CCL vs HAL

[Bob NC]

I've been on 2 CCL cruises and now the possibility of taking a HAL cruise has come up. How do the two cruise lines stack up to one another. If I like Carnival, do I really want to cruise HAL?

[hdawson]

Hi Neighbor. The typical HAL cruiser will be somewhat older. Food will be superior to Carnival and the service much better. Overall a much more refined and dressier cruise. Nobody questions the dinner dress expectations.

[SUMMERDIGGER]

I've been on 2 CCL cruises and now the possibility of taking a HAL cruise has come up. How do the two cruise lines stack up to one another. If I like Carnival, do I really want to cruise HAL?

 

 

 

 

I was on the Hal Noordam 4-11-07 . I took two cruises on Carnival before ( one on Carnival Triumph Feb 2005 , another on Carnival Liberty Feb 2006 )

 

The Noordam is a very elegant ship , with a superb crew . Her buffet is better than Carnival's with excellent fruits , salads , elegant appetizers and the same hot foods from the dining room.

 

The dining room has excelent decoration and the people serving you are outstanding. However the food doesn't match . It is average and inferior to Carnival . Some bad dishes are served there ( Frutti di Mari , French Onion Soup , Braised Ribs, Ox Tail soup , were really bad ).

 

The cabins and varandas on Carnival were bigger , but the bed on the Noordam was better . The chamber maid and servers knew me by name.. Same with the people that served me on the Dining room.

 

 

On the Carnival cruises, it would take several hours ( from 12:00 to about 9:00 or 10:00 pm ) before my luggage was placed outside of my cabin door. On the Noordam inside one hour of boarding all my luggage was inside my cabin , on the protective mat on the top of my bed. A basket of fresh fruit was placed on my cabin and replenished everytime I eat some.

 

Because Hal serve an older clientelle, the entertainment and activities reflected that. ( The vast majority of the passengers was over 75 or 80 ) . By midnight the Noordam was dead. I was disapointed with that . Things were still going on Carnival until 3 or 4 in the morning.The entertainment and activities were far , far better on Carnival

 

The cruise on the Noordam was good during the day , but very boring at night.

 

The cruises on Carnival were lively and fun all the time .I think I will book my next cruise with them.

[DocF]

As I posted elsewhere recently, my 88 year old mother thinks HAL is for old fogeys. She prefers RCCL, Celebrity, Princess or Carnival. :D

 

Doc;)

[yst347]

If you want a walker, wheel chair or scooter you should reserve early. They sell-out fast on HAL.

[gtalum]

In general, food and service will be superior on HAL. They will have an older, more sedate crowd, though.

[Djptcp]

In the past 2.5 years, DH and I have sailed on HAL twice and three times on CCL with two upcoming CCL cruises booked. We loved HAL and the elgeant ships, excellent food and service, and had a wonderful time on both cruises. We also like Carnival, although the elegance isn't there that I so appreciate on HAL. DH doesn't see any difference between the two. Truthfully, we sail more on CCL because we live in Florida and close to Jacksonville where the Celebration sails out of. It's so convenient to sail on the Celebration several times a year than to have to drive to Ft. Lauderdale which we did last December to sail on HAL. South Florida is nuts with all the traffic and expensive hotels. We are booked on the CCL Glory for the week of Christmas and chose it because it's only a 2.5 hour drive away versus 5.5 hours to Ft. Lauderdale. Convenience is what it's all about. However, if we didn't like Carnival, we certainly would not sail on any of her ships no matter how convenient it was.

 

I disagree with the age thing about HAL and certainly don't consider myself an old fogey (we are 57 and 58)-- on both cruises we saw passengers of all ages. DH and I only go to the casino in the evenings so I cannot comment on the difference in nightlife or shows between HAL and CCL because we don't care.

 

I would certainly give HAL a try and you make your own decision. Whichever cruise you decide, have a great trip!

 

Carnival - 1995, 1998, 2006, 2006, 2007, 2007, 2008

Holland America - 2004, 2006

NCL - 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003

Royal Caribbean - 2002

[hdawson]

HAL's all Indonesian crew is very hard to match. So genuine and warm. Don't miss the Crew Show. It is fantastic. Also I loved the pre-dinner hot hor deurvs (sp) served in the lounges.

[gtalum]

I disagree with the age thing about HAL...

 

Facts are facts. While it's an exaggeration to say that "everyone on HAL is an old fogey", it's a fact that the average passenger age on HAL is much higher than that on CCL.

[Cotton]

I say 'go for it'. Variety is the spice of life, y'know.:)

[hdawson]

Fact. Some HAL ships such as Zuiderdam have a younger demographic. It was built for that purpose. And their private island is great.

[SUMMERDIGGER]

I like Hal. Their cruises are good and elegant . I just would like to have a more lively nightlife like dancing the nights away. I didn't have much chance to do that. The disco never had more then seven or eight couples dancing , The Crows Next stop the music at midnight and the Ocean bar was always deserted.

[MusicMan]

I've cruised HAL a couple of times and thoroughly enjoyed it... MOST of the time. After 10 pm they kind of rolled up the sidewalks. To me HAL is a much more sedate cruising experience, while Carnival is much more fun (gee maybe they ought to use that in their advertising! LOL!)

 

While I agree that (in general) the service is better on HAL, I DISAGREE that the food is better. I prefer the food on Carnival (and I can definitely live without Dutch Night). Also, the worst service I've encountered in a cruise dining room occurred on HAL, but I attribute that to THAT serving team, on THAT particular cruise, not to HAL in general. My wife and I are in our mid-fifties and on both HAL cruises we were among the 5-10 youngest couples on board the ship. In most cases, by a wide margin.

 

Basically, it depends on what you're looking for in a cruise. If you're more destination/port-oriented, go for the line that gets you there. If you're more shipboard activity oriented pick the line that suites your likes/dislikes. CCL does the "physical activities" thing with rock-climbining walls, surf-simulaters, putt-putt,etc. Carnival does a lot of contests, games, vegas-style shows, general "fun" silliness, as well as karaoke, talent-show, etc. HAL has a movie theatre on board, and (I think) a formal afternoon tea, and wine tastings.

 

Take your best shot. Short of a disaster, there's no such thing as a bad cruise!! (IMHO)

[Margarita1time]

I've not cruised CCL, but my one cruise with HAL was my least favorite. Service was poor, food was mediocre to bad. More than once we went for pizza after dinner in the dining room. I've heard a lot of good- but certainly not my experience. I've had five on Celebrity, and five on Royal caribbean. Never a complaint with any of those- but I'd have to say Celebrity is my 1st choice. I used to say people who complained about cruises complain about everything, and just can't be pleased. Go figure!:(

[hdawson]

Margarita. While I disagree about HAL. I too favor Celebrity. Five cruises on Carnival, five on Celebrity and 4 on RC, one on HAL with a few more from other lines. The things that iritate me on Carnival are the constant PA announcements (almost like announcing the Blue Light Specials) halking, bingo, hairy chest contest and the like, some guests that are boistrous, ill-mannered and just plain uncouth. I said, some, maybe I should have said few, but they do detract from the cruise experience. The singing and dancing while trying to enjoy a good dinner and the team thing and cheering. I guess that is to be expected when cruising on the cheap which I obviously do. Kind of like shopping Walmart or Macy's/Dillards.

 

Boy! Am I going to be blasted!

[grandma bev]

Margarita. While I disagree about HAL. I too favor Celebrity. Five cruises on Carnival, five on Celebrity and 4 on RC, one on HAL with a few more from other lines. The things that iritate me on Carnival are the constant PA announcements (almost like announcing the Blue Light Specials) halking, bingo, hairy chest contest and the like, some guests that are boistrous, ill-mannered and just plain uncouth. I said, some, maybe I should have said few, but they do detract from the cruise experience. The singing and dancing while trying to enjoy a good dinner and the team thing and cheering. I guess that is to be expected when cruising on the cheap which I obviously do. Kind of like shopping Walmart or Macy's/Dillards.

 

Boy! Am I going to be blasted!

hdawson, I'm NOT going to blast you. Appreciate your statements of the facts. We're booked (first time on Carnival) on Spirit Christmas cruise with family and fully expect to have a great time. If we have the distractions you mention, we'll simply activate our sense of humor or "hole up" on our adjoining balconies!!!.

Bev

[victory2020]

My 21 yr old niece prefers HAL. I like them both equally, for different reasons (& I'm not old!)