged - the signature issue is more a control that affirms that I received the drink. 🍺🥌

[KAKcruiser]

That's what the bartenders told me.  They said passengers were complaining they didn't receive the drinks and that is why they were requiring the signatures.

[robotpony]

2 hours ago, KAKcruiser said:

That's what the bartenders told me.  They said passengers were complaining they didn't receive the drinks and that is why they were requiring the signatures.

 

This is what a few servers told us as well, though I can't imagine how much storage or labour would be involved in keeping that all organized and available for handling customer complaints and queries. Servers were careful to not complain about the extra work, though it seemed pretty clearly a burden.  

[sayvan]

On 12/11/2022 at 11:15 AM, nicksmom67 said:

 

We have HIA also.  How did you reserve your specialty dinner?  Can you do it in advance? Or wait until you are onboard?  Can you  tell this will be our first HAL cruise on January 8th 2023

We did it onboard and just used the app. It was as easy as anything.  For our upcoming cruise we did the bookings all online and they just deducted from the credit. Again very easy to do.. 

[sayvan]

Seems to me that my review has become a thread speculating on why one may have to sign or not sign for a drink. Truly if this is our biggest worry then I think we are doing pretty good. First world problems… Nothing beats a solid highjack of a thread…. Although the responses do keep putting my review to the top of the thread board… everybody wins! 

[glorialagos]

On 11/29/2022 at 4:34 PM, vicd1969 said:

 If you have the budget, highly recommend springing for the thermal suite pass. It's even nicer than the one on the NA. 

Oh no - I am sad to see that the NA thermal suite is not as nice as Rotterdam's.  I was on the Rotterdam last year and loved the thermal suite.  I will be on NA this February and have already booked the thermal suite.  Could you share what the difference is between the two?  Spending time each day in the thermal suite is one of the highlights of my cruise!!!  Thanks.

[vicd1969]

12 hours ago, glorialagos said:

Oh no - I am sad to see that the NA thermal suite is not as nice as Rotterdam's.  I was on the Rotterdam last year and loved the thermal suite.  I will be on NA this February and have already booked the thermal suite.  Could you share what the difference is between the two?  Spending time each day in the thermal suite is one of the highlights of my cruise!!!  Thanks.

Oh, sorry, didn't mean to say the NA's thermal suite isn't nice. It's still a lovely place to hang out. The Rotterdam just has more heated chairs and the steam room is larger, with a window. The NA's water jet bath is actually better since it doesn't spray on others in the pool. One minor difference is the NA thermal suite is on starboard while the Rotterdam is facing port.

[glorialagos]

8 hours ago, vicd1969 said:

Oh, sorry, didn't mean to say the NA's thermal suite isn't nice. It's still a lovely place to hang out. The Rotterdam just has more heated chairs and the steam room is larger, with a window. The NA's water jet bath is actually better since it doesn't spray on others in the pool. One minor difference is the NA thermal suite is on starboard while the Rotterdam is facing port.

Great to know.  Thank you.  I can't wait to spend time reading on a heated chair!

 

[ridgerunner51]

Thank you so much for this!

 

[12cruise2]

On 12/12/2022 at 9:53 PM, CafeBruno said:

I totally understand your cynicism. But as an auditor I can say with a high degree of confidence that the reason for the new policy of printing the receipt is only due to a desire to have better inventory control.

 

Now, when a bartender hands someone a beer, he's supposed to enter it in the cash register system and hand you the receipt...when he does that, the system shows that there should be one less beer in inventory. So lets say the bar starts the day with 300 beers, and the bartenders give out 100 beers to customers that day, all of which are entered in the cash register system. So at the end of the night they  close the bar's cash register, and the cash register system tells him he should have 200 beers left in his bar inventory. Then, he or his supervisor do their actual end of the night inventory count of beer, and if that count ends up with 200 beers, then great!! But if they count only 160 beers in their nightly count, than the beancounters and the supervisor want to know what happened to the other 40 beers. Could be sloppyness, or could be the staff taking beer downstairs to A deck for an unauthorized crew party. In any event, entering each drink in the cash register system (either paid ala carte of under the HIA) will ensure that each drink is accounted for and removed from the system's inventory. 

 

If the bartenders just give out drinks but don't enter them in the system, then the beancounters get very uncomfortable and nervous, because then there's no way they can tell if inventory is being used improperly; all they can do is count the end of night inventory, and say "Well, we started the day with 300 beers and we have 160 now, so we must have sold 140". 

 

I don't like signing the receipts either, but I'm sure this is why they are now doing it. Trying to save every penny they can, which I guess they have to do to try and survive after 2 years of almost no revenue. 

Yes, but adding a line for (additional) tips is "too much."