First HAL cruise - How is it different?

[DCpow]

My hubby & I will soon be cruising on the Eurodam to celebrate our 50th anniversary. Although we have been on almost 30 cruises, we've never been on Holland America.

 

You veteran HAL cruisers - how is this cruise line different? What's the best thing about it? What might you not like as well?

 

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks!!

[Bailey & Sophie]

I'll be interested in reading responses, too. We're going on our first HAL cruise next Feb.

[3rdGenCunarder]

That's a hard question to answer without knowing what lines you've sailed before. You'll get better information if you give your question more structure.

 

If you ask "how is HAL different from Princess" people who've sailed both can help you. Or you could ask specific questions about things that are important to you, like what are the dining options, or what kind of soft drinks do they have.

[Krazy Kruizers]

That's a hard question to answer without knowing what lines you've sailed before. You'll get better information if you give your question more structure.

 

If you ask "how is HAL different from Princess" people who've sailed both can help you. Or you could ask specific questions about things that are important to you, like what are the dining options, or what kind of soft drinks do they have.

 

 

 

I agree with you -- question is not very well formed.

[Darrell6t]

One of the biggest differences is that the service staff are all from the same country. The Philippines in the case of bar staff. And Indonesia for all the other areas. Officers can be from anywhere. The homogenous nature of the staff makes for a different experience than other lines where the staff is from all over the world.

[bonvoyagebites]

Agreed that it is hard to compare and contrast between lines without knowing the oranges.

 

I will say that the Apples, in this case are perhaps more "refined" than other lines. If you are typically a Carnival cruiser, I would say that you can expect a little more laid back experience. I was a first-time HAL cruiser with two Carnival, and one MSC prior to my May 2015 HAL cruise. Now, it was also only a 3-day cruise which was a non-standard route (San Diego to Vancouver ... kind of a Repo)...

 

Let us know what your prior experiences are, and a more proper response can be built for you. Either way, enjoy yourself and have some yummy food :)

 

CONGRATS on 50 YEARS!

[sppunk]

One of the biggest differences is that the service staff are all from the same country. The Philippines in the case of bar staff. And Indonesia for all the other areas. Officers can be from anywhere. The homogenous nature of the staff makes for a different experience than other lines where the staff is from all over the world.

 

This, and the physical ship design, really is the main difference. It's why we enjoy HAL more than other mass market lines.

[RuthC]

The "What's the best thing about it" part is easy---it's the crew.

The gracious service, from people with genuine smiles, is top notch.

[xlxo]

The best thing about HAL I liked was the photo packages... it saved me money compared to another cruise line. I like photos.

[cruisin0218]

I agree the service is the best more individualized and very gracious. I also don't know of any other cruiseline that allows you to order from both the room service menu and the main dining room menu for room service during the times the main dining room is open. I agree there is a more tranquil refined quality compared to Carnival or RCI. However a downside is the swimming pools close early in the evening. I wish they would leave them open until about midnight or so. Entertainment both during the day and evening is also quieter and shuts down earlier.

[jody75]

Very much depends on your past experiences, how is it different - from what !

If we are comparing the mass market cruise lines, I would make the following analogy - Azamara -Filet steak/ Celebrity - Rib eye / Princess - Sirloin and Holland America is rump , maybe stewing steak.

 

HAL's stand out difference between its near competitors is it relaxed smoking policy, passengers are allowed too smoke on their balconies.

HAL is the smoker's cruise line of choice

[Champagne Cruiser]

Check out my signature to see my cruising experience. We liked HAL, but found it much quieter than Celebrity, our favorite line. The entertainment on HAL was good, lots of people really like the piano bar entertainment following the shows. Ask for a table at the back of the dining room. On the Westerdam if you were near the front it was like being on a highway of running waiters, very annoying, but once we moved to the back it was nice. The staff is very gracious. What we liked the least is the relaxed smoking policy on balconies and the Casino. With an older demographic you can get loungers around the pool more easily than other cruise lines. We would cruise HAL again, but for itinerany and price, and more if they changed their smoking policy.

[iancal]

We find the food as variable as it is on other cruise lines. We prefer the food on Celebrity however this is so very subjective.

 

We do not find any real difference in the service. We find the staff, in general, on Celebrity and Princess to be just as gracious and accommodating as they are on HAL. Not much difference for us there.

 

Have never been on Eurodam. It is on our list to try.

 

The smoking policy turns us off and all things being equal it has caused us to select an alternate ship on more than one occasion. The upside is that I save some money by never venturing into a casino on a HAL ship.

[CRUZBUDS]

One of the most striking differences to us about HAL is the wonderful libraries on board.

 

None of the other lines we've sailed has anything remotely like them. :)

[George C]

I find cruising Hal is like going back in time, Hal does not have the rock climbing walls etc, much smaller ships, piano bar is normally good, entertainment is not on pare with RCCL and Princess. My favorite specialty restaurant is Pinnacle very elegant and well worth the money, much nicer than most other lines. Wine list is terrible, huge markup, they have about a 400 percent markup.

[stacyh270]

The "What's the best thing about it" part is easy---it's the crew.

The gracious service, from people with genuine smiles, is top notch.

 

Sadly, this was not our experience on our Oosterdam cruise to Alaska last week. We had a much friendlier experience on Carnival and Norwegian. Very disappointed in that regard.

[stacyh270]

We just went on our first HAL cruise last week and came back a little disappointed. We've only done Carnival and NCL in the past and expected HAL to be a little more top-notch than those lines because everyone raves about it, but honestly, several significant categories were actually lacking.

 

First and foremost was the entertainment. DH and I love comedy shows and our ship only had one night of comedy and it was mediocre at best. Not sure what the comedian did the rest of his time on ship since he got on in Juneau and was onboard at sea for the last two days :rolleyes:

 

The crowd dynamic is definitely different. We are in our late 30's and felt very young on the ship. That's not necessarily bad, though :) There just wasn't a whole lot of energy on the ship. I wasn't expecting dance parties every night (like Carnival) and we definitely aren't into that scene anyway, but it's basically lights out at 10 p.m. No late night comedy, no late night snacks, nada. Was hard to comprehend, especially since it was still daylight in Alaska at 10:30 p.m.

 

Also, I'd say to not expect anything grand as far as dining goes. HAL was on par with Carnival, IMHO, in some areas and lacking in others. It wasn't terrible, though. I did enjoy the Lido dining for breakfast more than other lines. I also appreciated that the staff dished out the servings on the majority of items instead of everyone's hands all over the serving utensils. Don't expect lemonade or tea in the MDR and honestly, their tea was terrible (brown water) and the Lido on our ship only served lemonade very randomly. Most of the time, it wasn't even labeled on the dispenser (I think to "hide" it) and when it ran out, it was gone for the day 9 out of 10 times. Seemed like an absurd cost-cutting measure to me :rolleyes:

 

All in all, I'd not say HAL was superior to our other experiences but wasn't terrible, either. There were just a few annoyances (and I can name annoyances on Carnival and NCL, too :) ). I certainly wouldn't give HAL priority over other cruise lines when booking in the future unless the itinerary and price suited us better.

[sppunk]

We just went on our first HAL cruise last week and came back a little disappointed. We've only done Carnival and NCL in the past and expected HAL to be a little more top-notch than those lines because everyone raves about it, but honestly, several significant categories were actually lacking.

 

First and foremost was the entertainment. DH and I love comedy shows and our ship only had one night of comedy and it was mediocre at best. Not sure what the comedian did the rest of his time on ship since he got on in Juneau and was onboard at sea for the last two days :rolleyes:

 

The crowd dynamic is definitely different. We are in our late 30's and felt very young on the ship. That's not necessarily bad, though :) There just wasn't a whole lot of energy on the ship. I wasn't expecting dance parties every night (like Carnival) and we definitely aren't into that scene anyway, but it's basically lights out at 10 p.m. No late night comedy, no late night snacks, nada. Was hard to comprehend, especially since it was still daylight in Alaska at 10:30 p.m.

 

Also, I'd say to not expect anything grand as far as dining goes. HAL was on par with Carnival, IMHO, in some areas and lacking in others. It wasn't terrible, though. I did enjoy the Lido dining for breakfast more than other lines. I also appreciated that the staff dished out the servings on the majority of items instead of everyone's hands all over the serving utensils. Don't expect lemonade or tea in the MDR and honestly, their tea was terrible (brown water) and the Lido on our ship only served lemonade very randomly. Most of the time, it wasn't even labeled on the dispenser (I think to "hide" it) and when it ran out, it was gone for the day 9 out of 10 times. Seemed like an absurd cost-cutting measure to me :rolleyes:

 

All in all, I'd not say HAL was superior to our other experiences but wasn't terrible, either. There were just a few annoyances (and I can name annoyances on Carnival and NCL, too :) ). I certainly wouldn't give HAL priority over other cruise lines when booking in the future unless the itinerary and price suited us better.

 

Honestly this is what HAL is; very similar to other lines with a few differences. It's more serene (read: quieter, less entertainment). That's a big deal and impacts the cruise.

 

The staff friendliness depends on many things and we've had just as happy staff on every other line. The uniform nationalities just give a different feeling, some might notice others might not.

[stacyh270]

Honestly this is what HAL is; very similar to other lines with a few differences. It's more serene (read: quieter, less entertainment). That's a big deal and impacts the cruise.

 

The staff friendliness depends on many things and we've had just as happy staff on every other line. The uniform nationalities just give a different feeling, some might notice others might not.

 

I never noticed the uniform nationalities until I read about it here post-cruise. We did have an enjoyable cruise (who couldn't enjoy Alaska?!?!), but I did find the differences worth mentioning and wish I'd had more time pre-cruise to have found them out. We booked pretty last minute so I spent the time scrambling for shore excursions instead of really looking hard at what HAL would offer in terms of dining and entertainment. I just went in assuming/expecting that HAL would be comparable in certain areas or even better but that didn't always pan out. Buuuut, in quietness it did:D

 

Again, we had a great vacation, though, and was glad we had plenty of adventure/excitement booked on shore.

[RuthC]

Sadly, this was not our experience on our Oosterdam cruise to Alaska last week. We had a much friendlier experience on Carnival and Norwegian. Very disappointed in that regard.

Sorry to read that. I'm always treated like a queen while on board. The crew can't seem to do enough for me. It's deeply appreciated, too.

[notjaded]

OP: I've sailed on Costa, Celebrity, NCL and HA.

 

How is HA different from those? In my experience, HA caters to a much older crowd, and there are many more passengers who require walkers and wheelchairs/scooters. Also, the fitness center is less crowded.