LiseD

Our TA offered us a new balcony room on Freedom. Not out of dry dock yet. But after reading this forum notice they did the same to Navigator. Has anyone stayed in the new balcony rooms at front of ship, on side? Not the rooms with just window in front. Do you have a clear view below of the water? He said above the spa area. Any info would be great as we need to make a decision asap.

We counted the tables in our area that our waiter was serving. We did hear about one of the band members becoming sick and unable to perform. I wonder if there might have been a lot of crew out sick but of course they didn't want to mention it? We were all given the letter about washing hands and they gave us bottles of hand sanitizer. The letter made mention of stomach bug and to go to dr at any sign of sickness.

I also overheard someone say they had taken on some new crew members in San Diego....so maybe just not enough trained??? Like I said above...we really like HA.....had become our "favorite" after trying many lines. So will not quit sailing with them because of one "slow" cruise.

There have been some great points made here. I have been thinking about the cruise log and numbers listed. For me it really doesn't matter how many crew members are on the ship. It matters how many tables is my waiter trying to serve? How many rooms is our steward trying to clean? How many bar tenders are working during busy time? etc What we noticed was our room steward told us he had over 30 rooms to clean. Most days our room was not cleaned until 2pm. Our waiter in the MD had at least 15 tables (that we counted him at, could have been more). Our wine steward showed us the area he was trying to cover and it was 1/2 of the upstairs dining room. We noticed most times only one bar tender working at busy times like sail away, New Years Eve etc. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get food at the Pinnacle Grill and this was at 8:30 and about 1/2 the tables were empty. Our server was trying to wait on all the tables there. Service at the afternoon tea was painfully slow. There might be tons of employees on the ship, but for me it is are there enough in the areas needed? It was being talked about by many guests on board. So I know we were not the only ones to notice.

With this said, we love HA and this is the first time we have experienced this. So it would not make us change to another cruise line just yet. It might have been a fluke. Were employees out sick? Were there a lot of new employees? That is why I asked the question to begin with. Was just wondering if HA was really cutting back on staff. It was a holiday cruise, so probably a lot more guests than normal. We thought the food was excellent. We loved the music in the bars. Employees were hard working and always friendly. HA is still a great line....just hoping IF they are cutting way back that they would reconsider. I would hate for them to quit being the wonderful line they are known for!

Thank you for such honest sharing and reminding us just how hard life can be sometimes but also how sweet a group of internet "family" can be on a site like this. It did my heart good to read all the encouraging and wonderful posts! I am praying that 2015 is an amazing year for you and your family!!

Well said!

Oh you might be correct about picky passengers or those wanting a waiter to be their best friend? Kind of hope not as having a waiter for your best friend would be a bit sad! ;)

We have been in the hospitality industry (innkeepers) for 20 years and can totally understand demanding guests. Because of that, I feel we have to be one of the easiest groups to wait on!! That is also why we never said a thing to anyone on the ship and would never send HA a negative comment about ANY of their employees....they were all incredibly hard working employees. I was just asking about cut backs as after many years of cruising we really noticed changes and can't tell you how many times we heard others talking about it on the trip.

But my motto is and always will be, "It's always good when I don't have to shop for it, cook it or clean up from it" Our inn is open 365 days a year, so we always enjoy the times that someone else is doing the work. And we go out of our way to be friendly to everyone that serves us!

I have to agree about the food....it was excellent! But service was not good. Again...no fault of our waiters, they just had so many tables....way more then the 22 someone mentioned above. Our waiters would come to the table and take the order and then deliver the food....nothing extra....no small talk, etc.

This was not just our table but through out the whole dining room. We spoke to so many different people at breakfast or lunch (when they seat you with different people each time) Everyone was reporting the same thing....slow service....rushed employees. Many days our stateroom was not cleaned until after 1 or 2pm. I just don't remember ever having it done that late. Our room steward said he had over 30 rooms.

One other thing.....we love the crows nest....a great place to hang out.....well.....the windows were just covered with lots of bird poop! I know washing windows is not easy, but this is where so many go to watch the views while sailing....and everyone kept commenting about how awful it was to have to look out such dirty windows. They were dirty when we got on and looked the same when we left....not ever cleaned.

We encountered only NICE and hardworking employees....there just were not enough of them to handle the full ship. But like others said....the cruise lines are just trying to stay profitable. But my fear is HA will start losing business over this. They have always been know for such great service!

I know this sounds like we didn't enjoy the cruise....we really did have lots of fun....had a great week with my parents and our daughters.....we were just a bit surprised by very noticeable cut backs.

I have to agree with the post below....maybe because we sailed at full capacity...it was a New Years Eve cruise....our steward said he had over 30 rooms to take care of! Our dining staff was so rushed that we felt all they could do was take your order and run off to the next table. It was near impossible to order a bottle of wine and it was always delivered after we started our meal....we started joking that it was our desert wine! We waited over 1 hour for food to be delivered in the Pennical Grill. Our waitress said it was due to other "large parties" but when I got up to go to the bathroom the largest party I saw was a table of 6!

We still had a great time....but we're a bit sad that this was not the HA we were expecting and have had in the past.

I should have looked at our cruise log! I didn't even bring it home!!

It certainly feels that way. Service to the cabins seems more stretched; the dining stewards seem more rushed. It takes a lot longer to get waited on in a lounge, and you are not approached for a refill as soon as you are on empty, as was once the practice. The cocktail stewards don't have the time to keep track of their patrons any more.

Just back from our third HA cruise. (Veendam) Do you know if HA is sailing with fewer employees? We really noticed what seemed to be way fewer employees still trying to serve the same number of guests.

How far out can you book air?

Whew....got busy the last few days and just had a chance to check this post. Thanks for all the great advice! We are on the Sept 13th sailing out of Basil!!! Would love to exchange info Sharden!!

Thanks to help from this forum, we booked an Avalon cruise for next Sept. going from Basel to Amsterdam for our 25th anniversary.

Would like to hear suggestions for pre and post trip. Think we want to fly in a few days early to get over the jet lag. Will fly into Zurich. Should we stay there or head over to Basel or somewhere else? We will fly out of Amsterdam but should we take a few days to go somewhere else? I'm sure both the cities have a lot to see but are they super big cities? Would we enjoy something more quaint?

Also....do most of you book rooms via your cruise lines for the starting and ending cities or do you do this on your own? Am thinking it might be less expensive to do on our own?

Thanks for any and all suggestions! You all are the BEST!!!

So glad to read this since I just put a deposit on an Avalon trip for next Sept! Basil to Amsterdam on the Felicity.

Thanks for all your help. We are putting a deposit on the Avalon cruise-(see earlier post) Sept 2015 on the Rhine. To be honest it came down to the fact that we only had to put a $250 pp deposit down and balance due next June!! We just paid twins fall college tuitions, so this sounded pretty good to us!!! :)

Can't think of a better way to spend our 25th anniversary! You can bet I will be posting a lot more questions!!!

Thanks for all the details....loved your review!

Looking at Felicity and rooms are 170 sq ft. But only one chair! :( Should I pack a folding chair? ha ha ha JK I always have enough to pack!

Yeah....one chair is not that great! Guess we will be fighting on our 25th!! ha ha ha

I think I need to read the sailing schedule better....was thinking there would be more sailing in the day....but like you said, there is viewing on both sides, so being up stairs would be best!

so this is more related to rain fall....not say....snow melting in spring? Some places in the world do have "rainy seasons" so guess just wondering if it is like that? I know here in the mountains of NC we get a lot more rain in the spring then in the fall.

From website...photo and drawing of the room just show one chair....no sofa or second chair. Hate to be picky but seems one would have to sit on the bed and one in a chair....no so comfortable for having a drink and watching the scenery.

I have read on this board about issues with river cruises due to either flooding or low river levels. Is there a time of year where you are more at risk for this? I am thinking about "hurricane season" in the Caribbean. I know there is no hurricane season on the river.....but..... Is there a "season" that puts you more at risk for water conditions interfering with your cruise?

I was looking at the room layout on Avalon Felicity- French Balcony room (not suite) and wondering if there are 2 chairs in the room? From drawing and photo it looks like only one. I know the rooms are small, but have been comparing this to a similar Viking cruise and notice they have 2 chairs and a small table by their French door.

Edit....just saw an answer to this on another thread.....thanks....would still love feedback from anyone....were you both able to sit at window with sofa?

Ok....I have a chair question.....it looks like on Viking there are 2 chairs by the French balcony but on Avalon it only shows one chair in the room...can anyone confirm this? Seems it would be nice to have 2 chair to at least sit and have a glass of wine by the glass door?

We are using an online TA that we have used on many ocean cruises.....has always given us great deals. As for Uniworld, it is pricing out about $3000 more for the same route.....so a bit above our price range.

Staterooms are the same size and in about the same location on the ships. I have not looked at total pass. count....will do that next.

I am NOT liking Vikings pay upfront and that might make our decision....just paid double tuition for fall semester and so would love to just pay a deposit now!! :)

Ok....we want to be on a river cruise next Sept 15th for our 25th anniversary. We currently have twins in their senior year of college....so we are on a budget! :) Would love your thoughts on these 2 choices for us!!

Looking at either Viking (Helvetia) from Amsterdam to Basil or Avalon (Felicity) from Basil to Amsterdam.

They are both older ships (2009) and both have a French balcony that we would like. These are pricing out almost the same. The big difference in cost seems to be the deposit...as many have discussed Viking wants full payment by Aug. 31st and Avalon is not due until June 15th.

It appears Viking gives wine/beer with lunch AND dinner, Avalon only with dinner. The stops are a bit different but since I have not heard of many of these places, not sure what to think about that! Any other differences I should look at? Review on CC seem better for the Avalon ship. Please give feedback!!

Avalon:

Day 1 Zürich–Transfer to Basel (Embarkation):

Day 2 Strasbourg:

Day 3 Speyer. Excursion to Heidelberg:

Day 4 Mainz–Rüdesheim:

Day 5 Rhine Gorge–Koblenz:

cruise through the Rhine Gorge; choice of guided sightseeing in Koblenz or visit Sayn Manor House

Day 6 Cologne:

Day 7 Amsterdam:

canal cruise

Day 8 Amsterdam (Disembarkation):

your vacation ends this morning

Viking:

•Day 1 | Amsterdam, Netherlands

•Day 2 | Kinderdijk, Netherlands

•Day 3 | Cologne, Germany

•Day 4 | Koblenz & Rüdesheim , Germany

•Day 5 | Heidelberg & Speyer, Germany

•Day 6 | Strasbourg, France

•Day 7 | Breisach, Germany

•Day 8 | Basel, Switzerland

I guess the learning point for me is to be to read carefully what each "day" involves. Each company seems to handle it a bit differently!