One Practical/Reasonable Thing?

[sail7seas]

If you could make one practical change re: HAL and/or HAL ships and the way things happen on the ships, what would it be?

 

Not pie in the sky nonsense or totally impractical, but do you have a reasonable suggestion for something that would make your booking and cruise experience even better?

[Hobbsey]

Eliminate smoking in the guest cabins, including the balconies.

[world~citizen]

Practical and reasonable?

 

Tricky. :D

[whogo]

1. Have your shipboard account available on your cabin TV. I quit asking for a printout from the front desk when I saw how many pieces of paper were generated. It could save HAL money.

 

2. Position the cabin TV so that the remote works without raising the remote above your head.

 

3. Have local beer festivals when leaving a foreign port. All HAL has to do is buy a few cases of beer, cool them down, and offer them in one bar at a profitable price. It should be a money maker.

 

4. Post the daily schedule in a few more places. On the Veendam, there was one posted in the Lido, one outside a dining room. (I know that bar tenders have a copy and that your steward or the front desk will give you another. Save some paper.)

[Sage]

I would love to have a doorbell that could be heard on the veranda on the Vista ships as they have on some of the other classes of ships.

[baggal]

1. Have your shipboard account available on your cabin TV. I quit asking for a printout from the front desk when I saw how many pieces of paper were generated. It could save HAL money.

 

2. Position the cabin TV so that the remote works without raising the remote above your head.

 

3. Have local beer festivals when leaving a foreign port. All HAL has to do is buy a few cases of beer, cool them down, and offer them in one bar at a profitable price. It should be a money maker.

 

4. Post the daily schedule in a few more places. On the Veendam, there was one posted in the Lido, one outside a dining room. (I know that bar tenders have a copy and that your steward or the front desk will give you another. Save some paper.)

 

While they're posting your shipboard account on the interactive Cabin TV, they can post the daily schedule as well!

[fann1sh]

Take yet another shot at improving the HAL website.

 

IMO, it's still nowhere near "user friendly".

 

They could start with eliminating the annoying pop ups, and simply send everyone to a "please log in" page.

 

Does anyone know why it's a state secret how much shore excursions cost? (unless you're logged on as a booked passenger, looking at your own itinerary.)

 

And I realize only about 10% of HAL cruisers want to compare prices in US$ versus C$....but surely we should be able to do so by simply logging into a US account, logging out, logging in again with a Canadian account? Instead, it seems I have to beat my browser into submission by purging my cache, then starting a new session. Grrrrrr.

 

P.S. - I second whogo's suggestions. Especially the one about the local beer!

[3rdGenCunarder]

The local beer is a great idea. I understand that HAL doesn't want people lugging on cases of beer (frat party image at work here :(), but some ports have great micros. I think it's unfair that I can't even bring on a couple of bottles without risking them being confiscated.

 

I also agree that posting the daily program in more places would be nice. I was on a cruise where they posted the program by elevators and stairwells, so you always knew where to look.

[ricki]

I understand that the cabin stewards must be harried getting all the cabins ready so early on embarkation day. I wonder if there could be a special dedicated crew that moves through the cabins with a checklist to make certain they are thoroughly cleaned before passengers arrive--and takes care of those things that need doing on the spot. I know our recent cabin had some serious faults in terms of cleanliness.

 

Ricki

[Bippie]

Free Internet for suite passengers (like Princess)

[Pam in CA]

Keep the buffet open later for lunch and at dinner. I get frustrated when I'm back from a morning excursion that ends at 1:30-2:00pm and am unable to get a "real" lunch; the options are limited. And, I've been to the buffet on several HAL ships where it was closed up tight at 8:00pm so unless you finished your dinner and had your dessert, you're out of luck. On the Zuiderdam last year, we went to the poolside BBQ, didn't find much that we wanted and went into the buffet, only to find it completely closed -- at 6:30pm.

 

FYI, interactive TV is unlikely to happen as it's a huge expense. I think I read that it's $1M/ship. Cruise lines that offer it also offer PPV "adult" entertainment to offset the costs. It's unlikely HAL will offer that. On several Princess ships, and this is increasing all the time, there is a monitor with a swipe and a printer at the Front Desk; just swipe your card and your folio is printed out. Very quick and easy, and no waiting in lines.

[sail7seas]

Some great suggestions.

[RuthC]

Post the menu at both ends of the Lido. That way I don't have to walk the entire line to determine what's there, just to learn that the best choices are where I just came from.

[CtheW0rld]

have one lounge - inside, and not the casino - where smoking is mandatory.

[kazu]

I like the free internet for the suites - remember when they used to escort you to the suties and carry your carry ons? I know that's dream city, so I will settle for the free internet.:)

[the2ofus]

Please, please, please stop making all the musicians take their breaks at the same time each evening. There's music in every venue, then it all stops dead for half an hour, then it starts up again and at the next break the same thing happens. If they took rolling breaks, the pax would simply move to another venue, order drinks from another bar and their enjoyment would continue. As it stands, if you're starting to feel a little bit weary, the sudden cessation of music makes you think that you might as well go to bed. Lost revenue for HAL at all the bars.

 

I like whogo's and baggal's suggestions also.

[the2ofus]

I also agree with Ruth that the menu should be posted at both ends so that anyone entering the Lido restaurant can see what the offerings are. Also, I like the idea of posting the day's activities by the elevators, or at least in the stairwell area.

[CtheW0rld]

I like the free internet for the suites - remember when they used to escort you to the suties and carry your carry ons? I know that's dream city, so I will settle for the free internet.:)

 

they used to do that for every category, when i 1st started with hal. champagne greeting and an escort to the cabin. how civilized.

[DeRon]

 

3. Have local beer festivals when leaving a foreign port. All HAL has to do is buy a few cases of beer, cool them down, and offer them in one bar at a profitable price. It should be a money maker.

 

I love this idea!

[innlady1]

Some great suggestions! Thanks for starting this thread, Judy! Maybe someone can email it to Hal when it runs the course.

[Hobbsey]

they used to do that for every category, when i 1st started with hal. champagne greeting and an escort to the cabin. how civilized.

 

They used to board no earlier than 1 pm and the largest ship was about 50GRT. Now, they need the man power to get the rooms ready for an 11:30 embarkation and the new ship are so much bigger (longer and taller) it'd take extra time for those crew members helping to take your things that there'd be long waits for an escort to return and do the same for the next wave of passengers.

 

Now, a champaign toast on boarding, or on deck during sail away - I'd vote for a return of that tradition for sure.

[mightycruisequeen]

Another vote here for making cabins & balconies smoke-free.:)

It would also be nice if we could count on one side of outer decks to be clearly designated smoke-free, and strictly enforced.

[sail7seas]

Some great suggestions! Thanks for starting this thread, Judy! Maybe someone can email it to Hal when it runs the course.

 

 

:) You read my mind, Ruth.

Some of these excellent suggestions are so simple to do, cost nothing and would enhance our cruises.

Your excellent suggestion, Ruth, seems so obvious yet no one has ever thought to do it. It would take less than two minutes to post a second Lido menu at meal time and cost nothing yet would be appreciated and useful.

 

Thanks everyone for some great ideas.

[Live4cruises]

Meaningful discounts on internet minutes based on Mariner status.

Definitely folio visible on televisions, if this is prohibitively expensive, a mid-cruise hardcopy is essential (sorry, trees).

 

And yes, anything that limits smoking would be a plus. I know I know, don't flame me or shoo me over to another cruise line. :eek:

[ger_77]

I concur with many of the suggestions offered. Mine would be "just enforce the formal dress code in the main dining room on formal nights". How tough is it? If you aren't dressed formally, you are turned away. I don't care if you are dressed formally in any other part of the ship, but have the dining room as a place for formal dining on the designated evenings.

 

BTW, the colour of the sky in my world is green with purple polka dots!:rolleyes:

 

Smooth Sailing! :):):)