Crows Nest closed from 4-9 every evening for private (park west) group - Oostradam

[Mary229]

As to speed HAL has a contractual relationship with Park West and likely, as a business decision and to prevent real legal action, they needed to solve that before dealing with customer non-contractual preferences.   I am just glad they heard that HAL customers were not happy with this intrusion. 

[ghstudio]

23 hours ago, Wehwalt said:

I'm still not clear on the exact sequence of events. On April 23, I went through the Navigator and found that it stated the Crow's Nest would be closed on four nights, the last of which was the 26th. Another individual stated that it had already closed two additional nights, which makes six. When the paper daily program for the 26th came out, there was no mention of a closure (which was supposed to be 4 to 8:30). So I'm guessing five took place. But at least from what I could tell, there were never any more scheduled except for the shortened one on the 26th. 

On day1, when told we had to leave at pm, we were told that the crows nest would be closed every night for Park West.  I suspect that they quickly had a barrage of complaints and worked, without telling passengers, to find a solution.  When I corrected the post about 4 nights, I checked the daily schedule and found that the crows nest would actually close at 2 PM (if I recall correctly) and not reopen on the 26th. As it turned out, it stayed open and remained open for the rest of the cruise.

[ontheweb]

33 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

On day1, when told we had to leave at pm, we were told that the crows nest would be closed every night for Park West.  I suspect that they quickly had a barrage of complaints and worked, without telling passengers, to find a solution.  When I corrected the post about 4 nights, I checked the daily schedule and found that the crows nest would actually close at 2 PM (if I recall correctly) and not reopen on the 26th. As it turned out, it stayed open and remained open for the rest of the cruise.

It does seem that they at least listened to the passengers and did at least something to mitigate the situation. IMHO, a better business practice than if they had just stayed with the original plan of closing the Crow's Nest for Park West every night of the cruise.

[terrydtx]

On the Volendam, our first HAL cruise, in 2007 the Park West phony art auctions were held in the Atrium in the Oceans bar area during the day only. This was a Panama Canal cruise and the Crows nest was our favorite place for viewing. Can't imagine the outrage if the Crow's Nest was closed every day for these art sales.

[ghstudio]

1 hour ago, terrydtx said:

On the Volendam, our first HAL cruise, in 2007 the Park West phony art auctions were held in the Atrium in the Oceans bar area during the day only. This was a Panama Canal cruise and the Crows nest was our favorite place for viewing. Can't imagine the outrage if the Crow's Nest was closed every day for these art sales.

That’s the fear that caused me to cancel a booked cruise on HAL ($17000)

[Wehwalt]

3 hours ago, ghstudio said:

That’s the fear that caused me to cancel a booked cruise on HAL ($17000)

Whatever floats your boat. We booked on board two cruises totaling 36 days.

[Dancing Shoes]

10 hours ago, ghstudio said:

That’s the fear that caused me to cancel a booked cruise on HAL ($17000)

Can't one look up to see when big groups are on board?  This Park West group must have some clout.  Well, they do use space, $$$ for their  showroom.

[Sea42]

On 5/1/2024 at 9:37 AM, terrydtx said:

On the Volendam, our first HAL cruise, in 2007 the Park West phony art auctions were held in the Atrium in the Oceans bar area during the day only. This was a Panama Canal cruise and the Crows nest was our favorite place for viewing. Can't imagine the outrage if the Crow's Nest was closed every day for these art sales.

But it wasn't closed every sea day. It was closed some of the evenings on the cruise, for the most part during dinner hours.

Do you really think HAL would close the Crows Nest during the canal transit? That to me would warrant "outrage" but I think this is more to stir the pot than a valid concern.

[mnocket]

I guess in a free market system, we should probably blame the people who actually buy junk from Park West for this situation.  If they'd stop buying, Park West would disappear. 

[terrydtx]

58 minutes ago, Sea42 said:

But it wasn't closed every sea day. It was closed some of the evenings on the cruise, for the most part during dinner hours.

Do you really think HAL would close the Crows Nest during the canal transit? That to me would warrant "outrage" but I think this is more to stir the pot than a valid concern.

The OP reported the Crows Nest was closed 6 of the 11 days of the cruise from 4pm to 9pm, that is more than "some" nights and more than just dinner times.

[ghstudio]

On 5/2/2024 at 10:41 AM, Sea42 said:

But it wasn't closed every sea day. It was closed some of the evenings on the cruise, for the most part during dinner hours.

Do you really think HAL would close the Crows Nest during the canal transit? That to me would warrant "outrage" but I think this is more to stir the pot than a valid concern.

It is hardly to stir the pot.....the crows nest was closed five of the first six nights including the sail away.  You may not be familiar with the Oostendam....closed means you can't get specialty coffees, you obviously can't sit and enjoy the sail away or just sailing indoors, you can't have a quiet drink before dinner enjoying the view...and you can't get to games either....excursions had to sit in the hall to discuss/book excursions.  One day closure is understandable, 5 days of closures, all during sail away hours on this port intensive cruise, is unacceptable.

 

Good luck on your Oosterdam 1/2025 South America & Antarctica cruise.... I guess you can hope that the crows nest won't be closed as you sail the Antarctica, the beagle channel or in and out of those ports. Guess you'd be OK with that....right? 

 

 

Edited May 3 by ghstudio

[Sea42]

42 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

It is hardly to stir the pot.....the crows nest was closed five of the first six nights including the sail away.  You may not be familiar with the Oostendam....closed means you can't get specialty coffees, you obviously can't sit and enjoy the sail away or just sailing indoors, you can't have a quiet drink before dinner enjoying the view...and you can't get to games either....excursions had to sit in the hall to discuss/book excursions.  One day closure is understandable, 5 days of closures, all during sail away hours on this port intensive cruise, is unacceptable.

 

Good luck on your Oosterdam 1/2025 South America & Antarctica cruise.... I guess you can hope that the crows nest won't be closed as you sail the Antarctica, the beagle channel or in and out of those ports. Guess you'd be OK with that....right? 

 

 

Yeah, I personally would be OK.  I haven't cruised that many times but I have never spent much time in the Crows Nest. For scenic sailing areas I'm always outside, even when we were in the Arctic Circle. I found the sea spray usually makes for windows that are not the best for viewing.

 

What I was responding to was the suggestion that this could happen during the Panama Canal transit. To me, that's just playing the What If game to get people riled up. I do agree that this was not a good idea on HALs part and hope they will not do it in the future.

[FlaMariner]

Funny, I was on this cruise.....and never noticed.....

 

The 11 night Barcelona to Athens cruise had 10 port calls.....The Crow's nest was nowhere on our radar from 4pm to 9pm every evening.....We arrived back on the ship worn out, ready for dinner and certainly not a coffee or a view from the Crow's Nest.  We did enjoy a couple of after dinner sail aways from the open bow....which was a nice bonus. 

 

Her Majesty would visit the crow's nest on some of the mornings (for $$$ coffee) before getting off the ship but closing that venue from 4 to 9 on a cruise that has 10 port calls in 11 days had no negative impact on us......nor did we have any clue this was going on....

 

I'm sorry some folks are upset about the 5 hours of the Crow's Nest not being available......Glad it  did not impact our journey!

[KAKcruiser]

It is unreasonable for a public venue to be closed to the public.  Maybe a one time exception could be made but more than that would not be fair to regular paying customers.

[aa7yy]

Well I have been shut out from the Crows Nest for CC Meet and Greets, 4/5 Star Receptions and a Private Tour Group Exiting Rotterdam. Art Show/Sales might just drive me over the edge. So far the low spot was the 4/5 Star Reception that we couldn't go to because we weren't invited.

[ontheweb]

12 hours ago, aa7yy said:

Well I have been shut out from the Crows Nest for CC Meet and Greets, 4/5 Star Receptions and a Private Tour Group Exiting Rotterdam. Art Show/Sales might just drive me over the edge. So far the low spot was the 4/5 Star Reception that we couldn't go to because we weren't invited.

There really is a difference between a one time event and the area being taken over several days or nights. Plus, I remember on our first HAL cruise having our meet and greet (which I helped set up in the roll call) scheduled for the Crow's Nest and then seeing in the daily something else there scheduled at the same time. I asked at the purser's desk and was told not to worry as the Crow's Nest was large.