Will Holland be a good cruise line for us?

[NODAK1979]

We're a childless couple, age 33 and 27. Not party animals, but certainly not people who will be going to bed that early either. In fact, at least one night on a cruise ship we'd like to stay up pretty late in the nightclub on board.

Dressing up on board isn't our favorite....I do it all the time for work, and I prefer not to on vacation.

So...I realize there are two "formal nights" on a week long cruise. We can eat in the buffet those nights. But other than that, how "OK" is it to wear shorts everywhere or a T-Shirt and jeans?? You know, casual wear.

Also, are there typically decent nightclubs on board these ships?? I ask because I've heard that Holland caters to somewhat of an older clientele so I'm just not sure. If it matters any, we're considering the Nieuw Amsterdam out of Ft Lauderdale.

Lastly, is the entertainment pretty decent compared to say, a Norwegian or Royal Caribbean ship?? I've been on a Norwegian and it was pretty decent...good shows nightly (comedians, shows, etc).

Basically, we'd just like a ship that has good nightlife....and is accommodating to those who don't really want to dress up.

[cruisin'girl]

To be perfectly honest, I don't think HAL is the line for you. Entertainment and night life are not HAL's strong areas and those are definetely a priority for you. Dress is casual during the day, but "smart casual" on most nights- khakis, collared shirt. Shorts and t-shirts are not what you will see at night.

Have a great time whatever you decide.

[NODAK1979]

To be perfectly honest, I don't think HAL is the line for you. Entertainment and night life are not HAL's strong areas and those are definetely a priority for you. Dress is casual during the day, but "smart casual" on most nights- khakis, collared shirt. Shorts and t-shirts are not what you will see at night.

Have a great time whatever you decide.

Appreciate the input. The more reading I do, the more I think you're right.

[pam vessels]

We're a childless couple, age 33 and 27. Not party animals, but certainly not people who will be going to bed that early either. In fact, at least one night on a cruise ship we'd like to stay up pretty late in the nightclub on board.

Dressing up on board isn't our favorite....I do it all the time for work, and I prefer not to on vacation.

So...I realize there are two "formal nights" on a week long cruise. We can eat in the buffet those nights. But other than that, how "OK" is it to wear shorts everywhere or a T-Shirt and jeans?? You know, casual wear.

Also, are there typically decent nightclubs on board these ships?? I ask because I've heard that Holland caters to somewhat of an older clientele so I'm just not sure. If it matters any, we're considering the Nieuw Amsterdam out of Ft Lauderdale.

Lastly, is the entertainment pretty decent compared to say, a Norwegian or Royal Caribbean ship?? I've been on a Norwegian and it was pretty decent...good shows nightly (comedians, shows, etc).

Basically, we'd just like a ship that has good nightlife....and is accommodating to those who don't really want to dress up.
This is tricky and I think alot has to do with which ship you are on. You do get a younger demographic on the 7 day cruises and the one time we did a 7 nighter the clubs were full and everyone seemed to be having a good time. On longer cruises there are always folks dancing in the crows nest every evening to a live band playing a variety of music. I hope you enjoy your cruise....we will be the ones at the tables when you pass through the casino on your way to the club.

[RuthC]

From what you say you want out of a cruise, HAL does not sound like the best match.

The entertainment in the show lounge is not their strong suit, and never was. The music in most lounges ends by midnight, although the Nieuw Amsterdam does have the Northern Lights, which should be open later.
And yes, the crowd, even on a Signature class ship, tends to be older than you are, if that matters to you.

Dress at night is for the entire ship; shorts and t-shirts are not to code at night except on Lido Deck, and outside decks.

[woody73]

We're a childless couple, age 33 and 27. . .

Dressing up on board isn't our favorite. . .

Also, are there typically decent nightclubs on board these ships??

I've been on a Norwegian and it was pretty decent...good shows nightly (comedians, shows, etc).
We've sailed on the cruise lines you mentioned (HAL, RCI and NCL), as well as a few others.

Given your ages, interests, and desire not to dress up, I think NCL is the best fit for you. On NCL, we like the flexibility of "Dress Up or Not" night, and nightclubs and late night activities (Second City). You won't find that on HAL.

Woody

[gelo7]

To be perfectly honest, I don't think HAL is the line for you. Entertainment and night life are not HAL's strong areas and those are definetely a priority for you. Dress is casual during the day, but "smart casual" on most nights- khakis, collared shirt. Shorts and t-shirts are not what you will see at night.

Have a great time whatever you decide.As much as I hate discouraging someone from a cruise line, I would have to agree.

[FrankNJ]

"Basically, we'd just like a ship that has good nightlife....and is accommodating to those who don't really want to dress up. "

not Hal

[lcand1923]

HAL is not a good fit for you based upon your requirements.

[iriemon]

Agree with the other posters, HAL would not be a good fit for you, NCL or Princess may fit you better. We do not always take part in the formal nights and eat in the Lido or Cannello's but the ship really dies around 11:00. We were on one cruise on the Eurodam where the Piano bar went until 1:00 every night and was crowded but that just happened to be the people on board. Northern lights the night club is rarely filled in my experience. Now if Service was the most important to you you can not get any better than HAL.

[jkrislc]

I have to agree with my fellow CC HAL posters here, especially if a t-shirt, jeans, and/or shorts are your preferred dress on vacation at night.

While my DW and I have one child, we are close to your age group. For us, HAL was a very good, although not perfect, fit. Our DS (5) loves Club Hal and we enjoy the movie theater, exploration activities, etc. My DS would prefer an NCL dress code, but that's her only gripe with HAL. While entertainment options are less available on HAL, they suit us just fine as we're good with one or two events after dinner in the evening. A game show and a production show/movie fit us just fine. Of course, the itinerary also matters. We're headed on the Maasdam in May with 6 ports in 7 days, so I doubt evening entertainment will take a first seat on that cruise.

I do think you could make a HAL cruise work for you. I was hesitant at first. However, the night life is more sedate, although not nonexistent.

[maxsmamma]

I'm not reading the other replies, so you get my first impressions of your question.

My husband and I fell in love with HAL when we were about your age, and also childless (our welcome bottle of champagne on one cruise changed that forever!) We found that HAL was much more laid back and relaxing than other cruises, the older guests tend to mean much less pool side drunken hoopla, and a lot less children. When we had kids we wanted a break from them!

You will not get to spend a night at the disco. Unless you are on some magic cruise that we have never been on, I have never seen a party in the disco at night. The shows are a total crap shoot. Some, like Joel Mason are the most amazing highlights of the cruise, others are interesting, and personally, I think the singers and dancers are a bit lame. I love broadway, but I just can't get into them. Some boats have a movie theater, and we find they are a fun alternative for us. But some boats, like the Westerdam don't have a theater, and they show movies in the lounge. Not so good.

As far as dressing up, my husband hates too. We do once a cruise on Formal night, but we go to the Pinnacle grill. It is an extra $25pp, but SOOOOO worth it. They require men in coat and ties, so we do it on formal night, so we don't have to get dressed up another night. The other formal night, the surf and Turf, we do it in our cabin. Quiet yummy dinner in jeans in our cabin. You can go to the Lido or Cannaletto in casual clothing on Formal nights, even though some people on here disagree. It's no big deal. The rest of the cruise casual, comfortable clothes are fine.

If you are looking at Caribbean, HAL has the best private Island in the world. It alone is worth less than exciting evening entertainment. At least for us. We go to be early on cruises, because we have so much fun getting up and going on port days. Other nights if there is nothing happening, we get a bottle on wine and sit somewhere, usually our Aft balcony and look at the stars.

So if these things sound good to you, a HAL cruise may be perfect. We do not miss the "drunken idiots" in their cuttoffs and tank tops at dinner that we found on all our other cruises.

[iancal]

It you want nighlife, HAL is definately not the cruise line for you. Unless of course you like music of the 40's and 50's and you generally retire to your cabin by 10:30ish.

[centuryguy]

My wife and I were on the Eurodam this past October and found that a variety of music was played not just from the 40s and 50s. We were also surprised at the age diversity on the ship. Plenty of older couples, but there were plenty of couples ranging between I'd say 25 to 40ish too. We were very surprised at the number of younger people on the ship because HAL kind of has the reputation of catering to older clientele.

Nightlife on HAL. Not so much. Relaxing music in the lounges seems to predominate, but that's what we were looking for. No shorts and t-shirts in the evening.

We found the service all around better on HAL than any of our Princess cruises. Princess does have more options for nightlife. It depends on what you're looking for. We were looking for a relaxing get-a-way without a lot of loud music and other distractions with great service and that's what we got from HAL.

[mmr923]

I agree with the maxsmamma above that you CAN wear "casual" on formal night (or any night) and eat in the Lido or in your own cabin. But I agree with what others have posted that you really won't see "t-shirt and shorts" as dinner attire, even in the Lido, on any night. I'm sure there are exceptions out there, but not many in my limited HAL experience. Plenty of khakis and polo shirts, but not shorts and t-shirts at night.

I find the nightlife on HAL (again, in my 2 ship limited experience) to not be as bad as some say. We found places to dance until midnight on both the Ryndam and Noordam. Don't know if we stayed up much past midnight as we are people who like to get up early and start our intensive port schedules right away.

As others have mentioned, a more "casual" line might be more to your liking. We have friends who are older than you are, but don't like to dress up and they really enjoy RCI. We are only slightly older than you are, but we DO like dressing up (even though we both dress for work as well) for dinner, so that's the difference for us. We enjoy the "special occasion" feeling of going "out" to dinner every night while on vacation. We even dress up for dinner on "land" vacations (ok, not formalwear, but nice dresses - sport coat/etc.) so for us it's no different.

Best of wishes for a very enjoyable vacation on whichever line you choose! :)

[TXCruiser10]

I think you will LOVE HAL. My husband and I were 39 and 37 when we took our first HAL cruise and we went with my brother and his wife who were 38 and 32. None of us have children and like you we are not major party animals (so we wanted to avoid Carnival). I really didn't want to vacation on a ship with a bunch of kids running around. HAL was perfect. We have sailed with HAL a total of 3 times and found the people are polite and respectful--I am not sure if that has anything to do with age. We loved the night club and danced to Lady Gaga and our favorite Top 40 songs, etc. every night. We just got back from Royal Caribbean's Allure of the Seas and talk about an "older" crowd. Half of the guests were on scooters! Everything was better with HAL--the food, service, clientel, the extra perks, etc.

We've skipped formal nights once or twice and just at the Lido Buffett instead--shorts and sandals are welcomed there!

We were on the Nieuw Amsterdam about a year ago and loved, loved it. Check out the member reviews and decide for yourself. Do not let anyone tell you HAL is for older people--it has a good mix of everyone.

HAL, MS Ryndam, April 2010
HAL, MS Nieuw Amsterdam, Dec. 2010
HAL, MS Veendam, July 2011
RCI, Allure of the Seas, Dec. 2011
HAL, MS Oosterdam, June 2012

[baggal]

If you were looking at an exotic itinerary, then of course you should go with HAL. But since you're looking at the Caribbean, there are lots of other lines on which you'll find the nightlife you want along with a more casual atmosphere.

And yes, the HAL private island Half Moon Cay is exquisite, but I wouldn't choose a cruise because of it. Often, the ships have to pass it by because the weather is inhospitable for tendering.

[Typhoon1]

CCL sounds like it may be more to your liking. You're both still young, the only problem with CCL is the abundance of children.

[big green]

From what you say you want out of a cruise, HAL does not sound like the best match.

The entertainment in the show lounge is not their strong suit, and never was. The music in most lounges ends by midnight, although the Nieuw Amsterdam does have the Northern Lights, which should be open later.
And yes, the crowd, even on a Signature class ship, tends to be older than you are, if that matters to you.

Dress at night is for the entire ship; shorts and t-shirts are not to code at night except on Lido Deck, and outside decks.

This is not true--we saw many people in very casual clothes in the bars at night on the Oosterdam for 14 day cruise in December==may be recommended but a lot of people do not follow--the dress expectations on this board are very exaggerated by some of the posters.

BG

[RuthC]

This is not true
Then your statement only reflects compliance with the dress code on your one HAL cruise. It does not reflect the truth of the statement of the dress code. :rolleyes:

[TheCalicoCat]

If it matters any, we're considering the Nieuw Amsterdam out of Ft Lauderdale.

Since you are asking the question, you probably know the answer.

Based on the fact that you are going to the Caribbean, choose the line that in your gut feels right - the one that you don't have to ask about on CC.

Now if you were going to Alaska my answer would differ. I would tell you to choose based on itinerary not ship or line.

& If you were going to Tahiti, etc. my answer would again differ...

[Viesczy]

We are slightly older than the OP. I'm 40 and Karen is 45, we don't retire before the Sun.

I dunno, Vista class ships on a 7 day to the Caribbean aren't as sedate as the smaller ships.

Will any of the Vista class ships on a 7 day Caribbean be party central line CCL? No. Will any of the Vista class hips on a 7 day Caribbean be as dead as a synagogue on a blizzard covered Sunday afternoon? No.

NCL at first blush might be a better overall fit.

Derek

[big green]

Then your statement only reflects compliance with the dress code on your one HAL cruise. It does not reflect the truth of the statement of the dress code. :rolleyes:


It reflects what I saw and a long conversation with the Oosterdam Hotel Director--Mr. Deering about the dress code--who stated on numerous occasions it is a recommended thing and fell free to wear shorts in the bars/clubs/etc at night. People hyping the so called mandatory dress code on this board will hurt HAL's viability in the future.


Bg

[SwissMyst]

Appreciate the input. The more reading I do, the more I think you're right.

Agree with the above considerations. HAL ships are more about the itineraries and the ports rather than shipboard entertainment. They are more traditional liners rather than "fun ships"; kind of the stodgy bur refined aunt in the HAL family which is perfect for a lot of us, but they are not all things for all people. However, there is always something to do along the lines of what you are asking, but just a much smaller group to do them with within your age and entertainment expectations.