Special Touches that Make a HAL cruise for you

[bulgargirl]

I was inspired by the Yum Yum man thread....

 

People were explaining the Yum Yum man and began discussing chimes for dinner. And on a different thread, someone discussed the afternoon teas.

 

I swear somewhere else I heard about real, honest to go, fresh squeezed Orange Juice.

 

These little touches are the types of things I love, love, love on vacation. They totally make vacations for me.

 

Does anyone have any little, special touches that they see on HAL cruises that they really like? I'm interested! I don't want to miss ANYTHING!!!!! :p

[jtl513]

Does anyone have any little, special touches that they see on HAL cruises that they really like? I'm interested! I don't want to miss ANYTHING!!!!! :p

The string quartets playing in the Explorer's Lounge. :)

[JimVrhovac]

No Cell phone to answer while at sea.....

 

Ruth & Jim

[GeneK]

The fresh flowers are nice.:)

[RuthC]

Cloth handtowels in the public restrooms. And a little vase of flowers there, too! :)

[DutchByAssociation]

And a little vase of flowers there, too! :)

 

Which is usually a bansai tree in the men's rooms... but I won't fault you for not knowing that :D

 

For me, it's the Pinnacle Grill and the friendships with so many of the crew/officers

[Tamaracboy]

As above, and I'm sure later on, in what will become a very long thread,

Flowers, Yum-Yum's, shoe-shining, cleanliness, chimes, food, strings, etc. etc.

BUT:

 

ABOVE ALL IT IS THE STAFF AND CREW !

 

Anything else could be accomplished by throwing enough $$$$ at it, but the people, their professionalism and spirit are priceless.

 

And, I bet that no subsequent posters can top that ;)

 

r.

[RuthC]

Which is usually a bansai tree in the men's rooms... but I won't fault you for not knowing that :D

Er, thanks. ;)

[DutchByAssociation]

Er, thanks. ;)

 

I knew there would be something you still had yet to learn about HAL ships... This has been my Public Service Announcement for the day :D

[velvetred]

The bread pudding with the wonderful vanilla sauce - yum!

[PathfinderEss]

I love it all, what's not to like about being treated like a queen or king. Hal does it right, they have a superb group of people working for them that strive to make our vacations fabulous.......

[Saphire]

I adore the Indonesian staff. I have been on a few other lines, but find the HAL staff very reserved; yet friendly, warm and polite. (Kind of like me!) There is never, ever any 'pushing' of anything. For instance, when lounging at the pool, there is no intrusion to buy drinks, but there is always someone ready to serve.

 

When out and about the ship or when entering the dining room, the staff first greets my husband, and then me. It is so old fashioned but very cool, I love that! There is a formality about HAL which I have not experienced elsewhere, and the staff has everything to do with that.

[KAYEF]

THANKS for starting a positive thread!:)

The first thing that came to MY mind was THE CREW. No other line has a crew that makes you feel they are there just for you, to make sure you have the perfect cruise...............they treat you as if you are their personal guest.

The bread pudding............the muesli,........the raisin rolls..........the fresh fruit in the cabins and in the Lido, the wonderful products in the bathroom (that are NOT tiny cardboard things to try to tear open when you want to get shampoo in the shower)............showers that you can actually turn around in.....the cloth hand towels in public restrooms........the size of the cabins..........the free capaccinos for dessert in the MDR.........the ART everywhere on the ships..........sorry, I got carried away and I need to stop........... I have to pack.;)

the cleanliness of the ship..............the carpets in the elevators..........

[Krazy Kruizers]

The friendly crew who always remember your name.

[IRL_Joanie]

Everything stated by others above me and those yet to come PLUS...THE CHOCOLATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The extraordinary care, friendliness and concern of all the Staff and crew, the waffles, the chocolate croissants, the chefs who go out of their way to make special foods available upon request... and so much more!!!

 

I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!

 

Joanie

[Randyk47]

Really kind of hard to point to one specific aspect, the HAL experience is the sum of the parts kind of thing for us. I guess if pressed I'd say the staff is that "special touch" that makes HAL our cruise line of choice.

[GmaPajama]

Crew that can remember they sailed with you on another ship - and actually greet you by name. How DO they do that ?!?!

[benchmarklearning]

Staff and Crew - especially ones like Hunky Dory

 

Thermal Suites

 

Pinnacle Grill

[cruiseapril]

We enjoy the flowers, think HAL has the best buffet of any cruise line we've been on, agree about the crew, and must mention that we appreciated a very relaxed cruise atmosphere.

[sail7seas]

Yes, we love the beautiful flowers, the art throughout the ships, the formal dining rooms, the comfortable cabins, AFT Pool, Pinnacle and Tamarind, Exploration Cafe, Maasdam's Room Service (the best of all the ships we have sailed, IMO), Lido (particularly on Eurodam), the hand towels and bud vases of flowers in the restrooms (DBA - Bonsais are starting to show up in some of the ladies restrooms, as well ), Neptune and Neptune's coffee machine etc, but for us first and most what makes HAL cruises so special for us is

 

 

OFFICERS, CREW, STAFF !

[bulgargirl]

Chocolates? What chocolates and where?

 

I like the flowers and towels thing in the bathroom. That sounds nice.

 

This certainly sounds like it will be a completely different experience than cruising with NCL.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Chocolates? What chocolates and where?

 

I like the flowers and towels thing in the bathroom. That sounds nice.

 

This certainly sounds like it will be a completely different experience than cruising with NCL.

 

When you return to your cabin after dinner and the stewards have turned down your bed for the night you will find 2 chocolates on your breakfast menu on the bed.

[CowPrincess]

The Promenade deck that goes alllll the way around the ship, the Eggs Benedict choices (I have never seen Eggs Benedict offered with so many choices -- about 6 or 8 ways to make them, substituting the back bacon with crab, smoked salmon, spinach, mushrooms, sigh.... :) ), the individual Elemis products in the bathroom. The great shoreside staff -- from the greeters at the airport (if you use them) to the check-in people at the pier. The photographers that ASK before taking pictures.

 

edited to add: the minimal number of PA announcements

[JORAY]

Everything stated by others above me and those yet to come PLUS...THE CHOCOLATES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

The extraordinary care, friendliness and concern of all the Staff and crew, the waffles, the chocolate croissants, the chefs who go out of their way to make special foods available upon request... and so much more!!!

 

I LOVE THIS THREAD!!!

 

Joanie

 

I know this will not work for many people but, I never eat the Choclates while sailing I bring them home and have one a day until gone, that tells me it is time to get on board an HAL ship again.

 

The people we meet and the great HAL staff.

 

Ray

[succeed_2]

I know this will not work for many people but, I never eat the Choclates while sailing I bring them home and have one a day until gone, that tells me it is time to get on board an HAL ship again.

Ray

 

Ooooo, thanks so much for that great idea. I'm going to pack an empty container right now so I can bring mine home too - (next week, I can hardly wait) !