MISTER 67

Unfortunately Holland America is not the cruise line it once was, just too many cutbacks especially with the food and entertainment budgets, service also could be better probably because of staffing shortages, not sure if it's on purpose or not. As far as the Westerdam, we have sailed on her twice but when she was fairly new, one thing IMHO is that HAL keeps their ships in great condition and very clean but I can't say for certain what kind of shape the Westerdam is in. We sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam this past December and she is not quite as old as the Westerdam and she was in great shape.

We always request a table for 2 and and there has never been a problem but beware, some of the tables for 2 are 9 inches apart.

Same with our cruise on the NA in December, food and entertainment were fair at best, we also are staying away from HAL until we hear that things improve.

That stinks, shame on Celebrity.

Princess yes, HAL no. HAL at one time was our favorite line but they have cut down on the food and entertainment budgets, even the service was not as good as in the past, we cruised on the Nieuw Amsterdam in December and it was pretty bad, we are done with HAL for the foreseeable future unless we hear that things have changed for the better. We are sailing on the Reflection next month, the Equinox in August and the Sky Princess in December.

Not the same company.

Yep, a terrible waste of space as HAL has cut the entertainment budget.

We have sailed with both lines over 20 times each. In 2021 after the start up we sailed on the Caribbean Princess twice in November and again in December, both cruises were great with only 1,700 on board for both cruises. Food and entertainment were very good and the service was outstanding, even the Medallions worked well. The only thing amiss was none of the clocks on the open decks were working. As with most lines, we have been reading that things starting in January have gone downhill with Princess. We sailed on the Rotterdam in April of 2022 and it was a decent cruise with pretty good food in the Lido and fair food in the MDR. Service was for the most part pretty good with some snags here and there. Entertainment was decent with Music Walk but as usual entertainment in the main showroom was pathetic. We sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam in December of 2022 and things really took a nosedive with food, entertainment and service, it was for us bad enough that we will not sail with HAL again. Looking back to 2022 we had 3 great cruises on Celebrity but I'm reading on the Celebrity boards that things have have taken a turn for the worse with Celebrity also, we will find out on a April 2nd cruise on the Reflection. We have also booked a cruise on the Sky Princess for December and will probably sail on MSC this summer. Food and entertainment are very important to us as the ship is the destination as we just sail in the Caribbean and very seldom get off the ship. If itineraries are important to you then I think all the lines have great itineraries and you can't go wrong with Princess, Celebrity and HAL.

Yep, it was pretty good growing up in Chicago and Illinois as the 12th was a school holiday and I didn’t have to play hooky.

Everything is fine, just keeping a low profile, thanks for thinking about me. One of these days I’ll start posting again. Weather has been beautiful here in Punta Gorda, mid 80s every day with low humidity and no rain but some snowbirds are already complaining about the heat, they should spend a summer in Florida if they want to experience some real heat not to mention high humidity. Celebrated my 77th birthday on Feb. 12th. Still playing Golf 3 times a week. Heading out on the Celebrity Reflection on April 2nd for our 70th cruise. Hope all are doing well here at The Daily.

Us too.

I'm not sure, we will find out on the Reflection on our April 2 cruise.

Lobster is a nice change but it's not close to making my favorite's list, there's been many nights that I opted for something else on the menu like Beef Wellington, my wife never eats lobster and she loves seafood but not lobster.

The Century was a great ship, we still have our commemorative book that Celebrity issued during the inaugural year of the Century.

We dine early and usually take in the early show in the main showroom, unfortunately HAL has a different idea what constitutes entertainment instead they show us BBC Planet Earth TV shows and a video presentation on the history of HAL. We also like to take in the evening concert in Lincoln Center but HAL is doing away with that also.

I'll go with the Signature Class, the Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam are perfect, it's too bad that at the present time the onboard experience on HAL ships especially with food and entertainment are not close to exceeding expectations.

Equinox and Infinity.

The Marconi became the Costa Riviera, the Galilei became the Celebrity Meridian.

Don't forget the Meridian which IIRC was Celebrity's first ship built originally as the Galileo Galilei for the Lloyd Trestino line. Never sailed on her but did sail on her sister ship, the Marconi when she was the Costa Riviera, still one of our favorite cruise ships. Wanted so badly to sail on the Meridian but the schedule never worked out for us.

Appreciate the kind thoughts, hope all is well with you. To tell the truth we don't care about the tiles either, hate to say this but we threw a bunch of them away before our last move, it's the other things that are bothering us. We sail on Celebrity Reflection in a few weeks and from I'm reading on the Celebrity boards things aren't great with Celebrity either, same with Princess. The onboard experience is very important to us as we just sail out of Florida for the Caribbean and rarely get off the ship. I guess we are in a new era in cruising and we either are going to have to accept the changes or stop cruising. It's hard as we have been cruising for 43 years and remember the days when the lines couldn't do enough for you.

We've been on 69 cruise including 5 on MSC, all 5 have been pretty good. Our favorite lines are Holland America, Princess and Celebrity. Our last cruise on HAL was pretty bad with lousy food and bad entertainment and only fair service. From what I read on the Celebrity and Princess boards cost cutting measures the modus operandi for those 2 lines also, it seems like Jan 1, 2023 arrived and things have really taken a dive on most cruise lines. We have always thought that MSC was not a nickel and dine operation with very fair onboard pricing with drinks, photos and speciality restaurants and no gouging. My question is has MSC also joined the cost cutting frenzy that the other lines have implemented. We sail on the Celebrity Reflection in a few weeks and if things are as bad as what I've read , we just might spend our vacation dollars somewhere else instead of cruising.

So many different answers, right now IMHO HAL as a cruise company is a mess and needs to get its act together.

We have never been on a cruise that the port charges were not credited back to our account for missed ports.

We've been on 69 cruises and never had a hamburger.

Exactly plus your cars sits out in the elements at Park N Go, at the mid port garage your car is protected unless you happen to park on the highest level which we never had to do, we have always found a spot on level 2.