Ship Convention, Yikes!

[kelmac]

fdlacey,

 

I understand your feelings, and you are correct, it may change our cruise a small amount. This will be cruise #20 for us and we have never had a bad cruise. Some are different, and there are always things you like about each ship, and each trip, and of course, there are things that are not that great. We did the Veendam, last year, and we had a great time, but the average age was about 65+ and we had our fill of "crusty" and "cranky" seniors. I'm ready for some "youthful HAL" at this point.

The Zuiderdam is very large and it has two pools, so if on one day for an hour or so, the lido is being used, the aft pool should pick up the slack. I'm sure 95% of the time, the Buffy group will mix with the other passengers and it will feel like any other cruise. At this point, I'm not concerned about 20% of the passengers being connected to this group. My wife (34) and I (55) are doing a B to B with the Caribbean Princess (6/4/05) and the Zuiderdam, so I fully expect the Princess ship to have more kids, less space, more total passengers and more problems, than the Zuiderdam. In addition, the food is much better on HAL!! (Important to us):rolleyes:

So--we would enjoy having you join us on the "Z" and we have a nice roll call going on that part of the CC boards if you are interested.

No matter what ship you select, just focus on the positives, and everything will be wonderful!!

 

Enjoy!

Kel

[fdlacey]

Kel,

 

Thanks so much for your positive way of looking at things!:) I'm still not sure what we will do. After reading your post, I see that everything might be okay. You definitely have more cruising experience than us since this will be our first one. I'm still perturbed that HAL would allow a relatively small number of people to reserve a public area forcing the rest of us out of that area. However, I can tell by the sound of my DH's emails (he is currently in Iraq) that he would be disappointed switching from HAL. He seems to really have his heart set on certain HAL features. Not to mention, we have already booked the horseback riding on HMC. Of course, he says that we can do whatever I think is best, I just have a feeling he would be disappointed if we switched. So, even though I am very frustrated by the situation I may have to realize that bad things happen, take a more positive attitude and make the best of it. I guess it can't be that bad, right? Not to mention it is possible that there are large groups booked on the Caribbean Princess. Most likely we will be seeing you on the Zuiderdam in June. We would love to meet you and your wife!

[kelmac]

fdlacey,

 

Sounds like a great "home coming" vacation! It's never easy to make all the decisions when your loved one is so far away. I don't really think you can make a mistake with either ship.

 

Good Luck!

Kel

[calicruzer]

We sailed on the Mercury last summer with a HUGE group. One half of the passengers were with a group called "Koshermerica". They were a group of orthodox jewish people. While I have nothing b ut good things to say about the people we met it did have a big impact on our cruise experience.

 

Because of strict beliefs and "rules" in their religion, they had to dedicate one of the two galleys on board to this group due to the kosher demands on a kitchen. The group had the entire 2nd seating inthe dining room, as their food could not come into contact with any nonkosher food, had to use their own plates, utensils, etc. Their group used the main dining room for lunch everyday, thus not allowing other passengers in there. They used several of the public rooms for services each day as well.

 

I did still have a wonderful cruise, but it was negatvely impacted by sailing with this group. For my cruise in April, I called HAL ahead of time and asked which groups were on board. They would not tell me what the groups were exactlly, but did let me know that there was a group of 80 booked and a group 0f 60. I assume that htese are "travel agent groups" or something of that nature. No worries for me. Interesting enough as I was shopping cruises I asked Carnival reps and RCCL reps the same question and they refused to give me any info.

 

CaliCruzer

Oosterdam 4-02-05 (Only a month away!)

Mercury July 03

Millenium April 03

[kelmac]

We sailed on the Mercury last summer with a HUGE group. One half of the passengers were with a group called "Koshermerica". They were a group of orthodox jewish people. While I have nothing b ut good things to say about the people we met it did have a big impact on our cruise experience.

 

Because of strict beliefs and "rules" in their religion, they had to dedicate one of the two galleys on board to this group due to the kosher demands on a kitchen. The group had the entire 2nd seating inthe dining room, as their food could not come into contact with any nonkosher food, had to use their own plates, utensils, etc. Their group used the main dining room for lunch everyday, thus not allowing other passengers in there. They used several of the public rooms for services each day as well.

 

I did still have a wonderful cruise, but it was negatvely impacted by sailing with this group. For my cruise in April, I called HAL ahead of time and asked which groups were on board. They would not tell me what the groups were exactlly, but did let me know that there was a group of 80 booked and a group 0f 60. I assume that htese are "travel agent groups" or something of that nature. No worries for me. Interesting enough as I was shopping cruises I asked Carnival reps and RCCL reps the same question and they refused to give me any info.

 

CaliCruzer

Oosterdam 4-02-05 (Only a month away!)

Mercury July 03

Millenium April 03

 

I would be a little upset if I was denied Lunch in the main dining room every day!! I'm not a big buffet fan, so my wife and I usually eat lunch in the dining room each day. Did the cruise line let you know before sailing that no lunches would be served? Sounds like grounds for a partial refund??

 

Enjoy!

Kel

[smoosh21]

I am surprised that they could accomadate this. HAL clearly states on their website that they do not have a Kosher kitchen, nor can they accomodate kosher cooking on-board. Additionally, to be truly Kosher, they would need to buy new plates and utensils, pots, pans, etc. just for the Cruise, that could never have been used before. And trying to 'clean' the kitchen between cruises would be nearly impossible. Plus then HAL would need to train the staff on Kosher food handling.

 

I wonder if this group had to bring on their own staff in order for HAL to allow this.

[kelmac]

I am surprised that they could accomadate this. HAL clearly states on their website that they do not have a Kosher kitchen, nor can they accomodate kosher cooking on-board. Additionally, to be truly Kosher, they would need to buy new plates and utensils, pots, pans, etc. just for the Cruise, that could never have been used before. And trying to 'clean' the kitchen between cruises would be nearly impossible. Plus then HAL would need to train the staff on Kosher food handling.

 

I wonder if this group had to bring on their own staff in order for HAL to allow this.

 

Well I'm sure every line has their "price"--If they could get an extra $600 per person, it might fly. Also, I think it was on a Celebrity ship (Mercury), so maybe it's easier to do on that line??

 

Enjoy!

Kel