One Practical/Reasonable Thing?

[DutchByAssociation]

While I have no desire to listen in my room to the CD beckoning me to bingo, on our partial Panama Canal transit last year (Zuiderdam) I did wish we could hear some commentary from the crew in our cabin. When we did a full transit on Celebrity, the narrative was available in the room.

 

I swear I remember past HAL cruises where there were speakers in the cabin (Susan the CD and her "Toodle-oo" come to mind). As long as we could turn them down/off when we don't care to listen, it would be grand to have available for times that you are transiting a canal, or if a pod of dolphins are off starboard, etc.

 

This is a nice thread, and I have to add my support for at least limiting smoking to one side of the ship and enforcing the rule.

 

Someone may have already replied to this (starting from the beginning here) but one of the music or bow/aft came channels... thinking 42 or 43 perhaps? plays all of the announcements over the PA, commentary at the glaciers, etc

[DutchByAssociation]

There's a way to get exact prices without being booked or logged in. Go to Find A Cruise for a specific ship and date, and advance to the page where it shows the itinerary. Right above the itinerary table there is a button which says VIEW EXCURSIONS FOR THIS CRUISE. Click it and (unless the cruise is a long way off) in a few seconds a pdf brochure will open with full excursion descriptions and exact prices. Beside that long button there's a small one that says Email This Brochure, and you can have the pdf sent to yourself or anyone else.

 

One easy way would be to provide a standard power strip in all cabins ... so that's my practical & reasonable suggestion. They would have to be "chained" somehow to keep them from being stolen, though.

 

$15 at Target got us a Belkin brand outlet with a protector for the prongs, a rotating head on the prongs so it can be vertical up or down or face either way. Also has 2 USB sockets on it. Great for charging cell phones and some cameras, etc. It's also smaller in size and can literally fit in a shoe to protect it when packing.

 

Here it is:

[DutchByAssociation]

Bring back -

 

The welcome aboard flute of champagne, and

The white-gloved stewards escorting you to your cabin, and

The h'ordeuvres in the lounges during the pre-dinner hour.

 

Keep the string quartet in the atrium during embarkation. (I understand on some ships this is no longer done).

 

White-gloved stewards, pre-dinner hot appetizers and the string quartet in the atrium (or on some ships/some situations in the Ocean bar) is all still offered. Sorry if it appears it was missed or not present due to an extenuating circumstance for you recently.

 

No welcome aboard flute of champagne presently but all suite guests do get a bottle of the stuff and the captain's toast (usually first formal night) does offer one (or wine/juice)

[DutchByAssociation]

Just came off the Nieuw Amsterdam and would have liked to see movies at a different time. They were at 7pm and 10pm -- since we ate at around 7pm we couldn't do the first show and with having to get up about 6am for shore excursions 10pm was too late for us to do the 2nd showing since we wouldn't have gotten back to our room until midnight. If they had a showing at 9pm that would have been perfect for us.

 

Also, it would be really nice if the movies they showed had a theme that matched the next day shore excursion. Just by coincidence TCM was showing Gladiator the night before Rome which was pretty cool. They could have shown a Grace Kelly movie before Monaco, etc. or one on the Grand Prix.

.

 

The movies in the Screening Room? These are usually offered 4-5 times per day unless some group event would possibly decrease that amount on occasion if that room best suits the needs...

 

As for the kinds of movies, it's a mix of recent, popular and destination specific... So on an Italy cruise you may... just throwing titles around by the way... see Gladiator one day, The Italian Job the next and Avatar another.

[DutchByAssociation]

and in the Crow's Nest.

 

Crow's Nest only has smoking on those ships where it is the night club... and they try to keep it to a small area usually directly adjacent to the bar. This same policy is in place for the Northern Lights on ships that have it. Okay to smoke on bar side, not on dance side

[DutchByAssociation]

Stop calling them Verandah Suites call them what they are...only a balcony and also charge less for them as well...double the price of an outside sometimes is way too much!:mad::eek::mad:

 

Verandah "suites" are only on the S and R class. They are larger than verandah staterooms, have a little larger verandah and have jets in the bathtubs. There are distinct differences.

 

Also note that in the case of Veendam, this is WHY the BQ rooms are Spa "staterooms" not spa "suites"

[DutchByAssociation]

I know that passengers with mobility limitations are a very small majority on most cruises, but I know that it would be a big help for those with mobility limitations if there was one member of the staff that was familiar with the barriers that we face and had knowledge of the ports, shore services, and excursions so that questions such as are there curb cuts in this port or not could be answered. I was recently on a cruise where a woman had waited almost a year to swim with the dolphins. She paid for the excursion in advance and when she showed up there was no way for her to get on the bus let alone in the pool with the dolphins. It was a great disapppointment for her. A liaison of some sort - it doesn't even need to be a full time person, just one of the staff that could get a few hours of training make the knowledge available for those that need assistance. Just a thought.

 

No guarantee that EVERY question could be answered, but Access and Compliance may have some information. Also, shore excursions usually has a couple folks that are more familiar with accessibility questions (don't recall their names unfortunately)

[DutchByAssociation]

Another low cost suggestion:

 

Offer a series of classes such as "working with bugs/ fun with fermentation": a hands on workshop in bread making ( to get the feel of what dough should feel like as far as elasticity and moisture ), another day making yogurt, another day root beer, etc.). This would probably work best on a longer voyage.

 

Another class: how to make coffee drinks: espresso, capicchino, etc. (it could feature Dutch coffees.... Maybe sell the espresso machines to be shipped to the purchasers home to avoid storage onboard and pax having to lug them. Gee, I 'suppose HAL could even put their label on the machine. And the same type of machine could be used for the hands on class.

 

Sounds like you're suggesting a hybrid of what the Party Planner offers all throughout the cruises, and mix that with the hands on culinary classes that are limited to around a dozen or so people.

[kazu]

Thanks DBA for coming on and answering some of these suggestions:)

[Taxguy77]

they used to do that for every category, when i 1st started with hal. champagne greeting and an escort to the cabin. how civilized.

 

NCL did it too.

Love the local beer idea. Too bad good ideas usually don't get acted on (Not limited to HAL).

[barefootguy]

Why not just use the room TV to post all daily menus, MDR, Lido & specialty restaurants...

[iancal]

On board.....eliminate smoking in cabins.

 

In General: Fix the engineering issues on the S class so we can sail on them...or just replace them altogether.

[Randyk47]

On board.....eliminate smoking in cabins.

 

In General: Fix the engineering issues on the S class so we can sail on them...or just replace them altogether.

 

Those changes would pretty well close out HAL as a cruise choice for us. :(

[kazu]

Those changes would pretty well close out HAL as a cruise choice for us. :(

 

and for a lot of HAL fans I suspect :(

[3rdGenCunarder]

Verandah "suites" are only on the S and R class. They are larger than verandah staterooms, have a little larger verandah and have jets in the bathtubs. There are distinct differences.

 

Also note that in the case of Veendam, this is WHY the BQ rooms are Spa "staterooms" not spa "suites"

 

On the subject of suites, do something to make it clearer which suites get neptune access and which don't. Some of the ships have "deluxe" suites and "superior" suites. It's hard to know which of those suites is better, and there have been a number of threads where posters were confused about this. Why not call the suites that get Neptune lounge "Neptune Suites"?

[kazu]

On the subject of suites, do something to make it clearer which suites get neptune access and which don't. Some of the ships have "deluxe" suites and "superior" suites. It's hard to know which of those suites is better, and there have been a number of threads where posters were confused about this. Why not call the suites that get Neptune lounge "Neptune Suites"?

 

The deluxe verandah suites and the Penthouse get the neptune lounge. The superior verandah suites do not. (they call them suites as they are indeed larger than the standard cabin and have some amenities).

 

The Deluxe Verandah suites are SA, SB and SC on the larger ships and on the smaller ships, they are just S. So any of those categories (and the Penthouse of course) get the Neptune Lounge.

 

Superior Verandah Suites and/verandah suites do not get the Neptune Lounge (or the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast use, etc.)

 

The Deluxe Verandah Suites are better in terms of size, verandah space and amenities. They are also more expensive:rolleyes:

 

Hope this helps a bit :p

[mightycruisequeen]

On the subject of suites, do something to make it clearer which suites get neptune access and which don't. Why not call the suites that get Neptune lounge "Neptune Suites"?

Brilliant idea! :D

[sail7seas]

On the subject of suites, do something to make it clearer which suites get neptune access and which don't. Some of the ships have "deluxe" suites and "superior" suites. It's hard to know which of those suites is better, and there have been a number of threads where posters were confused about this. Why not call the suites that get Neptune lounge "Neptune Suites"?

 

Brilliant idea! :D

 

 

Don't higher prices indicate which 'suites' provide more amenities?

 

Those prices higher would logically be the ones that include more.

[sail7seas]

DBA...... :) Thanks for speaking to the issues raised here.

[3rdGenCunarder]

Don't higher prices indicate which 'suites' provide more amenities?

 

Those prices higher would logically be the ones that include more.

 

Yes, price is an indication. But if you aren't looking at the prices, the names are confusing. And it doesn't help that different ships have different assortments of cabin letters. I've seen posters book a "superior suite" and then post questions about the Neptune Lounge. I spent 10 days in an aft corner suite on Zuiderdam. I knew it was "SB" and I knew I was entitled to the neptune lounge. But I could never remember if it was "superior" or "deluxe." The edictionary says that deluxe is "luxurious" and "expensive." Superior is "of higher quality or quantity" and "more comprehensive," which sounds like superior gives a greater range of amenities.

 

I just looked it up. SA, SB, SC are deluxe. But ask me tomorrow, and I probably won't remember.

[erewhon]

 

No welcome aboard flute of champagne presently but all suite guests do get a bottle of the stuff and the captain's toast (usually first formal night) does offer one (or wine/juice)

 

What brand of champagne did you receive in your suite?

[English_in_Spain]

But none of them are really suites. A suite needs more than 1 room.

 

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary the definition of a suite is

a group of rooms occupied as a unit

 

And from dictionary.com

a connected series of rooms to be used together : a hotel suite

 

All cruise lines do this but it is technically incorrect (except for a very few top end cabins)

[DutchByAssociation]

Yes, price is an indication. But if you aren't looking at the prices, the names are confusing. And it doesn't help that different ships have different assortments of cabin letters. I've seen posters book a "superior suite" and then post questions about the Neptune Lounge. I spent 10 days in an aft corner suite on Zuiderdam. I knew it was "SB" and I knew I was entitled to the neptune lounge. But I could never remember if it was "superior" or "deluxe." The edictionary says that deluxe is "luxurious" and "expensive." Superior is "of higher quality or quantity" and "more comprehensive," which sounds like superior gives a greater range of amenities.

 

I just looked it up. SA, SB, SC are deluxe. But ask me tomorrow, and I probably won't remember.

 

Suites with access to Neptune Lounge. If they aren't listed RIGHT HERE, they don't get it (note that not ALL categories are on each ship)

 

PS

S

SA

SB

SC

SQ

[DutchByAssociation]

What brand of champagne did you receive in your suite?

 

The bottles are typically Pol Clement. In the Penthouse on Eurodam we had something else but I don't recall which.

[DutchByAssociation]

But none of them are really suites. A suite needs more than 1 room.

 

According to Merriam-Webster dictionary the definition of a suite is

a group of rooms occupied as a unit

 

And from dictionary.com

a connected series of rooms to be used together : a hotel suite

 

All cruise lines do this but it is technically incorrect (except for a very few top end cabins)[/color]

 

Well, if you think about it... and this is just me. What makes the difference in homes between a master bedroom and a master suite... the bathroom. If you stretch that then EVERYTHING on the ships is a suite simply because it's not a dorm. BUT, the deluxe suites also have the vanity area/dressing room