HAL-Never Again

[BumperII]

Like many others here, we are stunned by the bad experience the OP had.

First, let me say that I don't doubt at all the account given by the OP. Ship happens.

From time to time we too have had minor problems, but we have always been able to get everything ironed out with a minimum of effort. Usually by the second day, our cabin steward has our routine figured out and we rarely, if ever cross paths except in the hallways. Some cabin stewards have been better than others, and that is always reflected in the extra gratuity we leave for exceptional service.

HAL has a card that they leave in your cabin to fill out if anything is wrong. On our last cruise, we were in a brand new cabin that was installed during the last retrofit. (Ryndam cabin 565). Very nice cabin, but the walls lacked sound proofing. (Feel free to use your immagination). Anyway, we filled out the card to report this fact and turned it in at the front desk. We received a follow up telephone call from the Hotel Manager, a written acknowledgement of the complaint, and finally a $250.00 onboard credit and a written apology, all before the cruise ended!

We can't comment on the room service, as we don't use it, except that I too am diabetic, so the cabin steward always makes sure we have fresh fruit on hand in the cabin. We don't eat in the bedroom at home, and we don't do it on the ship either.

To be sure, we have run into people who are less than satisfied on every cruise, but like our last cruise, about seventy percent of the passengers are return customers like us. For every passenger with a complaint, I can show you a dozen more who are enjoying the cruise experience.

So, yes, problems do happen, and we think that overall HAL does an excellent job of trying to address these problems in a timely manner. Like many others here, we keep coming back, and we already have the next cruise booked for the Veendam on January 27. We do recommend using those problem cards in the cabin so that the issue can be straightened out right away.

If, on debarkation day ,we are planning our next HAL cruise while walking down the gangway, we figure that they probably did a pretty fair job.:D

[sassyredhat]

Hey, I "hafta" tell you guys----it's all in how you see things.

We cruised on Statendam (our 2nd w/ Statendam) with my sister and her DH.

DH and myself loved the cruise, my sister and her DH hated it enough to never sail HAL again.

We had adjoining cabins, ate at the same table, had some tours together, and they hated it ??

 

We just don't discuss that cruise anymore. We love HAL.

 

Pat

[Sundagger]

When/where did you hear of the Cigarette Ban? Does the ban include private balconies? As an ex-smoker, I am reluctant to curtail someone else's need for a smoke, but a Cigar smoker recently ruined several days/nights use of our veranda - Had to hide in our cabin, not what we paid for.:mad:

 

I think this was wishful thinking on the part of that poster. According to other posts, he wasn't even on the cruise that is the topic of this thread.

[willowoodf]

As others have said, I think it is how you treat minor problems that equals how much or how little you enjoy things, whether it be a cruise or anything else in life. If you let them overwhelm you, you will not be happy. If you have a good attitude and don't let each little thing get to you, you will have a much better experience, in all things.

 

We have been on several HAL cruises, and while it would be ingenuous to say that every cruise was perfect and that we never had any problems, overall each cruise was great. We tackled each problem as it came (broken air conditioning, non-working toilets, etc., ants in our cabin) and didn't let them ruin the cruise. I think most people on these boards do the same thing. But there are some people that just can't be pleased. Something is always wrong, and they let it take them over so much that it colors every other experience and turns it to the bad side too. So instead of accepting that dinner wasn't that great and moving on and discovering dessert was GREAT, they let that tasteless dinner bother them so much they are too upset to even taste the dessert. So instead of leaving the dining room with the memory of a great dessert, they leave with the memory of a bad chicken with sauce. Just an example, but I think you know what I'm getting at.

 

I enjoy reading posts of all type, good and bad. I like to read an OBJECTIVE negative review. I think what bothers some people on this thread, myself included, is the attitude of the OP in her original post. Threatening the dining steward she was going to make a SCENE if she didn't get a third lobster tail?! WHAT?! If you act like a child, don't be surprised if you are treated like one.

 

Our experience in the dining room has been the exact opposite. We've had to turn away food that the waiters try to give us. Of course, we always choose last seating, so maybe that makes a difference as to how much lobster tail or crab legs or whatever they have left. It doesn't hurt that we always treat the crew with respect and make polite requests, not threatening demands.

 

Anyway, my four cents (inflation).

 

Mary

[AWED23]

I have to wonder what cruiselines the OP has been on before, and what her opinions of them were?

 

Cruiseship staterooms are full of compromises: There aren't many cruiselines where the TV isn't off to one side or another. If the TV had been right across from the bed in her SS, I'm sure we would have heard about how it wasn't visible from the sofa...

 

How does the OP know that her cabin steward went through her drawers? Was something missing (highly doubtful) or was something left loose on the dresser/bed/floor put away for her?

 

I wonder why the OP didn't bother to walk to other areas of the Lido for lunch to find where the stir-fry, sandwich, pasta, hamburger, taco-bar, soup & salad stations were? And if she didn't find the Lido to their liking, did they bother to try the Main Dining Room?

 

Regarding the availability of food between 9.30 and 11.15: I typically don't come out from my stateroom until 10am, and there's always one line open for breakfast food until 10.30. Moreover, cut fruit and cold cereals are available until about 11am - after that, the crew does need time to change that space over to a salad bar for lunch service. She could have also wandered back to her stateroom to snack on an apple or banana.

 

There was no need for the OP to threaten her waiter for another lobster tail - I'd be willing to bet that he would have gladly brought her 4 if she hadn't threatened him or removed her Auto-Tip. (Yes, word gets back to the crew when one does that...) However, I do find it interesting that the OP chose to complain about how little the staff makes after removing the Auto-Tip: Hypocritical...?

 

I don't know how anyone can complain about the handle on the teapot being hot - Of course it is!!! If it wasn't hot, the tea inside wouldn't be hot enough!

 

We do agree on one thing however: The mainstage entertainment on HAL is generally crap. (Bill Prince should have stayed at Caesar's...)

 

I hope that her next cruise on some other line is more to her liking...

...and that nobody gets between her, the TV and her food.

:rolleyes:

....If you read her bio you will notice that she is married to an attorney....Hmmmmmmmm.....Fortunate for her I am sure.:rolleyes:

[AWED23]

i'm thrilled to learn that so many of you had excellent service...unfortunately this was not my experience....i have been on rci, princess, norwegian and celebrity before this one...

 

and as for looking for an excuse not to tip? hardly...i tip well for good service and i do not tip for lousy service...

 

in the meantime, i'm currently looking for a cruise in the spring...

 

be well, stay safe....

.....Maybe you should try Sea Dream,Crystal,Seaborn,Regent or Silver Seas...???

[KAYEF]

This OP and winemistress 45 should get together and start their own cruise company; maybe they could be satisfied by something they own.

[NoNoNanette]

This OP and winemistress 45 should get together and start their own cruise company; maybe they could be satisfied by something they own.

 

I'm not aware of Winemistress complaining about her cruise. Perhaps you're confusing her with someone else? :confused:

[Cruisoholic]

Thank goodness.

 

Cruisoholic-over 40 cruises and never had a bad one.

[mmp13]

Let me first say that I can't imagine ever going on a cruise and not having a good time. that being said, We sailed on the Noordam in Oct and we were very dissappointed. we had high expectations. I had read so much about the fine service etc and that is not what we found on the Noordam. We loved our cabin, and our cabin stewart was excellent, but the food and service in the dining room was just terrible. I've recently read many negative comments about dining service so maybe there is some recent employee problem that HAL needs to address . If that's the case they really ought to resolve it because it is giving them a lot of negative press. We enjoyed the lido buffet.

 

Justin miller was good but the rest of the entertainment just did not measure up for us.

 

I'm not going to say we would never sail on HAL again, but I really doubt that we will. In our opinion (and it is only our opinion) they just did not live up to the hype.

 

I guess that's why there are so many cruise lines. something for everyone!

[Seago2]

Oh My GODDDDD I am never going to get this order done before court tomorrow, BUT

 

just want to say

 

On Noordam (you can see it in my review) we ate at the Officer's table one night. This young officer- her first cruise- was treated terribly by the waiter. We all were. She was mortified. The waiter was an absolute jerk. So I can see that if someone got that guy they would have been less than happy. Thank God we got the wonderful Usin!!

 

But if the waiter isn't great, turn to your spouse or whomever else you are cruising with for conversation. Here's a tip: talk about how much you hate the waiter. Laugh about it. Ask to switch tables the next day.

 

But you run into so many crew members on a given day- how can they all be bad? I guess if the ship is massively overcrowded.

 

The OP would have been fine with her small complaints if she hadn't gotten into the "make a scene" thing. Doesn't she know how much we CC'ers LOVE our crewmembers? We don't want to hear about anyone threatening them. We've seen it, been horrified by it, and won't support anyone who treats a crewmember with anything other than respect, kindness and good cheer.

 

We can also just imagine what it was like to be stuck at the table with her.

 

OP, I don't know if you have kids, but DH and I have 8. They are 9, 9, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 23. I had five, he had three, and now we are all together, minus the two at college. Do you know how many dinners I've had ruined in my life? Think about it. Do you understand that even my 9 year olds wouldn't care if there was a certain kind of ice cream as long as they were on a cruise? Teapot: HOT! How many times a day do you think I can't see the TV perfectly?

 

This is why the little things don't bother me on a cruise, whether on Noordam with DH or with four kids in a quad cabin with a rollaway on Elation.

 

Don't mess with the crew or I'll make a scene!

[the2ofus]

I'm glad njsonja came back and responded on this thread. so many times the OP posts and may read but not respond. I'm also glad she did not take offense when others expressed opinions or related experiences which were different from hers. She has cruised often enough that I am sure she is aware that others can have vastly different experiences even when situations have been nearly identical.

 

I share willowoodf's point of view. Sometimes one or two incidents can color one's entire perception. That happened to us on one cruise. It was not enough to turn us off to cruising with HAL, because they kept honestly trying to correct the continuing problem. But, as Sassyredhat also experienced, it was enough to convince my Sister-in-law that they never would cruise again so HAL lost a potential customer.

 

I do want to point out to njsonja as a former boss in a service-oriented industry that kind words and requests rather than demands usually get better results and help the worker to really WANT to go the extra mile and provide service ABOVE that which is expected. She might try that approach next time.

[mmp13]

I agree, I can't imagine making a scene about anything on a cruise. In fact we actually waited a few days to see if our waiter was just having a bad day etc...Hey, it can happen to anybody. When poor service continued ,we said something to the maitre d. In my opinion our waiter just had to many people to wait on, I thought maybe the maitre'd would give him a hand but that was not the case, he just stood around making our waiter, and therefore us, more uncomfortable.:eek: it was just a bad situation .

[tech]

Not to open a can of worms but she mentioned her husband being a diabetic.

 

So is mine.

 

This can make the food selections more interesting to say the least.

You can ask HAL prior to cruise about receiving diabetic items.

 

But something you learn to live with is gazing longingly at food stations that you from which you cannot eat.

 

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you feel about chicken, it is one of the main stays of my husbands diet.

 

Diabetic friendly meat if no skin.

 

That may be one of the reasons she saw the chicken so often ?

 

Food is so subjective but I do think it can vary from ship to ship within the same cruiseline.

 

Until we took a recent cruise on The Coral Princess, I would have said food was not that important to me , that it was the ship and ports.

 

But after 10 days of really terrible food in our opinion, we have come to realize that it is a very important part of our cruise.

 

While on The Coral, I was dreaming of HAL and their food selections. :D

[tech]

Gee, I posted the above after reading the first page only, I didn't realize it went on for pages :eek:

 

I have now read them....I do agree that it is not the thing to do to speak to a waiter that way and yes, we would be uncomfortable if table mates did such a thing.

 

I should have known that there were more pages, jumped the gun. :)

[jhannah]

As others have said, I think it is how you treat minor problems that equals how much or how little you enjoy things, whether it be a cruise or anything else in life.

How very true. A truly bad experience is a bad experience. I'm not trivializing that. But how one acts/reacts to it can really make a difference.

 

Looking at my own life, I must say I have reacted unjustly to things that have happened to me. It isn't a pretty thing. Then, one day, I heard a seminar presenter who put it all in perspective.

 

With his arm and index finger extended, he drew a huge arc in the air in front of him.

 

"Know what that is? It's a bridge. Get over it."

[Barrel_Proof]

I asked my waiter to get me 3 lobster tails...he said he would see if he could...I told him he had a choice...he could get it for me or we would have a scene...guess what?...he found three for me...

 

Thankfully I won't have to worry about traveling with either of you in the future!

[mamaofami]

It's beyond my comprehension that anyone would demand to get three lobster tails. I know it's a surf and turf night, and I know that some poeple ask for two tails, but to demand three and say you will make a scene is just awful.

 

People often get what they deserve in this world. These waiters are people, just like we are. They will treat you with respect and try to meet your needs if you treat them the same way. To threaten them is totally uncalled for.

[innlady1]

NOORDAM, LEAVING OUT OF NYC, NOV 21 UNTIL DEC 1 (this morning)

<snip>

Food was virtually impossible to get as a snack between 9:30 p.m. and 11:15 p.m. which is when i would have liked a fruit or cheese. Room service, when they did deliver, took about an hour and the portions were horrifically small. The Surf and Turf was a horror...the tiniest portion of filet...and lobster...I asked my waiter to get me 3 lobster tails...he said he would see if he could...I told him he had a choice...he could get it for me or we would have a scene...guess what?...he found three for me...

<snip>

 

I'm sorry the OP didn't have a good cruise, but reading this part is really disturbing. I'm with you, Carol.

[AirGorilla]

This OP and winemistress 45 should get together and start their own cruise company; maybe they could be satisfied by something they own.

 

Winemistress 45 didn't strike me as being all that unsatisfied. FWIW, I thought her threads were very enjoyable to read. Sounded to me like she and her daughters had a great time together.

 

Maybe you mean someone else???

 

AG

[NoNoNanette]

Winemistress 45 didn't strike me as being all that unsatisfied. FWIW, I thought her threads were very enjoyable to read. Sounded to me like she and her daughters had a great time together.

 

Maybe you mean someone else???

 

AG

 

PRECISELY! ;)

[WeLoveCruising]

Winemistress 45 didn't strike me as being all that unsatisfied. FWIW, I thought her threads were very enjoyable to read. Sounded to me like she and her daughters had a great time together.

 

Maybe you mean someone else???

 

AG

 

They probably did mean WM45. She's been the target of alot of criticism, much undeserved, I think.

[WeLoveCruising]

I am really intrigued by this review. I cant figure out why someone would seem so positive pre-cruise, and then have every little thing upset them. I did a search on the OP's posting history to see if she wrote any similar reviews about her prior cruises. I found this quote she posted before another cruise....:eek:

 

Is that enough? lol....I can't wait to cruise...drink, eat, eat, eat, and eat. My husband had t-shirts made up that read, "It's been an hour, when do we eat?"

 

My point is, what was her expectation on amount and availability of food?

[manbehindthecurtain]

I am really intrigued by this review. I cant figure out why someone would seem so positive pre-cruise, and then have every little thing upset them. I did a search on the OP's posting history to see if she wrote any similar reviews about her prior cruises. I found this quote she posted before another cruise....:eek:

 

Is that enough? lol....I can't wait to cruise...drink, eat, eat, eat, and eat. My husband had t-shirts made up that read, "It's been an hour, when do we eat?"

 

My point is, what was her expectation on amount and availability of food?

 

Maybe a member of Gluttony Anonymous? ;)

[Copper10-8]

A guy walks into the doctor's office. There is a banana stuck in one of his ears, a cucumber in the other ear, and a carrot stuck in one nostril.

 

The man says, "Doc, this is terrible. What's wrong with me?"

 

The doctor says, "Well, first of all, you need to eat more sensibly