Captains Welcome Aboard

Mariner is hearing a disturbing thing from his ships.

The Captain's welcome aboard is:

No Captain.

No Photos.

No Music. No dancing.

A 2-minute introduction.

Good bye.

This is one tradition I wish they wouldn't change.

Hmmm.

That wasn't what happened on the Ryndam last month.

It also wasn't what happened on the Noordam in January.

Other reports ... anyone?

Mariner is hearing a disturbing thing from his ships.

 

The Captain's welcome aboard is:

 

No Captain.

 

No Photos.

 

No Music. No dancing.

 

A 2-minute introduction.

 

Good bye.

 

This is one tradition I wish they wouldn't change.

On the 23 MAR 07 Ryndam cruise (the one after the Rev's), Capt van Maurik was present for the greeting just outside the Vermeer Lounge. Pax were introduced to him by a female member of the cruise activities staff. There were some differences such as no photographer in front of the captain (so no photos there but, no wories, photo ops before and after meeting him), no handshake (due to a recent bout of Norovirus) and no hotel manager inside the Vermeer Lounge (after passing the captain), just the C/D. The Hal Cats band was playing tunes on stage and champagne/orange juice were served. After the "greeting", the captain, re-introduced by the C/D, got on stage and introduced his senior staff and the employee of the month. The whole thing lasted from 7:30-8:15 PM

Okay. All of u. Get a grip.

I'm talking none, none none.

You like that?

It's happening.

Get over urself.

Here's what it comes down too.

Do you want that?

Get over urself.

 

 

Here's what it comes down too.

 

Do you want that?

Mariner, dude! You feeling OK?

John, I'm a little worried here, too. Mariner's last two posts sounded incoherent to me. I hope he's OK.

I'll ditto that - his posts are usually very well written and thought out. I hope nothing's wrong, or maybe someone got ahold of his computer and is having a bit of fun (the grammar doesn't look like his)...

Might there perhaps be anyone reading this thread who might know how to contact Mariner or a member of his family? I don't know the gentleman, other than the last two posts are not typical of him, and I'm afraid that something is not quite right. Thanks.

OK

Im not losing it.

Pay attention.

Im getting word that that's what the captain's welcome aboard is.

Don't care what it was on your ship. It's what it cud be on your next.

Stop analyzing me.Wont work.

Please,

Not about me.

Im hearing from friend aboard that the whole Captain's Welcome Aboard Has changed.

Not a good thing IMO

They can get rid of the whole photography thing, and take the art auctions with it. Change can be good!

Here is what happened on our recent Maasdam cruises:

Feb 23:

We had the regular Captain's Champagne Reception on the first cruise. Ours was at 4:45 for the 5:45 and 6:15 dining times. We had the usual formal picture taking in front of the shore excursion office, to the side of the front of the front office, one with the captain and the last one in front of the steps in the show lounge. There were lots of bar staff to pass out drinks and take drink orders. Also a lot of staff with appetizers (nothing to rave about here - jalepino poppers, bitterbauten? balls, and dim sum). The trays had the usual champagne, white wine, red wine and orange juice. There wasn't any problem getting any type of other drink and no charge. While we were sipping our vodkas, we watched one man in front of us down 3 Manhattans in less than 20 minutes -- guess he thought they were going to close down the bar! (By the time the party was over we think he had at least 2 more.)

They were late in starting to introduce the various heads so the party wasn't over until 5:55. It also took a long time for everyone to get 4 pictures taken and get through the receiving line. Needless to say, those of us who dined at 5:45 were late to dinner.

From our March 5 cruise:

The second cruise we had something entirely different. We were told that they are doing this on the Zuiderdam and Noordam. It is called the Captain's Champagne Toast. There are 2 parties - ours was at 7:45 for those who dined at 5:45 and 6:15. For the 8 and 8:30 dinners, the party was at 9:45. Both parties are right before a production show. For these parties you could line up at either the port or starboard doors both on the lower and upper levels of the show room. There were no photographers anywhere near the show room!!! Of course this meant that you did not get your picture taken with the captain. When the doors opened (in our case 7:45) you could sit anywhere you wanted. No one directed you to sit in a certain area. Again there was plenty of staff around to pass out the regular drinks as well as staff to take drink orders. Since everyone had come from dinner there were no mixed nuts and no appetizers.

Since this was the first time this has been done for a lot of cruisers and because some people didn't read their programs very well, there were some 8 and 8:30 dinners there in line complaining about how short the party was going to be for them. We didn't try to explain to them about this new concept and neither did the crew staff at the beginning of the line. Naturally within minutes of getting into the show lounge some of them had to leave for dinner. I really do think that some kind of announcement should have been made and this new concept should have been explained.

There was not the usual introdcution of all the department heads, just the HM, chief of security, chief engineer, someone else I can't recall, the CD and the employee of the month which for March happened to be a waiter from the dining room. There wasn't any music played - thus no dancing. Then the only woman bar staff personel in the lounge went on stage and gave each person there a glass of champagne. The captain gave a toast and we all raised our glasses to his toast. Then the wine master came onto the stage while the 16 bar staff members lined up in front of the stage with bottles of champagne. The wine master tried to open a bottle of champagne with a sword. However he was unsuccessful -- shattered the bottle -- glass and champagne flew everywhere -- just barely missed the people standing on the stage. (We were told that he opened the bottle at the second party without any incidents.) The captain made the remark "Well we survived that attack." Then the bar staff began to serve more champagne and final drink orders were taken before the show began.

We really liked this new concept as we did not have to line up right after dinner and wait 20 minutes or more for the second reception to end and the staff to clean up before we went in for the show.

KK...I have heard that this will now be the way on all the ships. It will now be called a "Captain's Toast" instead of the traditional Captain's Welcome Aboard Party.

This as well as the Mariner's Brunch are two of the new changes on HAL...also the no-smoking in the Lido which I find hard to digest!

I am sure glad we are winding down our days of cruising as many of these changes are not to our liking and we know we've already seen the best days on HAL!

Liz

We did have the new Mariner's LUnch on the Maasdam on our second cruise. I posted it here somewhere on this board (has probably sunk down) along with the menu. It was great. Only problem is on 7 day cruises taht are very port intensive like the Canada/New England cruises, don't know how they are going to have the lunch.

Since we don't smoke (never did) we welcome this new smoking policy.

It's true this is another brainwave of the VP of entertainment, Bill Prince. No more traditional intro's with full staff onstage, just a quick hello and a toast before the show. No pictures, no handshake, a quick intro of the HM, CE, CO, EO, EOM and that's it. Currently being tested on several ships, Noordam for one.

Might there perhaps be anyone reading this thread who might know how to contact Mariner or a member of his family? I don't know the gentleman, other than the last two posts are not typical of him, and I'm afraid that something is not quite right. Thanks.

Mariner is fine....he's just agitated about this change. He (and DH and I ) are very loyal, traditionalist cruisers. We resist change on the ships. This discontinuation of the Captain's Party that we are accustomed to is particularly disturbing to Mariner and he is expressing his displeasure about it......but he is fine (otherwise).

Not all change on the ships is made IMO but I hate to see the traditional Captain's Welcome Aboard stopped. For new cruisers who never saw it the old way, they don't know the difference or care. (The irony is DH and I never attend but we hate for it to not be available for all who like to go and that is usually about 90% of the guests. We have always noticed the long lines of people waiting to enter and meet the Captain/get their photo with him. We see the Ocean Bar empty out as people leave for the party. )

It's sad to wave goodbye to another tradition.

We did have the new Mariner's LUnch on the Maasdam on our second cruise. I posted it here somewhere on this board (has probably sunk down) along with the menu. It was great. Only problem is on 7 day cruises taht are very port intensive like the Canada/New England cruises, don't know how they are going to have the lunch.

KK ....Your post about the Mariner's Lunch was the first I heard of that change in how the Mariners Party is now conducted. I like what I read and it sounds good. Eager to see for ourselves on Maasdam in June.

Mariner is fine....he's just agitated about this change. He (and DH and I ) are very loyal, traditionalist cruisers. We resist change on the ships. This discontinuation of the Captain's Party that we are accustomed to is particularly disturbing to Mariner and he is expressing his displeasure about it......but he is fine (otherwise).

S7S, thanks for clearing that up! Some of us were concerned about him since it wasn't his usual writing style last night on this thread!

As far as the "new" welcome toast, we didn't experience that two weeks ago on Ryndam but if what has been described here is the way of the future ...........I think it sucks, big time!

Is it possible that this too is something of a byegone era, that majority of cruisers ( not necessarily represented on this board) no longer care about? What does it have to do with the typical pax, onboard for a 7 day sail?

They did not meet/greet the pilot and crew on their flight to the port. The Hotel General Manager, at the hotel they stayed, pre cruise, did not impose himself/herself on their guest's time.

The market driven changes, dress code, more flexible dining and a more restrictive smoking policy, have, thus far, probably not cost HAL hard dollars to implement. That these changes are not welcome by some goes without saying.

Eliminating this event probably saves them a few $$, when extrapolated across all ships and sails and if the majority of cruisers don't care, why spend it?

Now the YUM-YUM guy dining mascot has more interaction with pax and represents a function/performance that distinguishes HAL from the others. I am betting they are not going to mess with him.

It may well be that it's being tested on some ships and might be phased in on some cruises but not on others. I don't think anybody knows, but frankly I don't like it. I enjoy the silly little party ... it gives Christopher a chance to critique other people's clothing and horrible fashion sense, and his remarks (after 4 and 10 glasses of bubbly) can be really funny.

If it's being discontinued, either across the board or even just selectively, I consider that a great loss. Most unfortunate.

I was also concerned when I read Mariner's posts ... particularly the follow-up post responses to the reports from recent cruises which John and I (and, for that matter, others) posted. It didn't read like his normal posting style, and I was wondering if he wasn't ill (or hadn't been nipping a little too much brandy). But, apparently he's just upset. And, for that matter, so am I ... IF what he is reporting is happening on one ship, and what we have heard about on a couple other ships, is going to turn into a fleet-wide experience.

I have a suspicion that what we are hearing and seeing are changes in policies/activities brought about by the further development of a difference between 7-14 day cruises and the longer cruises as exemplified by the "Grand Cruises" of both the Amsterdam and the Prinsendam...The newer and larger vessels are on the shorter runs and the S,R and Prinsendam classes are more involved on longer schedules. It has been my experience that the longer [25days+] cruises are filled up almost entirely with Mariner Club members...It has only been 2 years ago that we were on a Grand Circle Pacific cruise of 65 days aboard Amsterdam with 1200 other "Mariners"...Over 500 "Copper" holders and 200 "Silver"...I'm sure some of you were there...Janet Lanterman joined us in Hawaii for the return to San Diego.[she is the God-Mother of Amsterdam]...Could my suspicions be right ????...What say you S7S ??...Rob.:confused: :confused: :confused: