New to HAL

[schack74]

I've been on 9 cruises, most recently all have been on Princess and we're considering the Westerdam next Thanksgiving week. What's it like Thanksgiving week on HAL? lots of families? kids? Does HAL do anything special on Thanksgiving? I have seen positive reviews of this ship. Any cabins I should avoid, such as those right under pool area? Any input would be great!

[Charliesmom]

We were just on the Westerdam 12/12 sailing. I thought that it compared very favorably to Princess. The food was very good quality - I thought a cut above Princess in that they served smoked salmon every day for breakfast, had different pates many days and had very high quality cold cuts and cheeses. They also had a great salad bar with mesclun greens every day as well as iceberg lettuce and lots of good stuff to put on the salads. (in the Lido).

In the dining room the meats were high quality. They did not have as many fish selections as Princess and most of the meat selections did not have as much garlic as those on Princess. Even the escargot had very little garlic.

We had an aft S Suite. HAL has a concierge for suite guests which is a very nice touch, as is the Neptune Lounge where you can have continental breakfast, a light lunch and hors d'oeuvres. The suite is a single room rather than two (as on Princess). The aft balcony was huge. We liked it a lot.

In general, the service on the ship was wonderful.

Hope this helps.

Roberta

[CDRMark]

DW and I were on Maasdam this most recent Thanksgiving, and while there were no discernable decoration differences, the ship altered formal night rotation so that Thanksgiving night was formal vice informal. Turkey and the associated trimmings were served, and it was apparent that Thanksgivng was celebrated widely aboard, even amongst the crew. We had brought holiday door decorations for our cabin, but I noticed no other doors decorated. The meal was very festive, and the turkey, etc. was very nice.
There were more children aboard than I would have anticipated, approx. 100 of various ages. I did not note any special turkey day activities (cranberry roll? brussel sprout hunt?).
Have fun
Cheers
MarkB

[Bill S]

We have done 3 Thanksgiving cruises on HAL: one to the E. Caribbean; one to the Panama Canal (10 days); and one to the Mexican Riviera. As CDRMark posted above, HAL does have a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.

There were a lot of families with kids on the E. Caribbean cruise, fewer families with kids on the Mexican Riviera cruise and almost none on the Panama Canal cruise. Hope this helps!

[schack74]

Thanks for the replys. It was pretty much what I expected. I'm now sure we'll be having Thanksgiving next year on the Westerdam!