Compare Royal to HA

[Wilbo]

Just wondering the difference between Royal & HA for service, quality of food and quality of ship & services.

If you have been with both companies -- What is your opinion?

[zwanzig]

I have only cruised HAL once - on Zuiderdam in 2003 - and I loved it. I thought Zuiderdam was one of the most beautiful ships I'd ever been on. From what I recall, the food was comparable to RCI, and I loved all of the chocolate served for dessert (and at the high tea). Half Moon Cay - their private beach island, like CocoCay - was gorgeous. I was able to wander around and find a deserted spot on the beach, where I had a beautiful view of the anchored ship and some thunderheads on the horizon. It was cathartic to be alone in the ocean! :) Not sure what your cruising priorities are, and by the stereotypes I've read I'm not in the majority for my demographic (I was 25 on that trip), but I had a tear in my eye when I disembarked Zuiderdam. :) I'd sail on her again any time!

[Harley65]

We have cruised RCCL several times, and HA one time. We sailed on the Veendam, at the suggestion of a friend who was a solid HA customer. Well, when we got home, our friend got an earful from us, we HATED HA, it was a much older crowd, food was not as good as on RCCL, service was not as good, and the staff we not as friendly. WE WOULD NEVER SAIL ON HA AGAIN........ unless the cruise was 100% FREE..!!!!!

 

Well, our friend was stunned, so we suggested that on their next cruise they try RCCL. Well they have, and they are now solid RCCL customers, and they agree that RCCL is much better all around.

 

I am sure you will find several opinions both ways, but you asked... lol

[TEXASMUNK]

Food: Better on RCI. HAL tries to not offend the senior pallette, food is flat and boring.

 

Entertainment: HAL- ship goes to sleep at 10pm

 

Bingo: It is a hearing test announcing the next Bingo Session to see how many HAL can make deaf by the end of a cruise.

 

Seniors: On HAL are RUDE..."I am in a motorized chair, I get on the elevator FIRST..even if it is full and people are trying to get off!"

 

Seniors: "I am old, therefore I can cut in line anywhere anytime I want."

 

Crew: Both very friendly, HAL appears a bit more attentive.

 

Pool: Lounge chairs far superior on HAL

[Boo Boo]

We did a back-to-back Eastern/Western Caribbean on the Zuiderdam in July/August 2003.

 

We had a pretty good cruise, but haven't been tempted back since: I like both RCCL and Princess quite a lot more.

 

The pluses on the Zuiderdam were:

- we had a nice suite at the back corner of the ship that had an AMAZINGLY large balcony. The suite was smaller than the same category on the side, but the balcony way amazing. To be honest though, I think that room-wise I prefer the GSs on RCCL.

- The Concierge Lounge was good, but not as good as the CL on RCCL's ships (like the Mariner) IMHO.

- The service in the dining room was top notch (exceptional), although I think that I prefer the food on RCCL.

- The promenade deck had some great steamer chairs... very comfortable - great place to relax.

 

The minuses of the Zuiderdam were:

- the pools were ALWAYS HEAVING: I love swimming, but couldn't get anywhere near them... There also seemed to be a lot of loud games around the adult pool - not my cup of tea.

- the food was not as good as RCCLs IMHO (but that could be a matter of taste...)

- As Jim Munkittrick had said (quoted below), I hate to admit but I really did find a lot of the other guests on the Zuiderdam really quite rude - both young and old. You always get rude people, but haven't seen the density of them on RCCL or Princess that I saw on the Zuiderdam. Maybe we were just unlucky, but to me it put a bit of a slant on my view of the cruise...

- the Zuiderdam is a nice ship, but it doesn't have the "wow" (for me personally) that the Mariner does

 

Zuiderdam wasn't a bad cruise, but I wouldn't rush back for another HAL cruise.

 

Boo

 

 

Seniors: On HAL are RUDE..."I am in a motorized chair, I get on the elevator FIRST..even if it is full and people are trying to get off!"

 

Seniors: "I am old, therefore I can cut in line anywhere anytime I want."

[wblynch]

Love RCCL. Sailed HAL's Oosterdam to Mexico and loved the ship.

 

However, the HAL experience is more sedate. There was no pool band and only a few small combos and trios. No live dinner music.

 

The Cruise director and her staff were great but you could tell they were starved for interaction. We made it fun for them and they for us. At the end of the cruise they searched us out to say good bye. We were a big group of 11 cabins.

 

The Oosterdam is new and beautiful, with large cabins but her public spaces are diminutive and you won't see the artwork and glass walled vistas like on the Vision class and Radiance class RCCL ships.

 

I would sail HAL again but only the Vista class or larger and I would avoid itineraries designed for the traditional HAL passenger.

 

We are sailing Serenade again, this time to Hawaii.

[Schplinky]

We've sailed RCL on Enchantment, Freedom and Navigator. We recently sailed HAL on Westerdam, one of their new class of ships meant to appeal to younger cruises.

 

To answer your basic questions, the food and service were excellent on HAL, whereas we find them to be good to very good on RCL. For activities and Entertainment,, where RCL tends to be very good to excellent, HAL was rather poor. As in a bad high school production. We also found the ship design to be dull and underwhelming. We were often bored on HAL and that was the first time that has ever happened to us on a cruise. All of the activities were geared to an older crowd and one afternoon, one of the activities was "sign out a board game." Enough said.

 

We had fairly gentle seas but it seemed the ship pitched an awful lot, too.

 

Folks like to call HAL a premium line but I have yet to figure out what that means, besides that everything seems to appeal to premium aged passengers. I would say the average age on our cruise was 65-75.

 

Our HAL cruise dailies are in my signature, if you want to get a taste of what it is like.