Unhappy people on the Oosterdam 10/15/05

[Krazy Kruizers]

With 1000 chartered people on this cruise - you can bet that the main show lounge is closed every morning and afternoon to accommodate these people. There isn't any where else on the ship that can handle this many people at one time for conferences, cocktail parties, etc. Wonder how many evenings the show lounge will be closed??

And then I wonder how many will break down into smaller groups and close off other lounges. etc???

All this will have an impact on the number of activities that can be held (like trivia, bingo, etc.) since the main show lounge MAY be closed most mornings and afternoons and MAYBE a couple of evenings.

[peaches from georgia]

Hi Everyone' date='[/size']

The impression she gave me is that Princess House didn't want to charter the whole boat so they just all booked separately and then bombarded the ship.

Oh, please this is pure BS on HAL's part. Talk about trying to shift the blame- what does that mean 'and then bombarded the ship'. If they all booked separately, w/out their company negotiating perks, and then all made demands, why do any of them have any more right to 8 PM dining than any other pax who booked? Did they threaten the Maitre d' with bodily harm? :eek:

[Iggipolka]

I probably shoudln't put my $.02 in, but I'm going to anyway. I completely understand the outrage that is being expressed. I know that there are people who need for medical or personal reasons, to have the dinner time that they request. I do think it's very wrong for HAL to change confirmed seating times and notify pax at embarkation.

 

That being said..it woudln't ruin my cruise. I'm one of those flexable types who pretty much goes with the flow and is just happy to be on vacation. When I learned that Nations Magazine has a group of about 500-600 on the cruise that I'm on, I called the TA that is handling their booking. I pretended to be interested in cruising with the group and asked about what lounges/rooms will be used during the day, what seating time the group will be using and if there will be special events that will close the pool or other areas of the ship to non-group Pax.

Having gotten this information, I then called my TA and voluntarially switched my dining time from 8:00 to 6:15, so I woudln't have to be seated with the group.

I'm prepared for certain rooms to be off limits to non-group pax and have planned accordingly.

I don't like it, but since I don't control the ship or who books on the ship, I have to make adjustments.

 

Granted, this is a slightly different case because I found all this out before hand, but I would probably act the same way if I was on board. I don't get to take more than one vacation a year and when I go, I refuse to let much of anything upset me. I just want to be on the Dam ship!

[elmorejj]

stanfordsgirl, Once we were in the Ocean Bar...which was open for business....with some friends, enjoying ourselves, during an art auction. The auctioneer had the audacity to ask us not to talk during the auction. I very politely told him that we were in a public area, open to the public and that we would not shut up to please him. I also told him that there were other rooms where he could hold his auctions with no one but interested pax present..........jean:cool:

[stanford's girl]

Oh, please this is pure BS on HAL's part. Talk about trying to shift the blame- what does that mean 'and then bombarded the ship'. If they all booked separately, w/out their company negotiating perks, and then all made demands, why do any of them have any more right to 8 PM dining than any other pax who booked? Did they threaten the Maitre d' with bodily harm? :eek:

I thought the same thing Peaches. It sounds like HAL is playing duck and cover.:rolleyes:

[stanford's girl]

stanfordsgirl, Once we were in the Ocean Bar...which was open for business....with some friends, enjoying ourselves, during an art auction. The auctioneer had the audacity to ask us not to talk during the auction. I very politely told him that we were in a public area, open to the public and that we would not shut up to please him. I also told him that there were other rooms where he could hold his auctions with no one but interested pax present..........jean:cool:

LOL!! You did the same thing that I would have done Jean.:)

[sail7seas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by stanford's girl

Hi Everyone,

The impression she gave me is that Princess House didn't want to charter the whole boat so they just all booked separately and then bombarded the ship.

 

 

 

Hopefully, if she continues to be an HAL representative she may learn at some point it is a ship. This is a SHIP we are talking about....not a boat. So, IMO, it's pretty hard to take anything this person says as having any validity.

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

:mad:

I have to agree with you Sail. A free dinner just wouldn't cut it for me either.

 

As I mentioned earlier on this thread' date=' this coming Saturday 10/22 I will have the opportunity to spend some time with my friends that are currently cruising on the Oosterdam prior to my group boarding for our 7 day Mexican Riviera Cruise on HAL. It will be very interesting to hear more about how this inconvience was handled by The HAL Management Team. Surely at their daily, weekly, or what ever staff meeting this subject was brought up and a discussion followed, wouldn't you love to have been a fly on the wall when that took place? Unless of course they just write off unhappy pax's as the cost of doing business. I sincerely hope not. The reason that I visit this board so often is that I love HAL and I think they have some of the best accommodations available and that is important to us and to our friends that are sailing with us. Sadly my group of friends that are experiencing these problems this week on the O, orginally were booked to sail with us on the 22nd but a month or so after we made the reservations, again in the summer of 2004, a member of their group had a business conflict and needed to reschedule. Funny my good friend asked if I wanted to see about changing along with the 4 other couples and thank goodness I said no. But who would have known this break down in customer service would happen. Weather problems, mechanical, polictical unrest all these things can affect a cruise and no one can be blamed for any inconvience cause by them, but a break down in customer service only points in one direction Upper Management Policies and poor training. Enough said, must get back to my list only 3 1/2 days left until we leave for San Diego. For those of you that might be sailing out of San Diego this weekend. We are in "The OC" and it's been raining for two days and very cool along the coast. You might want to bring something warm to wear until we get into the warm waters of Mexico. [/color']

[cdkempton]

Bon Voyage Shirley and her gang. Have a wonderful cruise. Thank you for sharing this info with us. We all wouldn't be on this board if we didn't love HAL and so it's hard to hear when something goes as wrong as this. I hope when your friends return they will let us know how everything was handled.

Happy Sails! Colette

[HeatherInFlorida]

This whole mess just gets worse by the minute!!! Peaches literally took the words right out of my mouth. If the rep told Stanford's Girl that HAL got unknowingly bombarded, all the more reason they shouldn't all get the same dining times! If everyone booked separately, they'd each be taken first come first served. But we already know that many people had gotten "confirmed late sitting" and then got bumped because of a "Group".

 

So there goes that theory (meaning the rep's). Of all the stupid, unbelievable things to say. I haven't been this furious over someone else's problem in a long time. But I'm with everyone else ... a few dinners in the Pinnacle (while perhaps a lovely experience) sure wouldn't make up for my dining time being taken away after confirmation.

 

And that is the point ... AFTER confirmation. Iggi, the truth is that more people should NOT roll with the punches and put up with stuff like this. We're paying money for something and we should get what we've been assured we will get. If we don't, then we have got to make it clear to the PTB that it's just not acceptable.

 

As far as taking over public areas like pools, this isn't fair either. It's one thing to use a room here and there on the ship ... quite another to take over the literal "heart" of the ship.

 

I have to calm down. We leave Saturday a.m. for L.A. to board our ship and we have Wilma very likely coming straight for us here in FL. So I need to take a deep breath!:o

[xpcdoojk]

Does anyone know what would happen if you refused to leave the public areas that had been closed off for these big groups?

 

And I think that it is bad business for any cruise line to not disclose to you if there are big groups on your sailing. I think you should have the right to decide if you want to cruise on that sailing and not have the line make that decision for you.:(

 

I think everyone except one poster that I know of agrees with you. The problem all of the cruiselines follow the same don't ask don't tell policy. Like I said check out the splendour of the seas for february 06 and see if they tell you that there is a significant group on the sailing.:D

 

So, the reality is every sailing especially 7 days or less could be affected by a group and none of us except group members know. The cruise lines could tell us, but they do not.

 

Simple reality question. If the cruiselines disclosed all of the groups that they book, what would happen to the sales of other cabins on those sailings? This thread is the answer. Hence, it is never going to be in the interests of the cruiselines to share this information. So, my suggestion is when you are given lemons make lemonade. ;)

 

jc

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Bon Voyage Shirley and her gang. Have a wonderful cruise. Thank you for sharing this info with us. We all wouldn't be on this board if we didn't love HAL and so it's hard to hear when something goes as wrong as this. I hope when your friends return they will let us know how everything was handled.

Happy Sails! Colette

 

Thanks Colette after spending over a year planing this cruise we are really looking forward to it. This whole idea for a cruise came up over margurita's at my 2004 Fouth of July Party here in Huntington Beach. Some of our best ideas seem to happen at time like that!

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

 

Bon Voyage Heather. I always love seeing your little dog's picture. My dog Sparky looks alot like your baby. We have just learned that the Dog Flu has been detected here in OC and it makes us a little nervous about leaving her. There seems to be so many things these days to worry about. You certainly have had your share of worries with all the hurricanes. Take care and share your adventures with all of us when you return.

[sail7seas]

...... but a break down in customer service only points in one direction Upper Management Policies and poor training.

 

Shirley..... IMO,

Seattle grabs the groups; dances jigs about the high profit they get from the groups then throws the whole mess at the ship's officers and crews and tells them to 'make it happen'. They do not get into practicalities or logistics or care about the problems. I think it simply goes something like......Mr. Captain, Mr. Hotel Manager, Mr. /Ms. Food and Beverage Manager etc etc-----it's your job to make everyone happy. Figure out a way to do that. And, in the meantime, don't forget we expect high satisfaction ratings at the end of the cruise.

 

Just my view of how this mess happened.....and how there will be more in the future.

 

[peaches from georgia]

If the rep told Stanford's Girl that HAL got unknowingly bombarded, all the more reason they shouldn't all get the same dining times! If everyone booked separately, they'd each be taken first come first served. But we already know that many people had gotten "confirmed late sitting" and then got bumped because of a "Group".

 

So there goes that theory (meaning the rep's). Of all the stupid, unbelievable things to say.

 

Right, Heather. The coverup is always worse than the crime! ;)

[mechcc]

Susana - Thank you for the web site, that was great of you to do that.

 

Heather - calm down!!! You need to be in good spirits for your cruise. We really want to know your impressions of your Summit trip.

 

Wandering Wino, Janice, Rita, and who else sells this week - have a good time and may there not be any large groups on your vacation.

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Shirley..... IMO,

Seattle grabs the groups; dances jigs about the high profit they get from the groups then throws the whole mess at the ship's officers and crews and tells them to 'make it happen'. They do not get into practicalities or logistics or care about the problems. I think it simply goes something like......Mr. Captain, Mr. Hotel Manager, Mr. /Ms. Food and Beverage Manager etc etc-----it's your job to make everyone happy. Figure out a way to do that. And, in the meantime, don't forget we expect high satisfaction ratings at the end of the cruise.

 

Just my view of how this mess happened.....and how there will be more in the future.

 

 

A very sad commentary of corporate greed, don't you think? There are still great companies out there but it seems they are in the minority these days. What might be fun and useful, if someone would start a thread asking our members to name just one company that really cares about customer service while treating their staff

with respect. A few years ago I had the opportunity to learn about a private company out of Texas named The Container Store. It's right up there with Nordstrom's. So it can be done and they can make money and still have happy customers and employees, what a concept. Hello out there, is anyone listening?

[xpcdoojk]

Shirley..... IMO,

Seattle grabs the groups; dances jigs about the high profit they get from the groups then throws the whole mess at the ship's officers and crews and tells them to 'make it happen'. They do not get into practicalities or logistics or care about the problems. I think it simply goes something like......Mr. Captain, Mr. Hotel Manager, Mr. /Ms. Food and Beverage Manager etc etc-----it's your job to make everyone happy. Figure out a way to do that. And, in the meantime, don't forget we expect high satisfaction ratings at the end of the cruise.

 

Just my view of how this mess happened.....and how there will be more in the future.

 

 

I so 100% agree with you. Of course with RCI it is Miami dancing!

 

jc

[HeatherInFlorida]

Absolutely right, Peaches! Someone please remember to clue me in about how this all plays out after my return (Nov. 7th).

 

Maggie, I'm sorry. I'm calm now. I just hate to see people being abused ... it's just not right.

 

Shirley, thank you so much for your good wishes. I've heard about the problems with the dog flu. Always something, right?

 

I sure hope your friends get a lot of lemonade out of all these sour lemons, but I really think it's time for all of us to make ourselves heard. It's the only way we get anywhere in this world of ours, unfortunately. Shouldn't be that way, but it just is.

[LoveLifeAtSea]

This thread was started at 1:02 am yesterday and already there are 5 pages, 114 posts! Does that tell HAL how important this issue is to all of us???

 

I was away from the board for a few days and was glancing at the topics to see if there was anything in particular of interest to me. I spent the better part of the last 1/2 hour or so reading this thread and my stomach is in knots just thinking about it! That's how upsetting this issue is to me if it was to happen while I was onboard!

 

But, more important to me, what is really upsetting is I frankly do not think HAL really cares. We all know that it's the bottom line that counts! A big group like this one is exactly what companies like HAL want! Money speaks a hell of a lot louder than loyalty. And, while we ALL know that our loyalty represents money, to someone such as HAL, we're just peanuts.

 

And, while someone is bound to indicate that accumulatively we make up the same amount as that group, which is probably true, it's the commitment that the group gives HAL that they are after.

 

All of this is JMHO!!!

 

I don't get mad or upset easily, but this is horribly unfair! I think the treatment that those passengers got SUCKS!!!

[xpcdoojk]

A very sad commentary of corporate greed' date=' don't you think? There are still great companies out there but it seems they are in the minority these days. What might be fun and useful, if someone would start a thread asking our members to name just one company that really cares about customer service while treating their staff[/size']

with respect. A few years ago I had the opportunity to learn about a private company out of Texas named The Container Store. It's right up there with Nordstrom's. So it can be done and they can make money and still have happy customers and employees, what a concept. Hello out there, is anyone listening?

 

The container store in the big city close to where I lived went out of business.

 

I am telling you HAL is not unique.

 

jc

[HeatherInFlorida]

The container store in the big city close to where I lived went out of business.

 

I am telling you HAL is not unique.

 

jc

 

jc, that doesn't make it okay! That's the whole problem. We all sit back and say "oh, well, that's just the way it is". But it doesn't have to be.

 

One person can't get a whole lot done about "stuff" like this, but large numbers of people can. If we could find a way to band together and fight HAL's Seattle office about this kind of treatment, we might just get somewhere. If I wasn't going on a cruise myself in a few days, I swear I would start the ball rolling.

 

There is strength in numbers. As Susan said, look how this thread took off in a little over 24 hours! It's extraordinary!!!

[Cruiseoften]

I just made up the quickest webpage for just this thing. Right now, it's nothing fancy just:

 

No need for 'fancy' - basic information is all that's necessary - thank you 'trubey':)

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

The container store in the big city close to where I lived went out of business.

 

I am telling you HAL is not unique.

 

jc

 

Wow jc, are you sure they went out of business or maybe just moved. We have a large store here in Orange County and I know of several in California and other states. When I was associated when them it was privately owned. I certainly hope this is not the case. I heard recently that they had once again been selected as one of the best Companies in the US to work for.

[Cruiseoften]

Oh, please this is pure BS on HAL's part. Talk about trying to shift the blame- what does that mean 'and then bombarded the ship'. If they all booked separately, w/out their company negotiating perks, and then all made demands, why do any of them have any more right to 8 PM dining than any other pax who booked? Did they threaten the Maitre d' with bodily harm? :eek:

 

Well said Peaches!!!!! If I booked in February for late seating and they booking in May, in my book I'm in the driver's seat - HAL is way out of line on this!!!!!!!!!:(