i survived HAL but.....long review

After 45 cruises (mostly celebrity 22 and princess 15)..this was my first HAL cruise Westerdam dec9-dec16.

I must state this first...The age demographic was way too high and i definitely might possibly return to HAL in 35 years if the itinerary appeals to me and its nearly free :)

Itinerary:ft laud/ day at sea/grand turk/puerto rico/st thomas/day at sea/half (_l_) cay/ft laud

Embarkation: extremely smoothe at 3pm. I carried on 4 bottles wine and a case of water No problem.

Disembarkation: i loved the ability to stay in your room right up to walking off the ship at 10am. First time i have ever used express baggage Worked quite well.

Cabin:nice sized square inside cabin..new beds and bedding/flat screen TV...the TV was angled so only the person on the left of the bed or sitting on the couch could view it

FOOD: breakfast..they had homemade waffles and they also will deliver them to your cabin after 8am! great whipped cream/berries and peanut butter but NO orange butter. It satisfied my missing the celebrity waffles!

Great order your eggs anyway station!!!

Lunch: usual stuff I REALLY MISSED THE AQUA SPA fare!

Dinner: We had a fantastic ROUND table for 11..food hit or miss Nothing really popped. Brought wine every night No corkage fee!

Specialty restaurant: DON'T! steak was very very good but that was it...the volcano chocolate dessert was awesome but you could get it in the main dining room last night (called warm choco pudding) So NOT celebrity in quality/service or taste. Big $30 waste! Brought wine $15 corkage fee.

Entertainment: NEVER heard a band at the adult only pool aft but im happy because Helen and the hellcats were SO OFF-KEY!!!! i wish i had a hearing aid to turn off like most of the PAX onboard.

Crew is mostly indonesian and performed 1 night Very entertaining.

Casino: they charge 3% to take out money for the tables...slots are free. So i just took it out at the slots then cashed it in to use at tables.

The ports were caribbean...We could not stop at turks and caicos because of tropical depression olga Another BORING day at sea UGH and quite rough! We arrived 2 hours early in puerto rico and were there from 8AM to 11PM Captain returned the port charges and gave everyone a glass of turpintine...oops i mean champagne at dinner ;)

My favorite port was the private island half (_l_) cay Awesome stop!!! sand was like fine talcum powder We rented a huge cabana for 12 and were pampered all day with all you can drink and personal bartender/lots of food and personal chef and a personal butler. It also had a 8 person hot tub/hammock and full bathroom and full shower WHAT AN AMAZING DAY! I wish celebrity offered this..Someone had stated that X has a pvt island but i have yet to go there.

Ok i know this sounds corny BUT I LOVED all the towel animals that i got each night! i took home the cutest dang monkey!!! (shuuush dont tell anyone)

My impressions: The ship was "like" the M-class in size.This ship had quite a few more intimate places to hang out. Staff great attitude. I did not like the way the chairs were laid out on deck..way too close and difficult to move around.

Very little activities scheduled all week. 1 trivia per day. extra day at sea..nothing planned EXTREME BOREDOM..glad i brought a group of 10 friends to entertain me and my books!

I will say their meet and greet was really great! served alcoholic bloody marys and mimosas. Served coffee/cookies as well.

It really was the little things X does that i missed...a phone call before room service. Had to request that daily. Love and missed the aqua spa food. I EXTREMELY MISSED THE SPECIALTY RESTAURANT! cova!!! the patisserie!!! the casino has no fees on X

juice it up!

*sweet*

In the 1990's after doing many cruises on Celebrity we tried HAL and had a similar experience. It is unlikely we would sail with HAL again. Clearly, it's fine for some as they have a strong following but overall we prefered Celebrity over HAL.

Keith

We recently completed our first X cruise after 4 HAL's. We certainly

agree about the difference in the specialty restaurant as well as the

spifiness and professionalism on the Connie. But age difference? Surely

you jest. There were so many walkers, canes and wheelchairs that I

feared a magnetic storm. And if I insulted anyone'we are in our 70's

ourselves.

How did you get a case of water on the ship?

Checked baggage? .., if so, do they tag it?

I'm thinking of trying that on my upcoming cruise in January.

Thanks! :)

keith: i kinda had no choice. i agree that it has a huge older crowd following and 1 day we will be "them" but i wanna be "them" on X :)

sarplum: i dont jest I have seen many scooters on X but i think they actually try to run you over on HAL :D

vic: I was unsure if HAL would confiscate it so i put it all into my carry-on suitcase with the wine as well and just walked on with it. On celebrity i would also bring on a case of water but i tagged the package with my room number and it was delivered. i am a huge water drinker but i am very fussy...i dont like every kind..HAL has crystal geyser which was ok so when i ran out of water i drank the crystal geyser.

*sweet*

Hi, Sweetair, I'm assuming you've gotta be talking about Zuiderdam! I'm going on it in a coupla' weeks with my 28 & 31-year-old daughters. I really enjoyed Oosterdam a few years ago, and we're hoping that we'll like our Dam Zuider cruise, too.:o We got a heckofa deal on this for the 3 of us, which is really why we're NOT on Millennium, which was our 1st ship choice. Truly, though, this itinerary looks WAY better, and at least I know I'll have plenty of fun with "the chicks" regardless.

Thanks for your review. Let's hope us chicks get to go to Grand Turk!:D

Merry Christmas!

Your experience is very similar to our Westerdam cruise on the eastern caribbean. I never thought I would ever be broed on a ship but we were. The ship was so quiet at night and there was such bad entertainment.

In fairness, we thought the dining room food was good and the beds were great bt we won't go back for 35 years or so.

usha:Its the westerdam but im sure 1 DAM ship is like the other DAM ship. I wish calm seas for you. Since you have already taken a DAM ship you know the nearly bored to death feeling. Hope your kids like that pace as well.

*sweet* happily booked on the summit march1,2008!!! :)

Duh, maybe if I'd read the very FIRST line of your review, I'd have noticed that you took the Westerdam.:o (Look at the big brain on USHA!) DAM!

We recently completed our first X cruise after 4 HAL's. We certainly

agree about the difference in the specialty restaurant as well as the

spifiness and professionalism on the Connie. But age difference? Surely

you jest. There were so many walkers, canes and wheelchairs that I

feared a magnetic storm. And if I insulted anyone'we are in our 70's

ourselves.

Sadly, on my recent sailing on the Constellation, it seems that a lot of disgruntled HAL sailors are switching to X. Yet all they did was complain about X. The poor Cruise Director could not get the crowd to do anything but snooze by the pool. He coined it the GTS Constipation! Read my recent review of the 12/7 sailing and you'll see what I mean.

I guess you know why they call HAL “Heavens waiting room”.:D

We had a pretty good cruise on Westerdam last October. I guess we got lucky and there was some pax under 70 that cruise. Cabin was great and the best bed on the high seas.:rolleyes:

Your experience is very similar to our Westerdam cruise on the eastern caribbean. I never thought I would ever be broed on a ship but we were. The ship was so quiet at night and there was such bad entertainment.

 

In fairness, we thought the dining room food was good and the beds were great bt we won't go back for 35 years or so.

We were on the Westerdam this July and the entertainment was very very good. There was more than enough to do and lots of younger folks. I think it depends on the dates you pick, and from the reviews that I have read much older group out of Florida.

I guess you know why they call HAL “Heavens waiting room”.:D

 

:confused: :confused: :confused:

We are in our 40's and did not see one person in a wheel chair (a younger person can be in one because of injury, I am just using this as an example), and certainly not the youngest by far on our Westerdam cruise in July.

Hi Sweet,

Welcome back and thanx for the review. Have a great Holiday Season kid and will chat before your March cruise.

Barry

Sweet,

We sailed on the Noordam in Oct with our children and their significant others. Our experience was almost identical to yours. it's the first time we have actually been bored on a cruise and our children late twenties early thirties will probably never cruise again. If we did not have each other we might have jumped. Like you said maybe in 30 years it will be a great experience. We did love the cabins and the ability to wait there to disembark but food and entertainment were definitely lacking. Service was very spotty some great some not so great. We will stick with celebrity for now.

:confused: :confused: :confused:

 

We are in our 40's and did not see one person in a wheel chair (a younger person can be in one because of injury, I am just using this as an example), and certainly not the youngest by far on our Westerdam cruise in July.

You must have been on an exceptional sailing. Despite the constant reminders not to leave walkers and scooters in the hall, we saw them daily. I am 41 and was actually asked by an elderly woman if I was sailing with family. I said no and she said "then what are you doing on a ship with a bunch of old farts?" I said I believed the hype about HAL attracting a younger clientele and she said, well, young is relative...

Our sailing would have had an average age near 70 and that was in the Caribbean on a one-week sailing on a new ship. Can't see how it could get much younger than that.

Please stop with the pink letters, my eyes are killing me.

Old person

Thanks for the review. It sounds VERY much like my experience on OOSTERDAM in March. Like others have said, I was actually bored, especially at night after dinner. The ship was a dead zone past 11pm and the entertainment was really bad. My brother and I would hang out as long as we could in the night club talking to crew. We were not expecting Carnival by any means, but some activity past 11pm would have been appreciated. My brother even felt the ship smelled like a nursing home. ;)

HAL has been trying to convince the public for many years now that it appeals to a younger generation and is not a floating nursing home. My brother and I thought we might be safe on a 7-day Mexico cruise. Usually they have a more mixed demographic of ages. In all honesty there were some younger people onboard, but they never seemed to do anything either. The entire atmosphere onboard was sedate.

Also, I felt the ship was downright tacky in many places. My brother thought the ship was constructed in the 70's and I had to convince him otherwise. Lots of burnt orange, smoked glass mirrors, odd art, dark carpets, etc. Overall the ship was very dark and felt closed in. Some of the decor was just plain bizarre. The corridors would fit right in at a local hospital. Very dreary. This is so unlike Celebrity ships which are bright, airy, open, and have contemporary decor.

I will say the food and service on HAL was very good, but no better than Celebrity. Like others have said, it will be many years before I return to HAL, unless of course they practically give the cruise away. Too many better choices for me while I am still relatively young.

Ernie

Sadly, on my recent sailing on the Constellation, it seems that a lot of disgruntled HAL sailors are switching to X. Yet all they did was complain about X. The poor Cruise Director could not get the crowd to do anything but snooze by the pool. He coined it the GTS Constipation! Read my recent review of the 12/7 sailing and you'll see what I mean.

Point of order:

I hope you weren't talking about us. We have been singing the praises

for X to anyone who would listen. The walker situation? It was there but we shrugged it off. This was not a complaint just an observation. If you

want to hear a legitimate complaint, listen to my comments about the

$ 25.00 corkage fee,

Sweetair:

Loved your comments and also those of Ernie. Still, I do like the HAL cruises, we have done about 9 of those.

My first one, on the SS Veendam in 1952 from Rotterdam to Halifax was my first experience. I was 12 and we were immigrating to Canada. From The Netherlands which was recovering from a war.

Instead of a troop ship, like many immigrants, we were assigned a luxury liner the Veendam. In those days, many students who had finished their year would spend the whole summer in Europe and go by ship, not air so much. The ships would then return to North America (final destination was New York) and would be more than half empty so they were to take immigrants to their new homes.

That crossing on the Atlantic was a real eye opener for us. The food was great and plentiful. Unlike what we had at home. It was wonderful. There was entertainments. Horse racing with turtles. Lots of other children. Those were my memories. I have also been on the newer ships since, the Zuiderdam, the Oosterdam and lots of the somewhat older ships and always enjoyed our cruises.

As for not much to do, I always found something. Craft classes and they supply all the materials, trivia and cute prizes. As for older people, I used to be on a team with 5 older ones on one cruise and every single day we won the trivia prizes. They were so smart and knew everything. One of the men who liked to snooze a bit always came to life when there was a question about sports and knew the answer each and every time.

Anyway, we have been to some great ports with HAL and I would do it again if the price and the itinerary was right. Yes, I know people call it a Floating Nursing home but we have experienced older people on Princess and X as well and not all are in wheelchairs or use those granny carts. Many are walking on their own quite well and active and into their 90s.

I'm sorry but I'm going to come to the defence of HAL here.

Admittedly we are new to cruising having only cruised twice both times with HAL. Our first cruise was on the Noordam and this October we were on the Volendam. We were certainly not bored. That said we are very independent travellers who don't like being organised. Therefore HAL suited us fine with lots of quiet places on the ship to just relax. The service on HAL was the best we have experienced anywhere and the food for us was great everywhere be it the Lido the main Dining Room or the Pinnacle Grill. I do concede that the food is good enough in the main Dining Room with plenty of choice that it is not necessary to spend the extra on the PG. However it is a wonderful experience and worth doing once on each cruise. Last time, having pre-booked it ourselves we got an additional treat from our TA!

I guess therefore it's 'horses for courses' and if you want to be organised and have lots of activities then HAL will not be for you.

We are probably going to cruise with X next June on the Constellation Baltic itinerary. I just hope we won't be pressurised into joining in activities we don't want to participate in.

I think this is a case of each to his own!

Hi Bouff,

Not to worry, Celebrity won't pressure you to do anything other than to enjoy your cruise:D.

Barry

 

I guess therefore it's 'horses for courses' and if you want to be organised and have lots of activities then HAL will not be for you.

 

We are probably going to cruise with X next June on the Constellation Baltic itinerary. I just hope we won't be pressurised into joining in activities we don't want to participate in.

 

I also don't partake in most of the organized activities. The fact I was bored on HAL had nothing to do with organized activities which I could care less about. I do like live music and decent shows in the lounge. On HAL there was no live music past 11pm, and the shows were dismal. Also no live music by the pool, or at least not the aft exposed pool. I suppose they had music by the enclosed center pool, but that area had the atmosphere (and smell) of a local YMCA. Not somewhere I wanted to hang out long. The Solariums on Celebrity are so much nicer, and they don't have that YMCA smell either! ;) The worst part were the very inactive passengers, and I'm not just talking about seniors. Most were content to just read a book 24/7 and do nothing else. As I said in my previous post, I didn't expect Carnival but some activity would have been welcomed. I'm 40 years old but I felt way too young on HAL. Never felt that way on Cunard, Celebrity, or even Silversea which also attract an older crowd. The difference is the older crowd on those lines seem much more active and outgoing. They are not all in bed after the early sitting dinner! ;)

Don't worry about Celebrity. They will not try to pressure you into any activities. It's pretty low key as well, but in a different way than HAL. The ships just seem more alive and active.

Two things about HAL that really reminded me of a mass-market line. The revenue producing announcements all day (Celebrity doesn't do this), and the bargain basement tee-shirt tables every afternoon selling crap.

Ernie

It's easy to like a particular cruise line when you've never experienced any other. Your first cruises are always memorable. It's just as if you've only had vanilla ice cream for dessert---it's great. But once you've experienced creme brulee or chocolate souffle, you realize that vanilla is fine, but there are a lot of things that outshine vanilla. For me, HAL is a retirement home. The food and service is also lacking. And it is boring---their activity staff is really bad as they don't do much. And no matter how much HAL protests to the opposite, that line does attract a much older demographic, especially at certain times of the year. If you want a sedate, activity free cruise, then go with HAL.

As to the selling things, Celebrity sure had a lot of that on our cruise last month. Seemed that every sea day they had tables set up either in the hallway by the shops or at the pool area, selling their t-shirts. So HAL isn't the only line that does that.

sarplum: NOT ALL OLD PERSONS ARE CREATED EQUAL! But if they are going to complain and bitch and moan let them stay fans of HAL

xcruiser: omg Thanks for the laugh.

jade: i gotta say you are very lucky..i have never been on any cruise that didnt have at least 1-4 wheelchairs.

barry: thanks! they had WAFFLES LOL You and your family a healthy happy season!

mmp13: Hope you can convince them not all cruises are alike. I have been on nearly dead and newlywed cruises and a lot inbetween. Just pay for them to try another with you guys ...oh can i get an adoption???

"old person" jim: what can i say...maybe you can wear sunglasses?? i think i type in large enough font to help you out :D

bouff bouff bouff: you have nothing to base your experiences on. Its hard to come to the defense of HAL when you have tried nothing else. In order to compare..you need to have actually tried both yourself and place them side by side for likenesses and differences.

You are NEVER FORCED to do anything organized on any cruise but its nice to have an option.

I have to say that the specialty restaurant on celebrity has the finest service 5stars and amazing food. You need to try different things to make comparisons. the Pinnacle Grill at best is an OK steakhouse.

I dont think its a case of to each his own but more like unknown VS known.

When you return from your celebrity cruise i would love to hear your comparisons and opinions.

*sweet*