Unhappy people on the Oosterdam 10/15/05

[sheldrvrT6A]

Kyros

They probably cannot get in to use the net.....

As a manager of a large aircraft firm and our #1 and I mean #1 priority is our customer to hear a response like that from a HAL rep if he were my employee he would be on the street!!!

Jerry

[rubrrick]

My DW and I are also booked on the 12/04/05 Westerdam cruise. As well as the possibility of changing our dining schedule, I wonder how many "public lounges" will be off limits to us, and for how long, seeing from trubeys list that we have 4 groups on that voyage. We booked rather late, so are waitlisted for the 8:00 seating but were told that if we didn't get that we would be guaranteed the 8:30 seating. We have an S cabin, but that may not matter if these groups are quite large. What makes me wonder about all of this, is that I am trying to put together a CC meet and mingle and in talking with HAL Ships Services, the only time that their co-ordinator wanted to give us was the day before disembarkation back in FLL. That's totally nuts!!:eek:

 

Rick

[kryos]

Kyros

They probably cannot get in to use the net.....

As a manager of a large aircraft firm and our #1 and I mean #1 priority is our customer to hear a response like that from a HAL rep if he were my employee he would be on the street!!!

Jerry

You mean HAL would deliberately keep the internet service down so that these people can't post? If that's the case, believe me ... this January will be my last HAL cruise. I'll cancel out on the CC group cruise next October and try another line.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

What makes me wonder about all of this, is that I am trying to put together a CC meet and mingle and in talking with HAL Ships Services, the only time that their co-ordinator wanted to give us was the day before disembarkation back in FLL. That's totally nuts!!:eek:

What's the point? The day before disembarkation would mean that you wouldn't have a "formal" meet-up until almost the end of the cruise. How can you keep up acquaintances during the cruise if you don't meet up until the end?

 

If I were you, and this is all they were willing to give you for a CC meet and mingle, I'd just organize an informal meet-up in one of the bars ... perhaps at Sailaway or during the first sea day, and then tell HAL to shove their offer. The whole point of a meet-up is so that you will have a bunch of new acquaintances to hang out with (if you are so inclined) during the cruise, and people to perhaps do things with (like sharing tours, etc.). Meeting up at the end of the cruise is not gonna do you any good in this regard. :(

 

On my last Princess cruise, we all got together informally several times before our actual meet up. In fact, a group of us had breakfast every sea day morning in the dining room or the Lido. This was a Circle Hawaii cruise, so there were lots of sea days. We just grabbed a large table and then whoever could make it showed up, whoever couldn't ... so be it. It was a nice way to get together during the cruise (everyone's gotta eat, right?), while still giving lots of space to those who did not necessarily want to do a lot of things with the group. As a group, those that were interested participated in the horse racing and the ship building, as well as other onboard activities. We arranged meet-ups for these activities at the breakfasts so that those who were interested could participate.

 

Then, on the way back home from Hawaii (near the end of the cruise) the cruise line sponsored a hosted get together in one of the bars (complete with complimentary champaign). This allowed us to catch up with anyone else who perhaps didn't care to do the group things earlier in the cruise. We also got a few folks at that who were just curious as to "what the hell is Cruise Critic?" Twas nice.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[rubrrick]

Rita.....we're putting it together informally on day 2. What's really nuts is that HAL wanted to charge us $16.10 each for a 45 minute get together, almost at the end of the cruise:eek: . Let em sock it to someone else!!

 

Rick

[sheldrvrT6A]

All

We have found that HAL is not big on CC entertainment such as RCL.

We have been on both lines and just Saturday completed the O in SD.

Lisa set up an informal get together and it worked out great for our group.

We have our next cruise on the Brillance in April to Panama and the CC group is already at 40 and growing. RCL will provide snacks and a location the first or second night.

Now in saying this I am not getting down on HAL as each Cruise Line does their own thing when it comes to CC. In talking with TA's and others that have cruised concerning the CC get togethers lines such as RCL seem to enjoy doing them where HAL does not really promote such as RCL.

Lisa (Laffnvegas) seemed to work ours out with great success just our group doing "our" thing. As Lisa did just get everyone together and enjoy yourselves.

Jerry

[sail7seas]

You mean HAL would deliberately keep the internet service down so that these people can't post? If that's the case, believe me ... this January will be my last HAL cruise. I'll cancel out on the CC group cruise next October and try another line.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

 

 

IF the internet use was not working, how would you know it was intentional?

 

We could not use internet on Maasdam for almost a full week of our Maasdam cruise in June. There was no reason at all they would have shut it down intentionally. They simply were having satellite or whatever problems.

[kryos]

IF the internet use was not working, how would you know it was intentional?

 

We could not use internet on Maasdam for almost a full week of our Maasdam cruise in June. There was no reason at all they would have shut it down intentionally. They simply were having satellite or whatever problems.

Satellite problems the entire voyage? That just seemed strange to me ... especially on a Mexican Riveria cruise.

 

I guess I just read sheldrvrT6A comment: "Kyros

They probably cannot get in to use the net....." as meaning there was something preventing them from accessing it ... like perhaps it could have been deliberate. I guess my reason for thinking this is that I have never been on a cruise where the net has been down the entire voyage ... oh, maybe for short periods here and there, but for the most part it was up and usable ... though sometimes slow as all h***. Why then, I wondered, would they not be able to get in to use the net? It's not like they're cruising on the other side of the earth.

 

Of course, after reading your post ... maybe I'm wrong about that. Maybe the satellite feed could be down for the entire voyage. I just never heard of it before, that's all.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[kryos]

Rita.....we're putting it together informally on day 2. What's really nuts is that HAL wanted to charge us $16.10 each for a 45 minute get together, almost at the end of the cruise:eek: . Let em sock it to someone else!!

That's nuts. But, as someone else said ... each cruise line does things differently. I don't think HAL is very CC friendly. On my Zuiderdam cruise last summer, someone mentioned Cruise Critic at a "coffee chat" with the CD, and he made a sort of disparaging shrug ... "oh, people shouldn't believe everything they read on CC" ... something to that effect. The CD was Dane Butcher.

 

But yet, on Princess ... the only other line I've thus far sailed, they are very CC friendly and gladly hosted a get together for us ... complete with champaign ... NO CHARGE whatsoever. We also put together a "buffet" type thingy on one of the aft decks during one of the sea days back to San Pedro for our group, and Princess sent some stewards out there with sandwiches and stuff to add to our table.

 

But, hey ... to each cruise line its own. The lack of a CC party sponsored by the cruiseline is not exactly a "deal breaker" for me. The group can always organize their own thing informally ... at least that's what we're gonna do on the Amsterdam this January.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[sevigny]

We travelled with HAL about five years ago on the Veendam in the first week of March. We had no idea that there was a group of over 800 to 900 passengers from Princess House on the sailing until we were on board. It was one of the worst cruises we had ever had. For the first time in over ten cruises, we actually wrote to HAL afterwards, contacted the Hotel Manager on board, called the HAL problem line, etc, etc. It was unbelievable - so noisy, so loud, so everywhere! At the VIP cocktail, it was all people talked about, and this was with the officers in hearing range! People were outraged that HAL had not told their TA's about any of this. For the first time, we saw beer drinking contests and buckets of beer for sale on Half Moon Cay. When we were docked in one of the ports, a Carnival ship was docked next to us, and my husband and I went out on the verandah, and said - "Why doesn't the Princess House group just board the Fun ship when they come back? They'd be much happier and so would we!" Sorry, if that sounds snotty. but if you'd been on this ship with us, I think you'd agree. The answer to the letter we sent was very interesting. The HAL rep said something to the effect that they had not realized the effect that a group that large would have on a ship the size of the Veendam, that the group dynamics did not really match the typical HAL passenger, etc, etc, and that HAL was re-evaluating the large group bookings, etc, etc. Well, it's about five years later, and you can see how they have re-evaluated! Money talks! In my opinion, what was done to the other passengers on the Oosterdam was just plain wrong, no matter how you talk around it, especially to the people who booked so far ahead. It's become very obvious that HAL just doesn't seem to care about the core group of mariners who have supported them for so long. They seem to feel that since they have such a large group of mariners, these passengers will always be their fans. Regrettably, this may no longer be the case. It seems every day that I read this board, some long time mariner is looking at another line: looking for what used to be the premium HAL experience. ARE YOU LISTENING HAL? THINK OF MARSHALL FIELD'S - GIVE THE LADY WHAT SHE WANTS!

WHERE HAS YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE GONE? DON'T WE, THE DEVOTED MARINERS, MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU ANYMORE?:mad:

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

We travelled with HAL about five years ago on the Veendam in the first week of March. We had no idea that there was a group of over 800 to 900 passengers from Princess House on the sailing until we were on board. It was one of the worst cruises we had ever had. For the first time in over ten cruises, we actually wrote to HAL afterwards, contacted the Hotel Manager on board, called the HAL problem line, etc, etc. It was unbelievable - so noisy, so loud, so everywhere! At the VIP cocktail, it was all people talked about, and this was with the officers in hearing range! People were outraged that HAL had not told their TA's about any of this. For the first time, we saw beer drinking contests and buckets of beer for sale on Half Moon Cay. When we were docked in one of the ports, a Carnival ship was docked next to us, and my husband and I went out on the verandah, and said - "Why doesn't the Princess House group just board the Fun ship when they come back? They'd be much happier and so would we!" Sorry, if that sounds snotty. but if you'd been on this ship with us, I think you'd agree. The answer to the letter we sent was very interesting. The HAL rep said something to the effect that they had not realized the effect that a group that large would have on a ship the size of the Veendam, that the group dynamics did not really match the typical HAL passenger, etc, etc, and that HAL was re-evaluating the large group bookings, etc, etc. Well, it's about five years later, and you can see how they have re-evaluated! Money talks! In my opinion, what was done to the other passengers on the Oosterdam was just plain wrong, no matter how you talk around it, especially to the people who booked so far ahead. It's become very obvious that HAL just doesn't seem to care about the core group of mariners who have supported them for so long. They seem to feel that since they have such a large group of mariners, these passengers will always be their fans. Regrettably, this may no longer be the case. It seems every day that I read this board, some long time mariner is looking at another line: looking for what used to be the premium HAL experience. ARE YOU LISTENING HAL? THINK OF MARSHALL FIELD'S - GIVE THE LADY WHAT SHE WANTS!

WHERE HAS YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE GONE? DON'T WE, THE DEVOTED MARINERS, MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU ANYMORE?:mad:

 

So well said, we will be on Saturday's sailing of the O with the new open seating test. We're let you know if HAL is still as wonderful as we all remember it to be.

[MBeamTX]

Our one-and-only non-HAL cruise (to date!) was on Royal Caribbean. They not only hosted the meet & mingle, they delivered written invitations to a bridge tour the next day. That was a highlight of our cruise. This was not a CC group cruise and none of us had any special status, as far as I know.

 

And HAL wants to charge $16.10 per person for a get-together. :rolleyes:

 

Happy cruising,

Susan

 

p.s. On the other hand, RCI does charge $7 for a measly little birthday cake. :p

[sheldrvrT6A]

Kyros/Sail

Explanation of the net statement is that with that many folks on board in a large group and with the expectation that they were using many of the "normally" open rooms and as some of the threads stated possibly blocking with their group it MAY have been impossible to use the net room.

Sorry if I threw some of you off on my statement.

Jerry

[Jim Gallup]

For those of you who have noticed the extra care given Cruisecritics on RCI and Celebrity Ships, you should also know the reason.

There is a sponsorship affiliation between Royal Caribbean and Cruisecritic.com. This authorizes and permits the RCI ships to have a much closer relationship with CC.

If the other Cruise Lines choose to try this, it must be strictly unofficially.

[serendipity1499]

All

We have found that HAL is not big on CC entertainment such as RCL.

We have been on both lines and just Saturday completed the O in SD.

Lisa set up an informal get together and it worked out great for our group.

We have our next cruise on the Brillance in April to Panama and the CC group is already at 40 and growing. RCL will provide snacks and a location the first or second night.

Now in saying this I am not getting down on HAL as each Cruise Line does their own thing when it comes to CC. In talking with TA's and others that have cruised concerning the CC get togethers lines such as RCL seem to enjoy doing them where HAL does not really promote such as RCL.

Lisa (Laffnvegas) seemed to work ours out with great success just our group doing "our" thing. As Lisa did just get everyone together and enjoy yourselves.

Jerry

 

Unfortunately, the reason why HAL does not automatically help CC Psgrs is because they are not an official Corporate sponsor of CC...RCL is the ONLY OFFICIAL CRUISE LINE SPONSOR for Cruise Critic.This info. was posted on CC by Laura..You might want to check out the thread which explains how to set up meet & greet get togethers on board.. However on some HAL ships the on-board Crew will help you set up a CC meet & greet...On the Amsterdam it was an un-official meet & greet out by the AFT pool....On the Westerdam Hal gave us a room (no charge) for our meet & greet..And the Hotel Mgr. did set up a luncheon for us..

 

I'm having the same problem with another Cruise Line now..The person I'm dealing with in headquarters has no idea what Cruise Critic is (even after I explained it to her).:( .Since we also have a very small group she finally advised us to meet in the Main Lobby..There is a group orientation meeting in the only area available on that ship..The same Cruise Line I'm dealing with now has Crews on their larger ships who always are anxious to meet the roll call members of CC..They even help CC members to set up their get-togethers..In addition the Hotel Mgr, Purser & others always attend these meetings..

 

Therefore, our roll call members will meet on our first sea day in the Lobby & then we will go for coffee, or just find a quiet area to converse..

 

I think it all depends on the Crew & their awareness of this board.;) .

 

Happy cruising all..:)

[trubey]

These 'CC get together meet and mingle' sorts of things -- I'm a little unclear exactly what everybody wants from HAL. Free drinks? Horse Douvers? A private room to hold this in?

 

Seems to me that if we agree to meet somewhere at a specific time -- f'rinstance, we met at sailaway at the bar-end of the Lido on the dock side at sailaway last year . . . those who wanted to drink could get a drink. Those who wanted to nosh hopped next door to the Lido for a snack-to-go, and it didn't cost "$16.10" (where did the $.10 come from?).

 

JMHO, Lane

[cuppy]

Our very 1st cruise was on the NCL Sky and that had 500 people from AmerisLife on board (I was told they were insurance agents). It made our cruise experience horrible.

 

I had heard about all the wonderful things that happen on cruises and none of it happened on mine because they had all the areas reserved. You could not get a spa appointment because each one of their employees had been given a $200 gift certificate and they book out all the appointments, the wine tasting was closed to the public and only available to them (my husband is a wine collector and was looking forward to attending), the specialty resteraunts booked out every night for them, the galley tour - private for them only, shows were cancelled and private shows with comedians were held for them. But the topper of it all was this was an Alaska cruise and on the day we sailed Glacier Bay they closed off the pool deck & sports deck for a private viewing party for them only. NCL employees were standing at all stairways and elevators and turning guests away who didn't have their yellow raincoat (they all got one) and card showing they were with the group. There was 2000 passengers on that ship; this group made up 25% - so the rest of us had to fight for railing space on the jogging deck to try and get pictures of the glaciers. Or if you were lucky and had a balcony you could stay there - this was our first cruise and we didn't have one.

 

Lattitude members were complaining because all their perks got taken away for that cruise due to the group and all upgrades were lost too.

 

We said we would never ever sail again after that cruise; I actually called my TA to get me a flight home so I could get off the ship but she couldn't get me one (at least an affordable one).

 

But a year later we tried again on a different line and fell in love with cruising and got to see everything people always raved about. Now I try to find out if large groups are going to be on board. I wouldn't mind if they didn't get to take over the whole ship.

 

As for dinner times, I always ask for late seating because there are less children - but it wouldn't be a major deal if they changed me. As long as we are not a table with all families & little kids. We have no children and it is very difficult (emotionally) to be around families sometimes seeing what we are missing out on.

[mountainmare]

Last year on the O I had a chance meeting with the captain (I thought that I was TOO COOL). When I mentioned CC he was well aware of us and indicated that the boards are read regularly. Anyone in the HAL organization who pleads ignorance is just sending up a smoke screen.

We are booked on our first non-HAL cruise next Oct (Celebrity to the Med), if HAL continues to be a fun ship wanna be we may find a new home!!!

[jhannah]

Cuppy, what NCL did to you all is horrible! Glad you've spoken with your dollars!

[trubey]

I'm just reporting in that I have done a lot of updates to the HAL Group Lists and if you haven't checked it recently, you'll see a lot more added. I've been getting quite a few e-mails from cc'ers, too. A big thank you. susana.

 

p.s. Everyone, just remember not to book the Zaandam for May, 19.

[Iggipolka]

Trubey!! This list is wonderful! Thank you so much!!

 

It's amazing, it looks like on nearly every sailing there is a group on board.

[sail7seas]

I'm just reporting in that I have done a lot of updates to the HAL Group Lists and if you haven't checked it recently, you'll see a lot more added. I've been getting quite a few e-mails from cc'ers, too. A big thank you. susana.

 

p.s. Everyone, just remember not to book the Zaandam for May, 19.

 

Susana......

THANK YOU so much for that listing. It is incredibly helpful and may save many of us from huge disappointment.

You have done all of us a big favor compiling this list and sharing it with us.

THANK YOU>

[sail7seas]

I'm just reporting in that I have done a lot of updates to the HAL Group Lists and if you haven't checked it recently, you'll see a lot more added. I've been getting quite a few e-mails from cc'ers, too. A big thank you. susana.

 

p.s. Everyone, just remember not to book the Zaandam for May, 19.

 

Susana......

THANK YOU so much for that listing. It is incredibly helpful and may save many of us from huge disappointment.

You have done all of us a big favor compiling this list and sharing it with us.

THANK YOU>

[sail7seas]

Sorry......seems we're still getting double posts.

[peaches from georgia]

It's amazing, it looks like on nearly every sailing there is a group on board.

Not sure what you mean. The huge majority of groups listed are going on 7 day Vista cruises, just as would be expected. There are just a few 7 dayers, and not more than 3 or 4 10-11 day cruises, on the older HAL ships.