Opinions on HAL

[rollie]

Having never cruised HAL before, I would like some opinions. We have cruised many other cruise lines before. Our favorite so far has been Celebrity. We are thinking about the Zaandam out of Port Canaveral. Thanks for any opinions.

[jhannah]

HAL offers a great product value. It's not Crystal ... but you're not paying Crustal prices. Holland America provides lovely ships, furnished throughout with fine artwork and fresh flowers, and a refined cruising experience. Our experience is limited, having sailed only HAL and Princess. We enjoy each for different reasons; but we consider HAL a notch above.

[DFD1]

Been cruising for 40 years, never on Celebrity, five cruises on HAL within the past 4 years. Some experienced HAL cruisers here are pretty hard on HAL and many have expressed an intention to move over to Celebrity because of what they see as unwelcome changes in HAL.

For us, we believe HAL provides ax excellent cruise for the price. We like the beauty and size of the ships, the spaciousness, and the generally quieter atmosphere. The food is fine with us although many complain about it.

I honestly don't think you will regret cruising with HAL. Whatever you decide, I hope you have a great cruise.

[gwilli]

HAL does a nice job ...... and Port Canaveral is very nice. It's an easy port to get to, and interesting going down the coast of Florida!

Happy Sailing

[michmike]

our first cruise was on celebrity's galaxy in 1999. We enjoyed it. Our next trip and 3 others since have been on HAL. First time with HAL was due to pricing and itinerary. We liked the smaller size of the HAL S class ships and the friendly Indonesian/Filipino crew. First 2 HAL cruises were excellent. Our two this year less so. Think I'd give Celebrity the edge on food and entertainment, HAL is less congested and quieter and staterooms are a bit larger. Overall pretty comparable. Hard to go wrong with either. I'm sure Celebrity has changed some in the past 5 yrs as HAL has.

Nonetheless we're leaning toward trying Celebrity again next time just to get a current comparison.

Think it would be worth your while to try HAL just to see how they compare on your own. Do know that HAL typically has a greater price spread between outside cabins and balconies, so if you're a balcony or suite type, pricing might factor in.

Either line beats being here in Michigan today with winter weather out in force. *S*

[gatour]

We sailed on the Zaandam in March of this year, and I loved the cruise. I was impressed that the various servers throughout the lounges, etc. learned our names and habits. I like to have a before dinner drink of wine and from the second night onward, when I walked into the Ocean Bar they were already pouring it by the time I sat down.

This is a very elegant ship and would not hesitant on sailing on her again.

Port Canaveral is my favorite port to sail out of. It looks like you may be flying to your cruise (based on your home state) so some of the advantages that Port Canaveral have over Miami (like better parking and traffic flow) may be negated by the fact that you will be flying into Orlando and will need to take a shuttle. On the plus side, I like Orlando's airport over Miami.

[RuthC]

rollie, from everything I've read on this board I would say if you like Celebrity you would also like HAL. If not, then HAL might not be for you.

The question to you would be what are you looking for in a cruiseline? Do you want constant high-energy activity? Late night party? Peace and quiet?
Set dinner times/companions? Or your choice as the mood dictates?
Lots of lights and color? Or understated?
Kids and families? Older? Younger? Mix of ages? Don't care?

HAL tends to be a traditional cruiseline attracting an older, well-traveled group. Of course, this can change dramatically based on itinerary and length of cruise.

[Druke I]

I'll try again - my attempt at posting disappeared midsentence.

Once on Celebrity, 3 times on HAL, and some 16 times on Princess under our belts, plus some on other cruise lines as well.

We sail primarily on Princess, as we think they offer a better variety of itineraries that interest us, and their prices often are lower than HAL & Celebrity.

We found dinner in dining room and its presentation on Celebrity and HAL to have an edge on Princess. Food in the Lido areas pretty much the same, we thought.

I think Princess production shows better than either HAL or Celebrity; but HAL has some excellent guest lecturers.

HAL has some beautiful artwork about the ship; Princess often has many pretty floral arrangements; and Celebrity's Mercury seemed almost barren in comparison.

Isn't it wonderful we have so many choices?

[rollie]

Thanks for all the replies. We're a couple in our fifty's. Dining would be high on our list. We're cruising with my parents so a sadate cruise would be right up our alley. We've crusied out of Port Canaveral before on RCCL, and would like to do it again, but not on the Mariner. I'm not a fan of Carnival or Disney so it looks as if the Zaandam is it for us. I was wondering if the are 2 formal nights like on Celebrity?

Thanks, Rollie

[RuthC]

rollie, you can expect 2 formal, 1 informal, and 4 casual nights on the typical 7-day cruise. There is always a list in your documents, but it is subject to change on board.

Welcome to your HAL cruise; I hope everyone in your party enjoys it.

[Pilot70D]

Good evening. We are a couple in our fifties too. Well, almost in our fifties - the War Department isn't quite 50 yet but she is scaring it awfully badly. We just got back from the Volendam today after cruising with Princess for the last three years. In almost all aspects we think that HAL offers a cruise product that is just a little better than Princess.

We found the Volendam to be a beutiful ship and we were very happy with almost all aspects of our cruise. The one thing we missed most from Princess was personal choice dining. We really liked the flexibility to have dinner (in a formal dining room) at a time of our choosing rather than at fixed time set by the cruise line. Other than that we would give nod to HAL pretty much accross the board.

You might want to look at the thread where I posted a daily report live from the Volendam every day of our cruise. That should give you reasonably good picture of what a HAL cruise is like. The thread is titled Live From The Volendam Dialy Report.

Hope this helps and we hope you have as much fun on your cruise as we did on this one.

[mkk]

Rollie..thanks for starting this post..I was about to ask the same question when I found yours..
We too, are a couple in our 50's..have cruised extensively but never with HAL...would like to try her and compare since we've been on RCCL, X, NCL and Princess at least once each in the past 4 years.
Fine dining is important to us..as well as..decent nightly entertainment and peace and quiet....E.I. no kids running up and down hallways..playing in elevators.. hot tubs etc...
Just curious..why did you say you would not like to go on the Mariner? Did you have a bad experience?
We are just off the Mariner a few weeks ago and were pretty impressed...

[Cathy Britvich]

Just got back from a 7 day cruise out of Port Canaveral on the Zaandam. The ship was beautiful. The staterooms very large, and Half Moon Cay was the best beach I have ever been to, and I grew up on the beach in California.

The food was horrible. It was bland and suited for those under 7 or over 70. It definitely had more appeal to those from middle America - lots of white bread and canned peaches. If you love ranch dressing on your salad (served on a hot plate fresh from the dishwasher), then you will love the food. If you like spices on your food - like pepper you will hate Holland America's food. I did not see a green onion or tabasco once on the ship. On the formal night, my roomate ordered steak and potatoes and was served tater tots. They served their cheese plate with four saltine crackers still in their plastic wrap. Since my only other cruise experience was on Celebrity (where every meal including breakfast is 5 star quality), I was sorely disappointed.

The service left much to be desired too. Our wine steward didn't bother to show up the first night until we were finished with our second course. Then, as he observed me reading the wine list, he said I better hurry up if I wanted to order wine. Faced with such obnoxiousness, I decided that I didn't really feel like wine anymore. In the seven nights we were on the ship, the wine steward showed up 3 times - twice only after we requested his presence. The one recommendation he made was poorly thought out, and nothing like what we asked for. Although the waiter and busboy worked very hard, and tried their best, they were poorly trained. The waiter insisted on taking and serving orders as quickly as possible - like we were in Denny's and he had to turn over the table asap - without regard for the others in our group. We were a group of 6, and he would insist on taking orders and serving the first couple that sat down without waiting for the others to join us. It took several nights for us to get him to understand we wanted to eat together. I didn't realize how much I loved the great food and service on Celebrity. As I said to my traveling friends, then next ship I set foot on will say "Celebrity" on the side.

To be fair, I met lots of people who loved Holland America, and cruise with them every year. So if you come from middle America (the "red" states), you will find many neighbors and new friends on Holland America. If you come from the coasts of the US (California or New York - "blue" states), you will probably not be too happy with the food, so either bring your own spices or travel on Celebrity. Happy cruising to all. CB

[skippycruises]

I'm sorry that your HAL experience wasn't up to par. We just came off of the Zuiderdam 2 weeks ago and had a great experience. PS, I'm from a BLUE state, and the food was wonderful!!!.. By the way, we're not supposed to talk politics on the board.:D

[rollie]

MKK, thanks for the post. We really did enjoy the Mairner. We just want to try something different. It kind of bothers me that they now charge for Johnny Rockets. The food in general was not quite up to Celebrity standards in my opinion. That being said I think that people traveling in a group would probably love this cruise. Plus we just loved the Americas Cup excursion in St. Maartin. Thanks to all others who posted on this thread.

Rollie

[HeatherInFlorida]

......So if you come from middle America (the "red" states), you will find many neighbors and new friends on Holland America. If you come from the coasts of the US (California or New York - "blue" states), you will probably not be too happy with the food, so either bring your own spices or travel on Celebrity. Happy cruising to all. CBWell, this is a first! I didn't realize that your choice of cruiseline was directly related to your party affiliation! Obviously I've been choosing my cruise vacations all wrong!!! Geez ... somebody should have told me!!!:D

rollie, you will find that we all have different opinions about the quality of food and service on HAL. Some people will tell you the food and service is amazing and others will tell you the opposite. I think it's very subjective.

I love HAL. I've had amazing cruises on this line. I think the food offered in the main DR is just not good. I happen to prefer the food and service on Celebrity. But I can tell you that OVERALL, if you enjoy cruising Celebrity, you should enjoy cruising HAL.

Also, the food in the Pinnacle is outstanding and I absolutely love the offerings in the Lido. The hamburgers, etc., at the Grill on Lido Deck are fabulous.

I've often said (and I'll say it again;) ) that no cruiseline can be all things to all people. So you have to be your own judge. I'm still cruising on both lines and will probably continue to unless the service on HAL slips further. Still ... Half Moon Cay always beckons and brings me back:)

[Dolphins]

After sailing over 100 days on HAL, we decided to try other cruise lines. We did Princess, Celebrity and RCI and found them similar. We then tried NCL and found them to be the most innovative. Freestyle dining was a revelation after years of traditional dining. A ship like Norwegian Dawn offers 10 different restaurants to choose from at a time of your choosing and only three charged an extra fee. I think this is the wave of the future. Princess is now offering both traditional and personal choice dining in separate dining rooms. NCL was also innovative in sailing year round from New York to the Caribbean, something HAL is now emulating with their new Noordom. I plan to try Noordam's new New York itineraries to see how they compare but I do wish HAL would offer more flexible dining options.

[bepsf]

...and I grew up on the beach in California.

The food was horrible. It was bland and suited for those under 7 or over 70. It definitely had more appeal to those from middle America - lots of white bread and canned peaches. If you love ranch dressing on your salad (served on a hot plate fresh from the dishwasher), then you will love the food. If you like spices on your food - like pepper you will hate Holland America's food. I did not see a green onion or tabasco once on the ship. On the formal night, my roomate ordered steak and potatoes and was served tater tots. They served their cheese plate with four saltine crackers still in their plastic wrap. Since my only other cruise experience was on Celebrity (where every meal including breakfast is 5 star quality), I was sorely disappointed.

The service left much to be desired too. Our wine steward didn't bother to show up the first night until we were finished with our second course. Then, as he observed me reading the wine list, he said I better hurry up if I wanted to order wine. Faced with such obnoxiousness, I decided that I didn't really feel like wine anymore. In the seven nights we were on the ship, the wine steward showed up 3 times - twice only after we requested his presence. The one recommendation he made was poorly thought out, and nothing like what we asked for. Although the waiter and busboy worked very hard, and tried their best, they were poorly trained. The waiter insisted on taking and serving orders as quickly as possible - like we were in Denny's and he had to turn over the table asap - without regard for the others in our group. We were a group of 6, and he would insist on taking orders and serving the first couple that sat down without waiting for the others to join us. It took several nights for us to get him to understand we wanted to eat together. I didn't realize how much I loved the great food and service on Celebrity. As I said to my traveling friends, then next ship I set foot on will say "Celebrity" on the side.

To be fair, I met lots of people who loved Holland America, and cruise with them every year. So if you come from middle America (the "red" states), you will find many neighbors and new friends on Holland America. If you come from the coasts of the US (California or New York - "blue" states), you will probably not be too happy with the food, so either bring your own spices or travel on Celebrity. Happy cruising to all. CB
Cathy--

Apparently, exaggeration is one of your strong suits...

The only white bread served aboard is made fresh aboard ship daily - it's not "Wonder Bread" either...
No canned peaches, maybe frozen - but its rather difficult to tell fresh from frozen when they are slipped into the blender to make Peach Daquiri's or flambe'd for dessert.
HAL does serve dressings other than Ranch - just ask. I will admit to being put off at the iceberg lettuce served as salad during some dinners.
Pepper is on the table - right next to the salt.
Green Onions are in the Bami Goreng which is a dish served during the Indonesian Luncheon. (Were you having a hamburger in the Lido that day?) Tabasco is always available - just not piled on the table w/ the A-1 and Heinz 57 like some burger joint. Again, you may need to ask nicely.
The "Tater Tots" served alongside the steak on formal night are actually potato croquettes made aboard the ship and have very little in common w/ anything ever made by Ore-Ida.
The cheese plate served at dinner come w/ crackers made aboard ship, which are never wrapped to begin with. The Cheese plate served by room service does contain factory-made crackers which you should expect to see in wrappers.
HAL stewards are accustomed to folks not showing up for dinner and therefore will bring menus as diners arrive. They typically ask to take orders before late-arrivals are seated if they are not informed that the others are coming. If you'd simply communicated w/ him that you were going to wait for the others in your party before you ordered, I'm sure he would have been more than happy to oblige.
One person's obnoxiousness is another's good-natured familiarity - or perhaps you're not accustomed to addressing waitstaff respectfully...
Not saying that HAL is perfect by any means, but let's also be fair and objective in our observations.

BTW - Not everyone is a "Red State-er" or a "Blue State-er" either. Generalizations about people serve no purpose other than to divide us further by spreading ignorance and fear.

[kryos]

The only white bread served aboard is made fresh aboard ship daily - it's not "Wonder Bread" either...

Ummmmm, yummy ... and I can personally vouch for that! Because our Zuiderdam cruise last August got "stranded" at sea for so many days as a result of Hurricane Francis, we got a unique "behind the scenes" tour of the ship. One of the places they took us through was the bakery ... and they just so happened to be baking bread at the time. What a heavenly smell!

Yep, it's all made fresh on the ship, that's for sure.

Blue skies ...

--rita

[TedC]

We returned late last month from the Westerdam repositioning cruise from Barcelona to FLL and were impressed with the plentiful brown and multi-grained breads and rolls. We try to avoid white bread so were very pleased that the darker bread offerings seemed to outnumber the white bread.

I noted on my comment card how much we appreciated having such good bread and rolls. We also like the freesh-squeezed juices in the morning.

We have been on other lines where it was impossible to find anything except white bread.

[Cruising Jake]

Brian, you have a very good way of stating things. Ditto.

[dakrewser]

HAL does serve dressings other than Ranch - just ask. I will admit to being put off at the iceberg lettuce served as salad during some dinners.
The cheese plate served at dinner come w/ crackers made aboard ship, which are never wrapped to begin with. The Cheese plate served by room service does contain factory-made crackers which you should expect to see in wrappers.
Actually, a wedge of iceberg w/blue cheese dressing is all the rage at chic bistros these days. And the steward will gladly replace the crackers with an assortment of breads to accompany the cheese selection - I have him do it almost every night.

Perhaps Cathy comes from that part of California known colloquially as "west Arizona".....

:) -dave

[Travelbug 2]

What is all this negative talk about food on Hal????
On our last cruise on the Noordam in Oct' the food was excellent. The bread in particular was first class and fresh baked every day--ask my wife, she is very fussy when it comes to bread.
Re the cheese platter, if you do not order a "dessert" platter you will get the one with wrapped crackers, this is for calming the effects of motion sickness. We ordered a dessert platter from room service and it came with a nice selection of cheese and different sorts of crackers also some fresh fruit for good measure plus plates napkins and flatware.
All aspects of our cruise with HAL were more than acceptable. Maybe for those who are used to eating out every night at the Ritz Carlton the experience will be less than perfect but for most of us the joys of cruising are a LOT better than normal everyday living (which isn't bad by the way!!)
For us a cruise with HAL is something to look forward to and by far the best way to enjoy the good things in life. We are not in the position of being able to afford multiple cruises each year and I envy those that can but when we do cruise we make sure we enjoy every minute, it sure beats staying home!! Our next one will be a Baltic - Russia trip and for sure it will be with HAL.

Happy cruising, Bert

[AlinaMaria]

Cruising preferences has nothing to do with political party affiliations. Now I have said more about politics that I intended to. Back to my all time favorite pastime: CRUISING! I have cruised on Celebrity, Princess, RCI, and HAL, and others so long ago that no longer exist. I must admit my favorite cruise line is Celebrity, food is the best I've had at sea as well as elegance and service with a smile. RCI is for the times that I want to have a real good Caribbean cruise with the on board activities, music, and excitement typical of the Caribbean, and I am a native Caribbean, trust me, I know, HAL does not have any idea what a Caribbean cruise is all about except for their private island, Half Moon Cay which is the best!!!!! This year I did HAL twice, Rotterdam to Panama Canal x 10 days and then Zuiderdam E-Carib on Thanksgiving week. I chose HAL to Panama Canal because of their itinerary, no other reason. I absolutely loved the Rotterdam, she is a beautiful ship with wonderful art work, service average, food average except for a few items which I truly enjoyed and found no longer on HAL (a true disappointment: no more Belgian Mouse Chocolate Tulip, no more Dover Sole, no more Dutch Veal Croquettes because they did not have Dutch Lunch or Indonesian Lunch on the Zuiderdam). At least I got to experience Dutch Night once, hats and all on the Rotterdam because Zuiderdam does not do it anymore either. Food at the Lido on both HAL ships was the worst I've had at sea, bland, poor and limited choices, except for their pizza which I had most days at lunch time. Now, this is a point where Princess comes in first: their Lunch Buffet on the Grand Princess was out of this world, actually, I've never had so much seafood on any cruise as I did on Princess. As far as food I personally rate them as follows: Celebrity, Princess, HAL (dinner time only), otherwise tied for last with RCI. As to ship activities, if you want fun: RCI followed by Princess and Celebrity. But if you want a restful cruise then go HAL; that is why I chose it for Thanksgiving, I've had a real tough year at work and wanted rest, quiet, being pampered in the Spa (which is very expensive but worth it), and I did get to rest on the Zuiderdam: the ship was a ghost town after 10pm, even the show for main seating pax was empty!!!! Actually, during my cruise on the Zuiderdam I got to read an entire book, I've never done that before because the ship has so much to do, I have too much fun to spend time reading on the balcony. My mother is a very young 74 years old and she told me already no more HAL, she loves to listen to different types of music and watch people dance (since she can't do it anymore) and none of that was available on HAL. She even said if you book on HAL again you are going alone! Service is best on Celebrity and Princess. I found that now that HAL has automatic tipping service has declined 10 -old comparing Zuiderdam to Rotterdam, when staff does not have to work for their tip service suffers. However, Princess has the same automatic tip and on the Grand two years ago they bent over backwards to make us feel good and pampered, and we had great service at all times. I also enjoyed the Personal Choice Dinning, we got to meet many friendly people. I find HAL pax are not very friendly, but again, maybe because I am not a "native born American" they found it offensive sharing the same ship with me, actually someone had "gutts" to tell me "wow, you were born in Cuba, I never expected to find a Cuban here!". Now, that is offensive, I didn't know HAL was "for native Americans only" since I didn't see any Seminoles or American-Indians on board either, but I guess she never read American history before or forgot that Spaniards were the first to set foot on this land before the Pilgrims, on the state of Florida (which means "flowery" in Spanish, just like Colorado means reddened, and Montana means mountain, all these are in Spanish to name only a few), and that the first city in the North American continent was St Augustine, founded by Spaniards and the first home ever built on this country was built by a Spaniard Military Man by the last name of "Gonzalez" (which also happens to be my last name and I'm darn proud of that too). Maybe I should have reminded this woman that I am an American citizen, I pay lots of taxes since I'm single and taxes eat a large portion of my paycheck, that I have paid for every minute of education I've had in this great country of ours for 37 years (yes, this is my home, I love America and probably appreciate it more than many natives because I know what is like to loose freedom and loose your native homeland), I am a Registered Nurse, I hold several college degrees in Nursing and Business Administration and in 2005 I'll be completing a Master in Theology!!! Now how is that for a Cuban refugee? I have never collected unemployment or taken free money for school, every loan I've taken I have paid for it by working since I was 17 years old, I'll be 52 in a few days. But I can't count HAL accountable for the closed-mind, limited brain activity of some of their passengers but I do hold them accountable for poor service and tasteless food. Another issue: this was the first cruise that I have taken where I do not have any formal portraits, they had few photographers available, lines where long, and during formal evenings they never came to our table or those arounds us! But HAL is good for my budget since their shops are so poorly stocked and quality of merchandise is poor I actually have come back with unused travelers checks!

No cruise line is perfect: different strokes for different folks. Will I return to HAL? I doubt it. I'm going back to Celebrity, Princess, and RCI. Maybe I'll try NCL and Costa which I've never done. I never planned to write any comments after this last cruise because I do not enjoy writing negative but I read here many comments on the "perfect HAL" and I say again: no cruise line is perfect! Everyone has to find the one that fits them best. But to avoid anyone of my friends the humiliation: I will never recommend HAL to anyone except for my brother's neighbors in Tallahassee, so those close minded people that do not appreciate that "variety is the spice of life": on my account they will never find another Cuban on HAL and I guess they can keep all the bland food on board HAL too. Oh, a word of advise: don't get on the Caribbean Princess either: they have Cuban pastries and wonderful spicy Caribbean dishes!!!!!!! And on RCI: they have "Boleros" a latin-only music and drinks! Well, I guess all of you know where I'll be!!!!

Good bye HAL!

AlinaMaria

[HeatherInFlorida]

............................... Maybe I'll try NCL and Costa which I've never done. .........................
AlinaMaria
Well, good luck with that, Alina! If you have this much to say about HAL (all in one breath I think:eek: ), I'll never be able to finish reading after you cruise these other 2 lines.

[DFD1]

Alina needs to learn about paragraphs and CB needs to find a better way to tell us all that she is superior to most, if not all, of us.

[dakrewser]

I'd suggest all those "Celebrity is SO much better than HAL" whiners would take a look at

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=111441

[DFD1]

Dave. I like your Santa Claus and I appreciate your Christmas greeting. Merry Christmas to you as well as to everyone here, and special good wishes to those amoung us who celebrate their own special day at another time during the year. Best to you. DFD

[bepsf]

Alina needs to learn about paragraphs and CB needs to find a better way to tell us all that she is superior to most, if not all, of us.

LOL - well said!!!:D

[logan1_2000]

Just put down my wonder bread and velveeta and walked past my stars and bars flag to get to the computer long enough to log on, had to set my rifle down which breaks my heart but I just can't type at the same time as I maintain my standing in the well-regulated militia that the second amendment protects...okay, everyone making like a cruise through 18-20 foot seas and puking thier guts out? Seriously, what a hoot this thread is! HAL must be exciting, look at the passion expressed in a thread that originated with a HAL issue.

I think the phrase from "Stripes" was "Lighten up, Francis". And I mean that to everyone, including myself. Most of us would be most politically and sociologically and ethnically at ease in our own homes. Yet we all seem to venture out of our homes, be they single-wide, double-wide, McMansions, apartments, estates, townhouses, condos, or whatever else, and step aboard cruise ships. Because a bad day on a cruise is better than a good day at home--and it is highly unlikely that there is such a thing as a bad day on a cruise ship.

Play nice, do your best to research a cruise that will fit what you want from your vacation, read as many reviews as possible so that you can put Archie Bunker's reviews in perspective along with Thurston Howell III's review--you know,the folks who think Crystal food tastes like school lunch and nothing is ever good enough--and I pass no judgment on what color NBC painted their state on election night--and enjoy. If you don't enjoy your cruise as much as you hope, book another one on another cruise line next time.

[HeatherInFlorida]

LOL - well said!!!:D
I agree!!! Well said, DFD, and ever so briefly:D ! I simply love nutshells.

[CDRMark]

I hope I am fortunate to cruise with you some day! Well said, mate.
Cheers
MarkB

[grandgeezer]

We've been on Hal three times, twice on the Statendam and once on the Ryndam. We found everything about them excellant. But, we just got off the Celebrity ship Mercury and were blown away. Everything about it was wonderful. Based on just this one cruise, we like Celebrity much more than HAL.

[bonnyweed]

Rollie,
Since dining is a very important part of the cruise to you, I would definitely give Celebrity the nod. Unless you want to pay every night to dine at the Pinnacle Grill on HAL, it seems that the HAL dining room experience is slipping. Other than the dining room experience, I think HAL and Celebrity have a very similar product. Happy sails.
PS On my December Ryndam cruise they were definitely serving the cheese platter with a few cellophane wrapped packets of saltines (no fresh made crackers).... & it was quite difficult to get any bread as an accompaniment to the cheese.
I'm sure you will have a great cruise on either line.

[CoasterBill]

We just got back this week from Zuiderdam and we very much prefer Celebrity and I do not think we will be back on HAL but at the same time I found the food to be very good. I like very much food with spice and they normally had one dish each night that was marked as spicy. These were normally just as they stated. Not very heavy but I have to admitt that they were much more so then I would have thought. If I gave Celebrity a 9 out of 10 I would give HAL 8. I feel food is not a reason to not go to HAL. They have things for everyone.
Entertanment I felt is better on Celebrity and I feel the ships have a larger grand quality feel. Service is also in my view much better. If you like a laid back type of feel to a cruise HAL will be good for you. I like a little more to do so prefer Celebrity. Just my views.

[rollie]

Thanks again everyone for all the posts. Our first cruise on Celebrity was on the Galaxy back in 98 I think, and the food just knocked our socks off. Since then we have cruised on the Zenith, Millennium, and Constellation. Although we had a wonderful time on each ship I feel that the food quality slipped on each progressive cruise. We've also cruised on the Grand Princess, and the Mariner. The food was fine on those ships but again I'd like enjoy the dining like it was on the Galaxy. It seems as if all the cruise lines have let their food quality lag in the last few years. Maybe it's the speciality restaurants that have caused this.

[jstrack]

I've only cruised on newer ships that were either Celebrity or Carnival. The overall experience of Celebrity, obviously, was significantly better. The larger ships seem to have better entertainment and the lunches on Celebrity were better. I also liked the rear area of the ships on Celebrity where I could sit outside and have a coffee in the morning. I felt that the common areas in the Celebrity ship were rather cold....not in temperature but in style. Celebrity tried to make their ship (millenium) very sophisticated and I did not feel that it was easy to talk with strangers on this ship.

Although the food on Celebrity has been considered to be better than most others, I thought the food on some of my Celebrity ships were equally good....that is the main course. The deserts on Celebrity and some of the soups were much better. Service in the dining rooms were good on both ships, although classier on Celebrity. The buffet area on Celebrity was much nicer and there was staff to help with the food tray if you needed it.

The newer ships on both lines have good workout areas and steam rooms and sauna's. These facilities, I hear, are an extra charge on HAL. $10 or $15 per day to sit in the steam room seems wrong after not paying extra for it on the other ships.

Overall, I was rather board on the Celebrity ships at night with the exception of the shows. They did have a nice quartet playing music at night, but that got old after a couple of nights. I'm not a big fan of bingo and the nightclub on Celebrity seldom had many people. In fact, on many nights the nightclub was used for games or bingo.

I've been cruising for about three years. A couple times a year and look forward to it each time. I love the white table-cloth dining and the freedom away from any responsibilities. I've always been able to find enough good food and don't think that I have ever disliked anything I've ordered for food.

I've found that walking around with a smiling face and a good disposition ends up in a happy trip no matter what I do or where I go. I think when comparing most cruise lines, particularly HAL and Celebrity, one will have to work at it not to have a good time. I've noticed with some cruisers and vacationers, that for lack of anything to do they like to start a conversation with a complaint or discriminating observation that does them no good or me.

Best wishes and hope you have a wonderful trip

[DFD1]

jstrack: That was a great post. I wholeheartedly agree. Both HAL and, I am sure, Celebrity offer a great cruise. Much of the joy of cruising is in one's attitude. Sounds like you've got that figured out very well. Happy cruising.

PS: Years ago, I had some friends come back from a trip complaining about the bed they had slept in. My response was that the best bed in the world is probably in your own bedroom. If you travel for a good bed, you'd best just stay home. Same could be said of food or, for that matter, lots of other things.

[HeatherInFlorida]

jstrack, definitely great observations. I couldn't agree more. Actually the allegiance and loyalty to one cruiseline that we see on these boards is new for me. We've been cruising for 25 years or so and I never based a cruise on the line other than avoiding Carnival and a couple of others.

In the end, a cruise is what you make it. If you set off on a cruise believing that you'll have a great time, then you will.

I absolutely love the teak deck with the umbrellas on the Millennium stern! We would have coffee there in the morning and often sit there in the evening listening to the guitar player. A wonderful, usually fairly quiet spot, where you felt you were on a much smaller ship.

[jstrack]

Heather, I've had the same experience on Millenium. Its a beautiful spot to watch the water and sky...the gentle wind...with a coffee or juice...your companion or a book...basically just veg out, unwind, chill and enjoy yourself. My next trip is in two weeks on Hal...I'll be on the Ryndam and it looks to have an outside eating area that extends to the back (aft?) of the ship from the Lido (buffet) restaurant. Hope that will be a nice spot too.

I've heard the Ryndam ship is the first to be upgraded or changed to the "excellence" program and among the upgrades or changes to the ship will be a new coffee shop (lower level) that serves Starbucks coffee. I'm an addict so this comes as a pleasant surprise. I expect their coffee will be made available to the rest of the fleet as they are retrofited over the next year or so.... Maybe Hal is adding the Starbucks brand earlier to all the ships now?

Best wishes....

[PaulaJK]

I have experienced extreme problems w.
the booking of air and at this late date, am
not certain that we will be sailing on Sunday!
So my opinion is strongly negative.

[bepsf]

I've heard the Ryndam ship is the first to be upgraded or changed to the "excellence" program and among the upgrades or changes to the ship will be a new coffee shop (lower level) that serves Starbucks coffee. I'm an addict so this comes as a pleasant surprise. I expect their coffee will be made available to the rest of the fleet as they are retrofited over the next year or so.... Maybe Hal is adding the Starbucks brand earlier to all the ships now?

Best wishes....
Yes, Ryndam is the first to have the complete SOE redo, however the coffee being served on board is not Starbucks, but Torrefazione

www.titalia.com (www.titalia.com)

It's currently being served in the Windstar Cafe's of all Vista-Class ships, and also I believe in Neptune Lounges and Pinnacle Grills fleet-wide.

[vitamarion]

Just got back from a 7 day cruise out of Port Canaveral on the Zaandam. The ship was beautiful. The staterooms very large, and Half Moon Cay was the best beach I have ever been to, and I grew up on the beach in California.

The food was horrible. It was bland and suited for those under 7 or over 70. It definitely had more appeal to those from middle America - lots of white bread and canned peaches. If you love ranch dressing on your salad (served on a hot plate fresh from the dishwasher), then you will love the food. If you like spices on your food - like pepper you will hate Holland America's food. I did not see a green onion or tabasco once on the ship. On the formal night, my roomate ordered steak and potatoes and was served tater tots. They served their cheese plate with four saltine crackers still in their plastic wrap. Since my only other cruise experience was on Celebrity (where every meal including breakfast is 5 star quality), I was sorely disappointed.

The service left much to be desired too. Our wine steward didn't bother to show up the first night until we were finished with our second course. Then, as he observed me reading the wine list, he said I better hurry up if I wanted to order wine. Faced with such obnoxiousness, I decided that I didn't really feel like wine anymore. In the seven nights we were on the ship, the wine steward showed up 3 times - twice only after we requested his presence. The one recommendation he made was poorly thought out, and nothing like what we asked for. Although the waiter and busboy worked very hard, and tried their best, they were poorly trained. The waiter insisted on taking and serving orders as quickly as possible - like we were in Denny's and he had to turn over the table asap - without regard for the others in our group. We were a group of 6, and he would insist on taking orders and serving the first couple that sat down without waiting for the others to join us. It took several nights for us to get him to understand we wanted to eat together. I didn't realize how much I loved the great food and service on Celebrity. As I said to my traveling friends, then next ship I set foot on will say "Celebrity" on the side.

To be fair, I met lots of people who loved Holland America, and cruise with them every year. So if you come from middle America (the "red" states), you will find many neighbors and new friends on Holland America. If you come from the coasts of the US (California or New York - "blue" states), you will probably not be too happy with the food, so either bring your own spices or travel on Celebrity. Happy cruising to all. CB

Gee, That is the exact experience we had on Celebrity. Are you sure your not confussing the two? :) Back from the Westerdam Dec 5th cruise. It was our first. We would cruise with HAL again.

Truely sorry you had such a horrible and dissapointing cruise. I had that same experience with Celebrity so I understand how you feel.




Marion

[DFD1]

Touche !

[vitamarion]

confussing .

Oops that is confusing not confussing.

Marion

[mkk]

bepsf and heather: thanks for your comments....you've said all I would have like to have said to certain posters....
I sincerely hope that others will continue to post on this thread and refrain from exaggeration. There are some of us that would truly like an objective opinion of their cruise experiences on HAL...good, bad or indifferent..the purpose of these boards is COMPARISON and honest sharing of information based on experiences...
No cruiseline is perfect..no cruise is perfect in every way...but biting comments and exaggerations are just rude and the poster loses credibility in the process.
As for the red/blue thing...why is it always the "blue" that have the negativity? That's my only political comment/observation.
(Sorry..that was rude)

[kygal]

First of all.....this is JUST my opinion....this was our first cruise ever and had read so many great things about HAL and we REALLY looked forward to our 15 day cruise!!!

I do have a soft tissue injury to a finger (yes, it happened on the Statendam)..so I will try and make this short...I am sure many will be thrilled :D
I was in an outside balcony, never saw the "white glove" treatment many speak of, and also found that the communication between the Front Office and Seattle really left ALOT to be desired. We dined at a table of 8 the youngest person was 83 and as much as I adore "older" adults IF I wanted to eat dinner with 80 year olds I would have stayed home with my in-laws.I have seen 3 year olds with more manners AND class than most at our table! I never really complained about this until about halfway through our cruise..when I was rudely asked by the front office WHY we had not been eating dinner in the dining room!
Our shore excursions NEVER got booked because we were suppose to have $$$$ in our shipboard account when we embarked ...it was NOT there..then it was..then it wasn't....so we were AFRAID to spend too much this being our first cruise and it was 15 days long..so we waited hoping to have this settled so that we could go whale watching and perhaps take a submarine ride or just anything that I hadn't planned myself!! We received a note from our travel agent on Monday (we still had 3 more days at port) that MORE money was to be added to our onboard account and that we would be receiving the VIP treatment...for the poor treatment we had received earlier. Sadly, this money was NOT added UNTIL we returned back from the last port...so no whale watches, no submarine rides for me :eek: . They did send a bottle of wine (We don't drink) and a vase of flowers..(they took the flowers and the vase the night before the cruise ended)
We did WIN a FREE piece of art..it was beautiful~until we were informed THEY had to frame it..(a mere $250...plus shipping)
I took pics of a few of their other "deals" and will show them when my finger is better:D (Like the HUGE crack in the mirror in our stateroom) ..
I plan on writing a letter to HAL to share my feelings (I will NOT be emailing them..we were told on the ship it was taking 3 days to receive emails from their home office):rolleyes:
We did meet a few very nice people ..you know who you are:rolleyes: we will never forget you...

[JohnR49er]

Why would anybody that thinks Celebrity is better than HAL be called a whiner? Is it because they dare to say it on the HAL board?
I know Bill O'Reilly would never post here because this is not a no spin zone !!!!!!!

I like reading both sides of the comparison. I know from past experience any negatives about HAL are usually dealt with promptly and severly.

I will retreat to the bunker and await the incoming.

I will wish everyone a Happy and Healthy Holiday season !!!!!:D