retired arizona

Another questions.... Lunch in the Pinnacle Grill... do we need to make reservations or just walk in?

Do the HAL ships usually have domino sets onboard? Want to play Mexican Train but the dominos are bulky.

We are very much similar to this profile. Having sailed every mass market except one. Have also sailed a couple of luxury lines. We are early 70's. The one line we haven't sailed is Holland. Why?? Older ships. What appears to be a very sedate experience. We r old but like some life in the evening. Also it is very easy to find diverse itinerary in other cruise lines. I must admit though, HAL pricing is very good. Will we try them eventually! Maybe but probably not.

 

 

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we're also in our early 70's and are trying our first HAL cruise... and I am worried about it being too sedate. We have mostly cruised Royal C. and began to miss some of the things the did, seemed they were going too young

but we also like some life, dancing at night, sing along piano, music around the pool etc. I was looking forward to some of the things I had read about on Holland, The Dutch Tea, Dancing with the Stars, Movie theatre with popcorn, but now I find those have been eliminated ( we are going on Westerdam, the movie theatre was taken out during dry dock) Royal is not doing the Panama Canal this year and the price on Hal for the full transit cruise was decent, so we're going to try it. Have connected people on our Roll Call so have some people to play cards with on sea days.

I agree with the last post. We'll be buying the drink package before we board. Not sure we'll drink the necessary 6 drinks each to break evening on days we dock but will probably drink more on sea days. Usually we think about the cost before we have a drink, this way I can have that fancy coffee, hot chocolate, or cocktail I might hesitate about having. Usually drink wine with dinner and I'm okay with what ever wine is covered by the package as I'm not a wine snob. 6 drinks is not a lot on sea days especially as it isn't all liquor and it's our vacation to enjoy without being judged.

I'm new to HAL ... my question is.... do the ships have MAH Jongg sets on board? or dominoes?

thanks

One of the things I'm looking forward to are the "themed teas" Indonisian and Dutch. Was looking at a section on Holland site about things to do on the ship. It was mentioned there are still teas but some of the themed teas are not being done. If anyone has been on a recent cruise could you please comment on this. It appears there are not many activities planned by the cruise line but I'm connecting with people on my roll call to play some cards, etc. Husband and I are 70 & 80 but still like to be active and love to dance so hope Holland is a good fit for us.

Checked the Holland America site - max on drinks is now $9

drink menu as of July is posted - most drinks are 8.95 or less

My beverage menus are from June 2017:

 

http://www.rogerjett-photography.com/specialty-2/hal-regular-and-specialty-restaurants/hal-beverage-menus/

thank you - I saw your menus but wasn't aware they were from June of this year. So now I feel comfortable purchasing the package.

I have a liquor package question. This our first time on HAL and our first time to consider purchasing a liquor package. We're looking at pre-buying the $45 package - they have just updated the cost of drinks covered to $9 each. Question, will this cover the majority of drinks ( alcohol & fancy coffees) Don't want to purchase and then find out the drinks we like are not covered. Did see a drink menu posted and it looked like the majority would be covered but don't know what date the menu was from. We could wait and buy on board but the package is $5.00 more per day x 16 days x 2 people so extra $180.

thanks for any help that will help me make my decision. Don't usually drink 15 drinks a day but would like to not think about it.

Our first cruise on HAL will be on the Westerdam in Nov. I know there used to be a "disco" or a place to dance but don't seem to see anything in pics now. Also, I was told about the movie theatre ( with popcorn) but don't see a mention of that either. The Explorer Café ( think it's a coffee/pastry shop) were mentioned to me... is that gone?

thanks for info

Was just talking to a Crown & Anchor rep about the drink packages as I've never purchased one. She said they're doing a trial on some ship with 10 drink punch cards that can be shared. Has anyone been on a ship with these? There is no grautity attached to this, it's a flat cost. Any info?