Holland America Group Restructuring

[Mickb]

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/jan-swartz-holland-america-groups-restructuring

[REOVA]

They definitely need to separate the brands and if this does anything about making decisions quickly via the brand, it may work. However HAL supposedly had separate decision making pre pandemic and either that was loosly controlled by CCL or their prior reorg didn't work too well. The words "what the brand customer wants" also have been spoken before. But when you don't have the cash flow or supply chain to reach the goals, we can expect short term to be unchanged. We have hope for 2025 if the creek (ocean) don't rise. 

[GeorgeCharlie]

39 minutes ago, REOVA said:

 But when you don't have the cash flow or supply chain to reach the goals, we can expect short term to be unchanged. We have hope for 2025 if the creek (ocean) don't rise. 

 

I certainly agree with you with respect to the amount of time it may take to get service to an acceptable level.

 

We primarily cruise for the itinerary and experiences. We recently returned from a 31-day South American cruise on the Oosterdam and, while we found the itinerary experiences to be excellent, the on board experience was disappointing.

 

We currently have a much longer HAL cruise booked for next year and we are now thinking it may be best to wait for another year, or two.

[iceman93]

"'He really is focused on who is the target market for each brand, who is the customer, how do we market to them, how do we sell the product effectively, how do we elevate the guest experience." 

 

I'd love to see their definition of the target market for each brand.  Just as an example, I was very surprised when a friend of mine went to work for Princess (in the group that developed the medallion) and told me Princess was explicitly above HAL in the CCL pecking order in terms of prestige and sophistication.

[REOVA]

3 minutes ago, GeorgeCharlie said:

 

I certainly agree with you with respect to the amount of time it may take to get service to an acceptable level.

 

We primarily cruise for the itinerary and experiences. We recently returned from a 31-day South American cruise on the Oosterdam and, while we found the itinerary experiences to be excellent, the on board experience was disappointing.

 

We currently have a much longer HAL cruise booked for next year and we are now thinking it may be best to wait for another year, or two.

We are itinerary driven as well. Depends on the itinerary as some ports have problems as well (RE: supply and tourism) and may be best to wait, however prices will most likely rise so do next year and then again if you like it 😉.  

[VMax1700]

"People working on the Holland America website now report to an IT leader who answers to HAL's Antorcha". 

 

🤣

[OlsSalt]

We settle for "necessary level" staffing - safety and basics. Not sure what qualifies as an "acceptable level" of staffing,  since that is so variable.  

 

We like have a great itinerary, a clean place to sleep, a tidy ship, administrative support staff,  shore excursion personnel,  and adequate food while on board. Anything beyond that are "frills" for us.  HAL smiles are always a very welcome bonus for us. Enrichment related to where we are traveling is the one plus we also like. 

[LocoLoco1]

Read like true insider ‘Corporate-speak’ but signifying nothing. 

[Cruisin'allovertheworld]

3 hours ago, LocoLoco1 said:

Read like true insider ‘Corporate-speak’ but signifying nothing. 

Absolutely 100% agree.

That article was ridiculous.

As a customer I'm not interested in who reports to whom in the corporate structure or what elements are organised by which people/organisations- I'm interested in the outcome of those reports.

I care about the experience of organising a cruise and being onboard, not whether the IT department that facilitated my booking is HAL only or 'shared' between multiple lines.

[ski ww]

1 hour ago, Cruisin'allovertheworld said:

Absolutely 100% agree.

That article was ridiculous.

As a customer I'm not interested in who reports to whom in the corporate structure or what elements are organised by which people/organisations- I'm interested in the outcome of those reports.

I care about the experience of organising a cruise and being onboard, not whether the IT department that facilitated my booking is HAL only or 'shared' between multiple lines.

Couldn't agree more. I guess only time will tell. The post cruise surveys, do they read them & fix what the guests are telling them is wrong with the brand/ship??

[Sir PMP]

It's a beginning, but a lot more needs to be changed to start making money again, especially with ports closing to large ships and now the Norwegian Fjords are starting to close too.

[Ride-The-Waves]

Rearranging the deck chairs...

 

It continues to amaze me that these corporate types couldn't care less about the product - the customer - and focus on caring about themselves.  

Edited January 31, 2023 by Ride-The-Waves

[Sea42]

6 hours ago, Cruisin'allovertheworld said:

Absolutely 100% agree.

That article was ridiculous.

As a customer I'm not interested in who reports to whom in the corporate structure or what elements are organised by which people/organisations- I'm interested in the outcome of those reports.

I care about the experience of organising a cruise and being onboard, not whether the IT department that facilitated my booking is HAL only or 'shared' between multiple lines.

It's a business article. Not all articles on Seatrade are written with customers in mind.

[FlaMariner]

Keeping Holland America far away from Princess is always considered a positive for me. 

 

I am hoping that the Princess "medallion" (and many other "experiences" we had with our "one and done" Princess cruise is never mentioned as an option for Holland America Line.  

 

 

[Colorado Klutch]

 

As another comic strip reference, all the quotes in the article sound like Charlie Brown's teacher, "Whaa, whaa, wha, wha, wha...". 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Colorado Klutch

[SilvertoGold]

So, who will HAL Corporate decide is their "customer", their "target market"? How will this differ from Princess?  How will corporate market to this customer?

[SilvertoGold]

5 minutes ago, Colorado Klutch said:

 

As another comic strip reference, all the quotes in the article sound like Charlie Brown's teacher, "Whaa, whaa, wha, wha, wha...". 

Brilliant!

[Colorado Klutch]

7 hours ago, Cruisin'allovertheworld said:

As a customer I'm not interested in who reports to whom in the corporate structure or what elements are organised by which people/organisations- I'm interested in the outcome of those reports.

 

It's helpful to know who is in charge of what when we send a letter. Paradoxically, here in the 21st century nothing gets attention from a corporation like a good, old-fashioned snail mail letter with a wet signature. Phone calls, emails and form letters are just white noise. 

 

If you are not happy with the way things are going as a HAL customer, write a letter which is polite, brief and to the point. Address it specifically to Jan Swartz and it's likely she will actually see it. If she sees enough letters making all the same points, maybe things will change for the better. 

 

450 Third Avenue West, Seattle, Washington, 98119, United States

Years ago Ford Motor Company announced they were going to kill the Mustang in favor of the new Probe model. Many thousands of Ford Mustang fans wrote letters to the Ford CEO explaining how important the Mustang was to them and America as a whole. No kidding, Ford decided to keep building Mustangs and the letter campaign is what changed their minds. This was before email and social media were prevalent, but those things now make printed and mailed letters all the more rare and special. 

Edited January 31, 2023 by Colorado Klutch

[brovol]

2 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

Keeping Holland America far away from Princess is always considered a positive for me. 

 

I am hoping that the Princess "medallion" (and many other "experiences" we had with our "one and done" Princess cruise is never mentioned as an option for Holland America Line.  

 

 

My wife and I absolutely love Princess, and the medallion technology.  Sky Princess last year was perhaps the best ship we have sailed in over 35 cruises.

[*Miss G*]

54 minutes ago, brovol said:

My wife and I absolutely love Princess, and the medallion technology.  Sky Princess last year was perhaps the best ship we have sailed in over 35 cruises.

 

Ruh-roh.  Now you’ve done it.  Before @FlaMariner responds I will go ahead and say I completely agree with him.  lol

[StLouisCruisers]

1 hour ago, brovol said:

My wife and I absolutely love Princess, and the medallion technology.  Sky Princess last year was perhaps the best ship we have sailed in over 35 cruises.

 

I wish I had a dollar for every time I've read "one and done" from our Florida friend!😂

 

We have 50 cruises with Princess so they must do something right.  I also enjoy HAL tremendously.  You need to have an open mind.  Waiting now to get my slap down...

[HappyInVan]

20 hours ago, Mickb said:

https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/jan-swartz-holland-america-groups-restructuring

 

Sorry. I don't see that as 'restructuring'. Looks like they're trying to do some marketing magic. Gazing at their navel and looking for a purpose in life.

 

A corporate restructuring would include changes in the areas of responsibility, and reordering their businesses. For example, CCL has 9 brands/subsidiaries. RCL and NCLH each have only three brands; high, low and medium.

[FlaMariner]

9 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

We have 50 cruises with Princess so they must do something right.  I also enjoy HAL tremendously.  You need to have an open mind.  Waiting now to get my slap down...

 

LOL.  no hand slapping...I understand and glad we all have choices.  All good and enjoy Princess!

[*Miss G*]

27 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

I wish I had a dollar for every time I've read "one and done" from our Florida friend!😂

 

We have 50 cruises with Princess so they must do something right.  I also enjoy HAL tremendously.  You need to have an open mind.  Waiting now to get my slap down...

 

To be fair, that particular voyage was the proverbial If-Anything-Can-Go-Wrong-It-Will cruise.  Even the Princess loyalists said they’d never experienced anything like it.  The memories are slowly fading for me now so I’ve stopped saying never and am now saying it’s possible.  “Never” has never really worked for me.  lol

[Guest ldtr]

5 hours ago, FlaMariner said:

Keeping Holland America far away from Princess is always considered a positive for me. 

 

I am hoping that the Princess "medallion" (and many other "experiences" we had with our "one and done" Princess cruise is never mentioned as an option for Holland America Line.  

 

 

While medallion had problems in its early days it now works pretty well and the functions for ordering anywhere on the ship and locating other members of your party are very handy.  Certainly miss those functions when on a HAL ship.