Why Don't People READ about ships before booking???

[Mary229]

Two prevalent reasons 1. Their agent was incentivized to put them on HAL or 2. It was a cheap cruise.   Some people will ignore all the warning signs just to save $50.  There is another thread now that the person states what they want (not HAL) but says it is cheap.    
 

 

[Boatdrill]

13 hours ago, coachmouchet said:

And for the person who bashed the employees of Volendam who do not speak English well, shame on you.

 

Once upon a time I overheard a passenger complain to his wife about a crew member who didn't speak English well. I was close enough to hear the conversation between the man and the crew member, and I understood the crew member easily, even with his accent. 

After the husband continued to rudely complain to his wife about it, I cautioned him that the crew member might turn out to be his life boat captain, and suggested he treat him with respect.

The complaining stopped.  

 

 

  

[HALcruiser2001]

3 hours ago, Boatdrill said:

Once upon a time I overheard a passenger complain to his wife about a crew member who didn't speak English well. I was close enough to hear the conversation between the man and the crew member, and I understood the crew member easily, even with his accent. 

After the husband continued to rudely complain to his wife about it, I cautioned him that the crew member might turn out to be his life boat captain, and suggested he treat him with respect.

The complaining stopped.  

 

 

  

 

Okee Dokee

[VennDiagram]

If I am reading the deck plans correctly, the room 6039 that they claim to have been downgraded to doesn't even exist.  Can someone else check that, please? 

"We were assigned 6039 and 7041"

 

 

 

 

[cruisemom42]

4 minutes ago, VennDiagram said:

If I am reading the deck plans correctly, the room 6039 that they claim to have been downgraded to doesn't even exist.  Can someone else check that, please? 

"We were assigned 6039 and 7041"

 

 

 

 

 

My logical mind says that was a typo -- they probably meant to type 7039, which would be adjacent to the other cabin listed, 7041.

[VennDiagram]

1 hour ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

My logical mind says that was a typo -- they probably meant to type 7039, which would be adjacent to the other cabin listed, 7041.

 

In the review the person says "I booked two Vista suites online 7039 and 7041 3 months ago"  and then slightly further on say they were assigned 6039 and 7041 and spent 3 hours getting moved to a cabin on deck 7 once onboard.

[cruisemom42]

49 minutes ago, VennDiagram said:

 

In the review the person says "I booked two Vista suites online 7039 and 7041 3 months ago"  and then slightly further on say they were assigned 6039 and 7041 and spent 3 hours getting moved to a cabin on deck 7 once onboard.

 

aha, sorry. Hadn't read the actual review. 

 

It would be great if people mention specific reviews to include a link to make them easier to find.

[VennDiagram]

2 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

aha, sorry. Hadn't read the actual review. 

 

It would be great if people mention specific reviews to include a link to make them easier to find.

 

Finding it was a bit difficult, so I will save you the search, in case you want to read it.  You  may find parts of it make your brain hurt 😉

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=694134

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

9 minutes ago, VennDiagram said:

 

Finding it was a bit difficult, so I will save you the search, in case you want to read it.  You  may find parts of it make your brain hurt 😉

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=694134

 

 

 

The review did not make my brain hurt. But my eyes hurt because they kept rolling. To go back to the title and original post in this thread, the reviewer says "After my experience I went here and read many low reviews..." 

 

And you're right, there is no 6039 on the deck plan. Unless they got one of the few OV or insides on 6, the cabin they were "downgraded" to was a Vista. The only downgrade was being a lower deck and not being next to their other cabin. I'll give the reviewer that--somebody screwed up the cabin assignment.

 

As for being "much smaller rooms than what I booked," they got what they booked. The cabin size is on HAL's site, and they're all the same size, the smaller dimension, except for the larger accessible cabins. Yeah, HAL calls it a "suite." I've been in one of those "suites" and it doesn't feel like a "suite." But I knew what I was getting when I booked it, so it is what it is. If the reviewer had posted questions here, someone would have suggested looking at HalFacts. 

 

It's a shame people have bad experiences on cruises when the information to help them make better choices is here for the asking.

[cruisemom42]

24 minutes ago, VennDiagram said:

You  may find parts of it make your brain hurt 😉

 

You are correct.

[VMax1700]

I find it very strange that no one, not even the company, is permitted to respond to reviews. 

When you see a 'one star for service' review of any HAL ship, something is amiss.

[HALcruiser2001]

48 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

 

The review did not make my brain hurt. But my eyes hurt because they kept rolling. To go back to the title and original post in this thread, the reviewer says "After my experience I went here and read many low reviews..." 

 

And you're right, there is no 6039 on the deck plan. Unless they got one of the few OV or insides on 6, the cabin they were "downgraded" to was a Vista. The only downgrade was being a lower deck and not being next to their other cabin. I'll give the reviewer that--somebody screwed up the cabin assignment.

 

As for being "much smaller rooms than what I booked," they got what they booked. The cabin size is on HAL's site, and they're all the same size, the smaller dimension, except for the larger accessible cabins. Yeah, HAL calls it a "suite." I've been in one of those "suites" and it doesn't feel like a "suite." But I knew what I was getting when I booked it, so it is what it is. If the reviewer had posted questions here, someone would have suggested looking at HalFacts. 

 

It's a shame people have bad experiences on cruises when the information to help them make better choices is here for the asking.

It is hard for me to believe much in that review, there is not enough detail in all the one star review of individual items to make it seem typical.  

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

29 minutes ago, bdd123 said:

It is hard for me to believe much in that review, there is not enough detail in all the one star review of individual items to make it seem typical.  

 

 

I think the reviewer was angry and chose to hate everything about the cruise. 

[kurtmi03]

Wow. That sounds like a completely different ship than we were on. We were in 7048 and did have a problem with our air conditioning and were moved to another room. We weren't the only ones with this problem so maybe that's why they didn't get their original rooms.

 

As for the crew not speaking English. I can't say I found that. After 15+ cruises on HAL, this crew spoke as well as any other ship we've been on, and I think they do very well.

 

I wonder if they knew about Club Hal for the children? DD always enjoyed it when she was younger.

[esimon]

I love a bad review because I rarely agree and after reading I think - this will be a great cruise

[HALcruiser2001]

44 minutes ago, kurtmi03 said:

Wow. That sounds like a completely different ship than we were on. We were in 7048 and did have a problem with our air conditioning and were moved to another room. We weren't the only ones with this problem so maybe that's why they didn't get their original rooms.

 

As for the crew not speaking English. I can't say I found that. After 15+ cruises on HAL, this crew spoke as well as any other ship we've been on, and I think they do very well.

 

I wonder if they knew about Club Hal for the children? DD always enjoyed it when she was younger.

Would the reviewer have given the same bad review if the staff were all Dutch and only spoke Dutch?

At some level, I would hope that most staff on a cruise that are customer facing can speak English. 

On another note, thanks for reminding me to download translators to Malay and Indo before I go!