Like HAL, but different......

[WhansaMi]

My hubby is 54 and I am 48. We took a 12 day cruise in July/August on HAL, after taking three tours on Carnival.

We liked HAL. I liked the more sedate feeling on it. I like the relative absence of small children.

However, we both felt that the activities and entertainment were not directed at our age group. Shows with music from WWII and the piano man playing music from the 50' wasn't our thing. My husband was ready to pay big money to hear some rock-n-roll! I love to play cards (penny poker, spades), but all the card players were my parents' ages, and playing bridge and mai jong.

Are there any ships/lines that you guys could recommend that is somewhere in between Carnival and HAL in focus groups?

Shiela

[jhannah]

You might consider Princess. They offer a good product, affordable pricing, and fall (IMO) between Carnival and Holland America.

[Jade13]

My hubby is 54 and I am 48. We took a 12 day cruise in July/August on HAL, after taking three tours on Carnival.

We liked HAL. I liked the more sedate feeling on it. I like the relative absence of small children.

However, we both felt that the activities and entertainment were not directed at our age group. Shows with music from WWII and the piano man playing music from the 50' wasn't our thing. My husband was ready to pay big money to hear some rock-n-roll! I love to play cards (penny poker, spades), but all the card players were my parents' ages, and playing bridge and mai jong.

Are there any ships/lines that you guys could recommend that is somewhere in between Carnival and HAL in focus groups?

Shiela

Which ship/cruise in July? We cruise that month but in the Med and the clientele is younger.

[jtl513]

Are there any ships/lines that you guys could recommend that is somewhere in between Carnival and HAL in focus groups?You could try Royal Caribbean - but most of their ships are monsters! :eek:

[Beebob1]

My hubby is 54 and I am 48. We took a 12 day cruise in July/August on HAL, after taking three tours on Carnival.

We liked HAL. I liked the more sedate feeling on it. I like the relative absence of small children.

However, we both felt that the activities and entertainment were not directed at our age group. Shows with music from WWII and the piano man playing music from the 50' wasn't our thing. My husband was ready to pay big money to hear some rock-n-roll! I love to play cards (penny poker, spades), but all the card players were my parents' ages, and playing bridge and mai jong.

Are there any ships/lines that you guys could recommend that is somewhere in between Carnival and HAL in focus groups?

Shiela

Yikes, I'm taking my nephew in April who will be 13. Hope the Eurodam is not filled with older people. He will be bored :( I would love it just to R&R some. This may help with his manners ;)

[hammybee]

Did you hit the Northern Lights Disco?

[hammybee]

Yikes, I'm taking my nephew in April who will be 13. Hope the Eurodam is not filled with older people. He will be bored :( I would love it just to R&R some. This may help with his manners ;)

Assuming you are cruising during Spring Break, there will be plenty of children and teens onboard.

[Akheila]

We were on HAL last January..and we found the entertainment great...there was an Elton John impersonator who was great, a comedian who wasn't our type (too crass) and a magician who was fun. We are 32, 33 and had our daughter 3 (at the time), as well as the inlaws with us who are mid 50's.


we all had a great time and our daughter enjoyed the kids club so much she didn't want to stay with us!

[WeLoveCruising]

On the 12 day cruise you took (I'm assuming Europe?) the demographics would skew a little older than you would see on a 7-day Caribbean sailing.

We're younger than you, but actually enjoy the entertainmnet and music. I agree with Hammy, did you go in Northern Lights? They usually play very modern music in there as the night gets later.

You might want to give HAL another try. If not, I agree Princess might be a nice choice for you, but the ships will be larger.

Beebob, my son (now 19) has been travelling with us on HAL for ten years. He always finds friends and things to do.

[sharks48]

Depending on where/when you want to sail, you might also check Celebrity. It's a little more active but still elegant.

[usha]

I'd recommend Celebrity, too:D , for the same reasons that sharks48 mentioned.

[Beebob1]

Assuming you are cruising during Spring Break, there will be plenty of children and teens onboard.

Great :)

[ConnMom]

I agree with those who suggested Celebrity. Although we have enjoyed all of our cruises, Celebrity is our favorite line. I think its service is just as attentive as Holland America's, its dining room food is better, and it has an elegant ambiance. We also like Princess. I don't think its service is quite as good, but it has good food and also more entertainment options than either Holland America or Celebrity. We loved the Piano Bar on the Zuiderdam; I'm hoping that our upcoming Volendam cruise has a good pianist and lively audience. I'll be very disappointed if all the music predates me!

[tennisobo]

Since Princess is what we know best, I would suggest them as well. We found enough night life with a mix of styles. There is definitely some younger crowd action in the disco at night. Sometimes you had to wait until at least 10:00 PM for it to really get going, though. We found a very wide range of ages on Princess.

I also think that your cruise seemed an older crowd because of the length. Caribbean and Mexican Riviera cruises of 7 days will nearly always have a younger clientele than the longer cruises.

Happy sailings...
P.S. We love Princess. Relaxed if you want it or more lively if you want it. It just depends on what activities you take advantage of.

[bruce-r]

You might consider Princess. They offer a good product, affordable pricing, and fall (IMO) between Carnival and Holland America.That was my first thought too. That or just a 7 day HAL cruise, and if 7 days is not long enough, then maybe a back-to-back.

You could try Royal Caribbean - but most of their ships are monsters! :eek:Or perhaps not. Despite the fact that my next cruise in on Royal Caribbean, I don't think I'd recommend that cruise line to someone who liked the "the more sedate feeling on it (HAL)".

[CruiseLiz]

I agree with those who suggested Celebrity. Although we have enjoyed all of our cruises, Celebrity is our favorite line. I think its service is just as attentive as Holland America's, its dining room food is better, and it has an elegant ambiance. We also like Princess. I don't think its service is quite as good, but it has good food and also more entertainment options than either Holland America or Celebrity. We loved the Piano Bar on the Zuiderdam; I'm hoping that our upcoming Volendam cruise has a good pianist and lively audience. I'll be very disappointed if all the music predates me!

The piano player on the Volendam should be Randall Powell. I believe he's on that ship until May of '09.

He's a great player and keeps the atmosphere light & fun, but most of the songs he plays for "sing a longs" or "name that tune" are from the 50's-70's. The songs he played were a little old for me, but I still had a great time.