It's the attention to detail

[michmike]

Here are a few thoughts about our recent week on Westerdam (2/1 sailing)

 

bu first - it was officially confirmed this morning that I'm a HAL cruiser. Was in the library checking out and a little girl about 6 or 7 said to mom in a voice that few could miss "Mom.... that old man has 7 books!" *L* Now had DW been along, she could have explained that while I may LOOK every one of my 61 years, I rarely act much older than 12.

 

So at any rate, if any of you are familiar with the customer service philosophy based on the workings of the Pike Street fish market in Seattle, one of the tenets is to "make their (the customer's) day" HAL could benefit from a look at that program. They failed a number of times to make our day.

 

For starters, I got worried on embarkation day when my suitcase had not arrived in the room by 6:30. Called the front desk and asked if they were still delivering luggage. Was told that it had all been delivered but they did have one suitcase w/o tags down there. Went down and looked at it and it was mine. Now mind you, when I surrendered it to the guys pierside it had 3 (count them) luggage tags, the paper tag you get with your documents, a plastic HAL tag I won playing trivia a few trips back AND a bright blue leather monkey tag. Some how they lost all of them in processing the bags. I got no apology and rather than them offering to have someone deliver the bag to our room, they rolled it out in front of the desk and basically said "there ya go, problem solved!" So I was left to schlep it half the length of the ship and up 5 decks.

 

Went back 3 days later to see if they might have found either of my tags and they said no. I told them I needed a tag to ship the bag home and I felt they ought to at least provide me with one of the plastic HAL tags. Nope.. they gave me one of the paper ones that you get w/ your documents.

 

We booked a cabana at HMC. Someone called the day before to ask what kind of pop we wanted in our fridge in the cabana. I told them and of course when we got to the cabana they had given us whatever they wanted. So why call? In addition there was a bottle of champagne in the fridge. Now I had read enough about the cabanas that I was pretty sure that champagne was not included, but no signage indicating that if you drank the champagne you would be charged. Wonder how many folks have been surprised that way.

 

They gave us an open bucket of ice in the cabana and never came back to replenish it. How difficult would it be to supply a small insulated cooler for each cabana w/ ice? I won't even go into their feeble offering of "snacks". We enjoyed the cabana, but an investment of another $15-20 on HAL's part could have wowed us.

 

The furniture on our balcony and all the balconies that we could see from ours, was in bad repair, with the webbing broken and peeling. It was tacky.

 

All of the previous sea day activities like scattergories, pictionary, catch phrase etc are gone. We always enjoyed those and they typically got a good turn out and we met a lot of fun people that way. Trivia continues and they typically got 80 to 100 people turning out. But why offer it during the day on port days when most folks are ashore? Surely it could be fit in the evening schedule somewhere on those days. And now instead of the usual mugs, luggage tags, etc as prizes they give away dam dollars. Well teams could have as many as 10 members and if you won you got 40 dam dollars, so unless you won more than once or some gave away their dollars you got nothing, as on redemption day on the last sea day you needed $5 to get a luggage tag and mugs were $15.

 

Seems to me in the past that movies were run in the theater 2 or 3 times a day. Once a day now and then on one of the sea days they ran the darn thing at 8pm and we had late seating. Where is the sense in that? It wasn't because there were that many conflicting activities in the Queen's lounge.

 

I complained last trip out that it took 20 min or better in the lounges to get a drink unless you went right up to the bar. No change this time. It ends up being a revenue issue for HAL as on a few nites I would have had at least one more drink if service had been more prompt. Hot hor doerves ( at least in the Ocean Bar where we hang out) are still available available but you have to ASK for them. Same with peanuts or the Pepperidge Farm goldfish.

 

Even though our TA had our reservations linked, we were assigned a different table than the couple we travel with. So took an hour to get that straightened out. On the plus side, we did get fixed seating and had wonderful wait staff that went out of their way to serve us (heri, adrian and wine steward josie). Did notice quite a few folks in shorts in the dining room on non formal nites. Enforce the dress code! The section captain that we had (guy from Austria) contributed nothing. Walked around in a uniform that looked as though he had slept in it and interrupted folks meals and then lingered for 5 minutes or better. HAL wants to cut staff, start with him

 

Food overall was pretty good. Desserts continue to be an area needing improvement. Lido food was ok but I don't understand why they whisk away the bread pudding at 2 pm. Leave it out thru the afternoon. It isn't that expensive. Lack of trays didn't seem to be a HUGE issue but then we brought a small tray from home and used that to carry beverages for the four of us or desserts. It helped. Should mention that room service bfast which we had 5 of 7 mornings was uniformly good, hot and timely. We wrote things in on the card and got them w/o question.

 

Cabin stewards did a good job but we rarely saw them. Did have our room made up every day before noon which was an improvement over things I had been reading here about cabins not being made up til mid afternoon.

 

Had a roll call get together and HAL supplied coffee and cookies. Was good to meet some of the folks we had been chatting with for the past 8-9 months. Cruise Director attended as did representatives from the Capt and Hotel Mgr (AND we managed to PO a bunch of little blue haired ladies by tying up the crow's nest and forcing bingo to be rescheduled *L)

 

All in all not a bad trip despite the things I've listed, but still somewhat disappointing in that each time out it is a little bit less the HAL that we first came to love 10 years ago.

[solocanadian]

Here are a few thoughts about our recent week on Westerdam (2/1 sailing)

 

bu first - it was officially confirmed this morning that I'm a HAL cruiser. Was in the library checking out and a little girl about 6 or 7 said to mom in a voice that few could miss "Mom.... that old man has 7 books!" *L* Now had DW been along, she could have explained that while I may LOOK every one of my 61 years, I rarely act much older than 12.

 

So at any rate, if any of you are familiar with the customer service philosophy based on the workings of the Pike Street fish market in Seattle, one of the tenets is to "make their (the customer's) day" HAL could benefit from a look at that program. They failed a number of times to make our day.

 

For starters, I got worried on embarkation day when my suitcase had not arrived in the room by 6:30. Called the front desk and asked if they were still delivering luggage. Was told that it had all been delivered but they did have one suitcase w/o tags down there. Went down and looked at it and it was mine. Now mind you, when I surrendered it to the guys pierside it had 3 (count them) luggage tags, the paper tag you get with your documents, a plastic HAL tag I won playing trivia a few trips back AND a bright blue leather monkey tag. Some how they lost all of them in processing the bags. I got no apology and rather than them offering to have someone deliver the bag to our room, they rolled it out in front of the desk and basically said "there ya go, problem solved!" So I was left to schlep it half the length of the ship and up 5 decks.

 

Went back 3 days later to see if they might have found either of my tags and they said no. I told them I needed a tag to ship the bag home and I felt they ought to at least provide me with one of the plastic HAL tags. Nope.. they gave me one of the paper ones that you get w/ your documents.

 

We booked a cabana at HMC. Someone called the day before to ask what kind of pop we wanted in our fridge in the cabana. I told them and of course when we got to the cabana they had given us whatever they wanted. So why call? In addition there was a bottle of champagne in the fridge. Now I had read enough about the cabanas that I was pretty sure that champagne was not included, but no signage indicating that if you drank the champagne you would be charged. Wonder how many folks have been surprised that way.

 

They gave us an open bucket of ice in the cabana and never came back to replenish it. How difficult would it be to supply a small insulated cooler for each cabana w/ ice? I won't even go into their feeble offering of "snacks". We enjoyed the cabana, but an investment of another $15-20 on HAL's part could have wowed us.

 

The furniture on our balcony and all the balconies that we could see from ours, was in bad repair, with the webbing broken and peeling. It was tacky.

 

All of the previous sea day activities like scattergories, pictionary, catch phrase etc are gone. We always enjoyed those and they typically got a good turn out and we met a lot of fun people that way. Trivia continues and they typically got 80 to 100 people turning out. But why offer it during the day on port days when most folks are ashore? Surely it could be fit in the evening schedule somewhere on those days. And now instead of the usual mugs, luggage tags, etc as prizes they give away dam dollars. Well teams could have as many as 10 members and if you won you got 40 dam dollars, so unless you won more than once or some gave away their dollars you got nothing, as on redemption day on the last sea day you needed $5 to get a luggage tag and mugs were $15.

 

Seems to me in the past that movies were run in the theater 2 or 3 times a day. Once a day now and then on one of the sea days they ran the darn thing at 8pm and we had late seating. Where is the sense in that? It wasn't because there were that many conflicting activities in the Queen's lounge.

 

I complained last trip out that it took 20 min or better in the lounges to get a drink unless you went right up to the bar. No change this time. It ends up being a revenue issue for HAL as on a few nites I would have had at least one more drink if service had been more prompt. Hot hor doerves ( at least in the Ocean Bar where we hang out) are still available available but you have to ASK for them. Same with peanuts or the Pepperidge Farm goldfish.

 

Even though our TA had our reservations linked, we were assigned a different table than the couple we travel with. So took an hour to get that straightened out. On the plus side, we did get fixed seating and had wonderful wait staff that went out of their way to serve us (heri, adrian and wine steward josie). Did notice quite a few folks in shorts in the dining room on non formal nites. Enforce the dress code! The section captain that we had (guy from Austria) contributed nothing. Walked around in a uniform that looked as though he had slept in it and interrupted folks meals and then lingered for 5 minutes or better. HAL wants to cut staff, start with him

 

Food overall was pretty good. Desserts continue to be an area needing improvement. Lido food was ok but I don't understand why they whisk away the bread pudding at 2 pm. Leave it out thru the afternoon. It isn't that expensive. Lack of trays didn't seem to be a HUGE issue but then we brought a small tray from home and used that to carry beverages for the four of us or desserts. It helped. Should mention that room service bfast which we had 5 of 7 mornings was uniformly good, hot and timely. We wrote things in on the card and got them w/o question.

 

Cabin stewards did a good job but we rarely saw them. Did have our room made up every day before noon which was an improvement over things I had been reading here about cabins not being made up til mid afternoon.

 

Had a roll call get together and HAL supplied coffee and cookies. Was good to meet some of the folks we had been chatting with for the past 8-9 months. Cruise Director attended as did representatives from the Capt and Hotel Mgr (AND we managed to PO a bunch of little blue haired ladies by tying up the crow's nest and forcing bingo to be rescheduled *L)

 

All in all not a bad trip despite the things I've listed, but still somewhat disappointing in that each time out it is a little bit less the HAL that we first came to love 10 years ago.

Thanks for taking the time to list your concerns on your recent Westerdam cruise. Now I know what NOT to look forward to on my April Ryndam cruise. There is no way I'd hump my luggage from the Front Desk to the cabin. I have over 130 days on HAL and the luggage always made it to my cabin in a timely fashion.:)

[scopewest]

Loved your review, thanks for sharing.

[sail7seas]

Thanks for sharing, Mike. Sorry for the snafus but I know you and your friends still had a great time. You Always do!!!

 

We're off to Eurodam soon and I hope our luggage arrives in our cabin. :eek:

[jhannah]

... but still somewhat disappointing in that each time out it is a little bit less the HAL that we first came to love 10 years ago.

*sigh*

 

Thanks for the report.

[Taxguy77]

*sigh*

 

Thanks for the report.

 

Yep, and flying gets worse:eek:.

We had decided last year would probably be our last cruise; had said that 3 cruises before, but really mean it this time.:(

Unless something great from Houston roundtrip shows up.:confused:

[CATZ]

Thank you for posting your observations! We too, were on the Westerdam Feb 1st (wk 1 of

B2B) and experienced many "firsts" on that cruise. From a dirty cabin (including robes!) on arrival, pre ordered gifts and flowers not arriving for 2 days, lost laundry and messed up dinner reservations to name just a few. We've been fortunate in 100+ days sailing with HAL

that none of the above had ever happened before! It was disappointing to give the overall

cruise a rating of only "7"... another first for us! While we still enjoyed our cruise ( and booked another while on board!) I do hope the problems can be written off as "bad days" and not a result of the pretty obvious cut backs.

[jbhcw]

Mike, good review, I enjoyed reading it. Still hate we did not find everyone at the Meet and Greet, but oh well.....

 

I have quit doing written reviews, still post my pictures on another board, but I'm kinda sad to say the Westerdam was nothing to write home about. As we are not on the ship now and I can look back on the cruise it's not all bad...but there were no warm fuzzies with this one.

 

We were terribly disappointed with our cabana service, there was none. First soda selection was wrong. When we finally corraled someone to change it they tried to get dh's S&S card to charge him extra. The salsa, fruit, etc was just sitting on the counter, not even covered, not plates, tableware, nothing.

 

Last year on the Zuiderdam we had someone checking in on us, ran and got us bar drinks, replenished the ice, etc. and we did not have the butler service. Our table was set with a tablecloth, plates, silver, food was covered up. A completely different experience than what we had this time.

 

The really bad part is that we had folks with us that were new to HAL, we had really talked it up, and ended up eating our words.

 

We did have great cabins stewards and when we finally got anytime dining down and made reservations at one table, great servers too.

 

All of the above being said, I still booked another cruise with HAL. I just think we need to resign ourselves to the fact/facts that some cruises are wonderful and some not so wonderful and try to cruise with a positive attitude:)

[haligonian37]

Thanks for the review Mike, I can relate several similar experiences that week as well. A hi to Jane as well, sorry I didn't make it to the meet & greet but from what I read back on our roll call, I had the same problem as Jane :). In any case I spent a lot of quality time with my sister, which is what I set out to do. Since her diagnosis, there is no such thing as spending too much time with her.

 

Our cabana experience was also a bit disappointing, similar to what Jane described and Mike's description of the balcony furniture was right on. We too had a tough time getting served in some of the bars in a timely manner, especially before dinner. Our biggest complaint about the week was nothing that HAL could prevent: rude, cranky passengers. And one of the best parts for me was the night/morning when we had the 20-24 foot seas!! Now that was fun :) But when I think back (that oh so long two weeks ago), none of the above mentioned made a huge impact on us not having a good time and I will be back.......just have to find the right itinerary!

[franu]

Thanks Mike. After my first HAL cruise, if I cared to write a complete review of my Zaandam cruise, your disappointments would only take a small paragraph of an extended review.

 

Now I know that these systemic problems are company wide it has made my decision never to cruise HAL again more vehement.

Fran

[kryos]

There is no way I'd hump my luggage from the Front Desk to the cabin. I have over 130 days on HAL and the luggage always made it to my cabin in a timely fashion.:)

I'm with you. I would have told the woman at the front desk to page someone to deliver the luggage to my cabin. I'd never have even attempted to carry it there myself, nor should I be expected to.

 

As for HAL not apologizing about the tags being missing ... I agree, they probably should have if for no other reason than goodwill. But my guess is the luggage arrived at the ship that way ... maybe the porters at the pier manhandled it, causing the tags to fall off?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[HALFans]

Michmike,

 

I'm so sorry to hear about your recent Westerdam cruise.

 

The luggage thing: it's bad enough you had to come ID it, but the least they could have done was see it got to your stateroom without you having to tote it there yourself. Replacing the lost HAL tag would have been a thoughtful gesture that costs them next to nothing. I can't believe you were snubbed when you suggested it! :eek:

 

Who knows? Maybe your tags will be found somewhere at the pier and be sent 'anonymously' back to your home? ;)

 

On the cabanas: It's certainly more of an annoyance than a convenience when they place a call to your stateroom, note your preferences then totally ignore them. :mad: Better not to call at all!

 

So many other things noted in your post! I only hope that the office in Seattle is taking note. Recent cruise prices have started to climb a bit, so hopefully they'll be staffing the ships to proper levels again soon. More and more people are complaining, at least here on CC - I trust they're complaining to HAL too!

 

If you haven't done so yet, I would encourage you to contact Mr. Steins' office with your observations.

 

Thanks for your review!

[elycelynne]

The furniture on our balcony and all the balconies that we could see from ours, was in bad repair, with the webbing broken and peeling. It was tacky.

 

I realize this is a small thing to pick out of the review, and part of the reason I ask is because I'll be on the Westerdam this coming December, but it made me wonder if this is the type of thing that has to wait until drydock (which, according to the sailing calendar, isn't scheduled for the Westerdam until the first two weeks of April of 2010) or if things like balcony furniture can be replaced before then, such as during port days when cabins are being made up or some other time it can be done relatively quickly? Again, not a big deal in and of itself, and it won't have a significant impact on my cruise experience, but it contributes to the overall look of the ship.

[michmike]

I can't imagine what the balcony furniture will look like a year from now if they don't begin to replace it. I would think they could do a dozen cabins or so each week during the turnaround in Ft Lauderdale.

 

My thought was that it just speaks to the pride (or lack thereof) that HAL takes in their fleet. Not a deal breaker certainly in terms of sailing HAL again, but at the same time they make a big deal of wanting all 9s in the comment cards and this just doesn't represent an all 9 approach on the part of management.

[whogo]

For starters, I got worried on embarkation day when my suitcase had not arrived in the room by 6:30. Called the front desk and asked if they were still delivering luggage. Was told that it had all been delivered but they did have one suitcase w/o tags down there. Went down and looked at it and it was mine. Now mind you, when I surrendered it to the guys pierside it had 3 (count them) luggage tags, the paper tag you get with your documents, a plastic HAL tag I won playing trivia a few trips back AND a bright blue leather monkey tag. Some how they lost all of them in processing the bags.

You didn't forget to tip the porters, did you?

[TCF]

This is what 'long-time' HAL cruisers have been saying for months!!!

It's the little things that drive us nuts!!! It's like a 'handfull of sand in your underwear....it ain't fatal but it's sure a pain in the butt'!!!

The luggage issue is just unforgiveable. A training issue for which the crew member should have been hauled up for. Hope the OP complained about it!

The other stuff is just little things that...as the a OP so rightly points out...make a cruise on HAL memorable. OH! They are still memorable...it's just that now they are becoming memorable for all the wrong reasons!!!

When is Seattle going to start to listen????...after the return pax find new lines where the service is better and the little things matter!

[kyriecat]

You didn't forget to tip the porters, did you?

That's what just happened to my dad in Miami by mistake. He unloaded the luggage from the truck and thought he had time to help my mom out of the truck while the porter loaded up. When he turned back around to offer a tip, the porter had already left with their luggage. None of their 4 bags showed up at their cabin. When he went to look for them that evening, all 4 bags were found and every tag had been ripped off. At least they made it onboard. I guess you have to be careful about tipping those porters.

[jhannah]

When he turned back around to offer a tip, the porter had already left with their luggage. None of their 4 bags showed up at their cabin. When he went to look for them that evening, all 4 bags were found and every tag had been ripped off.

That's awful and vindictive! I guess it's possible that it was a coincidence, but that would be a real stretch, IMO. *shaking my head*

[serendipity1499]

Thanks Mike for your honest & fair review..Wish we could go back to the good Ole days, but most people are looking for bargains..Perhaps this is the reason that Service is not the same as it was 10-15 years ago..You might be willing to pay more, but doubt that the majority of passengers would agree to pay 20% more..In order to fill the ships, they have to market to the Baby Boomer's who do not have the disposable income that many of us retirees have..ave..Although our disposable income is slowly erroding..Are they still charging the higher prices for the cabana's at HMC?

 

That's what just happened to my dad in Miami by mistake. He unloaded the luggage from the truck and thought he had time to help my mom out of the truck while the porter loaded up. When he turned back around to offer a tip, the porter had already left with their luggage. None of their 4 bags showed up at their cabin. When he went to look for them that evening, all 4 bags were found and every tag had been ripped off. At least they made it onboard. I guess you have to be careful about tipping those porters.

 

That really is sad to hear, as your Dad did not mean to not tip..Supposedly, tipping of porters is not required at HAL ships, but we would never take a chance & not tip..;)

In Fort Lauderdale, my Friend & I check in the luggage with the Porters while our DH's either park the Van or return a rental Van...For two couples, we normally check in 6 pieces of luggage & always give the Porter $20..According to some tipping guidelines IE: life Script, we're over-tipping, but it's worth every penny ($10.00 per couple) to ensure our luggage arrives intact in our staterooms..;)

Life Script: http://www.lifescript.com/Life/Money/Save/The_Ultimate_Tipping_Guide_Your_Guide_To_Tipping_Etiquette.aspx?trans=1&du=1&gclid=CIPB3N-a9pgCFQS7sgodxk592A&ef_id=1350:3:s_b102a49dfcfb6ced6658994ef852bba4_2540583275:q-z49Uo-JyIAADW6H@wAAAAN:20090224223052

When we return to Fort Lauderdale, the Ladies again take care of the porter, who brings our luggage to the curb, while the men go for the Van.. Again, we give him $20.00 for our bags which could be heavier, depending on what our purchases were..:eek:LOL..On occasion we've even tipped $30.00 for 6-7 heavy bags, when we returned to port..For some reason my shoes seem to get heavier & heavier with the incoming vs the outgoing load..:o

Twice in the past 2 years the Porters were so appreciative of the tip, that when our DH's returned with the Van the Porters appeared at the curb on their own volition.. They insisted on helping our DH's load the luggage into the van..

Don't believe we would get that kind of service if we did not tip well..:)Betty

[michmike]

In response to the questions about whether we tipped the porters, we sure did. We had 3 bags and I gave them a $10. We got two of the bags ok, was just mine we were missing. (and at 6ft4, 275, I was a sudden convert to the cross packing system that some folks use as I sat there in the room contemplating spending 7 days w/ the clothes on my back and no big and tall stores in the islands.) *L*