arewethereyet

Of the hundreds of crew we all see throughout the week, I'll be glad to give one or two a pass because they are having a bad day. We all have them!.

 

There however was only one instance of an employee that I thought should have been severely reprimanded. It was the maitred on an Explorer cruise many years ago when he stood in the doorway at end of first seating waiting for tip. This before auto gratuities. Our table left together and as we filed by some didn't give him an envelope. Out of his mouth, a little louder than I'm sure he meant came the words "Thanks for nothing". A lot of us heard it and the person behind us put the envelope back in his pocket.

The Matre d' was one of the rude ones. I can't give him a pass. He is supposedly a professional and should always present himself that way. The other was bar staff. They get a pass for maybe having a bad day.

I was on the same sailing as you. Service was great for the most part, but things headed south in the main dining room as the cruise progressed, both with service and food. Specifically, main issues were with food temperature. Upon speaking to other cruisers throughout the week, I learned this was the norm, and not an isolated experience.

I too was on that sailing. Our waiter and assistant appeared to be totally new at their jobs. They were polite and they were trying. They just weren't good at the job. Food in general was not up to the standard I expect after 30+ cruises on several lines. I also experienced rudeness by staff members on at least two occasions. OTOH, our room steward was excellent and the extra tip to him was well deserved.The rest of them...eh.

The best filet mignon I've ever had was in Chops on FOS.

In case you wonder, I've probably eaten, at very least, hundreds of filet mignon.

The irony is that many passengers do not meet the "rules", even those who think that they do. From HAL's website:

 

"On festive Formal evenings, ladies wear a cocktail dress or gown and gentlemen wear a suit and tie or tuxedo."

 

So gentlemen, a jacket and tie doesn't comply, and ladies, those pants and nice tops don't either. :D

Bingo!

It must be scary not to have power. Makes one feel as though they are on Carnival!

I guess Carnival cruisers can now say it's like being on Holland America.

We no longer consider HAL cruises. The new wine policy was the tipping point for us. Please understand - it's not the most important thing, but, it's the straw that breaks the camel's back. If they were to revamp their wine list and pricing, we may look at HAL again. Till then, we are gone.

How good that once again an HAL ship was available to lend assistance to an emergency at sea. Makes me proud HAL is our 'cruise line of choice'. :)

All cruise lines do it routinely. There are more of these assistances/rescues than you can shake a stick at. If you sailed another line, you'd have plenty of opportunity to be proud of them too.

We just got off this cruise this morning. The morning of the rescue, the Captain made an announcement about 30 minutes after the rescue. It was a nice "wake up call" to hear good news like that.

We let our immediate neighbors know. They are homeowner's association officers and keep an eye on our place. And, I trust them 100%. Otherwise, no one.

I was in a meterorology class at NAS Lakehurst when a marine gunnery sargent burst into the room and said "This is not a drill. The president has been shot". We all pretty much nervously chuckled because we were pretty sure that it was a drill of some sort. In any case, it's one of those moments in time that you don't forget.

SMH @ this thread.

I am 59 going on 60 just like Christie Brinkley (the model), but good grief, I don't look anything like her........[snip]

Neither does she.

We sail Dec 20 2013 (Panama Canal cruise) and the policy page says new policy starts 1 Jan 2014 - so we should be okay to bring on lots of good wine! Were you able to do that, as you've already sailed and how was your cruise?

The new policy is effective Jan. 31, 2014.

I am a transplant from Arkansas to Wisconsin. So I am an arkie in Wisconsin and will be for the fore seeable future.

You could have chosen "HamAndCheese" ;)

Not me. Until this thread your name isn't even familiar to me and I'm quite sure I have never responded to any post you have written before. If I have, I am sure it was nothing that would have had you requesting an ignore list. No one has ever asked me to put them on my ignore list, ever; I don't even have an ignore list. And I've been on the board for 11 years with 5000+ posts. Never been banned though I did have one short term warning for posting a picture of a box of popcorn. Sometimes popcorn is allowed, sometimes not, one never knows.

lol - I can verify that it is true. I have had the same experience. Still don't understand why.

This is almost a rerun of a thread that ended about a year ago. That one ran for about 3 years.

I think in that one I indicated that "arewethereyet" won out over "DaddyIHaveToPee". Both inspired by car travel with children.

I thought that being in the witness protection program, it would be unwise to use my real name.

Which is why I asked, to be sure what you meant or didn't mean. When someone posts critical of HAL some posters, not meaning you, attribute all kinds of bad things about them from then on. Heck, my only involvement in this thread has been simply explaining where the Dawg name came from and that it had nothing to do to with Mr Dog's use of the name.

I saw your post as an accusation, and I didn't appreciate it.

However, this is mostly a miscommunication and misunderstanding - so, I offer a sincere e-hug, and no hard feelings.

Are we good?

So from that it is okay to accuse Mr. Dog, who joined a month earlier in August, to really being Dr. Dawg? Not sure if that is what you are saying or not. :confused:

Whoa! I didn't say anything of the kind! I have never accused this person of anything. I have never implied anything. I simply pointed out when Dr. Dawg left the board.

Back off!

Sorry you have been welcomed in such an unfriendly manner, Mr. Dog. No one else has your name. CC doesn't allow 2 posters to register with the same name and it wouldn't have been approved for you if there was. There is a Dr. 'Dawg' who posts here with the spelling for his username that is used by Univ of Georgia fans for their bulldog mascot. They call their sports teams "Dawgs" with cheers like "Go Dawgs". Some posters are losing their sanity and not checking if their facts are correct before making accusations against other posters, even after the explanation about Dr. Dawg is given in the same thread. Sorry you got caught up in this nonsense of unfounded conspiracy theories currently afflicting some posters with way too much time on their hands.

Dr. Dawg posted that he will no longer sail on HAL's "prison ships", and hasn't posted since Sept 13.

While not on the Z it has been a pita to get my wine that I purchased from Hal. The last several ships I've been on the service has been dismal even though many times they were standing around doing nothing. I wish I was as lucky as some folks. It does happen even though it never happens to them. I remember years ago complaining about a bad cabin steward only to be told that doesn't happen. Only when it happens to some folks is it valid. The rest of us are unimportant.

Seriously, if you want an inattentive wine steward to pay attention, just reach for the bottle and pour it yourself. I can almost guarantee that they will notice and you won't have to do it twice. I've had to do that maybe three times on various cruises. It works like a charm. They are mortified that you would do that. I suspect they don't want their supervisor seeing that.

Of course, that doesn't solve the problem of getting your wine in the first place - or if they have a white chilling out of your sight.

This board is entertaining. It is amazing how many folks care about whether someone else follows the rules or not.

The OP chose to post. It's not as though someone observed this, and started the thread. If you start a thread about breaking HAL's rules (whether you think they are reasonable or not), you should expect a wide range of opinions in response. Do you think they thought everyone would jump to validate their victim status? HAL just enforced a rule. I don't think it's reasonable to post about getting caught - in an admittedly very small matter - and expect a group hug.

I wonder why, if a person likes something, they "carry" or "bring" it aboard. If it's something they aren't interested in bringing aboard, others "schlepp", "lug", or "drag" aboard.

is this what they call 'flaming'?

Well, the OP was looking for responses. I suppose, if the responses aren't sympathetic or supportive, some will call it flaming. This happens in a lot of threads here. I don't think it's flaming. If you look for opinions, you should expect to get a broad range of them.

Dad used to say "If you can't handle the answer, don't ask the question". ;)

after 21 cruises, four-star plus, it's goody-goodbye to hal. i don't want to sail on a prison ship. reduced service, poor entertainment, restrictive policies, poor food, and now all of this wine business, as if we were children trying to cross the gangway with too many oreos. rules everywhere. and threatened penalties, to boot. not to mention higher prices, and pricing 'games.' and just plain rudeness if you happen to 'overstep' the boundaries, from pax to staff. hal has become for me a 'product' i don't want to pursue anymore. i feel threatened and intimidated every time i step on board any hal ship.

You are certainly "all about the drama".

Prison ship? Threatened and intimidated?

It sounds like you have some issues that have nothing at all to do with HAL.