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An Introduction to the Ships and Classes of the HAL Fleet


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  • 1 month later...
I haven't read through all the pages, but a question: I've only been on the Westerdam and Zuiderdam. I'm looking at cruises on the Veedam, Rotterdam, and Eurodam. I'm worried about the sea days and how the smaller ships fare. Thank you.

 

The Eurodam is newer and slightly larger than Westerdam and Zuiderdam, so if you enjoyed them, you will probably enjoy Eurodam. I"m sorry, I can't answer your questions about Veendam and Rotterdam, but I have sailed on Veendam's sister ships, Ryndam (no longer with the HAL fleet) and Maasdam, and both those ships handled the Gulf of Alaska and Alaska's Inside Passage just fine (these were 14-day itineraries to Alaska). I have also sailed Amsterdam, Rotterdam's sister ship, across the Pacific Ocean, and likewise, I felt she handled the seas very well. Amsterdam and Rotterdam do many of the long, exotic and unusual itineraries, such as the Voyage of the Vikings and the Grand World Voyage.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I have really appreciated the information in the first post of this thread. I have only done one HAL cruise in the past, but thoroughly enjoyed it. I now have two more HAL cruises in the near future, so I updated the basic schedule for myself to keep the ships straight. I have to refer back to it regularly, since the names are easily confused, at least by me. Perhaps after I have cruised on each one, I won't have that problem anymore. :D I thought that others new to HAL might appreciate seeing my schedule. Enjoy!

 

i-BTLBKc7-X3.jpg

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I have really appreciated the information in the first post of this thread. I have only done one HAL cruise in the past, but thoroughly enjoyed it. I now have two more HAL cruises in the near future, so I updated the basic schedule for myself to keep the ships straight. I have to refer back to it regularly, since the names are easily confused, at least by me. Perhaps after I have cruised on each one, I won't have that problem anymore. :D I thought that others new to HAL might appreciate seeing my schedule. Enjoy!

 

i-BTLBKc7-X3.jpg[/q

 

 

 

Excellent thank you

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  • 1 month later...

I did a cruise across the Pacific in September 2017 on the Noordam. If you get the chance to book the behind the scenes tour, do it. At the time I thought it was pricey ($150). It was an all day tour of the bridge, Engine control room, crew spaces, costume room, liquor locker, laundry, tailor shop, garbage room, watertight doors, galley, dining rooms, and so much more. Each person/ couple got a picture with the Captain. The time to sign up is ASAP. You won't regret it.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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  • 3 weeks later...
I did a cruise across the Pacific in September 2017 on the Noordam.

 

We are booked on the Noordam across the Pacific in September 2017 also. I hope I have not missed it?

 

I guess you meant 2016. Really looking forward to it. We did the same cruise a few years ago on Oosterdam. Excellent!

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  • 2 months later...

Thank you for all the wonderful information in this thread. I posted this comment on a Noordam thread but realized that I should have posted here first :). I have friends booking Noordam out of Sydney on an upcoming itinerary and they asked if I knew about the interiors on Noordam. Forgive me if this question is redundant but I have not been able to find the information within these pages. Does Noordam have newer interiors with refreshed suite color schemes and soft furnishings upgrades or is she still sporting the older color palette for her Neptune Suites. Our friends are planning to book a Neptune wrap-around (one of my fav locations on that class of ship) and we have not sailed on Noordam before so I am at a loss. The photos on the HAL website would indicate the old color scheme and furnishings but I am not sure how up-to-date the website photos are in relation to how the ship presents today. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Ashley

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  • 3 weeks later...
Thank you for all the wonderful information in this thread. I posted this comment on a Noordam thread but realized that I should have posted here first :). I have friends booking Noordam out of Sydney on an upcoming itinerary and they asked if I knew about the interiors on Noordam. Forgive me if this question is redundant but I have not been able to find the information within these pages. Does Noordam have newer interiors with refreshed suite color schemes and soft furnishings upgrades or is she still sporting the older color palette for her Neptune Suites. Our friends are planning to book a Neptune wrap-around (one of my fav locations on that class of ship) and we have not sailed on Noordam before so I am at a loss. The photos on the HAL website would indicate the old color scheme and furnishings but I am not sure how up-to-date the website photos are in relation to how the ship presents today. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

Ashley

 

We have just got off Noordam from a Neptune suite (on 22/10). Neptune suites are in the old colour palette. The ship is in excellent condition and I did not see anywhere that was tired. It is scheduled for update in May 2018 and I expect the colour change will happen then. Glenn and Yvonne, the concierges in the Neptune lounge, provide top service.

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  • 2 months later...
I keep it on my iPhone as a PDF; but don’t believe it can be attached as a PDF on CC. It should be easy enough for you to just grab a screen capture as a PDF.

 

Please post your PDF somewhere (Google, Yahoo, Skydrive etc) and then post a link to that site here and everyone will be happy.

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  • 4 weeks later...
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One of the most common questions we get on these boards, particularly from new members, is about the different "classes" of HAL ships - the Vista-class, S-class, and so on. Naturally, everyone wants to know which ships are in each class, and what the differences are.

 

With that in mind, I decided to post this "sticky" post explaining the different "classes". I hope this clarifies the situation.

 

Now, let's meet the different HAL ships, starting with the smallest and oldest:

PRINSENDAM

 

PRINSENDAM - Built 1988 - 37,983 Gross Tons - 793 passengers

 

The smallest and oldest HAL ship, she is in a class by herself. She generally does the longest and most expensive cruises. She is the only HAL ship not built for the line, she was built in 1988 as the ROYAL VIKING SUN, became SEABOURN SUN in 2000 and then PRINSENDAM in 2002. Among things that separate her from the rest of the HAL ships - she does not have a two-deck dining room or main lounge, an indoor/outdoor pool, or dedicated children's facilities. Her smaller, more intimate size and off-the-beaten path itineraries are appreciated by her increasingly loyal following.

 

S-class

 

STATENDAM - 1993 - 55,810 GT - 1,251 pax

MAASDAM - 1993 - 55,451 GT - 1,251 pax

RYNDAM - 1994 - 55,819 GT - 1,251 pax

VEENDAM - 1996 - 55,451 GT - 1,251 pax

 

These four ships are the "backbone" of the HAL fleet. They are virtually identical except for color schemes and artwork. They were the first new HAL cruise ships to have features like the atrium, the two-deck high dining room and main lounge, and the indoor/outdoor Lido pool. These very versatile ships have done everything from 7-day Caribbean and Alaska cruises to full World Cruises. Recently they have been upgraded with features like the Pinnacle Grill alternative restaurant and the Neptune Lounge concierge lounge (for suite passengers).

 

R-class

 

ROTTERDAM - 1997 - 59,652 GT - 1,316 pax

VOLENDAM - 1998 - 60,906 GT - 1,440 pax

ZAANDAM - 1999 - 61,396 GT - 1,440 pax

AMSTERDAM - 2000 - 61,484 GT - 1,380 pax

 

The R-class ships are very similar to the S-class, but a bit longer and wider. Unlike the S-class, they are not all identical. The first of the four was ROTTERDAM. Specially designed for longer cruises, she is the fastest ship in the fleet. She also introduced new features like an alternative restaurant, concierge lounge, and Internet Cafe (all since retrofitted to the older ships as well). VOLENDAM and ZAANDAM followed; they are similar to ROTTERDAM but slower (the same speed as the S-class ships) and are a bit larger because the aft pool was moved up one deck, creating more indoor space on the deck below. Unlike ROTTERDAM, they were designed for yeoman duty in the Caribbean and Alaska though they also are suitable for longer cruises. Like the S-class ships, only decor separates these twins. The final R-class ship, like AMSTERDAM, like a hybrid of ROTTERDAM and VOLENDAM/ZAANDAM. She is faster than VOLENDAM or ZAANDAM but not as fast as ROTTERDAM. Like ROTTERDAM, she was built specially for longer voyages. ROTTERDAM and AMSTERDAM, together, are considered HAL's "flagships" and along with PRINSENDAM they usually do the longest and most prestigious cruises - the World Cruise along with the various Grand Voyages.

 

Vista-class

 

ZUIDERDAM - 2002 - 81,769 GT - 1,848 pax

OOSTERDAM - 2003 - 81,769 GT - 1,848 pax

WESTERDAM - 2004 - 81,811 GT - 1,848 pax

NOORDAM - 2006 - 82,318 GT - 1,918 pax

 

These are the biggest and newest HAL ships currently in service. They were designed mainly for shorter (less than two weeks) cruises in the Caribbean, Alaska, and Europe. Like the S-class, they represented a departure from previous HAL ships in size and design. While bigger than HAL's other ships, they are still much smaller than some competitors' ships which are now sometimes bigger than 150,000 GT and can carry over 3,500 passengers (Royal Caribbean have now ordered a ship that will be 220,000 GT and carry over 5,000 passengers). These ships are notable because of the exceptionally high number of private balconies - over two-thirds of cabins have them. They are called the Vista-class because they are named after the points of the compass in Dutch - Zuid (South), Oost (East), West, and Noord (North). The first three are identical; NOORDAM incorporates a few design changes which make her larger and have a slightly higher passenger capacity.

 

Signature-class

 

This will be two (or more) ships which will be larger, improved versions of the Vista-class, much as the R-class can be considered improved versions of the S-class. Right now there are few details but they will probably be about 90,000 GT with a passenger capacity of about 2,000.

Would love to have this post updated to include the Konigsdam and any other new ships.

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I have really appreciated the information in the first post of this thread. I have only done one HAL cruise in the past, but thoroughly enjoyed it. I now have two more HAL cruises in the near future, so I updated the basic schedule for myself to keep the ships straight. I have to refer back to it regularly, since the names are easily confused, at least by me. Perhaps after I have cruised on each one, I won't have that problem anymore. :D I thought that others new to HAL might appreciate seeing my schedule. Enjoy!

 

i-BTLBKc7-X3.jpg

Thanks for the summary!

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