Personalities of Holland Cruisers?

[mszpolaris]

Maybe I just had a bad HAL cruise? :( I personally did not enjoy the cruise I was on. Yes the ports were great, but everything else just seemed..boring. The people, the service, the entertainment... I was with my mother and some older aunts and uncles, and we just felt like everything was not up to par at all. Again we went in October, so not a prime cruising time, but that was just my own experience.

 

Unfortunately I feel it has scarred me for life!

[tangerinebunny]

Well if you're scarred for life you'll just have to stay home.

[mszpolaris]

Well if you're scarred for life you'll just have to stay home.

 

Its just my & my family's opinion of the line. Everyone has their likes & dislikes. The OP asked, I answered, simple as that.

[Dancer Bob]

I have to agree, summing up HAL in one word: BORING!

[househunter]

Evidently I'm in the minority here. I'm 47 and DH is 56, and we cruised HAL for the 1st time a year ago - Alaska. We liked the itinerary and that it was RT out of Seattle. We enjoyed the layout of our inside cabin (we also have a DS who was 10 at the time) especially with the 3rd berth. The food was good (liked X better), and I agree that we didn't run into any stumbling drunks.

 

The biggest issue I had was with other passengers and their attitudes. They ran over peoples toes with their walkers & scooters without even an excuse me or kiss my butt. They also felt entitled to cut in the buffet lines (not a fan of buffets in general but we usually ate breakfast there). The thing that pissed me off the most was them cutting in front of my then 10yo for ice cream (his jaw dropped but he never uttered a word)!

 

Don't get me wrong - we did meet some very nice people, but we always have on every single cruise. I had just never encountered the rudeness/attitudes to this extent on any of the other 7 cruises.

 

I totally agree! We have cruised HAL just once and never again! We were early-mid 40's and were among the youngest on board. We have never experienced such mean, nasty people in our lives. Maybe when we are in our 90's we will try them again but probably not.

[KBS1607]

We did Holland America for the itinerary and loved it. We have never repeated them but mainly because we were doing the Caribbean in the summer. I want to do the Baltic on HAL because everyone we met told us the Baltic on HAL was their all time favorite cruise.

[pomgo]

Love HAL out of some 16 cruises with crusie lines HAL the best!!!

[SadieN]

I have to agree, summing up HAL in one word: BORING!

 

On the other hand the only fight I've seen onboard was in a HAL laundry room. That was exciting.:p

 

We've met many interesting people on HAL. The pax are usually well traveled and if you sit next to a 'talker' the stories are amazing.

 

There do seem to be more 'stuffed shirts' on HAL. We ignore them. (or laugh about them.)

 

Usually there is a band in the Crow's Nest til late at night.

[kazu]

I started sailing HAL when I was in my 30's. We've done NCL, Princess, Celebrity to name a few. I really didn't see that HAL's passengers were any older than the other ships. Of course, back then everyone else was 'old' in my eyes.

 

Seriously, on HAL you create some of your own entertainment. It's more laid back. the sidewalks do not roll up and the bars do not close at 9 pm.

 

Of all the cruise lines we have sailed on, HAL still remains our first choice. Maybe we were unlucky on some of the others - but we found ourselves missing some of HAL's little touches - smoked salmon, cream cheese and bagels, 6 or 7 kinds of eggs benedict, fresh squeezed oj in the morning, etc.

 

Food is subjective but for us, theirs is the best (on mass market lines of course).

 

Hope this helps a bit:D

[Travelcat2]

It seems as if cruise lines get reputations -- whether they are warranted or not. Carnival brings parties and too many children to mind while HAl, categorized as a premium rather than mass market cruise line, makes people think of boring. It is a fact that on cruises longer than 7 nights, seniors are the majority of passengers on most cruise lines. And, when looking for a relaxing cruise -- without wet t-shirt contests and with fewer children many people look at HAL, Oceania and Azamara.

 

What is boring for one person is not for another. IMO, it is important to do research about the cruise line you are selecting so you can select the type of ship to cruise on that you will be most comfortable with. There can always be rude people -- on any ship -- anywhere. This is not related to a specific cruise line.

 

It's good to see so many different opinions of HAL. Just try not to get upset with each other -- these are only opinions.:confused:

[Hlitner]

Fascinating thread. In our cruising life (14 cruise lines, 60+ ships, 1 1/2 years on cruises) we have found that its not so much the cruise line as the length of cruise and time of year that determines much about the passengers. If you are on a long HA Grand Cruise you are going to find that nearly everyone is a senior retiree. Take that same ship on a 7 day Caribbean cruise during a school holiday and the passengers will be much younger and there will be plenty of kids. There are also huge differences between different ships. You will find a totally different type passenger on the smaller ships then on the huge mega-ships. Here is an interesting fact. On our last HA cruise (Prinsendam) we returned to Florida with only about 570 passengers. But of that number...more then 400 had 200+ days cruising on HA (and most had been on plenty of other lines). We suspect that on a typcial RCI cruise you would not find 10 people (out of thousands on their large ships) who have cruised 200+ days on RCI. The loyalty of many HA passengers is almost beyond belief. We have met two couples on recent HA cruises that each had over 1200 days on HA (plus lots more on other lines).

 

Hank

[Daydaes]

Husband (60) me (57) love HAL! We have cruised on a few other lines too but we still keep coming back to our cruise on HAL. The service, the food, entertainment, people all was wonderful. That was about 6 yrs ago so we were one of the younger couples and had a great time on board. We are booked on another HAL in November and am anticipating another relaxing cruise - just like we like them:)

[Go2See]

Also try to find out their announcement policy...

I hated having the constant announcements on some cruise lines. I also hated the aggressive pushing of drinks.

 

I cruised with HAL 24 years ago... It was so upscale compared to other cruise lines. Lately I have been cruising celebrity, and it has been awesome!

 

 

This time, we are using HAL again, I expect it will be great....

 

You will probably be happy with any of the mid to upper cruise lines.

Especially if you have now huge preconceived plans....

[cruisemom42]

I've cruised many of the regular (and some not-so-common) cruise lines. A few years back, based on things I read here re: HAL Vista class ships (that they are more family friendly, younger people on shorter cruises, yada yada), I booked a Caribbean 7-day cruise on a Vista class ship for myself (mid 40s at the time) and son (young teen).

 

There were still a higher proportion of older cruisers than on other 7-day Caribbean cruises we'd been on before. My son's favorite line at the time was Princess. He did not find much to do on HAL. The childrens/teens clubs did not seem to have much planning or participation.

 

Also, I am an evening person and did not find a lot to do at night (I'm not a gambler). On some other ships I was used to late night comedy shows or even a late night movie, in addition to just sitting in a bar -- not so much on HAL.

 

Some things were very nice on HAL -- good service, for example, and nice room layout, very comfortable bed. Food seemed to me to be about the equivalent of Princess at the time. (Which was a good thing, IMO.)

 

My son did not want to cruise with HAL again. I was willing to give them another try on a port-intensive Med cruise, sailing solo. It was a very similar experience. VERY good service, good food, not so great evening activities. I found the staff very attentive to me as a solo traveler. However, several nights I retreated to my room to watch a borrowed DVD -- generally NOT my choice of activity when on a cruise.

 

Shore excursions were not handled in an organized manner, several times I was almost run down in a stampede to get off the ship and there seemed to be no staff there to ensure things stayed orderly.

 

Because I like to do the HAL equivalent of Anytime Dining (e.g., no assigned table or time), and I like to share a table with others, I dined with quite a few passengers. I'll say that I found some to be delightful but perhaps a higher percentage than on other lines edged into the "high maintenance" category (e.g., either crotchety, whiny, or "I know everything and have been everywhere" blowhards).

 

FWIW, I've sailed with Princess numerous times and have never run into the "falling down drunks". In fact, I have never run into them on any cruise.

[George C]

Hi, not a first time cruiser, but maybe a first time Holland Cruiser.

 

I am looking for a cruise for 4 ladies, ages 24-46 and we all like to have fun. Holland has a great itinerary, but I just don't know that much about the line. We all enjoy having a good time, light drinking and 2 of us do smoke.

 

I love the atmosphere of RC if that helps at all (besides all the public announcements on deck anyway!)

 

So, do most venues close up super early? Will I be tossed off the ship for smoking on the balcony or other designated areas?

 

Some of the "don't be snarky" threads and warnings on the Holland forum concern me. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

as stated before smoking is allowed on balcony and other areas of the ship, I think food is better than most lines. Big negative is there is very little after midnight on HAL, disco might be open , we do like the piano bar, and most of the other entertainment, but it all ends at midnight or before. Another plus is Hal alows you to bring on your own wine, so you can have a smoke and a glass of wine on baloney before or after dinner ( without extra charge) if you bring wine into dinning room they charge 18 dollar corkage

[liv2vac]

This spring we took Hal for the 10 day southern for the first time normally Carnival people. There is less entertainment especially late at night. We thought the food was better. We have booked another cruise with them in September this time to Alaska. We did not run into many people we didn't like. We enjoyed some of the looks we got from some of the old school people on board, as we found the ship too warm for our comfort so after dinner we always went and changed to shorts and a shirt. We would like more entertainment at night but with a port intensive cruise we can deal with it. Give them a try if your not looking for the wet tshirt contests you will probably like them.