iwingy

I appreciate OP’s balanced review. My opinion is somewhat similar. On my second Carnival cruise in two months right now, sailing to Ensenada. We mostly prefer calm and classy style of HAL and Princess, but the crowd there is super homogenous. I loved the diversity of the Carnival crowd sailing from Long Beach. What I am not a fan of are incredibly loud public spaces on Carnival. I am not seeing a difference between 7 day Panorama and 3 day Radiance so far in terms of level of noise and “fun”. I also think their ships are in need of more pool and deck space, it’s very crowded. What I love is the cabin layout and size - the best among 6 lines and 15+ ships I’ve been to. And the crew is truly lovely and caring. The biggest pro is we can drive to port, so we might be sailing with Carnival at some point again if they mix up their west coast itineraries.

A question to build on this one: we are arriving at 7 am on HAL Veendam (Transatlantic) on 9/7/19. We will clear C&I in Bar Harbor the day before, and will do self-disembarkation. Is it realistic to catch 11:45 am out of Logan? Our other option is a 3 pm flight, and I would rather be home sooner!

28 minutes ago, richstowe said:

What has most changed iwingy? Smoking policy . The last few years have been huge restriction on where smoking is allowed . Works for me.

This is such a welcome change for me! I hope to experience non-smoking ships in my lifetime 🙂

27 minutes ago, kazu said:

 

I think you will be happy on the Rotterdam.  I found the crew excellent when we were on board.

 

OMG what's changed in 7 years?  I'll try and let others chime in.

 

You can only bring on one bottle of wine per person (of legal age for our cruise).  You can bring on more but they will be subject to corkage fee of $18.  

 

You can still bring on all the water, soda, etc (anything non alcoholic that you want)

 

You can bring on both on embarkation day or in ports - in ports corkage fee applies for the wine.

 

Specialty coffees in the MDR now have a fee where they used to be free.

 

Barring any significant circustamstances (inspections, etc.) your room will be ready when you board.

 

Rotterdam has no aft pool. More of a wading pool with loungers but there are still great aft views.  (HAL stopped that mistake 😉 )

 

Don't worry about words on the libraries - the library on the Rotterdam is gorgeous.  Very comfy chairs and great selections.  Fortunately, the R class hasn't been affected by some of the library changes.  No librarian, but you don't need one.

 

If you like violin and piano, there is a duet playing "Adagio".  In the old days it was a quartet - now a duet, but if you get some talented ones (and we did have on the Rotterdam) they are truly enjoyable.

 

Crew to passenger ratio on this ship is higher than the bigger ones. We had great service.  I hope you do too.

 

 

kazu, thank you! This is a very informative summary. Of all the changes, I think I will miss free specialty coffee in the MDR the most... and the limit on free wine from shore, but the corkage fee still sounds like an ok deal vs buying wine onboard. 

Duly noted about the library and the aft pool. Aft pool is probably our favorite place on any ship, but since it is adult only on most lines, it is less relevant now as we are traveling with our little one. Same goes for shows, we used to be big on night entertainment, now it is 8:30 pm bedtime 🙂

We have missed cruising so much, I am sure we will love any ship at this point, but I am especially looking forward to the Rotterdam. It looks like like an old-time classic sea beauty, and this is exactly the type of cruising we are into. My husband and I are not fans of massive ships and non-nautically themed entertainment when we cruise.  Thank you again for taking the time to reply in such detail, it is greatly appreciated!

37 minutes ago, faerievert said:

The biggest change is no more bringing on unlimited wine. Now it's $18/bottle with only one free bottle per person. There seems to be fewer staff now, but since you're moving to a smaller ship, that might be less noticeable. Portions are smaller, but you can ask for seconds if you want more. Bread/rolls at the table are mostly only by request. Internet is now sold at a daily rate instead of per minute. Formal (gala) nights continue to become, on average, less formal. No more giant chocolate buffet (there's still special chocolate treats served on board certain nights). Less big band/ballroom dancing. Photo department is more digital. Drink prices have gone up (but hasn't everything?). Activities on board have more sponsored tie-in endorsements (BB Kings, Billboard, America's Test Kitchen, Oprah, etc.). Libraries are smaller and no more librarians. Oh, and one more big one... no more smoking on private balconies on any HAL ship! Rotterdam still has smoking in the casino and designated public outdoor areas.

 

We also sailed HAL in our 20's and were the youngest ones on the ship our first HAL cruise! I'd much rather cruise with retirees than families.

faerievert - thank you for such a detailed reply! Many of these seem to be industry trends, which I am not a fan of (I love the formality of classic cruising...) but I love cruising more than dressing up lol, so will cruise even if the MDR dress code becomes shorts and t-shirts!

It's an interesting choice by HAL for co-branded entertainment. I'm rather fond of Postmodern Jukebox, it will be interesting to see if it is present on the Rotterdam and what the quality is like.

We were the youngest onboard indeed, but unlike Princess, where there are many Eastern European crew (which is our background), we were not mistaken for crew on HAL, so we liked that 🙂 This time we are actually traveling as a family with our 2.5 y.o., so it will be an interesting experience... we are booked on a transatlantic on the Veendam in August, and this is kind of a test run for us!

Thanks again for the very valuable info!

Hello everyone! Thank you for your invaluable advice and answering so many questions. I've read through the last two dozen pages and have picked up a lot of very practical advice and suggestions. I really appreciate it.

I do have a question, and it is a more conceptual/philosophical one, I guess. We have not done a sea/ocean cruise in three years, and one and only time on HAL was in May 2012 on Eurodam, so almost seven years ago. We are going on Rotterdam in 4 weeks.

In your opinion, what has fundamentally changed in that time, and what can we expect in terms of differences with our first HAL experience? Eurodam was lovely and definitely stood out in culinary experience (as probably top 2, a tie with Aida for us). It was lacking in service, but seemed to be a fluke based on other reviews at the time. Overall, HAL was a wonderful fit in terms of ambiance and demographics. Although, we were in our mid 20-ies in 2012, so not quite the target audience, I guess.

Thank you in advance for any thoughts!