HAL Loyalty

[CaroleSS]

Welcome aboard Dianebear!!

 

You will meet some of the nicest, friendliest and knowledgeable people here on CC!! They are here to help make cruising the best possible for you. If you need something - ask. Someone has done it or knows about it and will help you.

[HealthyTouch101]

We have only cruised a handful of times, all on HAL. Can't get my OH to even look at another line. I am willing to try Celebrity, but get vetoed, as the ships are gigantic.

[GRACECRUISE]

We are closing in on 300 cruise days and they all have been on HAL. We have never looked at another line. We all love the way we are spoiled on HAL. We get to sail again in about 33 days. My dad is making a patio tile top table out of the mariner tiles.

[KirkNC]

We prefer HAL but itinerary and price can lure us else where. We have cruised X, Princess and RCL in the last six or so years but always seem to come back to HAL.

[RMLincoln]

We come from the school of thought that "It's hard to have a bad day on a cruise ship!"

 

DH says I can book any cruise I want on HAL, Princess or Celebrity if I find a good deal and it's at least 2 weeks - short cruises just aren't worth the hassles of the travel to and from the ports for us anymore. But we'll cruise Carnival or NCL or maybe RCI (haven't tried them yet) if there is a special reason to. We are value cruisers and look at price and itinerary first, ship and cruiseline second.

 

We're heading out next week on 35 days on Maasdam - I'm a little worried that, for the first time in our cruising life, I may actually be happy to (finally?) get off the ship after 35 days...maybe. We'll see how it goes.

 

Don't tell anyone on the HAL board but we recently booked a very special cruise on Carnival Splendor for next year, LA to NY around the horn of South America - 45 days, yikes, what have we done? (We have until October to back out of it.) Great itinerary, great price and we'll go with their strenghts. I know the demographic will be more like HAL becasue of this itinerary but the culture will be Carnival, louder, more crowded, not as good food..... but we will enjoy this opportunity at an amazing price.

 

Things I like about the various cruise lines we've experienced:

HAL: very good food, ambiance, enrichment classes, great beds! good value usually can be found, nice itineraries for longer cruises, couches on smaller ships in inside cabins a plus for us, very good room service including hot breakfasts but not great hours

Princess: good food, 24hr buffets so i can sleep in and still find food at the buffet; entertainment, good itineraries

Celebrity: classy ambiance, very good food, wonderful thalassotherapy pool, nice inside staterooms with couches on some ships, good entertainment

NCL: easy going, great entertainment, good value for R&R, good food can be hunted up

Carnival: can be good value if you can find the right itinerary; good variety of enterainment; 24 hr pizza station and good food can be hunted up but i won't be tempted to gain a lot of weight! Also great beds!

 

m--

[Coolcruise02]

No, we are not loyal to any line. They all have their attributes and we have never been disappointed on any.

 

We shop based on itineray, price, and ship. Ship is probably as big, or perhaps a bigger, factor for us as cruise line. We have a few preferred cruise lines, of which HAL is one, but that is as far as it goes.

 

Agree!! Like them all. Some would have you believe there is a big difference in food and service on some lines, but we just haven't found that to be the case!

[Sir PMP]

How loyal are you to HAL? I ask this because I am curious. I wanted to see what the Norwegian Epic looked like. My DH said "You don't need to look I am not going on any other ship." We have sailed other lines, but once we started sailing HAL we have not been on any other line.He won't even look at the site.

 

 

Is this ok?

[DeepWaterMariner]

We are not loyal to HAL or any other cruise line. The biggest drivers for us are itinerary, less so than price, and convenience. We'll sail on darn near anything from close by Galveston since it is only a half hour from our home. Our next cruise on HAL will be the third in a row so we are due for a change after this. Over our long cruise history we have sailed on at least 15 different lines and have been considering number 16 for next spring (Oceania, because they have a true 14 day cruise from Fort Lauderdale). We're always happy no matter what cruise line we are sailing.

[buckirj1]

Wow, I really feel picky now. I pretty much go the same place (NE/Canada) all the time. Price and cabin are my main drivers, and I often drill down to things like, "I'd happily sail lines C, N, or H in an inside cabin, but I'd only want to sail lines P and R in a minisuite or above...and only then if the price made sense." And the foregoing can change depending on a particular line's class of ship. And that can change based on the position of the moon and stars...

 

HAL and Disney are at the top of my "wanna do someday" list. The only mainstream cruiseline I've not taken that holds little appeal is Celebrity, but never say never.

[Loucat]

We once focused on RCC and became D+ but realized our first loyalty is to us. Choose ships based on itieneraries, pricing and reputation. No cruise line is perfect and we now find it more interesting to try more. Looking back, Azamara was one of the best ever!

We tried HAL; maybe it was that sailing, but would not book again real soon, there are too many other lines and sailings of interest.

[TheCalicoCat]

Same here. Price and itinerary. We enjoy other lines just as much and sometimes more than HAL.

 

Ditto!

[kazu]

Interesting thread. dh & I have done several lines, but prefer HAL. Normally we look for interesting itineraries. I checked all the lines, but the only ship to offer anything close to what we were looking at was the elegant explorer last year and for next year's cruise as well. So, we remain loyal to HAL as we love the ships and the itineraries:)

[travelnap]

I have sailed on most of the mass market lines and have enjoyed them all. That said, I prefer HAL and NCL over the others, and yes they are different experiences. HAL has great itineraries and I prefer the smaller ships they have over the mega ships. To me its about the destination and not the ship itself. Service is excellent on both. I travel solo so price is also an issue when I look at booking a trip. Each line has there pluses and their minuses but overall if you have a good attitude you are going to enjoy whatever ship you are on. I am pretty easy to please so I can just roll with things as they happen. A few good books, good ports, and a few sea days make for a great trip.

[m steve]

we are greeted like old friends by many of the waiters and bartenders who have served us in the past. That makes us feel like it's home.

[woody73]

We have cruised on HAL, Disney, RCI, Celebrity, Princess and NCL. There are things we like about each of these lines.

 

For us, the itinerary come first, then price.

 

Woody

[cruiseapril]

We find HAL's itineraries very appealing, so are continuing to book HAL cruises.

[sapper1]

We have only cruised on HAL and they have given us no reason to look elsewhere. The ships all have a similar feel and we know what to expect before we go. There is a certain comfort in that. I guess we fall into the "if it ain't broke" category.

[Adoptionmsw]

We first chose Holland America because the ship was sailing from NYC and the price was right. We enjoyed ourselves so booked the same cruise again the next year. We have been on a total of six HAL cruises, all of them great. We particularly like the Westerdam. HAL staff is so friendly and hard working. I'm not inclined to try another cruise line at this point.

[serendipity1499]

Apparently not as loyal as I expected. I too fell in love with HAL but quite frankly after last year's trip - which was excellent - I found myself in need of taking a break and thus booked another line for this year's vacation. Oh the horror!:eek:

 

HAL still ranks as one of my top two favourites but I just think every now and then you need to shake it up and do something different. Yes, I will likely do HAL again but just not today.

 

Its sort of like eating the same thing for dinner every night.[/quote]

 

I like that analogy!

 

Hi - Dianebear here. I am new to cruise critic still learning. Glad to be here.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic Diane..:)

Now back to the question: I guess you could consider us Semi-Loyal to HAL as we are 4 star Mariners with 13 HAL cruises under our belts..

However we've also cruised with Homeric (in the 60's), 5 on NCL, & have had 2 on Oceania...

 

We enjoyed every one of them & never had a bad cruise!..However, that's not to say that we've never had problems on any of them.. We have & most problems have been rectified..After our Nieuw Amsterdam cruise, we decided that the smaller R & S class ships were a better fit for us.. One of the things which always draws us back to HAL are the lovely wrap around Promenade decks! :) We are content sitting out on them for hours at a time enjoying the sea, the fresh air reading, napping or talking with our fellow Passengers..

That being said, however we would never restrict ourselves to HAL ships..As Bramcruiser so masterfully puts it: " Its sort of like eating the same thing for dinner every night."

We agree that, if we find other lines with great itineraries & fares perhaps with the smaller ships, such as Oceania, we're not adverse to sailing the other lines..

 

Cheers.....:)Betty

[mamaofami]

We have only cruised on HAL and they have given us no reason to look elsewhere. The ships all have a similar feel and we know what to expect before we go. There is a certain comfort in that. I guess we fall into the "if it ain't broke" category.

 

I can't say it any better.

[tip]

We have been on twenty-one cruises with six, and the most recent, on HAL. We choose cruise lines for itinerary, but we really don't want to have our balcony time ruined by second hand smoke. That being said, our next winter cruise will be on Princess which has a 21st Century smoking policy. HAL will catch on sooner or later.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

We have 16 cruises on HAL, 17 on Princess, and 2-3 on each of several of the other lines. Itinerary is usually the driving factor but sometimes it depends on friends with whom we are cruising. At the moment, I like HAL best but that won't prevent me from cruising other lines.

[JDinWA]

Our first cruise ever was on HAL, and that was because we had a great coupon. We liked the experience so kept cruising HAL because we knew what we were going to get and knew we'd be happy with it.

 

Occasionally I've wondered about trying different lines, but what really stopped me were the beds. I've seen a number of folks who've been on various cruiselines mention that HAL has the best beds. I don't think they're all that, so if the other lines' beds are not even that good -- no, thanks! It's hard enough to get to sleep as it is. :rolleyes:

[crusinbanjo]

I guess we're more or less sold on HAL after six cruises, each one a bit longer than the one before it. I would like to see what "luxury" cruising is like, or a trans-Atlantic aboard Queen Mary 2, or try a sailing ship, but when it comes down to it, HAL's wonderful crew and travel-focused atmosphere wins the day. We enjoy the traditional, nautical atmosphere of the Holland America ships, especially the smaller R- and S-class ships.

 

Mrs M

 

Mrs Banjo & I are kind of sold on HAL as well, our last few cruises were on HAL. But, we look at the IT first, then the possible ships withe the actual cruise line last. All of the cruise lines give a very similar experience, (all good), and we have used many of them over the years.

 

Mrs Muir, if you want to experience luxury cruising, the best way to do that is to book the penthouse suite. You will get as good or better experience than any "luxury line" will provide....

[jlocole]

I book a cruise based on price and itinerary. I have cruised RCCL, CCL and HAL and don't really notice a huge difference in any of them. Granted I book an interior or exterior stateroom (no suites or balcony) and I would never pay a surcharge to eat at a specialty restaurant as the food I get in the MDR is steps up from what I would be eating at home.

 

The front page story on this site about the Carnival Sunshine has me thinking of booking it late next year.

 

Why would anyone choose to cruise on only one cruise line is beyond me. I am way too open minded to do that.