Boy has HAL slipped

[Westwood1]

Having cruised quite often and having cruised out of Tampa on the Veedam a few years ago. I am very disappointed in what has happened to Holland America. It started at check in and continued down hill from there. Their new "any time" dining was poorly run, the supposed maitre'd had no personality or no clue of how to deal with people. By changing where you sit each night there is no way to create any relationship with the waiters and to compound things the quality and service of food has really slipped. Except for one act ( a ventriloquist who was good) the entertainment was amateurish and like a high school review, very poor. I doubt I will ever cruise HAL again when there are so many other choices. I guess they have finally succeeded to bring HAL down to the level of Carnival, No I take that back, below Carnival. Very poor showing from Holland America.

[SwissMyst]

Having cruised quite often and having cruised out of Tampa on the Veedam a few years ago. I am very disappointed in what has happened to Holland America. It started at check in and continued down hill from there. Their new "any time" dining was poorly run, the supposed maitre'd had no personality or no clue of how to deal with people. By changing where you sit each night there is no way to create any relationship with the waiters and to compound things the quality and service of food has really slipped. Except for one act ( a ventriloquist who was good) the entertainment was amateurish and like a high school review, very poor. I doubt I will ever cruise HAL again when there are so many other choices. I guess they have finally succeeded to bring HAL down to the level of Carnival, No I take that back, below Carnival. Very poor showing from Holland America.

 

I don't see how any ships as traditionally set up as HAL ships can adequately handle as you wish dining. There simply is not a galley set up for this. I see other ships are going to stand alone restaurants with limited menu options that you may pick and call it as you wish too.

 

But to take a formal fixed dining set up to feed hundreds of people at the same time with some semblance of order and then intrude upon this set up individual orders at any given time to me would lead to long delays and poorer quality presentation.

 

HAL is trying but it is a shame because they do traditional fixed dining so well. I hope they find this might have been a failed experiment and do not tinker with it any longer and go back to fixed dining which they continue to do so well.

[Tricia724]

You know what? If I felt the way you do, I wouldn't sail HAL any longer either. There are indeed a lot of choices out there. But since I've never had that kind of experience, I'm still hanging in there.

 

I haven't tried the open dining yet on Holland America, but next year on Statendam in Alaska, we're going to give it a shot. We have tried it on another line and it worked quite well for us, but we'll have to wait to see how it works out for us on HAL.

 

I'm sure there is a cruiseline that will provide the experiece you are seeking, and I hope you will make a better connection in the future. Life is too short to be unhappy.

[brucory]

I haven't tried the open dining yet on Holland America, but next year on Statendam in Alaska, we're going to give it a shot. We have tried it on another line and it worked quite well for us, but we'll have to wait to see how it works out for us on HAL.

 

 

You will love anytime dining!!! Make it work for you by making reservations after you have found the section and wait staff you like...

 

Just don't look for any chit chat with the maitre de...

 

For the OP- Welcome to Cruise Critic!!!

 

:D:D:D

[brucory]

I don't see how any ships as traditionally set up as HAL ships can adequately handle as you wish dining. There simply is not a galley set up for this.

 

Not so sure about this SwissMyst... Maybe you know more than I.

 

We had a good look around the kitchen on the last cruise. There were stations for each menu item. The waiter/assistant goes to each station and takes what they need as ordered. For the kitchen, it seems it would be much easier if this was a "flow" as in Anytime, rather than in one hit as in traditional dining... As such, pressure to serve everything at once is alleviated.

 

Also, our waitstaff told us it was easier for them in the downstairs (anytime) on the Vista class of ships than on the "upper deck" (fixed) as they have to carry it all up themselves...

 

If you have good waiters, it seems the service runs well. The waitstaff are moved between fixed and open, so this allocation is spread out. There are not necessarily better staff in one or the other...

 

:D:D:D

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

What ship were you on?

 

How was your cabin and the cabin stewards/

[LindaM]

Must have been a glitch on your ship. We had Anytime Dining on Prinsendam in Sept. It was perfect 13 out of 14 times. From what most people are saying, it isn't a failed experiment. Sorry it didn't work for you.

[Pete Jackson]

Having cruised quite often and having cruised out of Tampa on the Veedam a few years ago. I am very disappointed in what has happened to Holland America. It started at check in and continued down hill from there. Their new "any time" dining was poorly run, the supposed maitre'd had no personality or no clue of how to deal with people. By changing where you sit each night there is no way to create any relationship with the waiters and to compound things the quality and service of food has really slipped. Except for one act ( a ventriloquist who was good) the entertainment was amateurish and like a high school review, very poor. I doubt I will ever cruise HAL again when there are so many other choices. I guess they have finally succeeded to bring HAL down to the level of Carnival, No I take that back, below Carnival. Very poor showing from Holland America.

 

Too bad we didn't hear from you when Holland America was so much better.

Although it's called "Cruise Critic", this site is not merely to join and post when you have a complaint.

 

Also, which ship and cruise did you take? Perhaps someone else was also on that cruise and can corroborate your experiences.

 

Hope your next cruise is better, on whatever line you choose to sail:o

[gregdude]

Very strange report! What ship? What cruise? I had open dinning over a year ago on an "S" class shipt and it was faultless. We were seated right away and service was the same throughout the dinning room for 42 nights.

[Taxguy77]

On the Rotterdam I found much the same, poorer service than should be, slow and noisy. However in the Lido we found great service as to telling me where DW was sitting if she arrived earlier or was out of sight after I order the main course, a bar man who always had our drinks in seconds often on a tray waiting for us to select a table, notifying us or our friends if we were dining at the same time in case we wanted to share a table. Main course served hot and perfectly. However nothing has the elegance of fixed dining.:cool:

The staterooms and their furnishings make up for some other shortfalls.

[debshomespun]

We enjoyed the any time dining on the Ryndam back in Jan. on our 30 day cruise. We thought the service was great and the food was great. Their entertainment was very good also. We prefer the any time dining as to the traditional dining so we don't have to be at the dining room at a certain time each evening. I still think HAL has great service and their food is good. But, food can be very subjective.

[canadianbear]

We found anytime dining to be just fine on our last two cruises aboard the Ryndam. We made reservations in the morning when we figured out what time we wanted to dine. Only once we didn't reserve and just showed up but did not have a problem getting in. Our service was great, food was delicious. We really did not want a set seating time and appreciated being able to decide for ourselves when we wanted to dine depending on if we were doing excursions.

 

Sorry that you did not have a good experience. I think it is very difficult for any cruise line to try to make everyone happy with fixed and anytime dining.

[Howasaur]

We had fixed dining on the Ryndam on one cruise. The next cruise was open dining didn't work at all so they assigned Fixed time for us. On the Noordam did open dining and it was fantastic. We only waited at most 10 minute before being seated but I should mention there was only the two of us. We had said it didn't matter where we sat or how many were at the table. The table filled in short order and we met new people each night. Yes I miss having the same waiter but open dining worked for us.

 

:):):)

[KimberleyFL]

My husband and I enjoyed anytime dining on the Veendam in Feb. 2009. We had no problems at all.

[texancruzer]

Well, I am not a troll, nor a drive by poster (see my # count). I did however just sail my first HAL cruise and was not impressed.

 

The anytime dining was chaotic, noisy and the service was awful. They couldnt get our orders right, gave them to the wrong people, had to ask for everything (butter, etc), wine steward showed up halfway thru the meal after we asked for her numerous times, dirty dishes left in front of us forever. This was our first try at anytime dining. While we did enjoy being able to show up whenever (we were seated almost immediately each time) it just went downhill after that. The food was fantastic tho - best of any cruise yet. But when the service is so bad, the great food doesnt really make up for it.

 

Our cabin steward tried. But had to beg for bottled water (got it 2 days later), dirty dishes left in our cabin for 1-1/2 days, never got more shampoo (also requested) our seapass card quit working numerous times, and no one smiled. Least friendly cruise crew I have seen. They all seemed stressed out (a few exceptions noted).

 

We had a real nice mix of passengers, families, old, young etc etc as it was Thanksgiving cruise. I know these are more chaotic (not sure why) since the cruiseline knows the ship will be full and have an array of ages etc to deal with. Even so, there wasnt much to do on this ship.

 

I am not loyal to any one line, even though we have done quite a few RCI cruises, so will continue to explore other possibilities.

[PCruzer]

We tried open seating on our last cruise on the Oosterdam. It was a 14-day Panama Canal cruise. We found that it worked flawlessly. The first few nights we made reservations. After that, we just showed up and were seated right away. We always were willing to dine with other passengers, so maybe that is why there was no wait. We enjoyed it so much that we will not choose fixed seating ever again. Our dining room manager on the Oosterdam was excellent - Kiki Basuki. He is very personable and runs a very efficient dining venue. Maybe he made all the difference in the Oosterdam dining room?? We are going on a 33-day Hawaii/South Pacific cruise on the Rotterdam. I hope open seating works as well on this ship as it did on the Oosterdam!

[Randyk47]

They couldnt get our orders right, gave them to the wrong people, had to ask for everything (butter, etc), wine steward showed up halfway thru the meal after we asked for her numerous times, dirty dishes left in front of us forever.

 

Heck, had that happen on a fixed late sitting so, unfortunately, it's not limited to anytime dining. Interestingly our worst experience, pretty much as stated above, was on the Veendam out of Tampa in 2007 before they offered the option of anytime dining. It was just one of those cruises where all sorts of stuff went wrong. Admittedly it put us off a bit and we didn't cruise for a couple of years but we're back. Kind of filed that cruise in the "stuff happens" file and remembered the majority of cruises that were great to absolutely incredible. :)

[peug]

We anytime dining recently on the Maasdam and loved it. We were always seated immediately and never made a reservation. The Matride new our name and cabin number after the second night. Only once did we get extremely slow service and we later found that everyone in the entire restaurant had this problem as there was a problem in the kitchen that night. No, we never found out what the problem was.

 

Yes the food was way below what it had been in the past. That saying - we paid $2,000 each for a 28 day cruise. At that price something had to give and even tho not as upscale as in the past it was better that any restaurant we eat at at home. We do not do 4star dining at home.

 

The anytime dining allows them to make do with less staff. We heard that when the crew changeover occurred at the begining of our cruise 50 more staff got off then got on. Our cabin steward had 35 cabins to take care off. Sometimes it was afternoon before it was cleaned but he varied which room he started with and it was always restocked daily. The late cleaning didn't bother us as no one cleans my house twice a day for me at home and I live thru it.

 

The entertainment was iffy but we loved Dr Boogie in the piano bar and just spent the night in there if the main entertainment didn't appeal to us.

 

Yes, there are a lot of changes, but the lower prices mandate that.

 

And by the way, we loved the new lido format. No waiting in lines, just go to the station you want and get the food. The wait staff explained that if you were coming back just put your napkin on the back of your chair and they wouldn't clear the table. That worked for us for 28 days.

 

We had a wonderful, relaxing 28 days.

[iancal]

The service /food, etc can be poor on any ship, on any of the mid market lines such as HAL, on any itinerary at a given point in time. Even on HAL, notwithstanding what some may think or say. I have no doubt that it happens on HAL from time to time, and will happen in the future. It comes down to how the cruise line management deals with it and how consistent or inconsistent the disappointments are. We have been fortunate,,,many cruises, many cruise lines, and not a dud in the bunch.

[mancunian]

PCruzer We have done three cruises on Rotterdam in the past two years and open sitting was great, never had to wait and always got the right orders. Slightly bemused by the posting here about Rotterdam because I do not recognise it as the ship we have sailed on. The first cruise we generally made reservations because we found a table and waiter that we liked - in fact he was one of the best we have had on any ship in over 30 cruises. Also we were unsure about having to wait if we just dropped in. This was obviously not happening however as apart from the first night we never saw anyone wait. The second two cruises we just turned up except for the Dancing Waiters night and the first formal when we decided to book. You can now book two nights at a time if that is what you wish.

[Overtime4me2]

Our dining room manager on the Oosterdam was excellent - Kiki Basuki. He is very personable and runs a very efficient dining venue. Maybe he made all the difference in the Oosterdam dining room??

 

PCruzer:

 

Just had to say that Kiki was wonderful!! I had met him in 1999 on the Statendam, my very first cruise, and my second cruise was August 2008 on the Oosterdam when lo and behold I see this man coming down the dining room stairs and he looks so familiar to me. I didn't see him again that evening, but saw him the next night and asked him if he was on the Statendam in 1999 and yes he was! I couldn't believe that I recognized him after all that time. It was so nice to see him again and that he was a manager now. He was and is very personable as you said.

 

Didn't mean to hijack the thread.....just made me smile when I saw Kiki's name mentioned. I hope to run into him again one day! :)

 

[bepsf]

Also, our waitstaff told us it was easier for them in the downstairs (anytime) on the Vista class of ships than on the "upper deck" (fixed) as they have to carry it all up themselves...

 

Huh?

 

Unlike the S and R-Class, there are two kitchens on the Vistas - One for each level of the dining room.

 

I'm not surprised to see the complaints about Open/AYW Dining -

I won't cruise HAL unless I can have my choice of fixed seating, and I've never been unhappy with the service as a result.

[DizzyDallasDi]

I met my sister and BIL at a very nice restaurant in Dallas last Wed. night. The restaurant was not busy and our waiter was not rushed trying to serve other tables. We were amuzed with the second serving of the bread arriving "raw and cold" rather than "toasted and warm" like our first serving. We sent it back to be corrected and it came back burned. By the time the burned bread arrived, we needed more butter and had to request it. It's the little things like this that one remembers. All other courses were served in sync with our dining style, as they should be.

 

Let's put this land dining experience into perspective on a cruise ship. The cruise ship is trying to serve hundreds of people ordering many dfferent meals (some with special requests) at the same time. It's expected that mistakes will be made under these circumstances. Feathers need to remain unruffled and attitudes need remain pleasant.

 

It is rare that any dining experience (on land or sea) goes without snags. I know we all probably enter expecting perfecton, but the reality is that it rarely happens.

 

Don't get your panties in a wad over kitchen errors. Those things happen on land and sea. In fact, I give much more lenience to the sea kitchens due to the massive amount of meals they are preparing.

 

All the nit picking about meals is getting me down. :(

[kelmac]

You will love anytime dining!!! Make it work for you by making reservations after you have found the section and wait staff you like...

 

Just don't look for any chit chat with the maitre de...

 

For the OP- Welcome to Cruise Critic!!!

 

:D:D:D

 

We were able to do this on the Westerdam, however, on the Maasdam the Maitre 'd would not allow people to reserve a specific table in the anytime dining room. Since we were forced out of traditional seating twice, I'm sure it will be a long time before we cruise HAL again. Of all the cruises I've been on since the economic downturn, Holland America seems to be one most affected. Even our last RCCL cruise on the Radiance had better service and food quality. Two years ago I would have said you were crazy if you suggested Royal Caribbean was even close to Holland America in those areas.

IMO -- Celebrity is now the leader in this market; too bad, as we enjoyed alternating between HAL and Celebrity since 2003.

 

I hope HAL finds it's way and things improve soon!

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[bbwex]

I have to wonder if there is just a bit of a learning curve to handling AYW dining. After a reasonable period of time, I would guess that they will come to know when there will be peaks and valleys of people in the dining room.

 

I come to HAL from Oceania where there are no dinner reservations at all except in the specialty restaurants. Of course, there are periods where there might be a few people waiting for a table, but never for long at all. If I am on a tour all day in a port, I like the idea of being able to eat when I decide I am ready rather than having to watch a clock all the time.

 

On Oceania since there is no assigned meal time and no assigned tables, you make arrangements to eat with people you have met (i.e., "we'll meet you at the MDR at 7:15") or you simply ask to be seated with other people and meet new people at dinner. Particularly with CC, we met people at the Meet and Greet, had some CC'ers taking tours with us, and we had dinner with them several times.

 

AND there is the option of taking the set dining times still, if that is your pleasure. Hard to see how this is a major issue.

 

As I said, I suspect that there is a learning curve to get to know how crowds will act. That will come in time. Other lines have been doing it, are doing it, and HAL will as well.