Infi

On 7/24/2023 at 9:55 PM, *Miss G* said:

 

 I had read that it would be automatically applied going forward but I have no experience to know if that is correct or not.  Hopefully someone will post with their experience but my gut tells me we will have to resubmit with each booking.  

Also curious about this. I have shareholder OBC as well, and always take along the confirmation email as a backup in case it doesn't get added. It doesn't seem like there's any proof/confirmation of this OBC, so was hoping others could share their experiences with ensuring it was added onto their account. 

16 hours ago, loveandpeas said:

I don't know the job description BUT we had Glenn-Michael as our cruise director on the Volendam at the beginning of the month and I would truly actively seek out his cruises in the future. His EXC talks were incredible!

Glenn-Michael used to be a Travel Guide (RIP) before the merging of the CD/Travel Director position. His talks were excellent, very informative and entertaining as well. Not surprised his EXC talks are so good, he's had a lot of practice and knows his stuff.

Unfortunately, combining the Cruise and Travel Director role asks a lot of those who fill it: some are good at the people-facing piece but not the port knowledge or vice versa. It seems HAL is leaning more into the public speaking part of the role, as most of the newer folks in the role seem to have a lot of presentation experience in their backgrounds as journalists etc. 

Related question: are the Mariner receptions (medallion ceremonies) back? Not referring to the MDR brunches or embarkation day cocktail parties, but the ones in the theater where medals are presented. Been on several cruises post COVID and have yet to see one. 

Yes, it was. I was surprised that the approval process was an automated scanning and I received a response back within minutes. I submitted a pay stub which clearly has my university name listed.

Thank you for sharing this! I was aware of the military/first responder OBC but had never heard of this one for educators. It is a nice little benefit.

I work in administration at a university and it appears I qualify from their description so have submitted my documents - fingers crossed.

For those who have embarked at Ijmuiden, how are the terminal facilities here? For all the money put into the terminal in Amsterdam, I was not impressed with the general disorganization I've experienced there and the rude staff. It seems like their crowd management abilities fall apart when multiple ships are in port. 

Some FCC are better than others, for sure. I worked with Annette on the Zaandam earlier this month and she was fantastic: very organized, efficient, and knew her stuff inside and out. She was able to help me navigate a tricky situation with some old FCDs and pandemic credits and got to the bottom of it through working with Seattle and providing me with the resolution over email after my cruise was complete. I'm very grateful my FCD bank is now in order and I have several cruises to look forward to. 

I think those that have been doing this for a long time are real assets to HAL by selling more cruises and making for happier customers. Others that are less effective may be new to the role or may not be as invested in the work/doing a good job, which is too bad. 

18 hours ago, FOPMan said:

There’s not exactly alot to “explore” in Whittier. Almost all the city’s residents living in a single building.

 

If timing permits, is is worth going on a wildlife cruise, As I remember, the dock is just a few feet down from the cruise ship. See https://phillipscruises.com

Would highly recommend this cruise! I was on a work trip in Alaska last summer and had some free time so took their 26 glacier cruise. I've been on 5 Alaska cruises and I would rate this little boat cruise the best trip to the glaciers I've ever had. We also saw tons of wildlife like eagles and seals. From their site, it seems like they've aligned their schedules with the ships so you can add it on before embarkation or debarkation. This is a must do, IMHO. 

Trying to list menu items unique to HAL - obviously, lobster and steak are great anywhere, but these are my HAL must-haves I hope to see on my cruises.

Banana bread French toast - MDR breakfast

Raisin buns and ensaymada - MDR/Lido breakfast

Peanut butter pie - Lido, embarkation day

Parmesan crusted chicken - MDR dinner

Halibut with prosciutto - MDR dinner

Banoffee pie - MDR dinner

Watermelon pie - MDR dinner

Crab cakes - Pinnacle lunch/dinner

Key lime pie - Pinnacle dinner

Bitterballen, kaas souffle, veal krokets, etc. - Dutch treats at the Dive In when you sail out of the Netherlands

Taco bar was available on Zaandam earlier this month, so definitely not a post-COVID precaution. On our holiday cruise, we heard from our Maitre D' friend that they are removing the separate taco bars on all the Vista class ships and higher. Not sure why - perhaps those ships have more room at the buffet to accommodate those items?

Sailed Zaandam to Canada/NE at end of June/beginning of July; can confirm that Canaletto was still using the old menu. 

Wow, what great news and a breath of fresh air! These are the things I have been missing about HAL for years. Also, what a throwback to the HAL of 2010-2015ish. I remember the entertainment team used to include the Lifestylist (sports, tai chi, etc.) and Party Planner/Culinary Arts Center host/ess (cooking demos, crafts) and it's great to see those roles back. What's old is new again and I'm excited to hear more daytime enrichment is in the works.

9 hours ago, KroozNut said:

That is a puzzler, especially since we have had the opposite experience when booking that far out.

Maybe because the holiday sailings are more popular and therefore book much faster than others?

The holiday sailings are indeed popular, and attract a lot of families and multi-generational groups. My personal theory is that HAL holds (blocks) most of the early seating tables for the holiday sailings and release them in batches as the cruise approaches and more large groups book. It's the only possible explanation I can think of for early seating consistently not being available when booking ~1.5yrs out. 

Agree that booking earlier does improve your chance of getting your desired fixed dining time. 

However, did want to point out that it's not always guaranteed, even if you do book early. We book our holiday cruises ~1.5years out (usually as soon as the itineraries are released) and have rarely gotten our preferred early dining time. This has always been easily remedied by meeting with the MDR staff on embarkation day, but it's forever a head-scratcher for me that early seating could be unavailable right after HAL releases the itinerary. 

2 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

The classes were a 5-star perk, and anyone else had to get on a waiting list. I would sign up right away on embarkation day, so I had a chance of making the cut. And I did. I was lucky to do the class twice when there was a guest chef. Even better than the cooking was the conversation over the lunch that followed.

Interesting! I knew 5 star Mariners were entitled to a free class, but had always seen the cooking classes offered to the general population as a paid activity. They usually sold out on embarkation day during the "open house" time they used to have in that venue. 

8 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Nooooo! Please, please no more spa or shopping infomercials!!!! 

 

I would love to see the cooking demos return. Even better, the hands-on classes. I would happily pay to go to some of those again.

Don't get me wrong, I don't like them either and would never attend them. That being said, I know HAL needs to make money and as much as I like enrichment activities, I know there needs to be a balance between the two. Enrichment has sorely been lacking since COVID, but even the infomercials are down, making for a pretty paltry set of offering in the daily program and a lot of empty venues. 

I miss the cooking classes too. Wish I had signed up for more of them in the past. Classic "you don't know what you've got till it's gone..."

21 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

I believe the "space" in the atrium needs to are kept relatively open and free, so it can be utilized as an emergency large crowd gathering area?

Interesting, I have never heard this theory. I thought HAL ripping out the bars on deck 1 of some of the atriums was a tacit resignation that revenue generation just wasn't going to happen there, so may as well make more usable lounge space. Never considered it could be a nod to safety.

I could see how crowd gathering space would be much more needed on the Pinnacle class, especially since there's no mustering area outdoors.

22 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

This is a good list. Unfortunately, utilization would require HAL to do something (enrichment?  entertainment?) in some of these spaces and they don't seem inclined to do that.

 

Is the cooking set-up from the days of the Queen's Lounge still on the revolving stage in BB King, or has that been removed to give BBK a larger stage?

 

Thanks, and agreed. To be clear, I don't expect the lounges to be hopping with activity or planned events 24/7. I just think back to the days of America's Test Kitchen and other enrichment programs, where the Queen's Lounge, Wajang theater etc. wouldn't sit empty all day long and would have a few activities sprinkled throughout the day. I'm not even saying it all needs to be enrichment, either - they could also be used to host revenue generating activities, like spa or shopping talks. 

Good question about the cooking set-up on the Vistas; I have no idea. HAL spent a mint to retrofit those spaces so I would hope so. I do know that the demo kitchen is still there on the R class ships. We were told on Zaandam over the holidays that there was a plan to bring back Port to Table (cooking demos) in the new year. We shall see.

Spaces that are, IMHO, not well utilized/laid out or poorly utilized during certain times of the day:

• Ground floors of the atriums (wide open space with nothing but crew offices on R class, sad remainders of a failed bar on some of the Vistas)
• Explorers/LCS after Lincoln Center is through for the evening
• Ocean Bar, especially when no music is offered (Vistas and higher)
• Merabellas/shopping arcades on the Vistas - understand HAL has to make money, but the space is cavernous and lacks logical flow
• Gallery bar (RIP), Billboard Onboard, and BB King (former Queen's Lounge) during the daytime (Vistas/Signatures)
• Sports decks

What cruises usually have this offering? From the above descriptions, it seems like it's the longer cruises, but wondering if there's any threshold (i.e. 14 days or more).

We always do early fixed dining, and attend the evening show. Even if that night's particular act doesn't sound the most exciting, it is something to do for the evening. After the show is over, I enjoy going to the piano bar (on the R class ships) and stay for a few sets and perhaps will go to the Ocean Bar once the piano bar wraps up. If we're on the Vista/Signatures, I like to hop between the dueling pianos and BB King or the Crow's Nest if I'm feeling very ambitious. Depending on the evening, I may either go to bed after that or will go up to the Lido to see what's available for late night snack (10:30-11:30pm).

As a young HAL fan, I may not be a party animal, but I'm also not one of the ones rolling up the sidewalks at 8pm. I like to be out and about, enjoying the live music and entertainment and people watching. I do enjoy the variety of live music onboard these days, but the shows in the main theater are sadly very lacking and the deep cost cuts there are quite painful to see. 

19 hours ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

If you do the math the Zuiderdam would bring in the most booking dollars because of the selection of state rooms it has compared to the Zaandam. Based on 1500 guests. 

I thought the WC rarely sailed at capacity, so would the ship size really matter? With the notable exceptions of 2020 and this year, obviously. 

21 hours ago, RBB said:

   Actually, Zuiderdam is scheduled to go up the Amazon to Manaus on the 2024 World Cruise.  I guess we will see how that goes, but obviously the Amazon is not considered by HAL to be a barrier to assigning such an itinerary to Zuiderdam.

Interesting, perhaps it isn't. I'm more remembering a few years back (2019) when the Volendam had issues with the Amazon river depth, and it was said at the time the R class was the largest that could do the Amazon. We shall see!

Is Zaandam confirmed for WC 2025? If the Poles option materializes, they'll have to use an R class because there's an Amazon component. However, there are conspicuous holes in the Zuiderdam's calendar and it can do all 3 other itinerary options. Hmm...

Sounds like it's RIP Gallery bar on the Signature class ships then. Too bad, it was a nice space and decent attempt to rehab the failed Northern Lights idea. It's also a shame because HAL clearly put some decent money into making it into the Gallery bar recently - loss for them.