Yes, Virginia, there is an affordable premium cruise line.

[Pettifogger]

There are all sorts of cruise passengers. I am one of the premium line passengers who value things that are generally not found on mass market cruise lines, but doesn't need as much personal attention as is given on luxury lines.

We searched for quite awhile before we found a premium line that offered what we wanted, but didn't charge a lot for things we didn't need. For us, HAL provides about a 33% better cruise for no more than a 10% higher fare and sometimes less. (That estimate of value wouldn''t be right for anyone else, because we all value different aspects of a cruise differently.)

A major factor in that estimate is the high quality of service provided by graduates of the HAL school in Indonesia, but another important factor is HAL's forbearance from charging for everything. On some cruise lines one can almost imagine a waiter saying, "Cream for your coffee, Sir? Of course. Would you also like sugar? I can put them both on the same charge slip." We all recognize that onboard revenue is essential to keep all but the luxury lines afloat, but HAL, for example, delivers a cappuccino at meals with a smile instead of a charge slip. If one wishes to keep a bottle of champagne and some orange juice in one's cabin to have a mimosa before breakfast, one can. Such little things make the cruise seem more like a gracious experience and less like an "arm's length" commercial transaction.

But perhaps the most important thing of all is HAL's offer of either flexible or fixed dining.

I would estimate that up to 5% of the general population are what I call Talkers. Talkers are people who, given the chance, will dominate a conversation with a recitation of all of their own accomplishments as well as those of their family and friends and are difficult if not impossible to stop before they finish (the capital T is to distinguish them from ordinary talkers.) I would estimate that up to 10% of cruise passengers are Talkers, probably because cruises furnish an abundance of fresh listeners. Unfortunately, it takes only one Talker at a table for four, six or eight to dominate the occasion, so the risk multiplies as the number at the table increases. (On a recent cruise, I lost three breakfasts in a row to Talkers and there were only four at the table each time.)

Since few listeners are willing to suffer every day for the entire length of a cruise, Talkers do not like fixed dining and they're only infrequently found there. (In my 39 days of recent cruises on HAL, none of my 20 or so fellow fixed diners were Talkers.)

In flexible dining, the Talkers meet fresh, more or less captive listeners every day. (I'm not suggesting that most flexible diners are Talkers; I am suggesting that most Talkers are flexible diners.)

In the days of only fixed dining, the Talkers were somewhat restrained, because they knew they were unlikely to be listened to forever and the listeners had the "nuclear option" of requesting to be moved to another table if they couldn't stand it any longer.

On HAL, both the Talkers and the listeners have a choice between flexible and fixed dining; the "best of both worlds."

The dark cloud that might form on the horizon is if someone at HAL were to decide that the fixed dining option is superfluous, despite the demand for it as demonstrated by the long waiting line to get it, and decide to no longer offer it. The Talkers would be thrilled by the prospect of a greater abundance of more or less captive listeners, but many of the rest of us would have to decide whether or not we wanted to make some very unappealing compromises with the cruise industry.

All I personally can do is go now on as many cruises as I can afford while "the going is good" in case the clouds gather and the sky darkens.

[ldog]

very funny. There is a smidgeon of truth in your observations. But wouldn't it be awful to be at a table of only listeners?:confused:

[jcrandle]

Perhaps your problem is that you are only a listener, and need to graduate to Listener!:D

[Pettifogger]

Over four hundred readers have viewed my post and not one of them has expressed support for my position.

I feel just a little like the captain in a besieging army in Europe back in the fourteenth century, who charged through a breach in the wall of a castle, only to look back over his shoulder and find that no one was following him. The defenders of the castle were so amazed by what they thought was the audacity of his one man charge, that they let him walk unharmed back out through the breach and back to his own lines. All he was overheard to say was, "c'est la vie."

[Two@Sea]

I enjoyed your clever post (and the chuckles it provided) but we have never experienced open seating, and are therefore unqualified to express our opinion about how changing from a fixed dining option would effect us.

 

I regret that I am a mere poster, when a Poster might have been better able to respond. :D

[HALFans]

LOL. Not sure exactly how many responses you expected without a single mention of smoking, trays, veranda doors or even light bulbs. ;) Heck, you didn't even come up with a good out and out complaint that people could knee jerk to without having to ponder what you wrote for a few minutes - long beyond most of our attention spans when we want to get to the next smoking thread already.

 

As for us, it's cloudy enough on a HAL ship and assigned seating is so scarce that we're already looking elsewhere for it. (OK, there are other reasons too - but that's a BIGGIE.)

 

Yes, we ran into a Talker on our last cruise. But that was our very first one, so IMO 5% is a little high.

 

Um, not sure if I agreed with you or not? :confused: Darn it, where's that thread I was looking for? :D

[Boytjie]

You talk a lot... :rolleyes:

[English_in_Spain]

I started to read your post but after the first couple of lines I had to give up because of the way it was laid out.

 

It would have been easier to read with some paragraph spacing.

[MrsMuir]

Pettifogger, English in Spain is right. I almost didn't read your post because there was no "white space." Like Boytjie commented, all those words were startlingly like the way Talkers talk, with no way to get a word in edgewise.

 

Having said all that, I think you make a good point about traditional dining and Talkers. There always seems to be one person who talks more. Sometimes it's a good thing, because that person may simply be more outgoing -- a leader who can get the conversation going. The kind of person who is a Talker is one who is self-absorbed and has a need to prove him/herself. They ask how you are and don't wait for your answer. You wonder if they ever will come up for air.

 

To be fair, though, I think we should give these presumed Talkers a chance to relax and feel more confident about themselves. That is one of the joys of traditional dining! One meal does not a Talker make.

 

We had a well-to-do English couple at our table, and the first night the husband spoke like a 19th-Century colonial tea baron. On the second night we engaged in friendly banter, and he listened to our more egalitarian views with good humor and grace, and seemed to take an interest in us. By the end of the cruise, we had a warm friendship going with him and his wife.

 

I didn't mean to hog the conversation! I suggest if we think we're stuck with a Talker, give it a little time, listen between the lines, and you might be pleasantly surprised.

[usha]

...what???:confused:

sorry, all that talking about "talkers" just really threw me off.:o

[Modern_Viking]

I too enjoy HAL for their attributes such as

 

- Fixed Dining

 

- Many special features without extra fees

 

- Warm, friendly service and with a sense of humor.

 

- premium touches (cotton towels in the public restrooms, real glasses, silverware, and no paper plates in dining areas)

 

- little pressure to buy extras (there is some especially for photos and drink cards the first day, thankfully but not all the time)

 

- Enjoyable activities, such as trivia, where I can meet new people and talk with them, but not feel like I have to spend all cruise with them

 

- Many small tables (for 2 and 4) in the dining room (related to the above).

 

- The feeling that the ship is a ship, and that it has a personality and isn't just a generic composition of expensive looking woody or marble-like items.

 

- Prices less than the luxury lines.

 

I think that says much of it.

[MadManOfBethesda]

talkers are people who, given the chance, will dominate a conversation with a recitation of all of their own accomplishments.....

 

in my 39 days of recent cruises on hal....

 

 

:d:d

[suse]

I tend to be exposed to "talkers" all the time in my profession. It can be tiring, and since it's not really a part of what I'm supposed to be doing, I do alot of listening.

 

However, when I'm on a cruise, I really prefer the quiet. It's time to get away from the me, myself, and I mentality that I encounter daily. I know people are lonely, though, so I keep that in mind.

 

We have a boat that we spend alot of time on. If you see my face buried in a book, it may be for a reason other than the text is fascinating.;)

[djg541]

Did you say something? Sorry, wasn't listening. Waiter! Check please!

[Druke I]

Like several others, I found your post very difficult to read.

 

Try using paragraphs, or as one poster put it "white space".

[Pettifogger]

I'd like to thank all of you for your responses and for your criticisms, which I implicitly invited and which I appreciated.

 

CC informed me that about 400 people clicked on my post, but I didn't know until you told me that probably most of them didn't make it very far through the post.

[serendipity1499]

I'd like to thank all of you for your responses and for your criticisms, which I implicitly invited and which I appreciated.

 

CC informed me that about 400 people clicked on my post, but I didn't know until you told me that probably most of them didn't make it very far through the post.

 

Ah that's better...Have to confess I could only get about 1/3 of the way thru your other post..