TNEVol

I am 71 a professional, and having worn a suit for many years I do not want to put one on again if it can be avoided. I just returned from a Celebriry Baltic cruise where entire tables were in Black Tie and jewels. While I did wear a coat and dress shirt it would have been horrible had I been assigned to one of the formal tables. Frankly given the business dress today I have no problem feeling comfortable in nice jeans, black t-shirt and sport coat. HAL has always seemed reasonable and relaxed to me but if a tie is mandatory I will not be there. Probably will eat in Pinnacle that night instead.

My wife and I cruised on the Westerdam a year ago, our first on HAL. This was to be just for ourselves, a relaxing cruise to try out a new line. We absolutely found HAL to be the best for this type cruise and wanted to return. A major drawback was our great aft balcony was right below the smoking area on Lido starboard. I don't blame someone for standing at the rail looking aft in a smoking area. This is a great view on any ship. I just never thought it would come down to the deck below. And a person next to us smoked cigars on occasion. This affected our use of the balcony but balcony smoking was something we understood when we booked. The change in policy is very welcome as we try HAL again on 1/25/17. I will just avoid starboard aft.

Thanks for all your input. The other couple wanted a few more days and wanted to try X Eclipse so we booked a 14 day with5 sea days. Smoking was also an issue for them. I hope the extra sea days will help us recover from the ports as you describe above. We will be back with HAL when we travel as a couple. Westerdam spoiled us.

Thanks for your reports. We actually prefer multi-generational cruises but the Westerdam felt very much like a Seniors Center with on board atmosphere to match. It was very relaxing but we would like the Baltic cruise to be a little more lively. Our only other real options are X Eclipse and NCL Getaway both of which are way bigger than we prefer. However the Getaway had the best entertaiment we have seen, but shortcomings in food, pricing structure and cabin. X seems alot like RCCL. Both have smoking policies relative to balconies which we prefer. With either of these we lose amenities that HAL offers, small things but a better personal touch.

We are planning a Baltic HAL cruise in June-July 17 with another couple on the Zuiderdam. We were wondering about the demograpics on those cruises in the past. Although we are all over 65 we enjoy activities and entertainment that are active and more current. We found a recent Westerdam cruise to be almost all older people. The comedian joked that there were 100 children on board which brought the average age down to 69. Since we took that cruise to relax and not do a lot of sightseeing it worked out well for us. However the Baltic is going to be much more port intensive. While I wouldn't expect a lot of children on a 11 night cruise especially on HAL, we are wondering about the age and interests of our possible fellow passengers. If you have done this in the past on HAL we appreciate your observations.

Following closely. We are taking Allure in June 2015 from Barcelona and Serenade from New Orleans in Jan 2015. We are also taking your Alaska land/cruise on the Radiance in May 15. Have enjoyed following along with you on all of these. Keep it up and thank you.