When was your 1st hal cruise??

[POA1]

I went out again on the VEENDAM and VOLENDAM... as BERMUDA STAR and QUEEN OF BERMUDA. Good solid ships but Bermuda Star Line was not quite as HAL... but never, mind... still good cruises.

 

Well, 2016 VEENDAM is back again ... just 4 cruises. Better than nothing!

 

Stephen

Upon reading your post, I realized that my post about the "old Noordam" really meant "the Noordam before this one." Our first cruise wasn't on the Noordam that alerted the Titanic to watch out for ice. ;)

[Snook]

Nieuw Amsterdam NM - Nov. 12- 1994 Caribbean

[richwmn]

Zaandam Western Caribbean Sept 2000

[obriendan]

Previous Nieuw Amsterdam, Alaska, 1998, three day cruise to Skagway followed by 10 day land tour.

 

Dan

[take us away]

1st cruise was 1981 as wanted to turn 30 on a cruise ship so I did. Don't remember the ship but it was small and old as they 'retired' at the end of season which is probably why the cruise was so cheap. Sailed out of San Juan and we did 7 islands in 7 days. Came home exhausted and in love with cruising. Except for maybe 2 years, have cruised at least once a year since then, partly to escape MN winters.

[Bubba54]

2010 Zaandam, 21 days San Diego- Hawaii-.Vancouver.

[CowPrincess]

1994 Westerdam

[dfish]

2007 Round trip Alaska from Vancouver on the Zuiderdam.

[Love the beach]

1st HAL cruise was on the Noordam, January 2007, NY to Southern Caribbean. She remains my favorite ship :)

[Mr. Boston]

Our first HAL cruise was an RSVP charter on the Westerdam in February 2005.

[MariettaWay]

August 2nd 1981. Honeymoon. Married on Aug 1st.

We took the Volendam (the old Volendam) from NYC to Bermuda. Been hooked on HAL ever since.

[57redbird]

September, 2008 --- Oosterdam to Alaska

[57redbird]

hated it! - cold, rainy. Next was Mexican Rivera - loved it....changed my mind about cruising...

[ger_77]

April, 2003 - Zuiderdam, Eastern Caribbean. We took the cruise to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary; originally planned for 2002, but postponed for 1 year due to mother-in-law's sudden passing the week before we sailed. We loved the HAL experience and haven't looked back.

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

[igloo810]

Maasdam 2001 - Caribbean

[colbe]

19 May 1964-21 June 1964. Mombasa, Kenya to Antwerp, Netherlands. The ship was the Sloterkerk (Holland Africa Line)

[OCruisers]

Our first HAL was in the 80's.

On a Princess Christmas/New Year's cruise we with our two girls were seated with a wonderful (older to us at time) couple who cruised for the Holidays every other year while their married children were with the other parents.

We enjoyed playing bridge with them. HAL was their favorite cruise line so we started taking a week without children and cruising with this wonderful couple on whatever HAL worked for a short 7 day cruise. :)

 

LuLu

[hpf]

1998 March ??? 7 day Western Caribbean on the old Noordam (3 ?? )

 

Helen

[frankc98376]

1981 SS Rotterdam. Inside cabin with double bed next to one of the "suites".

 

Was my favorite cabin- I believe was 185

Edited August 14, 2015 by frankc98376

[G&T Cruisers]

Our first Hal cruise was on the Nieuw Amsterdam in 2012.We were sopposed to go on a 7 day cruise on the Caribbean Princess but it got canceled two weeks before sail date because of engine trouble,so we quickly scrambled and found the last cabin available and it was on the Nieuw Amsterdam.It was a great cruise and we would not hesitate to book another cruise on Hal again.

[scm1848]

Our first cruise on HAl was on the Veendam from Buenos Aires to Santiago, leaving BA on Dec. 8, 2010. Upon leaving the Fauklands on Dec. 12, we encountered what the captain described as the worst hurricane he had encountered in 25 years at sea. We had a 90 foot wave break over the Crow's Nest and winds of 100 mph. We spent 16 hours confined to cabins, with over half the crew and passengers sick.

 

HAL offered everyone a nice credit, and we used it to book our first suite on the Zuiderdam through the Panama Canal in May 2011. Some people we met from Istanbul and Sydney are still friends, that we have visited with.

 

Like getting back on a horse and riding again, we have become HAL suite addicts!! Just returned from the Norwegian fjords, with a complementary upgrade to the Pinnacle Suite and have 2 more cruises booked. Love HAL!!

[Scrapnana]

After meeting so many nice people on the "Sail-away" threads, I decided I had to go on a HAL cruise. My first one was this past April on Westerdam with many of the "Sail-away Gang". I definitely enjoyed it because I have two more HAL cruises booked.

[Queen of DaNile]

First cruise ever - 1998 on Maasdam through the Panama Canal celebrating our 25th Anniversary:)

[G&G]

So long ago do not remember ship.

 

Was either Ninadam, Pintodam or Santa Mariadam, 1492 :D

 

Chris was a difficult Captain to work with !

[ijsprinses]

last month, on the zuiderdam and it was great!