What Sparked Your Interest?

What sparked your interest in cruising with HAL? For us, it was seeing the beautiful blue hull of the smaller HAL ship when we were boarding a Princess ship at the Port of San Diego.

For us, 3 reasons. Our TA recommended it for our first cruise, which was to Alaska. Second, a friend had sailed with HAL. Third, so had my brother. It turned out my friend said she'd never sail with HAL again, saying, "It is all old people." It turned out my brother had gone with Celebrity, not HAL. I'm soon to take my 5th Hal cruise.

We had already done quite a few cruises when we spotted a beautiful ship in Vancouver.

There was a couple out on their verandah taking in the sights before they disembarked. We called over to them and asked what their cabin was like -- huge they said. How is the ship -- great they said. How is the food and crew -- wonderful they said.

When we got home, we booked our first HAL cruise. That was back in 1996.

The sense of adherence to the tradition, imagination of endless destinations, the low profile, sedated atmosphere. This is coming from someone who has only cruised twice on HAL.

Plain and simple, the ambiance.

We boarded the Oosterdam, saw and felt the ambiance of what I'd pictured the Titanic's 1st Class to be, and knew I'd found my cruise line:)

HAL's ambiance makes me feel like we have tons of money, even though we do not. It is exactly the way I always imagined a cruise ship interior to be.

Joanie

We had already done quite a few cruises when we spotted a beautiful ship in Vancouver.

There was a couple out on their verandah taking in the sights before they disembarked. We called over to them and asked what their cabin was like -- huge they said. How is the ship -- great they said. How is the food and crew -- wonderful they said.

When we got home, we booked our first HAL cruise. That was back in 1996.

Nice memory. Approximately how many cruises had you been on prior to sailing HAL? For us is was 33.

The sense of adherence to the tradition, imagination of endless destinations, the low profile, sedated atmosphere. This is coming from someone who has only cruised twice on HAL.

We are in the twice category too and have 4 HAL cruises booked. :)

Plain and simple, the ambiance.

 

We boarded the Oosterdam, saw and felt the ambiance of what I'd pictured the Titanic's 1st Class to be, and knew I'd found my cruise line:)

 

HAL's ambiance makes me feel like we have tons of money, even though we do not. It is exactly the way I always imagined a cruise ship interior to be.

 

Joanie

Great to hear Joanie. What HAL ship is your favorite?

DW had been a Carnival ship and the Queen of Bermuda (don't know the line) before she talked me into trying cruising. She saw an ad for the Amsterdam to AK and liked the price. She decided that would be our primary cruise line from then on, though we've strayed a couple of times. :)

DW had been a Carnival ship and the Queen of Bermuda (don't know the line) before she talked me into trying cruising. She saw an ad for the Amsterdam to AK and liked the price. She decided that would be our primary cruise line from then on, though we've strayed a couple of times. :)

Thanks for commenting.

DH and I had cruised 4 times with the freestyle cruising line. Our last cruise with them wasn't so great. We felt the food and service had gone down hill quite a bit from our first cruise with them six years previous. I remembered seeing a Holland America ship docked in Bermuda while we were there and that put the idea in my mind to try another line. Then someone I work with did a Holland America cruise to Alaska and she just loved it. That did it for us and we called and booked our first cruise with HAL to Bermuda on the Veendam last May. We loved the laid back atmosphere of the Veendam. We really aren't into the "party boat" atmosphere. We enjoyed the Veendam so much we are booked for the 9 night Atlantic Coast cruise in April/May. We are hoping it is as enjoyable as our last cruise with HAL.

Lorie

I booked a HAL land/cruise to Alaska because of the price and the lack of loud goings on. We wanted someplace laid back and HAL was it. We've stuck with them since.

Great to hear Joanie. What HAL ship is your favorite?

In order of preference:

Zuiderdam

Westerdam

Oosterdam

Nieuw Amsterdam

Noordam

Only reason Noordam is at the bottom is the aft contoured the way it is; i.e., it is shaped like this " \ " and not like it's sister ships and both Signature class which are shaped like this " ] ", making for a major lack of coverage to suit my needs and wants.

Joanie

Looking forward to our first HAL cruise in March!

We are rather traditional when it comes to what we like in a ship. We enjoy the lovely aft sections with a pool, a lounge, somewhere to look and enjoy the wake we leave behind. Being from the congested northeast of the US, we also don't want to be on the biggest, most populated ships, and it's nice to have a different port or two in the itinerary.

HAL seems like it will be a better fit for the above reasons. I'll let you know at the end of March.

P.S. My parents took their first cruise on HAL and cruised many lines to many places, with their last one on the QE2 for the World Cruise 2006, The Voyage of Seven Wonders.

We did an all inclusive land/rail/cruise tour of Canada/Alaska a few years ago. The ship was the Zuiderdam and we loved it.

We have our third cruise coming up in March and we have not considered any other cruise line.

For us, the embarkation port (Seattle) and the price of an Alaskan Cruise were the deciding factors. However, the weather in Alaska wasn't the best & I was turned off of cruising for a few years till we did a Mexican Riviera one -- that was THE BEST!

Thanks so much for commenting Barheadlass, galensgrl, summer slope, Joanie, Seafoam Green, Stratheden, and 57redbird.

What sparked your interest in cruising with HAL? For us, it was seeing the beautiful blue hull of the smaller HAL ship when we were boarding a Princess ship at the Port of San Diego.

I wanted to do something very special for our son who just finished going through chemo treatment. Since none of us had every been on a cruise the first cruise line I thought of was HAL because my parents had cruised many years ago on them. I thought this was the perfect vacation. We chose the Ryndam to Alaska since it left and returned to Vancouver which is where we live and I liked the idea of a small ship.

My husband, son, daughter and I have a wonderful memory of that first ever cruise. Just the four of us. (I even made one of those memory books for my son and daughter).

We all fell in love with HAL.

Everyone will probably laugh but one of the reasons I wAnted to try HAL was having a bathtub and the size of the rooms. We have always cruised RCCL, carnival or celebrity and my travel agent wasn't sure we would like it since we are in our mid 40's but actually it fit us really well. We got a good deal two years ago so we tried it. We don't drink much or party. We cruise to relax, nice meals, sun and enjoy the ports and time together. We are really active but the excursions were perfectly adequate. We love love the refined ambiance. We are taking our 3 college kids with us in 4 weeks, I'm interested to see what they think.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I wanted to do something very special for our son who just finished going through chemo treatment. Since none of us had every been on a cruise the first cruise line I thought of was HAL because my parents had cruised many years ago on them. I thought this was the perfect vacation. We chose the Ryndam to Alaska since it left and returned to Vancouver which is where we live and I liked the idea of a small ship.

 

My husband, son, daughter and I have a wonderful memory of that first ever cruise. Just the four of us. (I even made one of those memory books for my son and daughter).

 

We all fell in love with HAL.

Very special and wonderful thing to do for your son after chemo canadianbear.

My best cruise memories are those cruises with my parents, best friend, and her parents.

Everyone will probably laugh but one of the reasons I wAnted to try HAL was having a bathtub and the size of the rooms. We have always cruised RCCL, carnival or celebrity and my travel agent wasn't sure we would like it since we are in our mid 40's but actually it fit us really well. We got a good deal two years ago so we tried it. We don't drink much or party. We cruise to relax, nice meals, sun and enjoy the ports and time together. We are really active but the excursions were perfectly adequate. We love love the refined ambiance. We are taking our 3 college kids with us in 4 weeks, I'm interested to see what they think.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nah, no laughing here. Everyone has different things that are important to them. It will be interesting to see what your 3 college kids think about HAL when they return.

What sparked your interest in cruising with HAL? For us, it was seeing the beautiful blue hull of the smaller HAL ship when we were boarding a Princess ship at the Port of San Diego.

I've only been on 3 HAL cruises but each time, it was the itinerary that attracted me. Each one was the right amount of days with the ports I wanted to visit.

Looking forward to our first HAL cruise in March!

 

We are rather traditional when it comes to what we like in a ship. We enjoy the lovely aft sections with a pool, a lounge, somewhere to look and enjoy the wake we leave behind. Being from the congested northeast of the US, we also don't want to be on the biggest, most populated ships, and it's nice to have a different port or two in the itinerary.

 

HAL seems like it will be a better fit for the above reasons. I'll let you know at the end of March.

 

P.S. My parents took their first cruise on HAL and cruised many lines to many places, with their last one on the QE2 for the World Cruise 2006, The Voyage of Seven Wonders.

I hope you do share your comments with us at the end of March.

I've only been on 3 HAL cruises but each time, it was the itinerary that attracted me. Each one was the right amount of days with the ports I wanted to visit.

Okay now you have me curious. Just what were the itineraries?

For me, it was a good friend recommendation. As we contemplated our very first cruise, our friend asked where we wanted to go first (Alaska) and she had already been more than once with HAL. A couple months later, we booked our cruise. (Zuiderdam inside passage from Vancouver.)

Cheers!