HAL Ambience

[jimmy2x]

I haven't read every post in this thread, so someone may have covered this already; if so I apologize for the repetition.

 

One important thing to remember is that Holland-America has been around for over 140 years, and much of the onboard "culture" reflects the fact that the company's roots reach all the way back to the days when ships had masts and sails in addition to their coal-fired steam engines. Many HAL quirks and oddities are modern echoes of ancient traditions.

 

Although the fleet consists exclusively of modern cruise ships, many design elements deliberately recall the era of ocean liners - liberal use of dark wood, brass trim. etc. HAL's ships look and feel like ships, both inside and out. People who prefer (or are accustomed to) ultra-modern designs that seem more like land-based resorts will probably be disconcerted, if not disappointed.

 

I find that the things that HAL is least good at are all the newfangled concepts like open dining, multiple restaurants, entertainment variety, and so on. Seriously. Anytime dining has only been a thing for what, the last 15 years or so? And HAL only got around to it within the last 6 or 7? That's about 5% of the Line's lifespan. This is truly a quantum shift for them. I would imagine that many of their veteran hotel and dining staffers were trained in the "old ways" (which, again, persisted on HAL into 21st century), and so change comes slowly when it comes at all.

 

Speaking personally, it's that old-time ocean liner culture that keeps bringing me back, even though it gets more and more diluted every year. I sail HAL because I want to focus on the sea voyage, not be endlessly distracted from it with (to my mind) absurdities like rock climbing, flow riding, pub hopping, ice skating, atrium-gazing, and whatever else is on offer these days. I can do all those things on land if I want to. It's the things that can't be done on land, and were traditionally the province of the grand liners of yore, that I believe HAL (along with Cunard, another hoary ancient) is best at.

 

As others have commented, we could not agree more! I cruise to be back at sea - the ports are incidental. We rarely go to malls or amusement parks at home, and certainly have no wish to do so on a cruise.

[the2ofus]

Floridiana and Alcarondas have nicely expressed my thoughts also.

 

On my last two HAL cruises I have used As You Wish Dining, not out of preference but because of circumstances which were different than my usual cruise situation. As a solo or as two people there was never any difficulty in being seated within a few minutes of our arrival at the dining room. We made our choice about dining alone or with others and never had an unpleasant meal. These cruises were on Noordam and Eurodam. The situation on other ships may be different.

 

One other aspect of HAL's ambiance that I enjoy is the absence of background 'noise'. If there is piped in music in some areas it is not obtrusive and there is no insistent drumbeat forcing itself on your consciousness. While others enjoy the soaring atria on RCI, I found it to be filled with distracting noise which reverberated from all the walls.

[Caribbean Chris]

Thank you, Alcarondas, for saying so well what crossed my mind the first day this thread started. The seafaring Dutch tradition is a huge part of HAL's personality and gives the line a subtle dignity that newer cruiselines cannot create out of thin air.

[hrhdhd]

I agree with sun~ to some extent: having cruised on 4 lines now, soon to be 5, I haven't seen an appreciable difference in the crews' demeanor.

 

I also must be in the minority because I don't want to get on a cruise ship and feel like I'm home. I'm on vacation. I want to feel as if I'm not at home. I don't need the crew to become familiar with me, except to the extent that I'd like hot tea after dinner. ;)

Edited January 28, 2015 by hrhdhd

[Waverolling]

We will be experiencing our first HAL cruise Oct./2015 a transatlantic from Rome to Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I have to admit after I booked I wondered if we had picked the wrong cruise line because of various comments I had been reading on cruise critic.

Even one of the travel agents (not the one we were dealing with) was trying to discourage us from HAL gave me the impression it would not be an exciting cruise geared more for the older crowd. We are both senior citizens (young at heart of course) so I'm not sure what she was getting at there. She started printing off various transatlantic cruises from other cruise lines for me. I told her we really liked the timeframe and itinerary for the HAL one and that's what we are going for. We weren't looking for party central but didn't want to be in bed by 9 either.

 

After reading some of the good feedback on this thread I feel really good that we have made the right decision. The ship is the Zuiderdam and we booked a signature suite on the Upper Veranda deck 6 it looked like a good area mid-ship.

 

We are not hard to please and I'm sure we will have a fantastic experience. Plus our cruising has been very limited so we don't have much to compare it with. Just looking for a good time in celebration of our 50th anniversary that's the reason for this trip. We will be pumped by the time October rolls around.

 

Keep the positive comments coming!!

[heakja]

Very interesting thread. My partner and I have sailed NCL, Celebrity and RCL, and now we have decided to try HAL on a Panama Canal cruise in Feb 2016. We are in our 30s, but are actually looking forward to escape all the "glitz" we experienced on NCL Getaway in August. We can visit amusement parks at home, at a cruise we want some quiet, quality, adult time.