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Some cruise lines charging for room service, others considering it

Some cruise lines charging for room service, others considering it

Old Jan 30, 2019, 12:32 am
  #46  
 
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Originally Posted by 747FC
surely you don’t mean the ship’s capacis 2600? Their largest ship holds 600.
Whoops....2550 3 x 450 2 x 600
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Old Jan 30, 2019, 1:47 am
  #47  
 
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HAL - a ghost of its former self.

Originally Posted by Randyk47
Not a charge for service but I read on Cruise Critic where the relatively sedate Holland America is doing away with onboard libraries. Whether accurate or not when one cruise director was asked about the cut the answer was that doing away with the libraries fleet wide would save the company $2M a year. Sounds high but his explanation was they could eliminate a couple of positions per ship, the cost of buying new materials, replacing material appropriated by passengers, etc. Personally that doesn’t impact us but again it’s another one of those minor cuts around the fringe that’s probably not a big deal by itself but gets added to the “death by a thousands cuts”.
We have taken many long cruises on Holland America. Our most recent was at the end of November on the Westerdam. Newbies and veterans alike, including us, swore "never again." The cost-cutting measures were staggering. Activities mainly consisted of "Get together for Mah Jongg" (or Bridge, or any other games) that required no staff. Not that I cared, but there were no art auctions, where you could at least get a free glass of "champagne," and they didn't even push the spa packages. The Captain's reception, which used to include hors d'oeuvres, was reduced to a five minute waste of time. Evening entertainment was woeful, and the few audience participation shows were held when late diners could not attend. There was a fair amount of Trivia scheduled. But the prize for winning was the same identical Holland America pin Every. Single. Day. I know, because my team won almost every single day.

While I don't miss the wasteful midnight buffets, the quality of virtually every service has declined precipitously. And I miss the fun component, which was never big on that cruise line, but it is gone.
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Old Jan 30, 2019, 6:02 am
  #48  
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Originally Posted by sukki007
We have taken many long cruises on Holland America. Our most recent was at the end of November on the Westerdam. Newbies and veterans alike, including us, swore "never again." The cost-cutting measures were staggering. Activities mainly consisted of "Get together for Mah Jongg" (or Bridge, or any other games) that required no staff. Not that I cared, but there were no art auctions, where you could at least get a free glass of "champagne," and they didn't even push the spa packages. The Captain's reception, which used to include hors d'oeuvres, was reduced to a five minute waste of time. Evening entertainment was woeful, and the few audience participation shows were held when late diners could not attend. There was a fair amount of Trivia scheduled. But the prize for winning was the same identical Holland America pin Every. Single. Day. I know, because my team won almost every single day.

While I don't miss the wasteful midnight buffets, the quality of virtually every service has declined precipitously. And I miss the fun component, which was never big on that cruise line, but it is gone.
Is it possible that these changes also reflect shifts in the reasons why people cruise? Does the modern cruiser reject the fake "upper crust" environment, frequent silliness and the rigid expectations that were de rigueur in an earlier era of cruising?

Where we once had to dine with strangers at a set time and too often endure the endless droning of some opinionated wind bag we can select a private table and eat when we want. Playing quoits, the fusty library, the (ugh) audience participation shows, formal nights and other on-board hilarity might have made some sense in the era when cruises were extended voyages with few or no stops. Today they are anachronisms in a world where there is an internet and cruises stop in a different port almost everyday.

Last edited by Badenoch; Jan 30, 2019 at 7:06 am
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Old Jan 30, 2019, 6:03 am
  #49  
 
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Originally Posted by sukki007
We have taken many long cruises on Holland America. Our most recent was at the end of November on the Westerdam. Newbies and veterans alike, including us, swore "never again." The cost-cutting measures were staggering. Activities mainly consisted of "Get together for Mah Jongg" (or Bridge, or any other games) that required no staff. Not that I cared, but there were no art auctions, where you could at least get a free glass of "champagne," and they didn't even push the spa packages. The Captain's reception, which used to include hors d'oeuvres, was reduced to a five minute waste of time. Evening entertainment was woeful, and the few audience participation shows were held when late diners could not attend. There was a fair amount of Trivia scheduled. But the prize for winning was the same identical Holland America pin Every. Single. Day. I know, because my team won almost every single day.

While I don't miss the wasteful midnight buffets, the quality of virtually every service has declined precipitously. And I miss the fun component, which was never big on that cruise line, but it is gone.
I remember asking a long time HAL cruiser "What was the first thing to go after Carnival bought Holland America?"
Without missing a beat, she said "Fresh squeezed orange juice"
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Old Jan 30, 2019, 11:12 am
  #50  
 
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Originally Posted by bigbuy
I remember asking a long time HAL cruiser "What was the first thing to go after Carnival bought Holland America?"
Without missing a beat, she said "Fresh squeezed orange juice"
Yeah ! Now we get fruit juices that were "Freshly squeezed" once upon a time !
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Old Feb 4, 2019, 3:21 am
  #51  
 
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Originally Posted by mikeef
The truth of the matter is, though, that these "choices" often replace things that were free.
The truth of the matter is, though, that nothing was ever free. The difference between everything being included and everything being a la carte is the difference between subsidizing the gluttony of others to paying only for what you personally eat.

Originally Posted by mikeef
Each of these is a publicly traded company, and they're going to keep adding fees and cutting perks until it's no longer profitable.
Or risk shareholder revolts.
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Old Feb 4, 2019, 3:29 am
  #52  
 
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Originally Posted by Badenoch
Is it possible that these changes also reflect shifts in the reasons why people cruise?
Not really. The reality is that the previous poster is comparing a mid-grade mainstream cruise line today to the (financially inadequate) premium line that existed in the 1980s. Over the last thirty years, the line has smoothly transitioned into what it needed to be to justify its existence. Even so, it still makes one wonder if we really need Holland America when Princess serves that part of the market so well.
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