HAL to compete with NCL in NYC

[shoreguy]

It did not take long for the Carnivor to try and take a bite out of the risk NCL took. I just found the following on the newsgroup from Ray Goldenberg

 

Holland America will base the new Vista Classship, Noordam, in New York City between February and April, 2006. She will then sail to Europe for the summer and return to NYC to sail between Oct and December. The NYC based sailings will be 10 & 11-day cruises.

 

This is Norwegian Cruise Lines' only announced competition for the NYC regularly-scheduled winter market. NCL will have 2 NYC based ships in the 2006 winter season, Norwegian Dawn & Norwegian Spirit.

[smeyer418]

great hopefully it will keep the prices down.

[CruisinMatt]

I'm surprised it took so long.

[shoreguy]

great hopefully it will keep the prices down.

 

I hope so. Still trying to book the 2/10 and NCL post final is asking more for an inside gtd then I paid for a BA last Feb. :mad:

[smeyer418]

I hope so. Still trying to book the 2/10 and NCL post final is asking more for an inside gtd then I paid for a BA last Feb. :mad:

I know but they are the only game in town. We paid less for two for a bb(last year) then they are charging for one now,

[dalwhitt]

Aren't these two entirely different types of cruise lines?. NCL is mainstream and HAL is premium. I don't see how they would be in competition with each other. These ships will have two entirely different types of passengers ... for the most part.

[smeyer418]

Aren't these two entirely different types of cruise lines?. NCL is mainstream and HAL is premium. I don't see how they would be in competition with each other. These ships will have two entirely different types of passengers ... for the most part.

 

 

Hal does consider itself a premium line but in my experience NCL and HAL compete on price and service.

[Dolphins]

HAL announced it will begin doing winter cruises out of New York beginning in February 2006. It is even emulating Dawn's 10 & 11 day cruises and most of the same ports- St. Thomas, Barbados, Dominica, St. Maarten and Tortola. HAL will be using its new Vista class ship Noordam now under construction. Hope they won't be leaving from the same piers on the same days.

[smeyer418]

previously discussed

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=109117

[Dolphins]

Since HAL will be offering the same 11 day and 10 day cruises to most of the same ports as NCL, their traditional dining will not tempt me to leave NCL. I just hope they don't sail from the same piers on the same days. One of the joys of winter NCL cruising out of New York is they are the only ship in town.

[smeyer418]

It is possible that they will use either the Bayonne pier or the soon to be opened Brooklyn one....

[Dolphins]

I doubt that HAL would use the Bayonne facility now leased to RCI. It seems more likely HAL would use the new Brooklyn facility being built by Carnival.

[Rotterdam]

For years I sailed HAL - then the quality went down down down. We booked NCL Dawn for New Years this year - I only sailed NCL once - Norway - loved the ship - not happy with NCL at all.

 

We decided to do the Dawn - to give NCL another try - but mostly because the ship sails 10 minutes from home. I am keeping an open mind - we would have flown to the islands if we were not cruising.

 

Should HAL return to NYC next year I would pick them over NCL. HAL is no longer a Premium line(despite their ads) but the ships are more to my liking & a better space ratio. All the food tends to be basic banquet food on both lines.

 

Had this been the 1970's or early 1980's - HAL would win hands down - you'd pay for it but the quality of the experience far exceeded NCL's product I'll post a review upon our return.

 

Many times we did 10- 14 day cruises on the Rotterdam V & Oceanic out of NYC in the winter - absolutely fabulous!!!!!!

[Dolphins]

We have sailed over 100 days on HAL and agree with Rotterdam that the service has somewhat declined. We were not pleased with our last HAL cruise on Zuiderdam. Since we have tried NCL, we have really enjoyed our two cruises on the Norwegian Dawn sailing out of New York and have two more future bookings on her. Since I have really appreciated the numerous dining options on Dawn, it is doubtful I would be lured back to the traditional, same time same table, dining on HAL. I look forward to Rotterdam's comments on Dawn as I am confident they will be positive.

[ChrisConnolly]

I'm wondering if the pax will skew 50+ age group on this ship... I'd like to try HAL's flag ship, (the rotterdam?) but I don't want to go to sleep at 8pm everynight..

 

 

NCL must be on cloud 9 ... Their winter sailings this year are selling out at a much more rapid rate and they are selling rooms for a significantly higher price... Ditto shoreguy and sid meyer , the rates have certainly gone up from what I paid last year.

 

 

 

 

Chris Connolly <=== will stay with the sailing out of New York thing for a while

[smeyer418]

I don't think it will skew to the over 50 crowd- watch it Chris that's me too :)

Sid

[Rotterdam]

I'll be most happy to post my thoughts upon our return....

[shoreguy]

I don't think it will skew to the over 50 crowd- watch it Chris that's me too :)

Sid

 

Me too :o I am not sure HAL could skew the age on 10/11 day winter cruises. Our cruise in Feb last year had the youngest group of the winter with an average age of 57. One 11 day the average was well over 60.

 

By the way I finally got a reasonable deal for the Dawn 2/10. It was not easy and I used every bit of info I had stored from this sight.

 

A lot of the useful information came from you and Chris. I may post the email I got from my good friend Colin :) on a new thread. There is a message in there for all the members that have issues. Be reasonable and yes he very aware of what is posted here.

[ChrisConnolly]

Shoreguy.. If you could email me info about your deal to ChrisConnolly at aol dot com, I'd appreciate it. My friend dave wants to go on that sailing.. He is bascially looking for the cheapest way to get on the ship.

 

 

The best rate I'm looking at is 1337 pp including taxes and ports.

 

 

Chris Connolly <== Thinks Colin should give him VIP status this cruise and still wondering where his letter is .. ;)

[shoreguy]

Shoreguy.. If you could email me info about your deal to ChrisConnolly at aol dot com, I'd appreciate it. My friend dave wants to go on that sailing.. He is bascially looking for the cheapest way to get on the ship.

 

 

The best rate I'm looking at is 1337 pp including taxes and ports.

 

 

Chris Connolly <== Thinks Colin should give him VIP status this cruise and still wondering where his letter is .. ;)

 

 

Done - Now Chris be reasonable ;)

 

Buy the way I could have booked the intial GTD for less but decided to book direct and control my own booking. As it turned out that was the wise thing to do.

[rundogrun]

Damn...wish someone would do a 7-day in February. But if the Dawn's selling out, I guess that isn't likely.

[ChrisConnolly]

Thanks for the info shoreguy... Since my can't afford an upsell.. I'm going for the cheapest rate possible ..