I'd Sail HAL Again

Just disembarked our first HAL 10 day cruise. I was surprised. The impression I got was HAL is still what Celebrity USED to be before cheapening the product to produce record profits.

I liked the service and food. The menus were varied. The entrees were not smothered in sauces and overcooked to cover the switch to lower grades of meat. Oh and the buffet served everyone. No grabbing a handle that someone got all ucky with something. There was multiple types of sushi daily on the buffet and an Asian section. Even the pizza was placed on a heated stone to keep it fresh.

The hamburgers at Dive In also topped Celebrity. Although they took longer to be cooked freshly, I got mine medium and hot instead of over cooked and sitting in a pan for a long period. They gave everyone a restaurant vibrator. While mine went off in the buffet, a server saw it and said she'd go get the order for me. That happened a couple of times.

Our cabin had an attendant and assistant who made up/freshened the room multiple times during the day.

The live music was excellent. In the Lincoln Center Stage there was a five piece quintet of three violins, a cello and piano. Their programs varied and were performed several times daily. Walk down the deck and there was BB Kings. High energy eight piece group. Their dance floor was packed at 11pm with more people watching from their seats. Then further down the deck was Billboard where two pianists played popular songs and took requests. One deck up was the Ocean Bar with a solo pianist. Then of course there was more live entertainment in the show room. Compare that to canned music and DJs pumping out loud music on the other line.

When booking I compared the number of days, cabin type and itinerary. HAL and Celebrity were about the same but HAL was $2,800 less. Of course we weren't forced to buy the liquor package as a free perk so I didn't drink as much on this cruise. I also found the obnoxious constant selling for things to do or buy were not present. Even their art vendor, Park West, was very low key and didn't take over areas as on the other line.

Oh and I saw a couple of motorized wheel chairs, people with walkers/canes but nowhere near the number I've encountered while on Celebrity. The majority of passengers weren't as old as I had been led to believe.

We sailed the Zuiderdam to the Panama Canal. Overall it was a very good cruise and I'd sail HAL again.

Thanks for taking the time to post your comments.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Just disembarked our first HAL 10 day cruise. I was surprised. The impression I got was HAL is still what Celebrity USED to be before cheapening the product to produce record profits.

 

I liked the service and food. The menus were varied. The entrees were not smothered in sauces and overcooked to cover the switch to lower grades of meat. Oh and the buffet served everyone. No grabbing a handle that someone got all ucky with something. There was multiple types of sushi daily on the buffet and an Asian section. Even the pizza was placed on a heated stone to keep it fresh.

 

The hamburgers at Dive In also topped Celebrity. Although they took longer to be cooked freshly, I got mine medium and hot instead of over cooked and sitting in a pan for a long period. They gave everyone a restaurant vibrator. While mine went off in the buffet, a server saw it and said she'd go get the order for me. That happened a couple of times.

 

Our cabin had an attendant and assistant who made up/freshened the room multiple times during the day.

 

The live music was excellent. In the Lincoln Center Stage there was a five piece quintet of three violins, a cello and piano. Their programs varied and were performed several times daily. Walk down the deck and there was BB Kings. High energy eight piece group. Their dance floor was packed at 11pm with more people watching from their seats. Then further down the deck was Billboard where two pianists played popular songs and took requests. One deck up was the Ocean Bar with a solo pianist. Then of course there was more live entertainment in the show room. Compare that to canned music and DJs pumping out loud music on the other line.

 

When booking I compared the number of days, cabin type and itinerary. HAL and Celebrity were about the same but HAL was $2,800 less. Of course we weren't forced to buy the liquor package as a free perk so I didn't drink as much on this cruise. I also found the obnoxious constant selling for things to do or buy were not present. Even their art vendor, Park West, was very low key and didn't take over areas as on the other line.

 

Oh and I saw a couple of motorized wheel chairs, people with walkers/canes but nowhere near the number I've encountered while on Celebrity. The majority of passengers weren't as old as I had been led to believe.

 

We sailed the Zuiderdam to the Panama Canal. Overall it was a very good cruise and I'd sail HAL again.

We mainly sail HAL and Princess. What I find HAL has over Princess is thestaff and service are consistently much better on HAL. We go with itinerary and price. With regards to age of cruisers andentertainment I feel most often when I read other reviews of cruisers that areon the same ship as me. I feel like we have been on two different cruises. We started cruising when we were in our earlyforties, we are now in our early fifties and we find many people our age andeven younger. Our last cruise we hung outwith a group of people and we were the old ones. Sure there are people on board with walkers, andscooters, (hopefully that will be me one day). But there are a variety of ages on board. Also with regards to entertainment, the BBKings and Lincoln Centre, heck (even some) of the stage shows are verygood. We have a great time on any cruisewe go on. That is why we keep comingback.

I find your review interesting, as Celebrity is a cruise line I would consider if I ever want to stray from HAL or Princess. Now I might have to rethink that. Thanks for the review.

I find your review interesting, as Celebrity is a cruise line I would consider if I ever want to stray from HAL or Princess. Now I might have to rethink that. Thanks for the review.

I reached Elite status on Celebrity before they chased me away. I booked an Azamara cruise, a couple more Oceania cruises and this Hal cruise. Of course I wouldn't compare HAL or Celebrity to the other two but they are far superior in my opinion. However they are also much more expensive as well.

One thing I forgot to mention earlier was that the next to last day we were refunded a combined $64 on our port/tax charges without explanation. We did not miss a port. I never saw that on any other cruise we've taken.

Glad you enjoyed your experience and enjoyed the Zuiderdam.

So happy to hear this. I recognize you from the Celebrity board. We are Elite on Celebrity, but, our next cruise is on HAL after a very long absence. We are cruising to Alaska(with drink package due to Explore 4) and imo, Princess and HAL are the top two to consider for Alaska. With that said, we really enjoyed our cruise with Princess in January. Thank you for sharing!

Great review. Thanks for taking the time to offer all the important details.

I reached Elite status on Celebrity before they chased me away. I booked an Azamara cruise, a couple more Oceania cruises and this Hal cruise. Of course I wouldn't compare HAL or Celebrity to the other two but they are far superior in my opinion. However they are also much more expensive as well.

 

One thing I forgot to mention earlier was that the next to last day we were refunded a combined $64 on our port/tax charges without explanation. We did not miss a port. I never saw that on any other cruise we've taken.

If the port taxes dropped in price, then HAL refunds to it's passengers. The reverse is also true. If the cost of the port goes up, they charge passengers on board.

Great review and very interesting.

Sounds like you enjoyed your cruise and delighted to hear it :)

Thanks for the wonderful review.

Like you, we also do not find the passengers to be of the age that is often quoted on CC. On our last cruise on the Koningsdam, I asked my DW to look around the MDR with me at the age of the passengers. From our completely unscientific exercise, no way would you find that the average age on that sailing was 70+.

ChucktownSteve, I totally agree with everything you said about the two cruise lines. We are elite+ with Celebrity and tried HAL last month. We were very impressed with HAL. So much so that we booked a Panama Canal cruise with them next year! I hope the HAL experience will be as good as we had last month.

Carol

Hi ChucktownSteve:

Thanks very much for your review. I also recognize your excellent analyses posted on numerous cruise line boards.

Most interesting your comment on HAL being like Celebrity years ago.

We have moved on from Celebrity to Oceania (for many of the reasons you have stated here and in other threads) and your analysis provides hope that of the mass cruise lines, HAL may be considered for my household in the future.

Glad you had a good voyage.

Thanks so much for sharing.

Thank you so much for this thoughtful review. Sometimes I wonder if some of the negative posters are even sailing on HAL, as their viewpoints are so different than mine. I can only conclude that when someone's focus is concentrated, they don't see beyond it. I am happy to hear you had a wonderful time!

Thank you so much for this thoughtful review. Sometimes I wonder if some of the negative posters are even sailing on HAL, as their viewpoints are so different than mine. I can only conclude that when someone's focus is concentrated, they don't see beyond it. I am happy to hear you had a wonderful time!

Miss G, I have a theory about cruise reviews. I learn as much about the particular reviewer and his/her point of view as I do about the cruise experience itself. People reveal a lot about themselves in the way they write and observe. They reveal what is important to them. Ultimately, we bring our own personalities to every situation and experience in life. I have found that our own outlooks determine the type of travel experience we will have. I think you'll have a great trip :D

Thank you, Chucktown Steve. Nice review

One thing I’ve discovered after reading lots of message boards is that folks love to complain. Even on board, we noticed that people complain about the smallest silliest things. We were in America’s Test Kitchen and all one of the other attendees did was complain about how it used to be and why don’t we “get samples” like we used to and on and on. We saw this guy everywhere and he was just the same.

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Thanks for the balanced review. This is the second review in the past week I've read by a person that changed from Celebrity to HAL for almost the same reason. And here I've always thought that Celebrity was the high end cruise line.

Allan

Very much enjoyed your review and the comparison between the two Lines! Thank you for sharing your experience! :)

As an interesting side to the observations on the age of HAL passengers...The past two years we have sailed Carnival a lot, and on our two longer cruises (14 & 13 days) we observed that if a guest did not have gray/white or no hair, it was very likely colored...EM

Thanks for the review; well done. On a side note, I've never been worried about the age of other passengers since we have friends of all ages, young to old. Glad you enjoyed and thanks for posting!

Happy you enjoyed your cruise so much. Thank you for shairng your comments with us.

Thank you so much for your detailed review. I was so hesitant to book on Hal because of all the negative reviews. We are sailing on Veendam this Oct. NewEng/Canada.

I hope we enjoy it as much as your trip on the Zuiderdam. Thanks again for posting.

Thank you for your review & comparison. It's been several years since we have cruised with Celebrity. We came to HAL for the itinerary and have stayed because of the many things you mentioned.

We’re just off the Eurodam after not being on HAL in more years than I thought.

The OP post is spot on. Very impressed with the MDR, better than RCI Coastal Kitchen and pretty equal to Luminae on Celebrity. Cost was a bit less for our suite than Celebrity with four perks. Did miss not having internet comped either through Mariner or suite as most other lines do offer that perk.

Great staff. Tables cleared promptly, servers brought iced tea, coffee, water or beverage of choice. You could self-serve, but why?

Ship was super clean and staff was friendly and just couldn’t do enough to make your cruise an outstanding vacation.

Enjoyed the shows although we didn’t go to the individual comedy acts.

Felt that the age average was about 78; however, fewer wheelchairs and scooters than we see on RCI. Also appreciated there were no pets on board.

Judy

Just disembarked our first HAL 10 day cruise. I was surprised. The impression I got was HAL is still what Celebrity USED to be before cheapening the product to produce record profits.

 

I liked the service and food. The menus were varied. The entrees were not smothered in sauces and overcooked to cover the switch to lower grades of meat. Oh and the buffet served everyone. No grabbing a handle that someone got all ucky with something. There was multiple types of sushi daily on the buffet and an Asian section. Even the pizza was placed on a heated stone to keep it fresh.

 

The hamburgers at Dive In also topped Celebrity. Although they took longer to be cooked freshly, I got mine medium and hot instead of over cooked and sitting in a pan for a long period. They gave everyone a restaurant vibrator. While mine went off in the buffet, a server saw it and said she'd go get the order for me. That happened a couple of times.

 

Our cabin had an attendant and assistant who made up/freshened the room multiple times during the day.

 

The live music was excellent. In the Lincoln Center Stage there was a five piece quintet of three violins, a cello and piano. Their programs varied and were performed several times daily. Walk down the deck and there was BB Kings. High energy eight piece group. Their dance floor was packed at 11pm with more people watching from their seats. Then further down the deck was Billboard where two pianists played popular songs and took requests. One deck up was the Ocean Bar with a solo pianist. Then of course there was more live entertainment in the show room. Compare that to canned music and DJs pumping out loud music on the other line.

 

When booking I compared the number of days, cabin type and itinerary. HAL and Celebrity were about the same but HAL was $2,800 less. Of course we weren't forced to buy the liquor package as a free perk so I didn't drink as much on this cruise. I also found the obnoxious constant selling for things to do or buy were not present. Even their art vendor, Park West, was very low key and didn't take over areas as on the other line.

 

Oh and I saw a couple of motorized wheel chairs, people with walkers/canes but nowhere near the number I've encountered while on Celebrity. The majority of passengers weren't as old as I had been led to believe.

 

We sailed the Zuiderdam to the Panama Canal. Overall it was a very good cruise and I'd sail HAL again.

This is AWESOME!

THANKS for sharing ChucktownSteve!

We are on this same cruise at the end of the month. It is our first cruise on a HAL ship and we are excited for a different experience!

Sounds like a great time, and your post has us more excited than we already were!

Appreciate you sharing!!

:)

Thanks for the time for your balanced review. :):)