Can I have your opinion on HAL

[lovethesun22]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am a regular cruiser and my favourite lines are RCI and Celebrity.

 

I have seen a lovely itinerary on HAL and the only thing stopping me booking it yet, is if I will enjoy this cruise line.

 

We are in our late 50's, but young at heart. We like dressing for formal evenings. Good food is a must. Happy with low key entertainment.

 

Any advice would be welcome.

 

Sandra & David x :)

[kazu]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am a regular cruiser and my favourite lines are RCI and Celebrity.

 

I have seen a lovely itinerary on HAL and the only thing stopping me booking it yet, is if I will enjoy this cruise line.

 

We are in our late 50's, but young at heart. We like dressing for formal evenings. Good food is a must. Happy with low key entertainment.

 

Any advice would be welcome.

 

Sandra & David x :)

 

Celebrity and HAL are quite close IMO. If you like dressing for formal nights and happy with low key entertainment then it sounds like you are a good fit for HAL. I have sailed Celebrity as well as HAL and prefer HAL. Food is subjective but I found the food better on HAL. Some will disagree of course but I think it is most likely close enough to make you happy.

 

HAL also has some nice specialty restaurants if you like good food. Our experiences with Pinnacle Grill has been very good.

 

Which ship are you looking at? If it is the Eurodam or Nieuw Amsterdam they have the Tamarind (Asian style) and it is very good.

 

All the ships have the Canaletto (Italian) and the Pinnacle Grill.

[kakalina]

IMO HAL has all the things you mentioned. The entertainment is low key, the food is quite good ( although food is one of those subjective things).

The formal evenings are quite nice on HAL. Not as many tuxes and formal gowns as in days gone by but still a goodly amount of them.

 

The thing (for us) that sets HAL apart from the other lines is the amazing crew and staff. Something one must experience to understand.

[Irish Eyes Are Sailing]

I think you will love HAL. We really enjoyed the cruise we took with them a few years ago and we are going on another one 11/17. I recommend you give them a try......

[lovethesun22]

Celebrity and HAL are quite close IMO. If you like dressing for formal nights and happy with low key entertainment then it sounds like you are a good fit for HAL. I have sailed Celebrity as well as HAL and prefer HAL. Food is subjective but I found the food better on HAL. Some will disagree of course but I think it is most likely close enough to make you happy.

 

HAL also has some nice specialty restaurants if you like good food. Our experiences with Pinnacle Grill has been very good.

 

Which ship are you looking at? If it is the Eurodam or Nieuw Amsterdam they have the Tamarind (Asian style) and it is very good.

 

All the ships have the Canaletto (Italian) and the Pinnacle Grill.

 

 

 

 

It is the Nieuw.

 

Thanks....all sounds good :)

 

Sandra x

[lovethesun22]

IMO HAL has all the things you mentioned. The entertainment is low key, the food is quite good ( although food is one of those subjective things).

The formal evenings are quite nice on HAL. Not as many tuxes and formal gowns as in days gone by but still a goodly amount of them.

 

The thing (for us) that sets HAL apart from the other lines is the amazing crew and staff. Something one must experience to understand.

 

Thanks for replying.

 

All sounds good then. Looks like this will be our January trip

[puppycanducruise]

Sounds like HAL would be a good fit for you.

Enjoy the cruise.

[innlady1]

I think you'll enjoy HAL. We just returned from 21 days on the Nieuw Amsterdam and enjoyed her very much...as we do all HAL ships!

If Jimmy Maddox is still in the Piano Bar, you're in for a real treat...he is awesome!

The staff is great, too...from the room stewards to the Hotel Director, CD, and Captain. All super friendly.

[lovethesun22]

I think you'll enjoy HAL. We just returned from 21 days on the Nieuw Amsterdam and enjoyed her very much...as we do all HAL ships!

 

If Jimmy Maddox is still in the Piano Bar, you're in for a real treat...he is awesome!

 

The staff is great, too...from the room stewards to the Hotel Director, CD, and Captain. All super friendly.

 

I like a Piano bar.

 

Thanks for your reply

[mamaofami]

The NA has Tamarind which is a wonderful specialty restaurant. If you like the itinerary, I think you'll be fine.

[lovethesun22]

The NA has Tamarind which is a wonderful specialty restaurant. If you like the itinerary, I think you'll be fine.

 

Thanks Carol x

[markarmel]

Go for it! We've been on Nieuw Amsterdam and if this is the ship your looking at it will be a perfect fit. We have cruised with Royal Carribean before,we are in our early 50s and loved Nieuw Amsterdam. They certainly don't have the WOW factor that rccl have but you will still have a great time. We are back on Nieuw Amsterdam in June for 24 nights on a amazing itinerary,cannot wait for it to start.

[markarmel]

Hello again. Make sure you get to Pinnacle Griill (surcharge),it is fantastic. We have booked in 3 nights there already for our cruise.Tamarind is also very good(lunch here is complimentary,dinner has a surcharge) we have booked 1 night at Tamarind.

[mermamasailsagain]

HI

I'm in my 50s and find HAL good value as we head to our fourth in three weeks on the Eurodam, Niew's sister ship... no other works for me now that I've found the Tamarind, my favourite. There isn't the razzmatazz of rockclimbing, ziplines and giant movie screens but if you like a lovely library with a wrap around view, good pay for dining restaurants and plentiful other options, and a relaxing time, the itinerary will make it a great cruise. Until the 31st, if you like wine and a bottle of champagne starts at sailaway, you can bring what you can carry onboard (after Jan 31, like other lines they will restrict to one bottle each). Also, at 4pm in two bars on the ship they have two for one drinks plus $1, so this does add value if you like to imbibe. Enjoy!

[iancal]

HAL is a great cruise line however there is a great deal of variance in the fleet. You need to match your preferences in size of ship etc. to the specific HAL ship that you are considering.

[lovethesun22]

HI

I'm in my 50s and find HAL good value as we head to our fourth in three weeks on the Eurodam, Niew's sister ship... no other works for me now that I've found the Tamarind, my favourite. There isn't the razzmatazz of rockclimbing, ziplines and giant movie screens but if you like a lovely library with a wrap around view, good pay for dining restaurants and plentiful other options, and a relaxing time, the itinerary will make it a great cruise. Until the 31st, if you like wine and a bottle of champagne starts at sailaway, you can bring what you can carry onboard (after Jan 31, like other lines they will restrict to one bottle each). Also, at 4pm in two bars on the ship they have two for one drinks plus $1, so this does add value if you like to imbibe. Enjoy!

 

Sounds great. We are not into the rock climbing and ziplines. we just find we have always been looked after with Royal Caribbean and have enjoyed lovely dining. With the loyalty points we have tended to stick with them. With all this great advice. We will be having a change. Thank you everyone for advising us

[lazey1]

We found the service to be excellent on both RCI and HAL. Neither was better than the other.

We found the food in the master dining room on the Allure to be very bad but the specialty restaurant was good and very comparable to the Pinacle Grill. We have always found something on the menu that we liked in the master dining room. (Our opinions that all may not agree with).

We found the noise on the Allure's promenade deck (constant shouting by staff and passengers) to be very annoying. Have never found the HAL entertainment areas to be loud.

 

Have a great cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

[OlsSalt]

We think HAL appeals to the more self-contained cruiser. We see HAL as a great travel mode, taking us to interesting places with just the right about of support; not a fixed-state entertainment escape palace. (Not by a long shot. :eek:)

 

We love their large library space, their enrichment speaker programs when they have long sea days, and all the quiet nooks and corners where one can lounge or read or just gaze at the passing seas. We think HAL ships have nice range of activities, dining venues and adequate choices for most people choosing cruising as a mode of travel.

[OCruisers]

Celebrity and HAL are quite close IMO. If you like dressing for formal nights and happy with low key entertainment then it sounds like you are a good fit for HAL.

 

We've also found HAL and Celebrity to be much more alike than they are different!

For sure ... give HAL a try! :)

 

LuLu

~~~~

[aliaschief]

I think you'll enjoy HAL. We just returned from 21 days on the Nieuw Amsterdam and enjoyed her very much...as we do all HAL ships!

If Jimmy Maddox is still in the Piano Bar, you're in for a real treat...he is awesome!

The staff is great, too...from the room stewards to the Hotel Director, CD, and Captain. All super friendly.

 

Jimmy Maddox contract is up first week of Dec. We were hoping he would still be on-board for our Dec. 8 NA cruise. Sure his replacement will be good as the Signature ships usually have good piano bar entertainers.

 

Diane Fast was on our Eurodam cruise and she was also great. She disembarked with us and someone named Jeffrey was supposed to replace her.

[iancal]

They are both good. But you need to be careful. There are some HAL ships that have had ongoing HVAC issues in some areas of the ship. This only impacts a small number of cabins but you do no want to be stuck in one of these with no A/C. Veendam and Zuiderdam have been reviewed as having these challenges in some cabins.

[CRUZBUDS]

We've also found HAL and Celebrity to be much more alike than they are different!

For sure ... give HAL a try! :)

 

LuLu

~~~~

 

We agree, we think one of the biggest differences is their smoking policies. HAL has one of the most liberal smoking policies of the mass-market lines (along with Carnival and NCL) and Celebrity has among the most restrictive.

[iancal]

Forgot about the smoking policy. Very good point.

 

If you like to go to the casino and you are non smokers, then I would advise against HAL unless you want to save some money by not going to the casino.

[OlsSalt]

We agree, we think one of the biggest differences is their smoking policies. HAL has one of the most liberal smoking policies of the mass-market lines (along with Carnival and NCL) and Celebrity has among the most restrictive.

 

 

Not sure what you mean by HAL having "most liberal smoking policy" because they are limiting if much more every year.But if it is zero on other ships, then I guess its limited area smoking policy is still liberal. Love to see it become zero myself but we rarely have run into this as a problem and don't go to the casino which is probably why.

[Sopwith]

The majority of our cruising has been on HAL, ~15 cruises total, two in the last year. We've also done several Princess and one Celebrity. The service on HAL has definitely declined over the past 4 or 5 years as HAL realigns itself more as a mass-market cruise line, competing primarily on price. After a bad experience at this time last year on the Zaandam and a mediocre experience in June on the Noordam, we have decided to give HAL a rest for now and try Oceania and possibly Regent. We'll see how that works out.

 

That is not intended to discourage anyone from trying HAL, but you must set your expectations to match what you actually buy. You get what you pay for.

 

Hope that helps.