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A new HAL Blog! (Yes, I'm a HAL employee!)

DutchByAssociation

By DutchByAssociation,
in Holland America Line

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DutchByAssociation

DutchByAssociation

Posted
Posted

So I’ve had a chance to get this blog going to where I know I can keep dedicated to it so I wanted to let all of you know about it.

 

As you can see from other posts on the blog if you look through what I’ve put up previously, I am an employee of HAL at the corporate offices in Seattle and must admit that the combination of the Holland America Blog http://www.hollandamericablog.com and John Heald’s Blog http://www.johnhealdsblog.com have inspired me to try my own hand at it.

 

Please let me know anything you are curious about or would like to see covered.

I simply ask that you realize that I am not your travel agent, the Reservations department nor your Personal Cruise Consultant and that I am unable to discuss your personal booking, take payments, provide free upgrades :) and so forth.

 

My goal is to offer a wide variety of info, both work-related and about me, such as that which John does on his blog…

 

So ask away, I’m here! And welcome!

http://dutchbyassociation.blogspot.com/

 

~B

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JudeeJim

JudeeJim

Posted
Posted
So I’ve had a chance to get this blog going to where I know I can keep dedicated to it so I wanted to let all of you know about it.

 

As you can see from other posts on the blog if you look through what I’ve put up previously, I am an employee of HAL at the corporate offices in Seattle and must admit that the combination of the Holland America Blog http://www.hollandamericablog.com and John Heald’s Blog http://www.johnhealdsblog.com have inspired me to try my own hand at it.

 

Please let me know anything you are curious about or would like to see covered.

I simply ask that you realize that I am not your travel agent, the Reservations department nor your Personal Cruise Consultant and that I am unable to discuss your personal booking, take payments, provide free upgrades :) and so forth.

 

My goal is to offer a wide variety of info, both work-related and about me, such as that which John does on his blog…

 

So ask away, I’m here! And welcome!

http://dutchbyassociation.blogspot.com/

 

~B

 

Thanks for taking this upon yourself. I received my documents today and only have one question. Which nights are formal on the Zaandam March 7 round trip San Diego - Hawaii - San Diego?

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DutchByAssociation

DutchByAssociation

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Thanks for taking this upon yourself. I received my documents today and only have one question. Which nights are formal on the Zaandam March 7 round trip San Diego - Hawaii - San Diego?

 

They determine them onboard. If there's holidays, etc that can possibly influence the decision.

 

One thing's pretty much a guarantee though. You'll never see a formal night the night you board, and any ports with a super late night (7pm-midnight departure range) it would be VERY rare.

 

Hope that helps!

 

Enjoy your cruise!

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sail7seas

sail7seas

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FABULOUS!!!

What a great Blog. I read lots but haven't read everything. Wanted to come here fast to tell you how much I appreciate all the effort. Thanks so much for your Blog. Can't wait to see what 'comes next'. :)

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DutchByAssociation

DutchByAssociation

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FABULOUS!!!

 

What a great Blog. I read lots but haven't read everything. Wanted to come here fast to tell you how much I appreciate all the effort. Thanks so much for your Blog. Can't wait to see what 'comes next'. :)

 

Thanks Sail.

 

I've never posted on Cruise Critic until now, but I've seen that you love the Maasdam and have heard all about your history with the Noordam.

 

Great to talk to a bit of a HAL celebrity on the East Coast. ;)

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sail7seas

sail7seas

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Thanks Sail.

 

I've never posted on Cruise Critic until now, but I've seen that you love the Maasdam and have heard all about your history with the Noordam.

 

Great to talk to a bit of a HAL celebrity on the East Coast. ;)

 

 

You're so sweet. :) Yes, I do, indeed, love Maasdam and Noordam. Can never, ever get enough of either.

Wish we were on one or the other right now!!! :)

 

 

Really happy you found your way to CC to share with us.

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DutchByAssociation

DutchByAssociation

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Wow very nice :) It is impressive. Will you have an area that may allow for questions or will you continue to stay here on the CC board and try to answer questions for us.

 

It is very nice to have someone from HAL actually post.

 

I'll likely post here from time to time, but the majority will of course be through the blog.

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DutchByAssociation

DutchByAssociation

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You're so sweet. :) Yes, I do, indeed, love Maasdam and Noordam. Can never, ever get enough of either.

Wish we were on one or the other right now!!! :)

 

And first time on the Eurodam in... looks like 37 days?

 

Very cool. Hope you'll post all about it.

 

That's one of my goals to get onto soon

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norcal2

norcal2

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Well Dutch now that we "personally" know a genuine HAL icon I believe we can all get upgraded to a penthouse??? I knew it! See how you are? You are just too good. :cool:

 

Ok so back to reality:

 

I suspect your blogsite will be quite successful. It is a great opportunity for HAL fans to gather information. Wonderful blog so good job.

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DutchByAssociation

DutchByAssociation

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Well Dutch now that we "personally" know a genuine HAL icon I believe we can all get upgraded to a penthouse??? I knew it! See how you are? You are just too good. :cool:

 

Ok so back to reality:

 

I suspect your blogsite will be quite successful. It is a great opportunity for HAL fans to gather information. Wonderful blog so good job.

 

If only I could. :)

 

I appreciate the comments and hope you continue to enjoy!

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rochelle_s

rochelle_s

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"B",

 

A recent thread here on CruiseCritic once again brings up the subject of show times. Sometimes they are early others they are an hour later. Do you know what factors go in to setting these times? Or why there is sometimes a difference between one ship and another with perhaps similar itineraries?

 

Thanks...

 

Rochelle

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Pettifogger

Pettifogger

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Sometimes we have a thread about HAL policies on which individuals take opposing positions and both claim to KNOW! But ordinarily readers are hard put to know which of them to believe because we don't know HOW they know. I and I suspect others have often wished we could get a confirmation of the position of one side or the other from HAL, but we have had no way to get it.

I gather that you are not going to speak officially for HAL, but the word of an identified insider carries more weight with me than someone entirely unidentified, but I'm not sure how exactly much weight it should carry. I assume that you are looking forward to continued employment by HAL, so you will be careful not to say anything of which you would expect them to disapprove unless you feel that morally you absolutely must.

For example, a Guest Relations Manager on one of the ships might occasionally present a HAL policy inaccurately because they are human and humans make mistakes, but I think they might be more likely to be evasive if they're not sure. I certainly would be if I were in that situation. But they are under an obligation to say something, whereas you, so far as we know, are not; you can just entirely ignore a question or expressly decline to answer. You are under no special obligation to us.

All of which is a long preamble to my question, which is simply how much stock we should put in your answers, with the understood reservation that everyone makes mistakes. Possible alternative answers would be such things as "I'm an HAL employee so I know many things about how the line works that outsiders don't know, but there are a lot of things I don't know" to "I know almost as much as or more than the average GRM," to "I don't know very much, but even that could be a help to people that don't know anything."

I doubt that any of my suggested alternatives will be just right; I was just trying to encourage you to tell us as well as you can how to weigh anything you might tell us. It wasn't my purpose to put you "on the spot;" if you prefer not to answer my question, please don't.

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