Trending on this board -- pay attention HAL

[fatcat04]

 

The reason that X is also under consideration is because of their smoking policy. I'm a blackjack player but can only tolerate the HAL casinos in the morning hours on sea days. It gets too smoky in there in the evening.

 

Were I a dedicated casino person, I too would not choose HAL. Smokiest place on the ship. Can even be staggering to walk past late into the evening. To me, the casino smoke is far more an issue than anything I have ever remotely smelled on a balcony because it is indoors and no amount of ventilation seems to be able to keep pace with the output. We enjoy the casino when it is smoke free nights or like you, early enough to not get choked.. otherwise, nope.

 

We too are wide teak deck fans. I am on a ship to be on a ship.. see and smell the ocean, feel the waves. Otherwise I would just go to a land resort or Vegas. Also a reason we prefer smaller ships.. duh, it feels like a ship not a floating shopping mall! Every ship we have cruised on has had a walk-able covered teak Promenade deck which we have enjoyed morning and night. Our favorite spot on the ship is the aft Promenade deck with a cocktail before dinner watching the ship's wake and listening to the ship's churning, just gives me chills to think of it... nothing like it in the whole world.

[mkl55]

We tried Norwegian. It was ok...back to HAL. We tried Princess. It was ok...back to HAL. We tried RCL..ugh. Back to HAL. Haven't tried Celebrity but I guess we will. HAL feels like home to us. The skillful, professional captains and crew, the beautiful ships that look like ships, that something special that I can't put my finger on. That is HAL. That is where we feel comfortable.

[lvz2cruz]

We really enjoy HAL but have a few Celebrity cruises just to do something different.

I totally agree with the posts about the cozy, warm feeling on a HAL ship and the wonderful, friendly crew.

I think what we get on HAL for what we pay in a balcony cabin is a great value. Our per diems on Celebrity are typically much more.

I would be curious about HAL people cruising other lines. On the thread here about future cruises, are people supposed to only post HAL ones or are other lines welcome too? I know it would be a lot of work to maintain, but very interesting.

[kazu]

We really enjoy HAL but have a few Celebrity cruises just to do something different.

I totally agree with the posts about the cozy, warm feeling on a HAL ship and the wonderful, friendly crew.

I think what we get on HAL for what we pay in a balcony cabin is a great value. Our per diems on Celebrity are typically much more.

I would be curious about HAL people cruising other lines. On the thread here about future cruises, are people supposed to only post HAL ones or are other lines welcome too? I know it would be a lot of work to maintain, but very interesting.

 

I am the OP of the FCL (Future Cruise Listings) and between myself and my back up, (rafinmd) we both agreed we would add other cruises for REGULAR Hal posters and cruisers unless it became contentious or over taxing.

 

After all this is a community and we care about everyone and where they are cruising to :)

 

So far, it has worked out and I hope it continues to do so :)

[fatcat04]

Well, since this thread has been resurrected - I don't know if there is a trend or not.

 

We tried Oceania last year. Definitely YMMV with this line. I didn't think it was worth the $ and the food we had (and service) was definitely NOT the best food at sea. The Prinsendam can show them up in a lot of ways. DH was far more unhappy than I and I was just glad it wasn't his first cruise or he may not have gone again. First time we were GLAD to get off a cruise ship.

 

Loved the rooms, the lounge chairs but their beauty was only skin deep and the rest was a disappointment for us.

 

comparing it to our Westerdam cruise taken a few months later, we were delighted to return to cordial staff, decent food and dam good service.

 

After our Westerdam cruise there was no question we were sailing HAL again.

 

HAL has the BEST crew and itineraries in my book compared to the lines we have sailed (we've just done "premium" not luxury).

 

I am very curious about this too. Have some very good friends I recommended HAL too. To me, they are very much HAL people but they chose Oceania for their next cruise specifically for the perks. They board next June. Their only previous cruise experience was Carnival so I am assuming they will be impressed but the $$ they are paying is well... a lot more than I would for what they are getting. Guess we will see. We are happy with HAL atm.

[kazu]

I am very curious about this too. Have some very good friends I recommended HAL too. To me, they are very much HAL people but they chose Oceania for their next cruise specifically for the perks. They board next June. Their only previous cruise experience was Carnival so I am assuming they will be impressed but the $$ they are paying is well... a lot more than I would for what they are getting. Guess we will see. We are happy with HAL atm.

 

I hope they are VERY impressed. We weren't but things change from ship to ship and sailing to sailing. What really upset me was O's reaction to my letter to them. they honestly don't care once they have your money. To try to make up about 3 months after after a lot of complaints, they offered some a discount on the Caribbean (Caribbean??? we were on a European transatlantic). I didn't need to worry about the offer since we never got it.

 

I did do a live thread at the time and a comparison between the two lines. No question they do some things nicely, but our experience was not at all what I anticipated. I normally keep things low, don't like to be disappointed and like to think I am a glass 1/2 full person, but my glass was empty when I got off that cruise. I know RuthC had the same experience. I should have listened :( to her.

 

I hope they have a great time. We won't be back for a very long time. There was no value for the $ we paid IMO.

[fatcat04]

I did do a live thread at the time and a comparison between the two lines. No question they do some things nicely, but our experience was not at all what I anticipated. I normally keep things low, don't like to be disappointed and like to think I am a glass 1/2 full person, but my glass was empty when I got off that cruise. I know RuthC had the same experience. I should have listened :( to her.

 

I hope they have a great time. We won't be back for a very long time. There was no value for the $ we paid IMO.

 

See. That's what I am thinking too. Yeah I trust you and Ruth's opinion. You two have never steered me wrong. Well, hopefully they will enjoy it as I dearly want them to enjoy Alaska for the first time. I wish they had taken my advice but what can you say. For me and mine, we stick with HAL. Never had a bad cruise with them yet.

[tjcox9]

It's so hard to compare one line against another when the lines have various sizes and ages of ships with different amenities.

 

We are Five star and then some on HAL and Elite on Princess plus a number of days on other lines. We tend to want to enjoy the smaller ships while they still exist.

 

However, we have also enjoyed some of the larger HAL ships....(Oosterdam and Eurodam) after latest retrofits. We liked them a quite a lot, particularly the entertainment options that aren't available on the "little" girls.

 

But, we really don't enjoy the larger Princess ships (except for the Diamond, but that was for the itinerary and Japanese ambiance on board on a wonderful 27 day Japan/Asia cruise.) We disliked the Emerald and Caribbean in particular except the itineraries were terrific.

 

Oh, and last year, we stuck our necks out and took a real challenge and booked an older Celebrity ship to take us from FLL to Valparaiso to meet up with a HAL ship for another Antarctic adventure. We had a great cabin, the service and food were rather poor, but the entertainment was quite good.

 

So, it's to each his/her/their own! That's why so may lines still exist .;)

Edited September 11, 2016 by tjcox9
One letter correcton due to my lack of proofreading!

[NMLady]

Agreed on the itineraries which is the only reason I suggested HAL for my sons up-coming wedding/honeymoon. I hope we are still speaking after the 42 days (Volendam)! The difference in the food options and the loyalty program of HAL & Celebrity is HUGE. I enjoy the smaller HAL ships & the people, passengers and crew, are great...but with those long itineraries they must do better in both variety & quality of food & entertainment.

 

The post you quoted was almost two years old! Where on earth did you find this old thread? At least the topic is still pertinent.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

As someone who loved HAL (yes, past tense) and is also a long time Sitmar/Princess cruiser, I have found that my husband and I have been disappointed in the deletion of so many of the things that made HAL unique and special.

 

We have been cruising Princess and have our first HAL cruise (Rotterdam) in four years booked to see if anything has changed.

 

It has been my theory for a while that since HAL and Princess are both now owned by Carnival Corp and traditionally targeted the same socioeconomic demographic, that HAL is being repositioned to fit between Carnival Cruise Line and Princess.

 

I feel that Princess fits more in line with being the "in-between" brand, better than Royal in food and service but not quite Celebrity. I find HAL more akin to Celebrity. Thankfully neither brand is comparable to NCL, and I hope it stays that way! :eek:

Edited September 12, 2016 by AtlantaCruiser72

[Krazy Kruizers]

As someone who loved HAL (yes, past tense) and is also a long time Sitmar/Princess cruiser, I have found that my husband and I have been disappointed in the deletion of so many of the things that made HAL unique and special.

 

We have been cruising Princess and have our first HAL cruise (Rotterdam) in four years booked to see if anything has changed.

 

It has been my theory for a while that since HAL and Princess are both now owned by Carnival Corp and traditionally targeted the same socioeconomic demographic, that HAL is being repositioned to fit between Carnival Cruise Line and Princess.

 

I agree with you. At first when Carnival bought HAL, there were not a lot of changes. But the last few years -- lots of changes.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have seen a lot of changes the last few years on HAL -- some good -- some bad.

 

The worst changes:

 

pre-made sandwiches

rarely seeing the captain

no more welcome aboard toast from the captain

no more VIP parties

 

and I could go on.

[iancal]

We are not loyal to any one cruise line. Too many variables and too many opportunities for us to limit ourselves to one, two, or even three cruise line options.

 

Everyone has preferences. ALthough HAL is much less apt to be on our short list today than it was a few years ago we shop for Hal cruise opportunities.

 

Pre made sandwiches, rarely seeing the captain,welcome toasts, or frequent customer events do not enter into our decision process. Everyone has difference preferences and certainly there is a great deal of variation between ships in each fleet and the conditions/maitenance of those ships.

[Homosassa]

I feel that Princess fits more in line with being the "in-between" brand, better than Royal in food and service but not quite Celebrity. I find HAL more akin to Celebrity. Thankfully neither brand is comparable to NCL, and I hope it stays that way! :eek:

 

I feel that RCCL, Carnival and NCL are all entry level cruise lines. They offer different types of experiences, but are all still bottom tier.

[RJ2002]

IMO, Princess and HAL are more similar than different. There are a few differences that stand out to me:

 

+ smoking tolerated more on HAL

+ dress code more relaxed on HAL (at least from the standpoint of the STATED guidelines)

+ generally, more interesting and unique itineraries on HAL

+ far superior pizza on Princess :D

 

Between these two lines, we really chose based on the itinerary. Otherwise the experience is very similar... again, IMO.

[SeagoingMom]

As someone who loved HAL (yes, past tense) and is also a long time Sitmar/Princess cruiser, I have found that my husband and I have been disappointed in the deletion of so many of the things that made HAL unique and special.

 

We have been cruising Princess and have our first HAL cruise (Rotterdam) in four years booked to see if anything has changed.

 

It has been my theory for a while that since HAL and Princess are both now owned by Carnival Corp and traditionally targeted the same socioeconomic demographic, that HAL is being repositioned to fit between Carnival Cruise Line and Princess.

"Fit between" in what sense? Age of pax, price, quality...? I am interested in your definition of "between."

[SeagoingMom]

I feel that RCCL, Carnival and NCL are all entry level cruise lines. They offer different types of experiences, but are all still bottom tier.

Perhaps your opinions are based on your own personal experience, though you do not say so. At any rate, I hope you are not among those who define as "inferior" certain cruise products simply because they themselves do not prefer them. Others may -- and indeed DO -- prefer these experiences and therefore do not consider themselves at the "bottom tier" (or "slumming," as you seem to imply.)

 

Before I tried Carnival, I, too, had a negative view of the line; like you, I considered it "bottom tier." This was due entirely to my believing the opinions of others, mostly others who, like myself, had never sailed with Carnival. My own Carnival experience led me to understand that Carnival is not "inferior," as I had ignorantly thought, just different than some other cruise experiences (and, of course, similar to others.) It provides an excellent product, which many, many cruisers love and are very loyal to. The fact that the Carnival experience is not the same as some other products, or the fact that some may not prefer what Carnival offers, in no way makes it "bottom tier." I am sure that this holds true for NCL and RCCL, as well, though I have no personal experience with either of them.

 

Even in terms of price, Carnival is not always "bottom "tier, and RCCL almost never is, based on my observations. And we have already read on this thread how paying extra money for a cruise does not guarantee a quality experience, so even "top tier" cruises can end up being "bottom tier."

 

I prefer HAL because my experience onboard correlates most closely with my personal preferences. If Carnival, NCL or RCCL correlates most closely with others' personal preferences, that means these lines are "superior" at fulfilling these customers' desires. And as for being "entry level" cruise lines, I cannot tell you how many CC members I have read about who took their first cruise on Princess, and never sailed on any other line after that. All cruise lines can probably boast about many equally satisfied, loyal passengers.

 

JMO

[iancal]

Duplicate

Edited September 12, 2016 by iancal

[iancal]

The big challenge for us on our preferred cruise lines is consistency.

 

The more inconsistent the cruise line is, the less likely that we will be loyal.

 

We no longer find a high degree of consistency on HAL, Princess, or Celebrity.

We also find they are all moving to a low common denominator. HAL seems to be leading the race to the bottom but the gap is not very wide.

 

We don't believe in tiering the mass market cruise lines. We have had some very good cruises on Carnival, RCI, and NCL. And we have had some very mediocre cruises (and very good) on what some would refer to as the premium lines. I think it depends more on the ship, what time of year you book, and the luck of the draw when it comes to consistency and one's expectations. Everything might be perfect on a 'premium' cruise but if you are stuck in a cabin with HVAC and/or plumbing issues it takes the shine off the entire experience.

Edited September 12, 2016 by iancal

[Homosassa]

Perhaps your opinions are based on your own personal experience, though you do not say so.

JMO

 

Yes, they are. I started cruising NCL in 1978. The line has definitely changed since then. Royal Caribbean used to have a different marketing demographic when I started cruising them. The addition of Celebrity (Chandris when I start cruising with them in 1976) and then Azamara to the RCL meant that RCCL had to be repositioned market wise as each of the other two lines in turn took the market position that RCCL once had. Carnival was a low class line that was only for drinkers when I started cruising. Most travel agents would not book the line and definitely would not recommend it to their regular clients.

 

I did cruise Carnival. Let's just say not much as changed as far as my experience.

[ICUQT]

I also still like HAL the best. However, I do not hesitate to cruise on other lines if I like the itinerary and/or price.

 

 

A couple of years back one of the regular posters on the HA Board pointed out to me that it was not a bad idea to experience other cruise lines. She was right. I was getting to a point after 20+ cruises exclusively on HAL that little changes HA was making was taking me out of my comfort zone i.e.. size of ship builds, staff reductions, menu changes in the Pinnacle etc. to a point that I needed a change. I think I was knit-picking at any change they made. I tried Princess this past January and enjoyed it. I booked again for this coming January. I had a good offer/price for an October (2017) on Celebrity and I have booked with them. My wife and I are a little short of days for our 5th Mariner Star. Use to be a big deal to us. Not any more. We still like and enjoy HAL but itinerary and price now play a big part in our decision making.

[Sequim88]

Another thought provoking thread recently revived. I definitely appreciate the insights. I too was wondering how the parent corps try to differentiate between there lines (HAL/Princess, RCCL/X). I guess in the end most people judge based on perceived value versus past experience. Perceived value would depend on what individuals are looking for in a cruise and at what price - so that can be all over the board and totally subjective. Makes it really hard to compare based on other people's perceptions.

 

Since our HAL experience was out first ever cruise that set a standard. But the RCCL cruises were totally based on the itineraries of the Transatlantics and my parents' loyalty to RCCL since they paid for that one. We've had no problem at all with RCCL. We're back to HAL because....

1. They cruise from Seattle

2. We did have a good experience - 15 years ago

3. Sentimental "anniversary" connection

4. Price was OK compared to the others

5. Small ship (Amsterdam) but then they swictherood us to much larger Oosterdam. :( At least it's still smaller than Mariner of the Seas.

 

But we could really consider anyone cruising from Seattle and might try Princess at some point. Or Celebrity. We almost tried NCL a couple years ago based on a specific TA itinerary but had to cancel before final payment due to a job change.

 

Looking forward to see what's changed (good or bad) on HAL next year. The posts in this thread give us a lot to be on the lookout for.

Edited September 12, 2016 by Sequim88

[navybankerteacher]

While I certainly prefer HAL for a number of reasons, I would never refuse to consider other lines. HAL's ambience is unmatched: beautiful teak decks, fresh flowers, level of service, even the dark blue hull (vs the garish graffiti of NCL), decent library, reasonable size (I doubt I will ever go on one of those ugly monsters of NCL or RCCL - carrying 4,000 plus people - who, come to think of it, have very different taste than mine.

 

Yes, that is a consideration as well: one's fellow passsengers are likely to be more compatible if they have similar tastes and attitudes. I differ from many HAL passengers in that I do not smoke - but then I have not been bothered by second hand smoke on my balcony, so why not live and let live.

 

Princess' service comes close - but their ships are so damn ugly -- too much gold colored plastic inside and the hideous Skywalkers pushcart-handle structured.

 

Celebrity is good: service, food and comfort compete with HAL - but their promenade decks look more like warehouses than anything shipboard, and their big "X" and sloping blue streak: why?

 

Cunard has ambience and service - but too few itineraries of interest to us.

 

Carnival and Disney both seem to appeal to different demographics.

 

So: given the right itinerary, timing, and price we are open to Celebrity, Cunard and Princess, while preferring HAL. Even this past winter, wanting a Caribbean itinerary from New York (once wonderfully provided by HAL and Celebrity), we sailed NCL. Wow - even their low price and desirable itinerary and embarkation port could not begin to overcome the dismal overall ambience.

 

Please, HAL --- come back to New York with your winter sailings!

[visagrunt]

I would go so far as to say that HAL is, indeed, paying attention--and that their decisions over the last decade demonstrate where they believe their market his headed.

 

Operating the S-class and R-class ships is likely headed into unsustainable territory. These ships lack the economies of scale that make the larger ships profitable, and they lack the éclat that justifies the higher fares that the ships' operating costs will need. That trend is going to continue as more and more of the market is taken up by ever larger ships with more amenities and lower fares. The mid-size ship market is going to be the domain of lines line RSSC, Oceania, Azamara and Crystal--the lines that can charge the prices that those ships need to turn a profit.

 

Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam represent HAL's future--attracting the either-side-of-40 crowd.

[sail7seas]

PP

Remember Princess is now part of the Holland America Group- as is P&O Australia. So, the two ships going to Australia are staying within the "Holland America Group".

 

I'm watching the changes being made to these ships with great interest- may be a sign of things to come company wide.

 

Doesn't Mr. Stein Kruse head up b oth P rincess and HAL?

Edited September 12, 2016 by sail7seas