OlsSalt

Good to also research the history of this particular report author, in order to get a feel for his point of view about HAL overall in the first place - helps to balance his comments.

The tiers of outdoor lounger decks above the aft pool on the Konigsdam were never occupied - too exposed and hot - no shade. Do you think this is what you were seeing -some sort of shade structure being installed over these very nice aft observation lounge decks? Wouldn't that be nice - an adults-only aft pool, and an adults-only aft pool lounging area. 🤫

It has been our experience, we always get more than we pay for when we choose HAL ships. In the nicest possible way.

Thank you for your review.Indeed, the "ship of smiles" makes HAL ships across the board a friendly cocoon when cruising to distant ports. Always feels good getting back on board a HAL ship. However, from our own experience the Main Dining Room dinners (late-fixed) today do not "take 2 hours", unless one by their own choice wants to linger. We found them to be much closer to under an hour - probably as a result of small changes over time - no separate appetizers and soup courses, and pre-ordering dessert. Do I dare say dinner in the MDR is now almost too fast? There was a time when indeed they did stretch out as lengthy affairs, but that has not been our recent experience.

Excellent tips. Thank you so much. Love you critical detail.

The major King Penguin colony on the Falkland Islands. Rugged ride to get there but well, well worth it Sorry, about the Vista ship promenade deck cabin layout mismatch. Glad you caught that. But the recommendation still holds... should... there be promenade deck cabins like found on R-class ships..

Why do you assume HAL "wants" passengers to have a bad experience? After one terrible embarkation in San Diego, HAL immediately invited everyone for a free drink at a special set up at the Lido Pool. Now unfortunately, post-"covid" these back up have become routine. The post-"covid" shakedown is still happening everywhere - our local hospital system was just forced to merge with a larger health care provide "due to covid" lockdowns and huge revenue losses during that time that left their system in total disarray as a small independent operation. A hospitality industry operation does want people to enjoy themselves, so when something like this happens, we never assume they "wanted" this to happen. I am sure they moved heaven and earth for this not to happened, but ports are very strictly controlled by outside forces and dockside unions, maritime regulations and labor clauses etc.

Good topic - when does one get "cruised out" - we are at 650 days plus and we have no more compelling bucket list cruises. Our choices now are very different - and closer to home. If HAL does Pole to Pole as promised, we will probably do that. It is actually the air trips to get to remote destinations that has become our biggest "cruise" turn off; not cruising itself. Send me on a private magic carpet, and I will still get on another cruise ship anywhere. We cruise now for the comfortable on-board routine, and return to some favorite places and restaurants discovered on prior cruises. Getting fed and not having any household chores or even feeling the urgency to see and do everything in every port are the new charms of cruising for us ..after 650 days plus. We cruise now for the mere ritual of cruising - being at sea, coming into and out of ports, the sound of waves, the ships horns, the clang and bang, the sound of shore birds as we approach land, curling up with plenty of good books to read uninterrupted. We cruise to also dress up for dinner in the main dining room, and occasionally dress formally to enjoy this lost ritual of times past. We cruise to share the positive vibes of other passengers, also content to have more days at sea. We cruise now for the comfort of familiar; not for the always new and exotic. Could be our ages too, that have mellowed us into this cruising contentment.

We were lucky enough to have a Neptune suite for this cruise on the Zaandam and used the balcony a lot. It is cold outside - not terribly cold - but it was nice to have ready access to go back inside the cabin, because so many of the outdoor views, esp in Antarctica were spectacular so it was a luxury to view them from our own balcony. Warning: taking cameras and binoculars out from the warm cabin into the cold air will cause them to fog up - nice to have the balcony where we could at least leave the binoculars out for ready use. An alternative tip for this cruise is to get an ocean-view cabin on the promenade deck, close to the atrium, where you can easily go in and out on that large promenade viewing deck too. Biggest advantage of this cabin choice near the atrium is you can easily go from one side of the ship to the other to catch all the views. Plus being a lower deck and in the center of the ship will give you the smoother sailings across Drake's Passage.

Now that it has been explained to you, will you still expect it? Might be a set up for continued disappointment, before the cruise even begins. It was good to get the more detailed explanation. We always have seen HAL as a less frills cruise line so this sort of thing comes with the package for us. I wonder how the higher premium, luxury cruise lines handle impacted embarkation when thousands of passengers, and perhaps multiple cruise ships at the same time, must be processed in a few short hours. Never said I liked this; only that we have come to expect it now.

HAL is a "cheaper" cruise line. Which offers remarkable value and destination choices for the price. It is not just days on board; it is where those days take you. I see no other option that compares to the HAL value as a destination cruise line. Which ones have you found?

If it is any comfort the most scathing review I ever read was right before we were to embark on our first HAL cruise on the old Maasdam in 2009 - "bucket of rust, stinky and should have been sent to the wrecking yards for scrap years ago" pretty much sums up what we read about her back then. I believe that same person continues to write "reviews" for HAL ships here today. Oh dear, did we make a tragic error? She did have some pretty bizarre decor choices, or decor by fire sale default, but we fell in love with her and HAL anyway. And never looked back. And that very same "ready for the scrap heap" ship years later gave us some of our very best HAL cruise experiences when she offered the Maasdam In-Depth cruises with grand itineraries and dedicated high enrichment. We were so sorry to see her finally go prior to the "covid" shutdowns.

The real issue is HAL has become "two different cruise lines" so there can be no apples to apples comparisons between the "old Hal" and the "new Hal". They are two different products. One smaller, more traditional and more travel and destination oriented. The other more on-board experience oriented but lacking the variety of destinations and dedication to the longer onboard cruise experiences, which were the real hallmark of the "older" HAL. Compare HAL ships within their class categories is the better course, but not necessarily each separate class against each other, as each class of ships will be capable of offering different experiences by size, design of ship and the interests of passengers each ship will draw. Some long time HAL passengers are very comfortable moving among the various classes; other find their own sweet spot and stick to it. We personally are R-Class and Vista Class HAL passengers and those are where our own HAL cruise choices continue to be made. The larger, newer Pinnacle class was like an alien world to us and unlikely we will ever chose it again. But others love and warmly welcome it, and we all call ourselves HAL passengers. (1) R-Class - (2) Vista Class - (3) (Eurodam-Nieuw Amsterdam class??) - (4) Pinnacle class.

There is a separate and on-gong thread titled "Tips for Solo Passenger" (or something similar) which has a lot of comforting stories from those who also embarked upon traveling solo for the first time after traveling with partners and spouse for many years prior. How to take those first steps and what are ways round the rough spots that will/can show up. Hope this thread is still easy to find.

Perhaps ignoring what you hear on this board is the best choice. You picked a great itinerary and a nice smaller ship to get started again. Things will have changed. Just keep in mind what the cruise industry was forced to go through these past "covid" lockdown years. It is just starting to get back on its feet again, and with increasing prices for everything including labor, it may never be what it was in the past. Quite frankly, also ignore the comments ..I sailed XYZ brand and they were so much better than HAL.... yada, yada, yada. If you think you got a fair price, surveyed the competition and still chose HAL, you will have a good time. It you still cruise primarily to travel, you will find a lot to like about the HAL brand. If you need to be catered too, pampered, constantly fed have instant drink orders and entertained 24/7, then you will probably be disappointed. But since those were never HAL's strong suits even before "covid", you may notice little missing at all. With the larger ships in the industry today, the cruise experience is clearly dividing into those who like to sail floating Las Vegas style hotels where the onboard experience is the critical draw, and those who still enjoy the quiet joys of traveling to interesting destinations by sea. HAL is having a bit of a split personality disorder right now, trying to be both.

HAL is perhaps one day in port out of an entire week and you expect HAL to have a fully trained and staffed embarkation team? I think what those port staffers do is change the color of their scarfs; depending on what cruise line is in that day. After the "covid" two year forced cruising moratorium , and its huge drain on staffing at every level of operations for just about everything and anything, we do have to go with the flow.

I welcome lousy onboard wifi myself. Usually, we don't plug in at all.

I believe those are port franchise personnel hired locally, and not HAL trained people. Even with "name tags". The interval between port arrival and actual embarkation on the ship itself, is, can be and will be fraught with confusion and peril - many, many cooks stirring the pot in this interface. Have faced many chaotic embarkations myself so they are real, but seem to be the price of admission today. Go with the flow.

Hard to know what to do with reviews written by those who have little good to say about HAL in the first place. I didn't even bother reading it. Getting fed and a bed while cruising to interesting locations, a clean ship and friendly service is as much as I ever look for when cruising. The rest may be deal killers and points of daily disappointment for others. But not everyone.

Loved breakfast at the Pan Pacific - Terrace Restaurant lets you look directly at the top decks of the waiting HAL ship - the Zuiderdam for us at the time. Best hash browns ever.

1. We had water dripping from the fire sprinkler system once upon boarding - minor issue. Something about running tests on the system. 2. Port embarkation problems appear to be well outside of any thing HAL has control over. 3. Cabin number confusion - no excuses for that. Unless there is more to the prior story we don't know about.

Magellan's Travel Catalogue - "Walking aids" Have friends that now never go anywhere, without carrying of of these seating aids. https://www.magellans.com/ShopCategory.aspx?ID=119,3694

Always check the Lido deck plans, since not all Deck 8 cabins are impacted by chair scraping or trolly noise. This noise can be real, and is limited to more specific direct impact locations but do not take place on all across the Lido deck. See what is actually above the Deck 8 cabin and the activity hours when you might be impacted. And check out cabin reviews on Hal Facts - assuming that all Vista class ships will have similar activities on the deck above you. We always try to get the deck below the Lido, for best access to both dining and outdoor actives. Occasionally, we are impacted by occasional noise, and other times not at all. The one thing we have never heard if passenger noise from the pool area. But that is where you can get the chair scraping when they clean up the deck in late afternoon. Then that area is pretty quiet. The crew stairwells and prep and tile floored buffet service areas on the Lido deck are most often reported as the high noise impact areas, so good to avoid those. Being near the elevators can be good bet since they are carpeted foyer areas and the elevators are vey silent. Now we also understand why they tie down all the deck chairs each late afternoon, just so they don't roll around during rough seas and high winds at night. Bottomline: no need to avoid Deck 8 entirely, but it does pay to choose carefully. Because it is a great accessible deck to be on.

An often told tale. I heard the same thing in the 1960's at Wright Patterson Air Base in Dayton Ohio, so it applied to the Air Force too.

The thread is about HAL's official response to a passenger complaint, as shown the title of this thread. Are we done with this?