Do you pick Holland America because of smaller ship sizes?

We choose the HAL Noordam for our very first cruise! Alaska June 2018

Size was certainly a factor along with itinerary. We are not big party people so this sounded perfect for us.

Excited and nervous about the unknown!

We sail based upon itinerary. Now that we are seeing the world instead of the Caribbean we are using mostly HAL as they take us to the places we want to visit.

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We choose the HAL Noordam for our very first cruise! Alaska June 2018

Size was certainly a factor along with itinerary. We are not big party people so this sounded perfect for us.

 

Excited and nervous about the unknown!

Just got off the Noordam on Sept 25. Beautiful ship, well maintained and wonderful crew and staff! You will LOVE it and Alaska too! Be warned though that cruising gets in your blood and your first cruise won't be your last!

I picked HAL this upcoming cruise because I am not loyal to any one cruise line, and HAL happened to offer an itinerary I couldn't pass up. So itinerary is primary for me.

We prefer the size of the HAL ships. Not only for the atmosphere aboard, but in the ports as well. I know we can't always predict how many other ships will be in port but at least I know the ship I'm on won't bring 4500 other people to the same destination for the same allotment of time.

We have only been on one HAL cruise that we took to experience HAL on the Westerdam. We thoroughly enjoyed it, so when we looked at a South America/Antarctica cruise, HAL's 22 day itin looked much better than Celebrity's 14 day one, so it was an easy choice. We decided to try the Nieuw Amsterdam at the end of the month for a week to see if we like that class also. I really like the longer HAL itineraries now that I am retired. That has become the driving force for who I choose to cruise with. We enjoy all size ships, including the Allure of the Seas, so size doesn't matter; although it makes a big difference where the ships can dock for some itineraries.

Actually, we first tried HAL because they let you bring on your own wine (more than one per passenger and with no corkage fees)...now that they have changed that we first look at RCCL because we are Diamond and they have better perks for us. It isn't that all we want is to drink our cruise away, but we do enjoy our own wine on the balcony. That being said, we prefer the smaller ships on all the lines.