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

[RuthC]

Cabin and dining room/Lido stewards are Indonesian.

 

The bartenders, lounge stewards, wine stewards, and cooks on the Lido line are Filipino. You may find some other job classifications which are also staffed by Filipinos, but they probably won't have much (if any) passenger contact.

[GeorgiaPeach51]

What a great blog. Our next cruise to be planned will be on the Eurodam, we think, so I'll be checking back often. Thanks so much. :)

[mygate]

Will any of the room stewards be Filipino? or any of the rest of the crew? I grew up in the Philippines as a child of missionaries and still speak my local dialect. I enjoy meeting Filipinos to talk about where they are from, etc.

 

Often the front desk personnel are from the Philippines and they are always very nice to talk with.

Mygate

[Christapie]

Hi, We are 51 and 52. We have sailed only on Princess 8 times, no other line. Reason: We have always been happy. Now I see an itinerary for Jan 2, 2010 on the Zuiderdam. We love pools and hot tubs. We look foward to excellent food. I was thinking about booking an inside GTY in "hopes" of being moved up. I have not heard the best things about this ship. Sewage problems, food being bland, service not up to par.

 

Please help this girl out here. I need advice.

 

Thank you, Christapie

[Himself]

You have certainly used these boards to give a lot of useful information and have given a lot of help to people. Thank you for your many kindnesses to the people who use this board. By the way, in the title I say "He Dutch" and I meant to say "Hey Dutch." So sorry for the mistake.

[DutchByAssociation]

Thanks! I'm sure it'll be brought out with a big bang! Wasn't Rose Abello VP of Public Relations?

 

Yes, she was

[DutchByAssociation]

You have certainly used these boards to give a lot of useful information and have given a lot of help to people. Thank you for your many kindnesses to the people who use this board. By the way, in the title I say "He Dutch" and I meant to say "Hey Dutch." So sorry for the mistake.

 

no worries about the typo. I appreciate the comments! thank you!

[DutchByAssociation]

Hi, We are 51 and 52. We have sailed only on Princess 8 times, no other line. Reason: We have always been happy. Now I see an itinerary for Jan 2, 2010 on the Zuiderdam. We love pools and hot tubs. We look foward to excellent food. I was thinking about booking an inside GTY in "hopes" of being moved up. I have not heard the best things about this ship. Sewage problems, food being bland, service not up to par.

 

Please help this girl out here. I need advice.

 

Thank you, Christapie

 

The Zuiderdam being one of the ships I have not personally been on, I would recommend asking CC users about their experiences on the ship...

 

But keep in mind, the opinions on CC are just a small piece of feedback on any given ship. For each person that is happy about something, you'll find someone that isn't and vice versa. Same can be said for any ship, in any fleet.

[sail7seas]

Thanks! I'm sure it'll be brought out with a big bang! Wasn't Rose Abello VP of Public Relations?

 

 

Copper.... Rose Abello recently retired.

[SeaYa52]

Great posts - thank you so much for taking the time to help everyone out. Question: Will HAL let me take flowers onboard that I purchase in Seattle? Have done this several times with Princess in Hawaii & Tahiti - but didn't know if HAL allowed this.:)

Thanks!

Sandy

Charlotte

[cribdink]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know when the calendar for 2011 will be available? I'm looking for a cruise to Hawaii in the spring of 2011 for my mother's birthday.

 

Thanks.

[DutchByAssociation]

I believe that is a customs rule and not a cruise line rule. As such, I couldn't really answer that for you.

 

Sorry! Hope you find the info you need!

[DutchByAssociation]

Hi,

 

Does anyone know when the calendar for 2011 will be available? I'm looking for a cruise to Hawaii in the spring of 2011 for my mother's birthday.

 

Thanks.

 

Cruise itineraries are available approximately 1 year in advance, and 2010 just recently came out.

 

For Hawaii, it usually tends to be Jan/Feb of the year before, so I would guess for your question Jan/Feb of 2010.

 

You can also contact reservations and request a future cruise request... they can give you the details on that, and if the res agent isn't too familiar with the process, request to speak with a lead about it.

[Christapie]

The Zuiderdam being one of the ships I have not personally been on, I would recommend asking CC users about their experiences on the ship...

 

But keep in mind, the opinions on CC are just a small piece of feedback on any given ship. For each person that is happy about something, you'll find someone that isn't and vice versa. Same can be said for any ship, in any fleet.

 

Thanks for the quick answer!

 

Ok any CC'r out there to help me out on this one?

[DutchByAssociation]

Thanks for the quick answer!

 

Ok any CC'r out there to help me out on this one?

 

You may want to start a new thread... not everyone follows this one..

[cruzisme]

are the trays all gone now from the Lido Restaurant?

 

has Headquarters had many comments from the passengers regarding this?

[jtl513]

I've heard a little bit around the office but unfortunately cannot comment at this time.

Dutch - Still no releasable info on the new wine cards? If not details, any hints as to when they are likely to change?

[DutchByAssociation]

are the trays all gone now from the Lido Restaurant?

 

has Headquarters had many comments from the passengers regarding this?

 

The date I heard was May 1 but because Rotterdam and Prinsendam were in the midst of a grand voyage it would not surprise me if any they and any other ships underway waited until the next sailing.

 

Guest Relations and the ships themselves would be in receipt of that feedback.

[DutchByAssociation]

Dutch - Still no releasable info on the new wine cards? If not details, any hints as to when they are likely to change?

 

The conversation I have heard about this topic has slowed. That doesn't mean much, except that I haven't spoken to some of my friends in the applicable departments for a bit.

[DutchByAssociation]

Hey Dutch, any idea when details about Nieuw Amsterdam's inaugural season (and naming ceremony) might be released by the company?

 

Wanted to follow-up on this and say that all Nieuw Amsterdam sailings through to the late Oct/early Nov transatlantic cruise have been released.

 

My goal for 2010 is to be onboard the 20 day transatlantic from Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale.

[mamaofami]

Hi Dutch, I was wondering if there is any possibility of HAL canceling the 2010 Bermuda cruises because of the conflict with Bermuda over opening the casino while in port at night.

[whynotnow]

We sailed the Ryndam 10 night Mexican cruise in February and although we enjoyed the cruise a lot, we were very disappointed in the timing of the shows. We always take second seating dining and all the shows for that seating were before dinner. It was very inconvenient as we like to go to the Ocean Bar before dinner for a drink and dancing and look forward to the show afterwards. That was not possible with the show schedules.

 

We are seriously looking at the Nieu Amsterdam Transatlantic 32 night cruise next October. Do you know if Holland America will continue their pre-dinner show schedule?

 

Thank you.

[DutchByAssociation]

Hi Dutch, I was wondering if there is any possibility of HAL canceling the 2010 Bermuda cruises because of the conflict with Bermuda over opening the casino while in port at night.

 

Wow this thread got buried!

 

I have heard nothing of the sort.

[DutchByAssociation]

We sailed the Ryndam 10 night Mexican cruise in February and although we enjoyed the cruise a lot, we were very disappointed in the timing of the shows. We always take second seating dining and all the shows for that seating were before dinner. It was very inconvenient as we like to go to the Ocean Bar before dinner for a drink and dancing and look forward to the show afterwards. That was not possible with the show schedules.

 

We are seriously looking at the Nieu Amsterdam Transatlantic 32 night cruise next October. Do you know if Holland America will continue their pre-dinner show schedule?

 

Thank you.

 

Only time will tell, but feedback from guests (first time, platinum medallion and everyone inbetween) has a huge effect on most everything that the company does.

 

The restructuring of the show times was to find a balance between the needs of fixed dining and open dining guests.

 

If you're on that 32 day cruise, I'll see you on YOUR day 13 :)

[alsas]

I saw some of your photos of the Amsterdam re-fit. Can you tell me if the Crows Nest now has the library and computers there,could not tell from the photos if this is correct. Saw the casino changes and it looks great. Thank you again for your input. Alsas