Remember When....

[idiebabe]

Our Waitstaff on NA had a Crumb Catcher!  Didn't need it for me, of course, but  for DH!  😂

[highscar]

 Remember that beautiful song the crew sang in the main stage on the last night?

[fridayeyes]

Love in any language.  😉

 

[dockman]

Nice wide wrap around promenade deck with big teak chairs.

Real libraries.

 

[St Pete Cruiser]

When I first started cruising on Holland America, I grew tired of 

"How much better it use to be"

discussions. 

Now, 18 years later, I am part of the group. 

Live musicians in the dining room. 

The yum yum mans call to dinner with chimes.

Captains cocktail party with not just cheap champagne. 

Formal night festivities and over the top dining items. The officers greeting us at the MDR entrance. 

Fresh flowers everywhere. 

Deck parties and barbecue. 

The list is long.

 

[dfish]

2 hours ago, atexsix said:

Oh my gosh!  That sounds like a wonderful invention!  Just kidding of course. 

 

Unfortunately it requires going upstairs, dragging it back downstairs, wrestling with the evil power cord that never wants to unwind correctly, I'll trip over it at least once, then do it all again in reverse.  So I get down on my hands and knees instead.

 

Well, there is that.  Easily solved:  get one for each level!  My latest one has a neat feature where it automatically wraps the cord for me.  I just press a lever.  Amazing what they come  up with.  The next one will run on its own.  Oh, wait.  They do have the robots.   

[atexsix]

3 minutes ago, dfish said:

 

Well, there is that.  Easily solved:  get one for each level!  My latest one has a neat feature where it automatically wraps the cord for me.  I just press a lever.  Amazing what they come  up with.  The next one will run on its own.  Oh, wait.  They do have the robots.   

I think we better, our current vacuum is on the fritz.  And like you, I'm at that age now where I can't quite get up once I'm down on the floor. 🤣

[atexsix]

48 minutes ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

When I first started cruising on Holland America, I grew tired of 

"How much better it use to be"

discussions. 

Now, 18 years later, I am part of the group. 

Live musicians in the dining room. 

The yum yum mans call to dinner with chimes.

Captains cocktail party with not just cheap champagne. 

Formal night festivities and over the top dining items. The officers greeting us at the MDR entrance. 

Fresh flowers everywhere. 

Deck parties and barbecue. 

The list is long.

 

I can relate to that.  When I first got to the cruise boards, which were in their infancy, everything was better, seemed I missed my boat on pretty much everything.  

 

I read that it all started with NCL's freestyle cruising with these now funny, but infamous commercials:

 

 

 

[AncientWanderer]

I do miss the flowers on the table at dinner.  I keep trying to think of some way to bring a little posy of my own.  Order a corsage, place it on the table, then wear it out the door after dinner; place in refrigerator and repeat?

If anyone has any good ideas, please do chime in.  😊

 

[syesmar]

I miss the chilled soups and samples from the cooking shows.

[Infi]

The Indonesian and Royal Dutch teas. Was just having a conversation today about how nice and special those events were.

[jimgev]

The three things I was most impressed with on my first HAL cruise were: Yum Yum Man with chimes anoouncing dinner; The wonderful library and the incredible chilled fruit soups. All are  now in the past.

 

[AncientWanderer]

1 minute ago, jimgev said:

The three things I was most impressed with on my first HAL cruise were: Yum Yum Man with chimes anoouncing dinner; The wonderful library and the incredible chilled fruit soups. All are  now in the past.

 

 

Whatever they paid the Yum Yum Man, he returned ten-fold in brand loyalty.  He brought something wonderful and unique to the dining room -- differentiated HAL from the competition.

[highscar]

The yum yum man was with us on the March 2020 circle Hawaii.  He was a lovable young man. Loved the jokes.  

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, jimgev said:

The wonderful library and the incredible chilled fruit soups.

 

 

1 hour ago, Infi said:

The Indonesian and Royal Dutch teas.

 

The loss of all above is a diminishing of the HAL cruise experience.  For the more recent guests of HAL, they are probably asking:  what makes them so special?  The sand in the hour glass continues to drain into the lower glass for many of us.  

 

3 hours ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

Deck parties and barbecue. 

 Please send a "thank you note" to the Head of the USPH for this "magnificent attempt" to keep us healthy during a cruise.  

[syesmar]

On 8/7/2021 at 11:35 PM, atexsix said:

the biggest controversies about cruising were:

 

-loud conversations in the thermal suite

-care animals

-crows nest renovations

-and automatic tipping

 

??

 

To think what we once took for granted.

 

I just miss the way things used to be 😥

 

 

Bath robes in the Lido 😀

[BobbiSox]

Having read the many responces to this thread, I wonder what other nicities can possible be taken away from us. I understand that HAL has to make a profit, but I would gladly pay more to have some of these things reinstated. I fear we probably haven't even seen the end of the cutbacks though, now that Covid has reared it's ungly head again. (I live in Florida, so we're getting hit hard recently.)

[atexsix]

I haven't seen an ice sculpture in eons, are they even done anymore?

[westcoastsue]

22 hours ago, 12cruise2 said:

When we sailed both ways Panama Canal Feb-early March 2020, no newspapers (as well as no flowers on the tables and other things I can't remember).  There were none--not at the front desk, not in the Lido, nowhere they'd been before, and the front desk said no more.  We, too, enjoyed working on the puzzles together.  So we've printed many puzzles out of USA Today--which you can download and print for free--and bring them with us!  I think you can print 10 days at a time, per my husband who does the work.

When we were on the Christmas/New Years cruise 2019/20 on the Amsterdam there were beautiful flower arrangements everywhere. I was so impressed.

[mexico8]

On 8/8/2021 at 11:51 AM, atexsix said:

French onion soup is Dear Dad's favorite, thank God it's still on the MDR menu, he'd die without it.

 

He even got me started on it, but only on HAL, normally I don't like it.

Costco sell frozen french onion soup and it's not bad.    I add extra Gruyere cheese to enhance it.   They are frozen individually and handy to have in the house.

[atexsix]

7 minutes ago, mexico8 said:

Costco sell frozen french onion soup and it's not bad.    I add extra Gruyere cheese to enhance it.   They are frozen individually and handy to have in the house.

Thanks, I'll check that out next time I'm there.

[rkacruiser]

8 hours ago, westcoastsue said:

When we were on the Christmas/New Years cruise 2019/20 on the Amsterdam there were beautiful flower arrangements everywhere.

 

Flower arrangements everywhere on the Volendam during her cruise at that time?  No, don't recall such.  There were flower arrangements and some, particularly in the Crow's Nest, with what I think is odd, a template where water tubes and flowers are stuck into that template to make an attractive display.  In someone's opinion.  

 

8 hours ago, atexsix said:

I haven't seen an ice sculpture in eons, are they even done anymore?

 

Yes.  On special occasions, and particularly on cruises longer than 10/11 days, they do appear.  Sometimes, the crew member who has the ability to sculpture these lovely creations will produce one on the aft Lido Deck.  

[Kay S]

12 hours ago, syesmar said:

Bath robes in the Lido 😀

That was before my time, but was it to spare the diners sight of those ill-fitting bikinis and speedos?  lol

[SUESEABE]

I miss the horse race game. People would purchase the horse at auction early in the cruise and had all week to dress it up and parade it around the ship (stick horse went to dinner and to shows). The  race was held on the pool deck on the last sea day. It was great fun!

Edited August 10, 2021 by SUESEABE

[HamOp]

On 8/8/2021 at 7:31 AM, 1ANGELCAT said:

Pool games., The chocolate buffet. Passport to Fitness (real prizes).

Pool games like this one where male vs. female teams had to dive into the pool and collect as many lemons as they cold and stuff them into their bathing suits.  Ah, the good old days.....