Cruise food is no biggie, but it is nice to have something decent to
eat. Sammy has a hard time finding anything to eat on the lunch buffets
on Royal Caribbean, and it sounds like he would have a hard time on HAL,
too. It is even tougher when you are traveling with children, who tend
to be picky eaters. The Carnival ships have never disappointed me with
their food, neither has Princess.
Becca
D Ball wrote:
> I'm glad your HAL cruises have been a good match for your tastes and
> interests. And actually, we don’t sound that different—we’re not big
> partiers either, and we like the shows, use the gym, travel for itinerary,
> etc. We simply found our Rotterdam experience on this particular voyage to
> be…well, let me relate this story:
>
>
>
> The first night aboard, a staffer confided that the staff and crew called
> the Rotterdam “God’s Waiting Room.” I guess they thought we’d think that was
> funny as, like you, most of us were among the under-50 minority. By the end
> of the cruise, I had to agree with the nickname, but not because of the age
> of the majority. It was HAL’s spiritless approach to so many things that
> stamped out all hope of “joie de vivre” on that cruise.
>
>
>
> We knew not to expect a lively atmosphere. I’m not trying to say they need
> to cater more to kids or have hairy leg contests. And, of course, I didn’t
> mean there had to be—or that I wanted—a non-stop, wild rock and roll party,
> LOL. But yes, I most definitely believe there is a significant disconnect
> between HAL and its client base when there is a failure to recognize that
> the 55- to 70-year-old passengers on board that ship (without question, the
> predominant age group) were in their teens and 20's during the musical
> revolution of The 50's and 60's. Rock and roll in some form or fashion is
> the music of their formative years…why does HAL think folks who were once
> boppers and went to Woodstock now prefer a steady diet of the music of their
> parents’ era? And regarding the musical tastes of those parents, as our
> 82-year-old friend pointed out, she naturally got hooked on rock and roll
> listening to it all those years her kids were growing up.
>
>
>
> We always admire the talent and breadth of the on-board musicians. I’m a
> classical fan, and the group of classical musicians on the Rotterdam was
> very talented. But I don’t want to sit and listen to classical every night!
> And that’s really my point. I think it is reasonable to expect HAL to have
> furnished a wider variety of featured musical genres during a 12-night
> cruise, whether jazz, big band, swing dancing, Sinatra crooning, a Gershwin
> and Porter set, rock and roll…you name it. Instead, with few exceptions,
> there was a certain stale “live Muzak” sameness to the offerings. Oh, they
> did have line dancing one night, LOL. Line dancing must be on the Top 10
> List of Required Cruise Activities right up there with bingo and art
> auctions (neither of which interests us). But no karaoke…that was a cruise
> first for us (but another thing we didn’t miss).
>
>
>
> Re: food, like my rock and roll example, I wasn’t stuck on Indian. It just
> came to mind because we discussed the scarcity of Indian and other Asian
> cuisines with our head waiter from India. He blamed the older clients’
> preferences for the scarcity of Indian and other Asian cuisines. You know,
> when I was growing up, there wasn’t a single Chinese restaurant in my town,
> much less Indian, Thai, sushi, etc. But in this millennium, and I daresay
> for decades now, even small town America has grown accustomed to enjoying
> Asian specialties. The idea that “blue hairs” prefer bland food or find
> non-Western cuisines too exotic is not only rubbish, it’s patronizing.
> Again, over the course of 12 nights catering to a mostly well-traveled,
> sophisticated audience, a little pizzazz on the menu is an absolute
> necessity, IMO, of course. ;)
>
>
>
> There were a few signature Indonesian dishes, the traditional Dutch night,
> and the occasional Italian offering. Other than that, it was fairly
> uninspired continental prepared in a rather dated fashion, heavy on sauces.
> There were few fresh veggies and salad greens. The fruit soups and desserts
> were quite good, and the bread was good when we had it during our main
> seating because it was fresh and hot. There was no spa or heart healthy
> menu, and no nutritional guide to the menu offerings, which did surprise me
> because an older crowd is naturally going to be looking at sodium, fat,
> carbs, etc. In fact, I found many preparations to be salty. The quality of
> the ingredients was average to above average, with the exception of the
> beef, which ranged from poor in the lido to just average in the specialty
> restaurant.
>
> Yes, we loved the itinerary, that is why we chose that cruise. No, we
> weren't the only ship in any port...but I think that is a function of the
> short Baltics season. HAL secured a few advantageous docking positions that
> other lines did not, but it also had a few "bad" docking positions. HAL had
> the nerve to charge as much as $5 per person each way for shuttle transport
> from the port to town and back. Celebrity didn't charge for port shuttles in
> the Med last year, and I haven't read any Baltics reviews of other lines
> that charged for those shuttles. It wasn’t a huge biggie in terms of our
> day…we just added the walk to our in-port walk-a-thon. But HAL‘s conscious
> decision to zing those who didn’t book their ship’s tours really aggravated
> me, especially considering they had most of their independent pax over a
> barrel since few would add 50 minutes of walking to their day.
>
>
>
> Speaking of dollars, yes, in my lay opinion, HAL was having trouble filling
> this ship. A cruise line can only get in so many cruises during the short
> Baltics season, with June being peak (White Nights) and July right behind
> it. Don’t you think they should have sold this one out several months in
> advance at the latest? Sane people usually plan extended international trips
> farther in advance than we do. ;) Instead, we bought our cabins during a
> sale roughly 45 days out, as did every other poster to our Cruise Critic
> Roll Call, at per diems noticeably lower than what the competition was
> charging on mostly less-desirable (in my opinion) itineraries.
>
>
>
> Cathy, don’t mistake me. I’m not whining. We certainly received bang for the
> buck. The itinerary made for a fabulous travel adventure—the point of the
> trip for us. And there was a lot to like about our onboard experience. All
> in all, we had a wonderful time and are very fortunate to have been able to
> take that trip.
>
>
>
> Diana
>
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