CCL’r On HAL

Background on review:

I am only comparing HAL Westerdam with the Carnival Spirit (Having sailed both and finding similarities in the ships). This was a one nighter that was a mothers day present leaving from my homeport of Vancouver.

Boarding

Both done easily from Canada Place.

CCL – Had to wait until 1:30 to get into the Stateroom

HAL – Were able to get in immediately

Staterooms – (Similar classes)

CCL – By far the bigger of the rooms. The couch has a simulated leather cover but could sleep a person, as it was long enough.

HAL – MUCH smaller stateroom. Though the couch had a fabric cover. Though was more the size of a chair and a half. Though the room did have more than one electrical outlet

Bathrooms

CCL – Shower. Larger vanity area & basket of samples

HAL – Tub. Smaller vanity area, no samples

(Note that both have plastic shower curtains

Balconies

CCL – Fit two chairs & table

HAL – Larger. Fit two chairs an ottoman and a table

Beds

CCL – Twin beds with duvet covers

HAL – Single beds with sheets and blanket

Lido

CCL – Organized and has trays

HAL – Long waits and no trays

Speciality restaurants

CCL – Steak House – On the top of the ship. You can see the ocean but there is a deck outside

HAL – Pinnacle – On the second floor smaller and almost at sea level, so seeing the ocean and the land that was gong by = very easy

(Note that the food and service was on par)

Bars

CCL – Piano Bar – GREAT player when we went by the name of Eric. He was planning of moving to HAL

HAL – Piano Bar – Tim K. Obnoxious man. Treated audience as children. I walked out! Would never ever walk into a piano bar with him again.

(Note that after this experience I went to the Crows nest and meet some cruisers that had been on the ship for 3 weeks… They too had a negative experience in Tim K.)

Crow’s Nest

LOVE this area on the ship. We sat up here watching a rainy day sail away and were blown away from the service. Sitting by the widow we also made some new friends. CCL take note… For the new classes of ships please include this!

Conclusion

The Westerdam is a lovely ship!!!!! Truly beautiful. Though given the choice between her and a Spirit class ship, I would choose a Spirit. I found the beds to provide a better nights sleep and the cabins to be larger, when travelling with 2 people in cabin this does make a difference.

Also as a final note I did not do any of the enrichment programs on HAL and nor do I watch the Hairy Chest contest on CCL. I entertain myself by looking at the sea. After all isn’t happiness on a boat :D

I entertain myself by looking at the sea. After all isn’t happiness on a boat :D

Thanks Pia!!!!

GREAT comparison. I agree with 99% of what you wrote. Thanks for reinforcing my opinion! :D

"SKY"

It sounds like you had a good time overall and that is all that counts. I agree with you on cabin size. We watch some of the

programs but only a few if it fits in to us doing nothing.:D

Great Post. We too have taken a HAL cruise on the Westerdam.

It was a beautiful ship. two non-smoking nights in the casino was nice (though I believe I lost more money because I didn't have the need to get up and get fresh air as often) :o

Agree with you on the Crow's Nest..a lovely place.

I found it to be nice, but for us, not worth the extra $$$. The food, IMHO was no better than Carnival and outside of Disney we've not found a cruiseline to be better than Carnival (granted, we've only cruised 4 lines).

Interesting, however, that your notes were similar to ours.

Thanks everyone for your comments :D

Its funny as my maternal unit who i took for Mother's day prefered CCL too (she's 73 and been on most major lines.. and still prefers CCL)

(note for those that don't know me.. i call my mother my maternal unit on the boards ;) )

I was looking at the shower curtain last week and thinking "what difference does it really make" .... and thought, only on cruise critic :D

Interesting.

I was looking at the shower curtain last week and thinking "what difference does it really make" .... and thought, only on cruise critic :D

 

Interesting.

LOL.. So very true :) Thanks Fire !

I took a short, 4 day cruise on HAL and thought the food was similar to CCL too. I did think the desserts were better on CCL.

Service - MDR service similar, first cabin steward on HAL really was not good. Our cabin had problems & he said he had fixed it when he had not. Cabin, in fact whole aft end of the deck we were on had an unpleasant smell. The mattress was stinky & I asked him to get me a different one - after a day and a half of asking I gave up & went to the pursers desk - asking to speak to the hotel director.

Here is where I found a marked difference between the response from the top between the cruise lines. To be fair, I've never had a problem on a CCL ship that required me to complain to this degree - but have found the people at the pursers desk to be more gatekeepers than facilitators to give you access to hire ups.

Someone immediately went to speak to an officer, and I believe I had an appointment with an assistant to the hotel director later that day. She was wonderful, she apologized for the problems I had with my cabin. She said giving me a new mattress would not fix the problem and she had an empty cabin she could move us to. And they did, later that day. I think it was an upgrade on paper, but really similar size & features of cabin. We were happy, no more stinky cabin & we were happy we also got a much better cabin steward team in the process.

Lucky for us they were not sailing completely full. It surprised me because this cruise had sold out 5 months before sailing.

Thanks for the review Pia. Looking forward to seeing your pictures. To me the comfort of the bed is very important.

Janice

Thanks for the review.

How would you compare the entertainment?

We are getting tired of Caribbean and want to try something different but keep hearing entertainment on Holland lacking and the ship goes to sleep by 10 due to older crowd.

Have cruised HAL and CCl many times. My only comment is if I want party time I do CCL. If I want tradition and higher class service I go for HAL...I also much prefer their Statendam class ships. 55,000 tons with only 1288 pax....Now that is cruising....

To me between the two lines food and entertainment is about the same...Some good some bad....

Thanks for the review.

 

How would you compare the entertainment?

 

We are getting tired of Caribbean and want to try something different but keep hearing entertainment on Holland lacking and the ship goes to sleep by 10 due to older crowd.

I have never been to sleep before 2 AM on HAL, just need to know who and where to hook up with....

Funny story is when the Carnival Dream did its first cruise in the US I was on her and I have never ever seen more people on scooters in my life...I was funny as he!!...The funniest thing was the only people on the ship that were in the disco at about midnight or so were the 16 people I was with and the entertainers from the ship....God that ship was dead at night on the cruise...

Two months later was on the HAL Ryndam after she went through a drydock and came back to Tampa and in the Crow's Nest/Discoo at nigth they had to have 6 bartenders behind the bar to keep up at night until at least 2:00......

I have never been to sleep before 2 AM on HAL, just need to know who and where to hook up with....

Funny story is when the Carnival Dream did its first cruise in the US I was on her and I have never ever seen more people on scooters in my life...I was funny as he!!...The funniest thing was the only people on the ship that were in the disco at about midnight or so were the 16 people I was with and the entertainers from the ship....God that ship was dead at night on the cruise...

Two months later was on the HAL Ryndam after she went through a drydock and came back to Tampa and in the Crow's Nest/Discoo at nigth they had to have 6 bartenders behind the bar to keep up at night until at least 2:00......

I find myself in the same boat as you two. golfadj ,jessemon.

I luv the Caribbean ,just going bk to the same ports all the time gets a bit dull after a bit.

Gonna take a look at the HAL Ryndam ;)

Some pictures

I find myself in the same boat as you two. golfadj ,jessemon.

 

I luv the Caribbean ,just going bk to the same ports all the time gets a bit dull after a bit.

 

Gonna take a look at the HAL Ryndam ;)

On our last cruise on the Miracle in Feb disappointed in entertainment. Same thing over and over and one evening entertainment was Love and Marriage. Same welcome aboard show and legends show.

Still had a very good time but we decide we want to do something different and go to Bermuda.

Get pricing for 7 day NCL and just before booking an inside check Carnival and Miracle has 8 day Bermuda same date with Balcony for less than the NCL cruise.

Than we subtract FCC and stockholder credit and it becomes a no brainer.

Guess we are going to have to wait until retirement and two week cruise before we go to another line.

I would choose HAL over Carnival in most circumstances. The food is far better and if you don't want to deal with the formal nights, their casual dining area has the same food, with linen table cloths, lots of window seats, and great service. The last time I took Carnival (on the Dream) the Lido food was almost inedible at dinner.

The balconies are larger. HAL's Crow's Nest is an awesome place to just hang out with a book and watch the sea in a protected environment or meet new friends over a drink. No such place on the Carnival ships.

I didn't find an excessive amount of older folk. But then I would prefer spending my days/evenings with adults than with children running loose and unsupervised. I also enjoy the ports and excursions so an early to bed works better so that we can have a full day.

I would never take any ship other than a HAL going to Bermuda. Only HAL docks in Hamilton and St. George. All other ships dock out so far on the island that everyone has to take long bus rides into the city.

I still sail with both lines but with Carnival I set my expectations a tad lower and I find good things with both.

I would never take any ship other than a HAL going to Bermuda. Only HAL docks in Hamilton and St. George. All other ships dock out so far on the island that everyone has to take long bus rides into the city.

While I agree with you about HAL going to both St. G and Hamilton, beware that right now HAL "tenders" at St. G and starting next year the Veendam will go straight to Hamilton. We have doked at Dockyard multiple times on different cruise lines and the one advantage is that it is closer to the south beaches and it's also only about 1/2 hour ride on a ferry from Dockyard to Hamilton.

One last thing, if HAL keeps treating the Veendam the same way we saw it when we sailed two weeks ago, not too many people are going to be happy sailing her! We had a great cruise, but considering that the Veendam recently went through dry dock, it's deplorable how many things were not fixed and are -- in my opinion -- intentionally being let go. Duct tape was everwhere!

We've done both and our next cruise is on the Pride.

My parents are HAL people - whatever they become when you hit 200 nights on HAL. They SWEAR by HAL but usually come home with a fair number of complaints.

We took the plunge last March with them when I was pregnant. I thought it would be a more "refined" trip somehow....

I found that the food was the same. The Pinnacle was OK, but I couldn't have eaten there every night. The Steakhouse is good too, but I remember liking the dessert more on CCL. The buffets were about the same. The pizza (a critical part of cruising to me) was good on both.

As the OP said, the stateroom on HAL was much smaller, but the balcony was bigger. I don't remember much difference between my HAL steward and my CCL experiences.

I found it to be dirtier on HAL in general. The common areas always seemed to be kinda icky. On CCL, I have always seen crew like ants cleaning everywhere. Maybe the disco decor of the CCL ships hides the ick more?

I did like the enrichment opportunities on HAL much better than the standard stuff you can do on CCL. I did several of the cooking classes and they were awesome but you get what you pay for!

I also liked the forced hand sanitizer everywhere on HAL. I wish all ships would do this at least for the first 2 days. I think this really helps cut down on the funky virus stuff that can take over a cruise ship so fast.

I didn't have an unhappy HAL cruise at all. I didn't feel too young on HAL at all. I didn't feel like I was pampered either. For what I paid to sail HAL in a verandah, I expected something more. CCL gives me a pretty good price - even without the military discount. The experience was not THAT much different overall.

If CCL had a crows nest and a thermal spa on every ship - I'd probably try them all. The thermal spa was awesome!

I'm happy on the water with anyone as long as I can watch the waves, the islands, and the people! It just happens that I tend to find awesome CCL options and prices. Oh, wait - maybe if I looked for other great deals, I'd find them too? <shrug>

Drenee73, I had the same feeling about the food on HAL, comparing it to carnival. I didn't find a difference overall (except the HAL buffet I thought had much better offerings) and I liked the desserts better on carnival.

I didn't see anything look dirty on HAL, but I had the feeling it was not as clean because the aft area of the deck I was on smelled bad. Like a nursing home. I picked up a mild stomach bug on this cruise. Nothing terrible, not noro, but some sort of GI virus. I thought I was just seasick at the time but it continued for a week after I got home, and I was definitely sick with a low grade fever.

I thought MDR & cabin steward pretty similar between the two lines. But I did take a short cruise with HAL, only 4 day, and many experienced HAL cruisers told me the short cruises are not comparable to a 7 day or longer.

I sailed HAL for the first time last November. I'm Platinum on Carnival. I absolutely LOVED the Zaandam. Anyone interested in my review,you can find it by clicking on my name and finding the threads started by me.

Generally, I thought the food was as good as Carnival's. I don't really "do" the buffet for lunch (I get deli sandwiches, mostly). We had trays in the Lido. Like that you can get chips at the deli on HAL. You can only get them through room service on Carnival, which is just stupid. They obviously have them on board, so why not have them available at the deli?

We had an OV cabin (for three) and it was about the same size as the cabins I've had on Carnival. Have never had an OV on a larger ship, and I understand they're pretty big.

We had The Best sample size stuff in the HAL cabin. No toothpaste or razors, but the Elemis body wash and lotion was fantastic. I'll happily bring my own toothpaste in exchange for these wonderful products.

Loved the Crows Nest and loved having tea every day, not just sea days. Loved Happy Hour and the drink cards. Definitely an older demographic, but I rather enjoyed feeling young again! ;)