LonelySaxophone

7 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

We are currently on a 9 day cruise on the oostradam with 100+ park west group.  They have taken over the crows nest for every night .. we can not watch any sail away, get a drink before dinner or specialty coffee until 9pm unless we want to sit in the arts and crafts room.  Every night 4-9.  No notification   This is todays HAL .. they don’t seem to care about non group passengers very much.  We are deciding if we want to cancel some future Hal bookings.

 

Oh lord that sounds horrific - any response from HAL on board? 

Just as an update - just received an email that I have been confirmed for the 7:30 fixed dining, although this was in response to a separate email than the one I sent up the ladder to corporate.

Just an update for y'all - I wrote a kind, but firm email detailing my concerns and sent it up the ladder at HAL - I will certainly let everyone know what the outcome is!

14 minutes ago, tupper10 said:

There is a July 13th cruise out of Seattle but it doesn't include Glacier Bay.  I do feel for you in this situation.  

Ahhhh yeah GB was kind of the selling point womp womp.

10 minutes ago, BetsyS. said:

LonelySaxophone - Were you told before you booked that there would be a large group onboard?

 And we were not - which I have learned is relatively typical?

13 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

If the group is that big I would reconsider rebooking to another date 

This doesn’t really seem feasible for us at the moment given the proximity to the cruise, flights/hotels, taking off work, etc.

And yeah - would obviously have preferred we avoided the group altogether but doesn’t seem to be an option at this point - we are young and pretty flexible so hoping we can still have a good time! For those that have sailed with large groups, despite certain areas being closed for the group, did you find that places like the theater, specific bars, etc at least opened occasionally for folks not part of groups?

1 hour ago, Eric from San Diego said:

What is your departure date?

July 13th out of Seattle - looks like its a Turning Point Cruise/Religious Group.

Hi all,

First time sailing aboard a HAL cruise this summer - it looks like there will be a large group aboard, hindsight is 20/20, etc.

I received this email this morning letting me know open dining would be limited during my cruise:

"We would like to advise you that open seating offered in the main dining room
aboard Eurodam may be limited at times during your cruise. Open seating will
be offered as normal; however, due to the number of guests requesting to dine
at 8:00pm, available seating will be limited after 6:30pm. Should you wish to
dine later and space is not available in the dining room, complimentary dining
is available in the Lido Market. You can also explore our specialty dining
offerings at Tamarind, Pinnacle Grill, and Canaletto, which are available
for a fee."

Now, we are not really thrilled at the thought of having to eat that early, but also understand this is sometimes how things go! What options are available to me? Its just my wife and I, will it be impossible to eat in the MDR if we go to a late dinner (we don't mind waiting, just don't want to be turned away!), should we try to switch to traditional dining, etc.

Would love to hear your thoughts/experiences if you have dealt with something similar!