After Reading Numerous Posts over the last Several Weeks, These are my thoughts

[albingirl]

15 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

I don’t assume everyone at guest services is removing tips, believe me.  On the Koningsdam I went to guest services several times and once my sunglasses went missing, daily to see if they had been turned in.  While I had the CO line (thankfully), there were a number of very loud people chatting amongst themselves upset with their wait and their purpose was very easy to hear.  Their line was long and even at the elevators and Grand Dutch Cafe, you couldn’t ‘t help but hear some of them.  I was quite shocked.  I wouldn’t be announcing my purpose if that was why I was there.  Perhaps with it being “kids sail free” that had something to do with it - I don’t know.  But you couldn’t help but hear a number of them.

Agree.  They seem to brag, rather loudly, about stiffing the crew.  Like it's a badge of honor.  It is very sad.

[Cruzin Terri]

On 5/18/2023 at 5:19 PM, kazu said:

 

Actually, on O if you book the PH (Penthouse) category, you get a butler.  (For what little use they are).  Note - the Penthouse is not the Penthouse like on HAL - it is a nicely laid out verandah cabin.

 

 

 

Yes.  I was one and done too.  DDDH was especially upset.  The most mild mannered person I know who always told me to do the surveys - took his on O and enclosed a letter to the HD.  

He said he would never step foot on one of those ships again.  I can say a lot of O regulars were very unhappy on that cruise as well.

Jacqui

I know you had a bad experience on Oceania.  

I, on the other hand, had three unfortunate experiences in a row on HAL.  When we received a brochure from O with an itinerary we liked, we decided to try it.  We took that cruise and never went back to HAL.  We are doing our 10th Oceania cruise in a month.  We have had good experiences, good food, good service and have generally been happy.  Has everything been perfect? No.  But I will tell you we were treated very well when we got Covid on the Nautica last Spring. Compared to what I read on many other boards on the treatment passengers received, we were treated like royalty.

Any issues I have had with O, I have made known on the ship and they have been handled in a timely manner.

Terri

[*Miss G*]

1 hour ago, rodndonna said:

 

That was one that I read recently and had never actually occurred to me before that.  It is common for us to skip MDR on the last night since it is a busy night and we know we always have a long day flying back home, but like you with just deal with getting any extra gratuities for dining out before or just drop in quickly that night. We are also not ones to tip our room stewart in person even though they seem to linger the evening before and/or in the morning and that seems to be the expected norm. As much I guess he/she thinks we are avoiding tipping, we always the gratuity in the room with a thank you note with his name card.

 

Edit: ironically  enough one cruise where we unexpectedly did not go the MDR the final evening, we just went to Guest Services (yikes!) that final evening to ask for an envelop to leave our MDR servers their tip. In the end it was just a plain envelop and I was a bit dubious, but I expect it worked.

 

I get my envelopes from Guest Services too!  I leave the tip for the room stewards on the desk or bed the night before departure so they can pick it up during turndown (while I’m out of the room).  I write their names and my thank you’s on the face of the envelope if I do not have any writing paper to hand.  When I come back to the room I can see they have found it. 

[donandmelissa]

So, our experience last month (April 8 through 22) on the Nieuw Statendam 14 day TA from Port Everglades to Barcelona was very different from most of what is posted here.  The cruise was fabulous.  The crew was fantastic.  The food was excellent.  The live music was so, so good!  There were no supply issues.  No maintenance issues.  There were few issues of any kind worthy of mentioning.  The ship did fail to announce that we had been cleared in Malaga, which resulted in a lot of people scrambling to get to their outside vendor excursions.  We quickly got over that.  We loved our experience so much that we already booked a TA for next year.  Has HAL cut back on expenses?  Definitely, but that has been our experience with every other line we have sailed post pandemic.  We did a TA on Celebrity in October and the HAL TA was better in every important way. Celebrity was fine, but every aspect of the cruise from the food, to the service, to the entertainment was just not as good as before and we really got perspective when we sailed on Nieuw Statendam.  Based on those 2 cruises, HAL was a full step up from Celebrity, whereas prior to COVID, I would have said they were comparable.  Just my 2 cents.  Your mileage may vary.

[kazu]

4 hours ago, Cruzin Terri said:

Jacqui

I know you had a bad experience on Oceania.  

I, on the other hand, had three unfortunate experiences in a row on HAL.  When we received a brochure from O with an itinerary we liked, we decided to try it.  We took that cruise and never went back to HAL.  We are doing our 10th Oceania cruise in a month.  We have had good experiences, good food, good service and have generally been happy.  Has everything been perfect? No.  But I will tell you we were treated very well when we got Covid on the Nautica last Spring. Compared to what I read on many other boards on the treatment passengers received, we were treated like royalty.

Any issues I have had with O, I have made known on the ship and they have been handled in a timely manner.

Terri

 

I commend you Terri for your patience.  If I have more than one bad cruise, I re-think things.  You were kind to give HAL 3 chances.

 

I’m glad you are enjoying O and so glad that all of your issues were settled on board.  Ours were not.  I think that HD had serious issues - especially in the not caring area.  

 

Most likely a combination of bad luck and uncaring crew.  I’m glad you are not seeing these issues 👍. But, I would be hesitant to go back after my last experience.  If the time comes, there are lots of other options out there and I will do some serious exploring but Azamara is on my radar.  Right now, all is good for me - so far.

 

[Cruzin Terri]

2 hours ago, kazu said:

 

I commend you Terri for your patience.  If I have more than one bad cruise, I re-think things.  You were kind to give HAL 3 chances.

 

I’m glad you are enjoying O and so glad that all of your issues were settled on board.  Ours were not.  I think that HD had serious issues - especially in the not caring area.  

 

Most likely a combination of bad luck and uncaring crew.  I’m glad you are not seeing these issues 👍. But, I would be hesitant to go back after my last experience.  If the time comes, there are lots of other options out there and I will do some serious exploring but Azamara is on my radar.  Right now, all is good for me - so far.

 

Jacqui,

Mind you, these were not our first three HAL cruises we are almost 5 star Mariners.  So when we walked away we were walking away from a lot.  We were finished.  I really do not want to go into all that happened, but in each of those cruises we were in the Pinnacle Suite with my disabled DBIL.  They even gave his wheelchair away on the last one on the last day and what a job we had finding it. We were lucky someone didn’t take it home. 

We just swore off HAL after that. I have never been treated so badly, especially on the old Rotterdam.  

Now I will tell you that on O, I have had good and bad Butlers.  I book the Penthouse suite because I like the size of the room.  if we get a good butler, (which has been most of the time) we consider ourselves lucky.  However the last two times they were just okay and there was even one that I had to nurse back to health because he had such a bad cold.  Still the overall experience for us on O has been much better than HAL and has caused us not to look back.  That being said, I think I would like to dip my toes in Azamara’a waters as well.  They sound quite good.  I will say that those on O who have tried Azamara say the food is better on Oceania.

Sorry if I sound like a cheerleader.

Terri

[loveandpeas]

On 5/19/2023 at 9:35 PM, cruisemom42 said:

And.....just a random thought:  Am I the only one who doesn't want things the same every meal?  I can't think of one single thing that a "fixed dining" waiter could provide me without my asking on a nightly basis and not have me be somewhat annoyed that they are making assumptions.

I pretty much agree with you for myself, but having just cruised with my gluten free kiddo I can see it MIGHT have made this slightly easier. I would definitely consider that for future cruises, especially if we had a sea-days intensive cruise.

[cruisemom42]

9 hours ago, loveandpeas said:

I pretty much agree with you for myself, but having just cruised with my gluten free kiddo I can see it MIGHT have made this slightly easier. I would definitely consider that for future cruises, especially if we had a sea-days intensive cruise.

 

I totally agree that fixed dining makes sense if you have food allergies or a special diet. 

[bajae]

I'm a newbie to cruising. I did a Carnival cruise a few years ago. It was the only cruise that we could find the fit into the very small window of time the entire family was able to make, plus other constraints. I was nervous about Carnival and the "party ship" reputation, however we had a delightful cruise, peaceful and relaxing. Sure, there must have been wild partying happening somewhere on the ship but it didn't impact my cruise.

 

I just booked my second cruise, 16 days to Hawaii  and back on the Zaandam. I know the Zaandam is a smaller and older ship, I'm good with that. I know there is a possibility the bathroom may not have been renovated, I'm okay with that. I know the evening entertainment may be lacking, I'm okay with that. I know I will have 16 days where I don't have to clean, cook, do laundry, meal planning, grocery shopping, think about work, think about the million and one things that I need to do, and I'm ecstatic about that. Maybe the service isn't up to par as before but it should still be better than having to do it myself. Maybe the food isn't as good as before but I bet it's better than my cooking.

 

My expectations are most likely less than the experienced cruisers, since I don't have much  comparison to a "before" but gosh darn it, I plan on having a wonderful time and fully expect to go on future Hal cruises. 

[eggemon]

38 minutes ago, bajae said:

I know I will have 16 days where I don't have to clean, cook, do laundry, meal planning, grocery shopping, think about work, think about the million and one things that I need to do, and I'm ecstatic about that.

I applaud your attitude! Hope we all can continue to appreciate the "good" and not let the "less good" get in the way...

[Destiny0315]

42 minutes ago, bajae said:

I just booked my second cruise, 16 days to Hawaii  and back on the Zaandam. I know the Zaandam is a smaller and older ship, I'm good with that.

The Zaandam at the moment may be one of the better run ships in the HAL fleet imho. Because of its smaller size and fewer passengers there are fewer opportunities for problems to blow up and go south quickly. Even more so now as it is in its traditional summer runs into Canada. Because those are port intensive cruises with usually only one sea day it makes sense for the entertainment to maybe end early. But how that is handled on a trip to Hawaii with many sea days in a row would hopefully be adjusted. Like other HAL ships(and some other lines too)the front of the house food service varies by day and times especially in the anytime dining arrangements. The most common complaint remains knowing that a ship that was built at the dawn of the new century still only has one electrical outlet in most of the cabins onboard. Surely whoever becomes the new owner of this ship in the future they will have an internet era upgrade high on the priority list!

[OlsSalt]

3 hours ago, Destiny0315 said:

.........The most common complaint remains knowing that a ship that was built at the dawn of the new century still only has one electrical outlet in most of the cabins onboard. Surely whoever becomes the new owner of this ship in the future they will have an internet era upgrade high on the priority list!

 

Why am remembering more outlets and  USB ports in the refurbished Zaandam cabins?

 

BTW: there was  nothing wrong with an essentially "internet free" cruise experience in the very near past. Plenty of opportunities to connect in port. Might become a signature, like "quiet cars" on many train systems. 

[Florida_gal_50]

36 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Why am remembering more outlets and  USB ports in the refurbished Zaandam cabins?

 

BTW: there was  nothing wrong with an essentially "internet free" cruise experience in the very near past. Plenty of opportunities to connect in port. Might become a signature, like "quiet cars" on many train systems. 

I would imagine an internet free cruise would have little appeal.  Looking for internet on shore even less. This is 2023 not 1923.

[lissie]

2 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Why am remembering more outlets and  USB ports in the refurbished Zaandam cabins?

 

BTW: there was  nothing wrong with an essentially "internet free" cruise experience in the very near past. Plenty of opportunities to connect in port. Might become a signature, like "quiet cars" on many train systems. 

you mean August 2022 on a dfferent cruise line -  denied entry to Bermuda so we did 7 days across the Atlantic with no internet and no TV either - thank god they had a decent library - but it  was a pain as we had a new announced port in the Azores and everyone queued up in the library looking to borrow the 3  travel guides on the Azores! 

[Destiny0315]

2 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Why am remembering more outlets and  USB ports in the refurbished Zaandam cabins?

Even the rooms refurbished with the new large glass showers and the new TV's on the lower decks(non suites)still only have the one outlet. I guess the idea is you can recharge your phone while your enjoying a hot shower in style. 

[cgolf1]

On 5/19/2023 at 11:35 PM, cruisemom42 said:And.....just a random thought:  Am I the only one who doesn't want things the same every meal?  I can't think of one single thing that a "fixed dining" waiter could provide me without my asking on a nightly basis and not have me be somewhat annoyed that they are making assumptions.

Let’s set aside that I am gluten free that makes having the same team very beneficial. 
 

we like to do early seating and also make the early show. HAL baffled us by not giving us the same serving team even with a reservation at 5:45. Some nights we had lots of time before the show, other nights we were walking in as the show started. Having the same service team, they can get to know the pace that you like. We like to eat fast with minimal time between courses, so it is great when they consistently do this. 
 

As a side note and important for the crew, this was the first time we didn’t tip a service team extra, because they were different every night and one did stand out as more efficient, but we only had them once. I would guess that these servers earn less in extra tips compared to servers while it saved us some money I feel bad for the servers. 

[Haljo1935]

25 minutes ago, cgolf1 said:

...As a side note and important for the crew, this was the first time we didn’t tip a service team extra, because they were different every night and one did stand out as more efficient, but we only had them once. I would guess that these servers earn less in extra tips compared to servers while it saved us some money I feel bad for the servers. 

I've had this similar experience and reaction on recent cruises.

I have also seen more people (or maybe I'm just more aware) tipping each night in MDR. At the start of a cruise, seems it would set tone of great service = extra $$.

But getting different servers, perhaps it's the way to reward great service as it's received w/o potentially missing those servers if only tipping at end of week.

I may start tipping as I receive service that warrants additional tips and eliminate the one payment at the end of the cruise.

[Florida_gal_50]

9 hours ago, cgolf1 said:

Let’s set aside that I am gluten free that makes having the same team very beneficial. 
 

we like to do early seating and also make the early show. HAL baffled us by not giving us the same serving team even with a reservation at 5:45. Some nights we had lots of time before the show, other nights we were walking in as the show started. Having the same service team, they can get to know the pace that you like. We like to eat fast with minimal time between courses, so it is great when they consistently do this. 
 

As a side note and important for the crew, this was the first time we didn’t tip a service team extra, because they were different every night and one did stand out as more efficient, but we only had them once. I would guess that these servers earn less in extra tips compared to servers while it saved us some money I feel bad for the servers. 

Why would you be baffled by that?  I’m actually surprised that you could reserve for a time like that.  Usually it’s either 5 or 5:15 or after 8.  I see people so impatient to leave to catch the show like it’s a Broadway show that can’t be missed.  I don’t think Cruisemom was talking about people with special diets more like people that want milk the minute they get there, or a veggie platter, or special type of bun (not talking gluten free).  I’m the same way.  I’m not a special request person.  Maybe reserving at 5 or 5:15 would work better as the show is important.

[Florida_gal_50]

8 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

I've had this similar experience and reaction on recent cruises.

I have also seen more people (or maybe I'm just more aware) tipping each night in MDR. At the start of a cruise, seems it would set tone of great service = extra $$.

But getting different servers, perhaps it's the way to reward great service as it's received w/o potentially missing those servers if only tipping at end of week.

I may start tipping as I receive service that warrants additional tips and eliminate the one payment at the end of the cruise.

I tend to over tip.  I rarely go to the dining room anymore because it’s to packed, loud and chaotic to me.  I don’t want to sit with others anymore.  If I had ok service I wouldn’t tip.  They are included in the daily crew incentive so it’s not like they are getting stiffed.  If the service was exceptional that is different.  That said, I was in a Neptune suite my last cruise.  That’s not usual for me.  I ate breakfast almost every morning in the pinnacle.  Even though the service was just ok and the food lukewarm I did leave an envelope with the hostess to split amongst the servers because there was several different servers.

[cgolf1]

7 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Why would you be baffled by that?  I’m actually surprised that you could reserve for a time like that.  Usually it’s either 5 or 5:15 or after 8.  I see people so impatient to leave to catch the show like it’s a Broadway show that can’t be missed.  I don’t think Cruisemom was talking about people with special diets more like people that want milk the minute they get there, or a veggie platter, or special type of bun (not talking gluten free).  I’m the same way.  I’m not a special request person.  Maybe reserving at 5 or 5:15 would work better as the show is important.

 

Why because in 18 cruises we have never had different servers every night where we eat in the same dining room, so for us very unusual. Also who wants and hour long meal, if we get seated at 5:45 is it too much to ask to be done by 6:50? We either sit as a couple or with family members we travel with, so we have conversations outside of meal time so we don't need long periods of time where we can chat. 

 

We don't view meal time as a social time, I know that some do. We just want to sit down and eat and get on with the cruise, and this usually happens. Other lines even with my time dining we always had the same servers, pre and post pandemic. Also the servers on HAL seemed very unfocused, looking around as they were taking peoples orders. The food was great, not so much the level of service with 1 or 2 exceptions.

 

We never order anything special and trying to get gluten free bread on HAL was an adventure lol. The worst we would do is my wife may ask for a sauce to be left off, or say the anchovies on the ceaser salad.

[ExpatBride]

10 minutes ago, cgolf1 said:

 

The worst we would do is my wife may ask for a sauce to be left off, or say the anchovies on the ceaser salad.

HAL ships have got to be some of the last places on earth to still put actual anchovies on a Caesar salad 😝

[Florida_gal_50]

13 minutes ago, cgolf1 said:

 

Why because in 18 cruises we have never had different servers every night where we eat in the same dining room, so for us very unusual. Also who wants and hour long meal, if we get seated at 5:45 is it too much to ask to be done by 6:50? We either sit as a couple or with family members we travel with, so we have conversations outside of meal time so we don't need long periods of time where we can chat. 

 

We don't view meal time as a social time, I know that some do. We just want to sit down and eat and get on with the cruise, and this usually happens. Other lines even with my time dining we always had the same servers, pre and post pandemic. Also the servers on HAL seemed very unfocused, looking around as they were taking peoples orders. The food was great, not so much the level of service with 1 or 2 exceptions.

 

We never order anything special and trying to get gluten free bread on HAL was an adventure lol. The worst we would do is my wife may ask for a sauce to be left off, or say the anchovies on the ceaser salad.

I agree on the disorganization.  I noticed that in the pinnacle as well, even at night.  I don’t notice that in the other specialty restaurants.  It’s been my personal experience on hal unless you specifically ask to have the same table and or servers on hal it won’t automatically happen.  I think 90 minutes for dinner is a better expectation. It seems to take them a while to get over to your table. Then the kitchen speed plays into that.  It’s not a matter of leaving time for people to socialize.  It’s a matter of feeding a lot of people in a short time period.  Logistics.

[Florida_gal_50]

8 minutes ago, ExpatBride said:

HAL ships have got to be some of the last places on earth to still put actual anchovies on a Caesar salad 😝

They don’t.  I have to specifically ask for them otherwise it comes without.  Seems to me the person you quoted wanted them.

[cgolf1]

3 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I agree on the disorganization.  I noticed that in the pinnacle as well, even at night.  I don’t notice that in the other specialty restaurants.  It’s been my personal experience on hal unless you specifically ask to have the same table and or servers on hal it won’t automatically happen.  I think 90 minutes for dinner is a better expectation. It seems to take them a while to get over to your table. Then the kitchen speed plays into that.  It’s not a matter of leaving time for people to socialize.  It’s a matter of feeding a lot of people in a short time period.  Logistics.

 

We did ask for the same table and serving team, and was assured it would happen once we set a reservation time, and it never happened. Also one night we got there for our reservation time and we were given a buzzer to wait to be seated, while people without a reservation were seated right away. If we were waiting to get the same table, I would understand this, but nope it was to a random table that night too. We had lots of comments on the after cruise survey about the disorganization in the main dining room. I guess I fell into the trap here and also commented about the inconsistency in service quality as well night to night.

[ExpatBride]

5 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

They don’t.  I have to specifically ask for them otherwise it comes without.  Seems to me the person you quoted wanted them.

 

Things must've changed. Last time I sailed on HAL I got them even when I asked for them to be left off. This is a cost-cutting measure I can support!