You're Old If You Can Remember When.....

[saturn93]

I really liked the Lido Chocolate and Dessert Buffet around the pool area.

[USN59-79]

Actually, the DAM Dollars are actually called "Grand Dollars".  I still have 211 of them, 6-20s and 91 singles.  A nice touch is that they show the HAL symbol with the modern ship bow and the sailing ship.  I believe it is called Halve Moon.  I also still have my Passport to Fitness jacket.

Ray

[momatibm]

9 hours ago, dobiemom said:

I may have some HAL stationery. 😉 I also remember the Dutch hats, white for women and blue (different shape) for men. But I was never lucky to have mine painted/decorated. 

David and I were lucky enough to have decorated hats presented to us by our servers. We have them framed and hung in our bonus room. 

[jules815]

9 hours ago, dobiemom said:

I may have some HAL stationery. 😉 I also remember the Dutch hats, white for women and blue (different shape) for men. But I was never lucky to have mine painted/decorated. 

I have pictures of my parents wearing Dutch hats on board a HAL ship in the 1980's. HAL was their favorite line. Raved about it in fact. Now my husband and I are newly retired and sailing on our first HAL ship next year. 

 

[ger_77]

I remember being able to order Steak Diane in the Pinnacle.  Sigh.

 

[goldsmip115]

Oh, lord…..I am truly old !  I remember every one of these things.  My first 20 HAL photo albums each have a piece of the stationary and a postcard.  When I was much younger I would cut out each and every item eaten at dinner and paste them into the photo album. Fine dining then, a mix of Olive Garden and Outback today…..at best.  

[RuthC]

I remember a 'Writing Room' on the ships, which is where you went to write out your postcards, or letters. 

A young woman in a Dutch costume, holding a basket of tulips, greeted you as you boarded. 

The Lido was open for breakfast and lunch, but never for dinner. Everyone always dressed for dinner. 

There was a doorman who opened the door for you when going from the Sea View area (not called that then) into/out of the Lido. 

You could smoke in the dining room, and your steward would dash over to light your cigarette for you before you could. 

The swimming pools were so small that they were deeper than both length or width. 

[Btimmer]

Then there were the open BBQ's around the LIDO pool.

[sciencewonk]

20 hours ago, HamOp said:

HAL used to provide stationary imprinted with the suite guest's name.

 

Who else is old?

Well, I'm old, but when I was young I couldn't afford a suite, so I missed out on the stationary.

[Lakesregion]

So many delicious memories leads to a question. How did we as passengers and paying customers ever allow all of these things to be taken away?

[erewhon]

We miss the live music in the main Dining room during dinner.

 

During our last cruise, (Pre covid) asked the concierge for printed stationery which she provided.......how many sheets would we like?, plus the HAL envelopes.

[Skorpora]

The Halcats!!😖

[HamOp]

44 minutes ago, Skorpora said:

The Halcats!!😖

You're a sick person😁

[cruzingnut]

Free coffee/cappuchino at the coffee bar (was outside the Wajang Theater on the Amsterdam in 2001).  Also, free coffee with liquor after dinner and free chocolates in the Explorers Lounge.  Playing there were the Rosario Strings; we saw them on both the Amsterdam and Prinsendam a number of times.  We had a blast with those guys!

 

Pasta dishes being cooked in the main dining room; flaming deserts too.  Remember the tray they used to bring around to show you the desserts so you could actually see what you were getting? 

 

More "recently" ( as in a few years before Covid), the tiny, little sandwiches they had at the coffee bar.  On the world cruise, they used to bring down the stuff left over from the afternoon tea and set that out at the coffee bar. 

 

The one thing that has never changed?  The CREW!  They have always been the absolute best we've ever experienced.

 

Linda R.

 

 

 

[Caribbean Chris]

Hot canapés served in a lounge with cocktails before dinner.
 

The cruise director’s staff who would conduct bingo and silly pastimes. The shipbuilding contest was always fun. I won the recipe contest once, and the women on the cruise staff put my name in the daily program! and gave me a big bundle of logo swag - sweatshirt, hat, a great water bottle I still use, etc.

 

Hands-on cooking classes for about 12 people at the demo kitchen in the Wajang Theater, taught by one of the chefs, followed by a private late lunch in Pinnacle Grill.

 

[Susanmaz]

4 hours ago, jules815 said:

I have pictures of my parents wearing Dutch hats on board a HAL ship in the 1980's. HAL was their favorite line. Raved about it in fact. Now my husband and I are newly retired and sailing on our first HAL ship next year. 

 

I have a picture of DH  and I with our Dutch hats from our first HAL cruise in 2000. So special 

[Susanmaz]

The Halcats were everywhere.

[sevigny]

Okay, I guess we must be really old, because we can remember almost everything in this thread!  And, yes, how did we let so many things just disappear?  We haven’t traveled on HAL since 2019.  I’m sure when we are on board the Noordam next spring, and ask the Neptune lounge concierge for the list of daily hot appetizers we can have brought to our suite before dinner, she’ll fall off her chair.  As they say - “those were the days “.

[sandiego1]

On 10/1/2023 at 10:03 PM, canadianbear said:

I loved the printed stationary on our first cruise ever and was in a Neptune suite.  I also remember in the MDR where they’d use a utensil to “scrape” off any crumbs before the next dish was served.  

Multiple waiters did this on the 2023 WC. Maybe we are just messy eaters??!! 😀

[Toofarfromthesea]

On the one hand I envy those of you who were able to cruise in an era of graciousness.

 

On the other hand I'm glad I never cruised in that era because it lets me cruise and enjoy the now, without pining for things past.

[LouChamp]

On 10/1/2023 at 10:33 PM, HamOp said:

HAL used to provide stationary imprinted with the suite guest's name.

 

Who else is old?

Remember it well along the yum yum man the chimes announcing dinner. Great memories!

[Ready2go11]

I don’t think anyone has mentioned the chilled fruit soup starters in the dining room. 
 

And I prized my navy blue coffee mug and other swag you used to win for shuffleboard, trivia, etc. 

[Caribbean Chris]

7 minutes ago, Ready2go11 said:

I don’t think anyone has mentioned the chilled fruit soup starters in the dining room. 

Good one…DH loved those chilled soups.

[MISTER 67]

10 hours ago, Lakesregion said:

So many delicious memories leads to a question. How did we as passengers and paying customers ever allow all of these things to be taken away?

Probably because every year there are more and more new people cruising and they have no idea what cruising was like 30 or 40 years so in turn the cruise lines continue cutting back on things with only the older generations complaining, I guess there are not enough of us as the cruise lines aren’t listening or caring. 
 

Edited October 3, 2023 by MISTER 67

[aliaschief]

Some good memories on this post. What I learned the most is that many of us really are old.😁👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻