What are the trends on Holland America?

[islandwoman]

I see that Holland America has sold the Prinsendam.  Does that mean that HAL is trending to larger ships?

 

When we sailed on the Rotterdam in November 2017, I was disappointed to discover that in her recent dry dock, HAL had removed the laundromat.  I know that some of the HAL ships don't have laundromats.  Is it a trend fleet-wide to remove them from all HAL's ships? 

 

I also heard that HAL was eliminating port lecturers. Is that true?

 

What other trends do you see?

[Roz]

Inconsistent food and service in the dining room; less staff; combined alcohol bar and coffee bar in the Crow's Nest, which ruins sitting at the bar.

[kazu]

5 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

I see that Holland America has sold the Prinsendam.  Does that mean that HAL is trending to larger ships?

 

HAL’s future builds so far are for the Pinnacle Class which are larger ships.  Koningsdam, N Statendam and to come - Ryndam.

 

 

5 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

 

When we sailed on the Rotterdam in November 2017, I was disappointed to discover that in her recent dry dock, HAL had removed the laundromat.  I know that some of the HAL ships don't have laundromats.  Is it a trend fleet-wide to remove them from all HAL's ships? 

 

The ships that were Vista Class and above never had laundromats.  The only ones that did were the Prinsendam (gone from the fleet) and the S & R ships.

 

The laundromat is still on the Amsterdam and, I believe because it does the World Cruises, it will most likely remain there.  Not sure about the Maasdam.  I believe they have been/are being phased out of the remaining S & R ships.

 

5 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

 

I also heard that HAL was eliminating port lecturers. Is that true?

 

What other trends do you see?

 

There are mixed reports on this.  I think it depends on the itinerary that you are on to be honest.

 

[KirkNC]

54 minutes ago, kazu said:

The laundromat is still on the Amsterdam and, I believe because it does the World Cruises, it will most likely remain there.  Not sure about the Maasdam.  I believe they have been/are being phased out of the remaining S & R ships.

 

They are still on the Maasdam.

Edited November 28, 2019 by KirkNC

[iancal]

The trends?   This month or next month?

[MISTER 67]

The trends are the same on all the cruise lines, to get the passenger to spend more money while at the same time cutting corners everywhere they can. 

[oaktreerb]

On Maasdam in Alaska and Eurodam in Mexican Riviera 2019....food in dining room was excellent.  Smaller portions than previous cruises but very good and plenty of selections for me.   The trend here might be too few servers in the dining room.  I have seen a similar trend on Seabourn and Azamara....where the serving staff in dining room seemed even more stressed than on HAL ships.

 

Contrary to some reports on other HAL ships the entertainment was good and there were still port talks.   There have been a lot of changes recently and an inconsistency across the fleet in general.

 

 

[sevenseasnomad]

Fewer stewards with more cabins to clean.  Fewer waiters with more tables to serve.  No nightly chilled soup selection.  Less of the large, stunning floral arrangements replaced with smaller ones that are barely noticeable.  No flowers on the dining tables at all.  No production shows. 

 

Loss of the general Old World ambiance, but HAL does still have Lincoln Center Stage, though on most ships the space doesn't accommodate the passengers who wish to attend those performances.  Very small portions in the MDR.  So small that on our last cruise we were starving by 10 P.M., so we'd trek to the Lido or order room service, a first for us.  Normally, dinner would hold us until morning.  Not anymore.  The food was good, however.  I haven't noticed the decreased quality that some have mentioned.  Crow's Nest is no longer the happening place at sunset with a happy hour.  Happy Hour has shifted to other bars.  Very sad.  Of course, libraries are a thing of the past, except on a few of the smaller ships, and I wouldn't be surprised to see those disappear at an upcoming drydock.  

[Krazy Kruizers]

Some of the ships no longer have music in the Ocean Bar in the evenings.