Got Back Today from the Amsterdam--Review to Come!

[ironin]

Yes and he said "You bring it from your cabin, you pay corkage. The only wine exempt from corkage is that you order at the table or as a package from the ship."

 

That wine steward was definitely wrong. Do you by any chance remember his name? I want to be sure to avoid him if and when I am next on the Amsterdam. (I was on the same sailing as you.)

[iceman93]

Aussiemick, that's a perfect example of the kind of thing I was thinking of. It's almost like the whole ship's staff was "taking a breather" on our cruise, and not putting out their best effort.

 

For those who weren't onboard, it's important to point out that immediately before our cruise the Amsterdam had completed it's 60+ day Grand Asia/Australia voyage. Immediately after our cruise the ship was going into dry dock. So our 12-day cruise was something of a curiosity, and apparently many higher-ups (the cellar master and PG manager, at least) took advantage of the chance for a little R&R off the ship.

 

So I sympathize, but not very much. After all, as a paying customer I only care that I am getting the full HAL treatment that I've paid for and come to expect. For the first time in almost a decade, my family does not have another Holland America cruise booked. We did visit the on-board cruise consultant a couple of times and she seemed so indifferent that we lost any enthusiasm we may have had for booking a future sailing.

 

I should point out that we had some extraordinarily good experiences, and for the rest of this post I'd like to highlight a few of those. Our two dining room stewards were phenomenal--perhaps the best we've had. They were friendly, outgoing, professional, efficient, and made a great team. Our room stewards were likewise models of efficiency, although they didn't have that friendly, outgoing nature that really helps us connect with the staff.

 

The Pinnacle Grill manager (whom I've since found out was actually the acting manager) was a wonderful person. She was charming, accommodating, outgoing, and simply a very pleasant person.

 

Finally, the bartenders at the Lido pool and in the Crow's Nest were really great to our au pair. She often went out at night after my wife and I would go to bed, and even though she's not 21 yet they would serve her a sparkling water with limes and cherries in a higball glass (for example) to make her feel like an adult (after all, she's old enough to drink in most of the world). She even got invited to a crew party and to spend some time with the staff when they celebrated one bartender's birthday, which we thought was very generous and kind.

 

The last person I'll highlight in a positive sense was our assistant dining room manager. Normally this is a position that I question why it even exists, but in this case the gentleman actually worked the room, both addressing guest satisfaction and also helping out his stewards when they got a little behind in clearing plates or refilling water glasses. At one point we asked if it would be possible to arrange a private galley tour, and he was our most gracious host for that special experience. You can be sure that he got a whole paragraph of praise on our end-of-cruise questionnaire.

 

For my next post, though, I'll talk about some of the staff and crew who didn't live up to expectations...

[Aussiemick]

Aussiemick, that's a perfect example of the kind of thing I was thinking of. It's almost like the whole ship's staff was "taking a breather" on our cruise, and not putting out their best effort.

 

 

So I sympathize, but not very much. After all, as a paying customer I only care that I am getting the full HAL treatment that I've paid for and come to expect. For the first time in almost a decade, my family does not have another Holland America cruise booked. We did visit the on-board cruise consultant a couple of times and she seemed so indifferent that we lost any enthusiasm we may have had for booking a future sailing.

 

 

Although we did book a future cruise, I found the same attitude. She was 15 minutes late from her posted opening hour and then took another 5 getting her desk organized and her computer attached. She didn't seem to care if we made a booking or not. If I was in the Penthouse like you were, I would have expected her to call and make an appointment to meet in my suite.

[Desert Cruisers]

Iceman - You nailed it with your comments. Too many of the staff including managers were "taking a breather" and had a "it doesn't really matter" attitude. Yes, some staff were excellent - the Guest Services Manager Cynthia, Dionn at the Front Office, Matt the DJ, the Pinnacle Grill Manager Aelitah, and the Assistant Dining Room Manager Ketut.

 

After much deliberation, we finally decided to purchase Future Cruise Credits to give HAL one more chance. We did not book a specific cruise much to the chagrin of that Future Cruise Consultant. Given her attitude, we almost told her to "#@%*@#*.

[vbmom87]

I hope all of you who had these unacceptable experiences will take the time to write a letter to Seattle headquarters. If they get multiple letters from people on the same cruise with the same complaints, perhaps they will look into it.

[Aussiemick]

Iceman - You nailed it with your comments. Too many of the staff including managers were "taking a breather" and had a "it doesn't really matter" attitude. Yes, some staff were excellent - the Guest Services Manager Cynthia, Dionn at the Front Office, Matt the DJ, the Pinnacle Grill Manager Aelitah, and the Assistant Dining Room Manager Ketut.

 

After much deliberation, we finally decided to purchase Future Cruise Credits to give HAL one more chance. We did not book a specific cruise much to the chagrin of that Future Cruise Consultant. Given her attitude, we almost told her to "#@%*@#*.

 

I'll second the acolade for Aelitha at the Pinnacle Grill, we had a fantastic dining experience. We also had room service breakfast every morning and they were always on time, hot food, just what we ordered and more and called 30 minutes later to see if everything was OK. Too bad they weren't the exception of the service staff of the ship.

[arzz]

Interesting thread -- we were also on board but from our perspective all went well. Normally we travel in steerage -- this cruise a veranda suite (great deal on price so we splurged) -- we have occasionally traveled in this manner -- and quite frankly the condition of our cabin, as well as all of our service was up to par and beyond. Possibly we did not trip over substitute junior staff? But then again we do not have penthouse expectations -- when paying penthouse tariff there should be expectations.

 

Both our cabin staff Wayhou (not sure of the spelling here) and Ram, as well as our dining room staff Hermann (who served us eighteen months ago on the Amsterdam and remembered us! How do they do that? I confess I did not remember him until he told us that he remembered us -- I should be ashamed) and Yudith did an exemplary job for us. The few special requests that we had were handled graciously and promptly by the telephone concierge.

 

Of course, this was my silver medallion cruise which was graciously awarded by the Captain, and I have the photo to prove it -- I understand from another thread that the medallions and the ceremony may be an endangered custom so DH who qualifies next time we sail may never have a medallion to match mine.

 

Only real glitch that we encountered and I am not sure who, if anyone, is to blame, and I am not sure I should mention it here lest the deleted thread and it's resultant ugliness be resurrected (the original thread was deleted and I have no desire to go there again)-- occurred in the Pinnacle Grill when a family with a small (and repeatedly screaming) infant were seated around 8 pm. To her credit the Grill manager tried on several occasions to soothe the baby.

 

We found everyone on board that we encountered willing to do whatever for us. I had to leave the ship in Cabo San Lucas due to a family emergency and the front office staff could not have been nicer. By the time I left for the airport I was aware that my flight home to Chicago had been cancelled due to weather. The front office staff arranged that if I could not get a flight out and could get back to the ship in time that I could just resume my cruise. As it turned out American Airlines was able to rise to the challenge and did get me home to Chicago.

[Cinder Again]

Yes and he said "You bring it from your cabin, you pay corkage. The only wine exempt from corkage is that you order at the table or as a package from the ship."

I had the same thing happen. I thought they'd waive the corkage, since the wine was sent as an apology from the front desk, but no dice, I paid the corkage, which I thought seemed either to be really mean, or maybe there's a new "no exception" rule. I think it might be the latter, as I've had wine stewards be REALLY nice about not charging it, up until the last few cruises...

[Roadqueen]

Glad to hear HAL and AA were able to acommodate you in your time of need. Customer service "above and beyond" is sometimes a rarity and a mark of distinction.

On this cruise we saw some "above and beyond" and some areas of average, Also some service areas were in need of improvement, in our experience. We also splurged and got a cabin with a window. Yes, that is a splurge for those of us who consider any cabin without oars an upgrade!

I am always amazed at the hard work done by so many people behind the scenes to make a cruise a wonderful vacation. Thanks to HAL we will be sailing again and again. I just earned by 4 star Mariner status on this cruise and am so looking forward to free laundry!! Yippeee!!

 

Happy Holidays to all, and I look forward to seeing if Santa will bring me any upgrades!:D

 

Dynaglyde

[reefisher]

We had a wonderful cruise. Thanks Iceman for hosting the wine tasting. The CD did seem to be somewhat low key. Actually I was glad for that. Our waiters were great, even had one of our dinner waiters, wait on us "hand and foot" in the Lido for breakfast. The maitre d' (upper dinning room) had all our names memorized the first night and on. He was a bit busy with some new or under performing waiters at other tables. Room stewards responsive and out of the way. My only complaint and I had this same complaint on the Statendam before its going into dry dock. The bed pillows smelled like they needed to be retired for new. There must have been a lot sweating going on in the tropics.

 

Iceman, I'm going to forward your embarkation experience to one of our very close friends. She is a HAL supervisor for the check-in desk in San Diego. She was not on duty that day though. Her husband was, but he is a luggage and airport transfer expediter. But he does know all the folks at check in .

 

We were lucky to be treated to such a display of humpback whales when leaving Bahia Bandera. There was a pair that came up about 75 ft. away from the ship when I was out on the promenade deck, besides all the others.

 

Jim

[ROZO'SBEAU]

Glad you enjoyed Herman...we just got off the 69 day Grand Voyage and had his delightful services for 69 days. Also, we received our Silver Medallions on the Grand Voyage and have been assured the program is continuing. The day count for medals is based on actual nights on board...not on the emhanced figure that is used for multi-star Mariner status.

[arzz]

ROZO'SBEAU how did you enjoy the Grand Cruise? We did it in '08 and I want to do it again! What a super itinerary!

 

And you are right, Hermann is wonderful! Just wish I had not had to leave early and could properly thank him. DH who stayed on board had to do it for me.

[ROZO'SBEAU]

ARZZ - We were on that 2008 GV with you as well. That one was our first time west of Hawaii so Asia was new to us and not place we thought we'd ever get to. You may remember the wonder of it all...Japan, China, Thailand, etc.

When the opportunity came to do it again this year, we jumped on it. This time it was different and in some ways a more enriching experience. We didn't have to go ooohing and ahhhing all over the place. We were able to take it easier and try to soak up the culture, eat some local food, ride the subways. Admittedly we had some new ports that still gave us some of the WOW factor, like Yokohama/Tokyo, and most especially Beijing for two days (Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall are overwhelming).

Without hijacking this thread, those are our impressions in a nutshell.

Bob

[arzz]

I thought I remembered your CC name! Frankly, I am eyeballing the 2012 itinerary, Seattle to Singapore but not sure yet that we will have the time for extended travel at that time. We would love to see Beijing, the Great Wall, and the Terra Cotta warriors! And, of course, the Amsterdam comes along with the package!