Ok, Peaches, I'm dying to know!

[localady]

Part II-

 

Service-

 

Dining Room service is now stretched so thin that to us it really is dragging HAL down. We made friends with a number of people at the tables next to us who had never been on HAL before and frankly they wouldn't come back because of the dr food and service. It's not the stewards' fault- they are just given more than they can handle. The wine steward was almost impossible to find and I wouldn't know our asst. steward if I passed him elsewhere on the ship.

 

Peaches- I agree that the service in the Dining Room has deterioated. The lack of staffing makes the waiters sooo stressed that no matter how hard they try it's virtually impossible to get an ice tea or even your water refilled. On our successive cruises in 2004, the staff level in the dining room seemed to diminish. Enough is enough!!!

Pretty soon we will be serving ourselves Buffet style in the Main dining room!:eek:

[sail7seas]

I'm guessing the next step will be 'No Lunch" served in the Main Dining Room in the very near future. Perhaps no Breakfast, as well?? No "inside info" here.....just a guess. Another way to get by with fewer stewards.

[Opinions]

Dining is one of the highlights of cruising and HA has made huge profits this year compared to previous years (according the yearly reports to stockholders) and it's understandable with all the cuts they have made! QUOTE]

 

Does the Carnival Corporation,the owners of HAL, show the profits of each cruise line they operate in their annual report, or just that of Carnival Corporation?

[gizmo]

I have never seen seperate profits for each cruise line owned by CCL.

 

What amazes me is, no one complains about service on Carnival or Princess.

[peaches from georgia]

What amazes me is, no one complains about service on Carnival or Princess.

Maybe that is because HAL has always had higher standards (like you expect more in a Cadillac vs. a Chevy, yet they are part of the same corporate group) and it is always disappointing when something is no longer provided. You don't miss what you never had. ;)

[elmorejj]

Peaches, I have really enjoyed reading your review and I knew when I read it that we would get all the facts without "prettying" them up. I agree about the DR service and food. At one time, food was one of the biggest attractions about cruising, not so these days unless you are on one of the really premium lines. HALs cut backs are showing more and more while their prices are going up and up. Maybe its time for me to back up and regroup about where I spend my vacation dollars...........jean :cool:

[ekerr19]

ekerr.....

 

We LOVE Raul. We sailed with him just before he was promoted and sure enough we saw him again within six months and he was so pleased when we immediately congratulated him. If anyone ever deserved that promotion, it is Raul. I'm sorry to hear he's on Volendam as that means we won't be seeing him on Maasdam. :(

 

 

He had just gotten to the Volendam on our voyage - in Barbados we docked next to the Maasdam and some of the staff came over to visit. We saw Twinkle (Bar Supervisor on Maasdam) she had just returned from vacation and had some photos of her kids, and Raul said he went over and visited the crew on Maasdam, he missed them already.

 

He is such a sweet person - we were happy to see he received the promotion too. I wasn't expecting to see him on the Volendam and we were sitting at the Dolphin Bar and he came up to us, just as surprised to see us there too!

[ekerr19]

Didn't attend. We have found them to be so crowded with too many people there just for a free drink. :eek:

 

LOL! So true... we went so I could get my medallion, but I was surprised by the number of "crashers" - the staff was having a hard time keeping them out and finally just relented and let everyone in... the place was completely packed.