HAL's Future Whether We Like It Or Not?

[kruzkeen]

Regarding dining, many valid points have been made in this thread.

 

Princess has Personal Choice and NCL has Free Style. This works very well for them. I think that I am correct in thinking that all their ships have two main dining rooms. Both are on one level and have unique names. They also have more than one speciality restaurant as well as the buffet. Passengers can choose where they want to go with or without reservations.

 

If HAL were to make a change it would have to be fleet wide or mass confusion would result. The only thing I think they could do on the current ships is to make the lower level traditional and go back to two sittings. They could then make the upper level Free Style and operated it as NCL does with people coming when they like and having to wait if no tables are available.

 

This would suit those who could not get the 6:00 sitting and would prefer the dining room to the Lido. They could turn the Queens Room into a holding bar.

 

There are many down side to this. No more Baked Alaska Parades and farewell songs on the staircase.

[vicocala]

I for one, agree with S7S, each line should have its niche, especially as Carnival has gobbled up several lines. Market each line to a specific type of cruiser. There will always be older folks and younger folks.

 

Since my wife and I are in our forties, me just barely until Feburary, and new to cruising, we are exploring. Our choice for our first cruise is to experience the elegance and ambiance of yesteryear by going on Holland America, it is probably the closest we can get without the expense/time of Cunard.

 

For our second cruise we have chosen to go the opposite way with total choice on NCL. We may even sandwich a party type cruise on Carnival in between. I like the idea of differing niches. It is what the term total choice really means.

 

Viva la differance!

[kryos]

I too like the idea of trying different cruise lines. There are only a couple that I probably wouldn't try ... and not because I necessarily think there's anything wrong with them. They just don't seem like they would fit my "style" ... Carnival for the party atmosphere (I never was a party person even when I was in my twenties), and Cunard ... too formal for my tastes.

 

So far, though, I've only traveled on HAL and Princess. But I will be doing a "shortie" cruise on Celebrity in December ... sort of business and pleasure ... traveling with a bunch of TA's and taking some "professional development" classes while onboard the sailing.

 

I don't know much about Celebrity. I'll be on the Zenith. Anyone sailed her?

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[obriendan]

There is a danger in making the Lido into an alternative restaurant. The QMS does this for the entire Lido in the evening, making it into four specialty restaurants, reservation only. The four restaurants also follow the dress code of the day. Thus, anyone wanting relatively casual dining after 5:30 PM is stuck with room service!

[synman]

I think there is a problem with the link, at least as you printed it.

 

You are correct...they did a comma instead of a period after "www".

[KAJOKG]

There is a danger in making the Lido into an alternative restaurant. The QMS does this for the entire Lido in the evening, making it into four specialty restaurants, reservation only. The four restaurants also follow the dress code of the day. Thus, anyone wanting relatively casual dining after 5:30 PM is stuck with room service!

I really wouldn't call the Lido and alternative restaurant. It's always been open for dinner in the past, but now they have tables set and you can order your entree instead of selecting it from a buffet. However, even though it's not classified as an alternative restaurant, it does provide a dining alternative for passengers. I really like that.

[dougnewmanatsea]

Princess has Personal Choice and NCL has Free Style. This works very well for them. I think that I am correct in thinking that all their ships have two main dining rooms. Both are on one level and have unique names.

Both Princess and NCL have ships with only one main dining room.

 

On Princess - where normally, one dining room operates as traditional dining and one or more as Personal Choice - ships with one dining room get traditional dining only.

 

On NCL, traditional dining does not exist, so while their newer, larger ships have more than one dining room, it does not really matter.

 

I was just having a conversation with a friend of mine about Freestyle... His opinion was that on the older ships, designed before Freestyle, it does not work well. He pointed out that the majority of people will want to be in a dining room at sometime between 7 PM and 9 PM (even early diners will still be finishing dinner at 7, while most later diners will arrive by 9), and he feels that the older ships simply do not have the capacity to accomodate this number of passengers at one time.

 

The newer ships were desgined for Freestyle, with more dining capacity than a traditonal two-seating ship, and he reports that these work well.

 

Now, this is just hearsay, I have only visited NCL ships since Freestyle was implemented so have little experience myself, but this is a person whose opinion I trust and his logic makes sense to me.

 

By this logic, HAL's current ships, designed for two-seating dining, would not work well with Freestyle or something similar.

 

I agree with those who have previously said that the Lido provides a suitable alternative for those wanting casual dining occasionally. Those who want to dine casually every evening simply should not choose HAL - there are many other lines that accomodate them better.

 

The perception that all younger and/or new cruisers would prefer Freestyle/Personal Choice is false - I know many younger and first-time pax who find that they like traditional dining, at least as long as there is the option to go casual and open-seating if one wishes (which of course exists on HAL already).

 

IMHO, we will not see HAL move over to Freestyle or a similar system any time soon. There is, I think, the possibility - though I do not consider it probable in the forseeable future - that Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and/or Carnival might move to such a setup, particularly a hybrid setup like Personal Choice. However, I would not expect it on HAL or Cunard, which are the "traditional" brands of the Carnival group, any time soon. There are other Carnival brands, particularly Princess, which cater for those who do not want traditional dining and I think this leaves HAL and Cunard free to pursue their own more traditional market.

 

Just my $0.02.

 

There is a danger in making the Lido into an alternative restaurant. The QMS does this for the entire Lido in the evening, making it into four specialty restaurants, reservation only.

I agree, I would not advocate any change to HAL's present Lido setup.

 

To me, HAL's current dining setup is great - traditional dining, which I enjoy, but with the option to go casual if desired.

 

Cunard operate the most formal large-ship product on the North American market, however I believe that at some point - at least on cruises (maybe not crossings, which are more formal) - they may have to offer a casual evening option.

 

I would not be surprised if QUEEN VICTORIA - which will be a full-time cruise ship - receives a casual evening option.

 

Now, some may ask, what about Personal Choice on Cunard? (After all, it is just Princess behind the scenes now!) I'll never say never, but not any time soon.

 

It used to be that on six-day QE2 crossings, four nights were formal - the two casual nights being the first and last.

 

When QM2 was introduced, they changed to having two casual (first and last), two informal, and two formal nights.

 

The uproar from loyal Cunard pax was so great, that there are now three formal nights and one informal in addition to the two casual.

 

I think this indicates how traditional Cunard pax are. My guess is that if they ever tried Personal Choice, passengers would become downright mutinous!

[KAJOKG]

Great post, Doug. I am among those who enjoy the Lido alternative, but not every night. While on HAL, I like traditional dining, but do like a break from every night commitments. Princess offers what we like best with their Personal Choice. But I love the Volendam, and enjoy every minute aboard.

[kryos]

It used to be that on six-day QE2 crossings, four nights were formal - the two casual nights being the first and last.

Yikes! Four formal nights on a six night cruise!?!?!?

 

LOL ... oh, well ... guess that definitely eliminates Cunard from my cruising possibilities list.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Bodger]

Princess offers both traditional and personal choice dining, and from what I understand Personal Choice is beginning to edge out traditional in popularity.

 

 

--rita

 

We were on a Princess cruise this past winter. The traditional dining was harder to get than open dining. The suggestion was book traditional and switch if you wanted to open dining, but the reverse would be difficult.

 

We have always preferred traditional dining and the early seating, which is always the first to fill. On the last night of this ten night cruise, one of our tablemates expressed her surprise that everyone of the eight people at the table showed up every night. Something she did not recall happening on other cruises.

 

If I want casual dining I can always go to the Lido, but meeting up every night and discovering what your new friends did during the day is enjoyable.

 

Bodger

[Bodger]

I don't know much about Celebrity. I'll be on the Zenith. Anyone sailed her?

 

 

--rita

 

We did a 14 night Western Caribbean out of JAX last year on the Zenith. The ship is about 10% smaller than a Statendam class ship. We quite enjoyed it and I would make Celebrity my second choice after HAL.

 

Our dining room staff were exceptional and we had lots of fun. I was also very impressed with the enrichment lectures, there were four different series and about fifteen lectures in all. I only missed the one on 401K's as it was not relevant to a Canuck.

 

Have a good time.

 

Bodger