MrdeRastignac

36 minutes ago, Sancho_proudfoot said:

There are also snacks available at the Solarium.

Thank you Sancho. Probably not a lot of people would know this. That does sound like one of the more 'hidden' places I originally mentioned.

Is the Solarium only accessible for people with a Spa pass? 

That's clear. Thanks again! 

That actually sounds really great! Nice and varied snack options! 

Thank you again for your quick reply. 

Just one final question regarding the MDR: do I have to reserve my 'dinner time slot' beforehand to avoid (long) lines? Or could I also make or alter reservations for different times on different days on board? 

Sorry for all of these questions. 

2 minutes ago, Host Clarea said:

Main DIning Room, Windjammer (buffet), Park Cafe, Cafe Latte-Tudes (only pastries/desserts/cookies).

 

Soft serve frozen dessert in Windjammer, limited hours.

Thank you! What does Park Café serve? 

And do Café Latte-tudes and Park café only give you those snacks if you order a premium coffee or something like that? 

Hi guys, 

I will be going on a cruise with the Brilliance of the Seas and I would like to know any tips regarding complimentary food options. 

So you have the MDR and Windjammer, but do you also have certain spots for things like ice cream, pizza, hot dogs, snacks, pastries and those sort of things? 

Sometimes those things are complimentary on a cruise, but 'hidden' in a certain small bar, coffee corner or something like that. 

What (and where) is available on the Brilliance of the Seas regarding complimentary food options? 

Thank you! 

It is not a matter of you wanting to sue them. It is just being fair to their standards of operation, for you to report what may be a way to a prevent the same kind of accident happening to others.

Yeah, I know. You're right. That's why I also clearly indicated that on my form and on the survey afterwards. :)

But, to be honest, just after 'the run-over' I wasn't thinking like: 'step 1: get to management', 'step 2: get to..' :)

I was just numb, had trouble walking and was scared about the actual injury. And when I went to the FO, I thought it just was the right thing to do. And on top of that, I needed ice of course.

I know some people have said that the first thing after an accident/incident is to request someone to get management. But I just can't imagine that being true in my case. You're just feeling numb emotionally, you're in pain and adrenalin kicks in massively. :(

Some of you took your time to just read my post and reply in a thoughtful and polite way. Whether or not we can find common ground, I would like to thank you for that.

Others (quite a lot imo) are really eager to call my post offensive, although it just summarizes some of my dissappointing experiences regarding service quality, and I end my post by some of the weak points of the current HSC system imo.

However, I get the feeling people are using different standards here.

Is it not offensive to:

-doubt my story

-call me a liar

-put words in my mouth or say I took or didn't take some action (e.g."don't speak with off-duty crew members"....I only described how I just replied to their "how are you, Sir" comment. They were certainly on duty. And if you are not interested in any reply, you just shouldn't ask me how I am doing. That's even regardless of being 'on-duty' btw

-and most rude: am I not allowed to stand up in the Lido?? So, it is suddenly my fault that I got run over? Do you say the same thing for any pedestrian or cyclist a priori?? :confused: I am truly sorry, but if you are driving an electric scooter, you should still be very well aware of your surroundings and really take care, given the mass and speed of the object. That has nothing to do with your actual condition!

Also all the 'but HSC is included everywhere' is just moot. In most countries which are described, taxes and other charges are included in the price. No relation to service quality whatsoever. You can't change it, or remove it.

And that is actually some of the points I made. Even in favour of the crew. HAL DOES make the relation between HSC and service quality. One IS allowed to change it.

Even the form I got stated something like: "PLEASE STATE THE SERVICES IN WHICH YOU WERE DISSAPPOINTED"

The reason to change or even remove the HSC is directly related to dissappointment in service quality, according to HAL's own 'ruleset'. So how can anyone ignore this and say you are never allowed to change it?

If you ignore this and say the HSC is just salary compensation...do you actually realise that you are agreeing with my post?? :confused:

To the OP, did you report to the infirmary and make a formal accident complaint?

 

i would assume HAL carries liability insurance for this sort of incident, but they would need some form of objective injury documentation. I am sorry the front office did not direct you to the infirmary to start this process and that you were not then contacted by their risk management team.

 

If they allow scooters on board this sort of accident must come with the territory from time to time. And let's assume this was indeed an accident, not an intentional assault. HAL should have not reluctance to deal with it.

 

And if HAL maintains inadequate aisle space to accommodate both the scooter and other passengers in normal public walkways, this too needs to be documented and remedied.

 

I never expect any crew member to be a comprehensive and final decision maker. They know part of their duties, have limited command of English, do smile and are pleasant but have no business being someones new BFF and expected to deliver comprehensive follow-through. It is just not type of a ship.

 

In fact, much of what you reported sounds like it was fairly normal - busy in the dining rooms the first few days, kids in the pool, etc. But it all settles out and sometimes takes an affirmative response by the passenger himself, to get things changed and not expect a crew member to initiate the full and desired response.

 

This is a known mass cruise line and one should not expect the allegedly anticipatory, intrusive, cloying and ultimately oppressive Crystal Cruise Line service standards on any HAL ship. Though for easily half the price one gets pretty darn close to an extremely pleasant cruise experience on all HAL ships.

 

Sorry your experience was so lacking for you. I don't blame you for being unhappy in your failed expectations.

Thank you :)

Regarding the first quote in bold:

The FO employee gave me the form on which I also had to describe the incident. Including the timeframe and location. But this already was the HSC-change form. Not a separate complaint form. Should it have been one?

I wasn't looking to sue them :p , but I was just shocked and had trouble walking at first. (Which by all means didn't mean I was an invalid; I just felt numb emotionally and my Achilles made sure I walked like a soccer player who just got tackled)

And the second part in bold:

Yep, I also mentioned that in the survey I received by mail :)

It is interesting to think of all those people who serve us but never get any tips - grocery store clerks, people working in doctor's, dentists etc.

offices, the woman that puts all our mail in those super boxes, and on and on.

We are pensioners and don't have a large income so we don't cruise as often as we would like to so the HSC is a lot for us to come up with. It swallows all the money we could spend on tours etc.

 

The staff onboard get everything taken care of - food and lodging and uniforms and their own doctor. So why make it an automatic charge and not something people can do on their own according to the quality of service they do get?

 

On our next cruise they would not give us the OBC because we booked before they offered it and now this cruise is 2000 pp less than we paid - as they try to fill the cabins and they want us to pay the HSC on top of that?

Well, to be fair, it seems to be more of a 'salary compensation' than an actual tip. At least, that's how I see it.

The Indo/Phil work force don't get paid much by our standards, and this 'HSC' seems to raise their salaries to more acceptable levels.

For the record, I wasn't criticising the actual amount, but the way the system works. In a way I was even making a case for the Indo/Phil workforce. ;-)

But that seems to be the problem of this thread. I am probably completely sandwiched between those in favour of the current system (who don't want to hear about any change whatsoever) and those opposed to HSC (who will probably want to remove it in its entirety).

yep...this thread seems to have been a baaaaad decision

On our first night on Maasdam, we joined a group of 6 we didn't know. Our service was terrible. We complained to the Manager and the next night we were in the Pinnacle. Our waiter from the previous night sought us out to apologize and so did the MDR manager. He bought us a bottle of wine.

 

We did not eat in the MDR the rest of the cruise.

 

Glenn:cool:

That's actually pretty good. By those standards I might have gotten a 'your next cruise for free' offer. :p

Seriously, though... your example really strengthens my feelings towards my first HAL cruise. They did nothing for me... :(:confused:

So here we go again. All black and white.

Someone saying how he always pays more, someone just stating the obvious.

Maybe my post isn't of War Poet quality, but I think it's sad when it just gets downgraded to 'flamebait', which by any standards, it clearly is not.

:(

Alright...I know people seem to like to discuss the HSC. But it always seems so awfully black and white. So I would like to share my own lengthy opinion on the HSC based on my first HAL cruise.

It is probably more of a blog than an actual thread...but I would just like to share it.

I'm from Europe, so basically I am not really used to 'tipping as a compensation for low salaries'. We only tend to consider tipping if people are prepared to go the extra mile.

And that's where confusion sets in. HAL calls its 'salary compensation system' a 'Hotel Service Charge'. So basically the name seems to link the HSC amount to 'Service'.

But what is 'Service'? Well...at least in NW Europe, doing your job well basically comes with your job description. So cleaning the room, providing clean sheets, preparing meals; that's the minimum of what can be expected. For most of us 'service' basically comes down to the aforementioned 'extra-mile'.

E.g.: I once had to wait more than 10 minutes for my 'fast food'. I didn't complain at all, but MickeyD decided to just give me an ice cream cone for the wait.

E.g: Another true McDonald's story: the price of a certain meal had just gone up. Unfortunately, I came 20 cents short, so I just apologised and basically felt immensily stupid. But when I walked away, this girl just said to me: 'oh, that's fine...you can have it for...' and I was allowed to pay 20 cents less.

So what about my HAL cruise? Didn't they deliver?

Well, to be honest: some did a great job. But not by going the extra mile, but just by being genuinely kindhearted. I made sure to 'compliment' them 1 on 1, and through the survey (hopefully this worked out well).

But my first few days on the ship were not that great...

Day 1:

-sheets were not clean at all. Blood and other awkward stains were quite noticeable.

-television didn't function properly

-every single time I came across an employee, I heard the same basic: "hello Sir, how are you today?". But when I actually stopped to say how I was doing and ask them how THEY were doing, it was blatantly clear that all these greetings were just -excuse me- fake as Hell. Most of them didn't even bother to listen to my response.

-we took the tour of the Spa, and well...still not sure if it was a tour of the Spa. Could have been anything. Our 'tour guide' just didn't master the English language. And that isn't a way too harsh comment towards someone with a heavy accent or limited vocabulary. nope, you just couldn't understand a word she was saying. Except the word 'dollar' at the end of every other sentence.

-In the MDR for dinner, I (and the other 3 of my company) had to wait at the table for 45 minutes after the actual order before the first course arrived. After 1.5 hours we got the main course and finally got some sort of apology. But this was just: 'oh..it's crowded'. No explanation why everyone around us, who arrived later got their courses way earlier. No compensation like @McD by just offering a glass of wine or at least get us the requested glass of lemonade for my sister.

Night1/Day2:

-seaday, so we were planning to get up late. But no..... 2 hours before we planned to get up, we heard someone knocking on the door (around 6/6:30) Room service. Jolly good show!

-I already posted once about my private eye business, trying to solve this 'erroneous room service mystery'. I solved it later by checking the room service label of several rooms in our hallway. I identified the problem eventually: some guest with terrible handwriting. So I knocked on the guest's door twice. No response. I explained the situation to a crew member passing by, and asked her to contact this guest for me. She wouldn't.

Then I asked her to at least change his handwriting to avoid any further mistakes. She wouldn't either and suggested to do it myself. No service whatsoever.

Btw...I changed his unreadable 6 and left him a nice message. Luckily, he was quite pleasant and we became like cruise 'pen pals'. Ehhhmmm...seriously...at least he truly was genuinely friendly about the issue and we were able to solve the issue by leaving eachother short messages. Quite fun actually!

-lunch: I went to the Lido for lunch. oh my gosh, that was way too crowded! No organisation whatsoever, just total chaos. Couldn't the crew just help by assigning tables or something? We just went outside to wait for it to calm down.

-pool: we were hanging out near the pool. But some really young kids just treated the entire area as a soccer pitch. They just kicked the ball randomly throughout the pool area. It was really annoying, but no one of the staff said anything about it.

-lunch cont'd: Back inside we found ourselves a table and things were more quiet fortunately.

I just stood by my table, waiting for the other three of my company to come back with some food.

And then I suddenly found myself flat on the ground. Adult volleyball-player sized male on the ground, screaming in pain. It all happened way too fast. I was run over by an electric scooter from behind. A metal part hit me right on the spot where our Greek hero Achilles knew everything about.

I literally couldn't get up for like a minute or two. The evil invalid (sorry for the lame name...hope it doesn't offend anyone) didn't apologise or anything and basically drove away at the speed of light. I tried to check my injury while on the ground by removing my shoe, while still in pain. I even yelled at the evil invalid while she vanished: "don't you have any manners!!??"

FOUR!!! waiters (and some basic Lido staff serving food, but I don't blame them) were standing three feet away from me, doing absolutely nothing. They didn't come to check or ask how I was doing. They didn't stop our evil invalid. They did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!

Luckily, my sister is a M.D. and checked whether or not anything was broken. It was awfully painful, but she reckoned the worst thing that could have happened was a rupture of some Medical term I don't recall.

But I couldn't walk well for the following three days and even a month after the incident you can still clearly identify the scar tissue.

After this incident I couldn't stay for lunch anymore. I had to return to my room and take care of my injury. But I was really genuinely sad. I couldn't see 'Service' anywhere, and was hurting.

So, on my way to my room, I arrived -walking as a drunken sailor- at the Front Office. I explained the 'lunch'-situation and how I was in pain. In a really sad and calm way (due to the circumstances) I explained that I was really dissappointed in the provided service.

The FO's crew member was really nice and expected me to remove the HSC. I felt really bad about lowering other people's income so I asked her for another way. Couldn't for example my room steward get the entire package and couldn't it target the Lido waiters who were present exclusively. She said the system didn't work like that, but she would add the specific reason why the HSC would be removed, making sure management would know I was actually quite happy with the other crew.

Of course I wasn't really happy with the other crew, but I didn't feel the other incidents would justify my decision, given the impact on their salaries. The actual injury was another matter entirely though...

I eventually requested ice to cool and didn't remove my HSC. I altered it. By what amount? Well...I still paid over 50% of the original amount if you're really that interested.

I also made sure the HSC of my roommate wasn't altered. (And of course my other two family members still paid there amount in full as well). I had to request this specifically as the FO employee said it would normally change the HSC of everyone in the same room.

In the end, did a manager or someone else contact me? NO.

I even told the same story all over again in the survey and how I felt the HSC system should be altered (but in the meantime complementing those who were actually quite good). Did they call me or anything? NO.

HAL imo just saw this as an 'easy way out'. I really would have appreciated a small gesture. Maybe then I would even have felt differently at the end of the cruise and have cancelled my alteration. But I just felt like a random number.

In conclusion:

Well, maybe it's me, but to me the HSC fails because of several reasons:

-Ambiguity. What exactly is the HSC? Is it truly linked to 'service' or just a way to keep cruise fares low and increase Hal's profits...?

-Management not taking responsibilty PLEASE just make sure you pay your workers the right amount of money and make sure as management that the quality is excellent and problems are solved.

Now they just transfer some of their responsibility to the passenger. It seems to be like this: If you're genuinely dissatisfied, you may alter or even remove the HSC. But that's YOUR call and YOUR burden to bear. And please remember that YOU (the passenger) will be responsible for their crappy salaries. And luckily, WE as management won't have to compensate you as a passenger. It won't cost HAL one single dime. It will just hurt our precious Indonesian and Phil crew.

Sorry....but that's just bad management. No way I can endorse or defend such a company culture.

Why didn't a manager come to me and say: "let me take a look at your wound...oh I am truly sorry about that, and wil make sure we will take the right action to minimise chances of something like this happening again. I read about your reservations altering the HSC...well.... I promise you to take care of this and in the meantime you and your 3 travel companions may enjoy one meal in the Pinnacle Grill. Generally far less crowded, so a lot safer for you!" :):)

-Over-generalisation.... Oh...and please remember there is NO way within our system you can say: "X and Y underperformed, but the others performed okay, so please make sure only X and Y don't get the HSC.

And don't give me the standard black&white "but you don't even see a lot of your hard-working crew" comment. That's what managers would like to hear. Because, truth is, if you can really pinpoint those who underperformed. EVERYONE else could be able to still get the original HSC. It just is simple Calculus: I am okay enough with everyone's performance MINUS X and Y. Since everyone includes crew behind the scenes, I really don't see the problem.

-'Smile and be fake, for HSC's sake' crew who don't dare to address kids/parents who make a mess of the pool area. crew who don't seem to dare to stop the culprit when someone is run over by an electric scooter. crew who just seem to greet you in a really uninterested manner.

Of course not everyone was like that, but to be honest it seemed to be the majority. And I DON'T BLAME THEM. Doing stuff that might upset passengers, might eventually lower your salary...!!?? So just keep smiling and safeguard your HSC.

Maybe this post comes across as harsh. But to be honest, it is more of a general feeling of sadness which can be interpreted as being harsh.

I love the sea and I was the one who got my family excited to join me on a cruise. They still had quite a great cruise, so I actually had fun as well eventually, because I noticed the amount of fun they were having! :)

But in the meantime, I couldn't shake this feeling of sadness. I couldn't walk well due to my injury, and felt my cruise wasn't nearly as great as it should have been.

However, besides these direct consequences of the incident, I strongly felt HAL left me another burden to bear as well. The burden of the HSC. And I really think this shouldn't have been the case. Someone of the management should have come to talk with me.

Do I still expect HAL to contact me? No...what's done is done. But it helped writing all of this down. I am doing fine now and my cruise still was quite okay. Truth is, although I even might try and hope for a better HAL cruise in the future. And if that happens, I hopefully will willingly pay the full HSC ;)

Sorry for this convoluted mess :p

I think we're all missing the key takeaway here. The new policy no longer says anything about "out of respect for your fellow passengers...."

It also sets people up to be in compliance with the dress code by wearing the required items (slacks, collared shirts,) while still allowing them to be considered inappropriate.

 

I can see it now. Tuxedoed and begowned passengers running up behind the golf shirt and khakis crowd screaming, "Inappropriate! Inappropriate!" Meanwhile. the business casual crowd yells back, "Die, you foppish dandies!"

 

I think we best all order one of Ruth's (patent pending) Heavy Purses for when the mayhem erupts.

I am imagining the Laurel and Hardy pie fight right now! :D

Seems like a good idea! Would beat any of the ships own entertainment in my humbly but honest opinion (on a positive note: did like the 'hired'/'3rd party' entertainment very much though)

I CONFESS: I tampered with someone else's breakfast card :eek::eek:

In my defense though:

1) On a sea day I planned my wake up call @8:30 am. However room service banged on my cabin door @6:30 am. I did not sleep afterwards.

2) My Sherlock skills lead me to believe the problem was caused by bad handwriting of some other guest so I started my investigation

3) My research showed that guest A's '6' was actually more of a '4'. And that would explain the situation

4) I knocked on guest A's cabin door twice, but he didn't open. Even though I heard his TV and some walking around both times. I probably just looked scary with my Sherlock hat on.

5) I asked a crew member (just outside his door) next evening to change his weird '6' into a '4' because I felt it was inappropiate for me to do so. Or knock on his door for me.

6) But she refused and just said she would communicate the problem with room service, and advised me to change it myself.

7) So I did, but because I didn't feel like checking his door every single evening I left him a note with a lot of smileys explaining my problem. He responded by writing me a nice note himself

That's playing Sherlock in 7 steps for you all ;)

(Actually, I had quite some service issues on my first HAL cruise...so it wasn't all fun and games unfortunately)

I agree with you 100%. I believe jeans are for home and fast food restaurants, Denny's, IHOP and other Diners, never ever in a restaurant such as the cruise lines have:)

 

Joanie

Are you serious? Just at home or in fast food restaurants? That sounds really ridiculous.

Are you aware that there are very nice dark, elegant jeans out there? Not just the Mid-West Cowboy thingies?

A LOT of well educated people aged 25-45 wear jeans, with collared shirts and jackets (sometimes even a tie) and some matching shoes to just be formal, yet not overdoing it. Formal, yet fashionable.

Those subtle concepts are actually quite important in -at least European- company culture, unless you would like to be called a penguin behind your back or risk being laughed at because your slacks don't even match your jacket or shoes.

Btw this isn't about HAL's guidelines. These are just my thoughts on someone claiming jeans should only be allowed at home or at McDonalds. And perhaps KFC and Burger King...

I think the problem may have been no jeans permitted on Formal (Gala) Night in MDR but they are permitted all other nights. That should have been explained to you but apparently HAL is confused as to what they mean so why wouldn't we be? :D

 

:) to be honest, it didn't bother me that much. I am not really a gala kind of person anyway. imo seeing many people with short-sleeved shirts (no jacket or tie at all) and mismatching pants being allowed on the formal night was just a bit weird.

Btw, on -smart- casual nights I even saw quite some adults wearing shorts in the MDR.

Don't confuse "formal nights" with the dress code. You'll still have your "formal nights", just no jacket and tie required. Which, of course, then begs the question of how it will be different from any other night. Maybe it will be known as "smart casual night" in future, with other evenings allowing jeans and a sweatshirt! :eek:

No...dress code was still called 'gala'

Seems legit. Just returned from my cruise and the formal night in the MDR did NOT require a jacket or tie.

Still didn't go though...because I wouldn't have been allowed due to my dark jeans.

Didn't understand it though...I read about the dark jeans being allowed, so I brought my nicest ones. As dark as Holland America's hull. But now the only requirement was probably changed into "no jeans"....

According to staff women could wear pants and could pretty much wear everything except jeans, men only had to wear collared shirts (no jeans either).

I think it was a little weird to see total mismatches, short-sleeved shirts and other fashion disasters being allowed, but a young guy in his late twenties/early thirties with a jacket and some dark jeans wasn't :confused:

I love those fruit drinks (better than water, less suger than soda) and thought it very inconsistent and annoying that Maasdam had none of them. Since you mention both Veendam and Rotterdam, could this be true for all S- and R-class?

 

On Maasdam they even had the fruit drink dispensers, but they were behind the breakfast juice/milk counter, and they were turned off all of the time. When I asked the Lido staff, they referred me to the Lido bar, which didn't have dispensers and would offer to make some sort of mixed drink and charge for it.

To be totally frank, I am kinda allergic to such things...for me 'signature of excellence' or any good service is in the small things. Towel service, general housekeeping, room service...yeah sure...that could all be great...but that is to be expected imo.

These little things like you described (both the difference between ships/cruises and the paid option by staff) are what it is all about, and this particular example would be a major turn off for me.

Sorry...don't want to sound harsh...just being honest

The juices are already poured into glasses -- small ones -- free.

Juices are free in the main dining room as well -- just ask for whatever you want -- at all meals.

But if you go to a bar/lounge and ask for a juice, you will be charged.

There are a couple of dispenses in the coffee/tea/water area -- usually punch, cranberry, and sometimes lemonade. It varies by ship.

Alright...I'm following this topic closely, since I asked similar things in my 'drinking problems' thread.

Are you sure about the free fruit juices in the MDR for all meals? It would be weird to ask "ok, I would like an orange juice, but is it free of charge?"

Second time I'm hearing about the lemonade...other people couldn't confirm this. But it seems to be there then :p

I do find it VERY confusing that the same drinks are being charged for on different parts of the ship....I do understand in the case of specialty coffees, but I think it is weird to pay for something when you could bring it for free from the Lido and still go to that same bar.... :confused:

Any thoughts?

So, just to be sure (since that particular question hasn't been answered);

'Tap water' or 'iced water'? or are both terms understood by the waiters?

And do they also offer complimentary lemonade?

BTW, thank you POA1 for the warm welcome :) ! It just confirms that I chose the coolest username ever :p;)

Thank you!

So, one could say the Lido is actually the 'free drink' centre ;) and you can better take one of those drinks with you than request them somewhere else on the ship (unless you demonically like to let waiters run around the ship for you :p )

Sure am happy that this isn't frowned upon though! :)

Is there also something like lemonade available?

Hello!

No worries, this is not your typical story about 'drunken sailors'.

I just have a few questions about drinks on board. Especially since I think it wouldn't be very appropiate to ask these questions on board.

1) what drinks are included (tea, water, ice tea and...?) and what is their specific name (e.g. water would probably mean 'mineral water') ?

2) Lido has complimentary juices for breakfast. So if I would opt for the MDR....would they be offered there as well? And how does this work for lunch/dinner?

3) If I ask for a scotch in a bar, and some of my fellow travellers would choose one of the 'free' drinks (or vice versa)

A) is that even possible outside the Lido?

B) would that be frowned upon?

C) does an 'ice tea' always result in the 'HAL variant'? Or could it also be a Lipton/Nestea one?

Thank you for your replies. I really appreciate all the threads and input here on the forums, so thanks for that as well! :-)