Colorado Klutch

We are not going anywhere outside of the cruise. From Denver, Vancouver is a short flight. It's an expensive flight, but not long and it's direct.

Disney has a very tiny segment of the cruise market, yet their cruise line somehow manages to make a good profit; and without any casinos. (This may change with the under-construction ship they just bought.) One obvious advantage is Disney has DEEEEEEP pockets and isn't saddled with the enormous debt other cruise lines have. I've never been on a Disney cruise. I've looked into it and they are expensive. Yet, Disney Cruise Lines consistently get extremely high satisfaction scores. Is this a factor of rabid Disney fans, or are they simply doing things right? Maybe Carnival could learn a few things from Disney here.

Thanks. We are not doing a land trip. Later in the season was also much more expensive.

Does the HAL web site automatically "know" if you're within the 60 days of returning from a previous cruise? Or must one call HAL and explain?

I'm on Koningsdam second week of May 2023 for an Inside Passage cruise. Mrs. Klutch absolutely HATES rain. I told her Alaska is rainy and she asked which month typically has the least rain. Turns out that month is May and that's why we're going in May. Cold = OK. Rain = Not OK. But I expect we get rain anyway. 🙂

So are The Runaround Kids just one small musical group aboard one ship? Or are there multiple groups aboard multiple ships? Sorry, I initially assumed there were multiple groups aboard multiple ships.

Before the vaccine was available, my family and multiple coworkers got COVID. I cared for Mrs. Klutch when she was very sick. I did multiple tests and they were always negative; even tests from a medical facility. And I never got sick. Mrs. Klutch says I'm a "Super Dodger". Who knows why some people get sick and some don't?

This is good news. I'm booked on Koningsdam in early May and my mom and dad will be joining Mrs. Klutch and me. Mom, Dad and Mrs. Klutch really enjoy 1950s music. And I don't mind it.

Fair points, but California doesn't have the massive cruise port infrastructure present in Florida. And California doesn't have the room to build such cruise ports. So maybe there is more demand for less dock space?

Likely port fees in California are high for the reasons everything else in California is high; big demand. California is by the far the most populous state. It is easy for Californians to drive or fly to a California cruise port. California ports offer very popular itineraries. People from outside of California also have a reason to embark from a California port to go to Mexico, Hawaii and the South Pacific. That's a lot of demand. This allows the state to charge a lot of money so they do.

I honestly don't feel entitled to cruise the Norwegian fjords. If Norway doesn't want me, fine. I'll go somewhere else. If some people want to visit on smaller, luxury ships, cool. But I simply can't afford the smaller, luxury ships. I think cruise lines may have gone too far with their newer megaships. Sure, they can pile in many thousands of passengers and offer activities like amusements parks and go cart tracks. While I personally think this is a bit absurd, it appears people like it. But it's these megaships which are really causing problems in ports. Airbus overestimated the demand for their two-decker A-380 and stopped building them. Wondering of cruise lines will have to go back to building smaller, more traditional ships if they want to visit anywhere other than the cruise line's private island. And with all the megaship onboard activities, maybe that will be enough.

I was reading HAL reviews recently and I recall almost all the very bad reviews for the same cruise. I think it was a Christmas cruise. Apparently, the ship was extremely crowded and there simply weren't enough staff to adequately deal with all the people.

It's not the world famous bad techno music?

While not customer facing, all those things have a big influence on the cruise experience. Nobody wants to cruise to lousy ports on a ship which is not well maintained. Recently I'm hearing large numbers of passengers aren't even bothering to get off the ship for Nassau. Sounds like cruise lines should start looking at other ports.

They are musicians alright. 😄

I am glad to hear HAL executives have actually done long cruises with their families. No doubt they had top-tier suites, but at least they have been there for the experience which is a HUGE help. I might be cluelessly optimistic here, but when I read the article, it appeared multiple positions previously oversaw multiple cruise lines. The new structure has people overseeing one specific cruise line. I see that as an improvement. It allows people to be focused on a specific brand without having to implement "one size fits all" processes and solutions.

And this is one of the primary reasons modern corporations are so clueless. They try to run everything based on spreadsheets and metrics. The reality is there are many intangibles which simply don't show up in spreadsheets or metrics. Real leaders get out of the executive suite and walk the factory floor, to out to the actual stores or, in this case, board an actual ship. Have HAL executives ever been on a cruise that wasn't on a private superyacht? Have they visited any of the ships to see first hand how things run day to day? It sure seems like have not. You can't run a massive corporation using a joystick on a desktop, but it seems many people try to do just that.

HAL could do a Rachael Ray tie-in and feature multiple versions of homemade, 15-minute Hamburger Helper. Mmmmmm...

Celebrity chefs? I thought the whole celebrity chef thing was played out. Seems Las Vegas is finally learning that lesson after so many celebrity chef restaurants went bust.

It's helpful to know who is in charge of what when we send a letter. Paradoxically, here in the 21st century nothing gets attention from a corporation like a good, old-fashioned snail mail letter with a wet signature. Phone calls, emails and form letters are just white noise. If you are not happy with the way things are going as a HAL customer, write a letter which is polite, brief and to the point. Address it specifically to Jan Swartz and it's likely she will actually see it. If she sees enough letters making all the same points, maybe things will change for the better. 450 Third Avenue West, Seattle, Washington, 98119, United States Years ago Ford Motor Company announced they were going to kill the Mustang in favor of the new Probe model. Many thousands of Ford Mustang fans wrote letters to the Ford CEO explaining how important the Mustang was to them and America as a whole. No kidding, Ford decided to keep building Mustangs and the letter campaign is what changed their minds. This was before email and social media were prevalent, but those things now make printed and mailed letters all the more rare and special.

As another comic strip reference, all the quotes in the article sound like Charlie Brown's teacher, "Whaa, whaa, wha, wha, wha...".

I'm not interested in booking on a megaship, but I know many people like them. Cruise lines are building more of these. So are they eventually going to cruise to the line's private island and nowhere else?

Thank you. I think I understand your points. Are port fees a big contribution? Those go to the government so the average local doesn't see that. Interestingly, I'm a Disney-head and there is always much debate about day visitors to Disney parks vs. Annual Passholders. Recently, Walt Disney Company has significantly cut back on Annual Passes and added many restrictions. Seems similar to the local visitors vs. cruisers debate.

This is an age-old conflict. Many people in tourist towns hate tourists, but the local economy depends on tourists. Certainly the Norwegian protesters don't need my money, but clearly some Norwegians do. Are you suggesting flying into a country on an airplane and driving to a town is being more of a "traveler"? Seriously, I'm asking for your opinion here and I'm not being sarcastic. I've never lived in Key West, but I've worked there off and on a LOT since the 1980s. Yeah, some of the locals hate tourists, but without tourism, only independently wealthy people could live there. I have also worked in Maine, but not as much as Key West. Very nice people in Maine, but the locals always told me how much they loved their state and how hard it is to make a living there. I would visit Bath Ironworks. Building ships is hard work, but it was still hard to get.

Are you referring to the protestors? I simply asked a question. Sorry, didn't mean to lump all protestors into one category.