BermudaBound2014

Thanks Mary~ Did you have issues with uniformity of excellence? I was very pleased with the standard of service onboard. There was a bit of service inconsistencies (most complaints appeared to be in the MDR which I didn’t attend). There were a few misses with room service and I did get a glass of ice dumped on my head while I was sleeping in my playpen, but other than that, I thought service was outstanding :-). About the ice incident. It was a total accident and my guy was literally in shock! That could have happened regardless of training. I took it like a champ, assuring him that I needed to wake up anyway (and have witnesses that I was more concerned about the young mans ego than I was about my abrupt waking @Rhonda and Keith haha). I’m just thankful he didn’t dump a glass of ice on some of the CrankyMcCrankisters I saw around the ship who would have most certainly went after his job, or asked for OBC ;-) But here’s the thing. This young man (who will remain nameless just in case someone wants to be a jerk about the dumping) was going above and beyond in service when he had the little ooopsy. Since I had the same playpen daily he learned that I liked Arnold Palmers. In this instance, he was bringing ice to my Arnold Palmer so that when I woke up the drink would be fresh and cold! How Sweet Is That???? He and I are social media friends now and we will forever laugh about the time he woke me up from a leisure nap by dousing me in an ice bath :). When I compare the service on HAL to the service we received on Carnival and NCL just a month prior, HAL’s service was significantly better. More servers walk around offering drinks (that was non-existent on carnival). Sure there were instances in busy venues that it was difficult to get a drink, but I am more concerned about the amount of watering down that HAL is doing to the drinks than I am about waiting an extra 20 minutes. I’m not a huge drinker. One evening I polished off three gin/tonics pretty quickly. On land I would have been seriously impaired. Onboard, I felt the tiny tiniest of a buzz. It happened several times. I actually stopped consuming alcoholic drinks because I could keep drinking (and drinking) with the only measurable result being the calories were making fat. By the end of the trip it was wine or beer for this girl. Back to service: My cabin stewards serviced the cabin twice daily (no longer the case on carnival or ncl). They were exceptional. I told them they did not have to do towel animals for me nightly and they insisted! I got chocolates on my pillows (was that a function of it being a legendary cruise or are all HAL cruises getting chocolate?) Also, the service in the lido was exceptional for me. I sat on the opposite side of the line that was open and, again, got to know the same person daily. He always had my drink ready and that guy would have gotten me anything from the buffet had I asked. I guess my super long winded point is that with or without the service excellence program, I would rank service on HAL a solid 9/10, especially when compared to NCL and Carnival. I did not see anything service related that I thought needed serious revision. I do believe that they need to bring back the uniformity of excellence training when it comes to programing onboard entertainment. Lack of physically active and fun things to do (especially with those long stretches of sea days) was really the only area I thought in need of significant revision. If HAL wants to grab the attention of the soon to be retired Gen Xers, they need to rid themselves of their reputation as a cruise line for the elderly. And note that, imo, elderly isn’t a number~ it’s a mindset.

Take a look at how these last minute prices compare with the $49 offer HAL recently launched. For those able to travel last minute, it appears that often it’s better to just book direct and pick your cabin and KNOW you are traveling, sometimes weeks in advance.

I thought Grant came from Royal? I swore we talked about rhapsody of the seas. Although come to think of it he did mention Disney wasn’t a good fit for him due to all the kids. I suppose he could come from both Disney and Royal. I have never sailed Disney but the Royal playmakers do an excellent job!! Entertainment is one area where HAL falls way short when compared to other main stream lines. It’s evident entertainment isn’t a priority given the size of grants team (3) is tiny compared to others with activity staffs over 10. Where Hal excels is itinerary at an excellent price point. I know that’s why I sail with them.

Hi Annie!! Thanks for the info. Two questions, who the heck is Emma and how does she still have a job? I vote for everyone getting out of Grants way and letting him run the entertainment!!

All that is very true. Indeed. No argument from me. Lots of people sail HAL for the subdued atmosphere, hence their reputation.

The navigator app never worked off the ship for me, but all the port agent info was supplied in a separate half sheet of paper and left on my bed the night before a port. It was easy enough to tuck in my backpack. I thought this system worked well because it was so easy to carry. One thing I forgot to mention in my survey (kicking myself) is the lack of use of the stateroom TV to broadcast all the happenings of the ship so that I could watch in the evening before bed. Not once did I get to listen to the cruise directors port talks because the world stage would fill LONG before the scheduled event. Not to mention those were held at inconvenient times for me. Why not rebroadcast the port talks so we can tune in whenever? It’s possible the music and step one dance is copyrighted, but all other ship activities are most certainly fair game. The technology exists because they were able to rebroadcast the crew talent show. Every other ship I have been on in the last couple decades has provided this service to their guests. Why K’dam didn’t is beyond me. In the same line of thinking, why not have the photographers walk around the ship filming clips of all the activities and rebroadcast that on the tv? IMO, Hal left lots of money on the table by not videotaping the hula/ukulele concert put on by guests. Slap that on an .89cent flash drive and sell it for $49.99. There would have been takers. Even I may have purchased a flash drive of snippets from the entire cruise including port stops. It’s not like the company isn’t 28 Billion dollars in debt ;-). This is one revenue generator that I think would go over well with guests and I offer the idea free of royalties 🙂

Yep, Grant was a 10+, born to be in front of crowds with a mic. So warm, welcoming, and inclusive. He really had a positive impact on my cruise. I’m still a little miffed that dance class was cut short 2 days early because Grant was needed in the world stage. Sure, the world stage was a great presentation, but couldn’t dance class have been offered sometime in the 9-10 hour block? After Tai Chi but before the “life at sea’ presentation? If you added in the folks participating in the balconies, dance class had to be approaching 100 participants and it was the ONLY activity offered for those of us who want a little more high energy. I get that Grant is only one person and can’t be everywhere, but there has to be a work around besides cutting out an activity that had such high attendance. Again, a scheduling blunder. Regarding movies at the lido. I do agree that during the day would be invasive on all the folks enjoying the pool. But why not throw on some music videos? That large screen showed a drop of water for 35 days (well there was some gold chain thing too for variety). I asked every single day in the app for music to be played in the lido. If only for a couple hours. If not the lido, then the sea view. Offer one pool with a bit livelier atmosphere. I do understand that on this particular cruise that might have been difficult since the majority of passengers likely grew up without MTV, but every generation likes music. Again, not both pools. Leave one for those who want silence. If HAL wants to rid itself of the decade old ugly stereotype of the cruise line for the “newlywed and nearly dead” then they need to pay attention to those of us who are asking for more energy. Somewhere we can find a compromise between radio silence and Guns and Roses. Oh, about the speakers. I did notice one speaker was blown. Easy enough to fix. Nearly every other cruise ship I have been on in the last decade has had movies/music videos at the lido with no sound issues. Since every single movie that was shown at the lido was also available on stateroom TV, the lack of movies wasn’t a copywright issue. I get that movies at the pool require more staff and I am the last person who wants to make more work for the crew, but HAL really should address the lack of space issue that the Kdam design created. Seems easy enough to press play every night; again a scheduling issue. I would like to know who was in charge of scheduling events. Based on the conversation @anniegb had with Kristin, it wasn’t the cruise director. So who was it? Typically it is the cruise director but apparently not on this cruise. I hope they can learn from our surveys because my requests in the app went no where. After ignoring my 22nd request for some light music during the day, I think they would have preferred it if I volunteered to walk the plank. 🙂 Finally, these are certainly first world gripes. I mention them here to help prepare future cruisers for what they might encounter, and I mentioned them in the survey (and app) to help HAL better meet the needs of the up and coming population of cruisers. Make no mistake; the good far outweighed the bad. I had an AMAZING journey on the K’dam. Largely due to all the relationships I was able to form with like minded travelers and the incredible places we visited. Most importantly, I most certainly made life long friends and that trumps listening to Bon Jovi at the lido.

I have it in my notes to write about the Koningsdam Ball and Chocolate Surprise. This was held on the last formal night. Be warned, this is going to sound really negative, but I honestly believe this is a place where HAL needs some improvement. My group got to BBkings 2 hours before the Ball started. There was some type of game show (maybe it was trivia?), but we didn’t dare leave to make sure we had seats for the evening festivities. Lots of others did the same. I don’t think there was a single table open an hour before the show. HAL can’t really do much about the Kdams poor design. This ship just doesn’t move crowds well. As I’ve said, we were on a 6,500 And 4,000+ cruise ship a few weeks before I embarked on the Kdam, and both those ships felt FAR less crowded due to their design. Even though the Kdam is a medium sized ship at 2,600 passengers, her space ratio is poor. In other words, she feels more crowded. Often. I’m not sure who designed RSRR, but whoever thought it would be a good idea to put a wall extending half the width of the venue needs to have their design diploma reviewed. I’d guess that about 20% of the seats in this lounge are totally blind to the band. Useless. It’s also a very poor use of space to have BB, RSRR, and BBkings so closely connected. Music bleeds between bbkings and RSRR. I get the theory, put the rooms close together so people don’t need to walk far, but what this does is create terrible traffic jams because everyone is competing for limited space all evening. If you want a good seat- show up early. The Kdam is also lacking a lounge where they can hold a party that everyone can attend. The orange party on the lido was great! Everyone fit. Sure it was super hot because the roof malfunctioned, and the timing was off because we had to get up in the morning for an island, but everyone fit in one venue! This created a unified high energy atmosphere. BBKings just can’t do that. There were many people who could not attend the Ball or the St Patty's day party because all seats were taken hours before the parties started. And in spite of my attempts to get another party held at the lido (I would guess in excess of 50 people asked for another deck party after the orange party), the request fell on deaf ears. That is a shame because the limited space of BBKing does ensure that some are left out. I don’t understand why it’s so difficult to move the parties to the lido. Not every night of course, but the Kdam Ball (or any formal party) would have been perfect for the lido. It was a cool night so heat wouldn’t have been a factor. They could open or close the roof as temperature dictated. There would have been more room to disperse chocolates around. I just don’t understand the hesitation. On a traditional tropic cruise there are three lido deck parties in 7 nights. Certainly the Kdam could have offered three in 35. I can testify that there were chocolates, but the servers brought out trays and handed them to the first tables. That meant 99% of the guests never saw chocolate let alone tasted it. There wasn’t nearly enough chocolates or servers to go around and the venue was so crowded it made it hard for them to serve. And don’t even get me started on how crowded the mosh pit (I mean dance floor) became. I realize that HAL can’t do much to fix the physical design flaws of the Kdam. The theatre, music walk, lido, etc are just too small to accommodate all passengers. BUT- they can improve the scheduling/location of events to compensate. The lido was grossly underutilized in the evening. They weren’t even offering movies each night. The lido is the one venue that can move large crowds and you just can’t get the same unified party vibe when you split people into 3 separate lounges. Ok -Off soap box. I did put similar comments in my review. Perhaps I’m in the minority, but I have to believe that some people who wanted to attend the Ball (or get chocolate), simply couldn’t because of poor venue scheduling .

I sailed on Carnival for the first time since 1996 in January and just got off the 35 day kdam. My thoughts are very similar to yours. Carnival of 2024 is much different than the carnival I remember. The food options were MUCH better on Carnival and the activities blew HAL out of the water. I do believe that HAL had significantly better service. With that, carnival is anything but subdued. It’s a vibrant atmosphere with high energy. Based on the demographics of the Kdam cruise I just finished (which was MUCH older but it also was much a longer cruise), I would not recommend carnival to those who enjoyed the discussions about metaphysics ;). Carnivals theme is FUN and they bring it all day everyday.

Sorry I’m so far behind. I do have many notes I want to contribute to wrap up this live review but this weekend was “Celebration on the Arts” here at the Ritz Carlton in Kapalua. So far I’ve had the honor of participating in the traditional Hawaiian Ceremony of “Hi’uwai” (purification) and “E Ala E” (awakening) held at sunrise to open the weekend festivities. I even learned the proper chant Hawaiians use to call up the sun. I learned how to carve Koa, how to basket weave, sat in on a presentation of natural Hawaiian healing plants, and stamped my own “art” with volcanic ash.The whole weekend has been devoted to learning about and celebrating Hawaiian heritage and I feel so blessed to take part each year. This years theme was Here are some photos (totally unrelated to my cruise review, but I feel like Maui is one big shore excursion lol). Also a couple links for those who maybe interested in learning more. https://www.forbes.com/sites/theresachristine/2019/07/30/what-is-a-hiuwai-ceremony-all-about-this-reenergizing-hawaiian-tradition/?sh=4684351c2f9e https://www.flipsnack.com/98C95F99E8C/celebration-of-the-arts-2024-program/full-view.html

I still think we are going to sail together one day, but I totally understand that this itinerary isn’t for everyone. I’m glad my review may have helped shed some light. I believe that this itinerary lends itself to those that want to spent their time IN the water. The snorkeling is some of the best I’ve encountered. Of course, just looking at the water gorgeous too, but getting in it and experiencing coral reefs that are still alive is just indescribable. The cultural land trips in FP are hot. I do recommend air conditioning transportation if you are going to spend time on land. Next year I plans to skip the land trips entirely and spend everyday in FP submersed in salt water.

I did! you pick up a ticket in the office right outside the gangway. $25 round trip. Water taxi Comes often. It’s primitive, showers didn’t work and you bring your own toilet paper. Beach was great. Snorkeling from beach was decent at the far end. Lots of locals. I will likely do this again next year. I’d be more than happy to show you where to get the tickets but it’s super easy. You can see the motu from the ship.

Thank you for following along. I agree that boththe memories and friendships I made are going to last a lifetime. I do hope to sail with you as well! My Gratitude continues as Maui greeted me with this amazing sunset from my Lanai last night. I’ve been watching a group of whales with my binoculars all morning just off of Napili bay. As much as I loved the cruise, there is something very special about my time here. Healing. Centering. Hard to explain, but I just resonate differently. I can think of no better explanation mark on a cruise of a lifetime than to spend time reflecting in paradise. My cup is overflowing….

I’m on Maui right now, I’ll wave to you 🙂

Now you know that had we danced my review may have been way BETTER! 🙂