Carnival Vs. Hal/zuiderdam

[DB469]

I have not sailed on HAL yet, thinking of booking a cruise and trying them. Can anybody tell me the differences of Carnival Vs. HAL as far as food, service, entertainment, activities and staterooms are concerned.

 

We have cruised the past 10 years 6 on Carnival, 2 NCL, 1 Princess.

 

Any advice you can give us would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

[iluvtravel]

We have sailed on Carnival four times, NCL once, and HAL once. We sailed on the Oosterdam, which is the new Vista class ship. I have heard that the Vista class ships are more "Carnival-like" than the older HAL ships. HAL is a little quieter, more sophisticated. High tea and cooking classes instead of pool games and hairy chest contests. The food is excellent on both. The HAL ships are less glitzy, but beautiful nonetheless-art pieces everywhere. The entertainment I would have to give to Carnival-a little better, more variety. If you like late nights and partying, Carnival would be more appealing. HAL does have first run movies and popcorn, which isn't offered on Carnival, as far as I know. We enjoyed the elegant refinement of HAL, but missed a little of the "fun" of Carnival-towel animals, the waiters dancing around the dining room most evenings instead of just one. The passengers are quite different, also. HAL has an older group overall. I hope this helps.

[kkorman]

I have not sailed on HAL yet, thinking of booking a cruise and trying them. Can anybody tell me the differences of Carnival Vs. HAL as far as food, service, entertainment, activities and staterooms are concerned.

 

We have cruised the past 10 years 6 on Carnival, 2 NCL, 1 Princess.

 

Any advice you can give us would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.

 

HAL is good. The food and service are defintiely a step up from Carnival and definitely more consistent. That being said, the crowd is usually more laid back and non-rowdy. Which can be a good or bad thing depending on what you are looking for. The vista class ships are definitely the ships you want if you are comparing to Carnival for crowd and ship similarity.

 

If you have done 6 Carnival cruises already, I would try HAL. There are some really great deals on the Zuiderdam and Westerdam this winter.

[punknhead]

We sailed Zuiderdam before the Glory and noticed the folowing differences.

 

Zuiderdam

Classier ship (hardly any Vegas)

more personal service than Glory (servers and stewards actually knew our names and those of our kids)

slightly older demographic

great deals if you can travel off peak

 

 

 

Glory

Food just slightly below the ZUiderdam

extras (coffee bar, supper club, etc.) seemed pricier

a bit more kid friendly wich club hours, arcade and water slide

 

 

Hope this helps,

Punk

[Kylie]

We were on the Zuiderdam last summer and it had the best entertainment we have ever seen on a cruise ship (very good for anywhere actually!). We have sailed on Carnival 2 times and are going again with them in May but hope to sail HAL again sometime too. We really enjoyed HAL's private island - Half Moon Cay. Rent a cabana if you can. Makes for a great day!

[ccNVcpl]

We've done HAL Volendam twice, and while the service is closer to 4-Star than Carnival, overall the age of the passengers is diffently older. Hence the entertainment and overal flavor of the cruise is gearded to the more senior cruisers. HAL brags that 85% are return cruisers. In our mid 50's, we felt 20+ years younger than most others on board.