Captain's Welcome Aboard Reception - Buy Your Own Drink!!!

[Sea King]

Just curious -- How does one snare an invitation to one of the "VIP Parties" which you reference in a couple of your posts on this tread?

 

 

you don't "snare" an invitation to a VIP party .. you're simply invited:eek:

 

don't know the exact basis for selection other than to say if you've sailed with HAL for more than 150 days, the odds are pretty good you'll receive an invitation:)

 

the size of the attendees varies but it's usually between 50-100 people

 

by the way: in addition to champagne and wine, there's also a full bar set up in addition to hot appetizers

[Vic The Parrot]

you don't "snare" an invitation to a VIP party .. you're simply invited:eek:

 

don't know the exact basis for selection other than to say if you've sailed with HAL for more than 150 days, the odds are pretty good you'll receive an invitation:)

 

 

 

Not really 150 days .... been getting those invitations before reaching 90 days.

[Sea King]

Not really 150 days .... been getting those invitations before reaching 90 days.

 

Vic has a point .. the "# of day test" can vary from ship to ship according to who has the final say over the guests invited to the VIP party

 

in addition to Mariners, you might also expect to find TAs who do a substantial amount of business with HAL in addition to hots of group tours on board

 

sorry if I mislead anyone .. there is no "magic # of days" .. but, the number of those attending VIP parties I have attended over the past several years has decreased and the average "regular guest" had a least 100 days with HAL

 

in any event: the drinks and food are plentiful:D

[kryos]

On the HAL/CC group cruise on the Zaandam there was an included cocktail party for about 25-30 of us. Can't get any more "intimate" in public than that. "Champagne" was offered, but if I wanted a cocktail (and I did) I had to pay (and I did).

That, frankly, shocks me. In such a case as the one you describe, yes ... I would definitely consider that a cutback. I can make excuses for HAL regarding a large party like the Mariner or Welcome Aboard ... but not for such an "intimate" gathering as this. Heck, even if all 30 of you ordered a special drink, it wouldn't have been that much trouble for the servers to get it for you.

 

For what it's worth ... at least you had champagne. At our CC gathering ... held on the last day of the cruise, by the way ... we had zip for refreshments. No champagne, no nibbles ... no nothing. They were smart. They held the gathering at something like 11:30 a.m. Guess they figured afterwards we could all just go to lunch ... which was pretty much what most of us did.

 

I'm wondering ... and this is simply pure speculation ... if HAL has a budget for each indivdual cruise ... a budget for cocktail parties, free get-togethers, etc. I know on our cruise, we had a group of about 300 people that boarded in Fort Lauderdale. They were all through a certain travel agency, and all of them had special pre-printed "golf type" tee-shirts noting the voyage name. I'm sure a group of that size got a couple of free parties ... with liquor flowing. Wonder if the hotel manager simply blew his "party budget" on them, leaving absolutely nothing left for the CCers' relatively small group gathering?

 

Perhaps the same sort of thing happened on your cruise?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[gizmo]

That, frankly, shocks me. In such a case as the one you describe, yes ... I would definitely consider that a cutback. I can make excuses for HAL regarding a large party like the Mariner or Welcome Aboard ... but not for such an "intimate" gathering as this. Heck, even if all 30 of you ordered a special drink, it wouldn't have been that much trouble for the servers to get it for you.

 

For what it's worth ... at least you had champagne. At our CC gathering ... held on the last day of the cruise, by the way ... we had zip for refreshments. No champagne, no nibbles ... no nothing.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

 

The one I attended, they had champagne, OJ and maybe Bloody Mary's. I don't know about ordering something since I had champagne.

 

I keep reading about the "coffee and cookies" at these CC gatherings and I think that is being CHEAP. :eek:

 

 

What shocks me is receiving nothing. I think that is beyond being cheap.

[kryos]

sorry if I mislead anyone .. there is no "magic # of days" .. but, the number of those attending VIP parties I have attended over the past several years has decreased and the average "regular guest" had a least 100 days with HAL

I'm inclined to agree with you. On my Hawaii/South Pacific cruise in January, we had a pretty large CC group onboard. We also had the opportunity with so many sea days to get to know a lot of our fellow (non-CCer) passengers pretty well too.

 

When the time for the Captain's VIP party rolled around, we noticed that some of us had gotten invitations and some had not. We also noted, with a little detective work, that the people who got invitations seemed to have well over 100 days on HAL, or were staying in the luxury suites. As an example, I got to know this young couple since they did many of the same excursions as me. This was their first cruise on HAL ... they weren't even Mariners yet. However, they were staying on the Navigation deck in a full suite. They were invited to the VIP party. At our dining room table, there were two of us CCers and one older woman who was not a CCer. She was invited to the VIP party, while we were not. However, she had something like 200 days on HAL, while we had well below 100. We were all staying solo in similar (inside or outside) accommodations on the Main deck.

 

The same seemed to apply to other CCers onboard. Most of us were in standard cabins, either inside or outside. Those with over 100 days on HAL seemed to get the invite, while the others did not.

 

Of course, I am sure there are exceptions ... such as a VIP onboard the sailing or whatever, but otherwise I would imagine HAL has to use some sort of benchmark in order to keep these parties manageable ... and number of days on HAL or elaborateness of accommodations seem to work pretty well.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[sail7seas]

I don't understand the confusion about budgeting.

If we don't want our fares to increase, how can we not expect to see things that used to be included now be billed to our accounts?

 

Doesn't it cost you more to run your house today than it did ten years ago? It costs us more. Our grocery bills are higher; insurance bills are higher; paper goods.....everything. HAL's bills to run the ships are also higher.

It's simple arithmetic. Pay more in your fare or pay more while on board.

They cannot include as much as they once did for the same number of dollars. Most fares have not risen the commensurate amount as the increase in costs. They (and other cruise lines) have chosen to keep the fares as low as they can in order to fill the ships and then to charge more once pax are aboard. Pay here or pay there. It's the same dollar.

 

If they raise the upfront fare, they probably will have a harder time filling the ship. I'm sure bigger brains than mine and those with the actual figures have it worked to the fraction of a cent.

 

It disappoints me like many of the others here to see these changes but I see the necessity of it. I don't call it nickle and diming. I see it as a breakdown in how we pay. We used to pay it all in our fare; these days we pay more aboard. It still comes to the same amount of dollars......were they to simply raise fares.

 

It also disappoints me if something disappears entirely because there is no practical way to individually bill for it. We used to receive newspapers on almost every port day in Suites. We no longer do. Sometimes they are in Neptune Lounge. Sometimes they don't even have any in there. (Let's not get into who needs/wants to read a newspaper while on vacation. I do.) That is a case where even if I were willing to pay for it, it isn't offered.

 

 

 

 

[kryos]

What shocks me is receiving nothing. I think that is beyond being cheap.

Believe me, on the 10/17 sailing of the Amsterdam, the CC group got nada at the gathering ... no cookies, no coffee, no water ... no nothing. The cruise director showed up and answered our questions, etc. ... but that was it. The get-together was held in the Queen's Room ... that little room off the dining room.

 

Frankly, I was shocked nothing was being served. In fact, when we first sat down, I noticed a steward in the back who appeared to be setting up for something, and I just figured it was the refreshments for our party. But when about ten minutes passed, and he had come and gone several times, it dawned on me that he was obviously setting up for a luncheon that was to take place after our group meeting.

 

Maybe it was the inexperience of the cruise director (she was new to HAL, though had eleven years on Royal Caribbean), or maybe it was a decision made by the hotel manager, but we got nothing. In fact, I got the feeling that we were lucky to even get the CCers get-together, as there was a lot of back-and-forth discussions prior to even getting that, and then we did not even have it until the last day of the cruise. But, I try to be fair and not compare this to how the CCers' get-together was handled on the January cruise. That was a 30-day voyage ... and I am sure budgets were larger for something like that. We had a nice CCers' get-together up in the Crow's Nest, with wine and champagne ... and perhaps some hors d'eourves (I can't honestly remember). But this cruise last month, although on the same ship, was basically a ten-day Panama Canal Sunfarer cruise, with a three-day transit from New York to Fort Lauderdale added on. The budget for a cruise like this one had to be quite a bit smaller. But I am still disappointed that the CD couldn't have at least had an urn of coffee delivered to the room, along with some snacks from the Lido. Instead, this "party" was really done on the cheap ... and someone in the HAL chain of command let that happen.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

It also disappoints me if something disappears entirely because there is no practical way to individually bill for it. We used to receive newspapers on almost every port day in Suites. We no longer do. Sometimes they are in Neptune Lounge. Sometimes they don't even have any in there. (Let's not get into who needs/wants to read a newspaper while on vacation. I do.) That is a case where even if I were willing to pay for it, it isn't offered.

I honestly don't recall if such a service was available on my latest Amsterdam cruise last month, but I do remember that in January an option was available to receive daily newspaper delivery via a service called "Newspaper Direct." It's a summary newspaper (though much more elaborate than that New York Times summary everyone gets), printed onboard the ship via satellite transmission. If you wanted to sign up for the service, you simply selected the newspaper you wished to receive (there were probably about 30 listed ... including the one I work for) and for about $4.00 a day you would receive a summary copy of that newspaper delivered to your stateroom. Otherwise, the only paper available for free is that New York Times summary all passengers get.

 

And, no ... I did not take advantage of the service. Somehow reading my employer's product while on vacation was not very appealing to me ... especially since I'm the one who gets all the phone calls (and resulting headaches) when the transmission of our daily feed fails to make it to Newspaper Direct. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[sail7seas]

I'm confused. Why would there have to be a back and forth about having a CC get together. Why couldn't you all decide to go to Lido at whatever time and meet. You didn't need anyone's permission. Go to the Crows Nest. Most any time of the day or night. No permission required. Simply meet each other and pull up a chair. All public spaces, unless reserved for a private function, are open for anyone to use most any time.

 

But, I agree with Kryos. If, indeed, plans had been made with the CD to have this get together and permission granted to use Queen's Room, then some sort of light refreshment should have been offered. Once they granted you a reserved space and CD made an appearance, it became a ship event for a small group and you should have had a small courtesy of a cup of coffee and a cookie.....which are always complimentary in Lido.

 

[xpcdoojk]

The simple look-see is::

 

A Mere, not dear, Carnivalization.

 

;)

 

Write CCL:NYSE your comments on this and thats the only way anything will ever get done qucikly.

 

:eek:

 

How does your keyboard always type :NYSE after all of your posts with corporate information? Why?

 

O boy.... how long ago did CCL buy HAL? Answer it appears to me almost 18 years ago.

 

Here is a headline I found looking on the net.

 

Carnival buys Holland America: boosts capacity more than 50%, gains strong position in Alaska. (Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line)

COPYRIGHT 1988 NorthStar Travel Media, LLC

Carnival Buys Holland America

Publication Date: 05-DEC-88

 

Now, I am not HAL expert, but it would seem to me that any Carnivalization that has occurred is a pretty mature process. Of course, as a bunch of cranks, we all get to throw out pointless jabs at HAL.:rolleyes:

 

jc

[sail7seas]

Rita.....I'm referring to Suites receiving copies of USA Today or International Herald or even local papers on port days. Actual newspapers. Not feed; or NY Times condensations etc.

[kryos]

Rita.....I'm referring to Suites receiving copies of USA Today or International Herald or even local papers on port days. Actual newspapers. Not feed; or NY Times condensations etc.

Oh, okay. I've never seen them around the ship, so didn't realize such a service had ever been available. Those actual newspaper copies, I guess, never found their way down to the "cheap seats." :)

 

Guess cost cuts have made it necessary to only offer them in areas such as the Explorations Cafe and, of course, the Neptune Lounge. :(

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[gizmo]

Kyros,

 

I have seen them in the Library. :)

[sail7seas]

Yes, I have seen newspapers in Explorations (and used to see them in the library but they became rare there as well.)

 

[kryos]

I'm confused. Why would there have to be a back and forth about having a CC get together. Why couldn't you all decide to go to Lido at whatever time and meet. You didn't need anyone's permission. Go to the Crows Nest. Most any time of the day or night. No permission required. Simply meet each other and pull up a chair. All public spaces, unless reserved for a private function, are open for anyone to use most any time.

 

But, I agree with Kryos. If, indeed, plans had been made with the CD to have this get together and permission granted to use Queen's Room, then some sort of light refreshment should have been offered. Once they granted you a reserved space and CD made an appearance, it became a ship event for a small group and you should have had a small courtesy of a cup of coffee and a cookie.....which are always complimentary in Lido.

We did get together informally at Sailaway. We also had a group lunch in the dining room (for those who could make it), and different group members paired off for certain activities/shore excursions (such as our group parasailing excursion on Half Moon Cay and a group who went zip lining in another port). But the "official" CC get-togethers are different. At these, the CD attends, maybe the Hotel Manager drops in, etc. They make themselves available to answer whatever questions they are at liberty to answer, and sort of gives the CCers an "official" HAL welcome aboard. Rarely are these events elaborate ... but I would have thought at least coffee and cookies would have been served ... things that would be readily available in other venues for any passenger onboard the ship.

 

The going back and forth about our CC event started on the second night of the cruise, when I saw Jill (the CD) in the Ocean Bar. I pulled her aside, introduced myself, and asked her if she had ever heard of CC. As a former cruise director for Royal Caribbean, she certainly had. I then asked her about a CC get-together for our cruise. She said she had to talk to the hotel manager about it, but would get back to me. Later on in the cruise, when nothing appeared in the daily program about it, I asked her again. Later she got back to me asking for a listing of all CCers onboard and their cabin numbers. She said that the hotel manager suggested that we make this an affair by invitation only since they didn't want to announce it in the daily program and risk having half the ship show up. I told her I could provide a list, but not all the cabin numbers were on it. Since most people just identified themselves by their first names, it would also be difficult for her staff to locate those passengers who did not opt to provide their cabin numbers. I told her that in the past, the CD just put it in the daily program, and maybe a small handful of "curious" people might show up, but that we'd never had a hoard make an appearance. Finally, on the next to the last day of the cruise, Jill called my stateroom and said that she would be hosting a CC get-together the next morning, and that we would find the announcement in the daily program. By the time we had the actual get-together, it was the last day of the cruise. Thankfully, we had made our own arrangements to meet onboard at Sailaway, otherwise we'd have never found each other early enough in the cruise for it to do any good. In fact, one of our members, at the get-together on the last day of the cruise, specifically told Jill that had she had this get-together early on in the cruise, she would have probably helped HAL to sell more shore excursions because people would have talked up different ones and gotten groups together to do them. Jill freely acknowledged that this would have been a good idea.

 

The way the CCer get-together was handled on this cruise and the one on my Hawaii/South Pacific one were as different as night and day. On that cruise, the CD actually put an invitation out on our roll call thread three days before sailing ... specifically inviting us to a ship-hosted CC get together and giving us the time and place. That get together was held on the second day out ... giving us a great chance to meet and greet, early on in the cruise, and establish relationships that we could enjoy for the duration of this long, 30-day voyage. Since we had several singles and solos in our group (as any long voyage will have) this was especially appreciated by them as it would make it easier to form relationships with people of like mind to do various shore excursions and other onboard activities with. But, on this latest cruise ... nothing was proactively done to even recognize that there was a group from CC onboard at all. We had to do all the legwork to make a "meet and greet" happen.

 

So, yes ... of course, CCers should plan their own get-togethers, but then it is always a nice gesture for HAL to have something onboard to "officially" welcome CCers onboard and to let us know that our enthusiasm on these boards is recognized and appreciated as a way to talk up the brand and get more people to try it.

 

Of course, it is always possible that maybe HAL wants to get away from CCer's events altogether, and maybe this was a step in that direction. If so, then the only reason we even got the official "meet and greet" ... what little it was ... was because we pestered the cruise director enough that she simply said "let's give them a room, and a short get-together, and be done with it." :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[doone]

I had my family and friends on the Volendam this past February, we booked as a group. We were offered a cocktail party for 45 minutes, we had any drink you wanted and hot and cold appetizers. We were not charged for a single drink, but we did tip the waiter well at the end as he was wonderful.

 

Looks like things may have changed now, which is very sad. I have noticed alot of cutbacks by HAL. Remember the Pinnacle Grill, or whatever it was called when it was first introduced, was free, then a charge of $20 per person and now $30 per person.

 

Free drinks at the Captains Cocktail party, now a charge.

 

I don't know about the rest of you, but instead of all these cutbacks and nickle and diming, I'd just rather pay a bit more for my cruise and enjoy these immenities that we have all come accustomed to and enjoy.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Believe me, on the 10/17 sailing of the Amsterdam, the CC group got nada at the gathering ... no cookies, no coffee, no water ... no nothing. The cruise director showed up and answered our questions, etc. ... but that was it. The get-together was held in the Queen's Room ... that little room off the dining room.

 

Rita, when we were recently on the Veendam Jennie AussieGal set up a CC Roll Call Meet and Greet and they held it in the Hudson Room. All they offered was Hot Tea and Coffee. Nothing else. :( I got thinking about this I wondered if Jennie asked them for anything or just set up the room. I have seen it happen plenty of times here in Las Vegas. Unless you ask for it you do not get it. Is it possible we set up these meet and greets and just assume they will supply refreshments and goodies as in cookies? Yes, I know they should but I am starting to think just like any place they do as they are asked or told and if we do not say we want these things they do not offer them. I think what needs to happen is someone needs to set up a Meet and Greet and ask for certain items, they can then say NO or say we have to pay for an item or they will just have them there for us:)

[kryos]

I had my family and friends on the Volendam this past February, we booked as a group. We were offered a cocktail party for 45 minutes, we had any drink you wanted and hot and cold appetizers. We were not charged for a single drink, but we did tip the waiter well at the end as he was wonderful.

That's a different thing. It's a GAP ammenity (group ammenity points). Every group booking earns these points and the group leader can then select the ammenities the group would like to purchase with them. Your group leader obviously selected a group cocktail party. Believe me, your group paid for that party with their fares. It wasn't free.

 

The other things are HAL "freebies" ... ammenities they have always offered to passengers on previous sailings (like the Mariner's Party and whatnot). Now they are scaling back those events to charge passengers for special drink orders. Whether some people prefer to look upon this as a cutback, or just something HAL has to do because so many people are now putting in special orders, is a matter for individual interpretation. Personally, I don't see it as a cutback. I just think that too many people got wise that they could order their drink of choice, and not have to pay for it ... that HAL finally had to put a stop to it, or risk having to really make cutbacks by eliminating these parties from future sailings.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

Yes, I have seen newspapers in Explorations (and used to see them in the library but they became rare there as well.)

 

Seriously ... I understand things cost more and maybe some cutbacks are necessary ... but this is ridiculous. Is HAL so bad off that they can't afford half a dozen newspapers to be placed in common areas (such as the Neptune and Explorations Cafe, and perhaps in the Atrium area)? I can understand maybe charging for individual copies to be delivered to your stateroom, but not even to provide "communal" copies. Is that even a cutback, or is it just being cheap? After all ... how expensive could a few newspapers possibly be?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I don't understand the confusion about budgeting.

If we don't want our fares to increase, how can we not expect to see things that used to be included now be billed to our accounts?

 

Doesn't it cost you more to run your house today than it did ten years ago? It costs us more. Our grocery bills are higher; insurance bills are higher; paper goods.....everything. HAL's bills to run the ships are also higher.

It's simple arithmetic. Pay more in your fare or pay more while on board.

They cannot include as much as they once did for the same number of dollars. Most fares have not risen the commensurate amount as the increase in costs. They (and other cruise lines) have chosen to keep the fares as low as they can in order to fill the ships and then to charge more once pax are aboard. Pay here or pay there. It's the same dollar.

 

If they raise the upfront fare, they probably will have a harder time filling the ship. I'm sure bigger brains than mine and those with the actual figures have it worked to the fraction of a cent.

 

It disappoints me like many of the others here to see these changes but I see the necessity of it. I don't call it nickle and diming. I see it as a breakdown in how we pay. We used to pay it all in our fare; these days we pay more aboard. It still comes to the same amount of dollars......were they to simply raise fares.

 

It also disappoints me if something disappears entirely because there is no practical way to individually bill for it. We used to receive newspapers on almost every port day in Suites. We no longer do. Sometimes they are in Neptune Lounge. Sometimes they don't even have any in there. (Let's not get into who needs/wants to read a newspaper while on vacation. I do.) That is a case where even if I were willing to pay for it, it isn't offered.

 

 

 

 

 

In terms to many on this board we are relatively new to HAL only started to cruise HAL in 2003. We booked our first S Suite in 2004, up till this up coming cruise next week they have all been 7 day cruises with the exception of our 4 day cruise 6 weeks ago. Up till now our most expensive 7 days was our first one. Our upcoming Holiday 10 day cruise is actually costing far less per day. Our upcoming Anniversary cruise in March doing the Mexican Riviera in our favorite cabin is $800 less than we paid for the same cabin same intinerary this February. How is HAL doing it:confused: I myself think it is great that my yearly cost for cruising is really not going up like my weekly cost for groceries, my taxes. Thankfullyit has gone down because our incomes have gone down. My husband company made everyone take a 35% pay cut the first of this year and took away all insurance benefits and pensions after being there almost 20 years. Car Sales are drastically down and I am paid by commission. My income has dropped this year by about 15% yet we cannot understand why HAL could possibly be doing cutbacks. I guess I am amazed that many of you are amazed.

[sail7seas]

I'd gladly pay for the newspaper. I like seeing a paper and we don't always find a place to buy one in Caribbean ports. Sure, in a metropolitan city, you'll pass lots of newstands etc but in the islands, we don't always see a place near the ship to buy one.

 

[Shaco]

Everywhere we look in our everyday lives, there is budget cutting. HAL seems to be following suit. While I too hate "nickel and dimeing" on a cruise, I would much rather CHOOSE those which things I decide to pay for rather than have HAL increase the cost of my cruise. I may not like what they offer for free at the parties and decide to order a different drink. But the person next to me may be quite content with the usual suspects. Why should that person pay an increased fare to cover cocktails they don't drink?

 

I say, keep the prices of cruises as low as possible on HAL. Let each passenger decide how much "extra" he or she wants to spend.

 

BTW, if you want an all inclusive (alcohol included) cruise experience, try Crystal. Talk about expensive!

[kryos]

I think what needs to happen is someone needs to set up a Meet and Greet and ask for certain items, they can then say NO or say we have to pay for an item or they will just have them there for us:)

I had my cabin mate call Ship's Services ahead of time (she is used to setting up events at her job, so I figured she could do this better than I). She was told that there would be a charge to provide refreshments and the like for something we wanted to specifically set up. Otherwise, if we were looking for an "ammenity" to be provided by the ship's staff once onboard, we could discuss it with the front desk or other onboard staff after embarkation. And, that's exactly what I did in taking it up with the Cruise Director.

 

I think what you will get at these gatherings all depends on the discretionary budget of the hotel manager on that particular sailing. Obviously, on my January cruise, they had a bigger budget ... it was a longer, more elaborate sailing. Heck, they even provided free rum punch at Sailaway from San Diego ... something I've never seen on any other cruise I've been on. But ... on this last cruise, clearly the budget was strained. I know for a fact that there was at least one large group onboard ... a group that probably demanded and received certain ammenities (beyond the GAP ones they earned), and with the relatively small size of our group, we were way down the food chain ... to the point that we got the room and the host, and absolutely nothing else. And, if you think about it ... maybe that's only fair. After all, does HAL provide refreshments at the Friends of Dorothy, AA, Veterans, and other special interest groups' meetings that take place onboard? If not, then perhaps they saw no need to provide refreshments at a CruiseCritic get-together either.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

I say, keep the prices of cruises as low as possible on HAL. Let each passenger decide how much "extra" he or she wants to spend.

 

BTW, if you want an all inclusive (alcohol included) cruise experience, try Crystal. Talk about expensive!

LOL ... I couldn't afford to touch Crystal with a ten-foot pole. :)

 

I'm with you ... keep the cost of the cruise low even if it means charging for things that were at one time free. Let each person decide how to spend his money.

 

My beef with the CC get-together provided on my sailing has nothing to do with the lack of wine or champagne per se ... after all, it was only 11:30 or so in the morning. Would most people even want a glass of wine that early?

 

Rather my shock was over the fact that NOTHING at all was provided in the way of refreshments ... not even coffee and cookies ... something that is readily available in the Lido for any guest on the sailing.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita