Recent changes to 'The Shops' on-board the Oosterdam

[harrywerk]

We recently completed a 36 day back-to-back cruise on the Oosterdam in the Mediterranean and was disappointed in the change to the shops.

The concession was changed and the new operators have changed the style of clothing and accessories to a younger demographic.

Also, there is a decrease in the range of items in the shops and there were no 'cheap' bargains (i.e. $10 and $20 'specials').

 

Has anyone noticed the same change on other HAL ships ?

 

Regards,

 

Harry W.

 

[Sue from Canada]

17 hours ago, harrywerk said:

We recently completed a 36 day back-to-back cruise on the Oosterdam in the Mediterranean and was disappointed in the change to the shops.

The concession was changed and the new operators have changed the style of clothing and accessories to a younger demographic.

Also, there is a decrease in the range of items in the shops and there were no 'cheap' bargains (i.e. $10 and $20 'specials').

 

Has anyone noticed the same change on other HAL ships ?

 

Regards,

 

Harry W.

 

I noticed the change on the Rotterdam last August.  Shops are totally useless now and IMO wasted space.  I'm on the Veendam next week and I don't expect that will put a smile on my face.  Why can't HAL get anything right of late???

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Very ture that HAL is gearing as much as they can towards the younger generation.  And that would include the shops.

[DeeniEncinitas]

We saw the transition on our SA Cruise past March on the Maasdam too.

was not impressed.

Denise😊

[BeccaLT]

The shop that carried women’s clothes on the Nieuw Statendam had loose tunics and caftan like tops with lots of sparkles/glitter and some clothing from Chico’s, none of which is targeted at a younger demographic, so maybe it is different between ships? 

[DoorCounty]

Oprah section is a complete turnoff to me also. We were on the Eurodam in April & there was absolutely nothing I would buy in their reinvented shops.

[School library lady]

We were on the Eurodam in November and I enjoyed the shops. There were quite a few ship specific items and a couple of decent sales. I don’t but the expensive jewelry (although it was fun browsing), but there was a nice selection of costume jewelry and some decent clothing selections. Certainly better than what I remember on the Maasdam in May of 2017.

[SeaBands]

they are using Dufry for the shops and I have never found them to offer any bargains in their port shops. They did have a better selection of liquor but the prices weren't anything special.