Westerdam: I Hope the Cruise was the Exception for HAL, Not the Rule.

[Boytjie]

Be my guest!

 

 

(No extra charge.)

 

Oh, I won't mind paying in chocolate. :D

[sapper1]

Oh, I won't mind paying in chocolate. :D

 

Hold out for European chocolate Ruth! 👍

[Boytjie]

Hold out for European chocolate Ruth!

 

Oh I don't buy Hersheys for chocoholics! :D

[kazu]

A question for everyone so vehemently defending HAL... If this was your first cruise on the line and you were locked out of your balcony and served a bad drink that they wouldn't replace and found a moldy strawberry in your cabin and had to cancel your room service order because it was over an hour late with no apologies presented to you for these errors... would you book another cruise with them? Be honest.

 

Everyone reacts to different things and problems differently. If those issues bothered me and 'ruined' my cruise - no I wouldn't book with the company again.

 

My point has always been - it's not the problem - it's how it is dealt with and that is why I do sail HAL and don't sail Celebrity anymore. Haven't been back on Princess either when I left the ship hungry and found unsanitary food (hair in food is unsanitary to me).

 

so you see - we all have our moments - what makes the cruise not worthwhile or to make you do a double take before you cruise with them again.

 

I have found HAL good to deal with if there is an issue (we don't usually have them, but things happen). It's not about the issues - it's how they are dealt with - if you didn't feel satisfied and happy after they were resolved - then definitely you are going to have a bad taste in your mouth and not want to go back on that ship.

 

Totally understandable - but don't throw out the baby with the bath water:D

 

smooth seas and following winds on all of your cruises. I hope the future ones live up to your expectations no matter what line you choose:)

[kazu]

Probably not. I have been on 9 cruises on HAL, and I have never had any significant problems. I expect everything on the ship to be delivered as advertised. If there are supposed to be robes in my cabin, I expect them to be there. If I purchased unlimited laundry service, I expect a bag to be available at all times. If I order room service, I expect it to be delivered in a timely basis and I expect it to be exactly what I ordered. I expect my cabin to be clean and free of all debris from a previous tennant. I expect a drink to be prepared as specified or be replaced without incident. I expect the restaurant to be open and available as advertised and I expect the food and the service to be as good as a comparable land based restaurant. I expect every amenity I have paid for to be delivered without incident and without having to chase someone down. I expect all mechanical systems in my cabin and the rest of the ship to be in working condition at all times.

 

SwissMyst, are my expectations too high for Holland America?

 

Tim, I am not Swiss Myst - but I don't think your expectations are too high at all - but IF my bathrobes were missing (and I have never seen that) I would just ask for them - I know theoretically you shouldn't have to but with the early entrance into the cabins there is bound to be something.

 

Hasn't happened to me - however no one and nothing is perfect all the time - so there could be a slip up someplace - the main thing to do is address it quickly, get it resolved and then enjoy the rest of your cruise.

 

Everyone has an issue sometimes - but HAL still delivers a good product IMO and while they do we will enjoy cruising on them. When they don't our only alternative will be to an Oceania, Regent, Silversea, whatever.

 

when I weigh out those prices, so far HAL and her itineraries are coming out ahead:)

[styles27]

OP, we had a similar "drink" experience on Veendam in May.

 

The last at sea day the bar on the aft deck had a "happy hour" special...one of the drink choices was a Margarita.

 

I had been ill most of the cruise but felt better this day and decided to finally enjoy a cocktail, so my husband ordered 2 of the happy hour Margaritas.

 

When they came the drinks were blue. Huh? A blue Margarita.

 

So I asked the young lady who brought it to us if she had maybe delivered us the wrong drinks because we ordered Margaritas.

 

The poor thing got this panic stricken look on her face...I'll never forget her expression. She started explaining that this was a blue Curacao Margarita. So we explained that we ordered just a plain old Margarita.

 

She didn't understand us and we couldn't understand her...long story short...we kept the drinks. (after, I learned that the blue Margarita was the happy hour drink, even though we were told it was just a Margarita) No big deal...it was actually pretty good. lol

 

The couple in the loungers next to us weren't so understanding and demanded that she return their blue Margaritas for regular ones.

 

I'm not sure if the servers are charged for returned drinks or if they're reprimanded by management if it's something that happens regularly, but this poor girl really looked like she was going to cry.

 

I thought the couple would give in and drink the damnn drinks but they wouldn't and they insisted that she exchange them, so she did.

 

All I know is, I've never seen anything like that happen on any ship before and it was quite obvious that this poor girl was upset and visibally shaken.

 

I wanted to pour my drink over the complaining guys head...but I didn't. lol

 

Sorry you had some frustrations on your cruise...I've sailed on 6 lines including HAL and I've never NOT had a frustration.;)

 

But, I will still cruise on all of those lines in the future because nothing is perfect and even a frustration onboard a ship is better than a workday at home! I feel blessed to be able to go.

 

If it were me I wouldn't write a letter for the things you wrote about, but that's just my opinion.

 

In order for me to write a letter it would have to be something pretty big, like a flooded bathroom that the line ignored or bedbugs or something like that. But little frustrations along the way....aah I just move on and think of all the positives.

[styles27]

Whew...finally read all the responses.

 

One question for the OP, you mentioned that Disney and HAL prices are similar?

 

Please, show me where I can book a Disney cruise at HAL prices and I'll do it immediately. lol

 

I've sailed all the popular lines and HAL's fair was no more or less than our Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean, Princess and Majesty (no longer in business) cruises.

 

In fact we've been cruising for over 20 yrs and the prices haven't changed that much since our first cruise. I save all of my paperwork so I know this to be fact.

 

But, everytime I've priced out a Disney cruise it's been at least double and sometimes more than double the price of all the other lines we sail.

 

I hope to someday experience a Disney cruise but right now I can't justify the cost.

[ellieanne]

A question for everyone so vehemently defending HAL... If this was your first cruise on the line and you were locked out of your balcony and served a bad drink that they wouldn't replace and found a moldy strawberry in your cabin and had to cancel your room service order because it was over an hour late with no apologies presented to you for these errors... would you book another cruise with them? Be honest.

 

I have locked myself out of my house, my dorm-room, my bathroom, my car, and my office. Things happen. Keys get broken in the locks and doors can swing shut quickly. And I have no way of knowing if the previous occupants reported the "damage" to the lock. With the tight turn around time, and everyone wanting to first on board and in their cabin, there is not time for the cabin crew to check everything. And it may very well have been the steward who broke the lock in the door. Also, repairs on the ship have to go through engineering, which might have a backlog. Obviously, you will agree that cabins that have no electricity, a non-working A/C or malfunctioning plumbing take priority over stuck balcony doors, especially since there is ample open deck space on which to enjoy sail-away. Yes, it is disappointing, and yes we all want to live under the delusion that we are more important than everyone else in the world, but it simply is not true. If the lock had not been repaired for the ENTIRE cruise, I would be much more upset and demanding of compensation.

 

The mouldy strawberry is a bit gross, but surely you have forgotten items in your routine housecleaning? Even in your deep-spring cleaning things sneak past. Certainly things fall out of garbage bags or cans in your own home. It happens. Gross yes, but not something to get your panties in a wad about. Again, as the previous occupants staying later in their cabins, and in some cases not allowing the crew in until they vacate, combined with the new passengers wanting to be in the cabin as soon as possible, it is simply impossible to do a thorough deep-clean of every cabin on turn-around day. Pick it up and stop by housekeeping to note your displeasure. Your cabin steward will be reprimanded for his inactions (as if he is not already working hard enough).

 

I highly doubt that every one of the 2000 passengers was on the phone for room service at 10:00 p.m. And frankly, I have NEVER had room service arrive on time -- at a land based hotel or on a ship. It just doesn't happen for me. And it could be that the kitchen was having problems -- maybe it was understaffed for whatever reason. Maybe the stove was malfunctioning. Maybe it was difficult to get everything finished. Have you never had trouble getting dinner on the table on time? I know just yesterday my poached eggs that should have taken 5-6 minutes ended up taking 12 and they were still underdone. Things happen, even on recipes/methods you use everyday. Unless there was a medical reason for you to eat on time to the minute, I seriously doubt you were in danger of starving on the ship. You may have been unusually hungry, but in no danger at all of starving. And if there was a medical reason, you would have taken precautions and had snacks available in case of emergencies.

 

None of the problems you have listed are enough to make me not try another cruise on the line if I had a good time otherwise. These are petty complaints in my opinion. In your opinion they are grievous oversights and errors. I am sorry you had such a horrid cruise. There was obviously nothing redeeming in the entire vacation for you. But none of what you have described is enough for me not to give the line another chance.

[kazu]

Reading the last post and laughing a bit - I wonder what the op would have done if he had been on our last Prinsendam cruise?:confused: Noro held up boarding for three hours (one of the few times I got there early).

 

Bad start and one of our best cruises - was I a happy camper ? no. did I let that bother me for the rest of the cruise? no. I heard some people grumbling and already set to find fault. We just went on board and within 20 minutes between the welcome by the staff, the ambience, etc. we were already happy campers.

 

Stuff happens - mind you there was no mouldy strawberry on my floor - so I had nothing to set things off:D

[Wakepatrol]

I have locked myself out of my house, my dorm-room, my bathroom, my car, and my office. Things happen. Keys get broken in the locks and doors can swing shut quickly. And I have no way of knowing if the previous occupants reported the "damage" to the lock. With the tight turn around time, and everyone wanting to first on board and in their cabin, there is not time for the cabin crew to check everything. And it may very well have been the steward who broke the lock in the door. Also, repairs on the ship have to go through engineering, which might have a backlog. Obviously, you will agree that cabins that have no electricity, a non-working A/C or malfunctioning plumbing take priority over stuck balcony doors, especially since there is ample open deck space on which to enjoy sail-away. Yes, it is disappointing, and yes we all want to live under the delusion that we are more important than everyone else in the world, but it simply is not true. If the lock had not been repaired for the ENTIRE cruise, I would be much more upset and demanding of compensation.

 

The mouldy strawberry is a bit gross, but surely you have forgotten items in your routine housecleaning? Even in your deep-spring cleaning things sneak past. Certainly things fall out of garbage bags or cans in your own home. It happens. Gross yes, but not something to get your panties in a wad about. Again, as the previous occupants staying later in their cabins, and in some cases not allowing the crew in until they vacate, combined with the new passengers wanting to be in the cabin as soon as possible, it is simply impossible to do a thorough deep-clean of every cabin on turn-around day. Pick it up and stop by housekeeping to note your displeasure. Your cabin steward will be reprimanded for his inactions (as if he is not already working hard enough).

 

I highly doubt that every one of the 2000 passengers was on the phone for room service at 10:00 p.m. And frankly, I have NEVER had room service arrive on time -- at a land based hotel or on a ship. It just doesn't happen for me. And it could be that the kitchen was having problems -- maybe it was understaffed for whatever reason. Maybe the stove was malfunctioning. Maybe it was difficult to get everything finished. Have you never had trouble getting dinner on the table on time? I know just yesterday my poached eggs that should have taken 5-6 minutes ended up taking 12 and they were still underdone. Things happen, even on recipes/methods you use everyday. Unless there was a medical reason for you to eat on time to the minute, I seriously doubt you were in danger of starving on the ship. You may have been unusually hungry, but in no danger at all of starving. And if there was a medical reason, you would have taken precautions and had snacks available in case of emergencies.

 

None of the problems you have listed are enough to make me not try another cruise on the line if I had a good time otherwise. These are petty complaints in my opinion. In your opinion they are grievous oversights and errors. I am sorry you had such a horrid cruise. There was obviously nothing redeeming in the entire vacation for you. But none of what you have described is enough for me not to give the line another chance.

 

you make way too much sense. There was a poster a few months back who got locked out on his balcony for an hour. He then claimed he was getting thirsty:rolleyes: out there. The best part is... as maintenance workers and cabin stewards were at the door and trying to open it, he decided to feverishly bang on the glass (as if this would speed things up) these boards are a treasure trove for laughs.

[3rdGenCunarder]

you make way too much sense. There was a poster a few months back who got locked out on his balcony for an hour. He then claimed he was getting thirsty:rolleyes: out there. The best part is... as maintenance workers and cabin stewards were at the door and trying to open it, he decided to feverishly bang on the glass (as if this would speed things up) these boards are a treasure trove for laughs.

 

He probably yells at his microwave to hurry up! :cool:

[Boytjie]

He probably yells at his microwave to hurry up! :cool:

 

And presses the elevator button 50 times. :D

[prescottbob]

... responses but my first impression is that you should give another cruise line a go next time you plan to cruise to contrast, compare &, more importanly, enjoy.

 

Expectations versus realities can often be a problem, no?

 

Certainly the experiences you describe are not that of a quality cruise.

 

Again, if you'd like to cruise again, forgo HAL and enjoy.

 

May your travels be safe. Be well.

 

Bon Voyage & Good Health!

Bob:)

[Muffinis#1]

Just got off the Oosterdam 1st time on HAL and I have to say after reading all the post about how great HAL is I had great expectations, we had a great cruise and I was a little disappointed on sea days that there wasn't alot to do and I didn't like the hours of the Lido and we had a problem with a lot of lloud noise next to us. But I knew sea days was our problem not the ship and I needed to learn the Lido hours and do better and we talked with front desk and they solved our noise problem so everything worked out and we had a good time, just have to know that cruising doesn't mean a perfect vacation, but it does mean you have to make the most of it the best way you can...But our cabin steward and ship crew was above and beyond any ship we have ever been on....

[erewhon]

Merely descriptive of the meat and potatoes, sticky puddings, bread doughy "sausages", Sunday roasts and beans for breakfast menus. There was plenty of good food choices over all, but the dinner menus and many buffet offerings were distinctly British. Worst of all were the delicious 4pm British tea offerings that were so good they killed any appetite for dinner later. :cool:

 

Thank you for your reply.

[kjw869]

A question for everyone so vehemently defending HAL... If this was your first cruise on the line and you were locked out of your balcony and served a bad drink that they wouldn't replace and found a moldy strawberry in your cabin and had to cancel your room service order because it was over an hour late with no apologies presented to you for these errors... would you book another cruise with them? Be honest.

 

I'm not sure if I would or not. If not, I certainly would not waste my time on a HAL board on Cruise Critic, I'd move one.

 

Then again, I may give the line a second chance after finding out it has one of the highest number of repeat cruisers of the cruise lines.

 

On my first HAL cruise, I found a pair of black women's panties under the sink. That thing was massive and I suspect belonged to a woman over 300 pounds, at the minimum. It could cover our mirror! I saw our steward later in the hallway and handed it him later that day. That night when I was about to take a shower, I noticed many black hairs in the shower stall, not the bathtub. There were a few other minor things later, which I have forgotten, I just remember the great time we had on that cruise.

 

Ten straight HAL cruise later (with three coming up), the only "problems" we've had is with a toilet acting up once in a while.

 

I'm glad I didn't let one cruise cloud my judgement. By the way, we've been on the Westerdam three times and it's one of our favorite ships.

[jaguarstyper]

Ok, I'll agree that mistakes and oversights happen. I also agree that the way a mistake is resolved is probably more important than the fact that the mistake actually happened. I have had difficulty getting laundry bags too on HAL. When I ask for one and receive it in a reasonable time, then all is good. When I ask for one, am told it will be taken care of and 2 days and another call later I still don't have one, that is no longer a mistake, its a FAIL. If I receive a wrong or bad drink, that's a mistake and if its replaced immediately with the correct one, then its all good. When the replacement has to be escalated through some chain of command while I wait, its a FAIL. When a toilet doesn't flush or an AC doesn't cool, that's a mistake. If, after being reported, its fixed in short order, all good. If its still not working 3 days later, its a FAIL.

 

HAL does make mistakes and over the years they have been good at resolving them with few fails. But lately I have noticed on my own cruises and reading here that the fails are becoming more frequent. If we consistently and complacently accept these fails, then they will continue to happen with greater frequency. I can accept mistakes but I cannot accept fails.

 

On a cruise on NCL a bag turned up missing on embarkation day. When it was reported, we were told it was found on the other NCL ship that embarked from the adjoining pier. We were informed that they were gravely sorry for the mistake and we would be able to claim the bag in New York City when returned in 8 days. That was an EPIC FAIL. But, that is another story.

 

Mistakes happen, but the resolutions seem to be getting less reliable and I refuse to chalk that up to "ship happens".

[SwissMyst]

When you compare Disney prices to HAL prices for the same 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise (ocean view) one should have higher expectations for Disney.

 

What do you get with the lower HAL prices - how about a more self-contained, "do-it-yourself" experience, rather than privileged potentate satarap cruise experience. If you see a strawberry on the floor on a HAL ship, yeah, for the lower price many of us just pick it up ourselves.

 

Hope that helps OP - we pay less and we pay ourselves to be the onboard "help" sometimes. Since our first cruise experience was Crystal, we found HAL was pretty darn good in comparison and anything "less" that HAL had compared to Crystal was just not in a deal killer category for us.

 

And the pay off was 2-3X as many cruises for the same Crystal dollar. Nothing against Crystal, but our own goal was more cruising for the dollar with a certain level of traditional ambiance. We were not interested in Costa cheap, so HAL won our hearts with its "high level of service" for the dollar along with its occasional wrinkles and bumps.

 

OP likes the price and experience of Disney. That's fine. It was an unfortunate error to assume she was going to get a Disney experience at HAL prices.

[lovetocruise2020]

In this case the problems the OP had are not based on line policy which is cut and dried but on what the OP,s perception is of good service. So who is to say what is right. My question is why is it so impossible for some to take any complaints about the line?

 

Thumbs up!

[lovetocruise2020]

A question for everyone so vehemently defending HAL... If this was your first cruise on the line and you were locked out of your balcony and served a bad drink that they wouldn't replace and found a moldy strawberry in your cabin and had to cancel your room service order because it was over an hour late with no apologies presented to you for these errors... would you book another cruise with them? Be honest.

 

Yes. We did.

 

We are now on our way to being 3 star mariners...

Major communication issues on first cruise... Some things that really bothered me...

 

BUT so many things we LOVED that made HAL diff (on Eurodam & Nieuw Amsterdam, we have sailed other lines)

So, we decided to give HAL another try.

 

Its not what goes wrong, its what is done to make it right...

 

Now they continually knock our socks off, and when there is a communication issue, (with HAL, my only issue w them is communication, across the board and very often) we nip it in the bud.

 

So much of the "you are too picky, this is not land, cruise another line, go with a higher end line" was told to me. Just like in this thread as a matter of fact. But MUCHHH worse. LOL.

 

Don't listen to most here being negative. Too many cheerleaders.

Contact HAL, if they make it right, give it another try. I emplore you.

Everyone has the right to enjoy the cruise they paid for.

 

Do not lower your expectations just because someone on a message board tells you so...

 

Best of luck to you, and whatever you decide...

The rudeness of some here do not reflect all HAL pax. So sorry rudeness abounds.

[wallyboag]

Yes. We did.

 

Thank you for the response. One of the most well-thought non-accusatory that I've read and it made sense to me. Just wondering, what sorts of communication problems do you speak of with HAL?

[AirGorilla]

A question for everyone so vehemently defending HAL... If this was your first cruise on the line and you were locked out of your balcony and served a bad drink that they wouldn't replace and found a moldy strawberry in your cabin and had to cancel your room service order because it was over an hour late with no apologies presented to you for these errors... would you book another cruise with them? Be honest.

 

I'd be on a different line the next time.

 

AG

[hypercafe]

Wallyboag if I felt like you do I would never set foot on a HAL ship even if it was free as you could never have a good time thinking how bad the other was. Why are you wasting your time here?

[boards]

I totally agree with the above, there no question that if I did not enjoy, had a miserable time that I would step foot on another Hal ship. I can attest to that because it happened to me on the Norwegian Sea and we have not been on another NCL ship. So find another cruise line that meets your wants.

[dakrewser]

Wallyboag if I felt like you do I would never set foot on a HAL ship even if it was free as you could never have a good time thinking how bad the other was. Why are you wasting your time here?

 

Because he wants us all to tell him how right he is...