Slow Boat to China - HAL Amsterdam

[Gamelan1971]

If it makes you feel better there is even a pecking order of entitlement within the 'in group'.

 

Yes, I became aware of this over time. On a related note, I met a few "five star" Mariners on that cruise. I saw their guest card and I can confirm there is a five star level. I'm curious though as to why HAL does not publicize this five star level.

[SwissMyst]

After debriefing with our travel agent, I suggested to my mother that we try Crystal sometime and her response was "I am going to stay loyal to HAL" so I think we'll be cruising HAL for many years to come.

 

)

 

Crystal would not be a good choice if you want to avoid clliques and self-important snobbery, which begins on the very first day. You don't even have to wait for a world cruise. Very unpleasant cruise lines.

 

Have to admit we ran in to a few overly important Amsterdam cruisers when we had to share port water taxis with them in Mauritius, when we were on another ship in port the same day. We both agreed we were happy to not be doing our "grand voyage" with the likes of them, but they were only a few of them and certainly did not represent the other rather happy looking group from the Amsterdam.

 

But after cruising for weeks with this stalwart group of British and Commonwealth travellers on our ship (MV Discovery) it was crude wake-up call to see some of the offensive behavior exhibited by those few entitlement oriented Amsterdam travellers. Hope they were only the exception and obviously not the rule.

[Gamelan1971]

Crystal would not be a good choice if you want to avoid clliques and self-important snobbery, which begins on the very first day. You don't even have to wait for a world cruise. Very unpleasant cruise lines.

 

I suspected this- we will likely avoid Crystal, if only because my mother does not like that sort of environment and loves HAL anyway, but I wouldn't rule it out if I was going on my own or with a friend.

[Copper10-8]

World Citizen; thanks for posting your experience on the part of HAL cruising a lot of us will never see. Some questions for ya please: What was the nightlife like on the A'dam on a world cruise? Was there any nightlife per se? From what I've read, the avg pax age on a world cruise is way up there so if true, does the ship "go to sleep" at 9:00 pm? Are there still the "regular" production shows by the cast two times a week? Many different guest entertainers?

Sorry to hear about the "atmosphere" by the entitled! Would have been interesting to do some sparring;)

Gamelan1971; Terima kasih banyak for your input also! Again, no excuse for some of your fellow "guests" behavior!

[world~citizen]

World Citizen; thanks for posting your experience on the part of HAL cruising a lot of us will never see. Some questions for ya please: What was the nightlife like on the A'dam on a world cruise? Was there any nightlife per se? From what I've read, the avg pax age on a world cruise is way up there so if true, does the ship "go to sleep" at 9:00 pm? Are there still the "regular" production shows by the cast two times a week? Many different guest entertainers?

Sorry to hear about the "atmosphere" by the entitled! Would have been interesting to do some sparring;)

Gamelan1971; Terima kasih banyak for your input also! Again, no excuse for some of your fellow "guests" behavior!

 

With respect to the age of pax it is safe enough to say the vast majority were retired, and a substantial percentage of them for some time. Having said that, the crowd seemed to be active to very active. Yes there were a few in wheelchairs, but the ship would get pretty empty at port and the theatre productions were well attended. A lot of organization was made in the direction of discussion groups and workshops for interested pax. It seems weekly meetings would be held and organized by interested passengers and the discussions were interesting.

 

I stand to be corrected, but I thought the shows were of a higher quality than one would expect on a normal cruise. We certainly found them entertaining.

 

As to nightlife, we ourselves would cash it in after the show and would not be the best resource to tap for that one. There was no crew production in the sense of a Philippine or Indonesian one as we were on for such a brief time. I can say that there seemed to us to be a certain lack of enthusiasm in the bars (with the exception of the piano bar) which did little to encourage patronage.

 

Of course, this is our view.

 

We noted the entitlement crowd. I suppose it irritated DW more than me but it was nothing to ruin the experience for us. What was more problematic was our perception that the crew (with the exception of Guest Relations which you know would be a shock to me) seemed pretty indifferent. Guest Relations was great. (I spoke to them about the internet thing and the new billing policy)

 

Upon reading the far more thoughtful and articulate posts than mine on this thread, it may be that the crew itself sensed a pecking order and we did not place high enough on it for them to get too motivated in the direction of the signature of excellence thing.:)

 

It seemed to us the bartenders minds were somewhere else. It was difficult to get a server for wine in the Lido (I buy wine cards). After a couple of days we asked our steward where our laundry was. He delivered it. A couple of days after that we noticed we were missing some of the garments. We asked if perhaps there had been only a partial delivery. Two days after that we got the rest of our laundry - in time to get off the ship.

 

See, it was just crazy stuff like that that piled up and made you wonder what was going on.

 

And the worst of all...no towel animals.:eek:

 

Ok so that was no big deal:) but you get the idea.

 

This was not HAL at its best but it was not a show stopper. We will be happy to take another DAM cruise, but our taste for a world cruise is diminished.

 

I want to emphasize that when we go on a vacation we intend to enjoy ourselves. What was a real surprise to me was that a 9 day cruise placed in the middle of a 24 day vacation seemed so lacluster. I thought it would be a highlight.

 

Anyway, I hope these few words give you a sense of our experience, and go someway to answering your questions.

 

Note also the experience of a CCer on the HAL board that took a different take from me (for the full cruise).

 

Smooth sailing...

[Copper10-8]

Thanks for the feedback!

[Gamelan1971]

After a couple of days we asked our steward where our laundry was. He delivered it. A couple of days after that we noticed we were missing some of the garments. We asked if perhaps there had been only a partial delivery. Two days after that we got the rest of our laundry - in time to get off the ship.

 

See, it was just crazy stuff like that that piled up and made you wonder what was going on.

 

And the worst of all...no towel animals.:eek:

 

Ok so that was no big deal:) but you get the idea.

 

We had exactly the same issues- My laundry took forever and when it was returned I did not get everything back- I had to ask and then got it all back a couple days later. We hate doing our own wash, but after this incident, felt we had to since we didn't want to risk losing our clothes!

 

And yes, no towel animals also- we got one the first day and that was it, and once, our beds went unmade all day. I complained (in Indonesian) and we never had an issue with that again. I know that the cabin stewards were very busy- I think each team had 30 rooms to clean and our pair said that they were overburdened. This seemed true as they were always working whenever I saw them. I think that's why we didn't get any towel animals :(

 

While I still liked our cabin stewards very much, I always give all of our staff cash tips (in addition to the auto tipping) and I gave our cabin stewards considerably less than I gave our waiters and wine steward, who were top of their game. While I can appreciate that the cabin stewards were overworked, I felt that the modest cash tip I gave them was more than generous considering the poor laundry service, lack of towel animals, and unmade beds one day.

 

Copper 10-8- Sama Sama!

[ger_77]

World Citizen, I enjoyed your photos immensely. The images are so crisp and clear that it makes me want to visit the same destinations.

 

I was positively green with envy when I saw the markets full of clothing, fabrics, shoes, etc. I'm a die-hard shopper and am certain we would have had to purchase additional luggage to bring back all I would have acquired during a trip such as yours.

 

Thank you again for sharing the link to your photos.

 

Smooth Sailing! :):):)

[SwissMyst]

In defense of long cruisers, I learned on my first one of 60 days many years ago and even the recent 42 day one, that it was easy to say hello to everyone in the beginning.

 

Then it got hard to start saying goodby to those who were leaving before you that you had invested in getting to know. Then it got so it was hard to even say hello again knowing the goodbys were hard and the new passengers were so full of novelty energy that had long worn off. So we just kept our distance later on.

 

Most new meet and greets typically spend a lot of time sharing "biography" and after sharing life stories, or other typical cruise ice-breaker stories, a few times with each new batch of passengers, the eagerness to keep doing this wanes as well.

 

Then it came to gravitating more around those faces that had become familiar from the beginning of the cruise. Don't think it was meant to be intentional, but it happened more out of conviviality exhaustion than anything else. But there is never an excuse for poor manners or even lack of conversational gambits that go beyond the typical first meet and greet exchanges.

 

Plus we found on our last cruise with an older British/Australian group that it was hard for both of us to hear and understand each others accents. Sometimes what appears to be snobbery is just plain old hard of hearing, particularly with women's voices.

[world~citizen]

World Citizen, I enjoyed your photos immensely. The images are so crisp and clear that it makes me want to visit the same destinations.

 

I was positively green with envy when I saw the markets full of clothing, fabrics, shoes, etc. I'm a die-hard shopper and am certain we would have had to purchase additional luggage to bring back all I would have acquired during a trip such as yours.

 

Thank you again for sharing the link to your photos.

 

Smooth Sailing! :):):)

 

You are right.

 

It took a lot of discipline to keep the shopping bill manageable.

 

Thanks and smooth sailing...

[world~citizen]

We had exactly the same issues- My laundry took forever and when it was returned I did not get everything back- I had to ask and then got it all back a couple days later. We hate doing our own wash, but after this incident, felt we had to since we didn't want to risk losing our clothes!

 

And yes, no towel animals also- we got one the first day and that was it, and once, our beds went unmade all day. I complained (in Indonesian) and we never had an issue with that again. I know that the cabin stewards were very busy- I think each team had 30 rooms to clean and our pair said that they were overburdened. This seemed true as they were always working whenever I saw them. I think that's why we didn't get any towel animals :(

 

While I still liked our cabin stewards very much, I always give all of our staff cash tips (in addition to the auto tipping) and I gave our cabin stewards considerably less than I gave our waiters and wine steward, who were top of their game. While I can appreciate that the cabin stewards were overworked, I felt that the modest cash tip I gave them was more than generous considering the poor laundry service, lack of towel animals, and unmade beds one day.

 

Copper 10-8- Sama Sama!

 

Perhaps we had the same cabin steward.:)

 

Smooth sailing...

[world~citizen]

In defense of long cruisers, I learned on my first one of 60 days many years ago and even the recent 42 day one, that it was easy to say hello to everyone in the beginning.

 

Then it got hard to start saying goodby to those who were leaving before you that you had invested in getting to know. Then it got so it was hard to even say hello again knowing the goodbys were hard and the new passengers were so full of novelty energy that had long worn off. So we just kept our distance later on.

 

Most new meet and greets typically spend a lot of time sharing "biography" and after sharing life stories, or other typical cruise ice-breaker stories, a few times with each new batch of passengers, the eagerness to keep doing this wanes as well.

 

Then it came to gravitating more around those faces that had become familiar from the beginning of the cruise. Don't think it was meant to be intentional, but it happened more out of conviviality exhaustion than anything else. But there is never an excuse for poor manners or even lack of conversational gambits that go beyond the typical first meet and greet exchanges.

 

Plus we found on our last cruise with an older British/Australian group that it was hard for both of us to hear and understand each others accents. Sometimes what appears to be snobbery is just plain old hard of hearing, particularly with women's voices.

 

This may well be.

 

One thing I think we can say with more certainty is that a world cruise is a different beast.:eek:

 

Smooth sailing...

[pearliemae]

We were on segments of both of the Seabourn Sun's world cruises, including the Sun's final voyage which was across the Atlantic from Las Palmas to Ft. Lauderdale. Both of these cruises had the same behavior discussed above as seen in some of the full World Cruise passengers, many of whom we saw on both cruises. It was also very obvious there was a very highly defined pecking order. We can start with the folks who had done every world cruise since the launch of the Royal Viking Sun thru the current one, move along to the ones complaining about having to find a new ship for their future annual world cruise, since the Sun was being transferred to HAL, to the one especially who was in "constant daily contact" with Seabourn headquarters in regards to the oncoming travesty, and assorted others who were very vocal about their opinion of the lowly "segment" passengers. These folks never realized they were prime entertainment for many of us. We also met many wonderful and friendly full world cruisers, who were a real pleasure to be with.

[SwissMyst]

The very skewing of cabin choices on ships ensures cruising is not "democratic". Rank/price has its privileges. There are single class ships out there. But you did the best thing your could under the circumstances; found it all amusing. And at their expense. Priceless.

[midgecruiser]

Most of my cruises have been 7 day except two 14 day and one BTB 7 day (total 14 days) and I have enjoyed all of them. I love the energy that a new cruise brings and would rather do several back to back cruises then a very long cruise. The 14 day cruises seem to carry the energy for the entire time and in fact its the best of both worlds....long enough to relax but not too long as to deflate the energy. Would I take a long cruise? Sure. But, being one who enjoys the energy of a group of people that are in "vacation mode" instead of "residence mode" I would choose several shorter cruises and make my way around the world that way. Which is what I have been doing over the last 8 years of cruising. But, work keeps getting in the way...darn it!! LOL!!

Appreciate the honest review of your experiences and truly believe that this insight will be helpful for many people thinking of booking such a segment. Gives the cruiser a chance to choose the right type of cruise for them. As we know, everyone wants something different out of a vacation and this is an important perspective to consider when book a cruise.

 

Thanks,

Wendy

[jamstuff]

This is my first post, but This was my fifth Grand World Voyge on HAL. Yes, you are right that the entire ship is different. This was a very unusal year, due to economy. we usually have 1000 passengers going around and we know most of them. The atsmophere you complained about is why we enjoy the cruise, and HAL plans it that way. This year there were only 450 going around so HAL sold short segments to fill the cabins, most at a price much less per day than we paid. We enjoy the lifestyle of the world cruise and felt as if that was cheapened by the short timers.

The world cruise passengers really get to be close, like a family, I have said that we get to know more about each other than we want to. The gay population is a little higher than normal, they have there on meetings, socials, etc. the people that ask about the relation were probably looking for new members to invite to the meetings.

Since we know the regulars, new people stand out. We often introduce ourselfs and try to engage in conversations, but it takes a long time for most people to accept even that level if association.

Almost all the short timers were gone by Russia and we were back to a normal world cruise, not a party ship.

A Grand World Voyge is not for everyone, most try it and either love it or hate it.

[CtheW0rld]

This is my first post, but This was my fifth Grand World Voyge on HAL. Yes, you are right that the entire ship is different. This was a very unusal year, due to economy. we usually have 1000 passengers going around and we know most of them. The atsmophere you complained about is why we enjoy the cruise, and HAL plans it that way. This year there were only 450 going around so HAL sold short segments to fill the cabins, most at a price much less per day than we paid. We enjoy the lifestyle of the world cruise and felt as if that was cheapened by the short timers.

The world cruise passengers really get to be close, like a family, I have said that we get to know more about each other than we want to. The gay population is a little higher than normal, they have there on meetings, socials, etc. the people that ask about the relation were probably looking for new members to invite to the meetings.

Since we know the regulars, new people stand out. We often introduce ourselfs and try to engage in conversations, but it takes a long time for most people to accept even that level if association.

Almost all the short timers were gone by Russia and we were back to a normal world cruise, not a party ship.

A Grand World Voyge is not for everyone, most try it and either love it or hate it.

 

this was one of the snobbiest posts i've ever read. :eek: welcome to cc, but i don't expect we'll be hearing much from you since we're clearly not your sort of people

[happyglobetrotter]

this was one of the snobbiest posts i've ever read. :eek: welcome to cc, but i don't expect we'll be hearing much from you since we're clearly not your sort of people

 

These are exagerated reactions from both of you.

 

I was on the full WC. It was my 4th one. Again I agree that there are cliques and that the whole shop becomes a 'village' ...both normal situations in our society. I remember college, don't you ?

 

However, the WC usually regroups 'seasonned cruisers' who like cruising for the style, the glamour, the pampering, the fantasy. This is not snobbish, it is a FACT. Like the first poster and like many of the long cruise passengers, we found disturbing to have to cope with short term segment people who came in the dining room with jeans, caps, tee shorts, flip flops, etc. completely disregarding the athmosphere of the ship. The 'I am on vacation attitude' that you can expect on 7 or 10 days cruise. When you are on the ship and other people come on, you see the difference. Something new passengers cannot feel or see. This is what the first poster is talking about. It was different and we found that some of them had the 'I do not care attitude' and that was changing the style of the cruise. This was seen as a bad thing by some of us. Being right or wrong. Again it was a fact.

 

After Singapore, when there were really a lot of 9, 14 and 21 days segment people and the difference on the ship was tremendous. There was a ball with the captain one evening where a few 'short term segment people' showed up in cargo pants and caps. We knew that they had to fly but we also had to fly to reach the WC in FLL.

 

There is usually a solid crowd of passengers doing the full cruise and they know that the etiquette on a WC implies respect of the dress code. They know that world cruises are a tradition and requires a certain decorum. This year was different. Most of the last segments were heavily discounted.... There was a young teenager girl who embarked in Singapore (17 years old) who was slouching everywhere, including in the Lido, the Ocean Bar, the library and sleeping lying on 2 straight chairs during the day or on the table. The first time I saw her, I thought she was sick and asked here if she was alright. She was carrying a large packsack to the dining room and all day long on the ship.

 

A world cruise is not for everyone. True. I do the world cruise to visit the world, see cultures, enjoy the food and the service. I like to dress up. I have more and more friends each year. Yes we go on the WC to avoid the winter, something that people in Florida and California cannot understand...

 

So both of the last posters were right but in their own way they were also wrong.

 

Choose your cruise, but know what to expect on each one !!!

[CtheW0rld]

golly, buffy, sorry it was so disturbing for you.

[Gamelan1971]

This year there were only 450 going around so HAL sold short segments to fill the cabins, most at a price much less per day than we paid. We enjoy the lifestyle of the world cruise and felt as if that was cheapened by the short timers.

 

As early as May 2009, HAL was selling segments of the 2010 World Cruise, which is when we purchased the Mumbai to Hong Kong segment. We purchased this segment because this would work the best with my work schedule, not because we received a last minute "bargain basement" deal to take the cruise due to a lack of sales on the entire grand voyage. Now, I do agree that there were some passengers who got on in Singapore, many from a certain Antepodian country, who got an amazing deal for the leg up to Hong Kong. That bothered me a bit as well, because we also paid a significantly greater amount of money, per night, for our cruise than they did. However, HAL needs to do what it must to keep the voyage financially viable.

 

Again, I think the point here is that HAL marketed and sold segments of the world cruise as early as last May. In reviewing their recent sales catalogues, I note that they are doing the same thing. Perhaps if this is an issue for the loyal, multiyear world cruisers, they should complain to HAL and get the segment option removed from the sales brochure. If HAL can make this economically viable, I certainly encourage them to give it a try. But please, do not assume that everyone who took a leg of this cruise picked it up as a result of some bargain basement advertisement in an Australian newspaper. We chose the itinerary because we liked it, and it was doable with my work schedule, nothing more, nothing less.

 

like the first poster and like many of the long cruise passengers, we found disturbing to have to cope with short term segment people who came in the dining room with jeans, caps, tee shorts, flip flops, etc. completely disregarding the athmosphere of the ship.

 

We dressed up each night for the dining room as it is something we enjoy about cruising- buying new dresses and getting ready for a nice dinner, so again, please do not lump all segment passengers into one category.

[Jade13]

As early as May 2009, HAL was selling segments of the 2010 World Cruise, which is when we purchased the Mumbai to Hong Kong segment. We purchased this segment because this would work the best with my work schedule, not because we received a last minute "bargain basement" deal to take the cruise due to a lack of sales on the entire grand voyage. Now, I do agree that there were some passengers who got on in Singapore, many from a certain Antepodian country, who got an amazing deal for the leg up to Hong Kong.

However, HAL needs to do what it must to keep the voyage financially viable.

 

Again, I think the point here is that HAL marketed and sold segments of the world cruise as early as last May. In reviewing their recent sales catalogues, I note that they are doing the same thing.

 

I was really interested in doing 12-14 night segments of a "World Cruise" and for years have thought that HAL should do this (kind of like SilverSea who moves their ships around the World and you pay for where you want to go). I never knew that HAL was selling the segments in Asia and was disappointed when we found out last year (via CC) as we were already booked on Azamara with flights etc. and I wasn't thrilled about the idea of a RCCL brand. It turned out to be the best cruise we have ever been on, not to mention we ended up in the PH.

 

This does not excuse people who do not follow dress codes, but it is not their fault that HAL is selling segments, which would not happen if the cruise was sold out.

 

Is HAL doing this again with the shorter segments next year? Just curious. We are still looking to travel around Africa in the next few years and there are not that many options. However, reading some of these threads would discourage us from doing so. I do think if HAL had a dedicated ship with short segments around the world it would sell as other cruise lines are doing this.

[Gamelan1971]

A quick look at HAL's website indicates that next year's 110 day grand voyage is also being sold in 8 separate segments.

[Jade13]

A quick look at HAL's website indicates that next year's 110 day grand voyage is also being sold in 8 separate segments.

 

But how many, if any, segments are 10-14 nights?

[Gamelan1971]

But how many, if any, segments are 10-14 nights?

 

For the 2011 GWV, the shortest one is 16 days, at the end of the voyage. Our segment of the 2010 Grand World Voyage, Mumbai to Hong Kong, was 17 days. I think the Singapore to Hong Kong leg must have comprised 8 days.

 

I did note that HAL has made sure there is no segment like that from Singapore to Hong Kong in the 2011 Grand Voyage. A wise move, I would say, especially if the leg gets sold off later for cheap due to low capacity.

 

On a side note, I was told by our Indonesian dining steward that there were two Indonesian crew who had their wives come on board and travel with them from Singapore to Hong Kong. I picked up on this when I noticed a very conservatively dressed Indonesian women who appeared to not be a crew member so when I asked our dining steward filled in the details.

[world~citizen]

We enjoy the lifestyle of the world cruise and felt as if that was cheapened by the short timers.

 

So, it was as if someone let the tradesmen in the front door?

 

Smooth sailing...