Royal vs HAL: my take

[exm]

 

Some background: loyal Royal cruiser (Diamond), cruised on MSC, Norwegian and Carnival also. Cruising with 3 kids 7-12 and I understand HAL isn’t catered to kids. My impressions after sailing on the MS Rotterdam, HAL’s largest and newest ship. Obviously if I post this in the HAL forum I would get different replies but since I mostly sailed Royal I figured to place this here.

Equal

- Staff. Love the staff on pretty much all cruise lines.
 

Advantages HAL

- Food is definitely good quality; slightly better 

- I like the vibe of the crowd: parties are more mature, no blasting of loud music at the pool. No fighting over pool chairs, a big one!

- Live bands (plural!)

- Like the ship layout, also like heated pool. A lot!

- Speciality restaurants are great and relatively inexpensive

- Great WiFi connection (I wonder if they are using Starlink?)

- Most movies were great and I loved the provided popcorn

- Love the bedding: so comfortable 

 

Disadvantages HAL

- Buffet: nothing is self service? How hard is it to get some butter for my bread (yes, butter is not readily available)

- Dinner variety: food is good, but I feel that every 2-3 days I get the exact same menu. Seriously! What’s up with that?

- Drink package: limit to 15, but then also water is counted toward the package? A soda? Not cool.

- Food in the Dutch cafe is good, but mostly lukewarm. Lines are crazy and why aren’t the hours more extended? It closes at 8pm.

- Shore excursions are crazily overpriced. Royal isn’t cheap but HAL is insane.

- Nice cabin (had a balcony), but small! Felt smaller than Royal although the bathroom is nicer.

- This might be controversial, but to enforce selectively “no shorts during dinner in the dining room”? Are we living in the 70s? There are many nice dress shorts, it doesn’t get consistently enforced, who cares about your shorts when you are sitting on a table? I have seen babies in the pool all day (against the rules - personally no issues with it): why enforce the no-shorts rule specifically? I get it: they want the dining room to look nice, but the insanity of not following rules consistently drives me crazy. Just let it go. Relax.

- On a ship with a lot of seniors, why have 1-2 elevators out of service consistently?

- Kids club: at Royal (and MSC) 12 and up are in their own group. Somehow at HAL my 12 year old is grouped with 7 year olds. In other words, she didn’t use the kids club at all. During sea days they do mandatory activities with the kids; there’s no option for them to free play at any of the gaming machines. My kids hardly used the kids club at all because of this (only during the one hour 7-8pm free play).

 

My conclusion:

I definitely would sail HAL again, and I understand that older crowds probably love the more mature atmosphere. However, I can’t really say I feel HAL is a more premium product and is worth any extra dollars. Also, I wouldn’t want to try any of the smaller and older HAL ships. As far as Royal is concerned, I haven’t been on an Oasis Class ship (!). That’s next on my cruising journey - fall 2024 most likely.

 

[firefly333]

I think you misunderstood about the drink limit. Only alcohol drinks count. Water doesnt count toward the 15.

 

I'm sorry to read you werent wowed by the food. I always have heard HAL food is the best. HAL about the only main line I havent done, but it is owned by carnival and shares some policies.

[basenji56]

 "However, I can’t really say I feel HAL is a more premium product and is worth any extra dollars."

 

I am not criticizing the poster, but I don't know where this idea came from that HAL was a premium product.  I always viewed it as a sister line to Princess--a Carnival product.  Geared to an older market than Princess.

 

[yogimax]

5 hours ago, firefly333 said:

I think you misunderstood about the drink limit. Only alcohol drinks count. Water doesnt count toward the 15.

 

 

Are you sure?  Just off Eurodam and I'm pretty sure bottles of water counted toward the 15.  Can't say for sure because we never approached the 15 limit. 

[firefly333]

10 minutes ago, yogimax said:

Are you sure?  Just off Eurodam and I'm pretty sure bottles of water counted toward the 15.  Can't say for sure because we never approached the 15 limit. 

Ok I take it back. It may or may not be included. Different drink packages. Read this twice and I'm confused. I had cheers on carnival and never went over  .. but HAL does have different options.

 

[George C]

I haven’t sailed Hal recently, do like that they have a dress code that at least sometimes gets enforced I have seen celebrity do that also. I remember at one time on formal nights jackets were required and they would give you one to wear if you didn’t have one. Also hal suite lounge had no free liquor while rccl does.

[Marygracie C.]

Several years ago we cruised HAL in a suite.I still have slight ptsd!!!!!

We went to large cafeteria type food area on boarding ship.I needed rest room so I went into one off food area.When finished,I found that the lock was broken and I could not get out.My husband came looking for me and accessed my problem.He went back to food area where he was given a knife to pry open the door.

We then went to our suite which smelled of urine.Our suite was across from the concierge lounge where we were told that the staff rotated to concierge position and had no solution.And our luggage was lost for an entire day we found on another deck.

When home again,I filled out a questionnaire from HAL ;never heard a word back from them.Never again HAL for us.

[yogimax]

4 minutes ago, Marygracie C. said:

Several years ago we cruised HAL in a suite.I still have slight ptsd!!!!!

We went to large cafeteria type food area on boarding ship.I needed rest room so I went into one off food area.When finished,I found that the lock was broken and I could not get out.My husband came looking for me and accessed my problem.He went back to food area where he was given a knife to pry open the door.

We then went to our suite which smelled of urine.Our suite was across from the concierge lounge where we were told that the staff rotated to concierge position and had no solution.And our luggage was lost for an entire day we found on another deck.

When home again,I filled out a questionnaire from HAL ;never heard a word back from them.Never again HAL for us.

So, did you enjoy your cruise?

 

[The Fun Researcher]

7 hours ago, basenji56 said:

 "However, I can’t really say I feel HAL is a more premium product and is worth any extra dollars."

 

I am not criticizing the poster, but I don't know where this idea came from that HAL was a premium product.  I always viewed it as a sister line to Princess--a Carnival product.  Geared to an older market than Princess.

 

Well, Princess is the premium Carnival, just as Celebrity is the premium Royal.  If you are placing HAL inline with Princess, then your ARE calling it premium.

[Marygracie C.]

Just now, yogimax said:

So, did you enjoy your cruise?

 

After day three of seven,yes.

loved daily church service,huge library,and private island with a cabana.

Our room was deep cleaned and I stayed away from public bathrooms.

[George C]

We did like our suites on Hal they were spacious, some concierge were great some were bad, but hardly no perks breakfast was in specialty if I remember correctly, suite lounge had coffee and snack . I really liked that ships were small enough to dock In Hamilton in Bermuda . Much prefer suite perks in rccl, celebrity and MSc yacht club.

[basenji56]

3 minutes ago, The Fun Researcher said:

Well, Princess is the premium Carnival, just as Celebrity is the premium Royal.  If you are placing HAL inline with Princess, then your ARE calling it premium.

Cruise ship definitions are always confusing.  This site calls HAL premium along with Celebrity.  But puts Oceania and Azamara in the same Premium class with Celebrity and HAL--which is just wrong.

 

https://www.icruise.com/cruise-lines/premium-cruise-lines.html

[yogimax]

47 minutes ago, Marygracie C. said:

After day three of seven,yes.

loved daily church service,huge library,and private island with a cabana.

Our room was deep cleaned and I stayed away from public bathrooms.

We also appreciated the Sunday church service.  Also liked the Crow's Nest with an amazing collection of games for kids and adults.

 

[musikus1704]

We were last year 2 weeks on the Rotterdam, its a nice ship. The music was excellent but the shows where bad, BBC earth is not a show for me, the food was 2 weeks the same, no changes.

We prefer Royal.

[exm]

I just don’t see how HAL is a premium experience except the older crowd. 
 

I am going to edit my original post to add the following negative:

- No waiters around the pool deck taking orders.

 

don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed my cruise. But I gladly sail Royal again!

[cruiselvr04]

Thanks for the review.  We have been thinking about trying HAL because some of their itineraries are much more interesting than Royal or Celebrity.  They are definitely higher in price so I’d expect them to have better food. Guess we may try them and see but maybe a shorter cruise first in case we’re disappointed.

 

On their older ships it appears some of the balconies aren’t really balconies but connect to a public promenade. 

[torpeedo]

5 minutes ago, cruiselvr04 said:

On their older ships it appears some of the balconies aren’t really balconies but connect to a public promenade. 

We sailed many years on HAL and there was a lot to love.  BUT do not ever cruise on the Veendam. It's broken down and it's notorious for AC problem as well as engine problems. That ship sent us packing to Royal and we never went back to HAL. I'm sure their newer ships are beautiful.

[1ANGELCAT]

1 hour ago, torpeedo said:

We sailed many years on HAL and there was a lot to love.  BUT do not ever cruise on the Veendam. It's broken down and it's notorious for AC problem as well as engine problems. That ship sent us packing to Royal and we never went back to HAL. I'm sure their newer ships are beautiful.

FYI, Veendam was sold in 2020.

[1ANGELCAT]

1 hour ago, cruiselvr04 said:

Thanks for the review.  We have been thinking about trying HAL because some of their itineraries are much more interesting than Royal or Celebrity.  They are definitely higher in price so I’d expect them to have better food. Guess we may try them and see but maybe a shorter cruise first in case we’re disappointed.

 

On their older ships it appears some of the balconies aren’t really balconies but connect to a public promenade. 

The cabins are called Lana rooms , they never were balconies.

[RD64]

5 hours ago, yogimax said:

Are you sure?  Just off Eurodam and I'm pretty sure bottles of water counted toward the 15.  Can't say for sure because we never approached the 15 limit. 

Yes I can confirm that water and specialty coffees count towards the 15 limit - I got dinged last week for #16 - a bottle of water.

[RD64]

HAL ships are ships - not floating shopping malls, not amusement parks. They are built with the sea in mind - not inward facing urban areas. The amount of open deck space is incredible. Going to Alaska? No other cruise line opens up the bow and upper decks for glacier viewing. 
 

Re butter in buffet - readily available. Dining room menus? I just finished 14 days B2B - and yes the menus were the same for both legs, but truly enough variety that I could always have something different - or what I truly enjoyed from the week before. As for their Asian buffet food station - given the large percentage of Indonesian and Filipino crew - different menu every day - this is where HAL truly excels - with real Indonesian SAMBAL. Reindeer sausage at the breakfast buffet? Just curious if Royal has this.

Edited August 25, 2023 by RD64
Spelling

[torpeedo]

30 minutes ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

FYI, Veendam was sold in 2020.

Way overdue!!   We left them in 2007 and that ship was toast then!!

[Nunagoras]

Ok, nice review. Different products for different individuals. That said; me thinks that, either way, CCL group will need to decide between making HAL to adapt to the generation change or eventually they'd just to send their current newer ships to Princess, sell the older smaller ones and call HAL a night. Simply the below 60 generation of today wouldn't perhaps to be happy on such a cruise with the likes of the HAL's fame. That generation is at least more active. If they don't bring something a little bit more active to the count, they'll fail. In HAL's favor; they have some of the nicest Alaska sailings available industry wise, no surprise, at least for me, I have some of them under my eye for the next years to come. Surely HAL's environment might not be for me on a regular day, but I can to splurge for the occasion.

[RD64]

34 minutes ago, torpeedo said:

Way overdue!!   We left them in 2007 and that ship was toast then!!

Totally disagree -Veendam to Bermuda in 2017 was my best cruise ever - 2018 Canada / New England, and 2019 Transatlantic - totally prefer this intimate ship to the Monstrosities of the Seas. Much prefer to cruise with 1400-2000 of my closest friends as opposed to 5000. But let’s agree to disagree.

[RD64]

Don’t judge the “environment” solely by what you read on line. Once you experience it for yourself you may have a totally different opinion. Example - in 2016 I was debating between RCL and NCL for a European cruise. I made the wrong choice and chose Vision of the Seas because RCL had the better reputation. Long story short - my first and last cruise with RCL.