Have things changed in the past few years?

My first (and last) cruise on HAL was in 2011 on a round trip to Bermuda on the Veendam. While we enjoyed the cruise (hey, any day on a cruise ship is better than a day at home), there were a few things we didn't care for. Some of these are:

1. Availability of food outside of "prime hours". For example, if we returned to the ship at 2:00, the only food available was room service or the grill. By then the buffet was closing down.

2. Quality of the food. Just didn't seem that good, and the baked goods truly were terrible. In some cases, we were served muffins that were still raw inside. I even commented on the comment card to send the pastry chef back to school.

3. There seemed to be limited activities.

 

The reason I am asking is that we are considering doing a New England/Canada cruise this year, and the itineraries that I really like are being offered on the Veendam and the Maasdam (basically start in Montreal or Boston). But, unless things have changed, I'm not sure that the great itinerary will win out over another line that doesn't have the additional port stops.

 

Anyone have any thoughts?

Everything in my life has changed in the past few years, and so has cruising.

 

But to address your specific concerns, yes, if you get back from an excursion mid-afternoon, you're pretty much going to be limited to room service, the outside grill, and a few things like pizza and ice cream in the Lido.

 

I've been cruising with HAL since 2001 and have never been served a raw pastry, so I can't address that.

 

Roz

On our last couple of cruises. there were pre-made sandwiches -- no made to order sandwiches.

A person now makes your salad for you.

Evening shows are about 40 - 45 minutes long.

The amount of activities is still limited due to cut backs in staff.

No librarian or anyone to help if you have computer problems.

The ships that are on that Boston to Montreal cruise are the smaller ships so that they can manuever in the ports. It will be a beautiful cruise ! We live in the Northeast and the ports are very nice ones. I wouldn't not book it because of food issues. We have cruised with HAL since 2005 and have found that with each cruise the food gets better. I rarely eat the "baked" goods as I did find them lacking in flavor. The one change we noted and didn't like was the removal of trays in the Lido as it makes it difficult to get thru the line, get a beverage etc. for that reason we frequent the MDR for breakfast, lunch & dinner on at sea days. You will find some marvelous foods in ports on that cruise to make up for any ship disappointments!

My first (and last) cruise on HAL was in 2011 on a round trip to Bermuda on the Veendam. While we enjoyed the cruise (hey, any day on a cruise ship is better than a day at home), there were a few things we didn't care for. Some of these are:

1. Availability of food outside of "prime hours". For example, if we returned to the ship at 2:00, the only food available was room service or the grill. By then the buffet was closing down.

2. Quality of the food. Just didn't seem that good, and the baked goods truly were terrible. In some cases, we were served muffins that were still raw inside. I even commented on the comment card to send the pastry chef back to school.

3. There seemed to be limited activities.

 

The reason I am asking is that we are considering doing a New England/Canada cruise this year, and the itineraries that I really like are being offered on the Veendam and the Maasdam (basically start in Montreal or Boston). But, unless things have changed, I'm not sure that the great itinerary will win out over another line that doesn't have the additional port stops.

 

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

 

1. We have found the baked goods on HAL ships to be universally outstanding. One of their signature highlights. Sorry you got a bad batch on one occasion. If you mean their buffet desserts, then agree. They are not very good but main dining rooms desserts have a much nicer quality and variety. But still banoffee pie and peanut butter pie show up on the Lido dessert buffet from time to time, and no complaints from me for either of those.

 

2. There is food available in a variety of settings during most hours, but not a " full hot food buffet" such as the formal Lido offering. Now the pasta and salad bars remain open at the Lido after regular serving hours, and there is now a separate pizza, salad and dessert station on the aft deck, tea at 3, and savory snacks at the taco bar and Explorations Cafe. The Grill has now become the Dive-In and has very delicious hamburger/hot dog/fries offerings and a buzzer system to alert you when your order is ready. Room service remains a highlight on HAL with many delicious classics, but certainly not instant service when you arrive back on the ship hungry after the Lido is closed.

 

3. We did the NE cruise on the Veendam -this is a port intensive cruise and quite wonderful. Not sure what you mean about "limited activities" since there is so much going on throughout the day and night on the ships, though many HAL passengers are quite content with more self-contained activities like reading, sea-watching and lounging watching the world go by.

Not likely you will go hungry. On HAL,the buffet foods are served to you by the staff. No more getting the food yourself. To me,it's safer than touching the serving utensils that others have touched. The desserts are bland and tasteless so we stick to the fruit or a cookie.It's hard to ruin a cookie. Eating in the dining room is an option. The smaller ships are used by the cruiselines as the ports in the New England itinerary can only handle up to a certain size. Mass market cruising is what is. Hard to keep the prices down and attractive to potential cruisers so they all have cut corners.

I'd go for the best itinerary, then make adjustments for any shortcomings I feel in the ship.

 

The Lido hot serving lines may close at 2:30 on a port day, but they have still had part of the Lido open until much later: sandwiches, made to order salads, breads with platters of meats and cheeses, some veggies on the platters.... the small ships still have the taco bar open until 5:00 or so, and the Dive-In which has chicken breasts as well as burgers and hot dogs. The dessert bar, ice cream cookies and bread pudding is open until late in the afternoon. So it's now more than just the grill and room service.

 

Port days have fewer activities on the ship, so if you don't want to get off in port there will be only a few things to do, probably movies, trivia, a poolside activity.

 

Hope you can find a balance that works for you between HAL and the other line you are considering. People cruise for different reasons... some want to maximize their visits in ports and some want to maximize their ship-board experience. Only you can decide what works best for you. If you think you will want to have a full hot lunch at 3 or 4pm coming back from port and you know you don't want to deal with room service for it or don't want taco, pizza, or the grill, you won't be too happy on HAL. I think you are wise to consider these now and work out your best balance beforehand. m--

I've never been on a cruise I didn't like, so minor changes don't bother me at all. I also don't need food at all hours, so that's not an issue either. There are other cruiselines that do things a bit differently but I like the smaller ships and great ports of call that HAL is known for.

Everything in my life has changed in the past few years

Everything in my life has changed for the last fifty-plus years. Nothing is ever the same forever. The good news is that just as many things get better as get worse, if not more. With minor perturbations along the way, we've pretty-much had a streak of 350 years of pretty steady, overall improvement in quality of life.

 

What folks see in terms of changes with cruising they can see with regard to practically any other form of vacation destination. Our family visited Disney World every year or so for over twenty years, and gosh have there been changes - again both good and bad, and even more important, some things that some people feel are bad changes other people feel are good changes. For a while, I was keen on seeing sushi being added to cruise ship buffets. It was extremely unusual when we first started cruising. Now it is common, and incidentally not something I'm interested in anymore, so eliminating it to make room for something else, just like something else was eliminated to make room for sushi, would be seen as bad by some but seen as good by me. Mileage will vary.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Need to discuss it. While we enjoyed the grill, it got tiring after a couple of days when we got back to the ship after the Lido closed.

Do you eat continuously at home???

It may be best to eat lunch IN PORT, knowing there will be no food to suit you when your rebound at 2-3 pm.....just a thought!

It may be best to eat lunch IN PORT, knowing there will be no food to suit you when your rebound at 2-3 pm.....just a thought!

 

 

My thought too, if one knows up front and there is something available in port near by. I would not have missed have a Lobster roll and chowder in Bar Harbor, the full fresh lobster in Luneburg out of Halifax, or Poutine in Quebec ... "free lunch", on board or not.

 

Local food was good on this NE/Canada trip and we look forward to enjoying the exact same things again on the Voyage of the Vikings that hits some of the same port. We still talk about the poutine - and the squeaky cheese knowing there is no way to duplicate that experience except getting it there on the spot locally.

As not a seafood eater, eating in port doesn't appeal to me. I'm just saying one of the cons was lack of variety after lunch prime time.

As not a seafood eater, eating in port doesn't appeal to me. I'm just saying one of the cons was lack of variety after lunch prime time.

 

 

You need to pick another cruise line. Sorry, but HAL is not going to work for you. Have a great trip with one that far better meets your needs. Good thing you checked with HAL passengers up front before you committed time and money to finding this out on your own..