Hal San Diego

After 103 cruises in the last 61 years, I thought that I had seen it all...on the first night of our January 24th cruise on the Eurodam, we were kicked out of the dining room at 8 PM to make way for the INSPIRATION group of almost 1,000 passengers that were clogging the ships corridors!!! Now, I will admit that aboard the Rotterdam in 1955, dinner was much more formal and lengthy, but they seated us for our 6:45 PM AYWD reservation which we were told was the latest time available because of the group onboard and due to the chef undercooking two steaks that had to be refired, they had just served us extra charge coffee drinks with our dessert when the head waiter came over at 8:05 PM and asked us to leave as they "needed the room", clearing away the unfinished drinks and desserts from the table!!!

My first stop in the morning was the Hotel Manager's office to let off a little steam to my old friend Charlie who totally agreed with me that this was not acceptable...he sent us a bottle of wine in the Pinnacle Grill that night and we had to go to Caneletto on the third night as our shore excursion in San Juan did not get back until 7 PM...too late to go to the Main Dining Room which had by then changed the last seating time to 6:30 PM to create a little more time to reset the room for the group.

The fourth thru seventh nights in the main dining room were very rushed, with the waiters and busboys literally running to get food and drinks so that we were done by the 8 PM deadline...let me also say that many of the group passengers expressed their unhappiness with being forced to wait until 8:30 PM to have dinner, but that's what HAL Group Sales sold them!!!

The whole problem with dining could have been avoided if they had split the group in two and let half of them eat early and that was the suggestion that Charlie emailed to Seattle, also asking that they give AYWD passengers notice of the shortened hours before they board the ship in case they want to switch to a different sailing, which is obviously what they did for the Westerdam, just a little bit too late to make any changes.

We have been on many cruises with groups both large and small...this was the first time that we were adversely affected by a group and while as 4-star mariners we will continue to sail on HAL, my sister-in-law and niece will not set foot on another HAL ship after this experience of playing "beat the clock" during what should be a relaxed elegant dinner. :mad::mad::mad:

HAL SAN DIEGO

Hi Peter,

We just booked the Century also...we were on her to Hawaii in November and had a great cruise...she is getting old but still a grand ship. Hope you know that the Queen Mary is in Long Beach Harbor and the Century will be docked up at San Pedro - Pier 91. Lokking forward to meeting you onboard.

Hal San Diego

Hi D,

Neal & I have been on over ten Holland cruises over the years and are going on Oosterdam again this month...always found officers and crew to be very gay friendly...in fact, some of their cruise directors and their staff have been been family members (as well as many of the entertainers)...so please don't worry and be happy and gay!!!

HAL SAN DIEGO