New HAL Ship, largest ever

[Jade13]

Going from Signature class at 86,000 to 99,000 ton is not going to be such a big deal for us depending upon what is done with those extra ton. We enjoy all the classes of HAL ships despite the large size difference and it is highly likely we'll enjoy the new class HAL is now adding.

 

 

I don't think it will be a big differance either.

[Jade13]

IHAL really did need to do this they were becoming the OLD cruise line with way too many old vessels. Hopefully this new ship with a concentration on some new venues will bring some LIFE back into HAL.

 

Last comment I am thrilled with the name Pinnacle Class, very Classy but Let me ask will we be calling her the "P" Class ships :D

 

Agree. They need some new life. I also like the name Pinnacle Class.

[Jade13]

 

Celebrity really raised the bar with the Solstice class. I was one that questioned the idea of such a large ship. I was wrong. The ships are beautiful and a significant step up from HAL. The news today will give HAL a chance to upgrade the fleet. Let's hope the design meets many of our expectations.

 

I hope they realize what people love about the Celebrity Solstice class ships, and while keeping it traditonal HAL with a prominade deck, also move forward with their designs and thinking. They need to keep attracting newer and younger clients.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for the information.

[serendipity1499]

Every time a cruise line announces newer, bigger ships the loyal cruisers wail about how horrible it will be. And in time opinions change and the previous 'hate' becomes a 'love. I am particularly thinking of QM2 and the Eurodam. :) Even the ugly duckling Epic has become a favorite for some.

 

I can't wait to see some renderings of the new build.

 

Completely agree Peter! This happened in the Airline Businees too..When our Company announced that we would be purchasing the new B747's many of our older & experienced customers asked why was that necessary? They loved the DC7C's & the DC6B's with the Berths, First class & Tourist Class ...They even said they would NEVER fly on such a large aircraft with 10 across seating..:eek::eek: LOL

Guess what, within a short time they were the first to book the larger, faster & more efficient aircraft..

We loved the Noordam & I'm all for progress..HAL needs to do something to get some of the younger generation interested in cruising on their ships..My Grand kids love Carnival, but I'm hoping someday they will be interested in cruising on HAL..The time will come when many of us will no longer be able to cruise..:(:(

cheers..:)Betty

 

P.S. Agree with Rev Neal & Ruth..Please lower the outlets in the Heads so I can plug in my Elec. Toothbrush! And more drawers please..

[blueboro]

HAL Pinnacle Class has a space ratio of 37.2. The Solstice on X is 42.8. I know on which we'd rather sail. Sorry HAL.

 

I've been on two cruises so far this year, with another one coming up. None of which involve HAL. We had been pretty exclusive to HAL for over 30 years (other than a few on the late, lamented Royal Viking Line), but times are changing.

 

 

That is a huge space ratio difference. I have been on 2 X Solstice class ships and even with over 2,800 passengers they have never felt crowded to me. The 37.2 ratio is more of a Carnival ratio than what we have been accustomed to on HAL.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Completely agree Peter! This happened in the Airline Businees too..When our Company announced that we would be purchasing the new B747's many of our older & experienced customers asked why was that necessary? They loved the DC7C's & the DC6B's with the Berths, First class & Tourist Class ...They even said they would NEVER fly on such a large aircraft with 10 across seating..:eek::eek: LOL

 

Guess what, within a short time they were the first to book the larger, faster & more efficient aircraft..

 

We loved the Noordam & I'm all for progress..HAL needs to do something to get some of the younger generation interested in cruising on their ships..My Grand kids love Carnival, but I'm hoping someday they will be interested in cruising on HAL..The time will come when many of us will no longer be able to cruise..:(:(

 

cheers..:)Betty

Betty, I agree with you and Peter. I personally have loved the new ships and it really is what HAL needed to do to move ahead. I do find it interesting they did not take it to to the 100,000 ton mark. I personally think they should have gone a bit bigger more like 110,000. While yes so many love HAL for having smaller ships many over the years have grown to love the Vista and Signature Class Ships. I have the feeling though that the new ship will have smaller cabins :( The jump to 99,000 tons really is not that much but the jump of 600+passengers is!! That tells me that they will be packing a lot more cabins yet concentrating on new venues the only way to do that is reduce the cabin size.

[jaguarstyper]

I'm sure everyone complained when the Signature ships were announced and they both seem to be enjoying highly successful careers. Just as I'm sure this new size will be well received and successful. Its dollars and cents (or should that be sense?). More passengers on a given ship is going to be more profitable. As has been pointed out many times on this site, HAL is in the business to make money and needs to make money to survive. If a larger ship helps them make money and survive, I'm all for it. I have no doubt it will be as good as any other HAL product, just a little bigger and different.

[absolutboy20]

I'm looking forward to this as well as the charters we sail on seem to be mainly based on HAL/Celebrity/RCI ships. Our destinations we choose end up with us being on HAL. I hope they will be a little daring while still trying to be loyal to the traditional crowd. I find the concepts that Celebrity and NCL have come out with (in terms of adult areas not children areas as I don't have kids) to be very interesting and hope HAL can come up with some individual ideas of their own.

 

I think it's a necessity in any in industry to have to evolve with the times in order to stay in business so it's great to see Carnival putting in a significant investment in the line with a new ship, rather than letting the brand run it's course and then eventually fold it into one of their sister companies when the base gets too small.

 

If you are a traditional loyalist, I don't see how a new ship affects your enjoyment of the current fleet.

[sassyredhat]

I'm not one of the hard core cruisers yet--only been on 15 cruises.

I may be in the minority, but I like the smaller ships. Those huge ships that can hold 3,000+ passengers do not interest me. But~~~I have been known to change my mind. :D

I agree with the others---give us more drawers and outlets.

Pat

[Ship's Wake]

 

I am also dissappointed they did not try something different by changing ship yards :( But something tells me there is a lot of behind the scenes reasons that CCL Corp does not pull away from Fincantieri.

 

Yep, government subsidies from the Italian government

 

http://www.seatrade-insider.com/News/News-Headlines/Carnival-plans-order-for-HAL-Carnival-prototype-newbuilds-at-Fincantieri.html

[BumperII]

There is a lot of speculation here, but with the way technology is doubling every couple of years, who knows what will be available five years from now. You can bet there will be dozens of design changes between now and the shake down cruise.

Unfortuanately, as I grow older, I find myself growing more and more resistant to change. I have a love affair going with the Maasdam, Ryndam and Statendam. In my humble opinion, these are just about the best size ships ever built. The facilities seem to match the passenger capacity well. Our fondest crusing memories are aboard these ships.

I'm glad that this all seems to be a few years in the future. About the time they retire the S and R class ships, it will be time for me to retire from cruising as well. So, please, HAL, just keep these ships around until I'm unable to cruise anymore. Then I don't really care what you do with them.:D

[serendipity1499]

Betty, I agree with you and Peter. I personally have loved the new ships and it really is what HAL needed to do to move ahead. I do find it interesting they did not take it to to the 100,000 ton mark. I personally think they should have gone a bit bigger more like 110,000. While yes so many love HAL for having smaller ships many over the years have grown to love the Vista and Signature Class Ships. I have the feeling though that the new ship will have smaller cabins :( The jump to 99,000 tons really is not that much but the jump of 600+passengers is!! That tells me that they will be packing a lot more cabins yet concentrating on new venues the only way to do that is reduce the cabin size.

 

You are probably right Lisa..Although, I'm not sure we would be happy on a larger ship & really hope they don't reduce the cabin size too much..

We enjoyed HAL's cabin size on the Westerdam & the Noordam, but did not enjoy the Nieuw Amsterdam as much.. Have never cruised on the Eurodam..

I spent 5 months on our 33 ft. Sailboat, but never had to dress up...However, I had to cook, clean, shop for groceries & do our laundry..So whatever ship I can go on is fine with me..Now I'm looking forward to having my beds made, good food which I don't have to make, no dish washing & having my laundry done..

Looking forward to being a lady of leisure on both our Noordam & our Prinsendam cruise.! :):)LOL

Cheers...:)Betty

[solocanadian]

Bigger ships on any line get an "ugh" from me. :( Can't say I'm surprised but i'm not booking one anytime soon.

I'm with you Randy. And Stand alone La Cirque as mentioned above- not for me - that's nuts.:(

[voyageur9]

Here's a quick look at three of Carnival's three big fleets; HAL, Princess and Carnival.

 

It underscores what is already clear; that HAL's fleet is the oldest, smallest and -- so far -- with only one new ship on order, the line that seems destined to get older on average.

 

The columns are ship's name, date of entry into service and size. Sorry but I can't paginate the columns.

 

Holland America

Nieuw Amsterdam 2010 86700

Eurodam 2008 86273

Noordam 2006 82318

Westerdam 2004 82305

Oosterdam 2003 82305

Zuiderdam 2002 82305

Amsterdam 2000 62735

Zaandam 2000 61396

Volendam 1999 61214

Rotterdam 1997 61849

Veendam 1996 57092

Ryndam 1994 55819

Statendam 1993 55819

Maasdam 1993 55575

Prinsendam 1988 37983

 

Ships in Fleet 15

Average Size 67,446

Average Age 12

Average Size Newest 6 Ships 83,701

 

 

Princess

Ruby Princess 2008 113561

Emerald Princess 2007 113561

Crown Princess 2006 113561

Diamond Princess 2004 115875

Sapphire Princess 2004 115875

Caribbean Princess 2004 112894

Island Princess 2003 91627

Star Princess 2002 108977

Coral Princess 2002 91627

Golden Princess 2001 108865

Ocean Princess 1999 30277

Pacific Princess 1999 30277

Grand Princess 1998 107517

Sea Princess 1998 77690

Dawn Princess 1997 77499

Sun Princess 1995 77499

 

Ships in Fleet 16

Average Size 92,949

Average Age 10

Average Size Newest 6 Ships 114,221

 

 

Carnival

Carnival Breeze 2012 128000

Carnival Magic 2011 128000

Carnival Dream 2009 128000

Carnival Splendor 2008 113300

Carnival Freedom 2007 110000

Carnival Liberty 2005 110000

Carnival Valor 2004 110000

Carnival Miracle 2004 88500

Carnival Glory 2003 110000

Carnival Conquest 2002 110000

Carnival Legend 2002 88500

Carnival Pride 2001 88500

Carnival Spirit 2001 88500

Carnival Victory 2000 101509

Carnival Triumph 1999 101509

Carnival Elation 1998 70367

Carnival Paradise 1998 70367

Carnival Destiny 1996 101353

Carnival Inspiration 1996 70367

Carnival Imagination 1995 70367

Carnival Fascination 1994 70367

Carnival Sensation 1993 70367

Carnival Ecstasy 1991 70367

Carnival Fantasy 1990 70367

 

Ships in Fleet 24

Average Size 94,525

Average Age 11

Average Size Newest 6 Ships 119,550

[cruz chic]

I'm happy about the new ship. I'm happy to sail on any of the newer ships. If I don't sail on any of the older ships again I'm pretty ok with it.

[KirkNC]

Bigger ships on any line get an "ugh" from me. :( Can't say I'm surprised but i'm not booking one anytime soon.

 

I can't say I am surprised but to my this is HAL getting further and further away from what we enjoy.

[tangerinebunny]

Re: Cabin size

 

Perhaps the thinking is that with larger cabins, passengers are content to spend more time there. With smaller cabins they go out and Spend Money.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Re: Cabin size

 

Perhaps the thinking is that with larger cabins, passengers are content to spend more time there. With smaller cabins they go out and Spend Money.

Most definitely! That is exactly what they want.

[George C]

thanks for info, I thinks its about time that HAL gets some new and slightly bigger ships.

[Hawaiidan]

Bigger ships on any line get an "ugh" from me. :( Can't say I'm surprised but i'm not booking one anytime soon.[/quote

 

With Holland America deciding to go with Mega Monsters the 2500 pax +

and the sale of the 1300 passenger ships over the next few years is telling on the direction the line wants to take.

 

As others have mentioned, the addition of sevral more stand-alone extra pay restauraunts t0 bring the total to 5.. will result in a less and less regular dining that has been traditional with them.

 

For me after my cruise on the wonderful Niew Amsterdam, with 2000 told me that was enough of that. So I will roll back the the Old Amsterdam 1300 as a max size. And Oceania at 1250.. To me those are LARGE

 

I love cruising but on ships that look and feel like ships and not a floating resort hotel /ant farm combo]

 

Good to have a heads up on where to focus ones future

[sail7seas]

I'm excited with the news.

We've heard for some time that the new ships would be 110,000 ton and we expected that to be the case. I'm delighted they stopped at 99,000. They eased us gently into accepting the larger ships even as we got older. :eek: Going from the "S" ships to the "R" was great.... they have a center stairwell and elevators. :)

 

Going to the Vista ships was great as they have so many new features and more choices.

 

That made going to Signature exciting as we had a real good feel already but what makes them larger is SO WORTH the extra tonnage...... We got Tamarind and Silk DEN!!!! Wow..... definitely worth having the larger ship to get those features.

 

Now we'll get more to enjoy on the Pinnacle ships. I really like PINNACLE as the name of this class of ships and can't wait to learn more as the construction progresses. :)

 

[Alcarondas]

Something else that might be getting lost here is the fact that tonnage and volume-per-passenger are both based on the enclosed, interior space of the ship.

 

One would presume that the two new ships' hulls will be vitrually identical, so the difference in tonnage between the HAL ship and the Carnival one will likely be in the size and shape of the superstructure (basically everything above the lifeboats).

 

Although the Carnival ship may well have more interior space, one thing that HAL has always been known for is generous and usable exterior space - full-wrap promenades, aft-deck pools, lots of outdoor observation areas, etc.

 

And as someone else noted, much of the touted space on rival lines isn't actually usable - it's in domes, high ceilings, soaring atriums, and other places where it looks good but doesn't actually do anything.

 

I don't see any reason to believe that cabins will be smaller or interior public spaces more cramped. My bet is that the interiors of the new ship will be similar to but smarter than the current Vista/Signature ships, with better traffic flow and ergonomics. I'm also confident that the outer decks will fit right in with HAL tradition and offer plenty of space for everyone to stretch out in the sun or get a good view from the rail.

[igraf]

An important distinction is that the Vista class ships continued to maintain a favorable passenger to gross tonnage ratio, as compared to the older HAL ships. This ratio dipped a bit for the Signature class ships and it appears that the ratio is being reduced by a significant degree for the upcoming Pinnacle class ship.

 

I have enjoyed our cruises on the Vista-class ships, but that is where I draw the line.

 

igraf

 

 

 

 

I am willing to withhold judgement on this until I've seen more. Frankly, I'm with Sail in that I never expected to like the Vistas but then I fell in love with the Noordam. I love the smaller ships -- the Prinsendam is a joy to cruise aboard -- however, I also like the larger/more modern vessels. Yes, certain venues aboard the Eurodam (like the Lido) felt a little crowded at times, but she was a pretty vessel and I'm going to be cruising aboard here, again, in the summer of 2013. Perhaps HAL will give serious thought to space-useage issues in the new Pinnacle Class and will give us some larger seating capacity for the high-use Lido, etc. And, would someone please tell the cabin designers that we NEED some drawers!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shipcafe]

I was expecting 110,000 ton so pleasant surprise. :)

 

While we truly love 'our' Maasdam, we also love Noordam and no one was more surprised than us how much we like Eurodam. We never expected to. Going from Signature class at 86,000 to to 99,000 ton is not going to be such a big deal for us depending upon what is done with those extra ton. We enjoy all the classes of HAL ships despite the large size difference and it is highly likely we'll enjoy the new class HAL is now adding.

 

 

I see the agreement is again with Fincantieri. :) Hopefully they will make some changes in a few places I think could use some 'adjustments'.

 

This is very good news despite there seems to be confirmation our beloved Maasdam may be 'for sale'. We know it has to happen one day and that day might be imminent if buyer can be found.

 

Can't wait to learn more about them. :)

 

 

I would hate to see Maasdam departure before other potential candidates.