So what's new on HAL?

[Suskies]

My whole family is so excited...we've booked 2 rooms on the Zuiderdam for a western Caribbean cruise in early August. We last sailed on the Maasdam in 2002 and the Zaandam in 2000 (both summertime Caribbean cruises). What changes will we find--good and bad--compared to our HAL cruises 3 and 5 years ago?

[wwinfl91]

We were on the Maasdam last spring for a cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Montreal. It was right after they had begun doing the "improvements". We had a verandah cabin which had the new mattresses, which were really nice. We had some of our best nights sleep on any ship on those mattresses. The new sheets and pillows are also very nice.

We took our first cruise on HAL in 1997 on the Noordam and have been a total of 7 HAL cruises. The food was just as good this cruise as the others. But the waiters and their assistants seemed to be handling a lot more tables so you didn't see them quite as often as on other cruises.

The ship itself was in very good shape and the attitude of the crew seemed to be good. Our room steward did a good job with our room.

One other less than good situation was the way the shore excursion desk handled our visits to ports. This cruise was all about the various ports we were visiting but the shore excursion and main desk did not seem to know what was going on until the last minute. Two examples of this as follows. In Jacksonville, which was our first stop, no one notified the dock personnel we were going to be there all day. They thought we were just going to stop and pick up the passengers joining the cruise there and leave. When the Jacksonville authorities realized that people were getting off the ship and that they wanted to do things, they arranged a bus shuttle service from the dock to downtown Jacksonville. But this was organized by the chamber of commerce of somebody like that not the ship. No announcement was made about this free service until late in the morning when quite a number of people had already paid for taxis to take them into Jacksonville.

In Boston the ship didn't notify us until the morning as we were docking that the ship would be providing bus transportation from the dock to the downtown area of Boston. Many people had already made other plans which cost them money.

Whenever you asked anyone at the shore excursion office about anything they seemed to act like it was a total surprise that we were even stopping there. I had originally thought they just didn't like me or that I was asking too hard of questons but I sat down by the shore excursion office one afternoon and watch at least 10 or 12 other people walking away from the desk shaking their heads in amazement at the lack of port knowledge by the people at the desk.

I don't want to give anyone the idea that we didn't have a good time on the cruise because we did. But there definitely were things that weren't up to par. But I would still highly recommend HAL to anyone who wants a good quality cruise experience.

Have a good next cruise.

[Suskies]

I had a similar experience on a HAL cruise in 2000. When we docked at Grand Cayman, I asked one of the staff (forget his title--maybe assistant cruise director) where I could go to find a taxi or van to Seven Mile Beach, and he said he had no idea--hadn't been ashore in years--and had no idea how I could find out. I was pretty disappointed.

But, as you said, otherwise a wonderful cruise, so much so that here we are going on our third HAL cruise!

[gizmo]

Here are some of the changes:


4 dining times instead of 2
new mattresses
much better shower heads
new hair dryers
flambes served in the Neptune instead of the dining room
tips are now added to your on board account (10.00 per person, per day)
service in the dining room may be slow, some people have reported great service while others found it slower than what they had in the past
early boarding, (you can now board around 11:30)
you can stay in your cabin on the last day until your number is called to leave the ship
cost of the soda cards and drinks have increased
Dutch Night is history, although many have reported some of the food, like the pea soup, are still served

[gizmo]

"flambes served in the Neptune"

:o Sorry about that, flambes are served in the Explorer's Lounge.

[sail7seas]

Two examples of this as follows. In Jacksonville, which was our first stop, no one notified the dock personnel we were going to be there all day. They thought we were just going to stop and pick up the passengers joining the cruise there and leave. When the Jacksonville authorities realized that people were getting off the ship and that ....



It is hard to imagine the Port Authority did not know the exact hours the ship planned to be docked. There are very strict regulations about ships entering ports/remaing there/ and departing.

While there may have been some confusions (and I do not doubt that the information given to pax was less clear than it should have been), I think the port did not know the ship was remaining there for the expected length of time.

Jacksonville may not have been the best organized or most experienced and may not have the expertise to handle cruiseship pax that other ports have. Perhaps they are working on builidng it up to handle more cruiseships and will learn from past experience.

[shipcafe]

I think that the Explorations Café is one of the most notable enhancements. It is truly a social centrum where guests can get coffee, listen to music complimentary, pour through a wide selection of books, do puzzles, surf the net, and more ! . . . .

[roe2ship]

Here are some of the changes:


you can stay in your cabin on the last day until your number is called to leave the ship
This must feel wonderful. How long ago did they change this? I thought NCL was the only line that did this.

Can you tell me the cost of soda cards on 7 day cruises and the 4 different dining times? Thanks.

[sail7seas]

The dining hours are now:


5:45 and 8:00 P.M. for upper level of the dining room.

6:15 P.M. and 8:30 P.M. for the lower level of the dining room.

[Suskies]

Thank you all for the updates! Most of these changes sound just fine and I know we'll love this cruise just as much as our past HAL cruises (more, because this time we're springing for a verandah cabin for ourselves and a separate (inside) cabin for the kids.