HAL vs RCCL

[Qtvagurl11]

Hello Everyone!

 

I am looking at going on a cruise with Holland America and I want to know what is better about HAl then RCCL.

[jtl513]

Food ... service ... atmosphere ... just about everything, in my book. We tried RCI ONCE and learned our lesson!

[Balliett]

You will have to compare cruises to see what's most important to you. I've just been on one RCCL but many HALs. HAL ships are mostly smaller, which I like. HAL passengers tend to be older and the activities on board are more sedate. (I won a "best legs" contest on RCCL. You won't see that activity on a HAL). HAL service is great. Most of the hotel and wait staff are Philippine or Indonesian, and the service is quite friendly and consistent, compared to a cruise line with an international service staff, who can be from anywhere in the world. Jim

[GotThatCruisingFeeling]

IMHO, food quality and variety on HAL is FAR superior to that found on RCCL.

 

(Six cruises on HAL; six on RCCL. HAL is my favorite, but sometimes RCCL goes where I want to go and HAL doesn't.)

[agabbymama]

In addition to what the others have posted, Teak wood promenade deck all the way around the ship, lots of brass and wood (so you know you are on a sailing vessel), fresh flowers everywhere, the best beds at sea, a little larger staterooms, the yum yum man after dinner, and as everyone else has said, the friendliest crew afloat.

[jmps]

HAL is closer in experience to Celebrity than RCCL

[Travalerie]

I agree with other posters about the food. I went on my first HAL cruise within weeks of an RCCL cruise and the food was like night and day! HAL's food was very tasty, fresh and served very warm to hot. The food on RCCL was bland and often served lukewarm to cool. I was not even impressed with the specialty restaurant on RCCL. BUT...you can not beat the promenade on the larger RCCL ships. I missed having that area on our last HAL cruise.

[English_in_Spain]

I have been on both. I would describe HAL as being a 'Cruise' and RCI as being a 'Vacation at Sea'.

It really depends what you are looking for. RCI has Ice Skating, Flowriders, Climbing Walls, Golf etc. HAL does not have these. It is more sedate. More refined.

 

On some RCI ships it is difficult to find somewhere you can see the sea.

[jodi2227]

We sailed on RCCL for the past 7 years. We chose HAL last year, reluctantly. What a great choice.

HAL was that notch above. Everything from the service to the food to the other passangers. Everythiong was a step just a step up. Also, I did not ever feel that I was hearded like cattle which is how some of the mega ships made me feel.

We are in our 40's and did not feel at all that we were too young for HAL.

Hope that helps.

[Assateague Island Princes]

...oh, those BEDS!!!! Heavenly on HAL!:p

[brucory]

HAL is a notch above, as already stated, however RCI has some pluses.

 

They have some interesting new ships, diverse itineraries, and a broad spread of passengers and crew...

 

We just took an RCI cruise and enjoyed it very much!!

 

HAL remains our first choice, but we would definitely sail other lines like RCI when HAL doesn't come up with the itineraries and price that meet our needs!!!

 

:D:D:D

[DeepWaterMariner]

They both offer good products. I find the menu on HAL to be more varied. Service is good on both. The Lido Buffet was exceptional on our last HAL cruise versus pretty standard stuff on RCI. As others have mentioned, the beds on HAL are wonderful. You won't find as many cruise staff running activities on HAL which is a potential minus. And no Royal Promenade which is either a plus or a minus depending on your personal feeling about this RCI feature.

[TraelorMex]

We have friends who were staunch RCCL aficionados. Would not even consider another cruise line. Then, they tried one HAL cruise....they have not been back on RCCL since...

[kelmac]

Over all Holland America is more of an upscale line compared to Royal Caribbean. My wife and I have cruised Holland America eight times and Royal Caribbean six times.

 

These are the main differences:

 

--HAL will have an older more sedate crowd. (Off season, much older)

--HAL will have better food (*).

--HAL has great service with an Asian flair.

--HAL's ships are smaller, but carry less passengers for the tonage.

--HAL will have fewer children onboard.

--HAL's entertainment is not a good as Royal Caribbean.

 

*to our surprise, the Radiance of the Seas had food equal to any of our

Holland America cruises. Not sure if that is a Radiance Class anomaly?

Our other five RCCL cruises had very mediocre food.

 

 

Good luck!

Kel:)

[Bobblsc]

My typing is very slow, but I'll try to give complete info.

 

We have been on only one Hal cruise, but have another this May. We have been on two RCI cruises and several Celebrity. The ship sizes for all our cruises were about the same. These are Westerdam for HAL, Jewel for RCI, and Summit for Celebrity. All our cruises have been on these ships or sister ships.

 

This size ship meets our requirements well. We like the ship architecture (plan and lounge, etc. layout) best on Celebrity, second RCI, and third HAL. Looking at only RCI and HAL, RCI has the Schooner Bar, very nice, and a large lounge aft of that which is very well designed and attractive. There are two lounges on the top deck. The small one often has nice music, an the large one is about the same as the comparable HAL one.

 

We booked Grand Suites on RCI. These were nice, but not great. We booked Deluxe mini suite on HAL and have the same on the Noordam in May. The HAL Deluxe is not as large as the RCI Grand, but the Deluxe has two desks, one for me and one for DW. The HAL Deluxe also has a much better bathroom, with both tub and separate shower.

 

Our Westerdam cruise was back in 2005, but I recall no extraordinary food. It was good, but not great, as I recall. For our first RCI cruise, the food was generally not very good. We had a great waiter and assistant, however, and I recall giving them extra tips with a note that they were much too good for the food they had to serve. Our second RCI cruise had very good food. The waiter was so-so. The assistant was very good.

 

The entertainment on both RCI cruises was good, sometimes very good. The entertainment on HAL was so-so. The worst thing about the Westerdam was the size of the theater columns. Someone had decided that padding around the smaller steel pipe columns was pretty. So the theater columns were two feet in diameter. This reduced the seating with total view of the stage to 90% of the total seating. Looking at recent photos, this may have been corrected. I certainly hope so.

 

All in all, I rate them even. Now my "hunt and peck" fingers are tired.

 

Bob :cool:

[cruie4ever]

We have 45 sailings to date. We are about to go on our 2nd HAL sailing on the Rotterdam . We prefer HAL's(mostly RCCL & CElebrity) food variety & quality .HAL's service is heads & shoulders above RCCL ships . Entertainment again we prefer HAL for the quality of entertainers they present.

 

We are also very fond of Celebrity cruises .We find that Celeberity matches very well against HAL in all regards mentioned above .The main difference between HAL & Celebrity is that Celebrity will have more daily activities planed for it's passengers .Also ,Celebrity ships are larger vessels .

 

We took Celebrity's new Equinox on it's Nov 2009 inagural Trans Atlantic 14 night cruise & it was the very best cruise we have ever been on .She is much larger than any HAL vessel & is 122,000 tons .However, the space ratios for pax in public areas are about equal to HAL

 

Cliff

[mszula]

We've done both and this year we are back to HAL. The main difference I saw was in the food. RCL was awful.. awful in the MDR and awful in the Lido. Many items were not edible and trust me when I say that I'm not real picky. RCL also did a lot more pushing as far as selling extras. This was annoying; but nearly as much as the bad food. That was the only cruise I've ever taken where I didn't even gain a pound.

[grandgeezer]

We did the Panama Canal on Serenade of the Seas (RCL) in October and the Carribbean on the Noordam (HAL) six weeks later. HAL hands down. Food, room, entertainment, and ship's layout were much better. RCL wasn't bad, just not as good as HAL.

[kelmac]

We have 45 sailings to date. We are about to go on our 2nd HAL sailing on the Rotterdam . We prefer HAL's(mostly RCCL & CElebrity) food variety & quality .HAL's service is heads & shoulders above RCCL ships . Entertainment again we prefer HAL for the quality of entertainers they present.

 

We are also very fond of Celebrity cruises .We find that Celeberity matches very well against HAL in all regards mentioned above .The main difference between HAL & Celebrity is that Celebrity will have more daily activities planed for it's passengers .Also ,Celebrity ships are larger vessels .

 

We took Celebrity's new Equinox on it's Nov 2009 inagural Trans Atlantic 14 night cruise & it was the very best cruise we have ever been on .She is much larger than any HAL vessel & is 122,000 tons .However, the space ratios for pax in public areas are about equal to HAL

 

Cliff

 

Cliff,

 

I agree, there is nothing in HAL's fleet that can compete with Celebrity's new Solstice class of ships -- I a word they are "spectacular"!!

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[Rafaella]

:D:D:D My 5 cents are here. ...

 

By looking at my posts and my signature, you can tell I am all about HAL!!!

This past November, I have cruised with RCCL for only 3 days - it was my first time on Majesty of the Sea , and I have to tell you that HAL still # 1 in my book, YET, the food on Majesty was delicious and I was very impressed by it !

 

The room on RCCL was small and very dirty, the toilet sink was stopped up by the previous cruisers hair, and the whole athmosphere in our cabin was just like " did anyone cleaned this room at all, helloooo?"

 

Our services were not consistant with excellence we are always getting on HAL, but , again, the food was superb!

 

I like to travel with comfort that's why I choose HAL. I like my rooms clean, fresh , my linens white and my room attendant "ready to go.."

I like my great food choices and French - Canadian cooks on HAL, and I just plain like to be spoiled.

 

Please, do yourself and your family a favor, reserve HAL cruise, you will be very happy you did it... And you will be hooked for the lifetime!!

[mamaofami]

I was feeling rather down today because we had to cancel our RCCL cruise today, but after reading some of your comments, I don't feel as bad. Next up will be on HAL.

[bcd2010]

I copied/pasted my entry below from another thread, and while it isn't something you usually think of when choosing a cruise line, it is a difference in HAL's favor. Also, I like HAL's smaller ships and pax load, better service and overall sense of actually being on a ship (on RCCL, I felt like I was in a hotel).

 

The OP on the other thread mentioned she had injured herself onboard, was treated by the ship's doctor and not charged for it, i.e., no charge for medical attention if you're injured on a HAL ship. My response:

Five years ago, when I was on RCCL (a 4-day cruise organized by someone else for a dozen high school classmates), I didn't see a 2-3" step down from a platform and took a tumble (it was in a dimly lit lounge, no warning signs, etc.). Landed hard on my hand but thought I'd tough it out for the remaining 2 days when I found out I'd be charged for a visit to the doctor (I had no medical insurance, but it was more about the principle). Unfortunately, my hand swelled up and I had to have it checked out - at a cost of $165. I tried to protest, but everyone got pretty deaf to me. Haven't cruised RCCL again...