Just off Noordam this week - first time HAL cruiser - NZ 17Dec to 2Jan

[paulvdb1]

Hi all - thought I'd post a bit of a review of my Noordam cruise, and hope that some of my info helps others with their decision to go either to NZ or cruise on HAL

 

Caveats

I knew that HAL was popular with older clients. I was well aware that cruisers would be a mix of people doing what they were told and some that didn't care. I had assumed that tours might be still a little clunky as they got back to normal. I hadn't toured since pre covid and was aware that cost cuts had occurred since. I was aware that Christmas cruises are overpriced having on done one before but travelling with friends and time availability made this a must-do for us. 

 

Ship

Noordam is a small ship that I found generally uses it's spaces well - so seems a little larger than it actually is. The only wasted space seemed to be the exploration lounge and some meeting rooms. The ship was well looked after overall (in visible areas) but seemed a little under maintained in hidden areas - so lots of maintenance guys running around fixing broken things. Baths looked to have been recoated at some time and now peeling, leaks from bathrooms, broken lights - that sort of stuff. 

 

For it's size, most areas seemed to have enough space for the passengers, although all music walk activities ran out of seats early. Lots of bars so no issue finding a drink. Eating spaces were also OK to find seating in - even Lido - although far too many 4/6 seat tables.

 

Food / Drinks

As usual there's always enough good food such that you could always build up a goo meal - but there were also cases were you simply had to ditch an item as it was not really edible. So the rule was often - 2 entrees / 1 main / 2 desserts. Noordam menus lack variety for long cruises so a lot of repetition depending on what they needed to use up. Lido in particular had poor variety compared to large ships, and really poor compared to precovid Carnival even. I do wonder whether people rating HAL highly are coming from a retirement home where the food is often poor. I found many dishes to be food-hall quality or worse - with occasional better surprises. The real laugh I had was trying to work out what I was going to get, as the delivered meal often bore no relation to the description in the menu. I wondered whether the cook who came up with these menus actually understood what they were presenting. I do wonder whether this is HAL-specific. 

 

Dive-in was mostly great and the mostly reliable option - consistently good burgers and hot dogs. Great chips for a week then back to generic supermarket chips after that 😞 Canaletti was merely OK but a cheap option. Pinnacle had great food but a fairly pricy upcharge. Everything I ate there was good (apart from the supermarket chips again). Baked Alaska that I had was big enough to feed a whole family. Afternoon tea was always funny - really nice items mixed with what-on-earth-is-this-supposed-to-be?

 

Drinks were at the same standard as any of the cruises in Aust/NZ. It would have been good to see a drinks menu with everything on-board - needed 4 different menus at dinner to find what they had re wines and beers. I had the HIA package at half price which worked out to be good value. It meant that I could order pretty much everything knowing that it was pre-paid. It also meant that if I didn't like a cocktail then I didn't need to feel guilty about not finishing it. Cocktail mixing skills varied around the ship so sometimes didn't taste right. 

 

Coffee - I'm not a coffee drinker but found that even the Exploration cafe drinks ranged from to barely-ok to drinkable. American ships simply do not understand coffee or chocolate it seems. Lot's of tea bags around the ship of every single flavour which was good.    

 

Service

HAL is famous for good service and it was evident everywhere. The room stewards are awesome, the servers are awesome (Jendriko is the best), pretty much everyone we met was genuinely great. As always if you respect the people who serve you, that gets reciprocated. 

 

Entertainment / Stuff to do

HAL has been trimming and changing a lot. BB Kings changed to Rolling Stone - my guess is that with the same band who weren't always quite as keen playing the different music. Lots of repetition of music so got boring quick. Band sets that couldn't really sustain the energy BUT still quite a bit better than some of the bands we had seen on Carnival other than the stage band (HAL doesn't have one).  No casual entertainment anywhere on the ships so no music really until after dinner. Lincoln Center Stage - classical quartet who were awesome although I here that this location is going to be closed to make way for a bar. Billboard duo was unlistenable to me (as a muso) but crowd liked them. Very basic piano playing with not so great singing but did songs that people liked. 

 

Main shows - HAL doesn't do these any more and it's a real shame. Instead filled with underwhelming shows of dancers performing in front of giant TVs, "comedians", and gimmick performers.  

 

Not a lot to do overall as HAL is an old person's cruise. I found it a little underwhelming at times and will probably aim for a larger ship next time - non HAL. Trivia was OK but repetitive. No Karaoke

 

Christmas/ New Year

HAL is one of those companies that recognises Christmas just enough to stop people bashing them, but nothing more. Fairly basic decorations through the ship and Christmas menu but not really talking about Christmas a lot. Some people like that and some would have liked more - not really a place to take kids then. NYE was a lot of food/booze and noisy band. Personally I found that I couldn't talk to anyone over the band so retired early. 2 hours of that noise was too much but my daughter enjoyed it. 

 

People

LOT of Americans on this cruise, largely from the southern states. Generally not a problem but occasionally their opinions grated. Really a LOT of old people on the cruise but generally only a problem in hallways and on tours where they were quite slow. The ship was fairly quiet after 10 though so that was handy. Many of these two groups were an issue re covid. Lots of fake masks (crochet / hessian even), some non mask wearers, and lots who didn't manage their sneezes properly - we got to tier 2 a few days before arriving in Sydney. 

 

Locations

All of the locations in NZ were lovely - very hard to pick a favourite. I would visit any of these cities/towns again. 

 

Cruise Tours

Dunedin - wildlife tour was awesome to see the fur seals and penguins - this was probably the best of the tours we went on as get enough time to see everything

Wellington - Zeelandia and Te Papa tour. Locations were great but the ship tour is not so great. to so long to get to Zeelandia that the guides there had to rush us through their site. Tour guide at Te papa waffled about unimportant things so we jumped ahead. Lots to see at both site but worth going independently.

Rotorua - public holiday so I hadn't known about how busy the Skytower Gondola and luge was going to be. There was no visitor limits in place at all, and our tour left FAR too late, so dining hall when arrived was bedlam wit over an hour wait for food. Queues for the luge runs was over half an hour in blistering sun. I was only able to do 2 of my 3 prepaid runs. Would be much better on a normal day. 

Auckland - ferry queue to Waiheke was really long but fortunately we were at the head of the queue. I head that some tours were not delivered as the ferry was too busy. ziplining tour was good although again you spend a LOT of time in vehicles. We got back a lot later than planned 

Bay of Islands - I'm very conflicted on this tour. Wasted a LOT of the day in a bus. Puketi forest is lovely but just a 15 minute walk and talk. Glowworm caves lovely but host spent the whole time talking while we were warned to not make much noise. I don't think this tour was worth doing. 

 

All of these tours were horribly overpriced but I've noticed that the non-ship tours have matched ship prices. Will need to rethink how I do tours including more self driving. 

 

In summary HAL isn't for me. I think what we paid for this cruise was WAY overpriced compared to flying/driving/hotel. Happy to cruise on better priced cruises but the HAL experience was simply not premium enough for the cost.  

[sewgood]

Thanks for your review, I enjoyed reading it.

 

Well at least you tried a new line, it wasn't for you but at least you now know that.

We are still working our way through the various mass market lines that come to Australia and last year in was HAL that we decided to try for the first time.

 

Now the good thing about it being so quiet after 10pm was that we had the quietest central cabin that we have ever had on any cruise ship. 😁

[aussiecruiser66]

I found your review very interesting,thank you and a lot of what you said has made our decision all the more relatable- things have not changed for the better.

 

We are 4 star Mariners on HAL (free laundry, priority tendering,half price wine bottle packages etc) and have travelled on many of their signature long cruises- Voyage of the Vikings (32n), Tales of the South Pacific (52n),Circumnavigation of Australia(32n), 3B2B Mediterranean cruises(33n), to name a few. Pre Covid we tended to choose the itinerary over our loyalty to one particular cruise line and back then HAL fitted that bill for us. After our last cruise on HAL, we decided that it wasn't for us anymore. I could list a dozen or more reasons, but I won't.

There was just no "get up and go" on the ships anymore. We felt HAL had become too complacent and were relying too much on their repeat customers- who are just getting older and older and are happy to accept the "same old same old". HAL will be left behind in the cruise industry after these poor old cruisers are no longer able to cruise anymore. They haven't looked to the future and it will eventually be their downfall.

We have comeback to Princess and RCL and are looking forward to cruising on Celebrity and Azamara also.

[OzKiwiJJ]

I enjoyed your review and some of your comments mirror my feelings about HAL after our Westerdam cruise. I'm still in the middle of posting my detailed verdicts of the various aspects of our cruise. Hopefully I'll get them finished in the next day or two.

[Ozwoody]

Thank you paulvdb1

Great review, sounded very fair and balanced.

It's reviews like this that are not only great for cruisers, but hopefully taken note of by the cruise lines that it is written about.

Really like the way you gave credit where credit was due, and the balanced critique where it was appropriate.

 

Regards

 

Edited January 5, 2023 by Ozwoody

[Nowcruise5]

 Well, since my wife and I are booked on Hal in February (Sydney to Auckland) your review is disappointing. We have been cruising since 1983 on most every cruise line.  This will be our first on HAL. This will be our third trip to New Zealand. Thanks for your review, well written and informative. One comment about Americans. I am from the south of the USA. Unfortunately, some Americans don’t understand they can be offensive. I hear their comments sometimes  and think, Please shut up!

 

[arxcards]

13 hours ago, paulvdb1 said:

Hi all - thought I'd post a bit of a review of my Noordam cruise, and hope that some of my info helps others with their decision to go either to NZ or cruise on HAL

 

Caveats

I knew that HAL was popular with older clients. I was well aware that cruisers would be a mix of people doing what they were told and some that didn't care. I had assumed that tours might be still a little clunky as they got back to normal. I hadn't toured since pre covid and was aware that cost cuts had occurred since. I was aware that Christmas cruises are overpriced having on done one before but travelling with friends and time availability made this a must-do for us. 

 

Ship

Noordam is a small ship that I found generally uses it's spaces well - so seems a little larger than it actually is. The only wasted space seemed to be the exploration lounge and some meeting rooms. The ship was well looked after overall (in visible areas) but seemed a little under maintained in hidden areas - so lots of maintenance guys running around fixing broken things. Baths looked to have been recoated at some time and now peeling, leaks from bathrooms, broken lights - that sort of stuff. 

 

For it's size, most areas seemed to have enough space for the passengers, although all music walk activities ran out of seats early. Lots of bars so no issue finding a drink. Eating spaces were also OK to find seating in - even Lido - although far too many 4/6 seat tables.

 

Food / Drinks

As usual there's always enough good food such that you could always build up a goo meal - but there were also cases were you simply had to ditch an item as it was not really edible. So the rule was often - 2 entrees / 1 main / 2 desserts. Noordam menus lack variety for long cruises so a lot of repetition depending on what they needed to use up. Lido in particular had poor variety compared to large ships, and really poor compared to precovid Carnival even. I do wonder whether people rating HAL highly are coming from a retirement home where the food is often poor. I found many dishes to be food-hall quality or worse - with occasional better surprises. The real laugh I had was trying to work out what I was going to get, as the delivered meal often bore no relation to the description in the menu. I wondered whether the cook who came up with these menus actually understood what they were presenting. I do wonder whether this is HAL-specific. 

 

Dive-in was mostly great and the mostly reliable option - consistently good burgers and hot dogs. Great chips for a week then back to generic supermarket chips after that 😞 Canaletti was merely OK but a cheap option. Pinnacle had great food but a fairly pricy upcharge. Everything I ate there was good (apart from the supermarket chips again). Baked Alaska that I had was big enough to feed a whole family. Afternoon tea was always funny - really nice items mixed with what-on-earth-is-this-supposed-to-be?

 

Drinks were at the same standard as any of the cruises in Aust/NZ. It would have been good to see a drinks menu with everything on-board - needed 4 different menus at dinner to find what they had re wines and beers. I had the HIA package at half price which worked out to be good value. It meant that I could order pretty much everything knowing that it was pre-paid. It also meant that if I didn't like a cocktail then I didn't need to feel guilty about not finishing it. Cocktail mixing skills varied around the ship so sometimes didn't taste right. 

 

Coffee - I'm not a coffee drinker but found that even the Exploration cafe drinks ranged from to barely-ok to drinkable. American ships simply do not understand coffee or chocolate it seems. Lot's of tea bags around the ship of every single flavour which was good.    

 

Service

HAL is famous for good service and it was evident everywhere. The room stewards are awesome, the servers are awesome (Jendriko is the best), pretty much everyone we met was genuinely great. As always if you respect the people who serve you, that gets reciprocated. 

 

Entertainment / Stuff to do

HAL has been trimming and changing a lot. BB Kings changed to Rolling Stone - my guess is that with the same band who weren't always quite as keen playing the different music. Lots of repetition of music so got boring quick. Band sets that couldn't really sustain the energy BUT still quite a bit better than some of the bands we had seen on Carnival other than the stage band (HAL doesn't have one).  No casual entertainment anywhere on the ships so no music really until after dinner. Lincoln Center Stage - classical quartet who were awesome although I here that this location is going to be closed to make way for a bar. Billboard duo was unlistenable to me (as a muso) but crowd liked them. Very basic piano playing with not so great singing but did songs that people liked. 

 

Main shows - HAL doesn't do these any more and it's a real shame. Instead filled with underwhelming shows of dancers performing in front of giant TVs, "comedians", and gimmick performers.  

 

Not a lot to do overall as HAL is an old person's cruise. I found it a little underwhelming at times and will probably aim for a larger ship next time - non HAL. Trivia was OK but repetitive. No Karaoke

 

Christmas/ New Year

HAL is one of those companies that recognises Christmas just enough to stop people bashing them, but nothing more. Fairly basic decorations through the ship and Christmas menu but not really talking about Christmas a lot. Some people like that and some would have liked more - not really a place to take kids then. NYE was a lot of food/booze and noisy band. Personally I found that I couldn't talk to anyone over the band so retired early. 2 hours of that noise was too much but my daughter enjoyed it. 

 

People

LOT of Americans on this cruise, largely from the southern states. Generally not a problem but occasionally their opinions grated. Really a LOT of old people on the cruise but generally only a problem in hallways and on tours where they were quite slow. The ship was fairly quiet after 10 though so that was handy. Many of these two groups were an issue re covid. Lots of fake masks (crochet / hessian even), some non mask wearers, and lots who didn't manage their sneezes properly - we got to tier 2 a few days before arriving in Sydney. 

 

Locations

All of the locations in NZ were lovely - very hard to pick a favourite. I would visit any of these cities/towns again. 

 

Cruise Tours

Dunedin - wildlife tour was awesome to see the fur seals and penguins - this was probably the best of the tours we went on as get enough time to see everything

Wellington - Zeelandia and Te Papa tour. Locations were great but the ship tour is not so great. to so long to get to Zeelandia that the guides there had to rush us through their site. Tour guide at Te papa waffled about unimportant things so we jumped ahead. Lots to see at both site but worth going independently.

Rotorua - public holiday so I hadn't known about how busy the Skytower Gondola and luge was going to be. There was no visitor limits in place at all, and our tour left FAR too late, so dining hall when arrived was bedlam wit over an hour wait for food. Queues for the luge runs was over half an hour in blistering sun. I was only able to do 2 of my 3 prepaid runs. Would be much better on a normal day. 

Auckland - ferry queue to Waiheke was really long but fortunately we were at the head of the queue. I head that some tours were not delivered as the ferry was too busy. ziplining tour was good although again you spend a LOT of time in vehicles. We got back a lot later than planned 

Bay of Islands - I'm very conflicted on this tour. Wasted a LOT of the day in a bus. Puketi forest is lovely but just a 15 minute walk and talk. Glowworm caves lovely but host spent the whole time talking while we were warned to not make much noise. I don't think this tour was worth doing. 

 

All of these tours were horribly overpriced but I've noticed that the non-ship tours have matched ship prices. Will need to rethink how I do tours including more self driving. 

 

In summary HAL isn't for me. I think what we paid for this cruise was WAY overpriced compared to flying/driving/hotel. Happy to cruise on better priced cruises but the HAL experience was simply not premium enough for the cost.  

Thanks.

HAL has slipped a bit in my eyes after reading your review.

 

Amazing era that we now think of ships like Noordam as small ships.

[MMDown Under]

4 hours ago, arxcards said:

Thanks.

HAL has slipped a bit in my eyes after reading your review.

 

Amazing era that we now think of ships like Noordam as small ships.

I have been following HAL for a long time because I like the size of their ships and their itineraries.  However, genuine comments from their passengers always makes me think again.  

[paulvdb1]

5 hours ago, arxcards said:

Thanks.

HAL has slipped a bit in my eyes after reading your review.

 

Amazing era that we now think of ships like Noordam as small ships.

I think that for me at least the optimum size is probably 2500-4000 people. Those ships simply have more different activities to explore and a more open feel. The Noordam (and my Pacific Jewel trip) have very tiny atriums so that you tend to feel that you have to go outside to get some space around you. There are no large interior spaces other than the stage. The MDR is also quite small on Noordam. 

 

Re HAL slipping I do wonder whether it's a deliberate effort on Carnival's behalf. Simply drop the quality until they lose their last passengers then kill the brand. The cost savings they are making are probably quite small. Ultimately they need full ships to make their payments but the retirees are not going to last forever. They will run out of customers - apart from the 4/5 star mariners who are rusted on. 

[paulvdb1]

6 hours ago, Nowcruise5 said:

 Well, since my wife and I are booked on Hal in February (Sydney to Auckland) your review is disappointing. We have been cruising since 1983 on most every cruise line.  This will be our first on HAL. This will be our third trip to New Zealand. Thanks for your review, well written and informative. One comment about Americans. I am from the south of the USA. Unfortunately, some Americans don’t understand they can be offensive. I hear their comments sometimes  and think, Please shut up!

 

Thanks for not being offended. 90% of the American tourists on this ship were great but a few stood out as hard work. (refusing to wear masks / chin breathers / fake masks / bratty kids / lack of self-awareness). That said I have no doubt that there are Aussie tourists on other trips that are representing the worst of our culture as well, and would be equally offended by running into them. I did run into some lovely people from Denver and Arizona as well.  

[MMDown Under]

8 minutes ago, paulvdb1 said:

I think that for me at least the optimum size is probably 2500-4000 people. Those ships simply have more different activities to explore and a more open feel. The Noordam (and my Pacific Jewel trip) have very tiny atriums so that you tend to feel that you have to go outside to get some space around you. There are no large interior spaces other than the stage. The MDR is also quite small on Noordam. 

 

Re HAL slipping I do wonder whether it's a deliberate effort on Carnival's behalf. Simply drop the quality until they lose their last passengers then kill the brand. The cost savings they are making are probably quite small. Ultimately they need full ships to make their payments but the retirees are not going to last forever. They will run out of customers - apart from the 4/5 star mariners who are rusted on. 

They won't run out of retirees.  As the older retirees pass, they will be replaced with new retirees.  I find your tastes and requirements change, as your abilities change.  

[paulvdb1]

15 hours ago, OzKiwiJJ said:

I enjoyed your review and some of your comments mirror my feelings about HAL after our Westerdam cruise. I'm still in the middle of posting my detailed verdicts of the various aspects of our cruise. Hopefully I'll get them finished in the next day or two.

What i found hilarious was reading your posts and noticing that you had all the same weird menu options as us - so it wasn't just our head chef coming up with those wacky ideas - it's come from head office. When I dined with Carnival pre-covid we had half a dozen options from their themed (and interesting) menu each day plus half a dozen staple items - so there was lots of choice. With HAL there isn't a theme, just a random hodge-podge of items that sometimes were good and sometimes terrible. I also paid the extra $USD15 for the tails one night and received a luke warm plate of two tiny overcooked tails, some potatoes and carrots. I did eat the tails but had fortunately order other items, and complained about the fact that the kitchen isn't checking what goes out the door. It wasn't worth making a big issue of as I'm not convinced that anyone in that kitchen has any idea about what they are presenting - there's no ownership of their product. 

[paulvdb1]

For those wondering, I think the staff age ratios would have been roughly

 

75+          70%

60-75       15%

40-60       10%

under 40  5%

 

Kids - there might have been as many as 15-20 kids up to teenage - so largely invisible

[MMDown Under]

4 minutes ago, paulvdb1 said:

What i found hilarious was reading your posts and noticing that you had all the same weird menu options as us - so it wasn't just our head chef coming up with those wacky ideas - it's come from head office. When I dined with Carnival pre-covid we had half a dozen options from their themed (and interesting) menu each day plus half a dozen staple items - so there was lots of choice. With HAL there isn't a theme, just a random hodge-podge of items that sometimes were good and sometimes terrible. I also paid the extra $USD15 for the tails one night and received a luke warm plate of two tiny overcooked tails, some potatoes and carrots. I did eat the tails but had fortunately order other items, and complained about the fact that the kitchen isn't checking what goes out the door. It wasn't worth making a big issue of as I'm not convinced that anyone in that kitchen has any idea about what they are presenting - there's no ownership of their product. 

I shared a table with a Dutch chef and his Italian wife once.  The chef returned any unsatisfactory food.  With the advice of his Italian wife, I had the best meals on any cruise.  So they do know how to prepare good food to a budget!  I know Aussies aren't great at returning food, but it is only way to have meals improve.  

[OzKiwiJJ]

2 hours ago, paulvdb1 said:

Thanks for not being offended. 90% of the American tourists on this ship were great but a few stood out as hard work. (refusing to wear masks / chin breathers / fake masks / bratty kids / lack of self-awareness). That said I have no doubt that there are Aussie tourists on other trips that are representing the worst of our culture as well, and would be equally offended by running into them. I did run into some lovely people from Denver and Arizona as well.  

They were on our Coral Princess cruises. 🤣 

[pully8]

Good detailed review. 

Some of the ships sent out to Australia seem old?

Quality of food is important and disappointing when the description on the menu is not what is delivered.

The comments about retired or older people is not accurate for all.

Many are well travelled, discerning with cash to spend and expect an upmarket experience.

But of course cruise lines need to cater to all budgets and markets. 

Perhaps HAL have better ships with more premium experiences sailing in other waters?  

Some say P and O is a different product in Australia to Europe? 

Have not tried either. 

[paulvdb1]

3 hours ago, pully8 said:

Good detailed review. 

Some of the ships sent out to Australia seem old?

Quality of food is important and disappointing when the description on the menu is not what is delivered.

The comments about retired or older people is not accurate for all.

Many are well travelled, discerning with cash to spend and expect an upmarket experience.

But of course cruise lines need to cater to all budgets and markets. 

Perhaps HAL have better ships with more premium experiences sailing in other waters?  

Some say P and O is a different product in Australia to Europe? 

Have not tried either. 

Hi - lots to answer here

Australia nearly always gets the oldest ships. Sometimes that means that they are well sorted, sometimes falling apart. 

HAL seems to suggest that their food is premium, or their customers do. Some of it is, and much of it isn't. Certainly post covid is nothing like pre-covid

HAL definitely is an old person's cruise line. I don't know if Princess is better or same - but the two seem to have the most older customers in Australia. The ship accommodates these customers well but lacks for families and more energetic people 

HAL don't seem to have premium experiences in Australia, but that only gets delivered by the superpremium lines anyway - so realistically they are competing with all of the middle of the road cruise lines

P&O Australia is our budget cruise line but right now many mid-level companies are targeting a similar price out of season. I have travelled P&O for a specific cruise and it was very basic - but well known in advance.  

[pully8]

Thanks for your reply. 

 

[arxcards]

11 hours ago, paulvdb1 said:

Thanks for not being offended. 90% of the American tourists on this ship were great but a few stood out as hard work. (refusing to wear masks / chin breathers / fake masks / bratty kids / lack of self-awareness). That said I have no doubt that there are Aussie tourists on other trips that are representing the worst of our culture as well, and would be equally offended by running into them. I did run into some lovely people from Denver and Arizona as well.  

There are lots of Aussies on cruises around the world. As a group, we give as much as we get - and then some.

[arxcards]

13 hours ago, MMDown Under said:

I have been following HAL for a long time because I like the size of their ships and their itineraries.  However, genuine comments from their passengers always makes me think again.  

Reading passenger comments, there has been a general slip of service standards across most lines. Like it is in our cities, the service sector has been shaken-up considerably. I have become friends with quite a few ship staff over the years, and some of those have moved on to other things instead of returning to sea. Good, experienced staff are hard to find anywhere, but I hope in time that it returns to the standards of the past, and the current level doesn't become the new norm.

[OzKiwiJJ]

1 minute ago, arxcards said:

Reading passenger comments, there has been a general slip of service standards across most lines. Like it is in our cities, the service sector has been shaken-up considerably. I have become friends with quite a few ship staff over the years, and some of those have moved on to other things instead of returning to sea. Good, experienced staff are hard to find anywhere, but I hope in time that it returns to the standards of the past, and the current level doesn't become the new norm.

I think part of the problem is lack of training or experience. Too many new crew members who either have never worked on a cruise ship before or who haven't worked in their current position. We did meet some lovely crew onboard Westerdam who were extremely good at their jobs but, unfortunately, that just made the inexperienced ones more obvious.

 

But if they are going to serve espresso- based coffees on an Aus/NZ cruise they really need to ensure they have an experienced barista!!!!! 🤬

[arxcards]

12 hours ago, paulvdb1 said:

I think that for me at least the optimum size is probably 2500-4000 people. Those ships simply have more different activities to explore and a more open feel. The Noordam (and my Pacific Jewel trip) have very tiny atriums so that you tend to feel that you have to go outside to get some space around you. There are no large interior spaces other than the stage. The MDR is also quite small on Noordam. 

 

Re HAL slipping I do wonder whether it's a deliberate effort on Carnival's behalf. Simply drop the quality until they lose their last passengers then kill the brand. The cost savings they are making are probably quite small. Ultimately they need full ships to make their payments but the retirees are not going to last forever. They will run out of customers - apart from the 4/5 star mariners who are rusted on. 

Carnival Corp can't afford to lose more cruisers. HAL has a niche that I am starting to grow into as I get older. Yes, I have been happy to do I-fly and dodgems on Ovation, but it isn't a highlight. A good itinerary, comfortable cabin, good food & drink, quiet time with the missus, a nice view of the ocean and anything else is a bonus.

 

I get the difference between the lines and wouldn't be booking HAL for an active fun-filled cruise. However, food is supposed to be a virtue on their ships, and they become far less appealing to us if they are coming up short there.

[OzKiwiJJ]

They'd probably ban me from the dodgems on RCI. I'm vicious! 🤣🤣🤣

[SilvertoGold]

Some thoughts on topics on this thread recently:

 

HAL fits a lot of categories.  Older guest abound, certainly.  Alaska cruises and cruisetours attract a lot of young/extended families to HAL.  Mexico cruises have tons of home port guest, older and younger as these are 7 day cruises (San Diego), R/T Hawaii have many older guests, as do most longer (+ 16 days). The +35 day Tahiti/South Pacific ones get many retired guests (no work to finagle vacation time for). Caribbean cruises appeal to anyone who lives in Florida and also have a really broad array of guests. I don't think you can categorize HAL or any line, except maybe Disney.

 

I have no idea how the ships are scheduled but of course historical loads are a factor. Booking + size of ship matters in the equation. HAL's larger or newer Pinnacle class (2800 pax) ships are being positioned in the premium and high load markets, it seems.  

 

Pre-pandemic HAL had a good brand which has now been impacted by supply line and staffing issues. One of our cruises in 2022 did not receive two container loads of food at embarkation and went a week before supplies could be picked up, not the easiest situation for the Exc Chef!  Getting crew back was not easy and many new people were hired and are still being hired. Reorganisation of positions is ongoing within the line. Many changes are happening on the ships and crew/staff/officers are working hard in not the easiest of times.  Getting the bottom line stabilised is obviously a priority if cruise lines want to survive the two years of paying out money for staffing and ship upkeep while bringing in no funds.

 

 

[icat2000]

HAL is starting to interest me due to their itineraries. I'm looking for interesting places to go or itineraries that can cover a lot. 

 

Princess 2024 selections besides the one I have booked for that year don't really interest me.