They Do It so Well so Why Would They Change it?

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Does that mean forced out of our cabins by 8:00 on Disembarkation Day?

And No Room Service last morning?

 

:( Darn but my 'source' was correct.

Sail, yes I believe your source is correct. and yes we will most likely need to be out of our cabins by 8 am. I look at it as being a reverse of embarkation. Instead of going to the dining room or Lido on embarkation with our carry ons, we will be going there for debarkation :D

[Jade13]

I hope they do not change.

 

We just got off the Celebrity Eclipse (and Celebrity Century in April), and they still do silent disembarkation. Like HAL, boarding usually starts early at 11:30am and rooms officially ready by 1:00pm although we had no problem dropping off our luggage right when we arrived. Celebrity also allows walk-off with no luggage tags and opened their dining venues early at 6:30am for full breakfast on the last day, so we could go to the dining room, come back to get our stuff and still be at the airport (MIA) by 8:30am.

 

Also note this was on a Celebrity "Solstrice Class" ship with approx 2,800 pax capacity.

 

If HAL starts making changes, sending people out of their rooms and to lounges, they will be going backwards, not forward.

[cruz chic]

If HAL starts making changes, sending people out of their rooms and to lounges, they will be going backwards, not forward.

No kidding. That's something I really love about HAL.

[sail7seas]

 

<snip>

I hope they do not change.

 

 

 

Too late, I think. It seems to have been decided.

 

This is sounding a lot like Princess. :rolleyes:

[jaspersmycat]

This is punishing people who like to sleep a little later on disembarkation day by rewarding people who want early embarkation AND "need" to get into their cabins right away.

 

I am very disturbed by this. If HAL is going to change, why not try it on a couple of ships first and see the reaction. I know they had a survey question but the responses depend on how it was asked.

 

If asked "Would you like your cabin to be ready when you get on the ship?" then most people will say YES.

 

If asked "Would you like your cabin to be ready when you get on the ship but you would need to be out of your room by 8am on the last morning?" then I believe most people would answer NO.

[mr green]

 

 

If asked "Would you like your cabin to be ready when you get on the ship but you would need to be out of your room by 8am on the last morning?" then I believe most people would answer NO.

 

I disagree. The last day is a sad day, so why prolong the agony, I am more than happy to get out of a cabin that is bare, as early as is reasonable. Did you not get up early once in a while for a a tour?

Now you should have been on NCL, 15 years ago, on the last day. No buffet, no room service, BUT breakfast at your appointed table. Time? 5.30 am. If you did not tip the night before, it seems that you got no breakfast.

 

As a footnote I find nothing worse than getting on a ship, and having no room to go to.

 

john

[RuthC]

I disagree. The last day is a sad day, so why prolong the agony,

As a footnote I find nothing worse than getting on a ship, and having no room to go to.

But that's you. I'm the exact opposite. I want to wait in my cabin as long as it takes to be summoned off. Going to my cabin as soon as I board isn't necessary to me.

I just canceled your vote.

 

Anecdotal stories aren't what should drive the decision. It's what the majority want, within corporate ability to deliver, is what should matter.

[peaches from georgia]

I disagree. The last day is a sad day, so why prolong the agony, I am more than happy to get out of a cabin that is bare, as early as is reasonable. Did you not get up early once in a while for a a tour?

Now you should have been on NCL, 15 years ago, on the last day. No buffet, no room service, BUT breakfast at your appointed table. Time? 5.30 am. If you did not tip the night before, it seems that you got no breakfast.

 

As a footnote I find nothing worse than getting on a ship, and having no room to go to.

 

john

I agree with you, mr. green. I would much rather have my cabin ready so we can go straight to it, drop our carry-ons, look around the suite, check things out, freshen up, and then go to lunch. The Lido would be much more pleasant and less chaotic without people schlepping their carry-ons and everyone tripping over luggage, etc. The debark morning we are ready to have any early breakfast, get out of the room and get on our way. Cruise is over.

[Homala]

When I got off the Oosterdam last weekend, we only had a short drive home, so we asked for late disembarkation and were assigned 10:15. We enjoyed room service breakfast, but luckily ordered it early. Turns out that disembarkation went so quickly - and it was NOT silent - they called each color/number - that our 10:15 group was called at 9:15! :eek: Good thing we were ready to go!

 

I did notice on the survey that they asked if it is very important for our cabin to be ready upon embarkation and I answered "no," for the reasons discussed by some others here - I prefer to be able to stay in my cabin a little later and have a relaxing last morning on the ship. Obviously, there needs to be give and take on one end or the other. I think RuthC pointed out that they'll do what corporations do - whatever the majority wants and/or whatever works best for them.

 

As the old saying goes, You can't please all the people all the time. ;)

[Halgirl1278]

i most definitely prefer the current embarkation method...I remember the days when HAL subscribed to the move to the public room method -this is SO much better - i truly hope they dont change it!

[sail7seas]

As I've said before, I have no idea how to run a cruise ship nor a hotel but it seems to me this might be about number of stewards and just how fast they can get those cabins turned around. If there are fewer stewards doing the work, of course, it has to take longer.

 

If they force us out of cabins at 8:00, stewards have over three hours until 11:15 or 11:30 to get them ready for embarking guests.

If we aren't out of the last cabins until 10:15, that gives them one hour before new guests are arriving.

 

 

 

[DizzyDallasDi]

I'm also in the "let me sleep in and enjoy room service" camp. Being able to lazily get dressed while sipping coffee is one of the HAL biggies in my book. I could care less about heading straight to my room upon boarding. Heck, if that's such a big deal to some then they should just board after 1:30. :)

 

What I don't understand is why the room stewards can't stagger their cleaning schedules to coincide with when passengers leave? Clean the early-to-rise early-to-leave guests' rooms first and get to the others as they depart. That way they're not trying to clean all of the rooms during a very short period of time.

[cruz chic]

I disagree. The last day is a sad day, so why prolong the agony, I am more than happy to get out of a cabin that is bare, as early as is reasonable. Did you not get up early once in a while for a a tour?

Now you should have been on NCL, 15 years ago, on the last day. No buffet, no room service, BUT breakfast at your appointed table. Time? 5.30 am. If you did not tip the night before, it seems that you got no breakfast.

 

As a footnote I find nothing worse than getting on a ship, and having no room to go to.

 

john

I generally sail solo so to me to have my cabin until I leave is really important. I don't have anyone to leave my stuff with should I have to go to the bathroom. In addition, there is usually a long line up for one. To get into my cabin on the first day at 11:30 does nothing for me. Why look at a bare cabin like you say.

[Boatdrill]

.....and I hate this idea - eliminate the popular "early embarkation" - passengers board AFTER lunch time. Saves HAL that lunch cost and fuss ... and rooms are ready for guests because they board later.

 

Sounds good in theory but....

 

You cannot imagine the amount of complaints from guests when embark is delayed any time later than 12 noon. Unfortunately they've forgotten that HAL offers early embark as a courtesy, not as a right.

[sail7seas]

I well remember the dozens of HAL cruises we sat in the terminal waiting to board until 1:30 and later. It was a drag and we were so happy when they changed to earlier embarkation.

 

[mr green]

I well remember the dozens of HAL cruises we sat in the terminal waiting to board until 1:30 and later. It was a drag and we were so happy when they changed to earlier embarkation.

 

 

For the life of me I don't know what you want.:)

 

john

[sail7seas]

For the life of me I don't know what you want.

 

john

 

 

 

Mr. Green,

In 'my perfect world, we would be permitted to board around 11:15 or 11:30. We would have lunch in Lido and wait for our cabins to be ready around 1:15 or 1:30 and be permitted to go to them at that time.

 

We would be permitted to remain in our cabins until it is our designated disembarkation time.

 

In other words, in 'my perfect world', I want exactly what we now have.

 

[peaches from georgia]

Sounds good in theory but....

 

You cannot imagine the amount of complaints from guests when embark is delayed any time later than 12 noon. Unfortunately they've forgotten that HAL offers early embark as a courtesy, not as a right.

Exactly. It wouldn't take long for pax to know that HAL means what the docs say and they'll arrive at the terminal later and get over it. Don't arrive at 10:30, arrive at 12:30. I asked the roll call people for the cruise that we are taking on another line what time they board. The experienced cruisers just said, "Well, of course the docs say 1pm, so boarding is at 1pm", like I couldn't read the docs or had lost my mind. The cutback in stewards has to take a toll somewhere. You just can't have the same service with not enough crew, both cabin and dining.

[jaspersmycat]

Passengers opt for "Early Arrival". By doing this they should know they they are also opting for waiting for their cabins. We usually arrive around 1pm and are allowed to go right to our cabin - no problem!

[sail7seas]

Passengers opt for "Early Arrival". By doing this they should know they they are also opting for waiting for their cabins. We usually arrive around 1pm and are allowed to go right to our cabin - no problem!

 

 

Exactly.

If you come early, you must accept you cannot go to your cabin immediately. If that bothers you, come a little later.

 

I think this conversation is moot. Strong suggestion a decision for change has been made.

[mr green]

Well, at least on Princess a person can board at 11.00am, go to ones cabin, and then have lunch in the Buffet.

That is my, Perfect World.

 

john

[sail7seas]

What time do you have to vacate Princess cabins disembarkation morning?

Can you have full room service breakfast delivered?

 

[AZNative2000]

What time do you have to vacate Princess cabins disembarkation morning?

Can you have full room service breakfast delivered?

 

Or how about eating breakfast in the Pinnacle the last morning?

 

Debarking the Zuiderdam yesterday we were called by bag tag color but not until after 8am (unless it was the "walk-off" group).

 

On the questionnaire they asked (again) how important going directly to the cabin was to you. Again, we answered "not very". Rather relax upon waking up the last day than a couple hours sooner on the first one.

[mr green]

What time do you have to vacate Princess cabins disembarkation morning?

Can you have full room service breakfast delivered?

 

 

We leave our rooms by 8.30am, and have breakfast in the buffet. No we don't get breakfast served to us in bed, I for one honestly believe that the staff have better things to do on the final day.

 

john

[cruz chic]

We leave our rooms by 8.30am, and have breakfast in the buffet. No we don't get breakfast served to us in bed, I for one honestly believe that the staff have better things to do on the final day.

 

john

You can also go to the dining room too. The reason HAL has a better room service menu is because meal times are much more limited. Princess has a 24 hour buffet and it better IMO then HALs. The Lido is something I very much avoid.