veryseasonedtraveler

I enjoyed both concepts. Keeping the piano bar the smaller ships and dueling on the larger ships might be the answer.

My pet peeve is the push of product after a massage. Takes away from that afterglow.

We just got home from the first half of the Amsterdam WC. Orlando Ashford was aboard and during the question and answer session he mentioned the tie-in with Oprah. He said that they were not paying her and that she had never cruised before and wanted to take her first cruise on HAL. He had an interesting answer to the library situation on Konigsdam. Said that due to a design or construction error during the build the library was left out, but that was a mistake and will be corrected; thus, they do not plan to eliminate libraries. Another point concerning the Microsoft classes. My wife and I attended twenty different classes, some of them twice. We found them very useful since we use both Apple and MS products and really needed some instruction after switching to Windows 10. The instructor was great and we seldom had a problem getting in the class as there were 24 computers in the classroom and most classes were repeated morning and afternoon, with 4 classes a day on sea days and a couple in port.

Quite a construction error on the library[emoji849][emoji849][emoji849]

If the Oprah-themed sailings attract passengers who are willing to pay a premium for the experience, how is that money wasted? What money are you referring to?

 

What services is Oprah taking away from you?

 

Roz

Am almost positive Oprah is not sailing for free. If you look at the numerous FB posts, the overwhelming majority of cruisers are extremely upset mainly because of her political stance on many issues. Most feel she is too controversial and stated they would not support HAL as they have in the past. Just the messenger. [emoji849]

As far as cutbacks, fewer room stewards with increased rooms to clean. The drastic reduction in the library of books. The elimination of an Internet person and librarian, the reduction of clergy, elimination of dance hosts and elimination of Duplicate Lessons and a bridge director. On our last two lengthy cruises, volunteers ran the games. In both instances we had an average of 14 tables of participants.

Wow. It seems everyday a brand new ad for Oprah on Alaskan sailings is posted. The comments from our fellow passengers are resoundingly negative. It is apparent we don't want services eliminated and money wasted on controversial celebrities.

Holland America should stick to providing good services on good cruises. Stop the cutbacks and elimination of those things your loyal customers enjoy. We don't want all the fancy new ideas. What an irony to feature BOOK CLUBS and eliminate LIBRARIES. Maybe we need new leaders in Seattle.

Not to mention the elimination of Duplicate Bridge unless it is a 31 day voyage. Having a director on board isn't a great expense for a cruise line.

You are in store for a treat. Our onboard speakers were very knowledgeable and the scenery surreal. I would suggest buying a good camera with lots of zoom. We had camera envy on this cruise.

We are extremely disappointed they will not be having Duplicate bridge on the 10 sea days to and from Hawaii in January. Dedicated mariners take long cruises because they enjoy the excellence that Holland America is known for. Unfortunately, It is quickly disappearing.

So does this elimination of a decent promenade deck, eliminate a very important legacy of sailing with class. Yes.

 

As all other lines have abandoned this fine feature, does HAL have to follow suit.

 

The design direction of the Kdam is just deplorable. Hopefully, they will go back to the full promenade deck on new ships.

 

 

 

The atmosphere of walking on the promenade with other folks, and others on chairs is very special.

 

 

 

So, good for the Kdam fans, less folks interested, means ongoing high cabin prices.

I am paraphrasing another CC person that said, "Walking the Promenade is a way to commune with the sea."

We usually don't take the ship Excursions, but the post cruise tour of Miami was excellent.

We toured South Beach, saw over all Miami, enjoyed the art in Wynwood, and really enjoyed Little Havana. We were given extra time to enjoy local food and the mojitos. We were these the day before Castro died, so that made our stop even more interesting. They had the luggage separated for those going out of Miami and for those out of Ft. Lauderdale. Our only complaint was that we were dropped off way away from our airline. Miami Airport is gigantic. Great way to spend the morning before a 3:30 flight.

I am lamenting on the fact that duplicate Bridge is being eliminated on cruises less than 30 days. We take long cruises with many sea days. What to do? What to do?

Sorry about the cruises showing up. I tried unsuccessfully to remove. Anyone know how to remove?

The cash-cost to the company is minimal, surely. The broader cost could be, and seems to have been, significant enough to prompt action, though.

 

The broader cost includes the cost of customer dissatisfaction, such as from the director not showing up and passengers basically having to volunteer to do that work themselves without compensation. The broader cost could also include the cost of guest recovery in terms of how much of the officers' time is taken up in cases where the directors drop the ball in some way. Don't underestimate that: I was just reading in another thread that there is a significant cost to eliminating the Internet-specific crew member: It means that front desk officers spend sometimes 15-20 minutes working with passengers having trouble with their Internet service, sometimes just to learn how to use it properly (from what was reported in that other thread). This not only represents a cost in terms of taking up the front desk officers' time, but also in terms of the dissatisfaction that causes when someone is locked out of their cabin and has to wait 15-20 minutes to get to the front of the line at the front desk to get assistance, because the person before them in line has an Internet issue (again, which was the case in the thread within which this was reported).

Carnival -- Caribbean (3)

NCL -- Western Caribbean

HAL -- Old New Amsterdam April 1993 -- Western Caribbean -- 7 days

Princess -- 8 Cruises in Caribbean

Tauck -- Isabella -- Galapagos 2006

AMA Waterways -- St. Petersburg/Moscow -- 2009

Viking River Cruises -- China/Tibet -- 2010

Berlin/Prague -- 2011

Tauck River Cruise -- Amsterdam/Prague/Bucharest -- 2007 -- 24 days

A & K -- October 2008 -- Sun Boat IV -- Egyptian/Jordon (Nile) -- 14 days

Rotterdam -- May 1999 -- Baltic -- 14 days

Noordam -- July 2000 -- Mediterranean -- 10 days

Statendam -- January 2001 -- Circle Hawaii -- 15 days

August 2001 -- Alaska Tour -- 12 days

Ryndam -- February 2002 -- South American Explorer -- 17 days

Maasdam -- May 2002 -- Western Caribbean -- 7 days

Rotterdam -- September 2002 -- Canada/New England -- 10 days

Prinsendam -- March 2003 -- Asia Singapore/Hong Kong -- 14 days

Asia Hong Kong/Osaka -- 14 days

Oosterdam -- November 2003 -- Greece/Turkey -- 12 days

April 2004 -- Panama Canal -- 14 days

November 2004 -- Western Caribbean -- 7 days

Prinsendam -- July 2006 -- Voyage of the Vikings -- 21 days

Windstar -- August 2006 -- Nice to Rome -- 10 days

Ryndam -- January 2008 -- Hawaii/Tahati/Marguesas -- 30 days

Statendam -- May 2008 -- Alaska Glacier Bay -- 7 days

Prinsendam -- January 2009 -- Amazon/South America -- 31 days

Niew Amsterdam -- August 2010 -- Venice/Barcelona -- 24 days

Eurodam -- August 2011 -- Baltic & Voyage of the Vikings -- 29 days

October 2012 -- Canada/New England -- 10 days

Oosterdam -- February 2013 -- Australia/NZ. 14 days

Prinsendam -- August 2013 -- Celtic Enchantment -- 14 days

Rotterdam -- March 2014 -- Singapore to Southampton -- 42 days

Prinsendam -- August 2014 -- Amsterdam to Northern Cape to Amsterdam -- 14 days

Eurodam -- August 2014 -- Copenhagen to NYC -- Voyage of the Vikings -- 18 days

Zuiderdam -- January 2015 -- Panama Canal -- 11 days

Costa Mediterranean -- January 2015 -- Southern Caribbean -- 12 days

Ryndam -- February 2015 -- Banana Coast/Central America -- 7 days

Volendam -- April 2015 -- Hong Kong to Vancouver N. Pacific Crossing -- 31 days

Maasdam -- October 2015 -- Ft. Lauderdale to Rome Atlantic Adventure -- 22 days

Zaandam -- January 2016 -- South America/Antarctic Explorer -- 21 days (Favorite cruise ever[emoji3])

Booked[emoji924]

Eurodam -- Mediterranean & Passage to America -- October 2016

4 day Key West/Mexico -- November 2016

24 day Mexican Rivera & Passage to Hawaii. -- January, 2017

14 day Alaskan Explorer -- July, 2017

Have Passport, Will Travel.

We booked a Circle Hawaii on the Westerdam in January with the understanding bridge would be offered during the ten sea days. We didn't expect it on the Mexican Riveria portion because it is port intensive. We have met many lovely people during interaction at the tables. It is a huge disappointment bridge is eliminated.

Think the idea of only offering bridge on crossings and itineraries with at least 6 sea days is a great one. Hope Seattle reads these posts.

The cost to Carnival Corp. is minimal as the directors only get a reduction on the cost of their cruise.

It

My husband and I are avid bridge players. We just returned from a TA on the Eurodam. Our total cruise was 22 days, with 9 sea days. The director didn't show up and two passengers filled in and ran lessons and games. We had standing room only. The room held 16 tables and they were all filled with duplicate players, with some being turned away. Our numbers dwindled later in the cruise, but that may have been because people gave up finding a vacant table.

I have been writing Seattle regarding the new policy. Their first response was directors will only be on cruises of 30 days or more after January 1.

We take many long cruises, including our next which is a B2B with more than ten sea days. Duplicate is an important part of our cruising experience. One lady I met on board sailed on a HAL just because of bridge. When a cruise has numerous sea days, people need to have something to do. Think they are making a big mistake by eliminating duplicate. It is not an expensive investment that pleases dedicated mariners.

Please elaborate on Key West.

The line getting off took an extremely long time. Again' date=' I blame the back up on picture taking blocking the ramps.

When we returned to the ship, the line was way around the buildings in port. It took forever to reboard. My daughter and family ended up having lunch in port waiting for the line to shorten at the time we were to sail at 1:00. It was a cattle call[emoji853']

Loved Key West as a port of call.

We just got back from a 4 day cruise. We were also told a two hour delay, so we arrived two hours late. The line was terrible! Our boarding process took 1.5 hours. Had to wait in three separate long lines. Blame part of the problem on the photographers who block the lines for picture taking. Won't even elaborate on Key West[emoji30][emoji26][emoji33]

We are very frequent cruisers. Never ever again will we be sailing Carnival.

Am in Civitavecchia now on the Eurodam. The lobster was absolutely wonderful at the gala dinner last night.

Have read many negative comments on CC about room service. Would also like to report we think it has improved. They offer choices like a continental basket of rolls, etc. I asked for Bacon and had way more than I could possibly eat. One of the free choices was a 3 egg omelette with cheese and ham. They did charge for unusual things, but no worry -- lots of wonderful choices.

This is off topic, but love the dueling piano concept. Our two are extremely good and offer more variety. They have reconfigured the venue and it us much more open and inviting.

Think HAL is trying and succeeding in making tweaks that are positive to our cruising experience.

Enjoyed reading the favorites. We are over 500 days on HAL and a favorite topic at Mariner gatherings are favorite trips.

Our Favorite all-time scenic cruising region was the Antarctic.

Love the scenic beauty of Norway and the fjords.

Australia/NZ are also up there.

Favorite ports excursions:

Taormina, Sicily

Geirangerfjord

Sidney

(Any city in Italy)

What are your top 3[emoji780][emoji780][emoji780]

Hope we never get to experience the morgue.

Thanks to 3rdGenCunarder for clarification [emoji33]

We have sailed to St. John three times and found the locals extremely welcoming. The welcoming committee even includes their namesake dogs. People on the street stop to chat and the send off is the best. [emoji592][emoji594][emoji597][emoji965][emoji593] and people circle the loop and residents line the hill as you depart. Wonderful port.

Love being there after the summer crowds. Our next trip is Barcelona to Barcelona and back to Ft. Lauderdale October - November. Ready now.

My husband and I were walking up a very steep hill while in port somewhere. A lady from our ship saw our Holland America bag and seriously asked us for directions to catch the ship.[emoji15]