How much has changed?

[Deborah5052]

Hi Cruisers,

I just came off the Dawn Princess and longed for the extras on the Hal ships. Are they as I remembered them 2 years ago.? Fresh squeesed orange juice, free ice cream when you whenever you wanted it, belgim waffles in the morning with fruit and whip cream, fresh o'dearves in the bars before dinner, a free bag for shopping, a free Delft trivit, Dutch hats on Dutch dinner night, cookies on the buffet all the time, rasberries and strawberris every morning in my room even though it wasn't on the menue, or did I just dream up that curise? Was there really linens and china and silver in the buffet at night? Do they still have wash cloths for to dry your hands in all the public rest rooms and not paper? Just the bath tubs alone made me think of Hal. What about the towles on deck? Can you have as many as needed, or are you assigned one? If it's as good as it was, I'm coming back.

Let me know please.

Please and Thank You,

Deborah deborahp@glasscity.net

[geoherb]

You're not dreaming, although the Dutch hats are not done any more. The funny thing is it doesn't matter which cruiseline I sail on--I'll find some things that are better and miss some things about the other lines we like. For instance, I miss being able to take a swim after dinner in the 24/7 pools and missed having formal tea in the dining room every day. On the Maasdam, the dining room was even closed during lunch a couple of days on our cruise.

[jhannah]

So far as I know everything you mentioned is just as you remembered. I last sailed at the end of last summer and all those things were in place then. The ice cream is not available 24 hours a day, but long enough IMO.

 

The deck towels are stacked in a bin for your use. You may use as many as you need.

 

There is something special about HAL isn't there? We've sailed Princess before (although it's been a few years now.) They have a good product ... but HAL ships are just a cut above.

[FlorenceItaly]

I met them on the Zuiderdam in December. They loved HAL. I will be visiting with them in San Diego this Saturday while they are in port, and I am getting ready to board the Oosterdam. I have not cruised Princess before, and I am SO anxious to hear their impressions of Princess versus HAL.

 

Welcome back to HAL it's just as you remember :)

 

Marie

[sail7seas]

You're not dreaming, although the Dutch hats are not done any more. The funny thing is it doesn't matter which cruiseline I sail on--I'll find some things that are better and miss some things about the other lines we like. For instance, I miss being able to take a swim after dinner in the 24/7 pools and missed having formal tea in the dining room every day. On the Maasdam, the dining room was even closed during lunch a couple of days on our cruise.

 

Everything Deborah mentioned is still on the HAL ships as well as Dutch hats ....at least on most cruises.

 

We had Dutch Night including Dutch hats on VODM in October and January. On Veendam last January and Maasdam.....

 

I think that perhaps Zuiderdam (the other Vistas as well??) no longer have Dutch hats.

[boards]

Unfortunately we didn't get our Dutch nights or night on the Veendam last Nov. 2005. I was looking forward to it, but didn't happen. We experienced pretty much everything else though.

[Gardendog]

I have only sailed once on the Westerdam (April 05) and just recently on the Oosterdam. I don't know what a Dutch hat would look like. Never saw one or heard of them except here on this board.

[kryos]

You're not dreaming, although the Dutch hats are not done any more. The funny thing is it doesn't matter which cruiseline I sail on--I'll find some things that are better and miss some things about the other lines we like. For instance, I miss being able to take a swim after dinner in the 24/7 pools and missed having formal tea in the dining room every day. On the Maasdam, the dining room was even closed during lunch a couple of days on our cruise.

On the Amsterdam, we had tea just about every day ... maybe they might have skipped it a few port days, but I know it was available any day that we were at sea. They even had "high tea" a couple of times.

 

Yes, the pool towels are right there for the taking ... as many as you need.

 

I don't know about the pools on HAL, but I know I routinely saw people in the hot tubs in the evening. I believe they were open until about 11:00 p.m.

 

As far as I know, the dining room was open for lunch and breakfast every day ... even on port days.

 

And, yes, that wonderful fresh squeezed orange juice in the mornings ... and the waffles ... and the ice cream ... all at no extra charge ... unlike some other lines that charge for fresh squeezed orange juice and for regular ice cream. I think the only ice cream that was free on Princess was the soft serve type dispensed from the machine.

 

And, true ... there were no Dutch hats in the dining room on my 30-day Amsterdam cruise ... but we did have a Chef's Dinner one night, and everyone had a chef's hat awaiting them at their place in the dining room. We also had some "special events" in the dining room ... a Neptune's dinner on the evening that we crossed the equator, a "Love Boat" singalong one night where the whole staff got us singing along to the Love Boat theme song that was piped in over the sound system. Of course, there was the Parade of the Baked Alaska, a staple on all HAL cruises ... and of course, the Dessert Extravaganza ... which you can rest assured was an especially awesome production on a 30-day cruise.

 

I, too, sailed Princess twice last year, and missed these things on both sailings. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed my Princess cruises and the people I met on them ... but what can I say? It sure wasn't HAL.

 

So, come on back to the place you'll feel more at home. :)

 

Blue skies ...

 

--rita

[Krazy Kruizers]

It has been over 2 years since we have had the Dutch Hats on a ship and during that time we have sailed on the Statendam, Westerdam, Volendam, Zuiderdam, Ryndam, Oosterdam and Maasdam.

[Randyk47]

We did get our Dutch hats on the Volendam a couple of weeks ago. I don't know if they gave them out on the Oosterdam in March 2004 as we were in port Dutch night and we ate at a restaurant on shore.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We were on the Oosterdam in March 2004 also - no Dutch hats either week (we did back-to-backs).

[LHC]

I too, do not know about the Dutch Night, was on the Zaandam for one week in December and did not have one...but all the other things are true. I still miss the OJ in the morning. I loved the cinnamon vanilla ice cream with a sugar cookie after lunch.

The towels are the pool were royal purple and super thick and they were a light blue when leaving for Half Moon Cay....

Every night in the Rotterdam and the Pinnacle we had fresh flowers, linen and beautiful serving pieces.

Welcome Home.

Linda

[Deborah5052]

You're not dreaming, although the Dutch hats are not done any more. The funny thing is it doesn't matter which cruiseline I sail on--I'll find some things that are better and miss some things about the other lines we like. For instance, I miss being able to take a swim after dinner in the 24/7 pools and missed having formal tea in the dining room every day. On the Maasdam, the dining room was even closed during lunch a couple of days on our cruise.

The water in the pools on the Dawn was close to 85-90 degrees. It was great to be able to swim when it was so cool outside and do it at any time. The Dawn had formal tea as well as a "tea" on the buffet. That's when you could find cookies. I'm just learning what floats my boat.

Deborah

[Deborah5052]

I met them on the Zuiderdam in December. They loved HAL. I will be visiting with them in San Diego this Saturday while they are in port, and I am getting ready to board the Oosterdam. I have not cruised Princess before, and I am SO anxious to hear their impressions of Princess versus HAL.

 

Welcome back to HAL it's just as you remember :)

 

Marie

Hi Marie,

We were on the Zuiderdam last year. The first Hal ship we did was the Volendam. I didn't realize what we were giving up when we went with Princess. They (Princess) were the different just a few years ago. I didn't remember so many people tring to sell me something so much of the time. We had anytime dining and before they came to take our order, 4 people try to sell us something; water in a bottle, wine, drinks, pictures. We ate at the buffet more often. No major slam on Princess, we did book for a future cruise. I guess, just different.

Deborah

[Deborah5052]

Oh Man,

I forgot about all the fresh flowers.

Thanks everyone. I'm back!!!!!!!!

Deborah