First Holland Cruise Need Advice Having Second Thoughts

[nwcruisemamma]

Hello Fellow Cruisers,

 

I booked our first Holland America cruise for our wedding anniversary in November with Holland. I was really exciting about the itinerary and the fact that I was able to get one of the huge double balcony cabins but now after speaking with a friend I am having second thoughts about trying Holland.

 

Cruise Facts: Noordam, November 13th - 11 Day Caribbean

 

Cruising Background:

Princess - Liked a lot but this was on the Sea Princess 8 years ago and the food was just ok, loved all the magicians, comedians, jugglers, illusionists.

Royal Caribbean - Liked Oasis 3 months ago we didn't like having to schedule night time entertainment and the dining room food was awful we ended up using the pay restaurants each night.

Carnival - Did not like freedom 3 years ago food was mediocre, fellow cruisers loud and obnoxious, we did like the comedy shows.

 

About Us:

Non smoking, married couple in our late 30s. We love excellent food, hanging out on the deck reading and for night time we love magic shows and comedians, my husband loves the casino but I hate the smell of all the smoke so I don't enjoy hanging out with him there.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my first time leaving my 3 kids since our honeymoon 8 years ago so I really want this to be a special trip:)

 

Thanks so much!

[Jo-Bob]

Hi,

I'm not sure from your post just what you reservations/second thoughts are about. What specifically are you nervous about? I was in my late 30's for my first HAL cruise, and enjoyed every minute of it. And a few more since then:)

[Wakepatrol]

We spent two weeks on the Noordam at Christmas. The ship is gorgeous.

 

Go and have fun...

[sail7seas]

I'm not sure cruising is for you.....

at least cruising on mass market cruise line.

 

You will not have fabulous food on any mass market cruise.

HAL will provide good food, sometimes outstanding and sometimes less so. The ingredients used today are less 'luxurious' than previously as we have witnessed through many years of cruising. It isn't only HAL, it all all mass market. Many people have commented they think HAL menu choices, presentation and taste is better than RCI and Princess but food is so subjective, many might disagree. What I call excellent, someone else might not. Depends your tastes and what you are accustomed to.

 

It is hit or miss as to whether your cruise will feature a magician's act and if there is one, how good it will be. :) There likely will be a comedian but it won't be Robin Williams...... probably. :D

 

As to hanging out on deck reading, that is one of my favorite things to do on HAL ships. Lots of nice spots to enjoy a good book.

 

Noordam IMO is one of the very best ships in the fleet. Many of us agree Noordam is the best of the four Vista Class ships. She is the fourth sister so if there were any mistakes made on the first three, they were corrected on the fourth sister. She is a very beautiful ship.

 

If this has not addressed your hesitations, please say so and I'll try harder. :)

 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2014 by sail7seas

[sunsetbeachgal]

We rediscovered HAL last Fall, after numerous Princess and some RCL cruises. And we now have another booked!

 

I think the time of year and the length of the cruise you are doing, it will be a MUCH more mature crowd than What you had on the Oasis. I also find the atmosphere to be more sedate. The entertainment that we experienced on HAL was not as good as Princess or Royal Caribbean. Food is subjectively but we thought the food on HAL was very good both in the main dining room and the buffet. HAL has nice spacious cabins and sounds like you have a great balcony.

[sevenseasnomad]

If you're sailing only to see shows/comedians then by all means, book Reflection. If you do, don't miss, Sin City, adults only comedy club @ 11:30 p.m.. You must have a ticket to get preferred seating or be prepared to stand in a l-o-n-g line to get into this venue. Tickets are free, but you must pick it up on first sea day. Time will be announced beforehand.

 

Food on recent Reflection cruise was not good, so if you're a foodie, take note, at least IMO. On Celebrity, you'll also be paying extra for OJ and other items which are free on HAL. Room service menu is also limited unless you're in a higher priced suite. Not so on HAL.

 

Also, IMO, you can't beat HAL for food & its presentation or for finding a quiet, uncluttered spot to read. One of my pet peeves on Reflection was the crowded, herded feeling on the decks. And Noordam is a lovely ship. We sailed on her for two weeks during Christmas/New Year's 2012.

 

We've sailed with HAL 9 times and have 4 cruises booked with them at present. We've been with Celebrity 3 times, most recently in April, so I may be just a tad prejudicial (in a good way) toward HAL.

Edited May 18, 2014 by sevenseasnomad

[Tampa Girl]

It's difficult to address your reservations when you didn't explain what they are. What are they? I echo the others who contend that Noordam is one of their favorite ships. She is a beautiful ship, and we thoroughly enjoyed our TA on her in 2012. I highly recommend her.

[nwcruisemamma]

My concerns:

 

Will the food be good?

 

Will there be comedians and or magicians?

 

Will the boat smell like smoke and will I be able to read on the deck or my balcony without smelling smoke?

 

Will the older crowd make us feel out of place?

 

Thanks again for the all the advice!:)

[MVPinBoynton]

We had our first HAL cruise in March on the Westerdam. I would happily cruise on HAL again. We had reservations before our cruise; but after hearing so many good things about HAL, we had to try them. I thought the food was great, as was the entertainment. We had an outstanding magician who had been on America's Got Talent the previous year. The service was outstanding. I was really impressed with HAL. You can see lots of photos of the Westerdam (same class as Noordam) along with menus in our review on our website www.thepreismans.com.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the Oasis class; but that isn't the type cruise I would want to do regularly. We certainly will with HAL again.

[eandj]

Our background...6 Celebrity Caribbean/P.C. cruises...on all classes of their ships most for over 7 days. Have also cruised Princess, two specifically in Carib. and we have done 3 HAL but not in Carib. With that in mind and your concerns..

 

Cruising in Nov. for 11 days in the Carib. will attract older people, on ANY line. But we do find longer cruises on HAL have even an older average age than the other lines. Age ( young or old) really doesn't matter to us, but we found the entertainment geared towards the older generation. I am 61 ( an older cruiser :o) and on both HAL cruises, the comedian had lots of jokes that anyone under 45-50 wouldn't get. True generational gap. Didn't see any other type of variety acts on our two HAL Cruises. Production shows were awful. Definitely have found more "fun" acts on Princess.

That being said...we think the food is very good on HAL. And like the dining rooms' ambiance.

 

The smoking policy on HAL which allows smoking on the balconies is a BIG minus to us. We experienced the smoke from a nearby balcony on one cruise. Thank goodness after a couple days, the smoker chose a different time or place to smoke that didn't interfere with our enjoyment. I'd be afraid to book a balcony on a warm weather cruise. Since we have not chosen HAL for a Caribbean itineray, I'm not sure how upbeat and fun those would be. DH said after looking at the pool areas and with the many fewer (and expensive) and possibly smoky balcony choices, that he would not want to do HAL carib itineraries when we definitely make the ship our "resort" .

Since entertainment and food are both subjective, it's hard to say if HAL will offer you enough. Obviously smaller ship means fewer choices and size of public spaces/entertainment.

 

Did you look at Celebrity and the newer ships? A different experience you will want to try sometime too.

 

Cruising a new line/ship always brings questions and concerns. ;) We have cruised enough that itineraries are often more impt than the ship. HAL is a line we specifically look at for an itinerary not offered on Princess or Celebrity.

Edited May 18, 2014 by eandj

[sail7seas]

My concerns:

 

Will the food be good?

 

Food is subjective. None of us can define what is 'your' good. There will be plenty of it, there will be lots of variety, it will be served very nicely in MDR and you are certain to find something on each menu that appeals to you. Good? Let us know when you return. :)

 

Will there be comedians and or magicians?

 

Can't say for sure. There will be entertainment each evening in show lounge and there probably will be a comedian and might be a magician. It varies, ship to ship, cruise to cruise.

 

 

 

Will the boat smell like smoke and will I be able to read on the deck or my balcony without smelling smoke?

 

 

The SHip will not smell like smoke but for the casino. That is the only public, indoor space where smoking is permitted. No one can promise you will not have a verandah smoker near you. If you do, their smoke could bother you. We have cruised deluxe verandah suites and spent many days on those verandahs. There have been times when smoke bothered us to the point we had to leave the verandah but that has not happened often. We lost use one entire cruise but far more often there was intermittent smoke. Keep your fingers crossed you get lucky and there won't be nearby smokers. No promises either way.

 

 

 

 

Will the older crowd make us feel out of place?

 

 

How do you know it will be an older crowd? The demographic is never consistent on short cruises. On Grand Voyages that are very long, certainly one would expect mostly senior people. They are the ones with the time for such cruises. On short cruises, there are little ones in strollers, young families, teens/pre-teens, middle agers and seniors.... Just like on Princess and Celebrity et al

 

I don't know your feelings about older people. All I know if all of us are lucky enough to live a long time, we will be 'older crowd' one day. :D

 

Relax and look forward to your cruise.

 

 

 

Thanks again for the all the advice!:)

[496and706]

The Noordam is a gorgeous ship. The casino can be avoided but they do have smoke-free nights scheduled.

 

Food... hmmm.... only you know what kind of food turns you on or off. My husband and I have discovered that we are actually very picky but we can make it through 26 days.

 

Reading spots can be found throughout the ship.

 

Good luck.

[I_r_a]

Hey NW,

 

>This is my first time leaving my 3 kids since our honeymoon 8 years ago so I really want this to be a special trip. <

 

Even if you go to a Motel 6 and have takeout from KFC, you will enjoy your vacation. :)

 

Ira

[summersigh]

My concerns:

 

Will the food be good? The food we've had on HAL is far superior to what we've had on Carnival

 

Will the older crowd make us feel out of place? I believe you'll feel totally welcome on your cruise. Many, many of HALs base are very well traveled. I especially enjoy chatting with fellow passengers - what an amazing wealth of knowledge/travel stories they have to share - not to mention a wealth of general topics.

 

We love the HAL Vista class ships (Westerdam is one) and are so happy to have our next cruise booked with them in Nov. We took a couple with Carnival, one because of port and timing and the other because of itinerary, and decided CCL is not for us.

 

Welcome to HAL ! :)

[Wakepatrol]

Hello Fellow Cruisers,

 

I booked our first Holland America cruise for our wedding anniversary in November with Holland. I was really exciting about the itinerary and the fact that I was able to get one of the huge double balcony cabins but now after speaking with a friend I am having second thoughts about trying Holland.

 

Cruise Facts: Noordam, November 13th - 11 Day Caribbean

 

Cruising Background:

Princess - Liked a lot but this was on the Sea Princess 8 years ago and the food was just ok, loved all the magicians, comedians, jugglers, illusionists.

Royal Caribbean - Liked Oasis 3 months ago we didn't like having to schedule night time entertainment and the dining room food was awful we ended up using the pay restaurants each night.

Carnival - Did not like freedom 3 years ago food was mediocre, fellow cruisers loud and obnoxious, we did like the comedy shows.

 

About Us:

Non smoking, married couple in our late 30s. We love excellent food, hanging out on the deck reading and for night time we love magic shows and comedians, my husband loves the casino but I hate the smell of all the smoke so I don't enjoy hanging out with him there.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my first time leaving my 3 kids since our honeymoon 8 years ago so I really want this to be a special trip:)

 

Thanks so much!

 

What is it your friend said? If you're having second thoughts this far out I would definitely cancel. There's lots of other cruise lines to choose from

[Watson's aunt]

Hi

 

You will love Hal.. If you want good food people waiting on you like you are they only one abourd. You want to readd while one deck or sun bath you can do that with out anyone bothing you asking if you want this and that, Plus not many children aboard. Nothing against children but I hate kids who rush push you aside to get at food and run for point to point and no parent insight

 

Mary

[PatriciaF]

You still have time to check out all the options for a November cruise.

 

Check out the Solstice-sized Celebrity Ships--book Aqua Class.

 

You have your own private dining room: Blu. Food is absolutely wonderful (except for the desserts.) You have daily access to the thermal suites at no extra charge. Room service menu is enhanced too.

 

I was on a Carnival cruise last year--I thought the food was about equal to a Denny's or Applebee's--both I wouldn't eat at at home.

[Sam.Seattle]

My concerns:

 

Will the food be good?

 

Will there be comedians and or magicians?

 

Will the boat smell like smoke and will I be able to read on the deck or my balcony without smelling smoke?

 

Will the older crowd make us feel out of place?

 

Thanks again for the all the advice!:)

I think you should cancel with HAL

 

The food will be very similar to the MDR on CCL and RCI. you will only have 2-other dinning choices.

 

The shows could be either comedians or magicians. Plan on a broadway style show.

 

I am an ex-smoker and can say the ship, not boat will not smell like smoke except the casino.

 

If the older folks bother you, don't worry. They go to bed at 9:00pm.

 

Seriously, based on your questions, maybe cruising is not your thing...

 

:rolleyes:

Edited May 19, 2014 by Sam.Seattle

[AlohaPride]

DH and I are 32 and 31 and don't take cruises less than 10 days long. The longer the better.

We have cruised on the Noordam twice and looooooooooved it. The food was great (in our opinion), the entertainment was fun (we love live music and comedy shows), it never felt crowded to us, the gym is in a wonderful location, and the hydrotherapy pool and thermal suite are seriously Heaven on Earth.

 

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy

[take us away]

My concerns:

 

Will the food be good?

 

Will there be comedians and or magicians?

 

Will the boat smell like smoke and will I be able to read on the deck or my balcony without smelling smoke?

 

Will the older crowd make us feel out of place?

 

Thanks again for the all the advice!:)

 

Yes, the food will be good and some will be spectacular and then there will be the infrequent 'miss'! try new foods - could be fun!

 

Have never been on a cruise without a comedian and a magician. As humor is a personal thing, some comedians will be funnier than others.

 

NO, the boat will not smell like smoke. As an ex-smoker who never liked the smell of smoke, do not have a problem. HAL has limited smoking to a few outside deck locations and the casino which markedly helps. Seems like fewer and fewer people are smoking so not as much of an issue as previous cruises (have been cruising since the early 80's).

 

My 1st cruise was for my 30th birthday - interesting that it was on HAL - and I have never felt out of place. Actually have found the 'older' crowd to have excellent stories, lots of great advice on ports, and they tend to leave you alone and not pressure you into anything. Now that we are retired guess we now qualify as older, oh well. Cruising is what you make of it as you have many options of what to do each day, even while at sea, and you can find people to share the day with or not - as you want. The adventures in each port while bringing your 'hotel' with you is the best part!

 

What you will find on HAL is some of the best service in the middle market cruise lines. We have cruised with several cruise lines and we keep coming back to HAL for their service and unique itineraries to the point that we have given up on other lines and are pretty exclusive to HAL.

 

To put our comments into perspective about middle market cruise lines, we are 5-star on HAL (just came home from the world cruise of 113 days), have about 75 days on Celebrity, at least 45 days on Princess. Greatly prefer longer than 7-day cruises with fewer children and 'party hearty' people for more peace and quiet, so no Royal Caribbean experience and will never cruise Carnival.

 

Enjoy the ports and relaxing on deck in the sea air!

Edited May 19, 2014 by take us away

[DaveOKC]

My concerns:

 

Will the food be good?

 

Will there be comedians and or magicians?

 

Will the boat smell like smoke and will I be able to read on the deck or my balcony without smelling smoke?

 

Will the older crowd make us feel out of place?

 

Thanks again for the all the advice!:)

 

Especially since you are looking at booking a Neptune Suite, I think you will enjoy HAL. You will be spoiled by the Neptune suite package (you need to look into everything you get - see other topics on this board), plus the large balcony makes it much less likely that you will experience a smoking issue (we never have had a problem in 10 Neptune suite cruises). Further, for some reason there seems to be fewer smokers in these suites.

 

As to food - we always dine in the main dining room and have found the food to be good, especially on formal nights (you likely will have 3 on your cruise). The weakest menus are normally on port days where you are in port late, so we book the Pinnacle (fantastic) dinner for those (1-2 per cruise). Since we normally have Early dining, this also allows us to stay in port a bit later on those days. The food overall is much better than we experienced on our Carnival Freedom cruise.

 

As to entertainment - generally HAL has good comedians and they normally are not vulgar, unlike so many others are today. We skip the production shows. Magicians are normally OK.

 

As to an older demographic - yes, HAL does seem to attract an older group, but this is fine with us as there are less crowds around the pool (on our Carnival Freedom cruise the pool was a madhouse) and the ship is quieter and more relaxing IMO. Since you are looking at a 11 day Carb. cruise, you should have a younger crowd than HAL attracts on its longer cruises to non-warm weather ports. The nightlife will not be anywhere as active as you have experienced on Carnival or RCCL.

 

Also, HAL's service is top notch and I am sure you will appreciate this. Plus they offer great room service (hot items for breakfast) with the ability to order off of the main dining room menu for dinner in your cabin (works well if in a suite). You can even write in items for your room service breakfast (on the card) and if the item is on the main dining room breakfast menu they will bring it.

 

One more thing - DEFINATELY do a renewal of vows ceremony on HAL. It cost a bit over $100 and is one of the nicest and best value things that HAL offers (also search this board for more details on this).

 

DaveOKC

Edited May 19, 2014 by DaveOKC

[BDsquared]

My husband and I are in our mid 30's and we REALLY enjoyed our first HAL cruise! We booked for the ports, and we were not disappointed! But we did not expect to love the cruiseline as much as we did! The service we received by all was top notch. Loved the food and the presentation. Saw a great comedian/juggler. It was very relaxing and comfortable. We were pretty close to the youngest couple on the ship, but we were there for the same reason everyone else was! The passengers were very friendly. Many were well traveled and we appreciated mingling amongst them.

 

I would give HAL a try. I hope you have a wonderful experience!

[oldbluff]

You will enjoy your HAL cruise. They are the best for curling up with a book on the full-wrap promenade deck and many other public spaces. The library will have lots of books to complement your own.

 

Love the Adagio Duet. Sadly not the Adagio Strings quartet any longer, but the violin and piano are soothing. Piano Bar singalongs let you enjoy favorite tunes.

 

Sounds like you enjoy food. I would suggest the Main Dining Room for the first night, all formal nights and the final night. The first night to get to know your table mates and servers, formal nights tend to have special dishes (lobster, prime rib and chateaubriand) and the final dinner is a party. You may want to try a specialty restaurant on another night. Special dinners (Chef's Table, Cabana Club) have unbelieveable food and wine, you can cook with the the Executive Chef in the Culinary Center and the wine tastings are enjoyable, especially the premimum one. We have done all of these multiple times on different HAL cruises and keep enjoying them.

 

One more HAL tidbit. For a mere $7/day, your entire cabin can get unlimited laundry service. We use that to reduce the clothes needed for a cruise, especially the longer ones.

 

You've already booked it. Savor the anticipation, enjoy the cruise and then post afterward with your impressions. Life is good but it is better on the water. :)

[George C]

Hello Fellow Cruisers,

 

I booked our first Holland America cruise for our wedding anniversary in November with Holland. I was really exciting about the itinerary and the fact that I was able to get one of the huge double balcony cabins but now after speaking with a friend I am having second thoughts about trying Holland.

 

Cruise Facts: Noordam, November 13th - 11 Day Caribbean

 

Cruising Background:

Princess - Liked a lot but this was on the Sea Princess 8 years ago and the food was just ok, loved all the magicians, comedians, jugglers, illusionists.

Royal Caribbean - Liked Oasis 3 months ago we didn't like having to schedule night time entertainment and the dining room food was awful we ended up using the pay restaurants each night.

Carnival - Did not like freedom 3 years ago food was mediocre, fellow cruisers loud and obnoxious, we did like the comedy shows.

 

About Us:

Non smoking, married couple in our late 30s. We love excellent food, hanging out on the deck reading and for night time we love magic shows and comedians, my husband loves the casino but I hate the smell of all the smoke so I don't enjoy hanging out with him there.

 

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated. This is my first time leaving my 3 kids since our honeymoon 8 years ago so I really want this to be a special trip:)

 

Thanks so much!

 

I think food on Hal is similar to Princess, Hal does have a excellent pay resturant called Pinnacle which is on all ships , I believe it is $30 a person but well woth the extra money. I think entertainment in general is Hal weak point. But we have cruised Hal the last 4 years and always had a nice time. WE are now back to RCCL but I am sure we will sail them again in the future.

[OBX-Cruisers]

I predict you will enjoy the Noordam very much. It is one of the newer and better ships in the line. The only negative about HAL is that they still allow smoking in several places although that is starting to change gradually. Casino in the older HAL ships does have distinct smoky atmosphere................we have not been on Noordam but similar to Eurodam that had noticeably less smoky odor everywhere

 

I just noticed that you have booked a Neptune suite......................You and wife will love it together with the recognition and perks that come with that booking

Edited May 21, 2014 by OBX-Cruisers