Subject: Report # 138 Getting back to normal.........................May 25, 2016 Wednesday
Well, here we are, home for over a week, and inundated with stuff to do. As always, we try to maintain our routine, and fit in the extra work a little at a time. Our luggage did arrive three days after we got back, which was good. It came in one piece, and so far, we have found nothing broken. Eventually, all will be put away. And thanks to the complimentary laundry, most everything we brought home is clean.
In regards to the changes we have noticed during the world cruise, we kept a list. Most everything was small, but definitely a change. Even though they may seem insignificant to most, added up fleet wide, these deletions can make a difference with labor and food costs on the ships.
In the very beginning of the world cruise, we noticed there were very few days where "buy one, get one for $1" beverages in the Ocean Bar and Crow's Nest happened during the 6 to 7pm time slot. They did offer the special at the 4 to 5pm happy hour every day. After a couple of weeks, the later happy hour never happened. That is until a group of disgruntled folks protested, and got the 6 to 7pm happy hour restored every day. In our opinion, we should not have to BEG for it. But that's what happened. The minute the world cruise ended, so did the later happy hour.
The following things we found were about the dining venues. The new "gala" nights, in our way of thinking, have always meant a decorated La Fontaine Dining Room. This does not always happen. The nights that were labeled "classic" meant absolutely no decorations. Barely even a fancy dinner menu. Remember the rolled menus we got on "formal" evenings? They are long gone. Now we get a half-size folded four page mini-menu with limited choices. This year, we only had 14 gala nights, and only about half of those were highly decorated. The savings to the company? Labor hours for the crew to hang these decorations, as well as savings in the actual items used to decorate. The entrée items have been revised. For instance, surf and turf may be a large shrimp with a tiny filet mignon. Seldom did we see lobster tail and steak together. Caviar was served only a few times.
Most people did adhere to the suggested "gala" attire for those evenings, except for the Daisy duke shorts one lady wore to her table. Not one word was said to her. In fact, we were told by the head waiters that no one could be turned away from the dining room unless they were wearing shorts and t-shirts on gala nights.
Also long gone are the farewell parade at the end of the cruise, and also no more Baked Alaska dessert. Another tradition to die.
The special chocolate gourmandizes are missing from gala nights. The only place you will find these offered after dinner is in the Pinnacle Grill Restaurant. That is less work for one crew member in the galley.
The little jam and jelly jars are missing in the dining room at breakfast. If you like them better, you can BEG for them, as they are available for the guests on deck seven, who dine in the Pinnacle Grill in the morning. The jars hold twice as much product, so the foil packets have to be cheaper for the company to buy.
The dessert carts that were used to display the various offerings every evening were taken off the ship in Bali. These were the flambe units, which were no longer used once open flames were not allowed on ships anymore. We understand that, but we liked the dessert display. That way, we could see what these fancy-named desserts were, instead of taking a chance and guessing. Many times, what we ordered was not what we thought it would be. We heard through the grapevine that a lot of the desserts were not being ordered after the display was pulled. The leftovers were served later at the night buffet, and the rest, consumed by the crew. More labor saved, as someone does not have to set up the dessert cart anymore.
Whoever decided that open seating dining on deck four, with fixed seating upstairs on deck five would be a good idea on a world cruise had to be dreaming. For some unknown reason, the majority of folks have chosen to eat around 6:30 to 7pm. Thinking they could show up and get a table without waiting was dreaming. We do know there were a whole lot of unhappy people in the beginning. At 8pm on deck four, the room was half full at most. Good for us since we got served quickly most nights, but a real headache for the early diners and especially the wait staff. They did not appear to be happy campers.
After the world cruise ended, the waiters were directed to do place settings with minimal silverware. Half the time, you were looking for forks, knives, or spoons, because they were not there. And the addition of new white "plain Jane" plate ware was a mistake. The food was never hot after they started using the new bowls and dinner plates. Soups had to be served with a gravy bowl, and even then, they were not piping hot. Hope they have resolved this issue by now.
We used to be able to pre-purchase internet packages before we joined the ship. By doing that, we would get 100 extra minutes on a 1000 minute package. That deal is gone. When we got onboard, we asked about the extra minutes for buying the 1000 minute package, and found that no extra minutes were offered anymore. Apparently, there had been issues regarding the slow internet before we got on in Ft. Lauderdale, so about two weeks into the trip, a special offer was presented, where we did get the extra minutes. It only happened once on the entire cruise.
Guess we have been spoiled on past world cruises, because we all used to get a gift on formal nights. They were not always expensive, but they were consistent. Now we are lucky to get something perhaps every two weeks or longer. A most definite cutback. We did appreciate what we got, but missed the special gifts of stuffed animals or electronic type gifts. At least, the commemorative plates were close to being correct this year.
There are no "live" bands at sail away anymore. Something to do with the band's hours and union rules and port rules, etc. Sure miss hearing the usual songs that people loved. If we are lucky, there is some piped in music in the backround.
It came as a surprise that the cocktail party in the Wajang Theater prior to the Captain's Dinner had been eliminated. That was the best part of the evening, as they served the most delicious treats with your cocktails. It only lasted for about ½ hour, so how much can they save by not doing it? It was only for the full world cruisers, which this year was over half of the folks. Guess that does add up.
What should not cost anything is re-running the guest lecturer's talks on TV the same day they give a talk. This did not happen. We were given a completely mysterious answer as to why these lectures were not shown. Even one of the lecturers did not know his talks were not repeated for all to hear. He had no objection, and resented the fact his talks were not reaching everyone. Others did complain, and we did find that towards the end of the cruise, someone saw fit to put these talks on TV. But it did not last long.
And we did find that our wonderful sandwich-maker in the Lido had been re-assigned to the pasta bar after the world cruise ended. No more custom sandwiches or paninis. We detest those pre-made sandwiches with mystery ingredients. Talking to one fellow, he told us that he would take three of those pre-made rolls, take out what he liked, and made his own sandwich with regular bread from the line. The rest of the fillings and hard bread? He threw it in the garbage. Checking the Lido sandwich bar daily, we notice that few of the sandwiches were taken. Their best customers would be the crew who had little time to grab lunch.
The biggest improvement we saw was in the salad bar in the Lido. Everything was made to order with all of the bowls behind the glass. Even the dressings were not community-shared. Much better idea, which probably came from the new Hotel Director, we assume.
The last observance we had was in regards to the President's Club events. Technically, we only had two events. One was a dinner in the King's Room when the top administrators arrived in Sydney. The other one was a special kitchen tour, which was really fun with behind the scenes demos with the top chefs. A delicious tasting menu followed with heaps of champagne and wines.
One affair was a cocktail party in the Officer's Bar on deck A. However, we were mixed with all the folks on deck seven, making the room terribly over-crowded. Not sure what they were thinking on that one. Last year, we had only the PC folks and officers, not only having a cocktail party, but served a dinner as well.
That's most of the changes we have noticed this year…
Bill and Mary Ann
