Princess elites switching to HAL with many questions

[friend2dogs]

We are Princess elite passengers who are switching to HAL because Princess no longer offers golf excursions. Our first HAL cruise is scheduled on the Oosterdam in January.

 

Does anyone know which nights are formal nights on that particular ship? We would like to pre-reserve dinner in The Pinnacle Grill, and need suggestions as to which night that you would recommend.

 

Are there any other suggestions that you have for our first HAL cruise?

 

Thanks!

[Gator83]

Hi,

I have also been on a few Princess cruises and I think you will enjoy HAL. There are small differences (no 24 hour buffet on HAL, HAL has fresh squeezed OJ and great bread pudding, HAL has a bit of an older crowd, I think the service is better on HAL and the coffee is also better). I would not hesitate to travel with Princess again and I enjoy both cruise lines. I think you will too. Enjoy your cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

There is a 6 day and several 7 day cruises in January. If you tell us which one you are on, someone here will be able to help you with the formal night question.

[Jade13]

We are Princess elite passengers who are switching to HAL because Princess no longer offers golf excursions. Our first HAL cruise is scheduled on the Oosterdam in January.

 

Does anyone know which nights are formal nights on that particular ship? We would like to pre-reserve dinner in The Pinnacle Grill, and need suggestions as to which night that you would recommend.

 

Are there any other suggestions that you have for our first HAL cruise?

 

Thanks!

 

I would not do that. On the formal nights HAL has better food in the MDR. Sometimes (though not lately) we have had food off of the Pinnacle Grille menu. So, we always go to Pinnacle on another night.

 

Try the bread pudding in the Lido (buffet).

[friend2dogs]

We are on a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise. We want to eat at The Pinnacle on an evening that is not a formal night. Hoping to make our reservations soon, and wondering which night you would suggest. Thank you so much for your quick replies!

Anybody know anything about HAL golf excursions?

[PescadoAmarillo]

We are in Fort Lauderdale on turnaround day on B2B Maasdam cruises our first on HAL. We are also Elite on Princess. There has been nothing we haven't loved about HAL and this size (1250 passengers) ship. The food has been excellent, the crew is nothing short of amazing. Obviously no 24 hour buffet but there is usully something available when we want to eat, and, of course, the room service is far superior to Princess. We love our Princess benefits, but are very happy we tried HAL. Even doing laundry this morning was painless. We think you'll be pleased.

[rjcoon]

Rather than eat in the Pennacle on one formal night, my wife and I ordered room service. We were able to order from the same menu as the MDR but had a really enjoyable dinner on our balcony. This was on the Noordam but I'm pretty sure it's the same on all HAL ships.

[cruisinjudy]

When we did the Mexican Riviera the formal nights were the second night and the second to the last night.

[CJcruzer]

number of formal nights is dependent on the length of your cruise:

 

a 7-night cruise will typically have 2 formal nights (at least from my past experience of 7-night cruises) --- they will usually try to schedule them for sea days - the exception to that rule is if THE LAST DAY of your cruise is a sea day ---- if there are not 2 available sea days, the alternate route is to schedule the formal night for a day when you leave port early - for instance, a half-day port stop, or sailing at 3 or 4 pm - you can pretty much figure this will be your formal night IF there aren't 2 full sea days on your itinerary....

 

Our last 20 day cruise had 6 formal nights - 3 nights for each 10-day segment.....sea days were the "guaranteed" formal nights as there were 2 sea days one segment, only 1 sea the other segment......The other formal nights were scheduled around 1/2 day ports and I believe one port was a 3pm sail-away.....

 

Hope this helped and doesn't sound too confusing...

[CrusinAgain]

Also new to Hal from Princess. We don't need a 24 hour buffet, but do need the beverage station to be opened on the Oosterdam after 9 pm. Can you get ice tea anywhere?

[sassyredhat]

Anybody know anything about HAL golf excursions?

 

HAL and CCL are under the same umbrella company, so possibly they will contract with the same golf company.

 

DH has many golf excursions with Elite Golf. The ship's tours are great, and the pro takes care of everything. (We have heard that the pro will store your clubs, but we haven't used that option yet.)

 

They may seem pricy, but for the peace of mind, DH prefers this than going off on his own.

 

The golf courses are very nice. DH has been pleased with everything.

 

Pat

[RuthC]

We don't need a 24 hour buffet, but do need the beverage station to be opened on the Oosterdam after 9 pm. Can you get ice tea anywhere?

You should be able to get iced tea at least until the late night buffet closes at midnight.

The beverage station is open 24/7 for coffee and hot water (for tea or hot chocolate). I don't know if iced tea is part of that, too.

If that fails, there's always room service.

[topspot]

You will LOVE the beds on HAL. Feels like you're sleeping in a cloud;).

No eggcrates needed here.

[CrusinAgain]

You should be able to get iced tea at least until the late night buffet closes at midnight.

 

The beverage station is open 24/7 for coffee and hot water (for tea or hot chocolate). I don't know if iced tea is part of that, too.

If that fails, there's always room service.

 

Oh that is a good thing you brought that up since we are going to Alaska. Does Hal have hot chocolate or do we need to bring our own packages.

[maxout]

Oh that is a good thing you brought that up since we are going to Alaska. Does Hal have hot chocolate or do we need to bring our own packages.

 

Yes they do :D

[friend2dogs]

We have enjoyed the Elite golf excursions in the Caribbean, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand during our Princess cruises. However, Princess has discontinued their association with Elite golf, and no longer offer any golf excursions.

 

Our experiences with Elite golf have been excellent. I agree that they are pricey, but well worth it to have a ship sponsored outing.

 

We will no longer be sailing with Princess specifically due to that reason, and we are looking forward to a wonderful trip with HAL.

 

We will go ahead and make our reservations in The Pinnacle on the nights that you have suggested.

 

Any other helpful information regarding HAL or The Oosterdam is welcome!

 

Thank you all.

[RuthC]

Does Hal have hot chocolate or do we need to bring our own packages.

Maxout answered the question, now I'll add a suggestion.

Before you put the packet contents in the mug, fill the mug with hot water to let it heat up a bit. Then dump that water, add the chocolate, and refill with more hot water. This keeps that delicious brew hotter, longer, as the mug isn't drawing off the heat. :D

[CrusinAgain]

Maxout answered the question, now I'll add a suggestion.

 

Before you put the packet contents in the mug, fill the mug with hot water to let it heat up a bit. Then dump that water, add the chocolate, and refill with more hot water. This keeps that delicious brew hotter, longer, as the mug isn't drawing off the heat. :D

 

Good idea. Thanks!:)