NCL Cheerleader takes HAL Charter

[kollegekreed]

Howdy. I recently went on theKoningsdam (Charter) which was my first experience with HAL. I havebeen on one Celebrity, one Carnival, and 9 NCL cruises so I figured Iwould post a small comparison between NCL and HAL in my eyes.

 

 

 

 

Embarkation:

 

 

 

 

Took over an hour. I am used to Port ofMiami/NCL getting me onboard in under ten minutes. It really seemedto be some deficiencies with Port Everglades. At one point thesecurity line was wrapped around the building; once it started movingwe assumed they opened several more lines. Nope! They doubled them,from one open line to two.

 

 

 

 

Food:

 

 

 

 

I loved HAL's Lido Market concept. Thesalad bar is a particularly big win for HAL. I only ate in the MDRonce, but the food was fine. Something very similar to NCL is thatalmost every dessert seems to be made with a packet of Jello. I justdont get that...

 

 

 

 

Lots of people were big fans of Dive InBurgers, but I didn't love it. We all enjoyed the pizza at NY Deli,but their sandwiches were lacking.

 

 

 

 

I also loved the Grand Dutch Cafe –Grilled ham and cheese with tomato and the steak fries were the bestfries on the ship. The servers always had a scowl on though! Not sureif it was just our week or what.

 

 

 

 

If I were to compare to NCL, I likedNCLs MDR menus much better. HAL's buffet clearly wins. NCL has abigger win with their 24 hour Osheehans, while HAL doesnt haveanything 24 hour but room service.

 

 

 

 

Staterooms:

 

 

 

 

I loved my inside stateroom on HAL. Forsome reason the arrangement just worked better than NCL's insides ontheir newer ships. It was a perfectly fine size for two of us andthere was plenty of storage. The bed was very comfortable.

 

 

 

 

TV was sorely lacking in Live channels,but they made up for it with movies. I didnt have time to watch asingle one, but many of them were new-ish. NCL has way more livechannels, but only one movie channel. The on demand feature on HALwas nice.

 

 

 

 

The stateroom stewards ticked me off onday one and never recovered, unfortunately. Just like all ships withthe new “electricity” technology that requires your room key, Iput a plastic card in the slot to keep the lights on. Returned tofind the card gone. When I asked the steward he pulled over 200plastic cards out of his pocket for me to go through. How ridiculousis that. And no, my card wasnt there. They also got pretty pushy atturndown time one time knocking a second time and asking “if I wasdone yet” when I had told them id be out in a few minutes.

 

 

 

 

Pools:

 

 

 

 

Hands down, HAL wins. NCL's newer shipshave ridiculously small pools and HAL having two alone makes them thewinner.

 

 

 

 

Casino:

 

 

 

 

HAL loses this one. Im not sure itcould be much smaller. For a ship that even the staff refer to as “afloating retirement home” you would think they would make thisspace bigger for the older gamblers.

 

 

 

 

Staff:

 

 

 

 

I can honestly say we didnt have asingle real issue with any staff all week. They were friendly,attentive, and in many cases were visibly laughing and smiling. Therewas a common theme during the week (again, a charter) where the stafftalked about how much more fun it is not to have the regular crowd onbecause it was a lot more laid back with a charter etc.

 

 

 

 

Shows:

 

 

 

 

Since this was a charter, there wasvery little HAL entertainment. I did catch the shows they put on(Billboard and One World) and they were “fine”. There/s not muchcompetition with NCL for entertainment; their production shows arefar better and the newer ships of course have the broadway stylestuff.

 

 

 

 

Overall:

 

 

 

 

I would sail HAL again on a charter,for sure. I would never sail a normal HAL voyage as the activitiesjust arent there to hold my interest. As I said the jokes were flyingall week from the captain, cruise director and on down about thenormal HAL passengers and how they were looking forward to thecomplaints resuming on the sailing after ours about scheduling shows“so late, at 8:30 PM”. It seemed to be a nice break for them tohave our music piped across the ship, no real limits on language andcontent, etc.

 

 

 

 

For me NCL on a normal day is just waymore laid back and, to steal their word, freestyle. That said, nowthat i've gotten a taste of the slightly more upscale I would like toget over to Royal at some point to compare as well.

 

 

 

 

Great trip either way...sorry for thesegmented thoughts but no time to put four hours into a formalreview:)

[OlsSalt]

Thank you for sharing the following: "As I said the jokes were flying all week from the captain, cruise director and on down about the normal HAL passengers and how they were looking forward to the complaints resuming.."

 

Never been on NCL but understand it is primarily built around maximizing its casino operations. To each their own.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Thanks for your review :) I truly agree with you are several points. I was a HAL Fan for many years but now lean toward NCL. The Main Dining Room on NCL is definitely much better food quality and selection and they are not nearly as crowded for seating. While I like HAL Lido I do give a slight edge toward NCL Garden Cafe. Both my husband and I like that it is open much longer and does not totally close up at certain times of the day like mid afternoon like it does on HAL.

I think as you mentioned the one thing HAL has going for it is the size of the cabins.

Both have excellent friendly crew.

[Cruiser Bruiser]

It's funny how folks move in different directions. I have a 3 times more days booked with HAL, P&O and Princess right now than I do with NCL. I guess I am feeling traditional.

 

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[easyboy]

Thank you for your comparison. Glad that you liked your HAL cruise.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your comparisons between the 2 cruise lines.

Glad you enjoyed your Charter cruise.

[RMLincoln]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We enjoy both HAL and NCL. I think it's hard to compare a charter cruise to a non-charter cruise. If you change your mind and book a HAL non-charter you will find that the shows are usually at 8 and 10pm. When there is only one show such as when HAL does an overnight in a port it is usually at 9:30pm. Game shows are sometimes done at 7:30 with the early show then beginning at 8:15, but I don't think I've ever seen a show at 8:30pm, so I think that was a joke.

 

Photos I've seen of Koningsdam's Inside rooms show a much smaller room than the other HAL ships, not even a chair, just the desk stool, so I think that is a set back for that ship, so I am surprised you enjoyed the layout of your Inside room on K'dam, but I haven't done an Inside on an NCL... booked Insides on a B2B on NCL Sun but we were upgraded to OV, so maybe NCL's insides also have no chair or table? I'll have to keep that possibility in mind as I"m sure we'll we'll book NCL again at some point.

Thanks again, m--

[JimAOk1945]

Thanks for your review and comparison. We've never cruised on NCL, but we have been on Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean, and Holland America.

Last August was our first on HAL. We took a 14 day Alaska cruise round trip from Settle on the Maasdam. We have taken two other Alaska cruises, one on Princess and the other on Royal Caribbean.

My wife and I both agree that HAL wins hands down in our overall cruise experience compared with other cruise lines we have sailed on. We enjoyed the traditional, ship décor, relaxed ambiance, great crew, and wonderful food. Our stateroom attendants were inconspicuous and kept our room spotless. We are planning another HAL cruise next year.

If you're interested in Royal Caribbean, you might enjoy seeing the pictures my wife has taken and posted on her website in the links below. She hasn't had time to post the most recent of our Christmas cruise on the Liberty of the Seas. Life keeps getting in the way. :D

Happy sailing wherever you go next!

[OlsSalt]

Thank you for sharing the following: "As I said the jokes were flying all week from the captain, cruise director and on down about the normal HAL passengers and how they were looking forward to the complaints resuming.."

 

 

Ouch, that hurts. A lot. TMI.

[frankc98376]

Thank you for sharing the following: "As I said the jokes were flying all week from the captain, cruise director and on down about the normal HAL passengers and how they were looking forward to the complaints resuming.."

 

 

I'm sure the good folks on Elliott..er I mean 3rd Avenue will get a good laugh.

[Tampa Girl]

Thank you for sharing the following: "As I said the jokes were flying all week from the captain, cruise director and on down about the normal HAL passengers and how they were looking forward to the complaints resuming.."

 

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Has anyone else ever experienced such comments on other charters? We have never taken a charter.

[TheCalicoCat]

Thanks for your comparison.

 

Out of curiosity, how often do you eat in the NCL MDR? (Without the upcharge meals?)

 

I read an NCL review & based up on the menus posted for the different venues, I was shocked by the amount of stuff that you had to pay for that I think is included on other cruise lines...

 

Again food is subjective... (I also do not care for all of the desserts containing gelatin.)

[Boytjie]

Has anyone else ever experienced such comments on other charters? We have never taken a charter.

 

 

I can't recall captains or HAL CDs joking about the complaining to start after our charters, but I have heard comments related to the ship being much quieter afterwards and less scooters being around - always jokingly and never mean.

 

I have heard from crew lower down the ranks about differences in regular cruises vs our charters which have included how much complaining goes on. As one staff member said to me a week ago: "when you come onboard, you all have something in common which binds you into one big group" and I think that makes a difference. I have heard numerous times that the people on our charters are friendlier, treat the staff better and tip very well. They will also mention that they work much harder during the week that we are on board than they do on other weeks. Crew will often extend their contracts to be able to work on our charters.

[kollegekreed]

Thanks for your comparison. Out of curiosity, how often do you eat in the NCL MDR? (Without the upcharge meals?)

 

I read an NCL review & based up on the menus posted for the different venues, I was shocked by the amount of stuff that you had to pay for that I think is included on other cruise lines...

 

Again food is subjective... (I also do not care for all of the desserts containing gelatin.)

 

 

I think you're correct about NCLs upcharges - that's one of the reasons i really liked the Dutch Cafe and the NY Deli. The issue was they just weren't open enough hours in the day.

 

I didn't do any upcharge restaurants on HAL cause im picky and there wasn't anything on the menus I wanted to pay for

[kollegekreed]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We enjoy both HAL and NCL. I think it's hard to compare a charter cruise to a non-charter cruise. If you change your mind and book a HAL non-charter you will find that the shows are usually at 8 and 10pm. When there is only one show such as when HAL does an overnight in a port it is usually at 9:30pm. Game shows are sometimes done at 7:30 with the early show then beginning at 8:15, but I don't think I've ever seen a show at 8:30pm, so I think that was a joke. Photos I've seen of Koningsdam's Inside rooms show a much smaller room than the other HAL ships, not even a chair, just the desk stool, so I think that is a set back for that ship, so I am surprised you enjoyed the layout of your Inside room on K'dam, but I haven't done an Inside on an NCL... booked Insides on a B2B on NCL Sun but we were upgraded to OV, so maybe NCL's insides also have no chair or table? I'll have to keep that possibility in mind as I"m sure we'll we'll book NCL again at some point.

Thanks again, m--

 

 

Believe it or not NCLs new ships have tiny insides as well with just a stool. Balconies get a couch. Honestly the rooms were VERY similar. It's just that on HAL the beds are setup perpendicular to the door, Theresa on NCL they are parallel. It gave the ILLUSION of More space on HAL.