New to Holland America? This is for you...AKA "HAL For Dummies"

[jhsocal]

Thank you Cooper. That helps to explain the unhappy experiences in MDR caused by large groups. , HAL counts on 1900 people not wanting to eat in MDR on the same night.

[Whistlerski]

Hello can you advise the average disembarkation time at ports please? we have booked a snorkel tour in Aruba ( not through ha ) that departs at 10:00 am, the ship arrives in port at 8:00 am. It's a short cab ride to the pier where the tour departs. Ok??

[Crew News]

Hello can you advise the average disembarkation time at ports please? we have booked a snorkel tour in Aruba ( not through ha ) that departs at 10:00 am, the ship arrives in port at 8:00 am. It's a short cab ride to the pier where the tour departs. Ok??

 

I was just in Aruba a few months ago on the Zuiderdam.

 

The time noted in your cruise booking, and the On Location (daily activities) received the night before, is usually the time that the ship is ready for disembarkation at each port. To enable meeting the listed time, the ship usually docks 30 minutes to an hour before that time to get all of the port paperwork in order. If you want to be on deck or your verandah to watch the docking, you need to be up about two hours before the listed time. A nice Room Service breakfast on a verandah, if applicable, is a nice way to start a port day.

 

 

About 30 minutes before docking, and in spite of numerous requests to not do so, passengers will begin queuing in the stairwells to the disembarkation deck. They will be so packed together that you cannot bend over to pick up anything you might drop. I would recommend that you wait until 8:30 AM to proceed to the designated disembarkation deck.to avoid the initial surge.

 

 

Enjoy Aruba.

[tutumomickey]

I just read several posts on another board that labelled HAL ships as ' floating ashtrays' I am beginning to panic. My husband and I are both non-smokers that are very sensitive to both the smoke and the old smell left after a smoker has left a room. Are we going to be miserable on the Osterdamn in June?

[Mary229]

I just read several posts on another board that labelled HAL ships as ' floating ashtrays' I am beginning to panic. My husband and I are both non-smokers that are very sensitive to both the smoke and the old smell left after a smoker has left a room. Are we going to be miserable on the Osterdamn in June?

 

 

Holland allows smoking in very limited spaces. Until last year they did allow smoking on stateroom balconies but that is now not allowed. There is a limited space in the casino and a limited space on one of the open air bars. On the last ship we were on that was all that was allowed. At the time my husband was still a smoker, thank goodness he quit.

[FloridaTourist]

We sailed last year on the Oosterdam on its maiden voyage out of drydock. There was no smoking allowed anywhere on the ship it was awesome

 

 

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[tutumomickey]

Thanks for the reassuring words. I was hoping the recent dry dock would have removed the lingering stateroom smokey smell from veranda smoking. We won't be visiting the casino so I think we're good.

[Appalachian Mountain Mama]

We sailed last year on the Oosterdam on its maiden voyage out of drydock. There was no smoking allowed anywhere on the ship it was awesome

 

 

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No smoking anywhere? Awesome. I may have to seriously look at booking Oosterdam for my next cruise.

 

 

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[Mary229]

No smoking anywhere? Awesome. I may have to seriously look at booking Oosterdam for my next cruise.

 

 

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Here is an article. There appears to be one outdoor smoking area.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7263

[FloridaTourist]

No smoking anywhere? Awesome. I may have to seriously look at booking Oosterdam for my next cruise.

 

 

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On the first sailing after dry Dock it was totally non smoking. It was very port intensive. 12 days 11 ports. Let's of places to smoke off the ship. It was the first time I could actually sit in the casino and not smell like smoke by the end of the night.

 

 

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[FloridaTourist]

Here is an article. There appears to be one outdoor smoking area.

 

 

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7263

 

 

There was not a smoking area on the first sailing after dry dock. I am 100% positive. We sailed April 15 of 2016. Adriatic Sea cruise.

 

 

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[GoSeeDo2]

I keep running across posts on other threads about the typical passenger on Holland America cruises. This morning I saw one that referred to HAL ships as "floating nursing homes". DH and I are retired and in our early 70's. We'd rather tour and attend lectures than stay up late for the disco. We're too old to burn the candle at both ends, but we're not escapees from a nursing home.:evilsmile: Would we fit in?

 

 

We just returned from a HAL cruise of Australia/New Zealand. I am 56 and my husband is 65. We enjoy the HAL cruises because of their relaxing nature while on board. We never felt like we were on at a "Nursing Home". That was our 4th HAL cruise.

[Btimmer]

We're about to board the Volendam today for a 44 day cruise from HK to Vancouver with our 15 year old granddaughter. I don't know if she can keep up with us (71 and 69). We walked her ragged in HK over the past two days.

 

 

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[shorning]

Can you bring pop and/or water onboard?

[RuthC]

Can you bring pop and/or water onboard?

Yes, that and any & all non-alcoholic beverages, including mixers.

You can bring as much as you wish, both at initial embarkation, and ports you stop at along the way.

[islandwoman]

Is there any reason to bring water onboard?

I don't have experience with HAL, but on all other ships I've sailed, the tap water is perfectly fine to drink. That's what they pour in the dining room.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Is there any reason to bring water onboard?

I don't have experience with HAL, but on all other ships I've sailed, the tap water is perfectly fine to drink. That's what they pour in the dining room.

 

The tap water on board HAL ships is perfectly fine to drink:)

[RuthC]

Is there any reason to bring water onboard?

No reason I can think of. Heck, if you drink anything with ice in it, you are drinking ship water as it melts.

[Host Walt]

The tap water on board HAL ships is perfectly fine to drink:)

The water purification systems (reverse osmosis) used by all cruise ships produce water that is cleaner and fresher than almost all branded bottled waters. (Aquafina is the cleanest water but most others not so much.) Read the labels on the water you buy. If there is no mention of the purification process, it probably is just filtered and not purified.

[Mary229]

Is there any reason to bring water onboard?

I don't have experience with HAL, but on all other ships I've sailed, the tap water is perfectly fine to drink. That's what they pour in the dining room.

 

I think most people who bring bottled water onboard intend to drink it while onshore.

[Not Mrs C]

How formal are the formal nights on the Alaskan Cruises? I am getting mixed reports, will my husband be OK in a lounge suit, we are travelling before the cruise and luggage is limited so bringing a dinner jacket/tux could cause us problems

[Sooloo]

I've been reading that the Alaskan cruises are less formal than others. Men don't even need jackets but some still do wear them. My husband is only taking one sports jacket and may not even wear it unless we go to one of the specialty restaurants.

[Mary229]

Holland no longer does formal night. They have replaced it with Gala nights. John wears a nice sports coat with slacks and I wear a skirt and blouse.

[jhsocal]

Hal's dress code for gala nights is the same for all cruises. However, the level of "dress up" seems to vary from cruise to cruise. On our Alaska cruise last summer, would estimate 80 percent of men wore sport coat or suit at 8PM in lower level of MDR.

[islandwoman]

Does anyone know what the customary dress (as opposed to "dress code") for Gala nights in the Main Dining Room is on transpacific and Australia cruises?