Noordam Review from 3/10 Cruise

[rothbury]

I have thought long and hard about not writing this review. I kept telling myself to just walk away but just couldn’t do it.

So, here goes. In all the years (since 1980) we have sailed HAL we have always been overwhelmed with the Indonesian crew and this cruise was no different. We met some crew from our Nieuw Amsterdam cruise last year and we actually enjoyed talking and catching up and hearing the stories of their families and their lives. As it turned out this was to be the only highlight on this cruise.

I have kept up with and contributed to Cruise Critic occasionally and I never thought the day would come when I would write a negative review about HAL. I took the advice of some OP’s who recommended checking the reservations for the Pinnacle Grill at embarkation and was pleased to learn we had reservations for 6PM, 8 days out. The front desk informed us we would receive our reservation within 2 days. As we are east coast people we didn’t want to eat too late and go to bed after a heavy meal. We are used to eating around 5:30 – 6:00. Well, 2 days later the invitation showed up and the problems began. It had our name and cabin number on the outside of the invitation but a different name and cabin number inside the invitation. In checking the date and time it was the correct date but the time was 8PM, too late for us. So, it was back to the front office. I showed them the invitation and they agreed a mistake had been made and that we were still scheduled for 6PM on the 18th. They assured us a corrected invitation would be sent within another 2 days. Right on time the invitation was in our mail slot only this time it had the right name and cabin but the time was again 8PM. This time the front office denied ever telling us the time was 6PM and it was 8PM or nothing. Trying to think of other guests who might prefer that time we informed the front office if an agreeable time could not be found to cancel our reservation entirely. We never received an apology or anything even remotely accommodating from the front office concerning this reservation throughout the entire rest of the cruise. Now, to add insult to injury….DW and I would walk by the Pinnacle every night on our way to the dining room. We started to notice that between about 5:30 and 7 most nights the Pinnacle was 2/3rds empty. Nice job HAL!!

The next episode involves the front desk, again. We are in the habit of checking our account every few days to make sure there are no errors. With about 4 days left in our voyage we noticed a charge that we thought suspicious so it was back to the front office again. We were informed it was for Pina Coladas. Don’t get me wrong but DW and I find them not to our liking and they certainly weren’t ours. The front office refused to remove the charge without an “investigation”. At this point DW and I decided to not use our room cards because we didn’t want any other bogus charges made on the account. The front office took 3 days to resolve the charge so for the last 3 days of the cruise we drank only water, iced tea or coffee from the Lido and our meals. As I write this I have found a charge against the credit card with double the amount of our last accounting delivered to us the morning of disembarkation. I guess this will be another issue yet to be resolved.

This is already too long so in closing I guess what I’m saying here is we are done with HAL. There are too many cruise lines out there to be subjected to this type of total failure on the part of HAL. I am not keen to people looking me in the eye and lying to me face to face. I don’t need it and I won’t tolerate it. As my wife and I sat eating our last dinner in the MDR we both reached the same conclusion. Good-bye HAL!! This may sound a little drastic but there were so many other problems that I’m just not going to bore you with all the details. This review grew to over 1000 words and I edited it down. I just “barely scratched the surface” here!

[VermeulT]

I'm sorry to hear you had problems on your cruise and I hope you find a cruise line that is more to your liking.

[Mtn2Sea]

Sorry you had problems with your Pinnacle reservations. We were on the Noordam the cruise prior to yours. Pre-cruise we made Pinnacle reservations for our first night. Because we didn't have a reservation card in the cabin, we went to the Pinnacle Grill and sure enough they didn't show our reservations. I showed my paperwork and they worked things out for our 6:30 dinner. I never discussed any issues with the Front Office, although I did get a billing statement the day before embarkation and everything appeared in order. I never got a final bill prior to leaving the ship. Shortly after returning home, I went online and saw a "pending" charge from HAL about three times what I expected. At that point I went to the HAL website and found a link that would allow me to send an inquiry about billing. I simply asked for a final bill. I immediately received an auto response indicating I would get an answer after an investigation. After another day or so and before I got my bill from HAL, the pending charge was removed from my credit card account and a charge appeared that was more appropriate. The new/final charge did, in fact, match up with the final bill that was emailed to me and that final bill was accurate.

[taxmantoo]

Good-bye HAL!! This may sound a little drastic but there were so many other problems that I’m just not going to bore you with all the details. This review grew to over 1000 words and I edited it down. I just “barely scratched the surface” here!

 

Over 20 years of cruising with HAL and these are the first issues you have had? A little drastic? :rolleyes: Try over the top dramatic (i.e. drama queen). There has to be something else... please share!

Edited March 24, 2014 by taxmantoo

[cbr663]

I don't find your response drastic at all. This forum is littered with fellow cruisers all sharing the same poor customer experiences - unreliable and incorrect billing practices. Some, like yourself previously, have accepted it and have chosen to ask for copies of their onboard accounts every couple of days to personally verify the charges. Others have taken to ensuring that they bring paper copies of all pre-cruise online purchases to mitigate the hassle of dealing with the errors that are well-known to occur on the ship. Unfortunately, with so many passengers accepting these poor customer service practices, there is little motivation for HAL to improve.

 

I agree with you, there are far too many alternatives for you to be accepting poor service.

[dag144]

I cruised on the Eurodam in mid-February. Got my final bill which was fine. When I arrived home I checked my credit card account and found that I was charged double my final bill (in two identical charges). I called HAL. Their accounting office is very helpful. Before I finished my sentence, they told me that all final bills on the ship had been double charged and would be corrected. By the end of the day the problem had been fixed.

[VermeulT]

they told me that allfinal bills on the ship had been double charged and would be corrected.

:eek: ALL??? holy crap. Talk about accounting error!

[nana51]

I have only cruised HAL three times. 2 on the big "O" and they were perfect and one on the Zaandam which was far from perfect. It left a sour taste in my mouth and the problems were nothing like the OP's. It is one thing to be a cheerleader and another to denigrate people who have had a bad cruise. This may have been coming on for awhile.

[chrispb]

Over 20 years of cruising with HAL and these are the first issues you have had? A little drastic? :rolleyes: Try over the top dramatic (i.e. drama queen). There has to be something else... please share!

 

What a rude response!! Not sure what point you are trying to make, but I can't see any reason to doubt what the OP is saying.

 

This forum is littered with errors made by HAL, especially where the front desk is concerned.

[PathfinderEss]

Sorry to hear about all the problems you encountered on the Noordam. I hope what ever cruise lines you choose next will work out better for you.

[alwaysfrantic]

The Pinnacle Grill is a mess on the Noordam. I totally saw what you did.....the restaurant mostly empty (maybe because they turned away everyone who paid in advance and the reservation was "lost."). On the Zuiderdam there was such publicity to book PG and KeCirque reservations and the place generally seemed well utilized. On Noordam I didn't get a sense they were trying to sell meals and the place was pretty empty. The manager who was there early in our trip was awful. Didn't see him later in the week so maybe others thought he was awful too.

 

OP, I completely understand your frustration. I didn't rebook either. I might, but I'm not sure. It was a great time, but the billing messes just shouldn't happen.

[taxmantoo]

What a rude response!! Not sure what point you are trying to make, but I can't see any reason to doubt what the OP is saying.

 

This forum is littered with errors made by HAL, especially where the front desk is concerned.

 

I am not at all doubting what the OP is saying. In fact, the same has happened to us.

 

What I am saying is if that is the worst that has happened to them on 20 years of cruising with HAL, then it is time for them to put on their adult pants and deal with this in an adult manner without using Cruise Critic to whine. And then move on ...

Edited March 24, 2014 by taxmantoo

[RuthC]

:eek: ALL??? holy crap. Talk about accounting error!

 

I can see it now: Someone pushed the button to finalize all the charges to all the accounts, and the computer did...nothing. So, they pushed the button again.

Voilá! Double charges. (not unlike double posts we see sometimes on this board.)

[regnig]

While I have no reason to doubt OP's experience I guess there are always two sides to any coin. The following is what I posted in a separate thread the other day. Wish I'd know Gary & DW were having problems, they could have joined us.

 

"Just back from a wonderful 11 day cruise on the Noordam and wanted to advise that our Pinnacle experience was wonderful. We were a group of 8 traveling with 4 linked bookings. When we arrived in our staterooms there was nothing there indicating when our reservations were for our Pinnacle dinner so I immediately called the Dining line and was advised the time (600pm) and date of our reservations. And yes, he had all the linked staterooms together. We had a wonderfully roomy table and the service and food could not have been better. I doubt anyone else dining in there had any idea we were using our "free" Explore4 meal. Another JOB WELL DONE for HAL and their staff."

 

As always I checked our stateroom charges every other day and never experienced any billing errors. Final billing to our CC was exactly what our departure statement showed.

 

While I totally understand OP's position our experience sure demonstrates the old statement "were they on the same ship I was??". I can only hope that more of the passengers had an experience similar to ours and not rothbury's.

[Stratheden]

I think the OP made the mistake of dealing with the wrong person.

 

If I had a problem with the Pinnacle Grill I would go there and sort it out.

 

If I had a problem with a Spa booking I would go to the Spa to sort it.

 

Why go to the Front Desk? You are just adding another layer to the confusion.

[POA1]

In the original poster's defense, we were on the Noordam the sailing prior and the Pinnacle was not up to expectations. We had a 7 PM reservation on 3/3 and our appetizers didn't arrive at the table until 8:05 PM. The food was fine, but the service was just sloooow.

 

Later in the cruise, we had reservations for the Le Circque dinner. We arrived for our 8 o'clock reservation. By 8:20, it was clear that this night was shaping up to be a repeat of 3/3. There were 6 couples waiting to be seated and several of them were angry and vocal about it. (Not us, mind you. We're a happy lot.) We told the manager that we were begging out and went to our regular MDR table. We were late for our MDR seating, and we apologized. They took good care of us, dinner was saved and there was much rejoicing.

 

Something was clearly "off" with the Noordam's Pinnacle dinner service. We heard quite a few other passengers complaining.

 

On the other hand, we had lunch and several breakfasts in the Pinnacle Grill and the food and service were both excellent.

 

The manager of the PG reversed out our charges. I think it took a day or so, but it was handled.

 

I think that the Explore 4 is putting a load on the system. Our sailing had around 900 Explore 4 reservations. The voyage prior to ours had more than 1, 300. We learned this when we visited the PG to link our reservation with the reservation of the other couple with whom we were traveling.

[kelleherdl]

I think you hit the nail on the head. Explore 4 put extra pressure on the Pinnacle. For what it's worth our experience on NA at the same week was 'normal' in terms of service and timing. (Party of 6 with special request early in the cruise.)

 

Sent from my VS950 4G using Tapatalk

[POA1]

I think you hit the nail on the head. Explore 4 put extra pressure on the Pinnacle. For what it's worth our experience on NA at the same week was 'normal' in terms of service and timing. (Party of 6 with special request early in the cruise.)

 

Sent from my VS950 4G using Tapatalk

 

We got the impression that people with early reservations fared better than those of us who had late reservation times. That can happen as time related problems tend to cascade as the evening goes on.

[rothbury]

I haven't checked this post all day. Didn't mean to cause so much stir!

 

We went to the Pinnacle after the second invitation and the host was not at all interested in changing the reservation. That is why we went back to the front office and they too were not interested.

 

As for my reasoning to leave HAL....The security people almost destroyed some expensive camera gear by dropping it. Fortunately it was in a padded case. The next day I asked them to manually search it and I was pulled aside, searched and held back for almost 15 minutes. From St. Lucia on, every time I went through security I was singled out. While I am a strong supporter of law enforcement I am not a fan of harassment.

 

Also, we actually made an appointment with the FCC to discuss future cruises. That never happened. We finally went to see her and she acted as though she didn't have time to be "bothered".