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The LAFFNVEGAS LIVE From the Statendam Panama Canal Cruise

LAFFNVEGAS

By LAFFNVEGAS,
in Holland America Line

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MissWindyCity

MissWindyCity

Posted
Posted
Great live review!

 

My take on the dance hosts and on a "Dancing with the Stars" type event:

 

Currently HAL has the best social dancing on their longer cruises. They are the only line (ooops maybe Cunard still has them?) that still has a few sailings with dance hosts. This does cost them.

 

Passenger competions are a bit like reality TV. They are low cost entertainment. Usually the passenger already is a frequent dancer (like in Karaoke where many participate weekly at home). Fun for them and fun for an audience.

 

So really two different kind of things. Social type activities are what most folks are bemoaning as starting to disappear from cruising. So long live the social dancing and dance hosts. I have danced several times with a host while waiting for DH to change for dinner. It is just a social activity that anyone can do even ladies who have never danced before, the host will take care of you so you enjoy your dance.

 

Hopefully there will be room and money for both if dancing stays really popular.

 

Thanks again for the review; I wasn't even sure HAL still had the dance hosts, saw the last post on them a long time ago.

 

 

I really don't understand why they don't have Dance Hosts on all the cruises instead of just the longer ones!

If you like to dance, you will dance on a one week cruise just the same as a longer cruise. I have been on the Oosterdam the last 3 years in a row and sat in the Ocean Bar watching people dance. I enjoyed the music but would have loved to have someone to dance with! :(

They still had Dance Hosts on The Queen Mary 2 in their ballroom for the one week cruise.

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Copper10-8 "Live from...." Rare

Copper10-8

Posted
Posted
I really don't understand why they don't have Dance Hosts on all the cruises instead of just the longer ones!

If you like to dance, you will dance on a one week cruise just the same as a longer cruise. I have been on the Oosterdam the last 3 years in a row and sat in the Ocean Bar watching people dance. I enjoyed the music but would have loved to have someone to dance with! :(

 

They still had Dance Hosts on The Queen Mary 2 in their ballroom for the one week cruise.

 

 

Maybe they just can't get enough dancing guys who are not easily intimidated by all those wild women:eek: wanting to cut a rug with them?;)

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zoomer1956

zoomer1956

Posted
Posted
hopefully, we'll never sail together

 

are you serious about tampering with a smoke detector ..

 

if so, I find absolutely no humor in that at all .. you tampered not only with your safety but the safety of many on board:mad:

 

Sorry Sea King, should have given more info. The cabin stewart was there as I removed the battery. We then closed the veranda door, waited for the room to cool down and then replaced the battery. My point was only to give an idea of how humid it was. Would never jeapordize the safety of all on board.

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kryos

kryos

Posted
Posted
Rita, actually I asked about this and Leslie said that she and one other person that is a Future Cruise Consultant actually had a Travel Agency or travel related back ground. While many have come from other positions on the ship, most come from strong sales and or management back grounds. They look at your enthusiasim and sales back ground and a lot of who you know ;)
I guess a strong sales background would do it. After all, what exactly is a travel agent, but a salesperson, right?

 

I think you'd love a job like that, Lisa. And I'm sure you do have the contacts inside HAL as well.

 

Good luck to you.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

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kryos

kryos

Posted
Posted
If you like to dance, you will dance on a one week cruise just the same as a longer cruise. I have been on the Oosterdam the last 3 years in a row and sat in the Ocean Bar watching people dance. I enjoyed the music but would have loved to have someone to dance with! :(

They still had Dance Hosts on The Queen Mary 2 in their ballroom for the one week cruise.

I think HAL only has them on longer cruises because HAL doesn't get as many solo travelers or much older passengers on the shorter cruises. It is the solo travelers and the older couples (where maybe the husband can't dance any longer) who will keep the dance hosts busy.

 

As an example, on my September/October Statendam cruise, we had four dance hosts onboard. The cruise started with a five-day coastal from Vancouver, to San Francisco, to San Diego. From San Diego, it went on for the 30-day Hawaii/South Pacific run. During that five-day coastal portion there was a much lower passenger age demographic ... some kids, younger families, etc. These are not the sort of people requiring the services of the dance hosts and pretty much those dance hosts spent most of their time standing around doing nothing. They certainly asked people (including me ... with my bum leg) if they wanted to dance, but they were getting turned down left and right.

 

Then we hit San Diego and took on a slew of new passengers doing the Hawaii/South Pacific cruise. Now you had a lot of solo female travelers, many of them older. From that night forward, LOL ... I don't think those dance hosts ever got a chance to sit down. They worked from the time the music started playing until the band packed it away.

 

The one host told me that the general rule of thumb is four regulars to one dance host. He said that the passengers will develop a preference for one particular dance host, and they will dance most of the time with him. He will split his attentions between four "regulars" and maybe a couple of "occasional" dance partners.

 

I don't think he's gonna have enough people to keep him busy on a shorter cruise, and that's probably why HAL isn't about to pay his passage to keep him onboard during them.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

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kryos

kryos

Posted
Posted
hopefully, we'll never sail together

 

are you serious about tampering with a smoke detector ..

 

if so, I find absolutely no humor in that at all .. you tampered not only with your safety but the safety of many on board:mad:

I'm surprised those detectors are not "hard wired" into the electrical system of the ship. I'm surprised they use batteries at all.

 

Yeah, I hope I never sail with someone who tampers with safety equipment like that. What you do in your own home is your business ... you are pretty much only jeopardizing your own and your family's safety in that case. I'll be honest ... there have been a couple of times where a battery started "chirping" in the middle of the night, and dad or I got up and just removed it. But the next morning we made sure to replace it pronto.

 

But tampering with a fire detection system on a ship ... even in one's own cabin ... could possibly jeopardize the safety of others ... and I know I would never do it.

 

Bad move is all I can say.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

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jtl513

jtl513

Posted
Posted
Movie clip of Statendam going under Centennial Bridge

 

http://www.wa70.com/hal/Statendam-Centennial.wmv

 

(captures by John -jt513)

 

Rich

I don't think the Amsterdam did that funny S movement after the Centennial Bridge when we transited the Canal!

 

Here's the only three frames I was able to capture at the Miraflores locks. Click to enlarge.

 

2884169870099632937RTdWaV_th.jpg

"]2279893570099632937ZsYDPz_th.jpg

2863132150099632937iRozbc_th.jpg

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MissWindyCity

MissWindyCity

Posted
Posted
I'm surprised those detectors are not "hard wired" into the electrical system of the ship. I'm surprised they use batteries at all.

 

Yeah, I hope I never sail with someone who tampers with safety equipment like that. What you do in your own home is your business ... you are pretty much only jeopardizing your own and your family's safety in that case. I'll be honest ... there have been a couple of times where a battery started "chirping" in the middle of the night, and dad or I got up and just removed it. But the next morning we made sure to replace it pronto.

 

But tampering with a fire detection system on a ship ... even in one's own cabin ... could possibly jeopardize the safety of others ... and I know I would never do it.

 

Bad move is all I can say.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

Sorry Sea King, should have given more info. The cabin stewart was there as I removed the battery. We then closed the veranda door, waited for the room to cool down and then replaced the battery. My point was only to give an idea of how humid it was. Would never jeapordize the safety of all on board.

 

 

zoomer1956 posted a correction post with more info above!

Obviously, they did call the cabin stewart and he was present when they removed the battery.

I am also surprised though that the smoke detectors aren't hard-wired! That is usually a building code requirement for hotels and condo buildings, why wouldn't it be required on a huge passenger ship? :eek:

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fcorey

fcorey

Posted
Posted
zoomer1956 posted a correction post with more info above!

Obviously, they did call the cabin stewart and he was present when they removed the battery.

I am also surprised though that the smoke detectors aren't hard-wired! That is usually a building code requirement for hotels and condo buildings, why wouldn't it be required on a huge passenger ship? :eek:

 

They dont comply to land based building codes, but rather SOLAS and coast guard regs in place when ship was built

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fcorey

fcorey

Posted
Posted
Just a suggestion for you, Lisa.

 

If I am not mistaken, those Future Cruise Consultants have to be highly skilled travel agents first. In fact, I heard somewhere that HAL hires their inside staff from some of the best of their high producing travel agencies. The Future Cruise Consultants, I believe, are also HAL inside personal vacation planners who sometimes take cruises in this capacity when they feel like getting onboard a ship.

 

So my advice to you would be to try and get a job with one of the big travel agencies in Vegas. There's a lot of money in travel for a good agent, and once you learn the business, the mechanics of booking cruises ... or really any sort of vacations ... are pretty simple and straightforward. Do the research, find the best deals based on your customer's needs and preferences, then make your presentation and hopefully take the order. Pretty simple, right? But ... it's great customer service that will distinguish you from the pack. Take good care of your customers ... go above and beyond for them ... offering to research tours, etc. ... even if some of those things earn you zilch in the way of commissions ... but will earn you a loyal customer who will keep coming back. Then, once you have a nice "book" of business accumulated, HAL may be very much interested in talking with you if you approach them. The only problem is that you will probably have to move to Seattle, because most of the time you'd be working out of their offices. Then, once you cut your teeth there, I'm sure it's a simple matter to put your name in to serve as a future cruise consultant on sailings as well.

 

Can you imagine doing that job on a World Cruise? Awesome! Sure, I have no doubt you work really hard, but still ... I think that sort of position onboard would be a lot of fun too. And just think of all the places you would get to see. I would imagine you'd even be able to qualify to go on a lot of tours for free as well ... since you could serve as the HAL escort, as well as the evaluator for the tour.

 

Of course, make no mistake ... working onboard wouldn't be the same as being a passenger ... you certainly wouldn't be in a suite, that's for sure. :) Plus, you'd have committments ... desk hours, etc. But, still ... I think it would be an awesome way to spend one's life ... even well into retirement years.

 

Good luck to you! With your background, I think you'd probably do quite well at travel sales and service.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

Future cruise consultants do not have to be a TA, I know a few and none of there were travel agents. HAL for example seems to place more emphasis on the interview of the individual and their knowledge of cruising.

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LAFFNVEGAS "Live from...." Rare

LAFFNVEGAS

Posted
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Wednesday Evening April 22nd, 2009

 

Good Evening from now sailing in the Pacific. This has been a long exciting day. The ships appears to be a bit quiet tonight because everyone had a full day of watching the Statendam do the full transit thru the Panama Canal.

 

I want to thank all of you for following along and all the wonderful pictures. I hope to include some of them in my on line photo album. That was so wonderful of you to help capture pictures for me.:)

 

Tom asked me over dinner tonight if going thru the Panama Canal was what I thought it would be and actually it was exactly what I expected because of the many times I have followed HAL ships on the Panama Canal Web Cams. But I have to say that it seemed to take longer in person than when I watch in on the web cam from my computer at home. Could be that I am doing other things while waiting for the locks to either fill or drain.;)

 

In many ways we were very fortunate for the very cloudy day, it really did not rain much and the cloud cover kept the temps down and kept many from getting burned. Tom and I both put on a lot of Ultra Sunblock but I still found my face got a bit red and Tom's is even more than mine.

 

During the San Miguel Locks we found our way to the balcony that overlooks the bow below the Bridge. We found that to be one of the best places, for me it was because the railing was much lower and easier for me to see over. I captured a lot of pictures there but for the Mira Flores we did head back to ur cabin and cracked open a bottle of champagne and toasted going thru the Panama Canal.

 

I happened to remember of another very cute story from the VIP Party last night that I want to share with you. We were talking to Frans Consen and he was telling us about some of the passengers on the ship and he pointed to a lady that had her back to us. Her hair was not quite shoulder length, light brown but very thin. He told us that she has been on for several weeks and was sailing alone. The amazing part to this story is she is 97 years old. She walks just using one of those walker canes. What a sweet lady. Frans said she is amazing and gets herself to all the parties and goes out and about. I even saw her this evening , her cabin is forward from ours on Navigation Deck. When she left the party last night Frans introduced us to her and was asking her to be careful of the sun when we go thru the locks. WOW I just hope I can still be cruising at 97 years old. I forgot and wish I would have asked Frans how many Mariner Days she has but I am sure we will find out at the Mariner Brunch.

 

Tom and I were both extremely tired and feet were aching this evening from standing and walking all over the ship since 5:30 this morning, we were finished with dinner at 7 and I could hear the Thermal Suite Hydrotherapy Pool calling my name. Oh my gosh did that ever feel good. I of course was the only one in there but if felt so good to just soak in that hot jacuzzi, then sit in the steam room for about 5 minutes.

Tomorrow is yet another relaxing Sea Day and our 2nd Formal Night and tomorrow we do Scenic Cruising in the Golfo Dulce. Instead of Lions, Tigers and Bears OH MY it will be Turtles, Parrots and Monkeys Oh MY!!!:D:eek:

 

Signing off from off the Coast of Panama in the Pacific on the Beautiful and Elegant MS Statendam.

 

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MissWindyCity

MissWindyCity

Posted
Posted
I think HAL only has them on longer cruises because HAL doesn't get as many solo travelers or much older passengers on the shorter cruises. It is the solo travelers and the older couples (where maybe the husband can't dance any longer) who will keep the dance hosts busy.

 

As an example, on my September/October Statendam cruise, we had four dance hosts onboard. The cruise started with a five-day coastal from Vancouver, to San Francisco, to San Diego. From San Diego, it went on for the 30-day Hawaii/South Pacific run. During that five-day coastal portion there was a much lower passenger age demographic ... some kids, younger families, etc. These are not the sort of people requiring the services of the dance hosts and pretty much those dance hosts spent most of their time standing around doing nothing. They certainly asked people (including me ... with my bum leg) if they wanted to dance, but they were getting turned down left and right.

 

Then we hit San Diego and took on a slew of new passengers doing the Hawaii/South Pacific cruise. Now you had a lot of solo female travelers, many of them older. From that night forward, LOL ... I don't think those dance hosts ever got a chance to sit down. They worked from the time the music started playing until the band packed it away.

 

The one host told me that the general rule of thumb is four regulars to one dance host. He said that the passengers will develop a preference for one particular dance host, and they will dance most of the time with him. He will split his attentions between four "regulars" and maybe a couple of "occasional" dance partners.

 

I don't think he's gonna have enough people to keep him busy on a shorter cruise, and that's probably why HAL isn't about to pay his passage to keep him onboard during them.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

 

Hmmmm.........not sure what you consider "older". LOL

I am in my 40's and a solo cruiser! I personally haven't considered myself "older" yet! LOL I didn't know you had to be ready for the retirement home to enjoy dancing or to be without a partner! We had at least 25 women traveling solo on our Yummer cruise this past February, and that was just in our group.

When I was on the Oosterdam going to Alaska for just one week, the average age group couldn't have gotten much older. When you have too old of a group, I would think they wouldn't be dancing because they need a cane, walker or wheelchair and the length of the cruise wouldn't matter.

I just wish the cruise lines would re-think this mind set. I think lots of women in their 40's and up love to dance and travel solo or with a husband that doesnt like to dance and would appreciate having a dance host to dance with but we can't take the time off to go on a longer cruise.

 

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Chivalrygirl

Chivalrygirl

Posted
Posted

Hi Lisa,

I have been following your thread randomly, but trying to read all your posts. Of course I have been busy doing my own thing! Flying to DC in the morning, but how I love SF.

You crack me up sweetie. When you get home we need to have a good chat on Skype!

If you don't know what a dag is, its a dirty hanging thing on the bum of a sheep! Its a common saying down-uner for ppl. with much humor.

Enjoy the rest of your time on the Statendam. I stood looking at the Cruise Terminal in SF today remembering good things sometime ago. BTW I did manage to walk the GG Bridge today. What fun that was.

Love Chivalry Girl

xox

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MissWindyCity

MissWindyCity

Posted
Posted

Lisa and Tom...

Glad you enjoyed your day going through the canal!

I read somewhere you mentioned going to get the Panama Buns everyone talks about, but no comment on them.

What were they like? Did you like them? I was just curious what the big deal was about these buns! :D LOL

Enjoy the the rest of your cruise! I am following along! :cool:

Don't forget to have that mojito for me!

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gentlemancruiser

gentlemancruiser

Posted
Posted
=I read somewhere you mentioned going to get the Panama Buns everyone talks about, but no comment on them

 

I don't know why everyone makes such a big deal about the Panama Buns. They are a sweet roll/bun with a small amount of filling inside. They are kind of like the chocolate filled croissants/pastries in the Lido, but these have a fruit filling.

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