Just back from Norwegian Escape and a brief comparison to all my Holland America cruisesI I

[3rdGenCunarder]

36 minutes ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Ahhh, the good old days when HAL had four "S" class ships and four "R" class ships to choose from. Before they built those huge Vista class ships, and never looked back.

 

S: Statendam, Veendam, Maasdam, Ryndam

R: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Zaandam, Volendam

 

Now down to only two out of those original 8 truly signature HAL brand smaller ships. Glad we got to know them all.  (Sigh)

 

Oh yeah, the huge Vistas! Ha! Now they're dwarfed by the megas. 

 

The S and R class lack a thalassotherapy pool. That's their only minus for me. That's why I like the Vistas. Not too large and a great spa. 

 

@albingirl, I agree about the noisy dining room on the Pinnacle ships. We found downstairs to be especially noisy. My second time on the K'dam, I was a table way back in the corner on the upper level. I was astonished at how quiet it was. It's all about the shape of the room, I guess. It will be interesting to see how noisy the MDR is on Cunard's Queen Anne, which is built on the Pinnacle platform.

[SueH7]

I was also on your Escape cruise last week. I'd be interested if you'd asked anyone about the "Code alpha fire..." announcement in the middle of the night. Not only did they wake everyone up with a very frightening message, but there was no follow up "all clear." 

[AV8rix]

3 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Ahhh, the good old days when HAL had four "S" class ships and four "R" class ships to choose from. Before they built those huge Vista class ships, and never looked back.

 

S: Statendam, Veendam, Maasdam, Ryndam

R: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Zaandam, Volendam

 

Now down to only two out of those original 8 truly signature HAL brand smaller ships. Glad we got to know them all.  (Sigh)

I was always a fan of the R-class and S-class ships (expand my signature).  I am now FINISHED with Pinnacle class.  If I were asked to characterize that class in one word I would reply:  NOISE!

 

Don't know who engineered the lousy acoustics in the MDRs of the Pinnacle class ships, but you CANNOT carry on a conversation with your tablemates without shouting -- thereby adding to the din.  That Deck 2 Music Walk is CACOPHONY in the evening/night hours.  And it echoes up that open stairwell to the casino.  I don't play slots, only blackjack so on most other ships that side of the casino is relatively quiet.

 

I used earplugs for MDR and casino for the entire length of my last cruise(s) on Kdam, which totaled six weeks.

 

Apologize for highjacking this thread, which was originally intended to be a comparison between NCL and HAL.  Wish I knew of a way to migrate a quoted comment to a new thread.  Would have liked to continue the topic in the quote of @OlsSalt in a new thread.  

[*Miss G*]

2 minutes ago, AV8rix said:

Apologize for highjacking this thread, which was originally intended to be a comparison between NCL and HAL.  Wish I knew of a way to migrate a quoted comment to a new thread.  Would have liked to continue the topic in the quote of @OlsSalt in a new thread.  

 

There is a tool to break off posts to a new thread, but I have never seen it utilized on CC.  Perhaps the mods don’t have access to that tool, or maybe no one has ever asked them to do it.  No harm in reporting the posts and making a request, though.

[albingirl]

1 hour ago, SueH7 said:

I was also on your Escape cruise last week. I'd be interested if you'd asked anyone about the "Code alpha fire..." announcement in the middle of the night. Not only did they wake everyone up with a very frightening message, but there was no follow up "all clear." 

I know, it was frightening.  I never asked.  It's like it never happened.

[BermudaBound2014]

Thank you for this post. I am currently sailing on the NCL ENcore and watched choir of men last night. We still think “rock of ages” was our favorite NCL production show,  but choir of men is great too. NCL has some of the very best entertainment in the industry. It’s too bad they have had to cut out “Burn the floor” due to debt management.

 

We sailed on Carnival Celebration last week. I’ll fly home for a few days and depart in the 17th of February for the 35 night Koningsdam trip to Tahiti. 

 

I don’t want to interrupt your thread anymore than I already have. I will be doing a live from the Koningsdam post and will be able to do some real time comparisons to both NCL and CCL since they are all pretty much back to back.

 

I did want to make one correction to your post. I’m not trying to be a jerk and apologize if it comes off that way but for the sake of clarity, NCL gives $50 off per excursion (not $50 off per cruise). 

 

I’ve never met a cruise ship I didn’t like and enjoy these big girls for what they offer. I still enjoy a really good water slide and the floor drop slides on NCL are great for adrenaline junkies like myself. We haven’t been to bed much before 2 am both weeks. With that, I can also appreciate the quieter more intimate experience offered by HAL. There is something for everyone. 
 

Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Edited January 31 by BermudaBound2014