HAL more elegant on longer cruises?

[Brandis]

The transatlantic on Prinsendam was in fall 2003. My second cruise on Prinsendam was summer of last year and then the Pinnacle was still reserved to suite guests for breakfast and lunch.

 

Marc

[KAKcruiser]

Thanks for your reply. I wonder if this is a permanent change and why. Does anybody know?

[mickey]

We returned from a combined 24 day back to back transatlantic and Baltic on the Amsterdam this month. As far as formal, this was one of the most informal cruises that we've taken. About 25%, if that, of the men wore tuxedos or white dinner jackets. Some of the women wore "Sunday Best" and considered it formal. We had one table downstairs on the transatlantic portion and were never shown the desert tray until one of the men at our table, which was near the door, began to walk over to the tray and check it out before he ordered. The waiter became annoyed and then brought the tray over each night. Since it was the late seating, I have a feeling they just wanted us out of the dining room. I'm a tea drinker and ordered it the first night and received the pot which a tea bag with HAL logo on it. The next day I picked up a few English Breakfast teas from the Lido and would order a pot of water and would use the tea I had brought. I was never offered the tea box nor told I didn't have to "bring my own." The tea situation held true when we were upstairs on the 8 seating for the Baltic part of the cruise, although the waiter did bring the desert tray each night. As far as being in a suite, I think you'll find that "suite people" are seated together and not mixed in with the other passengers. We discoverd this when we sat with friends in a suite. They had to ask permission for us to be seated at their table.

[ger_77]

Mickey: Is the "suite seating" in the dining room something new? When we were on the Prinsendam in June/04 we were at a table for 6 where 1 couple was in a suite and the other 4 (us, incl) were in regular ocean view cabins. Nobody had to ask to sit at the particular table, it was assigned to us by HAL. Just wondering, because we're going on the Maasdam in Feb and 2 couples will be in suites, while the rest of us won't be, and we'd all like to sit together for dinner.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)