Is Holland worth the extra price?

[knittinggirl]

This will not help HAL appeal to a younger demographic!:o

I don't know about that!

 

Back in college, my marketing professor kept a semester long promotion on how prunes weren't just for old folks anymore.

 

 

We were getting prunes in our 40s. All that rich food, and it's not surprising we need help.

[Tennessee Titan]

HAL used to worth going on. Last summer we where on the Noordam for 14 days to Alaska . We decided never again because the overall service has gone down. The Wine stwart didn't know their wines. Asked for a Dry Sherry for a pre meal drink. He didn't even know what it was. He keep trying to tell us that you can't buy it. We buy at home all the time. They also ran out of pickled ginger (for sushi) , bran in the MDR at breakfast and lemons in te MDR.

The waiter service n the MDR was poor. Two friends of ours had the same experience on HAL.

Try Celebrity or Princess instead of Holland .

I REALLY feel for you. I share your pain. (Asked for a Dry Sherry for a pre meal drink. He didn't even know what it was. He keep trying to tell us that you can't buy it. We buy at home all the time. They also ran out of pickled ginger (for sushi) , bran in the MDR at breakfast and lemons in te MDR.

[serendipity1499]

Good afternoon everyone, I have sailed Carnival for the last 10 years and will be on the Dream in 15 days, but the kids are in college now and I have been saying for at least the last seven years that I want to try a more upscale line. I am looking for a more formal atmosphere (we love tux and gown), nicer shows, better food and maybe some ballroom dancing in the evening. I am experiencing a little sticker shock though as a balcony on Holland is going to run me $3500 for the two of us on about the same itinerary as a $1600 balcony on Carnival Vista in January.

 

I know you all Love Holland, but is paying twice the price worth it?

 

I've never been on Carnival, but IMO HAL is worth the price..

 

I see Carnival as more of a "party boat" like the "Love Boat" while HAL as more like an quiet upscale European Hotel.. We are 4 star Mariners & have always enjoyed our cruises..:)HAL's crew is wonderful & always try to please..

 

One of the most important things for us is being able to sit out on HAL's Promenade deck during the day & watching the world (& the water) go by..:) We normally book an outside cabin rather than a balcony, because we enjoy being with & getting to know other cruisers.. We also love HAL's Crows Nest & can sit in it for hours if there is inclement weather! It's been a rare occurrence when we were not happy with the food :)

 

DH no longer brings his TUX since Gala Nights are less formal...However, I still wear my long dresses (not gowns) & long skirts with "bling" tops on Gala Nights, as we too enjoy dressing up, which we rarely do in Florida..

 

There is no harm in trying HAL..If you don't enjoy your cruise you can look at other more upscale lines such as Oceania & Cunard.. :cool:

[rkacruiser]

An additional comment about MDR cuisine:

 

The current menus are offering items that I have never seen on a HAL menu. The preparation and presentation of these items has been in my most recent 4 HAL cruises excellent. I see an effort to improve the culinary experience for HAL guests in the MDR as well as in the Lido Restaurant.

 

Canaletto has also improved in the menu choices, taste of the dishes served, and presentation.

 

HAL: it is time to re-visit the choice of beef suppliers for the Pinnacle Grill, in my opinion. Also, it is time to re-visit the quality of food and pricing of such food served as well. An extra-cost Lobster Tail that is tough and lacks flavor? Service/ambiance that suffers in comparison with a Steakhouse on a Carnival Cruise Line vessel?

[OlsSalt]

......

HAL: it is time to re-visit the choice of beef suppliers for the Pinnacle Grill, in my opinion.....

 

Amen to that. We recently left the Pinnacle Grill on the N-A wondering why we should even bother picking up our "free" five star dinner there any longer. In fact everything was lack-luster this time.

 

It has been far better in the past, but also far worse. It was just ho-hum and uninteresting from soup to nuts this time. Tough steak, dried out chicken, indifferent side dishes, tiresome desserts. Wish they would stick to the days in the middle of our prior Pinnacle experiences, when the menu items were more interesting and it was indeed a special night out.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

We made the change.

[riclop]

Good afternoon everyone, I have sailed Carnival for the last 10 years and will be on the Dream in 15 days, but the kids are in college now and I have been saying for at least the last seven years that I want to try a more upscale line. I am looking for a more formal atmosphere (we love tux and gown), nicer shows, better food and maybe some ballroom dancing in the evening. I am experiencing a little sticker shock though as a balcony on Holland is going to run me $3500 for the two of us on about the same itinerary as a $1600 balcony on Carnival Vista in January.

 

 

 

Is Holland worth it?

NO it's very boring and people go to sleep by 8pm.

[sandij]

We just did a cruise on the Nieuw Amsterdam, mostly for the itinerary. It was nice, we met some nice people but I am looking forward to going back to Carnival. The food was good but not a large selection to chose from, the shows were okay and they do use live bands which I liked but there is just not much else to do. There were no deck parties and trivia seemed to be the thing that excited most people. The average age on our ship was around 75 and I'm not kidding, now it was January and school is in but this ship didn't have much to offer young kids anyway. Like I said it was nice and should the right itinerary or sale come along we'll go back but I know a lot of people who would be disappointed. The staff however was great.

[jimmyatc]

While you can still see tuxes and gowns on the formal nights, they're becoming more the exception than the standard ever since HAL went to "Gala" Nights. HAL doesn't really offer ballroom dancing either since this past year. Cunard may be a better fit for you for a January 2018 cruise. I did a quick check and a Queen Mary transatlantic balcony is about the same price as the HAL price you gave. I also did see a lot of 7-day Jan 18 HAL cruises that were more like the mid $2000s for two, though. HAL does offer superior service and dining to Carnival based on what a lot of HAL fans who traveled both lines have said.

 

 

Queen Mary and HAL about the same price, BUT then you have to add airfare one way....and you also need to like sea days

[jimmyatc]

You had a bad experience on the Noordam. We had a wonderful experience on the Oosterdam in November, so perhaps you may not want to tarnish the entire fleet with the same brush.

 

 

well said !!!

[jimmyatc]

We think you are overrating HAL. DW and I have spent nearly 500 days on HAL (have another 38 day HAL cruise booked) and primarily enjoy the line because of their longer cruises with great itineraries. But the quality of HAL is not what is was in years past, and while food can be very good (this varies a lot) it is not that good! As to entertainment, we have usually found the entertainment on Carnival to be as good or better than on HAL. And on Carnival, there is some night life after 10pm...while many HAL voyages become ghost ships before 10.

 

As to the "formal atmosphere"...HAL has abandoned that idea and now has no more formal nights. Although many passengers still dress up on the new "gala nights" many others do not bother...and there is little to no enforcement of any dress code. As others have mentioned, Cunard is now one of the last lines to try to maintain a formal atmosphere (on some nights).

 

Hank

 

 

The quality of ALL the mainstream cruise lines is NOT what it used to be. You see this identical message on EVERY cruise lines' board. Also, 538 days on HAL says simply...you love them

[geoherb]

We just sailed on the Zuiderdam. We had a great time. Some things were much better than our previous four HAL cruises. The menus, for instance, had greater selection and I was never told no to a special request. The food at the Pinnacle Grill we had for lunch was exceptionally good. I also noticed many people enjoying the food in the Lido and that they served many of the same dishes there as in the dining rooms.

 

Activities--or the lack thereof--not great. The production shows (singers and dancers) were very good, but there were only three on a 10-night cruise. One of them featured just the dancers without the singers. The guest entertainers were a mixed bag. We enjoyed the comedian (Buzz Sutherland) and Lionel Richie tribute singer. I was not thrilled with the steel drum band (but a lot of passengers loved their performances) or ventriloquist. Two nights they showed movies in the theater instead of doing a live show. Our first night was the Super Bowl, and they did a great job with that.

 

I'd suggest looking into Princess ships as well. The food and service are about the same as HAL but there are a lot more entertainment options.

[PlanoDebbie]

We took the HAL Amsterdam for a 14 day cruise to 8 Alaskan ports a few years ago. Hubby and I were about 50 at the time. We also love to do open dining and sit with lots of people. It took a full week before anyone at our table was younger than us. Most everyone on the cruise was between 65 and 80, and retired. We still enjoyed their company and had a great trip. After dinner, the ship is pretty much dead by 9 PM. We went up to the Crow's Nest on one of our first nights hoping to find the night life. Besides the band and HAL employees, we only saw about 4 guests up there. On the upside, we had no problems having the laudromat to ourselves by 9:30 to get our laundry all done. Everyone was well tucked into their cabins by 9 every night.

 

About the only problem was the vast number of scooters on the ship that were parked in the hallways every day. It was even worse at night.

 

Not very many daytime activities, so if you're one that is running from Bingo to the Hairy chest contest, then bolting for the ice carving demonstration all day long, you may not like HAL. We will sail them again.

[iancal]

We would never pay more for a HAL cruise unless it was a unique itinerary or the comparable was a ship that we did not want to sail on, By more I mean outside a range of ten percent. There are some HAL ships that we we not consider even if the fare was lower. We feel the same about some ships on other cruise lines.

 

 

HAl is a good cruise line but it is just one of the bunch. Strictly mass market product that compares to many other ships from Celebry, Princess, etc. We can never figure out why HAL fans seem to wax poetic about it. To us it is just another option with a not do great frequent cruiser reward program.

[msmayor]

For us, our HAL cruises have been a great value. There has been no thought of 'worth the extra cost'.

 

We sailed the Carnival Pride in 2010 and paid $800pp for inside staterooms and only went to the Bahamas. We sailed the Westerdam in 2015 to the Eastern Caribbean and were in an aft extended balcony for only $549pp.

 

We sailed RCL's Serenade last March for 10 nights in a hump balcony for $1150pp. This March we're on the Zuiderdam and if I back out the value (to us...not HAL's value) of the Explore 4 benefits that are included in our fare the equivalent price we're paying is $1400...for a Signature Suite. Yes, the fare is higher...but the accommodations are much better than what we had on Serenade. A suite on RCL would have cost us at least $2000 last year.

 

My husband and I hold HAL high on our list because to us the ships and staff make us feel like 'traditional cruisers'. We're the type that loves fixed dining, loves formal nights (even though HAL now calls them 'gala' nights and the dress suggestions are more relaxed) and thinks a stroll on the promenade deck is heaven. We're happy with the nightly entertainment offerings, enjoy our evening cocktails in a quiet bar and spending time in the casino. During the day, a good morning walk then a good deck chair in the shade to read a book. If there's demonstrations in the Culinary Arts Center we almost always go to those. Wine tasting or beer tasting? Sign us up. A good movie in the theater? We'll take it in...because we never have time to go to the movies at home.

 

We're not necessarily loyal to any one line, but instead its about the ambiance that a line has. We're a bit more laid back which is why we probably won't do a Carnival cruise. They're a little TOO active for us. We also won't do ships that push making reservations to dine...we're 8pm, table for 2 people. Fixed dining works just fine.

 

We're happy we've tried a few lines, and I'm considering giving Princess a try as well. As long as I can be on a ship where I can unhook from the real world for 7-10 days and relax, I'm good.

[denatravels]

I have my first HAL cruise booked for this summer. I'm far from the traditional demographic: 42, single, traveling solo. But here's why I booked it: overnights. Yes, it was more money. But on my Baltics cruise, it included overnights in 3 cities, not just one like all others. On my "port-driven" cruises, they have lots of nice options. On my "stay on the ship for sun, drinks, and entertainment" that I'm doing tomorrow on NCL, HAL wouldn't be a good choice.

All about matching what I need on a specific cruise, and hopeful that HAL will be a nice viable option going forward. For an excellent itinerary, willing to pay the price.

 

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[bUU]

For us, our HAL cruises have been a great value. There has been no thought of 'worth the extra cost'.

This is my instinct from looking around at prices for cruises that folks indicate are comparable: Holland America is much lower in price than the "same" cruise on NCL, and a little be lower in price than the "same" cruise on Princess.

[DaveOKC]

Fares vary so much by cruise it is often hard to compare, but I generally find Carnival to be a bit lower priced than HAL. Of course you have to compare "apples to apples".

 

Our last Carnival cruise was in one of their full suites - NO COMPARISON to a Neptune on HAL. Yes it was less expensive, but the cabin size and perks were far less.

 

I have also found that you can get some good deals on HAL if you are flexible on your travel, so please try shopping around a bit.

[TheCalicoCat]

Good afternoon everyone, I have sailed Carnival for the last 10 years and will be on the Dream in 15 days, but the kids are in college now and I have been saying for at least the last seven years that I want to try a more upscale line. I am looking for a more formal atmosphere (we love tux and gown), nicer shows, better food and maybe some ballroom dancing in the evening. I am experiencing a little sticker shock though as a balcony on Holland is going to run me $3500 for the two of us on about the same itinerary as a $1600 balcony on Carnival Vista in January.

 

I know you all Love Holland, but is paying twice the price worth it?

 

Which ship? On some HAL ships, the balconies are only available on a mini-suite...

[TheCalicoCat]

They still offer prunes for Breakfast, which Royal Caribbean has discontinued.

.

I'm not sure if this is a dig agains HAL or RCCL? My 8 year old loves to eat prunes! (I do too - far less calories & better for you than other options.)

[TheCalicoCat]

& We sail for the itinerary - mostly RCCL & Carnival since they start in Baltimore. We chose HAL for Alaska & LOVED it.

 

Our next cruise will be in July again on HAL to Alaska.

 

(We don't sail for the entertainment, food is subjective - as a vegetarian - the source of the beef, etc. doesn't mean anything to me.)

 

we also work full time so we only get to cruise about once every 2 years, so we don't notice the changes that those with 30+ cruises notice. We are just happy to be on vacation!

[crusinpsychRN]

Their Bon Voyage sells liquor much less expensively than Carnival although prices did go up between the 2 different HAL sailing I took. I paid $58 on HAL, $85 on Carnival.

[POA1]

Carnival's suites are, in general, quite a bit smaller than Holland America's. They also lack the amenities and suite privileges. If you are looking at the Zuiderdam, Noordam, Westerdam, Oosterdam, Eurodam, or the Nieuw Amsterdam, the Signature Suites are probably a more apt comparison.

[OlsSalt]

.........

 

About the only problem was the vast number of scooters on the ship that were parked in the hallways every day. It was even worse at night.........

 

Wish you would put actual numbers on this rather than this lurid word picture. Yes, we see scooters, maybe less than a dozen on ships carrying up to 2000 passengers. Yes, they might congregate near the main dining room during meal hours because this is a given.

 

But simply using the term "vast numbers of scooters" is a pretty over-blown description of this accommodation to the mobility-impaired passenger. Can you please fill in with a few more specific details. Thanks.

[avian777]

Good afternoon everyone, I have sailed Carnival for the last 10 years ... I am experiencing a little sticker shock though as a balcony on Holland is going to run me $3500 for the two of us on about the same itinerary as a $1600 balcony on Carnival Vista in January.

Is Holland worth it?

 

IMO, yes HAL is worth the price difference:

As other Posters will inform you, there are many differences between Carnival and HAL. However, IMHO the only one significant difference between them - only HAL has a Roman Catholic priest (who celebrates daily Mass) on board every one of its cruises. Since spiritual renewal is an important component of our vacation experience, HAL is (and has been for 20+ years) our hands-down choice. Whichever you choose, I hope you enjoy the cruise!

Smooth sailing +++