Are Room Service charges coming?

[sunviking90]

We recently disembarked the Volendam and I noticed when checking our account through the cruise that every time we ordered room service it showed up on our statement as a $0 charge. This made me wonder if the free room service on HAL is ending and the systems are being set up to have a charge, following other lines such as Princess. I don’t remember noticing this on our statements previously, but our last HAL cruise was over a year ago. Has anyone heard anything along these lines?

If it is coming, then HAL will need to expand Lido hours to compensate. On our cruise it was completely closed except for beverages between 10-11:30 am, 4-5:30 pm, and 8-10:30 pm.

 

 

[Tampa Girl]

Currently there are certain charges that are being added for room service.  I believe that the Dive In is one of them, as well as certain alcoholic beverages or prime foods.  I hope that HAL limits these charges to those items.

[sunviking90]

5 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

Currently there are certain charges that are being added for room service.  I believe that the Dive In is one of them, as well as certain alcoholic beverages or prime foods.  I hope that HAL limits these charges to those items.

I see. Maybe that explains it. 

[pirate cruiser]

Yes, the mimosas I ordered with room service breakfast were not covered with the SBP.

[57redbird]

& neither was the berry/fruit smoothie.

[Bill B]

Probably. Plus I think they're trying to figure out how to charge for the air you breathe on your cruise. 😉

[VMax1700]

2 hours ago, pirate cruiser said:

Yes, the mimosas I ordered with room service breakfast were not covered with the SBP.

 

1 hour ago, 57redbird said:

& neither was the berry/fruit smoothie.

SBP and HIA do not cover room service drinks. It's clearly mentioned in the t&c.

 

[Tom O.]

7 hours ago, Tampa Girl said:

Currently there are certain charges that are being added for room service.  I believe that the Dive In is one of them, as well as certain alcoholic beverages or prime foods.  I hope that HAL limits these charges to those items.

The charges for room service the Dive In stuff has been going on for years. But there has always been something you could get for free. Hopefully the breakfast is still free, we always have our breakfast in our cabin.

[BermudaBound2014]

Eventually I suspect they will charge. HAL is one of the very few cruises left providing complimentary room service. Some of the mainstream lines even charge for coffee in the morning (continental breakfast with a charge). Some of the mainstream lines still have continental breakfast complimentary but charge for everything else.

 

The one thing I am begging HAL not to change is the ability to order room service from the MDR menu during those hours. It was one of the cut back/changes implemented by Celebrity last year and I did miss that. The Celebrity menu is extremely limited.

 

Oh... and don't count on them opening up the lido for extended hours. Lido hour cutbacks are another thing common on other mainstream lines.

 

 

Edited December 17, 2023 by BermudaBound2014

[sunviking90]

1 hour ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Eventually I suspect they will charge. HAL is one of the very few cruises left providing complimentary room service. Some of the mainstream lines even charge for coffee in the morning (continental breakfast with a charge). Some of the mainstream lines still have continental breakfast complimentary but charge for everything else.

 

The one thing I am begging HAL not to change is the ability to order room service from the MDR menu during those hours. It was one of the cut back/changes implemented by Celebrity last year and I did miss that. The Celebrity menu is extremely limited.

 

Oh... and don't count on them opening up the lido for extended hours. Lido hour cutbacks are another thing common on other mainstream lines.

 

 

Yes, Princess now charges unless you have their package or pay to “activate” their food delivery service. Breakfast is still free delivery. Their buffet hours more than compensate though. It seems to be open almost all day with a wide variety of options. We’ve found the short lido hours on HAL to be annoying. When we get back from a day in port it’s nice to grab a healthy snack, but we really had to preplan and keep snacks in our fridge. They even put away the fresh fruit (apples, etc) at 2 pm.

[Bill B]

51 minutes ago, sunviking90 said:

Yes, Princess now charges unless you have their package or pay to “activate” their food delivery service. Breakfast is still free delivery. Their buffet hours more than compensate though. It seems to be open almost all day with a wide variety of options.

 

Yes. At least one side the buffets on Princess is open at all times throughout the day. They will close one side to do a 'switchover', open it and close the other until the switch over is complete (and both sides are open).

[oakridger]

In my thinking, once room service and other added charges get to a certain level, it makes sense to me to just ante up for the all-inclusive luxury lines instead. I guess it's just a matter of determining what that per diem cut off price point is for me.  Since I usually sail solo and pay double on HAL for my cabin that point is getting closer and closer.

 

Please HAL keep the included room service!  (Very sad that the debarkation breakfast room service is a thing of the past)

 

~Nancy

[syesmar]

7 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

…The one thing I am begging HAL not to change is the ability to order room service from the MDR menu during those hours. It was one of the cut back/changes implemented by Celebrity last year and I did miss that...

I love being able to order from the MDR menu. I hope that doesn’t change.

28 minutes ago, oakridger said:

…Please HAL keep the included room service!  (Very sad that the debarkation breakfast room service is a thing of the past)

I didn’t realize that had been discontinued. We used to get room service on the final morning prior to our days of eating a final breakfast in the Lido. Very convenient.

[oakridger]

3 hours ago, syesmar said:

I love being able to order from the MDR menu. I hope that doesn’t change.

I didn’t realize that had been discontinued. We used to get room service on the final morning prior to our days of eating a final breakfast in the Lido. Very convenient.

 

Yes, it's been over a year since it's been available based on what I've read here.  My cruises in the Fall of 2022 I couldn't get debarkation day room service breakfast. I was in a Signature Suite and a Veranda cabin. I even specifically asked about it. It may be available for Neptune and Pinnacle Suites, but I don't travel in them so not sure.

[Real NHDOC]

I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about this issue.  They have been putting zero $ charges on the bills for several years (some ships do it differently than others).  For example, sometimes on the Pinnacle class ships if you order something from the NY Pizza and Deli or Dive In they will ask for your cabin number and show a $0 charge. 

 

They just do it for internal accounting so I wouldn't say it is indicating any changes to the "free room service" policy. 

[Petronillus]

To me it seems reasonable to put a cap on utilization of some services or amenities. The beverage packages are an obvious example. By that measure, can room service be "abused"? Are there anecdotes out there about pax taking the convenience of room service to excessive extremes?

As for DW and me, we have never splurged on a Neptune suite and don't find our verandah cabins to be attractive dining venues. Besides, we sort of pride ourselves on being low-maintenance clients. The very idea of a butler, for instance, we find abhorrent.

[syesmar]

6 hours ago, oakridger said:

 

Yes, it's been over a year since it's been available based on what I've read here.  My cruises in the Fall of 2022 I couldn't get debarkation day room service breakfast. I was in a Signature Suite and a Veranda cabin. I even specifically asked about it. It may be available for Neptune and Pinnacle Suites, but I don't travel in them so not sure.

Good to know, thanks. While on more recent cruises we’ve enjoyed the Lido’s buffet that last morning, I can remember a number of sailings where having the in-room option was quite helpful, especially when we needed to be the first ones off the ship.

 

On another note, it took us a cruise or two to realize how much food was available for breakfast in the Lido (we thought it would be too hectic, so didn’t give it much thought). We had always ordered room service at breakfast. But that changed when we finally visited the Lido during breakfast hours.😃

Edited December 18, 2023 by syesmar

[FlaMariner]

3 hours ago, Real NHDOC said:

I wouldn't jump to any conclusions about this issue.  They have been putting zero $ charges on the bills for several years (some ships do it differently than others).  For example, sometimes on the Pinnacle class ships if you order something from the NY Pizza and Deli or Dive In they will ask for your cabin number and show a $0 charge. 

 

I agree.  The title is more like click bait to me.

 

I just looked at my last few onboard statements and it is full of 00.00 charges.....for MDR, NY pizza, dive in, free tips and on and on....I think we even have a zero entry when we went to the afternoon tea.......It's a great system for HAL to track where we go.....good for planning, capacity, queuing etc......

[cruisemom42]

40 minutes ago, FlaMariner said:

I think we even have a zero entry when we went to the afternoon tea......

 

I'm curious how they would know that -- do they ask for your room number or scan your card at this event?

[Petronillus]

3 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I'm curious how they would know that -- do they ask for your room number or scan your card at this event?

I haven't taken part in a lot of high teas, but I suppose you check in by cabin number before being seated by the MDR staff.

[mcrcruiser]

Cruise lines like any other business will charge where they can get away with the extra charges .however ,that does not mean that we will continue to buy their product . These higher  prices & lower value  just don't make for a happy camper .  There is a time coming when this will change  & in our case that may be sooner not later . nickle & diming  me will not continue  because we will go on other holidays

[mcrcruiser]

18 hours ago, BermudaBound2014 said:

Eventually I suspect they will charge. HAL is one of the very few cruises left providing complimentary room service. Some of the mainstream lines even charge for coffee in the morning (continental breakfast with a charge). Some of the mainstream lines still have continental breakfast complimentary but charge for everything else.

 

The one thing I am begging HAL not to change is the ability to order room service from the MDR menu during those hours. It was one of the cut back/changes implemented by Celebrity last year and I did miss that. The Celebrity menu is extremely limited.

 

Oh... and don't count on them opening up the lido for extended hours. Lido hour cutbacks are another thing common on other mainstream lines.

 

 

Higher costs to buy a cruise cabin & getting less & less  value does not cut it for us

[Haljo1935]

15 minutes ago, Petronillus said:

I haven't taken part in a lot of high teas, but I suppose you check in by cabin number before being seated by the MDR staff.

 

21 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I'm curious how they would know that -- do they ask for your room number or scan your card at this event?

 

1 hour ago, FlaMariner said:

...I just looked at my last few onboard statements and it is full of 00.00 charges.....for MDR, NY pizza, dive in, free tips and on and on....I think we even have a zero entry when we went to the afternoon tea.........

Never had my card scanned or been asked for cabin number when attending afternoon tea; including as recently as 2 weeks ago.

If you were to order something that's not part of the tea, they likely would scan your card, which then could result in seeing an entry that would probably show MDR or the bar they got the item from.

[cruisemom42]

1 minute ago, Haljo1935 said:

 

 

Never had my card scanned or been asked for cabin number when attending afternoon tea; including as recently as 2 weeks ago.

If you were to order something that's not part of the tea, they likely would scan your card, which then could result in seeing an entry that would probably show MDR or the bar they got the item from.

 

Thanks -- I didn't recall them scanning my card or asking for room # for afternoon tea. They also do not scan or ask for a room # at breakfast in the MDR which seems surprising as you'd think they would want to keep track of where passengers are consuming their meals...

[cruisemom42]

21 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Higher costs to buy a cruise cabin & getting less & less  value does not cut it for us

 

In the face of inflation of goods and services, how would you suggest that cruise lines keep a reasonable profit margin without either raising prices or cutting back services in some areas?

 

 

 

Edited December 18, 2023 by cruisemom42