HAL more elegant on longer cruises?

[Brandis]

My two previous experiences with HAL were on 12-day cruises on the Prinsendam (plus a 7 day cruise on Maasdam a couple of years ago I don't really remember).

 

We just came back from a 7 day cruise in Alaska on Statendam and I felt quite a difference in service. Is this because of the different lengths of cruises, the ship sizes or just bad luck?

 

For example, on Prinsendam, before desert our waiter came to the table showing the different desserts of the day, on Statendam, we were just handed the desert menus. On Prinsendam, after dinner they brought a wooden box with lots of different teas to chose from, on Statendam, they just brought the hot water with the black tea bag already in it. In the Lido for breakfast, on Prinsendam, there were everyday 2 different (and always changing) breakfast specials, on Statendam, only on some days they had a special, on others just the regular stuff.

 

This is not to say we didn't enjoy our cruise, I just felt it wasn't to the same standard that I had come to expect from HAL based on what I knew from the Prinsendam. But then I guess, the Prinsendam is a special ship anyway... :-)

 

Any thoughts?

 

Marc

[Roz]

Gee, I've always been handed a dessert menu, and never thought I was getting sub-par service. ;) Never thought of breakfast specials, or a lack thereof, as a standard for service.

 

I'm going to guess that because the Prisendam has a relatively small number of passengers, they can do things like bring a dessert cart around. I think it would be difficult in the main DR on the rest of the fleet.

 

At dinner, I've always seen them them bring the tea box, unless a server knew that a diner always selected the same tea.

 

Roz

[Brandis]

Guess, staying in a suite on the transatlantic crossing spoiled us. :-)

 

Actually, it was just a tray he brought over with all the desserts of that evening on it. He always tried to "sell" us the Jell-O.

 

Ocassionally, I saw a trolley with the dessert selection of the evening standing near the entrance of the dining room, so maybe the thought was that one should go check it out there if interested.

 

On the tea issue, I somehow always felt that the tea bags und sugar packets on the tables don't match with the nice silver tea ware. It would be much nicer to have loose tea and sugar in a bowl.

 

Maybe I'm just too old fashioned and have seen the Titanic movie a few times too much. But then, I'm only 32 years old and love robots, computers and space ships, so how old fashioned can I be?

 

Marc

[Randyk47]

I guess I've seen several variations on the theme so to speak. I can't remember the last time they offered the tea selection though I do recall it happening but I'm not a tea drinker so it really didn't register if it happened or not. The desserts have been presented only on the longer cruises.....like 10 days or more....but I also have to admit I've only taken one 7 day cruise on the Oosterdam and, unfortunately, that was overall the worst service I've ever had on HAL. I was happy to get my meal...any meal....so the dessert tray would have been a real surprise.

[sail7seas]

I have noticed on most of the ships, as we enter the dining room each evening and go to our table, we pass a cart that has the desserts displayed.

 

We are always on the upper level but I am sure if they have it for the upper, they also have it for the lower.

 

We always cruise in "S" suites and what we (or anyone) experiences in the dining room has nothing to do with what category cabin in which you are staying. Your "S" on your transatlantic made no difference in your dining but Prinsendam being a smaller ship usually dedicated to longer, more costly cruises probably did make a difference. Size of ship and number of passengers and all that does matter.

 

Did anyone request the steward bring the tea chest? If so, I'd be surprised to hear he did not comply.

 

 

[peaches from georgia]

I know they brought a dessert tray on our first 10 day on the Rotterdam 2003, but haven't had it happen since that I remember.

[grannynurse]

Marc,

I feel that Prinsendam is in a class all her own. We have been on Hal Cruises lasting from 7-35 days and they all had a different atmosphere depending on ship, length, itinerary, and time of year.

Our 2 transatlantics were on the Rotterdam, our shortest on Maasdam (NE/Canada), and a New Year's cruise on Zaandam.

The 2 New England cruises 10 days on Rotterdam and 7 on Maasdam were very different in tempo, but they were 3 years apart and the last trip was in a suite. There are so many variables to consider. Even the passenger demographics Make a big difference.

I previously thought that longer HAL cruises were more elegant, but I don't think that's exclusively true anymore. Again, too many variables.

We have experienced all you mentioned on all lengths of cruises, but IMHO the areas you considered important are happening less often than they used to.

Cruising satisfaction may be becoming more random, but it is mostly based on what the cruiser perceives and values.

GN

[Sage]

I beleive there is more service offered on the longer cruises.We did a Hawaii and Alaska cruise back to back. The Hawaii portion was 18 days, and the Alaska portion was 7. We had the dessert selection brought to the table, and a tea selection was also offered on the Hawaii portion of the cruise, whereas on the the Alaska portion, we were only handed the menu and tea came already prepared. Of course we were lucky to have the same waiter on both portions of our cruise, and my tea always came with the selection I prefered.

[dakrewser]

I beleive there is more service offered on the longer cruises.We did a Hawaii and Alaska cruise back to back. The Hawaii portion was 18 days, and the Alaska portion was 7. We had the dessert selection brought to the table, and a tea selection was also offered on the Hawaii portion of the cruise, whereas on the the Alaska portion, we were only handed the menu and tea came already prepared. Of course we were lucky to have the same waiter on both portions of our cruise, and my tea always came with the selection I prefered.

 

Now that is interesting as I would have expected the size of the ship (that is, the load in the dining room) would have much more influence on service than the length of the cruise. Perhaps, as the longer cruises attract a more "veteran" clientele, the service changes to match the perceived expectations of the passengers...

[gizmo]

I have had the waiter bring the dessert selection many times. It doesn't happen all the time, and even on the same cruise some nights it was presented and other nights it was not.

 

I don't order tea after dinner, but I have seen the box being presented at other tables.

 

All the cruises were 10 days or more.

[Tricia724]

....but I also have to admit I've only taken one 7 day cruise on the Oosterdam and, unfortunately, that was overall the worst service I've ever had on HAL. I was happy to get my meal...any meal....so the dessert tray would have been a real surprise.

 

I had the same experience on the Oosterdam, too. I really loved the ship and thought the food was the best I had had for a long time, but we ran into a real cutback in dining room staff on our trip (Feb, 2004), and the waiter we had was nice but not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I had a problem every night....either getting the wrong meal or not getting something I requested.

 

But you know what....we stayed on for a back-to-back.....second week, same table, same waiter.....and our service was much better. I don't have a clue about what was different the second week from the first, but the second week was a much better experience. That's why I can understand when two people on the same cruise have differing experiences or two people cruising in the same time frame. Every cruise is its own adventure.

 

I never really thought about the dessert presentation....I know we've had it but I think you're all right....the smaller ships on the longer cruises. I almost hate when they do that....I can turn down the words on the paper but when they show me the chocolate, I'm a goner!;)

[Randyk47]

Tricia - Interesting....our Oosterdam cruise was March 2004, just after yours. Obviously they were having problems in the dining room service arena during the early days of what is actually a beautiful ship. We did not have the same problem in the lounges, the service there was as good as it gets.

[RuthC]

I'm a veteran of many longer cruises, and suspect that's the difference, compared to size of ship. The 35-daytrans-Atlantic on the Maasdam didn't seem any more or less elegant than the 33- and 34-day trans-At's on the Rotterdam. The 10-day on the Noordam did.

I'm interested in seeing how the 7-day in Alaska on the Volendam plays out on the service and elegnant scale. It will be followed in fairly short order by a 15-day on her sister the Zaandam.

Of course, I would always expect the best of everything on the Prinsendam.

[mrskmirolla]

We just did the Canada/New England on the Maasdam on May 27th and our two waiters were fabulous, Edwin and Bagus and they gave us a desert menu and brought the tray every night and we neither wanted the tea but we saw them offer to other people from the wooden box. Maybe it depends on who your waiters are. I had plenty of questions for ours as I am a very picky eater and I have to know what everything is and these 2 never failed me! Oh to be back on the Maasdam.

 

Kathy

[bobpatj]

If you want to see a dessert tray, just ask your steward. On our 31 day cruise, on the Amsterdam, we were handed the dessert menu, each night. We noticed that the table of 10, across from ours, was presented the dessert tray by our stewards, so all we had to do was ask, and we got it, too. It was fun making a big fuss over each presentation!:)

[Jemima]

We just did the Canada/New England on the Maasdam on May 27th and our two waiters were fabulous, Edwin and Bagus and they gave us a desert menu and brought the tray every night and we neither wanted the tea but we saw them offer to other people from the wooden box. Maybe it depends on who your waiters are. I had plenty of questions for ours as I am a very picky eater and I have to know what everything is and these 2 never failed me! Oh to be back on the Maasdam.

 

Kathy

We had the same good experiences on our 15 day April 28 Canada/NewEngland Maasdam. Different waiters, but probably the same maitre 'd. Perhaps he is the one responsible for the excellent service. We had the dessert tray every night.

[sail7seas]

Who is the current Maitre d' on Maasdam?

 

[Jemima]

Who is the current Maitre d' on Maasdam?

 

Andre Mamangkey or at least he was in early May.

[kryos]

Gee, I've always been handed a dessert menu, and never thought I was getting sub-par service. ;) Never thought of breakfast specials, or a lack thereof, as a standard for service.

 

I'm going to guess that because the Prisendam has a relatively small number of passengers, they can do things like bring a dessert cart around. I think it would be difficult in the main DR on the rest of the fleet.

On my 30-day Amsterdam cruise this past January, the waiter always brought around a dessert tray and explained the selections. I can't recall if that was the case on other cruises.

 

Maybe it is something that is just done on the longer voyages. I have no idea.

 

But, there is no question in my mind ... the longer cruises are DEFINITELY more elegant than shorter ones. It's just something about the environment. People are more relaxed and "settled in." They know that they will be on the boat for a longer period of time, so I guess they aren't in such a hurry to do everything ... like rush through dinner. Also, I notice on the longer cruises that there are more "unique" activities ... and even special dining room events. My recent 30-day cruise was also the very first one where FREE rum punch was offered at Sailaway. Any other HAL cruise I've been on, you had to buy a drink from the bar if you wanted to indulge at Sailaway.

 

I only wish I could always sail on 25+ day voyages. There is definitely something very, very special about them ... the crew, the staff and your fellow cruisers ... just everything.

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[sail7seas]

Thanks, Jemima.

[Brandis]

Of course I'm aware that the cabin category makes no difference to the dining room service, I just meant the overall experience of staying in a suite spoiled us. But then, having breakfast and lunch in the Pinnacle was a nice experience as well.

 

The dessert tray wasn't so important to me that I would have to request it, if I wanted I could have checked it out at the entrance to the dining room, but it was a nice touch, same for the tea.

 

Thinking about it, I also missed the chocolates in the Explorers Lounge, they had them the first 2 nights but not after that.

 

Marc

[kakalina]

We too, have found that on longer cruises the service differs. I think that on the longer cruises the dining room staff have a better opportunity to get to know the likes and dislikes of their guests.

 

Our longest cruise was 44 days on the Veendam, followed by 30 days on the Amsterdam the service was impeccable on both cruises, but just a bit more elegant on the AMsterdam. Our shortest cruise was 10 days and we did notice that the service and friendliness suffered. Oops, actually we did do a 7day on the Oosterdam, but it was so terrible I tend to forget about that one:)

 

Our favorite ship? The one we are currently on!

[newmexicoNita]

Gee, I've always been handed a dessert menu, and never thought I was getting sub-par service. ;) Never thought of breakfast specials, or a lack thereof, as a standard for service.

 

I'm going to guess that because the Prisendam has a relatively small number of passengers, they can do things like bring a dessert cart around. I think it would be difficult in the main DR on the rest of the fleet.

 

At dinner, I've always seen them them bring the tea box, unless a server knew that a diner always selected the same tea.

 

Roz

Roz, I don't think the op meant this as a serious complaint, but more of a comparison from nice, pleasant service to truely impecable (spelling) service. I do think the longer cruisers offer a little more upscale experience, but that is not to knock the typical 7 day cruise. I would say one thing about the OP, if this bothered him/her they certainly wouldn't be very happy with lines like RCI and NCL. Again, I am not blasting those lines as I am a big NCL loyalist, but there is certainly a difference. NMNita

[Brandis]

Absolutely, I have done many cruises with RCL and even Carnival before that and I like RCL a lot. NCL is probably not for me, though.

 

But when you compare the brochures of HAL and RCL, you can see that HAL markets itself a bit more upscale and the Prinsendam absolutely met that expectation and even surpassed it. Statendam was just a bit more RCL than HAL, servicewise.

 

Marc

[KAKcruiser]

How long ago were you on the Prinsendam? I had recently inquired and was told that breakfast and lunch were no longer available in the Pinnacle for suite passengers but that a special table had been set aside in the dining room. This seems like a big change to me.