Service Crew Nationality

[NJCoupleForFun]

We will be in an upcoming cruise on the Eurodam. I am a relatively accomplished linguist (degree and all!) and enjoy interacting in foreign languages.  I have experience on NCl and Carnival that most service personnel are Filipino or Indonesian.  What nationalities are the most popular in Holland America or more specifically in Eurodam?  Is the nationalities different for the cabin crew vs the restaurant crew? 

Edited December 23, 2023 by NJCoupleForFun

[taxmantoo]

The dining rooms serving personnel is mostly Indonesian, as are the room stewards.  The bar staff and servers are Filipino.

[iflyrc5]

10 minutes ago, NJCoupleForFun said:

We will be in an upcoming cruise on the Eurodam. I am a relatively accomplished linguist (degree and all!) and enjoy interacting in foreign languages.  I have experience on NCl and Carnival that most service personnel are Filipino or Indonesian.  What nationalities are the most popular in Holland America or more specifically in Eurodam?  Is the nationalities different for the cabin crew vs the restaurant crew? 

Your cabin stewards and wait staff are primarily from Indonesia.  The bar staff and cooks are primarily Filopino.  There are others including from the Netherlands in the Dutch Cafe'.  The HAL crew members are OUTSTANDING.  

[SilvertoGold]

It can be a mix.  For example some Thais and Indonesians in the Pinnacle. Our room stewards have always been Indonesian.

 

[crystalspin]

While I agree with the above answers, I will mention we had a French waiter in the Pinnacle. Luck of the draw, he served us twice! He appeared to think he was superior (perhaps even to us!), but in fact his level of service was inferior to the average Indonesian/Filipino steward.

[Mary229]

In recent years HAL has been drawing from a wider variety of communities.  I have met numerous Indians as well as Peruvians. 

[taxmantoo]

17 hours ago, crystalspin said:

While I agree with the above answers, I will mention we had a French waiter in the Pinnacle. Luck of the draw, he served us twice! He appeared to think he was superior (perhaps even to us!), but in fact his level of service was inferior to the average Indonesian/Filipino steward.

Pinnacle does have quite a few nationalities as waiters and managers.  We have encountered many Eastern European servers and managers.  Their attitude and personalities are quite different than the Filipino we are used to and prefer. 

[Mtn2Sea]

Last week on the Volendam, the captain announced the crew represented 41 countries.  The vast majority, however, still come from Indonesia and the Philippines.

[USN59-79]

21 hours ago, taxmantoo said:

The dining rooms serving personnel is mostly Indonesian, as are the room stewards.  The bar staff and servers are Filipino.

In case you are wondering about the split, I was told that Indonesians are forbidden by their religion (Muslim) from handling alcohol,  thus those jobs go to the Filipinos.

Ray

[taxmantoo]

22 minutes ago, USN59-79 said:

In case you are wondering about the split, I was told that Indonesians are forbidden by their religion (Muslim) from handling alcohol,  thus those jobs go to the Filipinos.

Ray

Muslims account for approximately 85% of the Indonesian population.  They would be prohibited by the religion to drink alcohol, assuming they follow the rules.  The remaining 15% are divided into many other religions and are free to partake if they wish.  

[crystalspin]

18 minutes ago, USN59-79 said:

In case you are wondering about the split, I was told that Indonesians are forbidden by their religion (Muslim) from handling alcohol,  thus those jobs go to the Filipinos.

Not that all Indonesians are so devout that they would not handle alcohol, what I learned somewhere on CC -- the Indonesian government will not let HAL have bartender/server classes in their "Learn to Be a Steward" school(s).

[X-elite]

I've met many flair bartenders on various cruise lines from Bali which is predominantly Hindu...

[Haljo1935]

A difference you'll likely notice between Carnival and HAL is the home country is not on the HAL name tags like it is on Carnival. But they will freely tell you if you ask.

Enjoy your cruise!

[Nattyg1723]

 

10 hours ago, taxmantoo said:

Pinnacle does have quite a few nationalities as waiters and managers.  We have encountered many Eastern European servers and managers.  Their attitude and personalities are quite different than the Filipino we are used to and prefer. 

When I was on the Eurodam, almost all the casino staff were Eastern European, and our waiter at breakfast in the PG was as well. Definitely right about the different attitudes!

[REOVA]

You may find many from South Africa in the spa as well.

[rj59]

Indonesian phrases are the easiest for me to learn and use, although the salamat greetings vary by time of day, so can get confusing. Tagalog is too hard for me, although I speak Russian and so could use that when it was acceptable for Ukrainian crew and performers. The biggest change you'll see on all lines now is the growth of crew from Zimbabwe, which I've noticed most on Celebrity, but also Princess and even some on HAL recently. A dining room supervisor on Princess remarked how war and improving economies in Eastern Europe is shifting crew labor from Ukraine/Eastern Europe to Africa now, as well as more Indians, who I noticed on Eurodam in September but had never seen on HAL before. The IMF is calling this the African century, since their population will increase by over a billion in the next 25 years or so, which will be reflected in industries looking for low-cost labor in aging societies. 

[lyndarra]

2 hours ago, rj59 said:

Indonesian phrases are the easiest for me to learn and use, although the salamat greetings vary by time of day, so can get confusing. Tagalog is too hard for me, although I speak Russian and so could use that when it was acceptable for Ukrainian crew and performers. The biggest change you'll see on all lines now is the growth of crew from Zimbabwe, which I've noticed most on Celebrity, but also Princess and even some on HAL recently. A dining room supervisor on Princess remarked how war and improving economies in Eastern Europe is shifting crew labor from Ukraine/Eastern Europe to Africa now, as well as more Indians, who I noticed on Eurodam in September but had never seen on HAL before. The IMF is calling this the African century, since their population will increase by over a billion in the next 25 years or so, which will be reflected in industries looking for low-cost labor in aging societies. 

In Bahasa Indonesia greetings begin with selamat. The first e in many Indonesian words is silent hence selamat is pronounced as s'lamat. e.g. S'lamat pagi. Indonesian is very similar to Malaysian.

You are correct about the time of day greetings and after many years it still confuses me. Crew are quite chuffed when I greet them in Indonesian. In the early 70s I spent time in the military in Kalimantan Barat or West Indonesian Borneo. Sadly I've forgotten more Indonesian than I have remembered.

 

 

[Nickelpenny]

From the crew’s Christmas presentation program last night. 
 

[jlawrence01]

On 12/23/2023 at 2:03 PM, NJCoupleForFun said:

We will be in an upcoming cruise on the Eurodam. I am a relatively accomplished linguist (degree and all!) and enjoy interacting in foreign languages.  I have experience on NCl and Carnival that most service personnel are Filipino or Indonesian.  What nationalities are the most popular in Holland America or more specifically in Eurodam?  Is the nationalities different for the cabin crew vs the restaurant crew? 

 

Since the pandemic has ended, the cruise lines are trying to restaff their operations.  Many cruise lines lost a significant number of their employees.  There was a lot of unhappiness among Filipino employees at the length of time that they were on ships after the last passenger left (often several months) and the fact that some of them were NOT paid once their contract was complete even though they were not home.

 

I am speaking in GENERAL terms, not to HAL specifically.

 

On the Konigsdam, the staff was largely Filipino, Malaysian, and Indonesian.  However, if you looked at the "starter positions" it was like the United Nations with staff from countries like Mauritius and Sri Lanka.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

On 12/23/2023 at 4:15 PM, taxmantoo said:

The dining rooms serving personnel is mostly Indonesian, as are the room stewards.  The bar staff and servers are Filipino.

Some of the nicest people in the world. 

[Copper10-8]

On 12/24/2023 at 2:07 PM, Haljo1935 said:

A difference you'll likely notice between Carnival and HAL is the home country is not on the HAL name tags like it is on Carnival. But they will freely tell you if you ask.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

True that however, what you will find on HAL name tags are the national colors/flags of the countries' language(s) (besides English) that the particular crew member can converse in. So, you will find a variety of Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, and Polish flags attached to a crew members' uniform. They don't unfortunately, do it for the Indonesian, Filipino, Thai, Indian, etc. crew.

 

When you are hired by HAL as a crew member, they give you a little pamphlet to fill out once aboard your ship on your first contract, with personal info questions on it, one of which is the ability, or lack thereof, to speak a language apart from English. It will ask you to clarify that proficiency from fluent to just being able to utter "donde estan los banos" or "una cerveza por favor".   

 

That info then goes to the crew officer where his/her clerk will cause the flag of that country (language) to be placed on the name tag underneath the crew members full name and position.

 

If you look at the attached pic of HAL former Captain James Russell-Dunford (May he rest in peace) and his hotel manager Cees Tesselaar, you will, notice that Cees, a Dutchman or "cloggie," has both the Netherlands/Dutch and German national colors on his name tag, indicating that he is fluent in both the Dutch and German languages 

 

Just a bit of trivia    

[ontheweb]

21 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

Some of the nicest people in the world. 

I have found stewards wonderful on all the cruise lines (5) we have been on, but the ones on HAL are by far the best.

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I have found stewards wonderful on all the cruise lines (5) we have been on, but the ones on HAL are by far the best.

Agree!! They do make the experience. 

[ontheweb]

48 minutes ago, Haljo1935 said:

Agree!! They do make the experience. 

😊😊😊😊

[Copper10-8]

The average number of countries represented by the crew of a HAL ship ranges somewhere in the 4oties to low 50ties, depending on specific dam ships. There has been an influx in recent years from countries like Thailand (restaurant service) and African countries like Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe (restaurant hosts as well as service)

 

To break it down a bit more:

 

Deck officers/captain on down: the majority are still Dutch/from the Netherlands, with the Brits second. There have been/are HAL captains hailing from Canada, Ireland, Norway, Belgium, Poland with officers below that rank also from Germany, Italy (not that many), Greece, Romania, etc. The sailors, "boatmen" (life saving attendants), quartermasters/helmsmen are exclusively Indonesian. Locksmiths and plumbers are exclusively Filipino. Security officers have been/are from the USA, Canada (Calgary PD's finest 😉), Australia, the Netherlands, the Philippines and India while the security guards hails from either the Philippines (the majority) or India. The medical staff (doctors and nurses) used to be US or Canadian however, since Princess started running that dept. have been almost exclusively South African with a few exceptions. The crew docs are still for the most part Filipino/Filipina   

 

Chief engineers are just about exclusively Dutch, the vast majority, or English with those below that rank hailing from Romania and some Filipinos. Engine room workers are Indonesian or Filipino

 

The hotel directors, now called hotel general managers, have been/are from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, the USA and India. The Front Office GRM's have been/are Dutch, Filipina, Croatian and some others. The FO staff is for the most part Filipina, with an international sprinkling depending on position, such as hailing from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, the USA, etc.

 

Executive chief housekeepers have been/are from India, Serbia, the Netherlands, while the room stewards are almost exclusively Indonesian. Same with the laundry dept.

 

Beverage managers have come from the Philippines, Poland, Turkey, Peru, South Africa with the staff (bartenders, servers, baristas, etc.) are almost exclusively from the Philippines. Cellar masters have been more international from places like The Netherlands and South Africa

 

The Pinnacle Grill, from its inception as the Marco Polo and Odyssey restaurants, have been international with managers from the Netherlands, the UK, Germany, Hungary, Serbia and, most recently, Columbia, and food servers from Hungary, Romania, Montenegro, the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Belarus, South Africa, etc.

 

The entertainment staff is also international with CDs hailing from the USA, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, etc., the dancers from the USA, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, etc.

 

The Spa staff, starting from the time when they were supplied by Steiners, has always been international, coming from South Africa, Jamaica, Trinidad, Australia, the UK, Japan, the Philippines, Brazil, etc. same with the shoppies. I've actually worked alongside a shoppie from the People's Republic of China once

 

Prob forgetting some countries............