partial transit..RCL vs HAL

I am hoping to do a partial transit of the Panama canal either Nov of 2008 or winter of 2009. I had originally thought of HAL the volendam as I liked the itinerary, that class of ship...laundromat on board, the anytime dining, stops include Aruba and Curaco. Then I find out that the volendam won't bedoing this run, the zuiredam will. I sailed HAL for the first time on the Veendam in the fall and I liked the cruise and thought my husband would like HAL.. HAL can't comapre to RCL when it comes to entertainment and activities, but nether the less I enjoyed the HAL cruise.

MY other option is RCL...the jewel.. I love that class of ship, I have a next cruise booking, and have the RCCL visa... and if RCCL stocks drops again I will buy the 100 shares, so I can save a good bunch of money with RCL. But I am not too enthused with the ports.....

western carribean ports or cartengena. columbia and aruba ( nO Curaco)

Any advise appreciated....

If you were comparing HAL and Celebrity it would be more apples to apples. Holland America is a definite "step up" from RCCL. Fewer kids running around [Are you really cruising to "rock climb" or ice skate???], more refined, more elegant, friendliest dam crew on the seven seas. The ZUIDERDAM is a little bigger than VEENDAM, and the design is more contemporary (as in Celebrity's idea of contemporary, not Carnival's) . . .

As to entertainment, no, HAL's is not RCCL/Carnival type, but it is good. There was a big shake up in the entertainment department last year and the results are showing. Besides, going to Panama and the Canal, the destination is the "star" of the show!

Buy RCCL stock because it has been a good investment :) not for the shareholder bennies, many of which can't be combined with other "deals" or offers. CCL and PLC have also been great investments!

I have not cruised with HAL, so I cannot compare them with RCL, however we did just get back from a 10 day Panama Canal cruise on the Brilliance of the Seas and loved it. I do not rock climb, and the Radiance class (of which Brilliance and Jewel are both members) do not have skating rinks.

The Brilliance, however, has several very nice lounges, and a nice variety of music - Jazz, Classical, Latin, Piano Bar, all with excellent (and live) musicians, as well as Karaoke, and DJ Mix. And the crew, as on all of our RCCL cruises, was very friendly and eager to please. I'm sure you will find the Jewel to be similar.

There were about 20 kids on this cruise, so not much concern in that dept.

I believe your NextCruise booking will give you $200 of onboard credit for a 10 day cruise. We own RCCL stock, which gave us $200 of onboard credit, plus have an RCCL visa, which we used to get more onboard credit. As far as I know, there are few, if any restrictions on combining shareholder onboard credit with other discounts, but you can get full details here: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=103045&p=irol-shareholderbenefit#8

I'm sure you'll have a great time whichever cruiseline you choose.

Jeff

Thanks for the replies.......I am still undecided but will probably go with RCL as thats whats best for my pocketbook and I prefer RCL . As far as HAL and entertainment there is defintely more activites and shows on an RCL ship. ( and I am not talking about rock climbing/ice skating )..I just sailed HAL less than 4 months ago I shudder to think what the entertainment was like before "the big shake-up)... As far as buying RCL stock I think its a safe investment and one that comes with bennies.