Royal vs HAL: my take

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It's been a few years since I sailed on HAL, but my impressions matched up pretty well. I've been contemplating giving them another go as I try to figure out where the best bang-for-buck ratio lies in the post-COVID world. 

[PigsCanFly]

Thanks OP.  We have only sailed HAL and Royal for the past 15 years.  We sail those 2 lines mainly for the excellent crew.  The food on both is great (for us) and the variety of entertainment is varied.  Royal tops HAL for Broadway type shows, HAL tops Royal for classical and BB Kings.  Both line enjoy our casino donations and want us back.  We are in agreement.

[Cruise a holic]

I strongly disagree with the OP.  We sail mostly or RC- Oasis class, and Celebrity ships.  NCL Was very disappointing and we sailed in the haven.  The food outside of the Haven was very disappointing- even the specialty restaurants were olive garden cuisine.  If you left the Haven to go to public spaces, felt like steerage.  The pool was so crowded that people didn't have any chairs and were lying with towels on the floor.  The layout of the ship poorly designed as they had no real theatre so people sat in the center of the ship for many events.  Never again. We will stick to Royal and Celebrity.  The newer the ship IMO the better.

[bstreep]

It’s so funny how much of a “crap shoot” cruises are. We just came off of a pair of Alaska cruises, north on NCL and south on RCCL.  We thought Royal was going to win.  Not even close. NCL was far superior. Look for my review in a few days. 
 

Of course, the sewage leak on our balcony and the horrid food In specialty restaurants didn’t help. We actually walked out of the Samba Grill on our last night, and ate in the MDR. It was that bad. 

Edited August 26, 2023 by bstreep

[la_croisiere_s'amuse]

3 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

I strongly disagree with the OP.  We sail mostly or RC- Oasis class, and Celebrity ships.  NCL Was very disappointing and we sailed in the haven.  The food outside of the Haven was very disappointing- even the specialty restaurants were olive garden cuisine.  If you left the Haven to go to public spaces, felt like steerage.  The pool was so crowded that people didn't have any chairs and were lying with towels on the floor.  The layout of the ship poorly designed as they had no real theatre so people sat in the center of the ship for many events.  Never again. We will stick to Royal and Celebrity.  The newer the ship IMO the better.

There seems to be a disconnect here ... maybe you meant to reply to a different thread? Or just misread the original post? The OP was comparing Royal and HAL (Holland America), not NCL (Norwegian Cruise Lines).

[Cruise a holic]

8 minutes ago, la_croisiere_s'amuse said:

There seems to be a disconnect here ... maybe you meant to reply to a different thread? Or just misread the original post? The OP was comparing Royal and HAL (Holland America), not NCL (Norwegian Cruise Lines).

Sorry. Comparing ncl to royal.  But bottom line really enjoy royal oasis class and celebrity the best!!

[yogimax]

10 hours ago, PigsCanFly said:

 Royal tops HAL for Broadway type shows, HAL tops Royal for classical and BB Kings. 

Got off Eurodam two weeks ago.  Sadly, the classical music was gone.  Totally gone.  It was a major disappointment as were the shows.

[RedIguana]

On 8/25/2023 at 5:48 AM, exm said:

Disadvantages HAL

- Buffet: nothing is self service? How hard is it to get some butter for my bread (yes, butter is not readily available)

- Dinner variety: food is good, but I feel that every 2-3 days I get the exact same menu. Seriously! What’s up with that?

- Drink package: limit to 15, but then also water is counted toward the package? A soda? Not cool.

- Food in the Dutch cafe is good, but mostly lukewarm. Lines are crazy and why aren’t the hours more extended? It closes at 8pm.

- Shore excursions are crazily overpriced. Royal isn’t cheap but HAL is insane.

- Nice cabin (had a balcony), but small! Felt smaller than Royal although the bathroom is nicer.

- This might be controversial, but to enforce selectively “no shorts during dinner in the dining room”? Are we living in the 70s? There are many nice dress shorts, it doesn’t get consistently enforced, who cares about your shorts when you are sitting on a table? I have seen babies in the pool all day (against the rules - personally no issues with it): why enforce the no-shorts rule specifically? I get it: they want the dining room to look nice, but the insanity of not following rules consistently drives me crazy. Just let it go. Relax.

- On a ship with a lot of seniors, why have 1-2 elevators out of service consistently?

- Kids club: at Royal (and MSC) 12 and up are in their own group. Somehow at HAL my 12 year old is grouped with 7 year olds. In other words, she didn’t use the kids club at all. During sea days they do mandatory activities with the kids; there’s no option for them to free play at any of the gaming machines. My kids hardly used the kids club at all because of this (only during the one hour 7-8pm free play).

 

My conclusion:

I definitely would sail HAL again, and I understand that older crowds probably love the more mature atmosphere. However, I can’t really say I feel HAL is a more premium product and is worth any extra dollars. Also, I wouldn’t want to try any of the smaller and older HAL ships. As far as Royal is concerned, I haven’t been on an Oasis Class ship (!). That’s next on my cruising journey - fall 2024 most likely.

          Sailed on Rotterdam March 2022 with my then 22 year old daughter. She really enjoyed it, even with the lack of a flowrider . It is a beautiful, well laid out ship, that will compare quite nicely to any mass market ship that is not the resort style (such as Oasis class). If you are looking for an Oasis class type of ship, HAL won't have it. I was quite surprised that at mid 50's I was probably on the back half of the age demographic on that sailing, even though I saw very few under 30.

          It took me a few days to find where they were hiding the butter in the Buffet area. Once I found it, it was always there (forget where it was, maybe by the condiments).

          We had the Premium (premier?) beverage package, so non-alcoholic drinks did not count towards the limit. Think it was $5 a day more, but we had it as an addon with grats, OBC, specialty dinner, wifi, and I think shore excursion credits. We were on a Caribbean sailing, so excursion

 cost were about the same as RCG through the ship. We always do some on on own, but usually do one or two through the ship (OBC or Credits to use up).

           We were in a Vista suite, a slightly larger cabin than the typical RCL balcony, but not as big as most of  Royal's junior suites. But I was paying 1K less than the Royal balcony sailings at that time.

           I found the food a step up from Royal, more in line with Celebrity or Princess. I wear long pants out to dinner even on land, so I have no issue not being able to wear shorts. But I am comfortable in pants anytime the temp is below 78, and at 75 would be cold in shorts. I have no problem respecting the wishes of the cruise line to maintain whatever standard they desire for their restaurants, whether it is shorts like RCL and Carnival or long pants on the slightly more upscale lines.   

           I agree with you that HAL is probably not the best line for kids .It is much more adult orientated, which also shows in the nightly entertainment. It's hard to beat royal's production shows, and nothing touches the Ice shows in my opinion.

            We found the aft pool was the place to be. Had a pretty lively party atmosphere most of the time. 

            By all means try an Oasis class. I'm not sure there is anything that can even compare afloat right now (yes, Icon is coming). Everyone should try an Oasis class at least once, especially with the age of your kids. HAL is really geared for an adult crowd, not kids, from what I saw with my one cruise with them. But they are on my radar (along with RCL, Celebrity, and Princess) when looking for a future cruise. 

           

 

[flamingos]

On 8/25/2023 at 11:26 AM, yogimax said:

Are you sure?  Just off Eurodam and I'm pretty sure bottles of water counted toward the 15.  Can't say for sure because we never approached the 15 limit. 

 

We're doing Eurodam for the 22 day South American & Antarctica in December.  I'm really looking forward to it, as we did HAL for Alaska.  What I like about them is the naturalist on board, with daily lectures and outdoor nature watches. 

 

I still am more comfortable with Royal, mostly because I have sailed more times with them on a variety of ships.

[vswan]

I think it really depends on what you are looking for in a cruise. My next cruise is on the Oasis with my 40+ yr old daughter. No kids, just the two of us. We chose this trip because we were looking for a lot of beach time and the itinerary fit. I also felt there would be much more for the two of us to do. Since I booked the prices have gone through the roof.

 

Have sailed most main cruise lines - the most with HAL and NCL. This will be my fourth time on RCL. Most of the time I choose by itinerary, date, cruise port and price. There are some lines that I prioritize even if another has a lower price. If I am looking for a relaxed laid back cruise without a lot of kids, HAL usually wins hands down. Price is generally lower than Princess or Celebrity and I can generally find an itinerary I like. If you like a lively crowd and are going with kids, HAL may not be the best choice.

[yogimax]

11 minutes ago, flamingos said:

 

We're doing Eurodam for the 22 day South American & Antarctica in December.  I'm really looking forward to it, as we did HAL for Alaska.  What I like about them is the naturalist on board, with daily lectures and outdoor nature watches. 

 

I still am more comfortable with Royal, mostly because I have sailed more times with them on a variety of ships.

We're D+ on RCCL and this was our first time on HAL.  Was surprised by the age of the passegers.  It was balanced, not overly elderly.

 

You wlll enjoy Eurodam.  Thought the food was good, especially the steak iin the MDR.  We hung out alot in the Crow's Nest where the naturalist will probably be.  There is also a bar/coffee bar there if you have a drink package.  

 

Enjoy!

[time4u2go]

5 hours ago, Cruise a holic said:

I strongly disagree with the OP.  We sail mostly or RC- Oasis class, and Celebrity ships.  NCL Was very disappointing and we sailed in the haven.  The food outside of the Haven was very disappointing- even the specialty restaurants were olive garden cuisine.  If you left the Haven to go to public spaces, felt like steerage.  The pool was so crowded that people didn't have any chairs and were lying with towels on the floor.  The layout of the ship poorly designed as they had no real theatre so people sat in the center of the ship for many events.  Never again. We will stick to Royal and Celebrity.  The newer the ship IMO the better.

Um...OP was reviewing HAL, not NCL.

[Cruise a holic]

12 hours ago, time4u2go said:

Um...OP was reviewing HAL, not NCL.

I know- acknowledged this a few posts up 

Edited August 27, 2023 by Cruise a holic