Are You Seeing Any Improvements Recently

[ChinaShrek]

11 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

That’s not always a choice available.  You have to book early to get that.  I have an equal amount of days on hal.  I don’t think anyone would think there would be a line up for fixed but there is probably someone.

I was on the Koningsdam in December and had early fixed dining. People (20-30) would often line up before the service time and one night the MDR opened 10 minutes late so there was a long line of hungry people waiting to eat.

[Destiny0315]

25 minutes ago, washiotter said:

Wow, that is not my experience of this board at all! I am gearing up for my first cruise in June and have found this board pretty daunting with all of the complaints. If this is a fan club, I'd hate to see the critics.

When you have survived 150 years through two world wars a number of economic panics and a world wide depression some worldwide pandemics and not to mention the sinking of the Titanic you don't let some typed words by anyone bother you. Enjoy your first cruise with Holland America Line.

[Destiny0315]

18 hours ago, SumoCitrus said:

But if you stopped by an Elvis fan club and asked if he’d put on weight, they’d chase you out.

That guy Elvis is still around isn't he? I swear I saw him in the front of one of those long cruise buffet lines not long ago. 😀

[Florida_gal_50]

26 minutes ago, ChinaShrek said:

I was on the Koningsdam in December and had early fixed dining. People (20-30) would often line up before the service time and one night the MDR opened 10 minutes late so there was a long line of hungry people waiting to eat.

I'm not talking about people that line up for some odd reason.  They have a table.  They aren't waiting to be assigned.  There is zero reason to do that but I'm sure someone will be around shortly with a reason.  

[Destiny0315]

16 minutes ago, Destiny0315 said:

That guy Elvis is still around isn't he? I swear I saw him in the front of one of those long cruise buffet lines not long ago. 😀

[Venice Pilot]

On 4/11/2023 at 12:05 PM, mcrcruiser said:

On Koningsdam Dec 2022 we had the worse service & food on a HAL ship ever . Short staffing & cut backs in both quality & quantity were definitely obvious to us for 12 days . Now ,we hope that people can give us better reports who are on or recent HAL cruises  .So what is your experience now with regards to adequate staffing/service & the quantities & quality of the food in general except the special restaurants?

 

TIA

 

[Venice Pilot]

We were on the Niew Statendam in January and it was a major disappointment.  My wife is a five star with HAL and I’m a three star, but we are not likely to go back for two reasons.  First the service and food were very disappointing along with up charges for what used to be options in the dining room and elsewhere. The ship’s senior staff were very indifferent and often rude. The second reason is the horrible customer service experience during and after the cruise.  They dropped the primary shore excursion on our next cruise and the agent said that it should not have been in the sales literature.  
 

Since our trip, we’ve heard others discussing similar cuts that are severely cheapening the experience and lowering the standards of a once very enjoyable line.  It’s a sad thing to see. 
 

[AliceS]

On 4/11/2023 at 12:22 PM, travelholics said:

We were on Koningsdam for 5 weeks to French Polynesia in Feb and March and we were delighted with the food. Our waiter brought us a plate of vegetables for the 4 of us to  share each evening and the bread was delicious. Portion sizes were perfect, we always left supper feeling just nicely full. The Indian menu was also excellent and we interspersed with normal menu. Waiters did a good job on recommendations of what was tasty and fresh. Lido excellent choices and .again, special requests for types of fruit were honored, if at all possible. Nothing was too much trouble for any of the staff and we thought it our best cruise to date

 

I was on this cruise, too.   The food was terrific, but the waiters are being asked to do too much.

without the wine stewards, the wait staff has to do the wine, get bar drinks and serve the food.

That makes a difference.   Lido is very good.   The music was super good.   No production shows.

 

Embarkation was the worst EVER!

Edited April 13, 2023 by AliceS

[Guest ldtr]

2 hours ago, washiotter said:

Wow, that is not my experience of this board at all! I am gearing up for my first cruise in June and have found this board pretty daunting with all of the complaints. If this is a fan club, I'd hate to see the critics.

You notice the name of the web site is Cruise CRITIC not Cruise FAN.

[cruisemom42]

4 hours ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

I thought that I had seen a "History" section, but the history volumes might have been included in the non-fiction section.  DH read a very interesting history of the Vikings, and one World War II book.  He reads only non-fiction and was able to find and finish two very interesting volumes.  You appear to have been looking for something relevant to your trip, which could narrow your choice a bit.  Had you considered loading your Kindle with books relevant to your cruise?  I am just delighted to find something which intrigues me.  I had loaded our ebooks with sufficient material to carry us through a 30-day cruise.  Never touched them during this 10-day cruise.  So glad to have a library back!

I always like to read books relevant to my itinerary and I do have plenty on my Kindle, along with some standby books. 
 

I guess it just surprises me with HAL’s focus on itineraries that they don’t have more in the travel and history area available. 

[kazu]

8 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

 

You're right, fixed dining is easier on the kitchen. They can focus on one course at a time. I took a kitchen tour on the Norway. Old ship, designed for fixed dining. "Freestyle" on NCL was just starting then. Someone on the tour asked when Norway would go freestyle, and we were told that it wasn't possible. Open seating requires a larger kitchen, partly because so many different items would be prepared at the same time, and partly because of the need for more and separated serving stations so waiters could get what they need quickly. Norway had two dining rooms with the kitchen in between. No way to expand the kitchen, so they decided to keep Norway on traditional fixed dining. 

 

 

That was one historic ship and a favourite of mine back in the day.   Real teak decks - old and beautiful with a great crew.   Fixed dining made it even more of a favourite probably back then 😉 

 

8 hours ago, FrankieSue said:

Lower level of the dining room is specifically designated for any time dining and HAL also knows in advance how many of their guests opted for any time dining. A little planning in the dining room would go a long way to alleviate any unpleasant long wait,

 

HAL knows in advance how many guests have any time dining but they don’t know when they are all coming.  I could not believe the people I saw lined up on the Koningsdam one time.  It was around 515 pm.  

The dining room only holds so many people and from the look of the lineup (which went well past Club Orange) that I saw - it looked like a huge percentage wanted to eat at 5 or 5:15.  The one time I ate in the MDR (I ate in CO and specialty) we went for 7 and had no wait.  SMH - I would have thought that 7 pm would be busier han 5 pm but it wasn’t the case for that cruise. 

 

Bottom line - no one can predict when everyone with any time dining is going to eat and if there is a  swarm going to the dining room.  If too many people all want to eat at the same time, there will be lineups.  No planning can resolve that.

 

[3rdGenCunarder]

6 minutes ago, kazu said:

That was one historic ship and a favourite of mine back in the day.   Real teak decks - old and beautiful with a great crew.   Fixed dining made it even more of a favourite probably back then 😉 

 

I sailed on Norway in her later years, when NCL ran her on the cheap. The teak decks were gone or covered over. The promenade deck had some kind of spongy coating to make it soft for running. Upper decks had cheap astroturf. Because they couldn't convert her to freestyle, they treated her like a burdensome unloved cousin. Heartbreaking. The Club Internationale (with the neptune statues) was still one of the most beautiful rooms afloat.

[SumoCitrus]

2 hours ago, Destiny0315 said:

That guy Elvis is still around isn't he? I swear I saw him in the front of one of those long cruise buffet lines not long ago. 😀

 

He's lost weight due to all the cutbacks...

[kazu]

14 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

I sailed on Norway in her later years, when NCL ran her on the cheap. The teak decks were gone or covered over. The promenade deck had some kind of spongy coating to make it soft for running. Upper decks had cheap astroturf. Because they couldn't convert her to freestyle, they treated her like a burdensome unloved cousin. Heartbreaking. The Club Internationale (with the neptune statues) was still one of the most beautiful rooms afloat.

 

Oh what a shame.  She was such a beautiful ship.  She was old when I sailed on her but everything was intact.  I sailed on NCL a bit before they created freestyle (I’m aging myself, I know).  This ship was my favourite.

 

She was a beautiful ship.  I didn’t think she was in her prime when I was on but I enjoyed it and yes, her Club Internationale was gorgeous.

[albingirl]

44 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

I always like to read books relevant to my itinerary and I do have plenty on my Kindle, along with some standby books. 
 

I guess it just surprises me with HAL’s focus on itineraries that they don’t have more in the travel and history area available. 

Remember when they had a book club on long cruises. They'd supply the books and the librarian would run the book discussion. This wasn't that long ago.

[badtwin]

26 minutes ago, SumoCitrus said:

 

He's lost weight due to all the cutbacks...

Then he didn't know how to order.  When we cruised with friends in February on the NS, we frequently ordered two starters and an extra main, sometimes individually and sometimes "for the table".  No weight loss for us. (But thankfully no gain)

 

Not to mention the variety and quality on the lido and the delights at the Dutch Cafe.

 

I much prefer to order extra than to waste food I can't finish.

 

 

[mcrcruiser]

7 hours ago, AliceS said:

I was on this cruise, too.   The food was terrific, but the waiters are being asked to do too much.

without the wine stewards, the wait staff has to do the wine, get bar drinks and serve the food.

That makes a difference.   Lido is very good.   The music was super good.   No production shows.

 

Embarkation was the worst EVER!

So from the above 2 posts we are seeing differences per ship or per sailing .HAL eliminating  production shows imo is taking away part of the  normal cruise experience as on other cruise lines. Also interesting  in March 2023 we sailed 2 cruises B2B on Celebrity Soltice   from San Pedro Ca .They definitely had wine stewards & excellent staffing in all areas  Included were main show productions nightly .Much more helpful than we have experienced on our December 2022 Koningsdam 12 day cruise  . The HAL staff was polite& tried to be helpful but definitely over worked .Each evening long lines were there for the Main dining room

Edited April 13, 2023 by mcrcruiser

[Hlitner]

We are fans of open dining and sharing large tables (great way to meet folks and socialize). Currently on the Westerdam which is near capacity.  We usually go to dinner after 7:15 and have never waited more than 5 minutes to be seated (with no reservations).  In the first 19 days, we have had 18 fun tables and only one boring dinner.

 

I do think some folks get their jollies by waiting in queues.  Queue avoidance is quite simple if you adjust.  For example, folks who go to the Lido at 11:45 will often fight the crowds.  Go at 12:30 and there is seldom a queue.  Have a question for Guest Services?  Instead of waiting in a slow moving queue you can simply message them through the Navigator App and they do respond within a few hours.  Don’t want to wait in queues at the ports?  Wait a few minutes until the initial surge has cleared!  
 

Hank

[mcrcruiser]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We are fans of open dining and sharing large tables (great way to meet folks and socialize). Currently on the Westerdam which is near capacity.  We usually go to dinner after 7:15 and have never waited more than 5 minutes to be seated (with no reservations).  In the first 19 days, we have had 18 fun tables and only one boring dinner.

 

I do think some folks get their jollies by waiting in queues.  Queue avoidance is quite simple if you adjust.  For example, folks who go to the Lido at 11:45 will often fight the crowds.  Go at 12:30 and there is seldom a queue.  Have a question for Guest Services?  Instead of waiting in a slow moving queue you can simply message them through the Navigator App and they do respond within a few hours.  Don’t want to wait in queues at the ports?  Wait a few minutes until the initial surge has cleared!  
 

Hank

Those are great ideas Hank . Hopefully some people will pick up your tips 

[FlaMariner]

11 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I do think some folks get their jollies by waiting in queues.  Queue avoidance is quite simple if you adjust.

 

I so agree with this......

 

....and I do notice that HAL does do a lot to keep us from standing in line.....For instance, we ordered our lunch Dive In burgers as we were leaving the main stage and by the time we had secured our table and tea, they were ready and we picked them up.....while other folks were standing around the pick up counter waiting on their buzzer to go off.

 

 

[Denise T]

11 hours ago, Hlitner said:

We are fans of open dining and sharing large tables (great way to meet folks and socialize). Currently on the Westerdam which is near capacity.  We usually go to dinner after 7:15 and have never waited more than 5 minutes to be seated (with no reservations).  In the first 19 days, we have had 18 fun tables and only one boring dinner.

 

I do think some folks get their jollies by waiting in queues.  Queue avoidance is quite simple if you adjust.  For example, folks who go to the Lido at 11:45 will often fight the crowds.  Go at 12:30 and there is seldom a queue.  Have a question for Guest Services?  Instead of waiting in a slow moving queue you can simply message them through the Navigator App and they do respond within a few hours.  Don’t want to wait in queues at the ports?  Wait a few minutes until the initial surge has cleared!  
 

Hank

I did this as well on my last cruise. We avoided the rush getting off the ship and went to dinner in the main dining rooms and buffet at off times. Avoiding crowds was easy to do.