Notification FRom HAL re: dining on Westerdam 2/20

[TheCalicoCat]

Maybe not Lemonade, but be thankful that it is a gospel/jazz group & not a political group.

 

I had that unfortunate experience. They chat about their stuff everywhere & try to engage everyone. (Some of them were truly nasty when they realized that other people were not drinking their flavor of kool-aid.) Not to mention the derogatory comments that they were making amongst themselves about anyone else not lock-stepping with them.

 

Not fun at all.

[jhsocal]

Hope Chris gives us a report on the impact of Inspiration Group on his Feb. 20th cruise, that started this original thread. These groups will be on several Alaska cruises this summer.

[Hal San Diego]

After 103 cruises in the last 61 years, I thought that I had seen it all...on the first night of our January 24th cruise on the Eurodam, we were kicked out of the dining room at 8 PM to make way for the INSPIRATION group of almost 1,000 passengers that were clogging the ships corridors!!! Now, I will admit that aboard the Rotterdam in 1955, dinner was much more formal and lengthy, but they seated us for our 6:45 PM AYWD reservation which we were told was the latest time available because of the group onboard and due to the chef undercooking two steaks that had to be refired, they had just served us extra charge coffee drinks with our dessert when the head waiter came over at 8:05 PM and asked us to leave as they "needed the room", clearing away the unfinished drinks and desserts from the table!!!

My first stop in the morning was the Hotel Manager's office to let off a little steam to my old friend Charlie who totally agreed with me that this was not acceptable...he sent us a bottle of wine in the Pinnacle Grill that night and we had to go to Caneletto on the third night as our shore excursion in San Juan did not get back until 7 PM...too late to go to the Main Dining Room which had by then changed the last seating time to 6:30 PM to create a little more time to reset the room for the group.

The fourth thru seventh nights in the main dining room were very rushed, with the waiters and busboys literally running to get food and drinks so that we were done by the 8 PM deadline...let me also say that many of the group passengers expressed their unhappiness with being forced to wait until 8:30 PM to have dinner, but that's what HAL Group Sales sold them!!!

The whole problem with dining could have been avoided if they had split the group in two and let half of them eat early and that was the suggestion that Charlie emailed to Seattle, also asking that they give AYWD passengers notice of the shortened hours before they board the ship in case they want to switch to a different sailing, which is obviously what they did for the Westerdam, just a little bit too late to make any changes.

We have been on many cruises with groups both large and small...this was the first time that we were adversely affected by a group and while as 4-star mariners we will continue to sail on HAL, my sister-in-law and niece will not set foot on another HAL ship after this experience of playing "beat the clock" during what should be a relaxed elegant dinner. :mad::mad::mad:

 

HAL SAN DIEGO

[sail7seas]

I was interested in your post and tried hard to read it but without some paragraph spacing I simply couldn't read it.

 

Sorry as I think it probably is an interesting post. :(

[Lizzie68]

After 103 cruises in the last 61 years, I thought that I had seen it all...on the first night of our January 24th cruise on the Eurodam, we were kicked out of the dining room at 8 PM to make way for the INSPIRATION group of almost 1,000 passengers that were clogging the ships corridors!!! Now, I will admit that aboard the Rotterdam in 1955, dinner was much more formal and lengthy, but they seated us for our 6:45 PM AYWD reservation which we were told was the latest time available because of the group onboard and due to the chef undercooking two steaks that had to be refired, they had just served us extra charge coffee drinks with our dessert when the head waiter came over at 8:05 PM and asked us to leave as they "needed the room", clearing away the unfinished drinks and desserts from the table!!!

My first stop in the morning was the Hotel Manager's office to let off a little steam to my old friend Charlie who totally agreed with me that this was not acceptable...he sent us a bottle of wine in the Pinnacle Grill that night and we had to go to Caneletto on the third night as our shore excursion in San Juan did not get back until 7 PM...too late to go to the Main Dining Room which had by then changed the last seating time to 6:30 PM to create a little more time to reset the room for the group.

The fourth thru seventh nights in the main dining room were very rushed, with the waiters and busboys literally running to get food and drinks so that we were done by the 8 PM deadline...let me also say that many of the group passengers expressed their unhappiness with being forced to wait until 8:30 PM to have dinner, but that's what HAL Group Sales sold them!!!

The whole problem with dining could have been avoided if they had split the group in two and let half of them eat early and that was the suggestion that Charlie emailed to Seattle, also asking that they give AYWD passengers notice of the shortened hours before they board the ship in case they want to switch to a different sailing, which is obviously what they did for the Westerdam, just a little bit too late to make any changes.

We have been on many cruises with groups both large and small...this was the first time that we were adversely affected by a group and while as 4-star mariners we will continue to sail on HAL, my sister-in-law and niece will not set foot on another HAL ship after this experience of playing "beat the clock" during what should be a relaxed elegant dinner. :mad::mad::mad:

 

HAL SAN DIEGO

 

Oh my, what an awful thing to happen on your first night and not good having to rush your meals. We look forward to being able to take our time over dinner.

[sail7seas]

I thought to copy and paste the post and I inserted spaces so I could read it.

 

What an awful circumstance in the MDR. Terrible. The message that sort of treatment sends to members not part of the group is so demeaning and dismissive. Only the group mattered. :eek:

 

 

 

If anyone else had trouble reading, maybe this will help:

 

After 103 cruises in the last 61 years, I thought that I had seen it all...on the first night of our January 24th cruise on the Eurodam, we were kicked out of the dining room at 8 PM to make way for the INSPIRATION group of almost 1,000 passengers that were clogging the ships corridors!!! Now, I will admit that aboard the Rotterdam in 1955, dinner was much more formal and lengthy, but they seated us for our 6:45 PM AYWD reservation which we were told was the latest time available because of the group onboard and due to the chef undercooking two steaks that had to be refired, they had just served us extra charge coffee drinks with our dessert when the head waiter came over at 8:05 PM and asked us to leave as they "needed the room", clearing away the unfinished drinks and desserts from the table!!!

 

 

My first stop in the morning was the Hotel Manager's office to let off a little steam to my old friend Charlie who totally agreed with me that this was not acceptable...he sent us a bottle of wine in the Pinnacle Grill that night and we had to go to Caneletto on the third night as our shore excursion in San Juan did not get back until 7 PM...too late to go to the Main Dining Room which had by then changed the last seating time to 6:30 PM to create a little more time to reset the room for the group.

 

 

The fourth thru seventh nights in the main dining room were very rushed, with the waiters and busboys literally running to get food and drinks so that we were done by the 8 PM deadline...let me also say that many of the group passengers expressed their unhappiness with being forced to wait until 8:30 PM to have dinner, but that's what HAL Group Sales sold them!!!

 

 

The whole problem with dining could have been avoided if they had split the group in two and let half of them eat early and that was the suggestion that Charlie emailed to Seattle, also asking that they give AYWD passengers notice of the shortened hours before they board the ship in case they want to switch to a different sailing, which is obviously what they did for the Westerdam, just a little bit too late to make any changes.

 

We have been on many cruises with groups both large and small...this was the first time that we were adversely affected by a group and while as 4-star mariners we will continue to sail on HAL, my sister-in-law and niece will not set foot on another HAL ship after this experience of playing "beat the clock" during what should be a relaxed elegant dinner.

 

 

Edited February 22, 2016 by sail7seas

[OceanTraveller4ever]

Sorry to hear about that short change to you HAL SD.

 

Anytime amy venue on a ship is compromised by a group, at the expense of other passengers, it is an imposition, and it is wrong.

 

HAL has to have the duty to inform pax before final payment, or else accommodate all, at the expense if the "mob" that thinks they own the ship!

Edited February 22, 2016 by jpelleti007

[bellevuemountain]

I would also be upset. I hope HAL steps up on the issue.

 

Chartered groups seem to be common on different cruise lines. NCL passengers posted a thread (it's apparently been deleted once, perhaps the link to this one will be deleted):

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2318763&referrerid=0

[knittinggirl]

We had something similar happen in the Viking Crown Lounge on Royal Caribbean. They had the Diamond Lounge on the same deck as Viking Crown, and spilled the Diamonds (over 700) onto the rest of the Viking Crown Lounge. The diamond concierge stood at the entrance checking seapasses. And refusing to admit those not Diamond or up. Even people arriving earlier with a seat were kicked out, and they weren't happy.

 

If I was kicked out of my MDR seating or rushed, I'd be sorely tempted to remove the dining portion of the hotel service charge. And they'd get burned on the review too. Maybe not the head waiter, but whoever the dope that screwed up the reservations.

 

We had a really late embarkation, and they had to rush dinner to make an evening muster drill. Not a good experience. We were right next to the door, and waiters hurrying past one after another with trays.

Edited February 22, 2016 by knittinggirl

[3rdGenCunarder]

We had something similar happen in the Viking Crown Lounge on Royal Caribbean. They had the Diamond Lounge on the same deck as Viking Crown, and spilled the Diamonds (over 700) onto the rest of the Viking Crown Lounge. The diamond concierge stood at the entrance checking seapasses. And refusing to admit those not Diamond or up. Even people arriving earlier with a seat were kicked out, and they weren't happy.

 

If I was kicked out of my MDR seating or rushed, I'd be sorely tempted to remove the dining portion of the hotel service charge. And they'd get burned on the review too. Maybe not the head waiter, but whoever the dope that screwed up the reservations.

 

Removing any part of the HSC would punish the wrong people. The "dope who screwed things up" is probably someone in Seattle in the group sales department.

[knittinggirl]

Removing any part of the HSC would punish the wrong people. The "dope who screwed things up" is probably someone in Seattle in the group sales department.

Unfortunately, you're right. I bet the waiters were pretty ticked, because they knew a lot of passengers would do just that.

 

They really should have waived the cover fees in specialty dining to for the displaced passengers.

 

I bet most of the large group aren't repeating passengers. Splitting the dining times would have made more sense. But they probably wanted the entire dining room for speeches or award presentation.

Edited February 22, 2016 by knittinggirl

[3rdGenCunarder]

Unfortunately, you're right. I bet the waiters were pretty ticked, because they knew a lot of passengers would do just that.

 

They really should have waived the cover fees in specialty dining to for the displaced passengers.

 

I bet most of the large group aren't repeating passengers. Splitting the dining times would have made more sense. But they probably wanted the entire dining room for speeches or award presentation.

 

Waiving the cover fee would be a nice "apology." It would have to be offered for only a night or two in order to give everyone the opportunity, but it would be a partial solution to giving people more flexible dining times.

[knittinggirl]

We have no status with HAL, on Royal Caribbean, I'd be speaking w/ our concierge.

 

Regarding hotel service charge, that covers tipping in all venues. So, refusing tips due to bad service in the MDR is a bit harsh.

 

I'm not sure which is worse, getting your cruise disrupted like they said in this thread, or getting it cancelled out from under us. Like happened last year on the Rhapsody. We had the standard two weeks to make the change. Only problem is they waited until late November to notify us, and we worried about our TA and Royal Caribbean leaving early for the holiday. Turned out fine though, with the $400 OBC they tacked on.

 

I just wonder if there were enough seats in the Lido for everyone.

Edited February 22, 2016 by knittinggirl

[sail7seas]

Removing any part of the HSC would punish the wrong people. The "dope who screwed things up" is probably someone in Seattle in the group sales department.

 

Exactly.

 

[OceanTraveller4ever]

I thought to copy and paste the post and I inserted spaces so I could read it.

 

What an awful circumstance in the MDR. Terrible. The message that sort of treatment sends to members not part of the group is so demeaning and dismissive. Only the group mattered. :eek:

 

 

 

If anyone else had trouble reading, maybe this will help:

 

 

Thanks for parsing the above,

 

I always encourage folks to use the return key often and put a lot of space between the prose.

 

Space on forums is endless, and we are not printing any of this, so splurge on the space :)

[lvz2cruz]

Sorry to hear about that short change to you HAL SD.

 

Anytime amy venue on a ship is compromised by a group, at the expense of other passengers, it is an imposition, and it is wrong.

 

HAL has to have the duty to inform pax before final payment, or else accommodate all, at the expense if the "mob" that thinks they own the ship!

 

I don't think the "mob" thinks they own the ship. As HAL San Diego said halfway down, some of the large group did not like that they had to wait to eat at 8. She stated that HAL group sales set it up that way.

 

I would not be happy if I was displaced that way. Both groups are forced to work around sharing limited space.

I guess the other option would be to make all group passengers eat at 5:30 and do their show at 8 and make all regular passengers eat at 8 and have their show at 10. More people would probably complain at that schedule because HAL cruisers seem to eat early, go to the early show, and turn in early.

If HAL used one deck as group seating and the other for the regular passengers, it could work, but you have the disruption of some wanting fixed and some as you wish. Really no way to please everyone.

I think the entire group has to eat at the same otherwise they would need the theater for two show times.

Less cruisers seem to eat later and do the later show, so HAL is trying to keep every happy by giving the group later dining.

There is no one option to accommodate groups and please everyone, but this seems to be the best way.

[kevingastreich]

 

 

We once sailed with a very large group and to answer your question about them taking over the pool or Crows Nest, the answer is yes.

 

We were aboards 10 days and lost use of Crows Nest for just about the whole cruise. We literally were told by the group's coordinator there was a private party there every night of the cruise and we were not included. :eek:

 

We also lost use of the aft pool, on a beautiful Caribbean sea day and the group had a private pool party. We were a bit more than 'miffed' with the way we were so pushed aside.

 

Count on being denied use of one venue or another whenever it suits the large group.

 

 

No Way! I'm very good at crashing parties. No one will keep me out of the Crows Nest or the pool area. I could be so obnoxious that THEY will all leave! :p

[whogo]

Removing any part of the HSC would punish the wrong people. The "dope who screwed things up" is probably someone in Seattle in the group sales department.

What else is a poor cruise passenger to do? There is no way to punish the right people.

[OceanTraveller4ever]

I don't think the "mob" thinks they own the ship. As HAL San Diego said halfway down, some of the large group did not like that they had to wait to eat at 8. She stated that HAL group sales set it up that way.

 

 

As indicated earlier, I was trying to be polite, but who walks to a table, and asks pax to swap tables, so they can have their friends closer, or they just do not want us close to them.

 

This was a religious group, but they were overbearing, and self righteous.

 

I did think it was a mob mentality, whatever you think.....

[sail7seas]

No Way! I'm very good at crashing parties. No one will keep me out of the Crows Nest or the pool area. I could be so obnoxious that THEY will all leave! :p

 

Of course, there is the chance you'd be taking the Captain may think it so obnoxious he asks you to leave the ship. :eek:

 

Those groups bring in lots of money.

 

[sail7seas]

As indicated earlier, I was trying to be polite, but who walks to a table, and asks pax to swap tables, so they can have their friends closer, or they just do not want us close to them.

 

This was a religious group, but they were overbearing, and self righteous.

 

I did think it was a mob mentality, whatever you think.....

 

As an off the cuff 'muse',,,,,,,

 

Perhaps someone at your table had liquor or wine and they were disturbed? Of course, I am not saying any adult should not have a drink or wine if they wish but could that be part of them asking you to move? If so, THEY should have moved and not suggested you do so.

 

[Valley Girl of VA]

There is no problem with a group of 50. Sometimes there can be a 'family reunion' of 50 and if they weren't all wearing the same t-shirt :D :D, none of us would likely know.

 

The inconveniences discussed here clearly are about hundreds of people in the group.

 

 

Sail,

 

I do realize that most of the thread was about large groups aboard the ship but a number of threads back someone asked about the Road Scholar groups that are on board and whether there is any impact. They wanted to know if anyone had been on a cruise with them. I was merely responding that that poster's question. I responded that I had been on one cruise with them and that they shouldn't be any problem as they are generally small groups. Then it was brought up by another poster that my one cruise with them shouldn't be a mass endorsement of the group. I then came back to say that I had looked at their Afloat Adventures and that they DO tend to be small so I don't anticipate any problem from this group due to its size.

[Lizzie68]

Sail,

 

I do realize that most of the thread was about large groups aboard the ship but a number of threads back someone asked about the Road Scholar groups that are on board and whether there is any impact. They wanted to know if anyone had been on a cruise with them. I was merely responding that that poster's question. I responded that I had been on one cruise with them and that they shouldn't be any problem as they are generally small groups. Then it was brought up by another poster that my one cruise with them shouldn't be a mass endorsement of the group. I then came back to say that I had looked at their Afloat Adventures and that they DO tend to be small so I don't anticipate any problem from this group due to its size.

 

I am sure the person you responded to appreciated the information. No need to explain, it was apparent.

 

Just wanted to say - I like your blog. Very interesting.:) I don't normally see signatures as I have them hidden but had turned them back on last night. I obviously miss lots!

Edited February 22, 2016 by Lizzie68

[kevingastreich]

Of course, there is the chance you'd be taking the Captain may think it so obnoxious he asks you to leave the ship. :eek:

 

Those groups bring in lots of money.

 

 

You are right. I would actually turn the situation to my advantage by getting some OBC or free Pinnacle meal or bottle of wine or something. I was just talking big. :p

[kevingastreich]

What else is a poor cruise passenger to do? There is no way to punish the right people.

 

I agree. Until HAL comes up with a better solution, withholding the daily service charge is the only way a passenger can fight a wrong. After all, HAL does give you that option.