HAL's New Unwelcome Changes on the Oosterdam

[dag144]

I am sitting in the Crows Nest right now and there is no Christmas music. Nor was there any in th we Lido at breakfast earlier. I have not heard 24/7 Christmas music in public areas. Since leaving last Tampa, I would say 75% was holiday music and some Big a band sprinkled in. Since there are 4 music channels onboard, what usually happens is the staff changes the channels in their work area before going totally mad. Seattle may mandate the programming from ashore, but it is easily overridden by the flip of a switch by a quivering hand.

 

I can also promise you for every complaint on the holiday music there is one to counter due to lack thereof.

 

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Thank you Tampa Mike! Maybe somebody listened.

[7thOwl]

I am sitting in the Crows Nest right now and there is no Christmas music. Nor was there any in th we Lido at breakfast earlier. I have not heard 24/7 Christmas music in public areas. Since leaving last Tampa, I would say 75% was holiday music and some Big a band sprinkled in. Since there are 4 music channels onboard, what usually happens is the staff changes the channels in their work area before going totally mad. Seattle may mandate the programming from ashore, but it is easily overridden by the flip of a switch by a quivering hand.

 

I can also promise you for every complaint on the holiday music there is one to counter due to lack thereof.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Forums mobile app

 

 

TampaMike, I'm sailing this Fri (the 16th). Can you tell me what nights were the Formal nights, and how you found dress code to be on formal and informal nights?

[PCruzer]

I wish instead of getting rid of the books, they'd create an electronic library that would let people download books to their Kindles.

Love this idea!

[RBH]

Just returned from 39 day trip on the Noordam (San Diego to New Zealand). I could see these changes coming. Did away with librarian and had lousy collection of books. Still lots of people. But I will miss having the Lounge/Café area to sit around. I'm a library person and it feels like home. Things were worse in the Explorer's lounge. Musicians were very bad (at least the pianist was total amateur - but was spouse of violinist so they came as a pair). Piano should have been thrown overboard. It was that bad. The Adagio Duo (used to be quartet, but that's long gone) is my primary attraction on HAL and they are messing this up. I loved sitting in a comfortable chair, sipping a glass of wine before dinner and an aperitif after. All this while immersed in good classical music. This group played part classical and part pop/hillbilly/polka. And they had such a small repertoire that everything was repeated every night for 39 nights. The only thing that saved my trip was the fabulous Mike McCabe in the Piano Bar. Hope HAL doesn't mess that up, too.

[Guinness1000]

Try to find a place in the former library's on a sea day. You better get there early. Oops! the bars are empty on port days, we should cut back on them !

 

I said, I have never seen the libraries busy. Maybe it's different when you cruise...

 

Certain bars are busy at certain times, but they all seem to be more frequented than the libraries. :rolleyes:

Edited December 15, 2016 by Guinness1000

[POA1]

I said, I have never seen the libraries busy. Maybe it's different when you cruise...

 

Certain bars are busy at certain times, but they all seem to be more frequented than the libraries. :rolleyes:

 

That's because you need a fair amount of reading juice for one book. It's all about ratios.

[Guinness1000]

That's because you need a fair amount of reading juice for one book. It's all about ratios.

 

Well, being a writer, I am quite aware what goes into reading and writing a book. I just don't need libraries to do so. :)

[boards]

Unfortunately there was no 7PM happy hour on the 11/25-12/9 Oosterdam cruise, otherwise I would have gone.

 

Your right, it was at 10 - 11 PM. It is hidden in behind the casino. It used to be where disc Northern Lights was. We actually found it on the last night of the cruise Dec. 8 after the show and it had the happy hour.

Edited December 17, 2016 by boards

[boards]

Your right, it was at 10 - 11 PM. It is hidden in behind the casino. It used to be where disc Northern Lights was. We actually found it on the last night of the cruise Dec. 8 after the show and it had the happy hour.

 

BTW I am referring to the Gallery Bar, we were always too late for the happy hour for the one in the Billboard Onboard at 7 - 8 PM.

[RedneckBob]

We just returned from a 14 day Caribbean Cruise from Tampa. The Oosterdam looked fine after its recent (Spring, 2016) dry-dock. Our SS cabin was very nice. All changes were for the better.

 

However HAL has made three changes to this ship and its operation which disturbed me enough to book my next cruise with Princess. Here goes in order of the least bad to the most bad (for my cruise experience).

 

The library has been reduced to about 10 feet of books, fiction, non-fiction and non-English titles combined. There is a separate reference section with travel guides etc. No more librarian. I enjoyed the former set-up on the Nieuw Amsterdam in May. HAL is giving up some of its uniqueness with the demise of its former good library. I did find one book, but I seemed to be in the minority

 

Remember the Explorers Lounge. On the Oosterdam it has been brutally divided in half. One part remains the gracious lounge, largely unused in the evening. No more after dinner drinks or chocolates. The other half has become a small theater where one sits in rows to here the musicians (still excellent which cannot be said of this set-up. It looks weird

 

Now for the worst. The poor Ocean Bar - HAL has taken out the dance floor (dancing is now in the Queens Lounge if BB King is not playing. This has allowed the line to dispense with the combo. There is a piano player for short intervals at five, six, and eight. AT seven the lovely Ocean Bar is given over to Trivia players! Yes I did say Trivia! Alas the fate of a great HAL tradition which was developed over decades. UGH.

 

The Crows Nest is also devoid of a dance floor so no more live or disco music.

 

Finally a seasonal beef. We heard Christmas music all over the ship for 24 hours per day. The Cruise Director said this is company policy not to be changed once it was implemented on December 1st.

 

I am looking forward to my next cruise of the Star Princess, and will be very careful to check if these changes have gone fleet-wide.

 

I missed this thread. I just wrote a brief review of this cruise, 11/25/16-12/16/16. We must have been neighbors and we were also in SS cabin.

 

I agree with most of what you said but.

 

HAL always plays Christmas music in December. It was not played in the showroom prior to shows.

 

The piano player at the Ocean Bar area was one of the best musician on the ship. His name was Joel. Never used sheet music. Had over 120 songs in his head. Played all kinds of songs, classical, country, pop and rock including Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". The song is 6 minutes long and it is hard to play if the sheet music is in front of you

[Bodger]

If HAL want's to save floor space by doing away with their libraries, maybe they could offer e-books for folks to download?

 

I have read many books I wouldn't normally have spent time with, as I found the selection they have to be too 'American' and not of interest to an 'alien'.

 

Fortunately our Public Library System has many e-books that I can download and bring with me. The only challenge is that they have a three week time limit and then disappear. Only a problem if you take longer cruises.

 

BUT, I discovered a little trick, I can turn back the date on my tablet and the books are still there. Just be careful, as once you connect to the internet they may be deleted.

 

John

[summersigh]

The Oosterdam ........

 

Remember the Explorers Lounge. ..... The other half has become a small theater where one sits in rows to here the musicians (still excellent which cannot be said of this set-up. It looks weird

 

Ocean Bar - HAL has taken out the dance floor .... AT seven the lovely Ocean Bar is given over to Trivia players! .

We won't be sitting in the Explorers Lounge in rows of seating to listen to music on a cruise ship - nor will we be playing trivia in the Ocean bar.

 

One of our biggest joys on a cruise ship is getting an after dinner drink and sitting in a comfy chair listening to music in a lounge.

 

We weren't all that pleased about the early only hours the Hal Cats and Adagio played as it was. Not being able to relax and do this could be a major deal breaker for us. We like BB King but after a couple of evenings in there we'd like something different.:(

[leanstostarboard]

My experience on the Konigsdam in October was that we could easily sit behind the rows of seats in the Lincoln Center Stage area in a comfy hair and have a drink and read while listening to the music. From the description I suppose that is also possible on the Oosterdam.

[Himself]

The Koningsdam doesn't have much of a library.

[mariner]

Saddens me to read some of this.

 

The Explorers Lounge was always very popular back when you could enjoy a cigar and cigar ceremony. But HAL did away with the ceremony when it was deemed sexist and then there was the smoking issue. Instead of one of the highest revenue lounges aboard, it became a place for people to sit, eat chocolates and not spend a dime.

 

Ocean Bar was also packed, before the drink prices started to go up. After that, dead, save for happy hours.

 

Can't say I ever spent any time in Library, but it was obvious many did. Not a revenue area, but let's call it value-added.

 

My first cruise, many years ago, was on a Chandris ship. Given no bathroom in the cabin, it was a budget cruise. But the line offered excellent service, cheap drinks (25 cents domestic beer, 50 cents imported) and plentiful gourmet food. Chandris managed to fill ships and compete.

 

Not sure why HAL can't seem to embrace that formula. Their ships are not of the size and don't offer the variety of activities that the competitors do.

 

Really, $4.50 for a room service burger that cost them 75 cents to make?

[MisterBill99]

My first cruise, many years ago, was on a Chandris ship. Given no bathroom in the cabin, it was a budget cruise. But the line offered excellent service, cheap drinks (25 cents domestic beer, 50 cents imported) and plentiful gourmet food. Chandris managed to fill ships and compete.

 

Not sure why HAL can't seem to embrace that formula. Their ships are not of the size and don't offer the variety of activities that the competitors do.

 

Really, $4.50 for a room service burger that cost them 75 cents to make?

I'm confused about your room service comment. I thought that it was always free on HAL? If you want to complain about room service charges, I can tell you about Anthem of the Seas on Royal. But that's for a different thread.

 

Also, are you suggesting that they start offering really cheap drinks? Wouldn't that attract people whose main goal is to get drunk every day and change the entire character of their clientele? I'm fine with the plentiful gourmet food part.

Edited January 8, 2017 by MisterBill99

[mariner]

They now charge for a room service burger.

 

The cost of alcohol to the lines is beyond cheap. Bought in bulk. No tax. People think because it is less than ashore it's a bargain. They're getting ripped off. Same with soda.

 

And if lower priced drinks got people to spend more aboard, Im all for it. Seabourn includes drinks in the fare and no one is stone-cold drunk aboard those ships.

[RocketMan275]

I'm confused about your room service comment. I thought that it was always free on HAL? If you want to complain about room service charges, I can tell you about Anthem of the Seas on Royal. But that's for a different thread.

 

If you want a Dive Inn burger delivered to your room, there is a $4.95 room service charge. Or, you can get it yourself for free. Personally, I'm willing to pay this charge. In effect, I'm paying someone to get it for me.

[Guinness1000]

Like Rocketman said, you're just paying for someone to go to the restaurant and pick up your order, then bring it to you. It's not from the room service kitchen. I don't see an issue with that.

 

We just got off the Oosterdam two days ago. We became good friends with the room service staff and they brought us whatever we wanted. I asked early on if there was any way to get fish since none was offered on the room service menu and they always surprised us by bringing us some kind of fish. Sometimes from the MDR, sometimes from other places that I have no idea where. They went out of their way for us. :)

[summersigh]

There is a nice selection of "free" food on the room service menus for breakfast and other times during the rest of the 24 hours.

 

We did not find it necessary to spend extra $$ (except tip for the delivery person :) ) in order to have a snack or meal that was really quite good.

[albingirl]

Relative to the library comments, most other lines we've sailed with don't have much of one. Of course, we aren't familiar with the premium lines which seem to put more emphasis on this. We've sailed on the Maasdam four times and we've always seen heavy use of the library, particularly on a transatlantic.

I love a good library and love my kindle too. Heck, I'll read the back of a cereal box if that's the only thing around.

[MisterBill99]

The cost of alcohol to the lines is beyond cheap. Bought in bulk. No tax. People think because it is less than ashore it's a bargain. They're getting ripped off. Same with soda.

 

And if lower priced drinks got people to spend more aboard, Im all for it. Seabourn includes drinks in the fare and no one is stone-cold drunk aboard those ships.

I don't think that people think that the drinks are a bargain, and they're not. But they don't care, it's part of their vacation cost and they enjoy it. Restaurants on land charge a lot for drinks as well, and they buy in bulk.

 

Since I don't drink a lot, I am fine with the cruise lines charging whatever they want. It's OPM -- Other People's Money, and it allows me to cruise at a reasonable price since they're making their money elsewhere.

 

Seabourn gets a different clientele and costs a lot more than HAL or other mass market cruises. You can buy a beverage package and still be cheaper than Seabourn or any of the other all-inclusive lines.