No more dining room buffets or Lido BBQ's?

[innlady1]

These things that loyal HAL cruisers have come to enjoy and expect, how long will it take before more folks jump ship?

 

 

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[sppunk]

These things that loyal HAL cruisers have come to enjoy and expect, how long will it take before more folks jump ship?

 

 

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HAL's strategy is IF they do (and bookings haven't indicated it happens) they'll head to Seabourn, spend at least double the money, and HAL profits even more.

 

Every single cruise line has cut these things back, this isn't HAL exclusive. If people looked around at other lines they'd find identical issues on every one of them.

[TheCalicoCat]

HAL's strategy is IF they do (and bookings haven't indicated it happens) they'll head to Seabourn, spend at least double the money, and HAL profits even more.

.

 

Or they are thinking - we are still better than _____ cruise line, so its ok.

[bUU]

Every single cruise line has cut these things back, this isn't HAL exclusive. If people looked around at other lines they'd find identical issues on every one of them.

Absolutely. I keep up with the threads in five or six cruise line-specific forums. They all have threads expressing concerns of that sort.

[kazu]

HAL's strategy is IF they do (and bookings haven't indicated it happens) they'll head to Seabourn, spend at least double the money, and HAL profits even more.

 

Every single cruise line has cut these things back, this isn't HAL exclusive. If people looked around at other lines they'd find identical issues on every one of them.

 

Or Silversea, or Crystal or even Regent or Azamara - none of which have any relationship with CCL.

 

Not sure if it is double the $ . By the time you look at some of the specialty dinners (Master Chef, Cellar Master, PG, etc.), bar charges, wine tastings and excursions/tours and miscellaneous like HSC which is included on some of these, I don't think it would be double on an inclusive cruise if one did the math ;). I think it's more but have not worked out the percentage ;)

[RocketMan275]

Or Silversea, or Crystal or even Regent or Azamara - none of which have any relationship with CCL.

 

Not sure if it is double the $ . By the time you look at some of the specialty dinners (Master Chef, Cellar Master, PG, etc.), bar charges, wine tastings and excursions/tours and miscellaneous like HSC which is included on some of these, I don't think it would be double on an inclusive cruise if one did the math ;). I think it's more but have not worked out the percentage ;)

 

I just checked a seven day caribbean cruise on Seabourn. The cheapest cabin is an Ocean View Suite for $3499. I would say a mini-suite with a large window. 295 Square Feet. It leaves from Barbados and ends at St. Marteen.

 

You could also book an interior on Azamara for only $3681. This is an eight day cruise departing Miami.

 

Holland's Nieuw Amsterdam leaving FLL would be $799 for an interior or $1999 for an SA.

 

All cruises for March 18.

Edited January 11, 2017 by RocketMan275

[innlady1]

...and, if you're like me, you think twice before jumping ship. I have booked...but may cancel...a TA on Princess. More expensive than HAL to begin with. And the free laundry, 50% discount on the wine packages and specialty dining...well, that's difficult to give up!

 

All because HAL's TA's in '17 are out of Civitiveccia and not Barcelona.

 

 

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[bUU]

Or Silversea, or Crystal or even Regent or Azamara - none of which have any relationship with CCL.

Which argues for both CCL and RCL to combine all their elite programs into one elite program (for each corporation).

[Lizzie68]

And equally exciting to see new things introduced.

 

What exactly are the improvements over the BBQs and the Brunch? The seat covers I don't care about so I think having none is an actual improvement. But I haven't seen an announcement lately on any improvements to replace any of these.

[bUU]

I provided a link to an answer to that above, but let's be clear that it isn't a matter of every single person seeing every improvement as an improvement. Some folks see some detriments, other folks see improvements. Some folks see a little of both, other folks see none of either.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

I think it is only the Brunch. Being not a buffet.

[Happily@Sea]

There was neither of those on the Koningsdam transatlantic.

 

They have also eliminated the Royal Dutch tea and Indonesian tea along with the crew shows.

 

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On the Amsterdam, [just before the world cruise] on the holiday repositioning from SD to FLL, we had both crew shows. They were at 3 pm instead of 11 pm, which is better for me.

[SilvertoGold]

RE: BBQ ON DECK. We had a BBQ on the Mexican Riviera cruise in November that was awful. Fixed dining was closed in the upstairs dining room and we were informed the day before to go to the BBQ. We were not told that the lower dining room would be open. The BBQ was at night, the food was some kind of Mexican menu that I could not relate to. The lighting was inadequate as was the seating. SOme people went into the Lido looking for food. There were self serve desserts in the Lido including tubs of ice cream for scooping. What a mess.

 

I wrote my complaints on a "let us know" form and an officer tracked me down the next day to apologize. We talked about the health and safety issues and about the issue of closing one of the dining rooms in favor of the BBQ. He acknowledged my concerns and said that they would not close the dining room on future cruises and people would not be scooping their own ice cream.

 

I enjoy the salmon bakes in Alaska and we had a lovely BBQ in Curacao on a Panama Canal cruise. Both dining rooms were still open during the BBQ.

 

BBQ's are a Lido eating experience which should always be a choice. Closing the upper dining room to which people are assigned to a daily fixed dining experience should not have happened.

 

We had the MDR upper closed for the same reason on a recent Hawaii cruise. This may be the norm now.

 

As far as seating in "open" lower level that evening: we showed up and were seated at a good table for two as requested.

Worked well and made sense to us, after having been on many, many cruises where the BBQ evening found the upper DR half empty and a lot of waiters standing around with nothing to do.

[POA1]

We were expecting a deck barbecue on the Eurodam when we had a late 11 pm departure a few weeks ago. There was none. We would have eaten in the MDR anyway, but I was surprised that there was no barbecue. People seemed to like it.

[RocketMan275]

What exactly are the improvements over the BBQs and the Brunch? The seat covers I don't care about so I think having none is an actual improvement. But I haven't seen an announcement lately on any improvements to replace any of these.

 

Where did it say that the BBQ and the brunches were being eliminated?

[POA1]

Where did it say that the BBQ and the brunches were being eliminated?

We had no deck barbecue in San Juan in late December. That's always been a deck cookout location going way back to 2006 or so. The 11 pm departure has deck barbecue written all over it.

[Sir PMP]

Where did it say that the BBQ and the brunches were being eliminated?

 

It was reported by pax on the world cruise, they got it from the asst dining room manager...

[oaktreerb]

We had the MDR upper closed for the same reason on a recent Hawaii cruise. This may be the norm now.

 

As far as seating in "open" lower level that evening: we showed up and were seated at a good table for two as requested.

Worked well and made sense to us, after having been on many, many cruises where the BBQ evening found the upper DR half empty and a lot of waiters standing around with nothing to do.

 

We were told by the stewards that the dining room would be closed so that we could enjoy the BBQ....not that the lower dining room would be open. We found out the next evening that the lower level was open. I can see the problems of having servers standing around and I guess if one dining room is to be closed that it should be the upper. Next time I'll know to just go downstairs to eat.

[SilvertoGold]

Where did it say that the BBQ and the brunches were being eliminated?

 

WCB's World Cruise thread, post 78, page 4.

Edited January 11, 2017 by SilvertoGold

[RocketMan275]

It was reported by pax on the world cruise, they got it from the asst dining room manager...

 

The post says there were sanitary issues on the Grand World Voyage. Does not mention fleet wide. Does not say that the sanitary issues cannot be corrected. BTW, why would a CDC inspection conducted on one ship apply fleet wide anyway? How would the CDC know that these issues exist on all Holland ships? If the CDC thought they did, would they not also extend the findings across all cruise ships?

[SilvertoGold]

We were told by the stewards that the dining room would be closed so that we could enjoy the BBQ....not that the lower dining room would be open. We found out the next evening that the lower level was open. I can see the problems of having servers standing around and I guess if one dining room is to be closed that it should be the upper. Next time I'll know to just go downstairs to eat.

 

Yikes, I didn't realize you got the wrong info. That is bad!

 

We had an easy time of it, apparently: everything was handled very smoothly. Our Assistant DRM offered to reserved a table downstairs for the BBQ night, but we weren't sure what time we would go, thinking to try earlier for a change of pace, which is what we did.

[SilvertoGold]

The post says there were sanitary issues on the Grand World Voyage. Does not mention fleet wide. Does not say that the sanitary issues cannot be corrected. BTW, why would a CDC inspection conducted on one ship apply fleet wide anyway? How would the CDC know that these issues exist on all Holland ships? If the CDC thought they did, would they not also extend the findings across all cruise ships?

 

Things like sneeze guards are fairly consistent throughout the fleet, aren't they?

Keeping hot food hot and cold food cold is done much the same way, isn't it?

 

Doesn't sound as if the Amsterdam thinks it will get this all fixed for the big Mariner party in mid-February.

 

Once people from this board start returning from their cruises, we'll get a better idea of what is happening fleet wide.

[RocketMan275]

Things like sneeze guards are fairly consistent throughout the fleet, aren't they?

Keeping hot food hot and cold food cold is done much the same way, isn't it?

 

Doesn't sound as if the Amsterdam thinks it will get this all fixed for the big Mariner party in mid-February.

 

Once people from this board start returning from their cruises, we'll get a better idea of what is happening fleet wide.

 

I have no idea how common the food service equipment is across the fleet. You're probably right that Amsterdam may not be able to fix this in the middle of a world voyage. It may well be true that these buffets and BBQs are a thing of the past, however, the information doesn't support a claim that this applies fleet wide or that BBQs are gone forever. Nor, does this information support claims that this is just another cutback.

Edited January 11, 2017 by RocketMan275

[RocketMan275]

WCB's World Cruise thread, post 78, page 4.

 

Post 78 does not support a claim that this is fleet wide or anything more than a simple sanitary issue that can be fixed.

[kazu]

Things like sneeze guards are fairly consistent throughout the fleet, aren't they?

Keeping hot food hot and cold food cold is done much the same way, isn't it?

 

Doesn't sound as if the Amsterdam thinks it will get this all fixed for the big Mariner party in mid-February.

 

Once people from this board start returning from their cruises, we'll get a better idea of what is happening fleet wide.

 

Bolding is mine. I agree.

 

These World Cruises are not cheap. They normally have top drawer treatment. I am sorry for all of those on board. I would be disappointed to book a "bucket list voyage" and find that things that make it special have been eliminated. I truly hope it's not the case for our upcoming TA portion.

 

Time will tell