Standards slipping on Holland America?

[cruiserzoid]

"Everyone to his taste"

[babyher]

Would you mind translating, please?

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

Thanks Sail

 

I am glad I am, not the only one that couldn't say it *LOL*

[Danni3ll3]

"Everyone to his taste"

 

 

That is the literal translation. It really means "Each to his or her own".

[thebts]

To be clear on pricing:

 

Carnival Breeze 8 days $219

 

HAL Westerdam 7 days $699

 

Both sailing were in inside cabins and booked directly with Carnival and HAL. I feel you generally get the best price from the cruise line rather than a TA but I could be wrong.

[sail7seas]

To each his own.

I didn't know either, but I just Googled it.

 

"Everyone to his taste"

 

Thanks all who answered.

I'm stuck in the habit of reading English when on this forum. :o :D

 

 

[sail7seas]

Thanks Sail

 

I am glad I am, not the only one that couldn't say it *LOL*

 

:D I'm glad I'M NOT the only one. :D :D

 

(I can't figure out how to get three quotes in one post. Seems my method stops at two.)

[babyher]

:D I'm glad I'M NOT the only one. :D :D

 

(I can't figure out how to get three quotes in one post. Seems my method stops at two.)

 

 

 

You are still way ahead of me . I am a one quote at a time guy myself. I am just not a techno savvy kind of guy. *LOL*

[FLACRUISER99]

I believe that The Breeze, built 2012, is 130 k tons and holds 4600 pax.

 

The Westerdam, built 2004, is 80 k tons with 2000 pax.

 

They are so very different that one can only say "Chacun à son goût".

 

Ira

http://www.fodors.com/community/europe/a-chacun-son-got.cfm

[thebts]

So tell me how the date the ships were built, their respective tonnages and passenger capacities relate to the quality of food, service and entertainment.

[summersigh]

To be clear on pricing:

 

Carnival Breeze 8 days $219

 

HAL Westerdam 7 days $699

 

Both sailing were in inside cabins and booked directly with Carnival and HAL. I feel you generally get the best price from the cruise line rather than a TA but I could be wrong.

 

WOW ... you hit a heck of a sale on the CCL Breeze. :D I just checked a "popular national cruise ticket agency who shall remain nameless and whose prices are normally in line with what you can get directly with the cruise line's site". Here's what they showed for Caribbean cruises (inside cabins) on the 2 lines this spring fluxuating by sailing date:

 

CCL - Breeze:

6 days .... $449 - $579

8 days .... $609 - $729

 

HAL Westerdam:

7 days .... $499 - $609

[thebts]

We hit lucky on Breeze. The day after we booked the price shot up again. We generally buy the lowest available category and hope for an upgrade which is what happened on Breeze. So no complaints whatsoever. By the way, how did you enjoy the QM2 Transatlantic? We are looking at a May 2015 Transatlantic sailing on the QM2.

[summersigh]

We hit lucky on Breeze. The day after we booked the price shot up again. We generally buy the lowest available category and hope for an upgrade which is what happened on Breeze. So no complaints whatsoever. By the way, how did you enjoy the QM2 Transatlantic? We are looking at a May 2015 Transatlantic sailing on the QM2.

 

Traveling on the QM2 was a real delight. Everything about her makes you feel warm and cared for:). The food and the service were top notch. Most men wore tuxs on formal nights and the ladies dressed as well. High tea in the afternoons was a grand way to break up the afternoon. They had at least one, maybe even 2, real balls in the ballroom. There were a lot of daytime activities if one chose to participate. We didn't miss not having port days.

 

We planned to sail her again until some of DH's health issues put the brakes on that dream. :( We planned to take the QM2 ,eastbound, spend time touring Europe by train and then sail her back to NYC.

 

I believe you'll really enjoy the experience ... because, to me, that's what it way ... a delightful experience.

[galensgrl]

Hmmm. Perhaps you have yet to find the ideal cruise line that best fits your wants and needs. My first thought would be to give Princess a try which might be a better compromise for you then either Carnival or HAL.

 

Hank

 

I'm feeling what you are saying. We have veered away from our cruise history with the cruise line that is known for letting their guests do "whatever." We had 3 really good experiences, and one mediocre experience which was a turn off from moving up to a suite on the ship we were on last time. It wasn't so much the atmosphere that drove us away, it was the lackluster service and mediocre dining, even in the upcharge restaurants. I've always wanted to try HAL, and that was the incentive to switch. We look forward to the elegance of the Veendam, but are wondering exactly how subdued the atmosphere will be. We can do mellow, especially with our itinerary. We are just hoping there is at least bit more luxury during our Veendam experience.

 

Lorie

[Hlitner]

I'm feeling what you are saying. We have veered away from our cruise history with the cruise line that is known for letting their guests do "whatever." We had 3 really good experiences, and one mediocre experience which was a turn off from moving up to a suite on the ship we were on last time. It wasn't so much the atmosphere that drove us away, it was the lackluster service and mediocre dining, even in the upcharge restaurants. I've always wanted to try HAL, and that was the incentive to switch. We look forward to the elegance of the Veendam, but are wondering exactly how subdued the atmosphere will be. We can do mellow, especially with our itinerary. We are just hoping there is at least bit more luxury during our Veendam experience.

 

Lorie

 

We spent 4 weeks on the Veendam last year (a cruise from Quebec City to Seattle) and was one of our favorite HAL cruises. Over the past few years we have not been pleased with the direction of HAL, but the Veendam cruise was one of the best in a long time.

 

As to the atmosphere, we think much of that depends on the time of year, itinerary and length of cruise. A 7 day Caribbean cruise has a much different atmosphere then a 38 day Transpacific cruise. Cruises during the summer and major school holidays tends to attract a younger crowd than a cruise while schools are in session. But as a general rule we do think that HAL does have a more classy atmosphere then some other lines. On the other hand, do not expect a lot of passengers to be awake and partying after 10:00 :).

 

Hank

[bobbisailsolo]

I'm feeling what you are saying. We have veered away from our cruise history with the cruise line that is known for letting their guests do "whatever." We had 3 really good experiences, and one mediocre experience which was a turn off from moving up to a suite on the ship we were on last time. It wasn't so much the atmosphere that drove us away, it was the lackluster service and mediocre dining, even in the upcharge restaurants. I've always wanted to try HAL, and that was the incentive to switch. We look forward to the elegance of the Veendam, but are wondering exactly how subdued the atmosphere will be. We can do mellow, especially with our itinerary. We are just hoping there is at least bit more luxury during our Veendam experience.

 

Lorie

 

 

Lorie, are you referring to NCL? If you are, I have to say, depending on the cruise, in some respects you may not find it all that different. In the last 7 years, I've done 2 cruises on HAL (Alaska and Med) and 2 on NCL (Bermuda and South America).

HAL was a bit better re food quality, though NCL had some good salads at lunch time..,I didn't find much difference in the dining room experience... But I prefer open seating.. I'm not one for schedules, since retiring.

All 4 cruises were very casual. People dressed the way they wanted to

NCL definitely is a younger crowd. Don't be surprised if you see electric scooters on HAL.

HAL has a bit more refinement (as opposed to luxury)... Love the duo in the lounge that's plays classical music... Piano and violin I believe...

All my cruises were during school year, so I did not have children on any of them other than a few babies.

And yes, HAL gets very quiet at night.

I've only done one princess, and I would say it falls between the two.. I wasn't terribly impressed with my princess cruise. It was a 7 day southern caribbean. My son got married on it. The ship sometimes just seemed dirty or unkept to me especially by the end of the day. HAL is very well kept.. And you'll never see trash or food left behind in the elevators, like I've seen on some other caribbean cruises. It's definitely not a party cruise.

All being said, if I were younger, I'd probably still be doing NCL..

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Pernilla]

Traveling on the QM2 was a real delight. Everything about her makes you feel warm and cared for:). The food and the service were top notch. Most men wore tuxs on formal nights and the ladies dressed as well. High tea in the afternoons was a grand way to break up the afternoon. They had at least one, maybe even 2, real balls in the ballroom. There were a lot of daytime activities if one chose to participate. We didn't miss not having port days.

 

We planned to sail her again until some of DH's health issues put the brakes on that dream. :( We planned to take the QM2 ,eastbound, spend time touring Europe by train and then sail her back to NYC.

 

I believe you'll really enjoy the experience ... because, to me, that's what it way ... a delightful experience.

 

Have you travelled in Europe by train before? I ask because we find train travel in Europe and luggage to be a poor match. Elevators are usually available only by finding the 'keeper of the key' to operate it. And baggage porters are non-existent. And there is no such thing as checked luggage. Admittedly, it has been several years since we've travelled by train in Europe -- but are planning to do so this fall. We're taking advantage of Cunard's White Glove Service and shipping the large suitcases from Southampton to Copenhagen. It was a trick to find a hotel that will accept the luggage (in Copenhagen) when we will not yet have arrived. And now that I think about it, with the latest difficulties in Copenhagen, the hotel may no longer be willing to do that. Here I go again.

[Pernilla]

Yes, we have found HAL to be slipping -- a little more with each cruise. And that's upsetting having almost gotten to free laundry! We took the Holiday Cruise on the Statendam. The food was fair -- though the menu was quite repetitive. It seemed to us that the staff was far fewer in number than we've experienced in the past. The air conditioning in the cabins was a problem -- while some cabins were too warm, others had their occupants wandering the halls looking for someone from the north so they could borrow a coat. Often, the bathroom facilities were not functioning -- I rarely saw the Ladies' room outside of the dining room open. The odor in some areas of the ship was rather strong. Illness spread like wildfire. I blame part of this on the fact that the concern for illness had changed. For years, during the first 3 days on board, passengers were not allowed to handle the serving utensils on Veranda Deck. This wasn't true on this particular cruise. When I inquired about that, I was told that the health authorities told them that makes no difference. Personally, I think it takes more staff and that extra staff is no longer available.

 

Entertainment now consists mainly of "Dancing with the Stars" (I've probably got the name wrong). That is effectively, a long version of a talent show -- often with very little talent. It made me miss the talent show with more variety when passengers could choose where their talent lay.

 

This was the first time on any ship, on any line, that I have seen the ship run out of beer. (And no, I'm not a beer drinker.) They restocked with what was available on a Polynesian Island, but also went cabin to cabin, removing the beer from the fridges.

 

We paid a ridiculous amount of money (almost $20 per bottle) corkage to bring wine on board. This was wine to be consumed in our cabins (when you pay corkage, you may consume it anywhere). We did bring one bottle to the dining room -- that bottle was lost for more than a week while in the custody of the wine steward.

 

We are aware that the Statendam will be transferred to P&O this year and that perhaps they are avoiding maintenance so that it comes from P&O's budget instead of from HAL's. That does not change the fact that the ship is in need of some TLC.

 

We're going to try HAL once more -- different ship -- before we give up entirely on what was our favorite line. We're hoping the Statendam cruise was just badly staffed and that a change of on-board management will make a difference.

[thebts]

We haven't travelled by train in Europe except for the time we took the high speed train TGV to begin our Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in the south of France. And we had only small backpacks to lug around! Good luck in Europe this year.

[thebts]

The Westerdam also needs lots of TLC so wouldn't be surprised if it gets sold soon or has a major refit. I actually enjoyed the Dancing with the Stars routine but would have preferred the variety talent show. Too bad the crew talent show was on really late at night.

[sail7seas]

Yes, we have found HAL to be slipping -- a little more with each cruise. And that's upsetting having almost gotten to free laundry! We took the Holiday Cruise on the Statendam. The food was fair -- though the menu was quite repetitive. It seemed to us that the staff was far fewer in number than we've experienced in the past. The air conditioning in the cabins was a problem -- while some cabins were too warm, others had their occupants wandering the halls looking for someone from the north so they could borrow a coat. Often, the bathroom facilities were not functioning -- I rarely saw the Ladies' room outside of the dining room open. The odor in some areas of the ship was rather strong. Illness spread like wildfire. I blame part of this on the fact that the concern for illness had changed. For years, during the first 3 days on board, passengers were not allowed to handle the serving utensils on Veranda Deck. This wasn't true on this particular cruise. When I inquired about that, I was told that the health authorities told them that makes no difference. Personally, I think it takes more staff and that extra staff is no longer available.

 

<snip>

 

<snip>

 

We are aware that the Statendam will be transferred to P&O this year and that perhaps they are avoiding maintenance so that it comes from P&O's budget instead of from HAL's. That does not change the fact that the ship is in need of some TLC.

 

We're going to try HAL once more -- different ship -- before we give up entirely on what was our favorite line. We're hoping the Statendam cruise was just badly staffed and that a change of on-board management will make a difference.

 

 

 

Statendam scored a 100 at her unannounced CDC/USPH Inspection.

 

BTW... so did Zuiderdam and Noordam. :)

 

[CowPrincess]

Yes, we have found HAL to be slipping -- a little more with each cruise. And that's upsetting having almost gotten to free laundry! >SNIP<

 

The air conditioning in the cabins was a problem -- while some cabins were too warm, others had their occupants wandering the halls looking for someone from the north so they could borrow a coat. Often, the bathroom facilities were not functioning -- I rarely saw the Ladies' room outside of the dining room open. The odor in some areas of the ship was rather strong. Illness spread like wildfire. >SNIP<

 

 

We did bring one bottle to the dining room -- that bottle was lost for more than a week while in the custody of the wine steward.

 

>SNIP<

 

I could have written these parts of your post. We heard many complaints about cabin temps (far too hot, far too cold) :eek: We experienced the stench. Our bottle of wine went missing. Ours was never found :rolleyes: We too are near 4* (well, I am, DH has a ways to go yet).

 

We had minor problems with our cabin that took more than half of the cruise to get fixed. Actually, only ONE of the problems got fixed. We got sick of trying to get the others looked after, and left them for the next occupants. Fortunately the plumbing and AC worked as expected, so that was a plus.

 

Your experience (and ours) once again proves that any cruise can be good or bad or "meh". I've read many positive comments on the cruise on which we had the underwhelming experience. Obviously, though, none of those comments came from the people who were overheating or freezing in their cabins, or who had cabins by the "stench cloud".

[Kay240]

As you can see below, DH and I have taken many cruises, about 2/3 on HAL. As mentioned previously, we all have different tastes and opinions. I just want to point out a few things: Price comparisons can be very misleading, not just because of sales, but also based upon port of embarkation and itinerary. The size of the cabin is VERY IMPORTANT; the labels are misleading (we were on Celebrity in what was called a "mini-suite" at the time, that was later renamed "Veranda"). Carnival's Inside and Outside staterooms are usually 185 sq ft, HAL's are 182 sq ft; check out the sq footage for other cruise lines!

 

We were on the Westerdam in December and although some areas had new "soft goods", others needed chairs reupholstered or replaced. The peeling wallpaper in the passageways was terrible, but it might have already been replaced on another deck. I will also say, that although we saw cleaning and maintenance day and night, it seemed to be less than usual.

 

We will be on the Carnival Pride this summer for a family cruise to the Bahamas. The price is far more than I expected, based on my Caribbean cruises on HAL from Tampa or Port Everglades, but we couldn't get our schedules together for HAL and the young children (ages 2-14), will probably enjoy it more!

[sammiedawg]

I could have written these parts of your post. We heard many complaints about cabin temps (far too hot, far too cold) :eek: We experienced the stench. Our bottle of wine went missing. Ours was never found :rolleyes: We too are near 4* (well, I am, DH has a ways to go yet).

 

We had minor problems with our cabin that took more than half of the cruise to get fixed. Actually, only ONE of the problems got fixed. We got sick of trying to get the others looked after, and left them for the next occupants. Fortunately the plumbing and AC worked as expected, so that was a plus.

 

Your experience (and ours) once again proves that any cruise can be good or bad or "meh". I've read many positive comments on the cruise on which we had the underwhelming experience. Obviously, though, none of those comments came from the people who were overheating or freezing in their cabins, or who had cabins by the "stench cloud".

 

Last summer we had fourteen days on the Prinsendam, we had more than a few issues.. The AC in our cabin was either broken or turned off in the middle of the night and on port days. We thought perhaps the room steward was turning it down for unknown reasons. We discussed it with him and were told the central AC system is "adjusted" at various times. We would return from port and the cabin was sweltering. We were not pleased to hear that basic ventilation and cool air was pulled by TPTB, presumable to save a few bucks.

The smell of must hit me on day one in our cabin, especially the closet areas. It was worse when the ventilation was down. The musty smell was noted in some corridors and was awful in the public restroom off the walking promenade deck.

Our cabin furnishings, walls, woodwork were not in good shape, rotting woodwork in various areas.

We experienced no cabin plumbing issues but heard others complaining of this.

There was not a single padded lounger on the pool deck, just plastic ones. Each side of the promenade deck had eight or ten padded loungers but there were in bad shape, very dirty cushions, rusty hardware and some of the adjustable brackets were broken.

The physical plant totally turned me off.

 

Why do some people doubt that the OP had a great experience on Carnival? I've not sailed with them but I've talked to people who liked it a lot.

[bobbisailsolo]

Have you travelled in Europe by train before? I ask because we find train travel in Europe and luggage to be a poor match. Elevators are usually available only by finding the 'keeper of the key' to operate it. And baggage porters are non-existent. And there is no such thing as checked luggage. Admittedly, it has been several years since we've travelled by train in Europe -- but are planning to do so this fall. We're taking advantage of Cunard's White Glove Service and shipping the large suitcases from Southampton to Copenhagen. It was a trick to find a hotel that will accept the luggage (in Copenhagen) when we will not yet have arrived. And now that I think about it, with the latest difficulties in Copenhagen, the hotel may no longer be willing to do that. Here I go again.

 

 

I love train travel in Europe!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[summersigh]

Have you travelled in Europe by train before? I ask because we find train travel in Europe and luggage to be a poor match. Elevators are usually available only by finding the 'keeper of the key' to operate it. And baggage porters are non-existent. And there is no such thing as checked luggage. Admittedly, it has been several years since we've travelled by train in Europe -- but are planning to do so this fall. We're taking advantage of Cunard's White Glove Service and shipping the large suitcases from Southampton to Copenhagen. It was a trick to find a hotel that will accept the luggage (in Copenhagen) when we will not yet have arrived. And now that I think about it, with the latest difficulties in Copenhagen, the hotel may no longer be willing to do that. Here I go again.

 

We flew to Heathrow and spent almost 2 1/2 weeks using a Britrail pass traveling all over England and Scotland, then took the overnight ferry (rail & sail from London) called the Dutchflyer to Hook of Holland and on to Amsterdam for 3 nights, then the highspeed Thalys train to Paris for another 3 nights and finally the Eurostar back to London for 3 more nights before the train down to Southampton and the QM2 bound for NYC. The European trains are frequent and always on time. For example - there's a train every 30-60 minutes from London to Edinburgh. We loved the scenery as we rode the trains and would do it again in a heartbeat if we could!!

 

We each toted only a 22' suitcase with us on the land/train travel and they fit well in the overhead bins on the trains if the car's luggage bin was already full. (Every piece of clothes we took went with everything else so we could mix and match and had delightful times chatting with locals at Laundromats in Inverness and Southampton) We used Cunard's White Glove Service to ship a large 28" suitcase directly to the ship with all of our cruise clothes. The large case was waiting in our cabin when we arrived.