Were coming back to HAL

[MISSYLOU]

.....after a three year absence we are trying HAL again. Taking our son and two grandsons as he wants them to see the beautiful water at Half Moon Cay. We are booked on Zuiderdam and today I got greedy and decided we should do a back to back. So we sail Oct 1 with family and Oct 8 just the two of us. We are also booked on Veendam Nov 24, 05. We are very much looking forward to both cruises.

[Ziggy7]

.....after a three year absence we are trying HAL again. Taking our son and two grandsons as he wants them to see the beautiful water at Half Moon Cay. We are booked on Zuiderdam and today I got greedy and decided we should do a back to back. So we sail Oct 1 with family and Oct 8 just the two of us. We are also booked on Veendam Nov 24, 05. We are very much looking forward to both cruises.

Welcome back! Have wonderful cruises and calm seas!!!!

[sail7seas]

Hi MISSYLOU........

 

Welcome Back. I remember you from 'back when'. :)

We cruised twelve days on Veendam in January and thought her terrific. She's a great ship IMO

[jhannah]

Good to see you again. Sounds like you have some great cruise plans.

[Sierrachik]

.....after a three year absence we are trying HAL again. Taking our son and two grandsons as he wants them to see the beautiful water at Half Moon Cay. We are booked on Zuiderdam and today I got greedy and decided we should do a back to back. So we sail Oct 1 with family and Oct 8 just the two of us. We are also booked on Veendam Nov 24, 05. We are very much looking forward to both cruises.

 

Welcome! We are on the October 8th sailing, there is a thread for this date on the roll call board. My husband and I were on this ship last October and enjoyed it a lot.

[MISSYLOU]

Thanks everyone. And a special hi to you Sail. I remember we shared alot of posts about "your Maasdam". Glad to hear you enjoyed Veendam. I have mostly been lurking here as I didn't have any HAL cruises booked for so long.

 

We thought we would never sail another line but HAL and we were so satisfied and then X started offering some really good rates and so we have been mainly sailing with them. I must say they have an excellent product. However their prices have gone up so much. When we asked son where and what line he wanted to sail on he didn't hesitate to say HAL as he sailed on Maasdam for his first cruise.

 

Now tell me, they still have that wonderful bread pudding don't they? And what about the Pinnacle? What is a must have entre and dessert? I need all the scoop.

 

I will check out the Oct 8 roll call.

[sail7seas]

:) You really do remember, don't you??!!

 

 

"My" :) Maasdam is still wonderful. We sailed her back-to-back in June for Canada/New England and loved it so much, we booked it again for next August.....same itinerary, Same Maasdam.

 

Pinnacle (IMO) is wonderful. Excellent food. If you like Filet Mignon, there's is fabulous. And, if chocolate interests you, the Chocolate Volcano is way, way too good. When I'm willing to really splurge (which is rare these days) I might enjoy a bit of the Northwest Clam Chowder.....really delicious. Loaded with heavy cream/fatty calories but there are times, it's worth it. :)

 

In our opinion, Maasdam's dining room is so excellent, that we only went to Pinnacle two or three times in two weeks. We totally enjoyed those dinners but we were so happy in the dining room, that we didn't want to leave any more than that.

[chimera]

MISYLOU

 

Welcome back to HAL. According to my confirmation the Veendam sails November 26th, not the 24th. So unless you are talking about a two day pre stay in Tampa, it will be quite a wait on the pier until you board. ;)

[richcrow]

Thanks everyone. And a special hi to you Sail. I remember we shared alot of posts about "your Maasdam". Glad to hear you enjoyed Veendam. I have mostly been lurking here as I didn't have any HAL cruises booked for so long.

 

We thought we would never sail another line but HAL and we were so satisfied and then X started offering some really good rates and so we have been mainly sailing with them. I must say they have an excellent product. However their prices have gone up so much. When we asked son where and what line he wanted to sail on he didn't hesitate to say HAL as he sailed on Maasdam for his first cruise.

 

Now tell me, they still have that wonderful bread pudding don't they? And what about the Pinnacle? What is a must have entre and dessert? I need all the scoop.

 

I will check out the Oct 8 roll call.

 

Karen & Paul,

 

If I'm correct, you have already posted on the Roll Call for the Oct. 1st cruise on Zuiderdam (at least I have you on our list of those sailing with us). If not, go and check out our Roll Call. Our plans for a Cruise Critic get-together so far are as follows. We ar planning on two meetings - one in the Crow's Nest at around 9:30 pm for after dinner drinks on the first night of the cruise and the second in the Ocean Bar for pre-dinner drinks at about 5:30 pm the following afternoon. We would love to have you and your family. Let us know if you would like to be included.

 

Richard & Judie

[docandbird]

...and don't forget to post to the 10/8 Zuiderdam roll call. We already have several back-to-backers on board...

[jaguarstyper]

Welcome back, Missylou,

 

We will be on the October 8th sailing along with you. I'm starting to get ansy as its getting close and I just paid the second payment. I am sailing with my wife and 17 year old daughter. And with another couple and their 17 year old daughter.

 

We did the Eastern itinerary on Zuiderdam last April and are looking forward to the Western intinerary.

 

Perhaps, we will meet on board.

 

Tim

[AirGorilla]

Three years can be a long time, in terms of changes which have occurred with HAL during that time period (tipping, photo charges, etc.). Will be very interested in reading your review when you return, and would appreciate comments on how your perceive the line and its services may have changed, based on the current snapshot, and that from three years ago.

 

Have a great trip!!

[Grumpy1]

one pic says it all...

[RevNeal]

MISYLOU,

 

Welcome back! I remember you from earlier. 3 years is, indeed, a very long time to be away. Many things have changed -- some for the better, but many for the worse. Various people have different opinions.

 

The Zuiderdam is the least-HAL ship in the fleet. She was specifically appointed to appeal to the younger crowd, so don't be too surprised. Also, the Vistas in general are larger and "louder" than HAL ships of the past. I've cruised aboard the Oosterdam and loved her even though I thought I wouldn't. So, I can hope that you'll find the Zuiderdam different but not unpleasant.

 

Most of the changes that many of us find annoying are in the "little details." Frankly, if just one or two of them were missing it wouldn't matter that much, but when they start to pile up their absence becomes noticeable indeed. Service aboard can still be fantastic, but it can also be hurried, brisk, and inattentive; the keyword here is "inconsistent." I've been blessed to have excellent stewards all around on most of my cruises over the last 3 years, but there have been some significant stand-outs among those who don't measure up to HAL's standard (at least, not in my mind). It's the inconsistency that I find so annoying; one just doesn't know until one gets there if one's waitstaff or cabin stewards are going to be well trained on the one hand or overworked. One of the critical issues here has been the massive expansion of the fleet. Since you last sailed with HAL, in 2002 (?), the largest ships ever in the HAL fleet have been added: The Zuiderdam, Oosterdam, and the Westerdam; and, in Feb of next year the new Noordam will be joining. To accommodate these huge vessels and their 1800+ passengers, HAL has had to stretch to the limit their already over-taxed staff while, at the same time, training (too quickly and without enough attention to detail, I'm convinced) more staff at one time than ever before. This expansion of the fleet has added greater flexibility to itineraries and schedules -- the S-class ships are now going, on a regular basis, much further and into more "exotic" areas of the world than before -- but it has also resulted in a fleet-wide decline of service standard. Perhaps the Line will improve over time, once the last of the new-builds is in service, and a new equilibrium with a newly sized staff will be reached. But, needless to say, the expansion has brought with it some significant growing pains and many of the "cut backs" and "reductions in service" and dropping of "details" can be traced to an under-staffing, and marginally trained staffing, of the ships.

 

Please be sure you take all of this with a grain of salt. In re-reading what I've just written I notice that it sounds so negative; the expansion has NOT been all negative. The Signature of Excellent program has been fantastic ... you'll find "beds from heaven" in your cabin. :) The ships are still well maintained ("the spotless fleet" is still at sea!) and among the most "nautical" cruise ships in service. The food is still good, though some people complain (when didn't they complain?), and there are more options now (which some people, of course, also complain about.) in short, there have been good and not-so-good changes to HAL since you've been sailing with X. So ... come and give the Zuiderdam and Veendam a whirl, then post reviews. I'd love to read your perspective.

[Richard Stein]

I was also gone for 3 years sailing on both Princess and Celebrity, but Celebrity has priced me out of the market and I had a bad dining room problem on Princess. We will be doing Alaska next May on the Oosterdam, our third to Alaska on HAL and seventh over all.

[MISSYLOU]

Thank you all so much for your responses.

 

First, to Chimera. You are correct the Veendam sails on Nov 26. We are arriving in Tampa two days early. So that's when my vacation really begins. A very untraditional Thanksgiving for us.

 

Grumpy1 Great welcome photo. I am always amazed how posters come up with such appropriate photos for posts.

 

RevNeal Thank you for remembering. I have followed your posts and photos for quite sometime. Sorry you had to cancel the Veendam cruise as I remember you had a conflict in your schedule. I appreciate your comments regarding service and the decline in some areas of sailing on HAL. I have read many negative reviews and more recently positive ones. I don't expect HAL to be the same but I do expect to enjoy it. I think that my son may end of being more disappointed than we will as he made so many friends with the smiling Indonesian servers he met. They all called him "Reech". Is name is Rich. He was so very impressed and touched that these humble people would be so attentative. But I am sure he will meet some that just tug at his heartstrings.

 

I was so excited when the Vista class ships first came out and wanted to sail on one so much. We were in St Marten on RCI's Radiance of the Seas and I was so excited when the Oosterdam pulled in to the pier. I had wished I was on it. The Vista class sailings were higher when they first came out so we found other alternatives. I have read many of the problems with the Vista class ships however it hasn't discouraged me. Almost every ship we have ever been on has had some type of sewer gas smell at some point in the cruise, including Maasdam, Statendam and X's M class ships. Sure we will be disappointed if the crew isn't as attentive as we would like but we will still enjoy our cruise.

 

I can tell by the photos of Zuiderdam that the interior is not going to appeal to me. But we will go into these sailings with a positive attitude and not look for negativity. So I do appreciate the guidance and I don't expect it to be like most of the X cruises we have been on.

 

For HAL's sake I hope they can overcome the difficulties.

 

Richard Stein: I know what you mean about X pricing you out of the market. Their new 14 day Hawaii cruises are twice as high as what we paid two years ago for 21 days. We need to be loyal to our budgets. I guess cruising is going to change a lot and if one must pay a premium price for good service we may have to find an alternative to cruising. We are only booking X, RCI, Princess or HAL when they have an iteniery that we have not been on and the price fits our needs. This upcoming Zuiderdam cruise is really for our son and grandson. But we sure look forward to the relaxation. And I know the food must be better than my cooking.:D