Funny Voyage of the Vikings Tale

[Hlitner]

We recently returned from the popular VOV cruise, which had quite a few tender ports. Because a large percentage of the passengers were 4 or 5 Star Mariners, we received a letter (in our cabin) telling us that everyone would have to get Tender Tickets...but there would still be a Priority System. At the first tender port everyone had to report to a specific lounge and get a ticket...but 4 and 5 Star Mariners got Red tickets and the others got Blue Tickets. The Red Tickets did get priority over the Blue which was fine. But some of the 4-5 Star Mariners managed to keep their Red #1 and Red #2 Tickets (they "forgot" to turn them in as they departed the ship). So, at the 2nd and 3rd Tender ports these folks did not bother going to the lounge (to get tender tickets and wait) but simply walked directly down to the tender area with their low number tickets. Or course this angered other 4-5 Star Mariners who were following the rules. So at the next tender port, the Cruise Director got smart and simply handed out tender tickets in reverse (high numbers first). When folks went down to the tender area with their #1 and #2 tickets they were turned away :). The CD told us that nobody had the nerve to complain :). For the remainder of the tender ports they never did call those low tender ticket numbers!

 

Hank

[Alberta Quilter]

What a good way of handling the situation! Thanks for sharing the story.

[Cruising-along]

Love it! Thanks for sharing.

[kazu]

Good for the Cruise Director :) :')

 

Love it. Nice to see them doing something about those who believe the rules do not apply to them.

 

Thanks for sharing Hank.

[puppycanducruise]

What a great way to handle the situation.

Thanks for sharing.

[SilvertoGold]

Who was the CD? Very professional solution!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Love it!!

Yes -- who was your CD who cleverly outwitted those passengers?

[Hlitner]

Love it!!

Yes -- who was your CD who cleverly outwitted those passengers?

 

Having spent 38 days on a ship with that same CD, you would think I would remember his name. I think his first name was Jan or John.....and he is a relatively new CD (strange they would put a newer CD on the VOV cruise) from South Africa. He was certainly one of the youngest CD's we have seen on HAL. There were quite a few negative issues on our cruise....some of which folks attributed to the CD.. For example, there were numerous errors in the daily schedule. And then the poor CD (and we did feel sorry for the young man) could not seem to satisfy anyone when it came to the main show schedule. We started with shows at 8 and 10. Those that ate early and went to the 8pm shows quickly found that they had to be in their seats at least 20 minutes early...or they might not even get a seat. But those of us who went to the 10pm show (when a majority of HAL passengers are in bed) found the theater no more then half full and could sit where we pleased. So the CD decided to more the 10pm show to 9:30....which did not seem to help since the early diners and sleepers were probably asleep by 9:30.

 

I should also mention that our Piano Bar Player was "Barry from Boston" who is an entertainer we enjoyed over 20 years ago when we worked for RCI. We closed the ship on many nights (about midnight) when there were generally 5 - 8 passengers in the bar. A lively late night group we have on our HAL cruises :). It was the same with the BB King group (who played in the Crow's Nest. Their last show was at 10:45.....and there were seldom more then 10 passengers in the venue for that late show. Since we are among the younger HAL cruisers (under 70) we can still keep our eyes open until midnight :).

 

Hank

[Duquesmom]

Ha! I was on that cruise & didn't notice the problems with priority & tender tickets. Course we always waited until we could just go to the tender platform. Did enjoy the 1/2 empty 930p shows & I did manage to stay up a few times to see the BB King band. What a nice cruise.

[kazu]

Having spent 38 days on a ship with that same CD, you would think I would remember his name. I think his first name was Jan or John.....and he is a relatively new CD (strange they would put a newer CD on the VOV cruise) from South Africa. He was certainly one of the youngest CD's we have seen on HAL. There were quite a few negative issues on our cruise....some of which folks attributed to the CD.. For example, there were numerous errors in the daily schedule. And then the poor CD (and we did feel sorry for the young man) could not seem to satisfy anyone when it came to the main show schedule. We started with shows at 8 and 10. Those that ate early and went to the 8pm shows quickly found that they had to be in their seats at least 20 minutes early...or they might not even get a seat. But those of us who went to the 10pm show (when a majority of HAL passengers are in bed) found the theater no more then half full and could sit where we pleased. So the CD decided to more the 10pm show to 9:30....which did not seem to help since the early diners and sleepers were probably asleep by 9:30.

 

I should also mention that our Piano Bar Player was "Barry from Boston" who is an entertainer we enjoyed over 20 years ago when we worked for RCI. We closed the ship on many nights (about midnight) when there were generally 5 - 8 passengers in the bar. A lively late night group we have on our HAL cruises :). It was the same with the BB King group (who played in the Crow's Nest. Their last show was at 10:45.....and there were seldom more then 10 passengers in the venue for that late show. Since we are among the younger HAL cruisers (under 70) we can still keep our eyes open until midnight :).

 

Hank

 

Barry from Boston was on one of our P'dam cruise a few years ago.

 

In fact our roll call member sharing our private transfer fro Rome to Civi had brought him extra CD's as he has sold ut ;)

 

Great guy and despite rumours to the contrary, I haven't been on a ship yet where the carpets rolled up at 10 pm ;)

[Wayfairers]

Love that CDs solution to those that can't follow the rules. Thanks for sharing.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[ski ww]

There will always be some who think the rules don't apply to them.

Allan

[tatabea]

Not sure of the spelling, but his name is Jan Basson, accent on last syllable

[bcummin]

2017 was a great Voyage of the Vikings. I did notice that the tender ticket number sequences kept changing, but did not know the full reason. Thank you, Hank, for sharing the details.

 

The shore excursion departures also seemed smarter, avoiding some of the usual snags.

 

Although the daily program had some mistakes, it was more accurate than what my DH was sometimes getting on his iPhone.

 

Barbara

Edited September 28, 2017 by bcummin