ExpatBride

On 6/6/2023 at 9:44 PM, Analog187 said:

The show tonight was the Pianist with the Hair again.  He was even better than his first show.  This is one of the best shows I've ever seen on a cruise.  He's incredibly talented and he should be very famous.  Can't say enough about how amazing he is. 

 

Do you happen to remember his name? I don't want to miss him if he's still performing when I'm onboard next month. He sounds right up my alley!

34 minutes ago, Analog187 said:

I'm 44, my wife is 47.  I probably would have liked HAL more in 2016.  I'm a travel blogger so I have a lot of contacts in the cruise industry.  I've been told by all of them that most lines are trying to slash costs every which way they can.  I think the HAL of today is probably different than pre-2020 HAL.  We went on NCL in Feb of 2020 and then we went on 3 NCL cruises in 2022. I could really notice the difference.  Food went way downhill at least in my opinion.  Drinks were pretty bad too.  

 

Food is very subjective though but I could really notice where they went with cheap product like the chicken in the MDR.  I don't see how you can call the quality.  Perhaps some of the more fancy stuff I don't eat like the duck was better.  

We're about the same age then!

On the recent menus I've seen online, I've noticed that the vegetarian options on HAL seem to be very heavy on "Beyond" products, whereas the last time I sailed with them the only fake meat I encountered was at breakfast, and that was soon replaced by "sausage patties" that were obviously made in-house.

The vegetarian menu was really great back then and based on whole foods, but I can see how that's probably more expensive and prone to waste vs, meat substitutes. Still, it seems crazy to me that a fake "meatball" sandwich is considered an MDR-standard dinner entree. I don't really care about lobster one way or another, but it's $15 in the MDR for two 5oz. tails and $15 for a 12 oz. tail in Pinnacle on top of the $50 Pinnacle upcharge. Meanwhile, I have HIA, which equates to a $50 upcharge for me to have some more fake meat or a couple of tomatoes and some eggplant. Make it make sense to anyone but Finance 😂 

Times have definitely changed!

I'm prone to swelling when I fly, so I have my SO prescribes Ferusomide, which is a water pill that sorts it right out. I'll be taking some with me when I cruise next month. If you're in the US, I seem to recall mild diuretics being available OTC there. Might be worth considering?

11 minutes ago, Analog187 said:

But I'm not HAL's demographic as we were younger than 80% of the people there so maybe my opinion is not relevant. 

 

Your opinion is very relevant and I'm curious to know your age. I moved to HAL from NCL because I wanted something a bit more upmarket and I didn't want to have to fight with the crew to get something vegetarian outside of the buffet and MDR (specifically O'Sheehans). I'm in my mid-40s and my SO is 5 years younger, so we're significantly younger than HAL's target market, but with him being Danish, he's not comfortable with the prospect of a luxury experience. It's a cultural thing, so I'm trying to work with it.

HAL was pretty much exactly what I was looking for, but that was in 2016 on Zuiderdam. I'm sailing next month on NS and I've found your impressions to be interesting and helpful in recalibrating my expectations for sailing post-shutdown.

8 hours ago, BigMattT said:

 

…and some MBA statistician’s idea that anything less than a 9 or 10 on a survey is a “fail”, is unbelievably problematic.

 

 

 

That's not usually how it works. There should be a benchmarking period, and then KPIs aimed at incremental improvements. E.g., The baseline is an average rating of "6" in category A and the target for next quarter is to raise that to an average of 7. There might be incentives for getting an individual  rating of higher than a 6. 

Even with NPS, a rating of 9–10 is pretty rare and well-run companies know that.

14 hours ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

Since I just got back from another cruise, I was still able to find it! It's Ondansetron, and I believe it's a pretty common medication that most doctors are familiar with. On my recent cruise the ginger tabs helped a lot, but my seasickness is usually pretty slight. 

Thanks for this. This will be my first time sailing on HAL without a Yum-Yum Man onboard. Hopefully the ginger I'm bringing will work as well as what he used to give out. I'm also planning to bring some pharmaceuticals just in case. I was once seasick in the Mediterranean for most of 14 days, and I don't want to repeat that. The wristbands don't work for me.

20 minutes ago, YourWorldWithBill said:

He prescribed another anti-nausea medication that was very effective. 

Do you remember what it was? 

The only scenario where I think it would be "ok" is if I complimented a crew member on their work and they asked me to pass it along to management. If someone asked me out of the blue to give them a good review, I wouldn't do it on principle.

2 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 I wonder if Navigator compliments get more attention than the ones people write on their surveys because they're immediate.

Knowing what I know about business processes and particularly staff retention, I'd say "yes." I also suspect that they're more visible to staff behind the scenes via instant notifications, leaderboards, and similar "motivation tools." Everything is metrics-based these days.

11 minutes ago, iceman93 said:

Isn't there a way to submit compliments via the Navigator app?  I realize it's more cumbersome than pen and paper, but that's probably what they've transitioned to.

I believe there is. If HAL is like most companies, they're becoming more data-driven in their operations. It makes sense for them to want to collect feedback in a digital system where they can aggregate and analyze it. Not that I like this direction – but from a business standpoint, I get it.

4 minutes ago, Tigrou said:

Another example of lack of manners (and common sense) on this cruise.

 

While I was sitting in Explorations Cafe this morning I saw and heard a woman stop one of the servers and loudly demand, as she gestured out towards Haugesund, “What is there to do here? There was no information on the TV. How are we meant to know what to do?” Unsurprisingly the guy looked a little startled but politely suggested she speak to Shore Excursions or Guest Services.

 

Okay, so it would appear she hasn’t done any research for the port and she expected HAL to provide information. (Which in my experience most cruise lines no longer do, other than trying to sell shore excursions, perhaps because Google and other websites do it so well, along with travel guide books.) But when they didn’t, why did she wait until actually arriving here before she asked? And, with no disrespect to the server, why ask the coffee guy when HAL does provide shore excursions and guest services staff? What did she expect him to do, stop serving coffees and rustle up a personalised shore excursion for her?!

 

This reminds me of the time I was in Krakow and a woman was berating the poor salesperson for not knowing how much something cost in "American money." 

Lady... you're in POLAND. Install a currency converter app on your phone, or Google it 🙄 How does someone travel to another country without at least having a general idea of the conversion rate for the local currency? 

 

4 minutes ago, SnowbirdsinTraining said:

 

Main Dining Room: See attached vegetarian / vegan dinner menu. This was the menu that you could select from for the duration of the cruise. 

 

MDR-Vegetarian-Menu-2022-EN.pdf 72.14 kB · 0 downloads

Thanks for posting this, even though it's disappointing. I last sailed on HAL in 2016 on Zuiderdam and veg*n menu was much better than the "current" one I was able to find online, but this one is even worse than the one I found online.

They're really pushing the Beyond Meat products! Both the meatball sandwich and veggie burger look like snack bar/buffet options, not something I'd want to eat for dinner in the MDR. Same goes for the pizza.

On 5/31/2023 at 1:16 AM, singleflyer said:

@Analog187 Random question; but are the milkshakes at Dive In an up-charge (or count against your 15 drink limit with Have It All)?  Or are they free for everyone?  

This is being discussed on FB and it seems to vary by ship and venue (i.e., the gelato place vs. Dive In). It's probably worth asking onboard. There's definitely an uncharge, but some ships/venues are allowing them on the HIA package. I wouldn't have thought to ask because while smoothies are listed on the "included" items, milkshakes aren't.

54 minutes ago, K32682 said:

 

On the "fru-fru" scale it would be higher than a gin and tonic, even with a Cuba Libre and lower than a pina colada or banana daiquiri. 😉

Just call it a "rum & Coke" 🙄

15 hours ago, klfrodo said:

And why would they? It’s no longer “our” world. It’s their world. It’s up to us to use our skills to adapt to the new world.

My niece is currently in beauty school and she's learning how to do perms and the old granny wash & set helmet 'do. Those are more out of date and dying faster than classic cocktails. But it makes sense for people to able to serve their clientele, regardless of whether or not they're on-trend.

On 6/1/2023 at 6:22 PM, mahdnc said:

Most that I have seen are 110/120 but there are 220v rice cookers out there.  

That's fortunate considering that 220v is the standard in Europe.

2 minutes ago, ACorgan said:

Would you even need him to sign in? If it’s just to see the ticket in the app, could you just screenshot it and send him the photo to pull up? 

That would be even better!

11 minutes ago, Colorado Klutch said:

No classical music aboard Koningdam May 6-13. I never saw any jazz musicians anywhere. 

This is super-disappointing since listening to the classical trio after dinner was one of the highlights of my last HAL cruise, though some decent live jazz could've almost made up the difference. I'll also miss the YumYum man. These were two unique attributes that set HAL apart from other lines for me, and they're one of the reasons I chose HAL for my SO's  introduction to cruising. I'm nervous now, and hoping I haven't over-sold the experience to him. 

I'm sure we'll have a great trip, but I really sold it as "a step back to a more elegant time."

3 minutes ago, Roz said:

It has to be app or room key.

So then he could just sign into my app account? I have a gender-neutral name that's not well-known in the Nordics, and he speaks with an American accent, so I don't think it would raise any eyebrows.

Just now, VMax1700 said:

Then you would have to go off the ship with him and return with him for the security scan.

Not if he takes both keys 😅 But that's a good point, thank you. 

I think I'll just ask at the excursions desk when we board. It's not a big deal, it's just if there were an easy way to arrange it, it would be nice for him to do both excursions instead of "wasting" my credit. 

3 minutes ago, Ottawa traveller said:

On my recent Japan cruise, the local tour providers scanned your room key or the HAL App at the bus door as you got on the bus.  The above suggestion would not have worked.

Unless we swap room keys or he signs into my app 🤔

On 5/30/2023 at 2:43 PM, Turtles06 said:

The location across from City Hall is great, but the downside is that many of the rooms will hear the bell in the bell tower, which chimes every 15 minutes and then rings out the hour, from (iirc) 8am until midnight.  (Or at least did so in 2018.)  Although we'd asked for a quiet room and our room was not along the street, we could still hear the bell as our room windows did face the direction of City Hall, and it was pretty disturbing at night.

 

One will probably hear the bells regardless. My ex lived near a cathedral... fantastic location, but there was no peace for the wicked. Once the drunk people stopped making noise, the bell tower took over. 

12 minutes ago, JustAPilot said:

The people we met on our Med cruise last summer in the Haven were not your average middle class family, they were lining up at the Louis Vuitton store to buy hand bags at our stop in Cannes. 

LV is solidly middle class/upper middle class. The upper class doesn't "line up" at Louis Vuitton on holiday. LV has multiple bags around $1000, which become cheaper with the VAT rebate (assuming the "not your average middle class family" lives outside of the EU).

1 hour ago, pmjnh said:

Are you sharing a cabin? My understanding is that everyone in your cabin has to purchase HIA package. If that is the case, wouldn't your SO have their own package? Or are you suggesting that you give one of your excursions to him/her as an extra?

Yes. We both have the HIA package but I'm not interested in any of the excursions and he'd like to go on two of the kayaking ones. It seems silly to pay for the second excursion when I have a $100 credit that I won't be using.

I have the HIA package but I'm not interested in any of the excursions in Norway – I live in Denmark and this will be my fourth fjords cruise.

However, my SO is an avid kayaker and there's a kayaking excursion in two of the ports. Does anyone know if I can book one of the excursions online using my HIA credit and then swap the name on the reservation once I'm onboard?