Carnival vs Holland?

I had someone tell me a few things I am curious about. It was a friend who knew someone who travelled on HAL. So you know how that second-hand information goes.

Do they dress formal every night for dinner? And most people keep the formal wear on the rest of the evening? She said they don't let you on the open decks if you change clothes (sound ridiculous to me).

Do they have issue with passengers wearing jeans (not to the dining room)?

Sorry if these questions sound silly. They sound silly to me too but I am curious.

My DH and I are both 54 and have sailed both lines in the Caribbean. I like aspects of both lines.

Carnival Likes - Deck dance parties, Cheers package, movies, comedy shows, Marriage Game, friendly people, friendly staff, casino, wearing shorts/shirt to main dining room in the evening,

Carnival Dislikes - Chair hogs, loud Lido music, rude people, Disco, limited room service menu - especially breakfast

HAL Likes - Lectures, classes, happy hour, movies, stage shows, really dressing up for formal nights, friendly people, friendly staff, lots of choices for room service, Disco, casino

HAL dislikes - limited late night activities except Disco/Casino, wearing slacks/tops or sundresses to main dining room when I would like to wear shorts/shirts in the evening, rude people

I've been able to find food I like on both lines (I gain weight every cruise) and the beds to me are very comfortable on both lines. I think they both offer a nice array of excursions and they both go to Half Moon Cay. :D

I don't bring jeans to the Caribbean so I can't remember if jeans are allowed in MDR on HAL.

Know you will have a great time on either line.

I had someone tell me a few things I am curious about. It was a friend who knew someone who travelled on HAL. So you know how that second-hand information goes.

 

Do they dress formal every night for dinner? And most people keep the formal wear on the rest of the evening? She said they don't let you on the open decks if you change clothes (sound ridiculous to me).

 

Do they have issue with passengers wearing jeans (not to the dining room)?

 

Sorry if these questions sound silly. They sound silly to me too but I am curious.

These are not silly questions.

1. Just like CCL 2 formal nights in a week long cruise. Change and go wherever you wish. Formal pertains to MDR ONLY.

2. Jeans are fine. Just not in dining room. But I wore new black colored jeans to MDR with a nice top and no problems. This was not a formal night. I was on a 14 night cruise 10/13.

I have sailed both lines several times (Royal as well) and find they are all basically the same. The crew on every ship is friendly and efficient, the food is generally the same (some good some bad) but you will not go hungry.

The dress codes are similar, HAL would prefer no jeans in MDR but will not kick you out. I did get turned away wearing shorts on the first night but just told them had not gotten luggage yet and they let me in.

To clear up some false beliefs, HAL 30 years ago was probably much different. Stricter dress codes, stuffier atmosphere, more upscale. Not that way now. Same with the age thing. On a 7 day cruise the demographics will be like all the other main stream lines. Where it gets different is HAL does longer cruises, 14 day, 21 day, 28, 36, 63 etc. Lets face it, not a bunch of 20 somethings likely to book a 28 day cruise. So passengers on those will tend to be older and in most cases used to a higher level of service. But not so on a run of the mill cruise.

As to price, I find prices comparable. Have done HAL 4 times to Alaska because no one else could beat the price. One trip was 14 days for $750 pp with taxes and port charges (interior).

On HAL you need to wear a yellow safety vest so you don't get run over by all those damn scooters with 90 year olds on them.

And most people keep the formal wear on the rest of the evening?

Not every night. On our 7 nighter, we had 2 formal nights. Definitely more people kept their formal wear on after dinner, unlike Carnival where a lot of people take their formal wear off and switch to shorts and jeans after dinner.

I brought a couple of jeans, and while during the day they were perfectly fine, at night I felt completely out of place wearing them, even to just walk around the ship. More people seemed to embrace the resort-smart casual dress code. Nobody ever questioned my attire (and in all fairness I didn't even dare going to the MDR in jeans), but I could feel I was a bit underdressed at times.

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MS Westerdam. It would be a 7 day Caribbean cruise in April.

I would be taking the HAL too in April. Too many spring breakers on carnival during that month

On HAL you need to wear a yellow safety vest so you don't get run over by all those damn scooters with 90 year olds on them.

Is this your experience?

MS Westerdam. It would be a 7 day Caribbean cruise in April.

I cruise on the Westerdam and I love it I am 55 but my 70 DH hate it.

I think Hal and Carnival both are great

MS Westerdam. It would be a 7 day Caribbean cruise in April.

I cruise on the Westerdam and I love it I am 55 but my 70 DH hate it.

I think Hal and Carnival both are great

Yea I think I read the avg age for Carnival is 30 and HAL 90. :)

This really is not true. HAL tends to have an older group on their longer cruise itineraries in the fall/winter but not much difference when booking during the summer months when kids are out of school.

Every cruise line has their positives and negatives. HAL has much better quality of food, especially in their buffet offerings and that includes all three meals. But then again, food is subjective. They also have a wonderful full menu for room service. All that being said, HAL closes up their buffets earlier than Carnival.

If you chose Carnival because of the price, but you really cannot tolerate the noisy decks, music, loads of kids, just book a balcony and you can avoid most of it.

We love HAL and they are now our Cruise Line of choice!

We've sailed on their larger Ships but have also sailed on their smaller ones, and so far the Zaandam is our favorite!

We find the quality of the food, service and the atmosphere so much better on HAL!

HAL is not stuffy by any means but people do dress up more for dinner and for pre-dinner drinks, etc. I have not seen shorts in the MDR on HAL and only saw Jeans in the MDR the one night on our South America cruise!

We love their Itineraries, too!

P.S. Just want to add to the OP who mentioned all the Scooters....I've seen more Scooters on one Carnival Ship than I've seen on 8 HAL cruises!

While Carnival is my fav cruise line, i have to say HAL has the most conscientious crew and the best free member service. Carnival is more fun and Carnival food is better.

Crew member service.

This statement turned out to be as true as the one about Carnival being for trashy people :rolleyes: (see other thread going around).

 

We found the demographics on our summer, 7 night cruise on HAL to be basically the same as on our previous Carnival cruises.

 

 

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^^^^

This! Says the old geezer (on Carnival) & the teenager (on HAL). :eek:

BTW I'll be 52 at the end of the month!:o:D:p

I'm 71 and still love the action. For peace and quiet...I can stay home. I don't feel like a geezer at all on Carnival.

On HAL you need to wear a yellow safety vest so you don't get run over by all those damn scooters with 90 year olds on them.

This happened to me on the Miracle to Panama a few January's back. I was getting close to 60 and almost the youngest person on the ship.

So glad it wasn't my 1st Carnival cruise - would have hated to stereotype Carnival based on that one experience.

On HAL you need to wear a yellow safety vest so you don't get run over by all those damn scooters with 90 year olds on them.

What HAL Ship did you have this experience and what was the Itinerary?

I have spent 47 days on Carnival Ships in the past year and equally the same amount of days on HAL this past year. I have seen more scooters on one 7 Nite Carnival cruise :eek: than on all my HAL cruises combined!

While Carnival is my fav cruise line, i have to say HAL has the most conscientious crew and the best free member service. Carnival is more fun and Carnival food is better.

What HAL Ship's have you sailed? What makes Carnival more fun for you over HAL? Could you state specifics?

Also, did you have Room Service deliver breakfast to you on HAL? Did you not like the Omeletes or eggs that are always served hot as opposed to a Cold Continental Breakfast on Carnival?

What didn't you like about the food in the MDR that you think Carnival's is better? How did you like the menu on the last night on HAL?

I would really enjoy hearing a more detailed review and what Ships you are comparing! :)

Myself and my mom have cruised on both lines we are 57 and 77.

Overall we prefer carnival over Holland. There really wasn't much to do on Holland We did have a private cabana for the week that was the best part of the cruise. I went to two cooking classes and a photo class and I signed up for a hands on cooking lesson but it was canceled due to not enough people. And I have never sit in my cabin and watched so many DVDs as I did on that cruise. Now I am going to try NCL and see if I like them

I have been on one HAL ship and two times on Carnival. At the time I was in my middle 50's and one of the younger ones on HAL. If I go again I am going to get "walker insurance" (think metal) with a endorsement for scooters. I have never been on a ship where I went into the bars after dinner and the staff outnumbered the pax! Talk about dead, it was like a morgue. You now the dinning hours for HAL:

early dinner seating 3:30 PM

Second dinner seating 5:30 PM

midnight buffet 7:30 PM

lights out 9:00 PM :rolleyes:

Honestly if you like activity on the ship particularly in the evening go with Carnival. If you like peace and quiet, go with HAL. HAL is considered an upscale cruise line to Carnival. I did find the food better on HAL and pax were more dressier but the HAL was to AK and the Carnival ships were in the Caribbean so difference there as well.

One nice thing about HAL, is with the exception of lobster, you can get the same meal in the Lido as the MDR. Food, except room service stops early also. You can get a hot breakfast with room service.

We have met some wonderful people on HAL, and have kept in touch with them for many years now. The people we met on Carnival were friendly, but when the cruise was over, we never heard from them again.

Interesting post. We have sailed three times on HAL. ( 2 on the Westerdam). 15 on Carnival, and 5 on Princess. We found the demographics to be much older than us at age 67 and 62 when we last sailed on HAL. We found the scooters in the Hall Ways to be a big issue. I have RA, but do not use a walker or scooter. Often the Hallway on our deck, we had a balcony , mid ship, on one of the Upper Decks) was so blocked that my husband had to hold my hand to navigate it. That Said........... The crew is mainly from Indonesia. they may be the nicest people in the world. Bar none. As for service, it was if they could read our minds.....and voila....it was done. Beyond good service. The food, to me, was the best we have had on any Cruise Ship and we have been on a few. Breakfast came hot to the cabin on shore days.........The Ice Cream shop was always manned or womaned and the flavors changed nightly. Nuts. Whipped cream. Sprinkles. chopped fruit. sauces......It became our late night stop. Ship.......just like everyone says. Never crowded. Fresh flowers. Eye popping art. Often we felt like we were alone on the ship...............Production shows were superb. We laughed until we cried at one "impromptu" show, where a dancer had supposedly been injured, and the crew filled in..with everyone from the Captain on down bringing out their "talent" to get into the show. You had to be there.................Totally the best show I have ever seen at sea... THAT SAID............on sea days.....Not a lot to do. One or two super competitive Trivia games, with people who have sailed 1000 days with HAL, who have heard the questions, know them all by heart, and seem to resent anyone but the regulars playing. they do have guest lectures on Ports and the History of the Panama Canad, etc. They have good perfume seminars, where you get to sample different, often unknown French Perfumes. The Library, sponsored by the NY Times. is great. the casino is tiny. and old when we were on it.....................If you plan to go...............Take a kindle loaded with books, or some books ( I still like the feel of a paperback pot boiler)......If you like to cook ..sign up for a class. ( I do enough of that at home) take your sun screen......the pool is large and never crowded.............or prepare to eat yourself to death. I am debating going on another HAL.....and then I remember the Sea Days which seem to last forever if you don't sun. ( We live in FL. Get too much sun now. Not gripping. I love it but not melanoma) On Carnival and Princess..there are so many activities on sea days that I never make it to all I want to go to. Carnival is the one we cruise on the most because Port Canaveral is an easy drive for us.......Princess is the One I love, love, love. but HAL............a very nice ship. Very, very nice people except for the ones who leave their scooters in the hallway at night. Sometimes TWO scooters in a hallway from the same cabin. I think they are supposed to park them in side the cabin. they were irritating to me. And some of the people would ride them like they were on the sidewalk.......Va Boom! HAD may have cracked down on that....since we have been on. I hope so.

The last time we were on HAL, the SEC football championship was played. It was Texas and Alabama. Roll Tide. The Cruise Director set up big pull down screens in the Crow's nest. Put up seating, folding chairs with soft seats. A buffet of hot dogs, hamburgers, all the fixings with chips and French fries was set up........and darn if it was not nice. We enjoyed the game and the buffet. A lot of people turned out............... HAL does not have the big behemoth ships......it is still small enough to do things like that. IT was the Westerdam. We have sailed her twice. If we do go again......most likely it will be on the Westerdam. We really like that ship. EASY to find our way around. We also were on the Volendam. the air conditioner did not work, and after complaining and complaining, one of the Office staff came to the room to check, and go an eyeful of DH snoozing in his shorts on the Bed. AC was fixed almost immediately And yes.......WE had a great time. LOVED the passengers. Some threatened to sleep out in the lobby if the AC was not fixed. The ship was sold to the Marco Polo line almost as soon as we returned. So 3 cruises on HAL....great cruises. ONLY gripes...........Those DAMNED Scooters. Nothing to do on Sea Days. Other than that.....just a fabulous line. On one day they do Dutch-Indonesian Food in the Buffet. don't miss that one. HIGH TEA is really high tea. Very fancy. Very well attended.

We are looking for a cruise during the Easter Break 2015. Carnivals prices are higher than some of its competitors during that week (and most of them in the summer - I don't get it, but its true!) I found a Holland cruise that is reasonably priced and I'm thinking about pulling the trigger and going. Should I? A little background - We are in our mid 50's, love the fun of Carnival. However I find it a little too loud in the Lido area and find the Hairy Chest Competition horrible. Everything else I love about Carnival.

Have any of you guys been on Holland?

How was it?

Were there things to do on it other than get older?

How was the crew?

Both lines are good. You won't find the blaring DJ on HAL like you have on Carnival so that would be a plus. Instead of hairy chest contests, you'll likely have activities like cooking demonstrations. HAL's atmosphere is more subdued. The crew was wonderful on HAL when I sailed Eurodam. HAL also has better room service in terms of being able to order hot food and HAL also has lots of fresh flower arrangements around the ship's public areas. If HAL is less expensive, I would go for it.