HAL Ships Staffing Levels

[mcrcruiser]

Are you seeing HAL ships fully staffed  now ?  Please advise which ships toy see fully staffed .TIA

[albingirl]

21 minutes ago, mcrcruiser said:

Are you seeing HAL ships fully staffed  now ?  Please advise which ships toy see fully staffed .TIA

How could anyone really tell?  Just because the staff is busy does not mean that's an indicator of being understaffed.  

[mcrcruiser]

4 minutes ago, albingirl said:

How could anyone really tell?  Just because the staff is busy does not mean that's an indicator of being understaffed.  

If there are constant long waiting lines for the MDR ,like what we experienced   in December  2022 on Koningsdam ,every night ,we found that the ship was well understaffed for the pax it was carrying.It was very obvious  because every night the lines were super long .That is how you can tell 

 

[albingirl]

1 minute ago, mcrcruiser said:

If there are constant long waiting lines for the MDR ,like what we experienced   in December  2022 on Koningsdam ,every night ,we found that the ship was well understaffed for the pax it was carrying.It was very obvious  because every night the lines were super long .That is how you can tell 

 

Disagree.  It might be that you are going to the MDR at a very popular time.  I'll bet if you went quite a bit later, the dining room would be half empty.

[mcrcruiser]

Does  any one else have any info  on staffing levels for HAL's cruise ships 

[Despegue]

The MDR is most popular around 19:00h. And waiting times can indeed be a little higher. When my family is onboard, we mostly dine around 20.00h. 
 

Getting new crew hired, properly trained and induced onboard takes time, and Covid caused the need for a lot of new crew. 
also, getting a US Crew Visa takes weeks, if not Months at the moment, especially when applying for the first time, which requires a personal interview.

 

I am currently myself waiting for my new C1/D visa...

 

best regards from Jakarta.

[FlaMariner]

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

Are you seeing HAL ships fully staffed  now ? 

 

I never know the staffing levels but we've been on 4 HAL cruises since the unpleasantness and the service has been the usual top notch good service as always. 

[kazu]

32 minutes ago, Despegue said:

The MDR is most popular around 19:00h. And waiting times can indeed be a little higher. When my family is onboard, we mostly dine around 20.00h. 

 

I was on the K  when the OP was for 5 days (he got off and I stayed on).  The MDR lineup was long for anytime at the early dining time.  5 - 5:30 pm.  I had Club Orange so saw the lineups but I never did see it go halfway down the ship 😂 

 

It did go past Club Orange a number of times, though.  

 

It was Christmas and there were a lot of families and children which complicates timing I think for tables, etc.

I think there is a simple solution if you want to eat at a set time (especially that early) and a peak time like Christmas, New Years, etc called fixed dining 😉 

 

 

32 minutes ago, Despegue said:

Getting new crew hired, properly trained and induced onboard takes time, and Covid caused the need for a lot of new crew. 
also, getting a US Crew Visa takes weeks, if not Months at the moment, especially when applying for the first time, which requires a personal interview.

 

Absolutely.  Thanks for the reminder 👍 

 

[loveandpeas]

I definitely felt our Volendam trip last week was MUCH better staffed than the Noordam in May, where it seemed like the poor dining staff in particular (in both MDR and Lido) were run absolutely ragged.

[Pickalily, Wilts]

On N.Statendam in May and staffing levels weren't an issue.  

 

First night there were a large number of passengers in the nearest bar to the MDR (not unusual) so we went to Canaletto and were seated immediately, without a reservation.  Subsequent evenings we arrived at the MDR between 7.30 and 7.45 and were immediately shown to a shared table (as requested).  Experienced no long waits between ordering and courses being served.

 

Were we just fortunate or is there a great deal of exaggeration/unrealistic expectation among some passengers which has led to the OP's question?

 

No complaints from us.

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

If there are constant long waiting lines for the MDR ,like what we experienced   in December  2022 on Koningsdam ,every night ,we found that the ship was well understaffed for the pax it was carrying.It was very obvious  because every night the lines were super long .That is how you can tell 

 

 

Sorry, but isn't even close to being factual.

 

The Master cannot legally depart if the crew was well understaffed, as the ship must meet the number and certification requirements of the Minimum Safe Manning Document.

 

I have worked on ships for about 40 yrs and been in command for almost 30 yrs, and as a pax I don't have a clue as to the total crew count, nor how close they are to the MSM Doc.. Lots of factors impact the number of crew available and levels of service, including scheduling factors, sickness, injury, etc.

 

When crew are sick/injured there is no temp agency to call for replacements, so it can take many days to weeks to receive a relief crew member.

 

Pax service delays can also result from ineffective Hotel Management, as the crew are poorly scheduled and the management may not react effectively when pax trends do not follow the norms. If the buffet and specialty restaurants are heavily crewed, when most pax opt for the MDR, the management should quickly re-assign the crew accordingly. You can have numerous other issues causing slow service that have nothing to do with the number of crew.

 

Therefore, large queues every night is unlikely to be caused by the ship being well understaffed, since that is illegal and the ship is not considered seaworthy.

[Despegue]

14 minutes ago, Heidi13 said:

 

Sorry, but isn't even close to being factual.

 

The Master cannot legally depart if the crew was well understaffed, as the ship must meet the number and certification requirements of the Minimum Safe Manning Document.

 

I have worked on ships for about 40 yrs and been in command for almost 30 yrs, and as a pax I don't have a clue as to the total crew count, nor how close they are to the MSM Doc.. Lots of factors impact the number of crew available and levels of service, including scheduling factors, sickness, injury, etc.

 

When crew are sick/injured there is no temp agency to call for replacements, so it can take many days to weeks to receive a relief crew member.

 

Pax service delays can also result from ineffective Hotel Management, as the crew are poorly scheduled and the management may not react effectively when pax trends do not follow the norms. If the buffet and specialty restaurants are heavily crewed, when most pax opt for the MDR, the management should quickly re-assign the crew accordingly. You can have numerous other issues causing slow service that have nothing to do with the number of crew.

 

Therefore, large queues every night is unlikely to be caused by the ship being well understaffed, since that is illegal and the ship is not considered seaworthy.

Of course that is correct Heidi, however, the MSM is significantly lower than a normal  cruise ship crew complement, so much that normal service in all departments would be impossible.

Service issues onboard all cruise vessels are at the moment caused by a slightly  undercrewed situation, but also a lack of experience onboard and the training of new Crewmembers.

[MeggMegg]

Noordam in Alaska 6/25 to 7/2 I felt had good staffing levels. MDR busy at 7 pm but line not past stairs for those without reservations. 7 pm is when everyone wants to eat. Service on the ship was very good. 

[gizmodog]

Westerdam June 18 staffing seemed great, way better then our celebrity cruise was in Jan and Feb.

 

[OlsSalt]

After being on the Konigsdam, I would say the most popular dining time is when the doors open at 5:30 pm for as you wish dining.

 

Crazy mad house, but then people had not had a thing to eat all day.  I would say from our own experience, staffing was at 100%. 

[spkack]

We were on the Rotterdam in February and had Club Orange.  We needed wheelchair assistance which normally gets even better service, but the HAL staff in the terminal advised they were extremely understaffed.  We waited nearly 2 hours to get on board.  We also experienced staff shortages at several bars (confirmed by harried staff), and within club Orange where they had one waiter servicing each half of the restaurant and manager trying to keep food flowing to the tables so it didn't get cold.  No doubt the staff was hustling and working hard, but they were in obvious need of more help.

[Lakesregion]

On 7/16/2023 at 1:30 PM, mcrcruiser said:

Are you seeing HAL ships fully staffed  now ?  Please advise which ships toy see fully staffed .TIA

Just wondering in as much as you are on a ship with zero place to go exept back to the cabin why staffing should be an issue. 

[mcrcruiser]

9 hours ago, Lakesregion said:

Just wondering in as much as you are on a ship with zero place to go exept back to the cabin why staffing should be an issue. 

Several reasons  one is perhaps over 2 hours sitting in a dining room which should normally be one hour  maybe one hour & 15 minutes normally .  2nd your time taken up that you would want to do another activity because of short staff .We can only hope that this had been fixed fleet wide

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said:

Several reasons  one is perhaps over 2 hours sitting in a dining room which should normally be one hour  maybe one hour & 15 minutes normally .  2nd your time taken up that you would want to do another activity because of short staff .We can only hope that this had been fixed fleet wide

 

Holland America continues to provide a gracious service in their MDR. I do not like to be rushed through my meals; a slower pace is more enjoyable to me as it is in line with what I have always experienced while cruising. 

 

And before you boast again of your many previous cruises, I have been cruising since 1972!  Remember, the phrase is "Savor the journey" not "Bolt your food and run."

 

If you do not have the patience for MDR dining, why not eat elsewhere? The Lido offers mostly the same choices and of course on HAL you can order room service directly from the MDR menu.

 

 

 

[mcrcruiser]

You have a valid point & it works for you  ; however ,what do you do if  you were meeting some one to go join & go to the show or some other planed activity .,leaving enough time for dinner . Yes ,several times during the course of our cruises we left because we were not being waited in for 15 minutes , We just walk out & go elsewhere & that happened on other cruise lines . 

 There is however ,a very different  feel to the cruises we have taken post covid vs pre covid , We can only think that it is because of many cruise lines had to cut back . So people will pay more & get less  value .Just the nature of the times  

[AV8rix]

2 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

 What is important are facts about any cruise line

However, many (perhaps most) of your comments are not facts.  They are your opinions.  "What is important" is to differentiate between those two terms and to use them properly.  JMO.

[Heidi13]

3 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

Several reasons  one is perhaps over 2 hours sitting in a dining room which should normally be one hour  maybe one hour & 15 minutes normally .  2nd your time taken up that you would want to do another activity because of short staff .We can only hope that this had been fixed fleet wide

 

Wow, your expectations for dinner service is 60 - 75 mins, we take longer than that for lunch. Unless we get really poor table mates, which is rare, our normal time for dinner is 2.5 - 3 hrs, or more. Many nights we have missed the show as we have enjoyed many great conversations.

 

I'll suggest, your expectations are not the norm, especially for us possibly more experienced cruisers.

Edited July 18, 2023 by Heidi13

[NightOne]

On 7/16/2023 at 12:53 PM, albingirl said:

How could anyone really tell?  Just because the staff is busy does not mean that's an indicator of being understaffed.  

 

If you have been on the same ship twice and one time it is understaffed you will definitely notice the difference. 🙂

 

Can anyone speak to the OP's question?

[Heidi13]

13 minutes ago, NightOne said:

 

If you have been on the same ship twice and one time it is understaffed you will definitely notice the difference. 🙂

 

Can anyone speak to the OP's question?

 

Many factors can impact the level of service on a ship, not just the crewing level.

 

The ship's management team plays a significant role, which also includes the Master, even when considering the hotel operation. The crew's level of training, experience and resulting competence can also impact service levels.

 

You don't even have to sail on the same ship twice to note changes in service levels. On a number of cruises, we have noted changes to service levels when some of the senior officers head out on leave.

[3rdGenCunarder]

35 minutes ago, NightOne said:

Can anyone speak to the OP's question?

 

Unless someone who works in HAL's HR department posts here, we won't know for certain how the staffing levels are.