What's the one cool thing you would recommend to a new HAL cruiser?

[karinad]

We've been on Princess, CCL, NCL, RCCL,DCL and Celebrity, but is there anything that HAL has different then any of the other cruiselines. We're considering a TA in Oct. and it would be our first time on HAL and a TA. Is the food better? What about entertainment?

 

Thanks!

[Laminator]

This is the BEST thread ever!!! I leave in 3 more sleeps on the Westerdam for Alaska. First HAL but far from my first cruise. I always submerse myself in the CC boards before a trip to set the mood as it were.

 

First order of business -

A wang wang in the crows nest!

 

Thanks so much to everyone for sharing

 

Enjoy your first weng weng at the SeaView Bar if is a nice day.

[Djptcp]

DH and I are sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam the week of Thanksgiving and I went through and copied many of the suggestions listed in this thread to bring home to him. We haven't sailed on HAL since 2009 and after reading my completed list I am asking myself, why not? Can't wait to return to the elegance of HAL after so many Carnival cruises (convenient to where we live in Florida, shorter cruises for more getaways during the year). I'm ready for a classy cruise again!! Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions and happy cruising:D

[jbhcw]

DH and I are sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam the week of Thanksgiving and I went through and copied many of the suggestions listed in this thread to bring home to him. We haven't sailed on HAL since 2009 and after reading my completed list I am asking myself, why not? Can't wait to return to the elegance of HAL after so many Carnival cruises (convenient to where we live in Florida, shorter cruises for more getaways during the year). I'm ready for a classy cruise again!! Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions and happy cruising:D

 

Have a wonderful cruise...our last Hal cruise was the NA over Thanksgiving 2011! Cannot wait to sail Hal again this September:)

[lidojohnny]

I just have to vote for the Escargot! We were on this years World and had

 

those garlic beauties all the time, and dipping the bread in the oil........just

 

Divine.

[Avery's Gram]

I forgot......I love the chilled soups HAL serves, but they are usually too sweet for me as a first course. So I have learned to order them for dessert!

 

Barbara M. In NH

[cruz chic]

We've been on Princess, CCL, NCL, RCCL,DCL and Celebrity, but is there anything that HAL has different then any of the other cruiselines. We're considering a TA in Oct. and it would be our first time on HAL and a TA. Is the food better? What about entertainment?

 

Thanks!

 

The entertainment is better on Princess. I find the service to be less stressed in the mdr than HAL. Hate the tiny showers on Princess.

 

On HAL I find the rooms to be generally better and more selection for brekie on HAL. Some of the food is better on HAL, some is better on Princess.

[POA1]

Explore the Lido during breakfast to sample all the different breakfasts: Dutch, English, etc. Try the large selection of Benedicts, too.

[cruz chic]

Explore the Lido during breakfast to sample all the different breakfasts: Dutch, English, etc. Try the large selection of Benedicts, too.

 

You don't have to go to the lido for that, you can also go to the mdr. Not quite as many benedicts but quite a few. The others are available in the mdr. So much more relaxing.

Edited May 23, 2014 by cruz chic

[DrTee]

The library -- go on the first day and check out the New York Times best sellers that you've wanted to read but haven't -- great for sea days.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Ditto on the library. No matter how many books I brought with me (before Ipad), I always ran out, and HALs libraries are amazing. I was on a Norwegian cruise recently and laughed at their library. I bet there weren't more than a dozen books in it. It was a good place to read my own books, though.

 

 

• I would add: the crew, definitely, they are pure gold
  
• the room service breakfast options
  
• yes yes on the art. I always download the tour on my IPhone or IPad and spend an afternoon seeing it all
  
• the beds
  

[Susie51]

Hydro pool and thermal suite. I've tried these on other cruise lines and they're not as good.

[HatRez]

I have a secret hidden nook I bring a hot chocolate or tea to after the evening show and I watch the waves go by. It's cool to sit so close to the water and have nobody realize you're there. I've heard some interesting conversations and even some passage of wind (human, if you know what I mean). lol I'm not revealing it, but maybe one day you'll happen upon it. If so, hide a note for me somewhere, like a geocache. haha

 

There is a second cute little nook I found on our last cruise. While everyone was on the front upper deck checking out the glaciers, I was too cold and wet and went back inside. It's right when you walk by the gym before you head out onto the deck. I believe it's a large round porthole and you can see perfectly, sit down in it, and stay dry and warm.

[HatRez]

I forgot......I love the chilled soups HAL serves' date=' but they are usually too sweet for me as a first course. So I have learned to order them for dessert!

 

Barbara M. In NH[/quote']

 

Mmmm... love their chilled soup!

 

Also, once upon a time they served a sherbert-type dessert meant to resemble a slice of watermelon. It was just called watermelon pie. I wouldn't let my DH have a second slice because I wanted to make it to the show on time and I have NEVER lived it down. Such a baby...lol But in his opinion, the best dessert he's had.

 

I find in general HAL desserts are not sweet enough. Maybe it's a European thing?

[Vict0riann]

And after all those wang wangs you've been drinking at the late happy hour, being rocked to sleep in those marvellous HAL beds!

[Sinppu]

Thank you all for these great tips! We are trying HAL for the first time in October... the itinerary is amazing.

And as it seems, so will the ship :)

[chrisbu315]

Just looking for ideas... If you could recommend one thing to someone who is cruising Holland America for the first time - something unique to HAL - what would it be?

 

I'm thinking about something like the bread pudding, for example.

 

This is for a Caribbean cruise on the Noordam. Thanks in advance!

 

Here are my favorites (not necessarily in order):

 

Comfortable beds

Fresh squeezed OJ in Lido

Museli for breakfast

Poolside taco bar

Covered pool (when cruising to Alaska)

Crow's Nest for before dinner drinks

Explorations Café for morning coffee

Cooking demonstrations

Lobster Salad at Le Cirque night

[cocomutt]

Reading all these tips. Looking forward to my cruise. Hope I remember all these things. Are they posted anywhere on the ship or do you just have to find out by yourself?

[Chelly]

Arrive at piano bar first night by 9 p.m. to grab a seat at the piano bar, join in the sing along. It is great fun

[AlohaPride]

Arrive at piano bar first night by 9 p.m. to grab a seat at the piano bar, join in the sing along. It is great fun

 

ROFL my husband did that without me on the first night of our first cruise. He didn't know he'd wondered into a Friends of Dorothy Meet and Greet. He spent an hour there singing show tunes before calling the room and asking me to join him. The audible moan from the group of men at the bar when I joined him was pretty hilarious. My husband was completely clueless.

 

Piano bars are still his favorite place on cruises. He even found one in Boston last month when he was there for the marathon ;)

[Chelly]

ROFL my husband did that without me on the first night of our first cruise. He didn't know he'd wondered into a Friends of Dorothy Meet and Greet. He spent an hour there singing show tunes before calling the room and asking me to join him. The audible moan from the group of men at the bar when I joined him was pretty hilarious. My husband was completely clueless.

 

Piano bars are still his favorite place on cruises. He even found one in Boston last month when he was there for the marathon ;)

 

LOL! Good for both of you! Hope you stayed at the M&G and enjoyed yourselves.

[AlohaPride]

LOL! Good for both of you! Hope you stayed at the M&G and enjoyed yourselves.

 

We did and had a wonderful time :)

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

[DeeBee76]

Coffee? What? LOL I meant coke. Freudian slip!

 

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk

 

LOL I was trying to figure out the coffee part..

[cruise47]

We are looking at taking our first cruise on Holland America next April the Panama Cruise from FL to CA. What can we expect ?

 

We have only sail with Disney & Celebrity ?

Edited May 30, 2014 by cruise47

[Sam.Seattle]

We are looking at taking our first cruise on Holland America next April the Panama Cruise from FL to CA. What can we expect ?

 

We have only sail with Disney & Celebrity ?

Expect a lot less. Not in a bad way... just less. As this thread shows -relax..

[chloes nana]

alot less?? really? you make HAL sound like a budget cruiseline. Expect more peace and quite than Disney and not quite as much as Celebrity. But really, not alot less.

Expect a lot less. Not in a bad way... just less. As this thread shows -relax..