(UN) Happy Hour on Nieuw Statendam

[Real NHDOC]

It’s official, the happy hour special is only 25% off the second drink!  The worst special by far of any. 

[DaveOKC]

Maybe HAL is trying to push people into buying HIA?  

 

[Real NHDOC]

26 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Maybe HAL is trying to push people into buying HIA?  

 

It’s just this ship that is so stingy. We just got off Rotterdam and it was 50% off any (first) drink. Same on Zuiderdam last fall. This one has always been terrible. Last year it was the same on here. We just stick to our wine package and skip the bars completely. 

Edited March 18, 2023 by Real NHDOC

[VennDiagram]

24 minutes ago, DaveOKC said:

Maybe HAL is trying to push people into buying HIA?  

 

 

That's what I'm thinking, too.

[SilvertoGold]

How is the App working on board?

[Mosaic]

We are currently on the Zaandam and Happy Hour is 50% off all "regular" drinks.

[Real NHDOC]

56 minutes ago, Mosaic said:

We are currently on the Zaandam and Happy Hour is 50% off all "regular" drinks.

I was told the 50% policy is fleet wide but apparently the beverage manager on Nieuw Statendam hasn’t received the memo. 

[Riversedge]

1 hour ago, SilvertoGold said:

How is the App working on board?

Worked great last week.

[Quo Vadis?]

1 hour ago, Mosaic said:

We are currently on the Zaandam and Happy Hour is 50% off all "regular" drinks.

How is the Zaandam?  I'm looking at a possible repositioning cruise but love Pinnacle, (love the wine Package, forget the non special)

 

[Native Floridian 26]

This stinks. We were looking forward to decent happy hours.

[RuthC]

'Select" cocktails? Not even all of them? Or most of them? 
Not at all like the other ships. 

Best ever was a few years ago, when it was still BOGO. If you didn't want two drinks every time, they allowed you to carry over the 'free' drink to the next night. 
Excellent. 

[lissie]

Is it only from 3-4pm? Sadly if I start drinking at 3pm the rest of the night is a bit of a right off 

[Mary229]

I hope that doesn’t become the norm but likely they will make it more difficult not to buy a package.    A manager put it succinctly, “ HIA is paying the mortgage”.  
 

Just off of a ship where there were three happy hours each day with 50% off and no need to buy 2 drinks.  

[Real NHDOC]

I have made some waves onboard and got some conflicting information.  Yesterday was day 1 of the cruise and therefore no happy hour anyway. I spoke to the activities host, Jose, and mentioned that the happy hour should be closer to trivia time (5pm).  On Rotterdam it coincided with the 4pm lightning trivia which was always very full.  4-5PM is better than 3-4PM and traditionally Happy Hour is just before early dining. He said he would bring it up because he likes anything that brings more people into the activities. 

 

I also brought up the stinginess and he spoke to the bar staff who said they thought the special was 25% off drinks not 25% off the second drink.  If true that would be better but the navigator still says 25% off the second drink. I just noticed that the daily planner has it as 25% off with no mention of the second drink.  

 

I also sent a note in through the navigator about it and will try and speak directly to Greg, the beverage manager about it too. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by Real NHDOC

[Real NHDOC]

1 hour ago, Mary229 said:

I hope that doesn’t become the norm but likely they will make it more difficult not to buy a package.    A manager put it succinctly, “ HIA is paying the mortgage”.  
 

Just off of a ship where there were three happy hours each day with 50% off and no need to buy 2 drinks.  

Out of curiosity, what ship was that??

[Nickelpenny]

11 minutes ago, Real NHDOC said:

I have made some waves onboard and got some conflicting information.  Yesterday was day 1 of the cruise and therefore no happy hour anyway. I spoke to the activities host, Jose, and mentioned that the happy hour should be closer to trivia time (5pm).  On Rotterdam it coincided with the 4pm lightning trivia which was always very full.  4-5PM is better than 3-4PM and traditionally Happy Hour is just before early dining. He said he would bring it up because he likes anything that brings more people into the activities. 

 

I also brought up the stinginess and he spoke to the bar staff who said they thought the special was 25% off drinks not 25% off the second drink.  If true that would be better but the navigator still says 25% off the second drink. I just noticed that the daily planner has it as 25% off with no mention of the second drink.  

 

I also sent a note in through the navigator about it and will try and speak directly to Greg, the beverage manager about it too. 

As I am on her now, let us know the outcome!!

[Real NHDOC]

3 minutes ago, Nickelpenny said:

As I am on her now, let us know the outcome!!

Will-do.  I also know the hotel manager (Rene, the big boss) from our prior cruises with him.  If I don't hear back from Greg in a day or so I will speak directly to him about it.

 

If you're not on the HIA package and want a more generous happy hour special feel free to send a note into the guest services on the navigator.  If they hear from more people they are more likely to change things.

 

On another topic we were disappointed yesterday to have missed the Mariner's reception which apparently was held from 2-3PM but we didn't receive the invitation until 3:15.  Guest services tried to blame the housekeeping staff for not distributing the invitations in time but I told them they should have distributed them with the cabin keys, like they used to at check-in.  Then they couldn't blame the housekeepers who have a lot of other things to do on turnaround day. 

[Native Floridian 26]

Real, thank you for starting this thread and advocating for a better happy hour on the NS. With our Transatlantic coming in 3 short weeks, we were hoping to take advantage of BOGO or half price drinks during happy hours.

Edited March 19, 2023 by Native Floridian 26

[ChinaShrek]

8 hours ago, Real NHDOC said:

I have made some waves onboard and got some conflicting information.  Yesterday was day 1 of the cruise and therefore no happy hour anyway. I spoke to the activities host, Jose, and mentioned that the happy hour should be closer to trivia time (5pm).  On Rotterdam it coincided with the 4pm lightning trivia which was always very full.  4-5PM is better than 3-4PM and traditionally Happy Hour is just before early dining. He said he would bring it up because he likes anything that brings more people into the activities. 

 

I also brought up the stinginess and he spoke to the bar staff who said they thought the special was 25% off drinks not 25% off the second drink.  If true that would be better but the navigator still says 25% off the second drink. I just noticed that the daily planner has it as 25% off with no mention of the second drink.  

 

I also sent a note in through the navigator about it and will try and speak directly to Greg, the beverage manager about it too. 

I'm not sure why you (or anyone) should have so much power to demand that Happy Hour change for them. However, people have been re-assigned cabins and told to go go pound sand when they arrived on the ship. It makes me my wonder how much power (if any) individual passengers should have on a cruise ship. Frankly, your tone borders on harassment.

[Real NHDOC]

Most people would appreciate when someone speaks up and recommends a way to improve a policy that could be improved to the way all of the other ships in the fleet handle happy hour. That’s harassment??

 

I’m not “demanding” anything. Just telling the people who can affect change that other ships do it better. 

Edited March 19, 2023 by Real NHDOC

[RD64]

So basically my interpretation of this thread is that - if it is not happy hour and therefore not buy one get another at 25 or 50% off people are denying themselves a drink if they really want one, or are just limiting themselves to purchasing a beverage during that one hour per day?

[Real NHDOC]

…And in 2022 we spent 135 days aboard various HAL ships alone. I go out of my way to meet and greet the various officers who have the power to make changes. Sometimes they just don’t realize something isn’t being done the way the other ships do it. If they change it, great, if not then we’ll live with it. But we’ll be Rotterdam until May and so maybe it will change. We’ll see!!

[Sherry H]

Just off the Zaandam.  Happy Hour in Ocean Bar and Crow's Nest.  Time.......4-5 PM.  All drinks were 50% off.

[Mary229]

22 hours ago, Real NHDOC said:

Out of curiosity, what ship was that??

Volendam

[Real NHDOC]

I have not had any luck getting changes made to the happy hour aboard this ship. We have been onboard for almost a week and not bought a single cocktail so their policy has worked on us! I heard a new beverage manager is coming on soon. Hopefully they will be more receptive to improving the H H but if not we’ll just save money and enjoy our wine package all the more!