2023 world cruise reviews

[Cruise NH]

We were on the 2017 Hal wc and were impressed by the entertainment, on board speakers , the staff, just everything. We have reservations for the’25 wc but now we’re having second thoughts.

 

We were on two hal cruises earlier this year both over 14 days and we were underwhelmed by the entertainment, onboard speakers and activities.  The staff on the other hand were great as usual.  
 

We’re currently on the Voyage of the Vikings cruise, which we thought would be much better but it’s not.  So now we’re worried about the world cruise, 120+ days with no great entertainment or guest speakers, that would be tough.

 

So, my question for those who were on the ‘23 world cruise, what did you think?  Other than the ports, was it special?  

 

thanks

[DE Solo]

There are several very detailed "live from" reports from the 2023 world cruise, talking about the positive and negative aspects. I would suggest taking a look at them.

[Cruise NH]

29 minutes ago, DE Solo said:

There are several very detailed "live from" reports from the 2023 world cruise, talking about the positive and negative aspects. I would suggest taking a look at them.

Hmmm how can I put this…I haven’t read the ‘live from’ ones, which can be difficult to get through, but I have read a few blogs from seasoned world cruisers, they tend to be huge fans of hal and maybe just maybe wearing their rose colored glasses at times.  
 

I just want to know did they have good guest speakers, knowledgeable about the area being traveled through, did they have a variety of entertainment, things like that.  

 

 

[Riversedge]

I wasn’t on this year’s world cruise but I have two friends who were.  Neither of them were impressed.   I was curious and tried to follow the blogs but get bogged down when I read the specifics of what they did with friends that day, pictures of their food, etc.  I’m glad that people take the time to blog but they are not for me.  We were debating taking a portion of the wc in 2024 but based on our friend’s reports we decided not to.  We were spoiled on the 2020 Grand SA so our expectations are high.  Hopefully it will get back to what it was but I’m not holding my breath.  

[Mtn2Sea]

DW and I were on the 2023 WC.  We can only compare it to the 2019 WC, which we thoroughly enjoyed.  We had originally booked the 2021 WC, which was delayed to 2022 and then delayed again to 2023.  We would have enjoyed the original itinerary that was planned for 2021 and probably wouldn’t have picked the itinerary that was set for 2023.  We still enjoyed the ports, but I doubt we’ll go back to Western Africa again.  
 

When we started the cruise, we were seriously considering booking the 2024 WC because the itinerary is what was planned for 2021; however, we finished the cruise without booking any future cruise.  Since returning home, we have booked two more cruises, but they are only 12 and 28 days.  We will not book a long cruise until we see positive feedback from cruisers who are not known as cheerleaders.  
 

As many reviewers have noted, the crew remains top notch.  I have absolutely no complaints regarding the crew on the 2023 WC and actually felt sorry for some of them because a few passengers took their frustrations out on them.  I would also like to point out that both Ian (cruise director) and Henk (hotel manager) were outstanding and did what they could to make the cruise special.

 

Near the end of the cruise, HAL’s president joined the cruise for a few days.  He held a Q&A in a packed theater that lasted two and a half hours.  Many, many complaints from seasoned cruisers and a few positive comments.  Complaints ranged from the food (quality, variety, etc.) to all the little niceties seen on Grand Voyages in the past (number/quality of pillow gifts, decorations in MDR on theme nights, etc.). I will say Gus Antorcha did a great job in facing such hostile questions and I left the meeting encouraged things would improve.  In one respect I felt sorry for HAL because approximately one third of the passengers were from the aborted 2020 WC and, with their future cruise credit and refund, they were almost sailing this cruise free.  I would think HAL lost money on this cruise.  DW and I, however, paid full fare expecting a “Grand Voyage “ similar to what we experienced in 2019.  We thoroughly enjoyed visiting new ports, but the shipboard experience was not “ Grand”, other than our interaction with crew members.  For example, for much of the cruise, the theater was dark one night of the week and was reserved a second night for a movie.  Most of the entertainers were good, but there were a couple misses.  The MDR menu was also limited in choices.  I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Jello as one of the dessert choices.  After a few weeks, they moved that option to the every night options, where it belonged.

 

In talking with other passengers, it seemed that those who had never been on a WC generally were positive in their feelings.  Those who had been on previous Grand Cruises not so much.  I did talk to both new and seasoned passengers who had decided to cancel their 2024 WC based on their experience with the 2023 WC.

 

For the OP, I would hold off canceling a 2025 reservation.  Hopefully, cruise lines will get past the worst of the impacts from the pandemic and get somewhat back to normal by 2025.  I would, however, diligently read the reviews from those on the 2024 WC.

[PCruzer]

We were on our one and only WC in 2019.  (I know you asked for opinions from more recent WC’ers, but thought I would let you know of our experience.)  We found the evening entertainment to be excellent.  Even if it was something that we didn’t think we would be interested in, it would be presented in such a way that it was very entertaining.  I can’t say the same for the onboard speakers.  There was only one who was excellent.  The rest were pitiful.  They found a way to make interesting subjects mundane and very boring.  It takes more than knowledge of your subject to make an interesting speaker.  Unfortunately, most of these lecturers had no idea of how to present their subject to a roomful of cruise passengers.  It was such a shame because there were some speaker subjects that should have been great.  With all the consecutive sea days on our WC, after a while, we were finding ourselves to be quite bored.  Of course, the port days were wonderful.  I’m sad to hear that the VoV is not going well for you.  We’ve done that itinerary 2x and both were beyond great in all aspects.  But the last one was 8 years ago.  A lot has changed since that time.

 

Hope you get some opinions regarding more recent WC’s!

[Cruise NH]

Thanks for all your comments.  For us, the lecturers and entertainers are important.  We’re not into trivia or crafts, etc but of course everyone is different.

 

My comment about the vov was just about our disappointment in the two areas I mentioned above, I’m sure we’ll have a great time at the ports and we’re happy to be here.  We’re just thinking about the same experience for 128 days.

[RICHARD@SEA]

I read the WC Blog of WCB om HAL each year.   They are a couple from California that have many many many days on HAL & several WC's under their sea legs.

 

I was most interested this year because I am planning my first WC.  For the most part WCB appear to bea glass is half full, fairly independent & social.  They also report on facts as opposed to emotions / drama.

One point they put out was the use of the new ship this year as opposed to the AMSTERDAM which had done the WC for the last several years.  The food & service were also of concern for them.

In reference to the presentation by the President of HAL - it appeared more as an ad campaign rather than a problem solving & results orientated.

As far as the poster stating that there were a lot of passengers that took the cruise almost for free (after combining a FCC & refund on cancelled WC covid cruise) - those passengers did pay for a cruis ethat was cancelled & from what has been reported many times HAL dropped the ball as far as taking care of passengers, crew & their luggage.

 

WCB usually does a post cruise review - they haven't posted it as of yet, but it should be interesting - they do have future cruises. booked but they said they are taking a wait & see attitude as far as future WC(they wrote letters to the President of HAL).

 

i decided NOT to book the WC w HAL after the loss of quality.

[Fred321]

This was our fifth world cruise with HAL (actually 41/2 since we were on the aborted 2020). Would echo what the Mtn2sea poster said about the crew. They were fantastic. Unfortunately, this wasn't a Grand Cruise as they used to exist. Simply a long cruise.

Our food and dining experience both in the MDR and Pinnacle were acceptable. No big problems and lucky with a wonderful wait staff. Food was OK and they did have a number of supply issues during the cruise so you have to give them the benefit of the doubt when it comes to availability and selection.

Speakers were not as good or as informative as past World Cruises and the music selection was worse, in my opinion. Classical duo did more talking about themselves than playing. Jazz trio in Ocean Bar was good. Didn't really spend much time in the Rolling Stone venue but it seemed to be busy.

With the change in ships, the crows nest is no longer a comfortable space for a drink at night which results in the Ocean Bar becoming very crowded. Staff there was very attentive but it was annoying having to search for seats every night. They really ruined the crows nest on this class of ship by trying to make it all things for all people.

I am sure we were spoiled from our previous trips pre pandemic but we are pretty sure that we are done with world cruises with HAL. Just too many cases of remember how good it used to be. Friends of ours were aboard for their first world cruise and they seemed to enjoy it since they had nothing to measure it by.

Think we will still do longer voyages even with HAL. Just won't expect as much in the future.

[sandiego1]

We were on the 2019 and 2023 WC. The biggest difference was the lack of pillow gifts and the number of complaints by others. We don’t care about the gifts. We don’t need “stuff” to collect in our home. Some of the old-timers seem to complain if they change the butter dish in the MDR. Really some of the complaints were very petty. It got annoying after a while. Some people are just grumpy and look for things to dislike.
 

We liked the Zuiderdam compared to the Amsterdam. The music walk gave us more choices at night. Again, there were complaints about the different ship.
 

People also complained about ports in West Africa for a variety of reasons. What did they expect? We were visiting 3rd world countries with wide spread poverty. We didn’t expect Four Seasons luxury there. We had never been to Africa before and were happy to go there and experience local cultures and meet people from very different backgrounds. It was educational and eye opening. We booked independent tours in each African port and had a great time in most of the ports. 

 

There were some food shortages which led to grumpy people. Considering it was the 1st WC since COVID, we thought they did a great job. Was it perfect, no. But considering the state the world was in (ie many countries opening up for tourism again), we expected some issues. They ran out of the pillow chocolates and based on the number of complaints, you would have the thought it was a critical issue. Honestly some people need to just loved to complain! 

 

The staff was fantastic and we had great service in every venue. Our cabin stewards were the best we’ve had! Miss those guys!!

 

Overall we loved the cruise and signed up for the 2025 Pole To Pole.

 

 

[sandiego1]

Another common complaint was the lack of decorations in the MDR on theme and Gala nights. They sold the Amsterdam with all the decorations. The Zuiderdam doesn’t have as much storage as the Amsterdam did so they weren’t replaced. They also weren’t able to store our luggage and we had to rethink how we packed to ensure our luggage would fit under the bed.

[Roz]

How are other lines such as Princess doing with their WCs?  Are they experiencing the same challenges and issues as HAL?

[dockman]

19 hours ago, PCruzer said:

We were on our one and only WC in 2019.  (I know you asked for opinions from more recent WC’ers, but thought I would let you know of our experience.)  We found the evening entertainment to be excellent.  Even if it was something that we didn’t think we would be interested in, it would be presented in such a way that it was very entertaining.  I can’t say the same for the onboard speakers.  There was only one who was excellent.  The rest were pitiful.  They found a way to make interesting subjects mundane and very boring.  It takes more than knowledge of your subject to make an interesting speaker.  Unfortunately, most of these lecturers had no idea of how to present their subject to a roomful of cruise passengers.  It was such a shame because there were some speaker subjects that should have been great.  With all the consecutive sea days on our WC, after a while, we were finding ourselves to be quite bored.  Of course, the port days were wonderful.  I’m sad to hear that the VoV is not going well for you.  We’ve done that itinerary 2x and both were beyond great in all aspects.  But the last one was 8 years ago.  A lot has changed since that time.

 

Hope you get some opinions regarding more recent WC’s!

 

I agree that "it takes more than knowledge of your subject to make an interesting speaker."

 

I have been on many many cruises on Holland and Princess and I really don't get it as to who if anyone vets a lot of the speakers....yes many of them are professors of major universities and I have no doubt they are experts full of knowledge on their subjects....but over and over I has sat through some of these presentations and frankly these professors are a boring as watching paint dry...they have close to zero skill at making their subject interesting/exciting...many of them basically read from a script...often their visuals shown on the screen are simply awful.

 

  I assume they use some sort of service to provide these speakers.  Over the years I have had several wonderful speakers who would pack the theatre with every lecture and often get standing ovations as they were not only knowledgeable but fantastic speakers that made their subject come alive.

 

It used to be that speakers were given a free cruise (and maybe some amount of $$?) but had to provide their own air to ship.  I do not know if this has all changed but for whatever reason the quality of speakers presentation skills IMO has gone way down over the last decade.  Sad as there are no doubt many many talented experts who would be available especially on closer to home cruises.  I wish HAL would at least require a video of the expert doing a lecture and somebody would vet his presentation and personality skills. 

[FlaMariner]

Could these negative reviews translate into lower demand for the WC and perhaps prices that start to match regular cruise prices?  

 

From what I have researched, the WC has a higher per day rate than other HAL longer cruises. 

 

 

 

 

 

[dockman]

For those on princess Alaska cruises Libby is a regular speaker....if you get the chance to hear and see her presentation I recommend it....she could teach a few of the professors how to do an interesting speech.

 

https://alifeofdogs.com/libby-riddles-first-woman-to-win-the-iditarod/

[WriterOnDeck]

On 7/24/2023 at 12:48 PM, Cruise NH said:

We’re currently on the Voyage of the Vikings cruise, which we thought would be much better but it’s not.  So now we’re worried about the world cruise, 120+ days with no great entertainment or guest speakers, that would be tough.

 

Who are the speakers and/or what are the topics on the Voyage of the Vikings? And who is the MainStage entertainment?

 

I'm curious what specifically you think the shortcomings are. I do know that many of the former entertainers (pre covid) are no longer touring on cruise ships.

[Cruise NH]

47 minutes ago, WriterOnDeck said:

Who are the speakers and/or what are the topics on the Voyage of the Vikings? And who is the MainStage entertainment?

 

I'm curious what specifically you think the shortcomings are. I do know that many of the former entertainers (pre covid) are no longer touring on cruise ships.

this is the entertainment for the first couple of weeks.

 

exc talks are just the cruise director reading a script.  The Step One Dance Company are repeats from voyages we took earlier this year.  
 

One speaker we haven’t heard from yet so we have no opinion there.  He’s scheduled to talk about ships and such.  The only other speaker is a couple who are supposed to be talking about the ports in some way but from their first talk I don’t know what they are trying to accomplish.  They are listed as former teachers who started cruising several years ago.

 

What I expected is subject matter experts on Viking history or Canadian history, etc.  I also expected to get practical information about the ports we are going to.  
 

We did the 2017 WC, so what I’m asking is, was the’23 WC more like what we have here on the VOV or more like the special voyage the ‘17 WC was.

[Tampa Girl]

On 7/25/2023 at 5:23 PM, FlaMariner said:

Could these negative reviews translate into lower demand for the WC and perhaps prices that start to match regular cruise prices?  

 

From what I have researched, the WC has a higher per day rate than other HAL longer cruises. 

 

 

 

 

 

That is because they are "special", or, at least, they used to be.  I would hate to think that HAL is simply charging more for Grand Voyages, without an uptick in food, entertainment, ports, pillow gifts, etc., etc.  That is why people are willing to pay extra.  The '23 had "special" problems because of all it FCC's from aborted '20 WC.  It was probably not a good year for a WC.

[Nancy&Frank]

On 7/24/2023 at 7:04 PM, Cruise NH said:

Hmmm how can I put this…I haven’t read the ‘live from’ ones, which can be difficult to get through, but I have read a few blogs from seasoned world cruisers, they tend to be huge fans of hal and maybe just maybe wearing their rose colored glasses at times.  
 

I just want to know did they have good guest speakers, knowledgeable about the area being traveled through, did they have a variety of entertainment, things like that.  

 

 

As a 2023 World Cruiser, the short answer is “No”. There was only one guest lecturer that was worth going to see.  There were No guest speakers that spoke about areas that we were traveling through.  The CD did a few narrations during a few of the scenic travel days.  There were many B rate movies shown in place of entertainment at night.  Very underwhelming on a whole.  The craziest thing they had was a man demonstrating his yo-yo skills as the evenings entertainment 🤦‍♀️

[cruisemom42]

28 minutes ago, Nancy&Frank said:

The craziest thing they had was a man demonstrating his yo-yo skills as the evenings entertainment 🤦‍♀️

 

Hopefully he's not billing himself as Yo-Yo Ma.

 

😉

[LouChamp]

Aloha. I genuinely enjoy reading the world cruise posts and the blogs cited by several posters. Each  has a different perspective and it is great to see the places we have been around the world bringing back wonderful memories. As some may know on these boards I love the food pictures. I find the posters to offer genuine criticism and praise and as my late father always said, you never stop learning.  With the exception of one poster who kept touting their Presidents Club status to the point of over saturation, I felt as if I personally knew them and looked forward to reading their daily posts.  While as stated we have been around the world on long cruises, I look forward to shortly be on a world cruise and meet some of the posters just not sure which line/ship yet but I thank those that take the time to provide us with such valuable information. All the best!

[WriterOnDeck]

On 7/26/2023 at 6:13 PM, Cruise NH said:

this is the entertainment for the first couple of weeks.

 

exc talks are just the cruise director reading a script.  The Step One Dance Company are repeats from voyages we took earlier this year.  
 

One speaker we haven’t heard from yet so we have no opinion there.  He’s scheduled to talk about ships and such.  The only other speaker is a couple who are supposed to be talking about the ports in some way but from their first talk I don’t know what they are trying to accomplish.  They are listed as former teachers who started cruising several years ago.

 

What I expected is subject matter experts on Viking history or Canadian history, etc.  I also expected to get practical information about the ports we are going to.  
 

 

On the pre-VoV Zuiderdam cruise, following pretty much the same path from Rotterdam to Boston, we had 2 good speakers who talked about Viking history, geology of the area esp Iceland, etc. The problem with port-heavy itineraries such as the VoV is that the lectures are only on sea days, of which there may not be many.

 

The Cruise Director (you know they hire actors for the job now, frequently from musical theater, so they can do the scripted talks well?) was pretty good for what they are now. But they are advertised also as port directors and many times haven't been to the ports if you aren't doing the same ones over and over. Ian Page on the world cruise at least has been almost everywhere and shares great info. But one of my big criticisms is HAL's lack of any info about the ports. I spend a lot of time researching on my own to fill in the huge blanks.

 

Please when the cruise is over comment about these lacks on the survey. Of course, comment while you're on it, too, but I think for general program issues the survey gets more attention, as the people on the ship don't really control speakers and entertainment.

 

[Tampa Girl]

2 hours ago, WriterOnDeck said:

. But one of my big criticisms is HAL's lack of any info about the ports. I spend a lot of time researching on my own to fill in the huge blanks.

 

 

 

 

Agreed.  I really miss the port info sheets that HAL used to circulate for each port.  Given the fact that the info sheet just hit the highlights of the port, it nonetheless gave very useful info, including but not limited to:  Currency, shopping, eateries, temperature, all aboard time, etc.  The info, being basically a brief outline of useful info, would not seem to create a significant burden to annually update the information.  Further, I think these port sheets had been stopped prior to the pandemic.  Miss them.

[REOVA]

HAL cut a lot of positions (or combined them) pre Covid. Bruce used to put together some great shows and entertainment. Barbara (RIP) had been to every port (flags included) and was a wealth of information on every port. HAL did away with those positions. 

 

Last year's VoV was basically 2 17 day voyagers with entertainment repeats. The ports were excellent (if you were able to get off and not quarantined) and they had a good lecturer who got on in Canada and off in Iceland. Other than that repeated Step One, Cantare, BBC movies, etc like other cruises. I'd hope things changed this year for you. Maybe next year things will improve after revamping their "Legendary  Voyages" program but that means they have to include this one as Legendary as well. 

[Fred321]

Only sense I got from listening to Antorcha on this year's world cruise was that the difference between Legendary and Grand was the number of days on the itinerary. I'm sure I may have missed something and others can correct me but I have no recollection of him going into a long explanation of the various amenities that would be involved in either category.

Think he was honest enough to admit that they have been hammered by the debt they had to take on and that job one for him was keeping the company afloat. That doesn't seem to translate into a return to multiple nights in port or evenings in Ephesus. Unfortunately, unless they decide that the market would bear significant price increases , those days are over.