How Many Return and Cruise Again?

[ekerr19]

If I can't get traditional dining on a cruise, then I won't take that cruise ... at least not if I'm planning to travel solo on the boat. I will just tell me TA ... either I get confirmed for traditional dining or cancel my booking.

 

 

Well, a nice idea (in theory) - sure. We were confirmed for upper level, 8:00pm, as we always request. Then we get our docs, and guess what??? No such luck. Even with the number of days Sonny & I and our kids have on HAL, AND booking a Suite, we are still out of luck - the waitlist is a mile long.

 

How are we supposed to cancel NOW???

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Well, a nice idea (in theory) - sure. We were confirmed for upper level, 8:00pm, as we always request. Then we get our docs, and guess what??? No such luck. Even with the number of days Sonny & I and our kids have on HAL, AND booking a Suite, we are still out of luck - the waitlist is a mile long.

 

How are we supposed to cancel NOW???

 

Laura, being in an S Suite should NOT be placed on a waitlist of any kind. Unfortunately with what is happening with the Oosterdam is a rare occurance and would not be happening on any of the other ships. If they would go back to the Dine As You Wish you would be just fine, you would have Upper 8 PM Traditional Dining. Where it goes into a confusion is if they go back to the previous Test Dining which was Leisure Dining, then you have the open window. If they were temporarily dropping the Dine As You Wish to evaluate it then they should have just gone back to the Tradtional Dining found on all the other ships.

I agree with Rita and will add that I think far too many of the posters on this board are jumping to conclusions and Damming this whole thing before anything ever really happens. First off they have Never said they were dropping or considering dropping Traditional Dining. The Dine As You Wish was to offer both. Second, most all of you that are complaing are those that book your cruises many months in advance which will allow you to choose the dining you like. Secondly more than likely this new Dining concept will more than likely stay on the Vistas and the New Eurodam. The smaller ships will most likely not ever incurr the change but then I am just guessing here but again. All of this is just unknown even to HAL. For us to be proclaiming we will leave HAL when HAL does not even know what they are doing is just plain jumping to conclusion, getting everyone upset including the hundreds of people that read this board but do not post.

I agree I want Traditional Dining but had this happened before I took my first cruise we would have been thrilled with it and never known the difference. Also of the 8 people I know at work that like to cruise in polling them everyone of them chose the NON Traditional as what they would want. I believe that just maybe HAL has people up at the top that might be able to put this together to make all their cruisers happy. I also think that the reason they have even been experimenting with this is because the comment cards requesting this have far out weighed those who want traditional.

Again I want traditional but I also book my cruises a year in advance and feel I will always get the Dining I want so to speak "Dine As I Wish" At this point it is not worth getting upset over, nor complaining granted it gives for some action here on the CC board but to go as far as to declare "I will leave HAL forever to go to X" is just plain....oh well you know what I mean. Let's just sit back and see what happens. If you do not have an Oosterdam or Noordam cruise booked this year I am sure you have nothing to worry about.

[DFD1]

IMO HAL will do what every other large corporation does to survive. It will take polls, do tests and experiments and everything else it can do to find what attracts new business.

 

Many indications are that younger, well to do cruisers want a more relaxed, less structured cruise where they can do what they want when they want...including dining.

 

If this is, in fact, the case you can bet that HAL will try its best to provide that kind of cruise....at first probably on the shorter cruises, leaving the longer cruises with the more traditional cruise passengers with a more traditonal structure...for the time being.

 

The more experienced traditional cruise passengers will continue to resist change (including me), but probably to no avail. Our resistance may, at best, slow some of the changes.

 

IMO.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Caviargal, I agree you can replace any cruise line's name with HAL and the same applies. But as far as Celebrity goes, so far they haven't rolled over for "freestyle", "as you wish" or "personal choice".

 

This is interesting Heather. From the very few that have returned from the dining experiement, having actually experienced it, I think it's running close to 50-50.

 

Those that strongly prefer traditional dining often focus on the negative posts. Those who strongly prefer more flexible timing, read it the other way and the very few, like me, who don't care one way or another, perceive there to be more balance between the two.

 

I would agree, Hammybee, except that I don't focus as you suggest I do. I really try to get a real feel about the reaction of everyone since I truly want to know how people like it. Don't forget ... I've never experienced it so obviously I'm looking for information.

 

While I don't pretend to read every post ever written on the subject, it's been my personal view that MOST people who have written about it have spoken negatively for a number of reasons. I have seen few, if any (until the above post), people saying they had no problem at all with it.

 

Well, a nice idea (in theory) - sure. We were confirmed for upper level, 8:00pm, as we always request. Then we get our docs, and guess what??? No such luck. Even with the number of days Sonny & I and our kids have on HAL, AND booking a Suite, we are still out of luck - the waitlist is a mile long.

 

How are we supposed to cancel NOW???

 

And this is MOST interesting because we have to wonder why there is such a waitlist for traditional dining when we're being told everyone wants "as you wish".

 

Maybe I'm too simpleminded, but to me it says someone in Seattle is just being stubborn about their silly idea. It definitely needs more tweaking. I worked in Corporate HQs long enough to have seen this happen many times. I was fired from IBM (a company that in those days never fired anyone) for suggesting at a high level corporate meeting that a VP's "brilliant idea" was not so brilliant after all and in fact was a disaster. Shortly after my demise, they curtailed the implementation of the hotshot's idea.

 

So as I say, the proof will be in the proverbial pudding. We'll see the eventual outcome down the road, but in the meantime an awful lot of people will not be happy.

[ekerr19]

First off they have Never said they were dropping or considering dropping Traditional Dining. The Dine As You Wish was to offer both. Second, most all of you that are complaing are those that book your cruises many months in advance which will allow you to choose the dining you like.

 

Lisa - First off, it doesn't matter to me that they are still going to offer traditional dining if I can't get it, or have to jump through a bunch of hoops to have dining the way I want.

 

Also, to clarify, I never said I was leaving HAL because of this... Most likely, this will be our last cruise on a Vista (other than the Noordam).

 

I am willing to give it a shot (if it's still happening when we cruise), but the point I was trying to make to Rita was that it's pretty much too late to cancel - we were told one thing, got something totally different and it's far too late to make other arrangements.

 

When I booked the cruise I knew there was talk of "As you Wish" and my TA even contacted HAL and was told "No worries - they can have traditional if they still want it", but we can't. It is not available because it is full - even though when we booked my TA got a confirmed Upper level, Main.

 

It's misleading to passengers - and I'm sorry, but I think it's unfair of them to do this. I would have considered possibly booking a different ship had I been told that there would be no guarantee that I'd be able to have confirmed traditional dining. JMHO.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Lisa, I was going to simply skip over your post because I had difficulty reading it. Perhaps it was written in haste, but there seem to be some words missing, etc., that make it difficult to follow.

 

But without saying so directly you have declared me (and others who posted something similar) basically stupid which really isn't very kind and it's also uncalled for. Your suggestion that the PTB in Seattle are smarter than we all are just isn't necessarily the case.

 

Like you, I have every right to post my opinion about this experiment on this board. I also have the right to say that IF (and I clearly said IF) they incorporate this idea on all their ships, I will most definitely leave HAL and sail exclusively on Celebrity. This is no loss to HAL and I would venture to guess it doesn't matter a whit to anyone reading this thread.

 

I understand that you seem to stand behind HAL right or wrong and I respect your right to do that. But I have an equal right to state my very definite feelings about what I personally believe is an insane idea.

 

It definitely does not make me, or anyone else who feels the same way, stupid. I realize you left out the actual word, but it didn't take a whole lot of smarts to get your drift.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

OK first off, Laura, I was not stating my whole post at you. I was simply stating on the part that if you have a suite you should not be wait listed at all. If I were you I would have your TA contact HAL remind them (which needs to be done frequently) that you are a Deluxe Suite Verandah S Suite Passenger and should not be wait listed.

Heather, sorry if you misunderstood me or if it did not make sense I was in a hurry to get ready for church.

My Point is plain and simple we are all making a BIG FUSS over something that may or may not happen. Yes, some may experence the testing on the Oosterdam or Noordam. Absolutely nothing has been stated that Traditional Dining is going away. Plus many of you are complaining over something you have not even tried. Reminds me of children refusing to eat their veggies because they are sure they will not like them but as those chilldren grow older they find those veggies taste pretty good. OK so you do not want to try it that is OK too the ships doing this are still offering Traditional Dining.

We have no idea what Stein Kruse and his Officers Under him have planned but I am saying they do this for their career on a daily basis, what they decided effects their future. They certainly know far more about the cruise industry and what their passengers needs are than I do or for that matter anyone that is posting on this board (unless you have been prevy to sitting in on their last several board meeting). I some times feel when I read these boards that all we are doing is thinking ME ME. I think that there is a far bigger picture out there. Let's just sit back and see what happens.

In conclusion I will select traditional dining for myself (although we might try it once) but certainly don't feel this will effect my cruise experience because the guy in the cabin next to me wants to go to the Main Dining Room at different times each night.

[legalslave]

I'm on the same cruise as Laura on 3/3. When we booked that cruise, I was told we were confirmed for 8:00 pm upper level traditional dinning and a table for 2. My TA personally talked to HAL at that time and remembers it quite clearly. I did not know until we received our docs that I was assigned early dinning lower level. Complete opposite of what I was originally confirmed. My TA called HAL and was basically told too bad. Like Laura, it's upsetting to me when I have been originally confirmed for one thing and then given something totally different after I have made the final payment.

 

Diane

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Diane, this is the unfortunate part and the IMO HAL messed up badly. They more than likely set you Dining Time based on the Dine As You Wish and you having confirmed Tradional Dining. But some one or some department decided to stop it mid stream and go back to the Leisure Dining which upset the whole apple cart and they then started over to reassign new dining. Here's where it could be a strange problem who knows it may even be possible they go back to what it originally was before you board in a few weeks. I do feel someone in corporate Seattle does need to get a handle on this. All it is doing is confusing their passengers no matter what type or time of dining they wanted.

[Slinkiecat]

It's been two years since we went on our world cruise, and we adapted quickly to the routine of an 8:15 dinner time. Nearly four months later we disembarked and I found it much harder to adapt to our earlier dining time than it had been to adapt to the late time on board.

 

I'm sure a lot had to do with the preparation time at home, where I am "chief cook and bottle washer" and all the grocery shopping has to be done before the cooking begins. I love the relaxation time with nothing more to worry about than my hairdo and wearing the proper clothes for the evening.

 

Slinkie

[RuthC]

I love the relaxation time with nothing more to worry about than my hairdo and wearing the proper clothes for the evening.

And the jewelry! Let's not ever forget the jewelry. :D

[ekerr19]

OK first off, Laura, I was not stating my whole post at you. I was simply stating on the part that if you have a suite you should not be wait listed at all. If I were you I would have your TA contact HAL remind them (which needs to be done frequently) that you are a Deluxe Suite Verandah S Suite Passenger and should not be wait listed.

 

 

Lisa -

 

Sorry I missed this earlier. I didn't think you were directing your whole post at me, but since you quoted part of my earlier post I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something. :)

 

I understand what you are saying, I am not trying to jump to conclusions and agree that perhaps things may be getting a bit distorted here, but in all honesty I could not call my TA and ask her to force HAL to bump someone else because I've booked a Suite.

 

Please understand no offense is intended... HAL made the error and I feel it totally unfair that someone else should suffer simply because I've booked a higher category cabin. We will take whatever happens and adapt, but as I said - this will most likely be it for me on Vista class.

 

We love the new Noordam so much, we may be willing to concede at some point in the future in order to return to that lovely ship, but I'd like to see how things play out over the next year. :)

[ekerr19]

Another WSOD & refresh....

[ekerr19]

I'm on the same cruise as Laura on 3/3. When we booked that cruise, I was told we were confirmed for 8:00 pm upper level traditional dinning and a table for 2. My TA personally talked to HAL at that time and remembers it quite clearly. I did not know until we received our docs that I was assigned early dinning lower level. Complete opposite of what I was originally confirmed. My TA called HAL and was basically told too bad. Like Laura, it's upsetting to me when I have been originally confirmed for one thing and then given something totally different after I have made the final payment.

 

Diane

 

Well Diane, at least we can dine together now, lol!!! What about Becky? I need to email her about the whole dining thing - we were trying to link our reservations....

[bepsf]

As You Wish Dining's open dining option (HAL), Personal Choice's Anytime Dining option (Princess) and Oceania's open dining have been "as we wish". We've never had a wait except one evening on Star Princess and that wait was less than 5 minutes. We usually commence dining "whenever we wish" between 6:00pm and 7:30pm.

 

Fred

 

Comparing Oceania's Open Dining to that of Princess or HAL is like comparing apples and oranges...

 

All 3 Oceania ships have enough seats in their dining rooms to accomodate all guests at once should they by some chance show up all at once.

 

Princess and HAL have half the seating capacity than their guest capacity (ie:* 2000 passengers, but only 1000 places at dinner in their restaurants combined)

 

Should all passengers show up at once on Princess or HAL - there's gonna be some waiting going on...

[HeatherInFlorida]

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but I pretty much have thought for years that this entire board is made up of people making a BIG FUSS over some pretty petty stuff. Why should this subject be any different?:D

 

I still can't see anything wrong with simply stating that IF BY SOME CHANCE HAL is thinking of tossing traditional dining out the window, there are those of us who believe that would be the line in the sand we would not cross.

 

It's just our opinion being voiced as we all babble on incessantly about everything. This isn't a right/wrong, black/white situation. This isn't about not bringing booze onboard or the like ... this is simply each individual's opinion and better to state it now than wait until the horse is out of the barn!

 

I'm sure you agree:) .

[HeatherInFlorida]

WSOD double post:o ... it showed up, it didn't show up.

[Tricia724]

The aspect of these dining changes that bothers me the most is when someone reports that when they booked, they were confirmed for dining at a specific time.....then when the documents arrive, they discover they are waitlisted and frequently are out of luck.

 

I think that HAL or any cruiseline is simply wrong to do this. At best it's going back on your word....at worst it's deceptive and underhanded. I was raised to believe that your word is a commitment and speaks to your character, and I am sorely disappointed to see how little commitments mean to the cruiseline.

 

If something comes up that makes it impossible to meet their commitments, the least they could do is contact the people involved and notify them ahead of time and give them some options. Just plunking them on a waitlist is very poor public relations and business practice IMO.

[tssace]

Tricia724 - ditto ditto! I agree 100%.