HAL opinions overall

Hello all,

My friends and I are contiplating taking our first HAL cruise. As my signature states I have sailed on Disney, NCL, Carnival, and RCCL. I was wondering how the lines compared.

I wasn't overly impressed with Carnival and I know that they own HAL...

Hello all,

 

 

 

My friends and I are contiplating taking our first HAL cruise. As my signature states I have sailed on Disney, NCL, Carnival, and RCCL. I was wondering how the lines compared.

 

 

 

I wasn't overly impressed with Carnival and I know that they own HAL...

We too have cruised with Carnival but have been cruising with HAL since 1986. Recently have taken three cruises with a Princess. Overall HAL is our favorite but as many have mentioned there have been changes made over the past years, some good and some not so good, but with that said we still favor HAL for reasons such as Service, Decor, Staff, and Crew! Give them a try as we did with Princess.

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Looking at your past cruise lines, it seems like you placed a higher priority on entertainment and shipboard activities. If so, HAL may not be up to your expectations. However, depending on the geographic location where you want to cruise, the HAL itinerary may exceed the other cruise lines (for example Alaska). If you could provide further details on what important things you want from a cruise, better answers can be provided.

If looking only at "overall" ratings, I think you will find all the cruise lines to be closely ranked.

Where the differences become more evident is when you start looking more closely at lodging, food, entertainment, activities, itineraries, etc as individual components of the total cruise package. And keep in mind that the opinions on most of these individual components are highly subjective.

Best advice is that you be your own judge.

Carnival Corporation is an umbrella corporation which owns HAL, Carnival Cruise Lines, Cunard, Princess, Seabourn, Costa, and others. Each line is, nonetheless, managed individually. The fact that all these lines are owned by Carnival Corporation should not be a factor in your decision.

HAL is a solid, dependable, traditional, mass market cruise line offering high value for low costs but with little distracting glitz. We love HAL and we love her exceptional itineraries and the longer the cruises the better for us.

We think HAL works best for the "self-contained" passenger that is not looking for a lot of onboard entertainment but is more interested in the destinations. Personally we feel HAL is a travelers cruise line; not a tourist ship. And yes, depending on the itinerary and length of the cruise there will be "older" passengers who go to bed early.

The food is very nice, cabins well laid out and the staff is uniformly exceptional. If the term "HAL is like a comfortable old shoe" means anything positive to you, HAL will be a great choice. It is homey, welcoming, with few surprises. You kind of slip into her comforting embrace and don't want to let go.

My friends and I are contiplating taking our first HAL cruise. As my signature states I have sailed on Disney, NCL, Carnival, and RCCL. I was wondering how the lines compared.

I wasn't overly impressed with Carnival and I know that they own HAL...

I personally have sailed with the same lines you have except Disney and I have sailed Princess once and HAL twice.

Our HAL and Princess cruise experiences were very similar.

I personally like HAL better than the rest we've sailed. My DH prefers Norwegian's food and entertainment.

Bottom line...even a husband and wife can prefer different lines so everyone should try it for themselves.

I've never been on a bad cruise and I've never not liked a cruise. Certain things some do better than others.

I wanted to add if you are looking for a lot of nightlife HAL may not meet your needs.

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It depends on the ship, the itinerary, the length of cruise, and date of cruise.

HAL ships are different than each other. Some old, some new. They have different amenities.

Demographics are different on longer cruises, cruises outside of popular vacation periods.

Some ships have multiple alternate dining venues. If you like to dine later in alternative venues you may want to check the hours of operation on HAL. Our experience is that they tend to close/have limited hours compared to many other cruise lines.

One thing we find in general is that HAL entertainment is not great, it is very dated. It is hit and miss on other cruise lines but if we book HAL our expectations on entertainment are generally low.

We love HAL. Really enjoyed all of our cruises 2 on the Noordam and one on the Eurodam.

Beautiful ships, excellent service, super friendly crew, delicious food and great passengers.

Would love to book a HAL cruise soon particularly on the Koningsdam which looks really beautiful.

Jonathan

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It's a great cruise line for those that cruise for the ports in my opinion. The only thing I dislike is the limited lido hours, although the Koningsdam is going some way to remedy this with the introduction of the pizza place ....

While the Lido over all will close down for a few hours as they change menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner, there are now extended Lido hours for the grab and go sandwiches, pasta section and the salad bar. Additionally most if not all HAL ships have extended hours for their pizza station which also offers salads and desserts.

There is the extended hour Dive-In for hot dogs, hamburgers and fries and the nacho-taco-fajita station. As well as a 24 hour free room service menu. I would hate for anyone to get the impression there is no food availability pretty much on demand 24-7 on HAL cruise ships. But it will take getting to know which venues are open what hours and that the offerings will be limited to those specialty venues for the few hours the Lido itself closes down between shifts.

While the Lido over all will close down for a few hours as they change menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner, there are now extended Lido hours for the grab and go sandwiches, pasta section and the salad bar. Additionally most if not all HAL ships have extended hours for their pizza station which also offers salads and desserts.

 

There is the extended hour Dive-In for hot dogs, hamburgers and fries and the nacho-taco-fajita station. As well as a 24 hour free room service menu. I would hate for anyone to get the impression there is no food availability pretty much on demand 24-7 on HAL cruise ships. But it will take getting to know which venues are open what hours and that the offerings will be limited to those specialty venues for the few hours the Lido itself closes down between shifts.

I believe they also do a "late night snack" in the Lido as well. At least they did on Westerdam last September. We eat dinner fairly late so I was already full and didn't partake of it but I noticed that they had some Indonesian dishes during this late night time which I regret not having. I loved the Indonesian/Filipino dinner night in the Lido on the Veendam in 2015 [the only time I've ever chosen to eat dinner in the Lido! haha].

To the OP, I've sailed all the lines you have [minus Disney but with the addition of Cunard and Princess] and HAL is one of my favorites overall [after Cunard]. It is much more traditional than the lines you've sailed but the service is always top notch and the Indonesian/Filipino crew are so warm and friendly [of course there are exceptions as with any generalization of human beings but 99 times out of 100 they are wonderful!]. The entertainment is more subdued [think classical music in the lounge rather than R-rated comedy shows] but it is a nice change from the hairy chest/sexy legs/belly flop contests seen on Carnival, NCL, and RCCL. Food is subjective but I've found HAL's including offerings to be on par with Carnival/RCCL, MUCH better than NCL, and a step below Princess or Cunard; of course everyone will have different views on this. The signature items, like Dutch pea soup, are done very well however.

HAL is a solid, dependable, traditional, mass market cruise line offering high value for low costs but with little distracting glitz. We love HAL and we love her exceptional itineraries and the longer the cruises the better for us.

 

We think HAL works best for the "self-contained" passenger that is not looking for a lot of onboard entertainment but is more interested in the destinations. Personally we feel HAL is a travelers cruise line; not a tourist ship. And yes, depending on the itinerary and length of the cruise there will be "older" passengers who go to bed early.

 

The food is very nice, cabins well laid out and the staff is uniformly exceptional. If the term "HAL is like a comfortable old shoe" means anything positive to you, HAL will be a great choice. It is homey, welcoming, with few surprises. You kind of slip into her comforting embrace and don't want to let go.

Absolutely agree with every word!

I believe they also do a "late night snack" in the Lido as well. At least they did on Westerdam last September. We eat dinner fairly late so I was already full and didn't partake of it but I noticed that they had some Indonesian dishes during this late night time which I regret not having. I loved the Indonesian/Filipino dinner night in the Lido on the Veendam in 2015 [the only time I've ever chosen to eat dinner in the Lido! haha].

 

To the OP, I've sailed all the lines you have [minus Disney but with the addition of Cunard and Princess] and HAL is one of my favorites overall [after Cunard]. It is much more traditional than the lines you've sailed but the service is always top notch and the Indonesian/Filipino crew are so warm and friendly [of course there are exceptions as with any generalization of human beings but 99 times out of 100 they are wonderful!]. The entertainment is more subdued [think classical music in the lounge rather than R-rated comedy shows] but it is a nice change from the hairy chest/sexy legs/belly flop contests seen on Carnival, NCL, and RCCL. Food is subjective but I've found HAL's including offerings to be on par with Carnival/RCCL, MUCH better than NCL, and a step below Princess or Cunard; of course everyone will have different views on this. The signature items, like Dutch pea soup, are done very well however.

I agree with this statement other than the better food on Princess and see?, this is where cruises change from week to week or month to month.

Shows are not a big deal with us but BBKings, Adagio, piano bars and such type entertainment are very much a high priority with us. We do go to shows and if they are good, we stay. Not so good, we leave.

the shows we enjoy are the ones where they bring performers on board (ie., Flamenco, Polynesian dancers, etc) to give you a "taste" of the culture.

If good service is a priority and you don't need the glitz and "Las Vegas shows" you should be fine on HAL.

If you like a lot of activity around the pool and the glitzy shows, it's not.

It's our cruise line of choice right now and to add to the list you gave, that includes Oceania.

I agree with this statement other than the better food on Princess and see?, this is where cruises change from week to week or month to month.

 

Shows are not a big deal with us but BBKings, Adagio, piano bars and such type entertainment are very much a high priority with us. We do go to shows and if they are good, we stay. Not so good, we leave.

 

the shows we enjoy are the ones where they bring performers on board (ie., Flamenco, Polynesian dancers, etc) to give you a "taste" of the culture.

 

If good service is a priority and you don't need the glitz and "Las Vegas shows" you should be fine on HAL.

 

If you like a lot of activity around the pool and the glitzy shows, it's not.

 

It's our cruise line of choice right now and to add to the list you gave, that includes Oceania.

I should have prefaced my statement with the fact that we sailed on the Regal Princess during her inaugural season [which also happened to be the 50 year anniv. of Princess Lines] so my opinion on the food may be skewed in that regard haha.

I believe they also do a "late night snack" in the Lido as well. At least they did on Westerdam last September.

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Yes, you're right. On Eurodam a couple of weeks ago every evening at 10:30 pm they had a late night snack set up in the Lido. We never went to it as we eat dinner rather late as well.

I've never known anyone who went hungry on a cruise! lol

To the OP we offer the following simple message. When you post on the HAL blog, where most of the posters are big fans of HAL, you are going to hear mostly positive things. It would be the same on the RCI, Celebrity, Disney, Oceania, etc. It can be difficult to get really objective comparisons here on CC (or anywhere else). You might want to read the CC ship reviews...and look back over the past few months at all the posts. Careful reading of these detailed reviews will often show you trends (positive and negative). If several folks are saying something negative (and they are specific) about the A/C there is likely a problem. And likewise, if many are praising the food in the MDR there is real meaning.

We have nearly 500 days on HAL (plus many more days on 14 other lines) and could write lots of positive things about HAL...but could also write quite a few negative things. And it's the same with every other cruise line.

Hank

Although we are not regular cruisers, we are not cruise virgins. We decided to take our first HAL cruise coming up in a couple weeks because of the Alaska itinerary on Eurodam. We felt that all the mass market lines offered comparable cabins, food and service (we never had any service that wasn't impeccable), some sort of entertainment and activities and delicious cocktails. On this trip, Alaska is the star attraction.

It depends on the ship, the itinerary, the length of cruise, and date of cruise.

 

HAL ships are different than each other. Some old, some new. They have different amenities.

Demographics are different on longer cruises, cruises outside of popular vacation periods.

 

Some ships have multiple alternate dining venues. If you like to dine later in alternative venues you may want to check the hours of operation on HAL. Our experience is that they tend to close/have limited hours compared to many other cruise lines.

 

One thing we find in general is that HAL entertainment is not great, it is very dated. It is hit and miss on other cruise lines but if we book HAL our expectations on entertainment are generally low.

HAL has the best live entertainment on the seas with the B.B. King All Stars!

Here's an example

You can search for more on YouTube.

HAL has the best live entertainment on the seas with the B.B. King All Stars!

 

 

 

 

 

Here's an example

 

 

 

You can search for more on YouTube.

Yes they are great but I think you may be missing the point. Not everyone likes the "Blues" so HAL needs to cater to all age groups. The Billboard Onboard is nice but I have to agree with many, the Show Lounge entertainment is just okay, IMHO. We love many things about HAL but after three Princess cruises I have to say that their entertainment is much better, again IMHO

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Try HAL for the ships, especially if you might like walking or relaxing on a traditional promenade which wraps around the ship.

Other than that, I'd say the cabins are a draw. We also enjoy the formal nights, which are a nice change of pace for us.

The atmosphere in public areas may be gradually changing, so you might want to experience it while you still can. One bellwether of this would be the background music - on our first few HAL cruises it was classic pop like Sinatra, etc., while on our more recent cruises it was electronic/techno - nothing timeless or (imho) of real quality.

we have only been on 7 cruises but we have mostly selected them by itinerary and price. We started with princess and really like the style, service and overall "flavor" of princess but went to HAL as we could get cheaper prices for the cabins we were looking for. We were about ready to go back to princess when HAL finally agreed to stop smoking on balconies. But overall they are more alike than different and they both have different vibs than carnival or royal Caribbean or Disney. But go and have a great time and the people on this board can help you a lot.......they have helped me on every trip

I would say HAL has great routings, lovely wraparound promenade decks, generally good service, nice staterooms, and a quite elegance.

Where they fall down for me is lack of entertainment, and sometimes the quality of the food. Plus I much prefer the NCL system of booking a tender ticket on your in-room TV, rather than going in waiting in a long line on HAL.

To the OP we offer the following simple message. When you post on the HAL blog, where most of the posters are big fans of HAL, you are going to hear mostly positive things. It would be the same on the RCI, Celebrity, Disney, Oceania, etc. It can be difficult to get really objective comparisons here on CC (or anywhere else). You might want to read the CC ship reviews...and look back over the past few months at all the posts. Careful reading of these detailed reviews will often show you trends (positive and negative). If several folks are saying something negative (and they are specific) about the A/C there is likely a problem. And likewise, if many are praising the food in the MDR there is real meaning.

 

We have nearly 500 days on HAL (plus many more days on 14 other lines) and could write lots of positive things about HAL...but could also write quite a few negative things. And it's the same with every other cruise line.

 

Hank

I agree with Hank, a number of posters on the HAL section are dihard HAL cruisers and no matter what will make lemonade out of lemons. This will be our first cruise in 18 years. I did not book my cruise on a Disney Cruise for the ovious reason Lil kids running around. We booked based on itinerary, price and dates we needed. We hope this cruise in two day going to Alaska will not be like the twilight zone episode "The passage on the Lady Anne".

I will post my review when we get back next week. The good and the bad. Hopefully all good.