Mary229

I have been told numerous times that all of the CCL brands outsource to the same company. I do not understand why you would not change companies after the 7 year of poor performance. However there do seem to be operational differences among the brands 

3 hours ago, powlan said:

Took this cruise. It was fantastic.

My DH and my brother in law both said of the Antarctica cruise,  “best cruise ever”

5 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

 

Based on a sheet I saw with what I think is park west’s ‘valuation’ of each piece of art, it could be very valuable to park west if any sell any at even half the valuation….vs prices I found through google for the same prints (many of the works are prints, not unique paintings…so you can find some of those values using google).  It may or may not be valuable to the buyers ….

Unfortunately people do buy it.  We sold collectibles and know a tad about art. My husband’s friends wanted us to view the “art” they were going to buy.  We refused as we never comment to another’s customer about valuation.  Unfortunately this dear man paid $15000 for something I wouldn’t give $100 for.  A well known tactic in sales is to charge an exorbitant price and the price sets the credibility 

What you do is exactly what he is doing here - complain loudly. Be sure you leave a message on the app every evening it is closed, state it prominently on your post cruise survey and even email Seattle directly.  I agree with you this should be changed.  

4 minutes ago, Real NHDOC said:

If the cruise line offers a 3/4 cabin to 2 they should honor that offer.  That's a contract.  Offer, acceptance, consideration.  If they don't want to sell trips and quads to couples or singles, that's fine, then don't offer them.  But to offer them, book them and then say at some later date "we can move you at will because someone with a larger party wants your cabin" (or really any other reason they choose to use according to the contract) is just wrong, IMHO. 

 

I have noticed that now many cruises only show double occupancy cabins as being available when I say 2 people are traveling but the trips and quads show as being open if I say 4 are traveling.  Fine, I don't have a problem with that. 

 

What I do have a problem with is that I booked J insides on Eurodam for 31 days next winter and those are all quads.  All booked before this new policy was announced.  If we get bumped I will not be happy with any OV cabin as those are much smaller and don't have the layout that the J has.  So an "upgrade" to an OV isn't an upgrade to me.  In fact, the guarantee OV is cheaper than the J interior so it isn't an upgrade to HAL either if you consider the pricing, not the category as being the metric by which you judge cabin "level".

Exactly. As I have noted numerous times I was offered a family room. Usually they don’t book those to couples ever but they offered so I snapped it up. I was warned coming and going.  If this thread is still alive when I go I will report 

1 hour ago, VMax1700 said:

Currently streaming our local radio news station.  Will try spotify later.

Netflix does not work for live streaming.

Hint - they are not blocking the activity of streaming they are blocking videos on certain websites or are hosted by certain websites.  🤫. Funnily the only thing I couldn’t watch by slinking around the web was my training videos - oh boohoo. 

28 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Image and branding is a successful business  'Staple'.

Such a missed opportunity in the name of cutbacks.

 

Ask your steward.  That looks like something the last passenger left behind. They still have the HAL pens. 

They fail to understand that the website should operate as a retail outlet not a slick travel brochure.  Then there are times I think they purposely obfuscate so customers will find a travel agent. I have come to realize they really want you to use a Travel Agent, they don’t want the retail headaches, they want to operate at the wholesale level so therefore the websites are just slick marketing brochures

I am sorry. I hope you get your money returned.  I hope your mother lives a long  life and you find another way to gather.  I see you are in South Carolina- there are many great vacation cabins in the Smoky Mountains maybe try those but please find an agency in your home town, walk into their office and sit down and tell them what you want. 

1 hour ago, TRLD said:

Answer to the new policy is pick a cabin for 2, not 3/4 if you have 2 or less in your booking. Probably avoid cabins with connecting doors as well.

So here is the deal.  As a 4 star Mariner I often get 3 and 4 free so I could just book someone in those and oops they didn’t show up. 

4 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

This is true. To HAL it's all just inventory. But for those of us who have our own criteria for cabin choice, we're paying to make that choice. If we can be moved around at will, then we've basically got guarantees. 

And for those of us who spend many weeks if not months at sea not being able to select might be a deal breaker. 7 days in a noisy cabin is one  thing any more than that is unbearable 

54 minutes ago, Roz said:

Last year I did Buenos Aires to Ft. Lauderdale.  My favorite ports were Port Stanley and Ushuaia.  It was 31 days. 

I was surprised how much we enjoyed Port Stanley.  My sister is a real Anglophile and I FaceTimed her as I walked through the grocery😂.  

4 minutes ago, crystalspin said:

Hi Mary! I started this thread after booking a Observation Deck Verandah (on Zuiderdam, where all of Deck 10 Verandahs are quads). Not a "Family" cabin such as on Main Deck. Just a crowded Verandah like this:

It was my PCC that used the word "family", but any foursome would be able to bump us. As the Verandahs on that deck were filling up, making us one of the last to book (potentially first to be bumped?), I blinked and took a Navigation double cabin near the forward elevators/stairwell.

 

Her mentioning the potential for being bumped (for an additional $160 pp for guests 3&4! on top of the $1000 pp for guests 1&2 to be on Deck 10) was the NEW thing, and several CC'ers did post to this thread that they had been told the same thing. So far no one has reported having it happen to them. I don't even know how a foursome would know to ask!

 

I don't remember the verbage, but my PCC did imply that HAL was moving toward the policy of ONLY booking the maximum number per cabin like Princess and RCCL -- both lines I have had to put my mom in with us to get the cabin I wanted, even though she might not have been able to sail. That instructing the PCCs to mention bumping was just the first step. 

Someone a few lines up posted a change to the terms of contract.  I booked my family cabin spring 2023 and was told that I could be bumped but that was standard before this change as the accessible room bump was.  When booking those cabins in the past I was always forewarned.  I guess the moral of the story is to have a really good TA or PCC who knows the rules.  Actually I had not picked the family room but my TA was offered it on the phone for a very small amount of money extra when I was going to try a first floor OV

14 minutes ago, KAKcruiser said:

I don't believe that booking groups will prevent HAL from increasing fares.  I think they will do both.

I think the under 14 day cruises will increase with industry competition, that would be the point.  However the grands and legendaries have small perks that I do believe are subsidized by the mass market itineraries.  My cost on lengendaries when compared to my costs on standard mass market sailings is hardly a smidge more however the experience is heads and tails above from reports here on cruise critic. 

Which ship?

1 hour ago, Torquer said:

Wow...this is the second time in one week I have read about a large group disrupting ship activities for non-group members on the ship.  I have been reading the HAL board on CC for 10+ years and I never saw this mentioned before and now two at the same time...what is HAL doing.

 

FYI...here is the other thread about closing the lower dining room for anytime dining after 6:30 PM to accommodate a large group:  https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3003701-what-to-do-received-limited-dining-email-this-morning/

 

Not really, HAL has always been a bifurcated cruise line but that division is growing. As a business person I understand precisely what they are doing.  
 

They are maximizing profits on their most competitive sector - the under 2 week mass market sailing.  They are perhaps even subsidizing their classic venture of the long, unique itinerary for the seasoned traveler.   The first is easy to figure out - just watch your competition and pick off the most profitable ideas.  

The second is going after the fuller wallets and maintaining much of the ambiance.  HAL does not want to be a luxury line, its higher end clientele want to travel well but don’t want to be smothered with butlers and caviar. This clientele will splurge on long exotic voyages and the take the grandkids on vacation in Alaska.  It is a solid target. 

16 minutes ago, TRLD said:

How many steak houses exist today compared to even 20 years ago? Maybe 30%.

 

 Lots more casual ethnic dining in the US today which I would not call one and done. Some that one would not have found out of specific neighborhoods in large cities 30 years ago.  The key is much more variety, in a ever changing mix of offerings. If cruise lines want to appeal they need to keep up with the expectations of the market they serve.

 

For the most part food on a ship is not fine dining. It is hotel banquet food with a larger selection. Lobster  steak, and sushi on board ship is usually not the best, especially not sushi.  I tend to avoid those on ship because the quality is simply not there compared to land based restaurants.

Same with entertainment.  I grew up in the very tail end of the variety show era with all of the dance routines and production shows.  It is not what people watch anymore.  I go to our theater a lot and rarely have I seen an equivalent to the cruise line production show. I see traditional, cultural productions and their updated cousins, small troupe plays and comedy, solo artists or small band performances.  People also still attend ballet, symphony and the like but large scale performances cannot be accomplished well on a cruise ship just like 5 star dining is not easily replicated in the confines of a ship galley 

I want to correct what I said.  My negative experiences with the art studio and seeing Park West were on the Koningsdam not the Oosterdam. 

Just now, Mary229 said:

That is something I would complain about on ship, immediately using the app and dropping a note into the box at guest services.  We had a similar issue on the  Oosterdam where the art studio was closed except during art presentations.  That is stupid. I complained and gave notice that I would be going behind the velvet rope at will

PS when you complain on app Seattle receives a direct message also.  I was saddened to see Park West back onboard.  They were almost sued out of existence but now they are back. Yuck

That is something I would complain about on ship, immediately using the app and dropping a note into the box at guest services.  We had a similar issue on the  Oosterdam where the art studio was closed except during art presentations.  That is stupid. I complained and gave notice that I would be going behind the velvet rope at will

45 minutes ago, highscar said:

@wetterthanwater  sorry, would you please explain your reference to coffee mate.   We have used it for many years.  I don’t know the make in hotels. Possible several.  

Those little packets of powdered coffee mate in hotels.  Not very healthful

7 hours ago, Boatdrill said:

I don't know if this "counts", but on April 18 I checked HAL's travel agent booking portal for availability on two 7 day Alaska cruises on the Eurodam this summer. The itineraries were the same. One cruise was in mid June, the other in early September. All rooms/categories, on both cruises, were available by guarantee only.  For the September cruise, this was not the case just a few months ago. On both cruises, I entered specific room numbers - triples, quads, double, single occ. - to test the system, and as a attempt to find a room to assign. Not one was available. All suites on the June cruise were waitlisted. Everything else, top to bottom, was guarantee only. It didn't matter if it was with or without Have It  All, group fares, or any promotion; 
HAL was not going to show me their hand, not even for a cruise 5 months from now.    

That is a different thing they have been doing and I am not really sure what it portends.  About 6-8 weeks out they have been “closing” the bookings then reopening them later.  This started soon after RCCL had to turn away people at the pier because Royal had overbooked.   Perhaps it is a new back office booking software?  

There are plenty of agency owners using independent contractors who focus on group cruises and groups can be amazingly small.  My TA’s agency is giving me the opportunity to try as I retired last year and am looking for a new retirement career.  I just started and so far all of the training is online.   
 

There are plenty of such agencies. Perhaps the agency you are currently using has a program in place.  Call the owner and ask

7 minutes ago, Archipelago said:

Thank You all ! I only want one night in Santiago and 2 or 3 nights in Buenos Aires...on the other end .Thank You ! 

Buenos Aires is another great town.  Get a private driver, your hotel concierge can set that up. Street taxis can be iffy so check with your hotels for their recommendations. It is surprisingly inexpensive and they can take you everywhere you want.   

5 minutes ago, Archipelago said:

This was years ago . I was just going to get a hotel independent...the package was a long time ago.

Ok, I misread. If you look at your booking confirmation or your itinerary it will give you sail away time.  HAL lately has been assigning everyone noon embarkation.  You can get there with no worries at 11.