Hawaiidan Posted March 6, 2019 #626 Share Posted March 6, 2019 47 minutes ago, kennicott said: I bet this is just a feeler put out there by Stein Kruse in an attempt to convince the rest of the cruise industry to go along. We have about 200 days sailing on HAL but our last with them was a few years ago. Sticking with Princess and Regent. Speaking of Regent's sister line, Oceania, it appears to me that Frank Del Rio (FDR) has been working overtime in attempts to move other lines his way, both price wise and policy wise. Maybe Kruse is trying to emulate FDR. In the last week or so FDR announced this: "So we’re focusing on price; we’re pushing price higher everywhere we can both in 2019 and 2020,” he said. “While we still have a lot of cabins to fill, the emphasis will be on raising prices across all three brands.” I don't know what it is with FDR, he loves to get up before these international cruise forum groups and shoot his face off. Maybe a little heavy on the booze or something. Remember, he just did the same in September too? We have 150 days sailing on Regent, but our perks there don't carry over to Oceania. Coincidentally, at the time FDR made his recent pronouncement, I was considering an Oceania suite which provided the same perks as I would get if I had advanced Oceania loyalty status. I had yet to get into pricing and itinerary lengths, we prefer three weeks plus so that meant a B-2-B. Then I read FDR's latest, into the trash bin went the brochures. He is already out of sight price wise, his Regent cruise product is no longer commensurate with the few extra amenities we gain over Princess. So your saying that you would pick Princess over Regent because the difference is minimal gain with regent. Are you serious....Princess is a nice entry level cruise line tier...Regent is luxury The difference is stark. Your saying I don't think Ritz Carlton offers much more that Best Western. Its you impression Regent is pushing 900+ a day. But includes shore ex, rt business class air, all liquor, incredible food, tremendous ambiance. Add those costs to Princess and it too becomes expensive I Sailed Regent over 100 days... but choose Oceania as an alternative where I could choose what I wanted or not at 1/3 of the regent price. My take of Regent is that it is a cruise for people who want to have their hand held every second . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare eroller Posted March 6, 2019 #627 Share Posted March 6, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, kennicott said: We have 150 days sailing on Regent, but our perks there don't carry over to Oceania. Coincidentally, at the time FDR made his recent pronouncement, I was considering an Oceania suite which provided the same perks as I would get if I had advanced Oceania loyalty status. I had yet to get into pricing and itinerary lengths, we prefer three weeks plus so that meant a B-2-B. Then I read FDR's latest, into the trash bin went the brochures. He is already out of sight price wise, his Regent cruise product is no longer commensurate with the few extra amenities we gain over Princess. He is my least favorite cruise line exec out of any of them. His arrogance and disregard for the customer (except their pocketbook) is extremely off-putting. As a past Oceania and NCL cruiser I would rather sail on other lines while he is at the helm. As for HAL charging for a second entree I think it's tacky. I don't feel anyone really needs a second entree and nor do I ever order one, but part of the value of a cruise is knowing that you can if you want. Do that many people order second entrees that HAL feels it's necessary to implement a charge? I could see Carnival or perhaps NCL doing this, but HAL? Seems really odd and certainly not in keeping with their brand image. Edited March 6, 2019 by eroller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawaiidan Posted March 6, 2019 #628 Share Posted March 6, 2019 (edited) 5 hours ago, spirit-wedding? said: I don't know if someone has already posted this same comment, but the food my husband and I "waste" on the cruises we take is the food that doesn't taste good. We don't force ourselves to eat something that we are not enjoying. Especially not when we have so many more options available to us. Instead of charging for extra entrees Holland should look into offering less options and work on making the ones available tastier (at least in the buffet). Maybe they would get less waste that way. They could but prices would have to rise for the crusie 10-20-30% You can not get your goals achieved at the price point HAL charges... Not possible paying for hamburger and expecting steak. : Remember the universal law of life..." Heat rises...water runs down hill.... there is NO free lunch" If you get something you dont like...you ordered it. Dont order it again the next time. If you were in a restaurant very seldom would you get a free second dinner of something different without a charge for the new dish....if your complaint was I dont like it. as a matter of taste, not prep or quality. Edited March 6, 2019 by Hawaiidan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkacruiser Posted March 6, 2019 #629 Share Posted March 6, 2019 1 hour ago, kennicott said: FDR. Maybe I ought to know, but I can't recall. Who is "FDR"? Franklin Delano Roosevelt rests comfortably in his grave as far as I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare eroller Posted March 6, 2019 #630 Share Posted March 6, 2019 2 minutes ago, rkacruiser said: Maybe I ought to know, but I can't recall. Who is "FDR"? Franklin Delano Roosevelt rests comfortably in his grave as far as I know. Frank Del Rio. Head of NCLH (NCL, Oceania, Regent). Even the fact he refers to himself as FDR speaks to his arrogance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spirit-wedding? Posted March 6, 2019 #631 Share Posted March 6, 2019 11 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said: They could but prices would have to rise for the crusie 10-20-30% You can not get your goals achieved at the price point HAL charges... Not possible paying for hamburger and expecting steak. : Remember the universal law of life..." Heat rises...water runs down hill.... there is NO free lunch" If you get something you dont like...you ordered it. Dont order it again the next time. If you were in a restaurant very seldom would you get a free second dinner of something different without a charge for the new dish....if your complaint was I dont like it. as a matter of taste, not prep or quality. I'm not expecting to pay for hamburger and expecting steak. I'm paying for hamburger and expecting it to taste like a good hamburger not a mediocre one. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VennDiagram Posted March 6, 2019 #632 Share Posted March 6, 2019 15 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said: If you get something you dont like...you ordered it. Dont order it again the next time. If you were in a restaurant very seldom would you get a free second dinner of something different without a charge for the new dish....if your complaint was I dont like it. as a matter of taste, not prep or quality. Like several other comments I've read, not entirely accurate. At one time in my life I dined out regularly, and became a "regular" at several restaurants. If I didn't care for something I ordered, the restaurant would happily replace it without charge. HAL has plenty of "regulars" -- just look at everyone who is a 3, 4 or 5 star Mariner. I'd expect the same courtesy on the ship that I've experienced in land based restaurants. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rkacruiser Posted March 6, 2019 #633 Share Posted March 6, 2019 17 minutes ago, eroller said: Frank Del Rio. Head of NCLH (NCL, Oceania, Regent). Even the fact he refers to himself as FDR speaks to his arrogance. Thanks! I recall his name. He has bounced from one company to another over the years, if I recall correctly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammiedawg Posted March 6, 2019 #634 Share Posted March 6, 2019 I wouldn’t characterize him as a bounce around. He was an exec with Renaissance. They went under after 9/11, gee imagine that. Then in 2002, he founded Oceania, known as Prestige Holdings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare kazu Posted March 6, 2019 #635 Share Posted March 6, 2019 21 minutes ago, VennDiagram said: Like several other comments I've read, not entirely accurate. At one time in my life I dined out regularly, and became a "regular" at several restaurants. If I didn't care for something I ordered, the restaurant would happily replace it without charge. HAL has plenty of "regulars" -- just look at everyone who is a 3, 4 or 5 star Mariner. I'd expect the same courtesy on the ship that I've experienced in land based restaurants. I do believe you just hit the nail on the head. Well said 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennicott Posted March 6, 2019 #636 Share Posted March 6, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, Hawaiidan said: 1 hour ago, Hawaiidan said: So your saying that you would pick Princess over Regent because the difference is minimal gain with regent. . No, I'm not saying that at all. We have about 150 days sailing on Regent and over 300 days sailing on Princess. We know both lines very well. What I'm saying is you get what you pay for. If you select add-ons offered by the mainstream line (Princess) you can easily come up with a cruise of superior quality to that offered on a similar itinerary by the so called "luxury" line, Regent. As a for instance. We just finished up last cruise year with two cruises, one on Princess and one on Regent. Princess was 29 days and Regent 22, both trans-oceans. On Princess we had a full suite, an Owners Suite, on the Mariner we had a Concierge Suite. The Owners Suite including balcony was about 1000 square feet, the Concierge Suite was 301 sq. ft including balcony. With the Princess Suite we received "Club Class" dining plus exclusive breakfasts in one of the specialty restaurants. Shore excursions were about equal, although most Regent shore excursions were included and we paid separately for the Princess excursions. From a food and dining quality standpoint Princess had a significant edge at breakfast and a slight edge at dinner. Obviously, from a cabin standpoint the Princess accommodations were far better. Regent had the edge in on board ambience. The Princess vessel, Pacific Princess, had 670 guests, the Regent Mariner had 700. The Mariner is 48,000 gross tons, the Pacific Princess is 30,300 gross tons. We paid $530.00 per person per day on Princess which included about $3,000 in excursions. We paid $631.00 per day per person on Regent. Business Class Air Seattle to Venice was included in the Princess price. We paid our own air on Regent this time. Edited March 6, 2019 by kennicott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisebie Posted March 6, 2019 #637 Share Posted March 6, 2019 4 hours ago, ottahand7 said: I missed a lot of the comments on the 25 pages here. I don't know if anyone has brought up the waiters in this other than tracking extra orders. We dined in the MDR once on our cruise on the Rdam last month. I could not believe how those waiters carried those massive trays. So they have a table of 6 and 2 people order extra entrees. Another table's 3 of 6 ordered double appetizers. I think that sorting it all out and getting food delivered to our table added up to cold food. I am sure that they are asked about extra plate ordering and wastage and work load. This is an interesting point and one I've not seen discussed yet. What will the effect on MDR service be if this new policy is implemented? I would imagine that more people will order extra appetizers, salads, etc to avoid paying the $10 fee for an extra entree. This and the extra time the waiters will need to process the $10 charge for those who do opt for the extra entree is bound to slow things down. Maybe what they're really going for is a savings on dessert costs. We may all have to skip dessert if we're going to make the evening entertainment on time. 😂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AtlantaCruiser72 Posted March 6, 2019 #638 Share Posted March 6, 2019 (edited) 2 hours ago, eroller said: Frank Del Rio. Head of NCLH (NCL, Oceania, Regent). Even the fact he refers to himself as FDR speaks to his arrogance. Or as he is more Commonly known Frank Del FEE-o ...... along with his NCL "FEE@sea" marketing scam!!!!! There is a reason NCL is nicknamed the "Nickel and dime Cruise Line" HAL, along with the rest of the mainstream lines, seems to be heading the way of fees for everything. It has really cheapened the overall experience and made cruising less pleasurable. I have looked at options like Viking, Azamara and Oceania as an alternate, but even factoring the extras they offer I just can't justify the jump in pricing for the types of cruises and rooms I typically book. So, for now I have to put up with the push for ancillary revenue onboard HAL, Celebrity, Princess and Royal. I will no longer sail NCL or Carnival - period! Edited March 6, 2019 by AtlantaCruiser72 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
san diego spartan Posted March 6, 2019 #639 Share Posted March 6, 2019 3 hours ago, eroller said: He is my least favorite cruise line exec out of any of them. His arrogance and disregard for the customer (except their pocketbook) is extremely off-putting. As a past Oceania and NCL cruiser I would rather sail on other lines while he is at the helm. As for HAL charging for a second entree I think it's tacky. I don't feel anyone really needs a second entree and nor do I ever order one, but part of the value of a cruise is knowing that you can if you want. Do that many people order second entrees that HAL feels it's necessary to implement a charge? I could see Carnival or perhaps NCL doing this, but HAL? Seems really odd and certainly not in keeping with their brand image. This is a good comment - I could totally see the Carnival or NCL doing this but I do agree I've always though of HAL as more of a premium cruise line and to do this is nickle and dime. I was on Oceania 2 years ago and actually really enjoyed it - I have no clue on the head of Oceania and the statements attributed to him. I actually felt that while it was more expensive, more things were included and we were not "bothered" with all the upgrade options or other things. We have really enjoyed Celebrity in the last several years and it started us cruising again after several years break. We had fond memories of HAL so when we went to book our next 2 cruises we decided to give them a try. This $10 for 2nd entree is ridiculous - whether you tend to order one or not. We probably do not, but have at times and I just think it seems in my mind to downgrade HAL somewhat to a more "mainstream" (I could use another word but won't) cruise line like the ones in the quoted comment. We will see how it goes. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare cruisemom42 Posted March 6, 2019 #640 Share Posted March 6, 2019 3 hours ago, eroller said: Frank Del Rio. Head of NCLH (NCL, Oceania, Regent). Even the fact he refers to himself as FDR speaks to his arrogance. Does he really refer to himself as FDR? Or is it that others refer to him in that way? (I'm not hugely familiar with him but have read a few interviews over the years and never saw him say anything like that.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawaiidan Posted March 6, 2019 #641 Share Posted March 6, 2019 3 hours ago, kennicott said: While I don't agree.... the difference are so radical on so many levels. However, if that is your reality, I can not argue a persons reality. It's how you perceive things to be. If you consider Princess superior then it is if that's your belief.and I have to respect that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare eroller Posted March 6, 2019 #642 Share Posted March 6, 2019 13 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said: Does he really refer to himself as FDR? Or is it that others refer to him in that way? (I'm not hugely familiar with him but have read a few interviews over the years and never saw him say anything like that.... Lets just say he embraces it and that is how he is commonly referred to by colleagues in the industry. Great for the ego, which is already pretty big. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrSea Posted March 6, 2019 #643 Share Posted March 6, 2019 Some of the doctors that I work with are cancelling their cruises where we get continuing medical education after I told them about 10 fee. They never been on HAL before. But they are cancelling after they heard about the entirety of my negative experience with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hawaiidan Posted March 6, 2019 #644 Share Posted March 6, 2019 3 hours ago, spirit-wedding? said: I'm not expecting to pay for hamburger and expecting steak. I'm paying for hamburger and expecting it to taste like a good hamburger not a mediocre one. I agree.... but this complaint of charging on a mediocre mainstream line is complaining for fine dining nor a burger. HAL is no different from every other mainstream line that earns much of its profit from all the little extra charges is lays on its passengers... That par for the course. its what HAL is. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennicott Posted March 6, 2019 #645 Share Posted March 6, 2019 (edited) 19 minutes ago, Hawaiidan said: If you consider Princess superior then it is if that's your belief.and I have to respect that. Well, I'm confused as to what you seem to not agree or agree with me on. As you say, "you have to respect that". Hard for me to get a handle on your logic i.e. "If you consider Princess superior then it is if that's your belief and I have to respect that." Well, that is certainly not my stated opinion but your simple judgement of what I have posted. You appear to be consigned to make radical judgments of my opinions. Not sure where you get this, perhaps I fail to articulate accurately. Anyway, I assume we are equal in our cruise time experience on both Princess and Regent. So I guess it is a draw, whatever that means. Edited March 6, 2019 by kennicott 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crusinsusan2 Posted March 6, 2019 #646 Share Posted March 6, 2019 5 minutes ago, DrSea said: Some of the doctors that I work with are cancelling their cruises where we get continuing medical education after I told them about 10 fee. They never been on HAL before. But they are cancelling after they heard about the entirety of my negative experience with them. Are you really saying that the doctors you work with that can and do take a 100% tax write off for their entire cruise expense for themselves and family because they have shown they have attended 1 or 2 CME classes arranged and available on board will forego this significant vacation write-off in exchange for an additional $10.00 for a second entree? 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colbe Posted March 6, 2019 #647 Share Posted March 6, 2019 38 minutes ago, DrSea said: Some of the doctors that I work with are cancelling their cruises where we get continuing medical education after I told them about 10 fee. They never been on HAL before. But they are cancelling after they heard about the entirety of my negative experience with them. Do your medical doctors receive no nutrition training? I can not imagine a single one of my doctor friends thinking that it was okay to order two mains (entrees). 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iancal Posted March 6, 2019 #648 Share Posted March 6, 2019 We do not get excited about cruise line execs, cruise ship captains, or cruise lines for that matter. Change is so constant in this industry. Five years ago we might not have considered MSC. Now we would. Change is an impetus for us to try different cruise lines and different ships. I suspect that some cruise lines will be left behind if they lack good leadership and are afraid to innovate or change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrSea Posted March 6, 2019 #649 Share Posted March 6, 2019 7 hours ago, Crusinsusan2 said: Are you really saying that the doctors you work with that can and do take a 100% tax write off for their entire cruise expense for themselves and family because they have shown they have attended 1 or 2 CME classes arranged and available on board will forego this significant vacation write-off in exchange for an additional $10.00 for a second entree? It is not a write off. It is a part of our compensation that we get funding that is specifically dedicated to get additional training. We get X amount of funding to spend, but these cruises almost always exceed that funding. I just told them about the nickle and diming experience I had on HAL, and they booked another CME cruise with another cruise line. We have lots of options for GME. I won't quote that person, but I'll respond. Doctors get trained in nutrition. I did a rotation in med school in it and did research on food security on underprivileged children. Getting a second entree on my vacation isn't an indictment of my clinical acumen. Lol, this is a perfect example of the disrespect and ridiculousness that we doctors experience in our offices/hospitals. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Underwatr Posted March 6, 2019 #650 Share Posted March 6, 2019 12 hours ago, VennDiagram said: Like several other comments I've read, not entirely accurate. At one time in my life I dined out regularly, and became a "regular" at several restaurants. If I didn't care for something I ordered, the restaurant would happily replace it without charge. HAL has plenty of "regulars" -- just look at everyone who is a 3, 4 or 5 star Mariner. I'd expect the same courtesy on the ship that I've experienced in land based restaurants. I don't think anyone has seen that HAL will charge a dinner who sends an entree back (for any reason). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now