Conference abbott::cruise_travel

114.0. "Cruisers Ask the OWNER of Carnivale/HollAmer" by CGVAX2::KAZAZIAN () Mon Apr 17 1989 17:41

Something unusual happened on our NOORDAM cruise.  As many of you know,
Carnivale bought out Holland America about 11 weeks ago.  Well, the 
CEO and President of Carnivale, Mickey Aronsen (sp.), was on board the
NOORDAM for the week.  Travelling with him were his wife, two children,
the nanny, and his bodyguard.

What was unusual was that at the repeaters cocktail party, which I went to,
Mickey was introduced and the floor was open for questions.  None of the
repeaters, mostly older folks, held anything back.  Some of the comments
are paraphrased here, I use the exclamation marks where they are appropriate:

"What's going on?  It costs $10 to play one bingo card!, it used to be 5 bucks
what the hell are you trying to do?"
	
	reply - That's been the price for a while now sir, everything goes
		up.

"We can already see you changing things, last night was dutch night and the
waiters werent' even wearing their dutch hats, it was like just any other night,
it wasn't special.  You are already cutting back!"

	Mickey stepped back from the mike and asked the staff behind him 
	something and then said,
	- I guess we get the hats from a supplier in New York and they were
	  supposed to be delivered here last week and they didn't come in.
	  We still have the hats for dutch night, we just ran out for this
 	  week.

"I read that you bought the Holland America Freight and fired everybody and
brought in your own people.  Are you going to do that to the cruise ships too?
Because it's the people, the Indonesians and the Phillipino's that make this
line the best, the service.  If you fire them you are making a big mistake.
I can already see a difference in things around here"

	To be honest, I can't recall his remark to the Freight firing allegation
	- We have no immediate plans to change Holland AMerica.  We have only 
	  owned the line for 10 weeks, we haven't touched it since we acquired 
	  it.  We don't plan to make these ships like the Carnivale ships.  This
 	  line appeals to a specific market niche, just like the Carnivale ships
	  have a certain appeal to a specific group.  What we are trying to do
	  is plan for the future, where the biggest age group in the population 
	  will be 60 and over.  With Holland America, we can accomodate a 
	  completely different type of market than what we have at Carnivale.
	  With both lines, we not only have the largest fleet of cruise ships, 
	  we also have the most diversified products to offer.

That's when I got up!  I said something like,

"Holland America doesnt' only appeal to our older folks, look around! there
are people of all ages on board, and more of them since my last cruise.  They've
been keeping it a secret for all these years and we are all just discovering it.
I've been on one of your other ships, and i came back to sail on H/A because of
the style, the elegance, the mystique and the service.  Your other line doesn't 
have that and can't compare to H/A service.  Please don't make these clones of
the fun ships, that would be very sad"

	After hearing the plea to leave H/A alone, Mickey seemed emphatic!
	- We aren't going to change it!  We bought it to expand our line
	  and to open some new markets!  I have no intention of making this
  	  another fun ship... etc.  etc.

Some asides were that lots of repeaters seemed to sense an uneasiness 
amongst the crew, they werent' as happy as usual.  We assumed it was 
the uncertainty of their jobs that they just can't hide.  And most of them
have been with H/A for years and years.

He had limo's waiting at every port.  Carnivale just opened the "CRYSTAL
PALACE" casino/hotel at paradise island, Mickey suggested buying some stock.

On the human side of wealth:  They had a 'reserved' table every night
at the shows.  His kids about 4 and 6, would sit up on the back of the
couch.  One night Dad was taking them back to the cabin and the little boy
started screaming that he didn't want to go to sleep.  He put his hands
behind his back in defiance.  Dad tried to keep his cool, but left in defeat
with only his his daughter.

    A friend of ours is a loyal H/A fan and was on the Noordam for Easter.
    She commented that the food portions were smaller and that she sensed
    changes. She is hopping that things don't change. I went on Carnival
    Holiday last year and never again. The food was bad and everyone
    was afraid of management and it showed. I was so disatisfied I fought
    with them for three months and got a $300+ refund. I sincerely hope
    Carnival doesn't mess up this good cruise line.
    
    Len