What has happened to the quality of the on board activities / shipboard experience

[Ken the cruiser]

I'm surprised by the 1940s music, because that was my parents' era. They are both deceased, and would be 91 and 92 respectively if they were still alive. Maybe a handful of passengers that age on any HAL cruise? I wonder who selects the onboard music?

 

I enjoy music from a variety of eras, but wouldn't enjoy an entire cruise of 1940s and classical.

 

Roz

When we were on the Zaandam's Antarctica cruise in January, which was fantastic BTW, we felt the production shows were more in line with what you would see and hear on a Lawrence Welk Show which ran from 1955 to 1982. The same was the case on our 14 day Alaska cruise this past summer on the Amsterdam; although not as extreme. On the other hand the guest entertainers for the most part on both cruises were very enjoyable.

[Roz]

I think HAL is having an identity crisis. The line needs to decide who/what is its target audience. Lawrence Welk, Oprah, BB King, BBC World...it's all over the place.

 

Roz

[JT1962]

I think HAL is having an identity crisis. The line needs to decide who/what is its target audience. Lawrence Welk, Oprah, BB King, BBC World...it's all over the place.

 

 

 

Roz

 

 

 

I agree. It appears they are trying to keep their longtime cruisers happy while trying to get new customers who have different interests. A cruise line cannot appeal to everyone and when it tries to, it soon appeals to no one.

 

 

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[JT1962]

Having suffered through my own parents Lawrence Welk tastes when I was younger, there is NO Lawrence Welk music style on any HAL ship we have been on - almost 500 days. And there are NO bubble machines.

 

 

I can only speak for my experience on the Rotterdam, but Lawrence Welk Style would be the perfect description of what we experienced.

 

 

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[BCEagle78]

Thanks for all of the responses... just a little more about us... we are looking at a cruise out of San Diego to Hawaii in November. We did this same cruise back in 2006 with some friends that we met on Cruise Critic. This was organized by Rev Neal who call the cruise "The Voyage of the Spammed". It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some wonderful people. We are in our early 60s and recently retired (2 years).

 

The cruise that we are looking at now is in November. It is 18 days in total with 10 sea days. With all that time at sea, we were looking for at least some activities other than cooking lessons. We have always liked the Holland America style...

 

We are also looking at Princess which we have sailed on 10 times. We ruled out NCL and Celebrity for a number of reasons. I really was hoping that Holland America would be it for this cruise but it is unclear if it is the best choice for this length of cruise. Is there a way to find out in advance if there are guest lecturers scheduled or what activities might be planned for a given cruise?

[JT1962]

Except that it isn't a perfect description at all and in fact is insulting. Work harder and come up with a far more accurate description if you really want to see changes. But far better, why not just choose another cruiseline that suits your tastes better. Why try to beat HAL to death because it has a very strong niche among the over 70 crowd? You have far more choices than just one cruise line. Which is not true for many of us over 70 who still like the quiet and sedate ambiance of HAL ships - pretty much HAL or nothing for us. While you have choices galore.

 

 

 

I think Lawrence Welk Style described it perfectly and most people understand what that means. It wasn’t derogatory, just a description. I am not trying to change HAL, just answering a question based on my experience. Everyone has different opinions and I was offering mine. I have and will continue to cruise other lines. It does seem that some take any comment that is not totally positive about HAL as a personal assault or a comment about their child.

 

As far as the HAL niche of over 70, that is fine, for now. But most of those customers will not be cruising in 10-15 years and HAL will need to determine who their future clientele will be. I would think I would be in the group they would be trying to appeal to - mid 50s, retiring in a few years, love to travel and have money to spend on travel - yet very little appealed to me. I don’t need water slides, roller coasters or hairy chest contests, but I do like a variety of entertainment options and music that is more upbeat.

 

 

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[OlsSalt]

My guess is for the longer cruises and those will those long at-sea day segments will still have a good array of enrichment activities. It is the under-14 day cruises that tend to offer fewer on board options and have over-hyped the for fee spa and sales stuff as "educational" offerings. Learn about "art", "jewels" and "health conditions" are not educational - they are sales pitches. Bah.

 

How you find out in advance? I don't know - hope someone else can give you good directions. But personally I would assume HAL will not disappoint for these known and longer at sea stints.

 

Let's start by assuming HAL doesn't want restless, unhappy passengers either. That is not the nature of their business. Do they now expect you to be content with port intensive itineraries on your own, or seduced into some fee-generating option instead on these shorter and port intensive cruises -apparently so.

[BCEagle78]

If you want live music, party, games, etc., by all means, please move on to other lines. I like HAL because they don't have any of those noisy things.

 

Crunchii, not looking for noisy things... just something interesting to do during sea days. Interesting lectures, maybe some trivia, maybe some golf/putting/chipping...

[Ken the cruiser]

I notice in your reports you have tendency to exaggerate (wildly), Ken. Having suffered through my own parents Lawrence Welk tastes when I was younger, there is NO Lawrence Welk music style on any HAL ship we have been on - almost 500 days. And there are NO bubble machines. We get it. You don't like HAL. You have moved on. Good for you. But don't lie about HAL ships.

Yes, we know you're a diehard HAL fan and they can do no wrong and after 500+ days, I can see why you would think that. We just don't have the same opinion of HAL anymore as you do and continue to hope for a more fun HAL with new experiences to enjoy on sea days rather than the same old selections as well as, of course, more upbeat and modern production shows.

 

But HAL still has a few cool itienaries we haven't tried, especially on the Prinsendam. We're currently waiting to book a July 2020 cruise on the Prinsendam to go to the Polar Ice Cap, Iceland and the UK. We were thinking about going around Australia on the Maasdam in Oct 2019, but we hear they're not doing that now. So we just booked another leg on our Crystal Southeast Asia cruise from Sydney to Singapore in April 2019 which opens us up to booking some southern Australia and southern New Zealand cruises in the Fall/Winter of 2020. We'll see who posts the best itineraries, HAL or Celebrity, and we'll go from there.

 

You see for us unique itineraries matter the most, but having a fun time on sea days is also very important along with going to upbeat production shows. So, if HAL offers the right itinerary we'll still check it out. We're really interested to see what's in the Maasdam's future with the zodiac excursions. But, so far we haven't seen any of her fall 2019/spring 2020 itineraries.

 

As I said earlier "We have nothing against HAL, it's just gotten too redundant and laid back for us, with one exception. As a person earlier mentioned, their 22 day Antarctica cruise this past January was fantastic with great lecturers and they even had a few interactive game shows if you like those kind of things as we do."

 

If they start offering that type of entertainment again on all of their cruises, not just on selected sailings 15 day or longer, that would be wonderful.

[cruisemom42]

Thanks for all of the responses... just a little more about us... we are looking at a cruise out of San Diego to Hawaii in November. We did this same cruise back in 2006 with some friends that we met on Cruise Critic. This was organized by Rev Neal who call the cruise "The Voyage of the Spammed". It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some wonderful people. We are in our early 60s and recently retired (2 years).

 

The cruise that we are looking at now is in November. It is 18 days in total with 10 sea days. With all that time at sea, we were looking for at least some activities other than cooking lessons. We have always liked the Holland America style...

 

We are also looking at Princess which we have sailed on 10 times. We ruled out NCL and Celebrity for a number of reasons. I really was hoping that Holland America would be it for this cruise but it is unclear if it is the best choice for this length of cruise. Is there a way to find out in advance if there are guest lecturers scheduled or what activities might be planned for a given cruise?

 

While I can't speak to this particular HAL itinerary, I know that the Princess cruises on this route have a variety of interesting activities with a Hawaiian theme, related to the destination. Also, having cruised with Princess fairly recently, I will say that they generally have more daytime activities and more live music (of many varieties) than currently found on HAL.

[albingirl]

We continue to sail with HAL because we like most things about the destinations. However, we did take a NCL Caribbean cruise last January and were amazed at their entertainment. Hands down, far superior to HAL. Trouble is that cruise line doesn't have the intinieries that we desire.

[kazu]

Thanks for all of the responses... just a little more about us... we are looking at a cruise out of San Diego to Hawaii in November. We did this same cruise back in 2006 with some friends that we met on Cruise Critic. This was organized by Rev Neal who call the cruise "The Voyage of the Spammed". It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some wonderful people. We are in our early 60s and recently retired (2 years).

 

The cruise that we are looking at now is in November. It is 18 days in total with 10 sea days. With all that time at sea, we were looking for at least some activities other than cooking lessons. We have always liked the Holland America style...

 

We are also looking at Princess which we have sailed on 10 times. We ruled out NCL and Celebrity for a number of reasons. I really was hoping that Holland America would be it for this cruise but it is unclear if it is the best choice for this length of cruise. Is there a way to find out in advance if there are guest lecturers scheduled or what activities might be planned for a given cruise?

 

The Hawaii leg is a lot of fun. On our cruise, we had a Hawaiian speaker who did lots of interesting talks - about culture, the islands, etc and also did some fun activities. Kainoa (sp?) is very good and everyone enjoyed him.

 

We had a Hawaaian group who taught hula at the Lido pool, drum lessons, ukelele lessons, ice sculpting, even a few pool games.

 

Certainly the days were full whether you wanted to participate or watch.

 

Now, ours was longer than 18 days, but from what I have read on the boards, the 18 day Circle is quite similar.

 

On our cruise the Hawaiian team got off on one of the islands so when we headed back to San Diego they weren't with us.

 

Hope this helps a bit.

 

Oh, and lots of trivia, etc.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Thanks for all of the responses... just a little more about us... we are looking at a cruise out of San Diego to Hawaii in November. We did this same cruise back in 2006 with some friends that we met on Cruise Critic. This was organized by Rev Neal who call the cruise "The Voyage of the Spammed". It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some wonderful people. We are in our early 60s and recently retired (2 years).

 

The cruise that we are looking at now is in November. It is 18 days in total with 10 sea days. With all that time at sea, we were looking for at least some activities other than cooking lessons. We have always liked the Holland America style...

 

We are also looking at Princess which we have sailed on 10 times. We ruled out NCL and Celebrity for a number of reasons. I really was hoping that Holland America would be it for this cruise but it is unclear if it is the best choice for this length of cruise. Is there a way to find out in advance if there are guest lecturers scheduled or what activities might be planned for a given cruise?

 

For your Hawai'i cruise, which I believe is on Eurodam, you should have the "On Location" team onboard, providing lessons in hula, ukelele, and lei making. They will also provide Hawai'i music and dance entertainment, lectures on topics pertaining to the region, and you will find regional food and beverage options in the menus. At least, this will be provided on the outbound portion of the cruise. Coming back to the US mainland, based on past experiences, there will still be some lectures offered, and there may be a special dinner offered, such as the Cellar Master dinner, but in my recollection there will be fewer entertainment choices, although there is usually a decent selection of entertainers for the evening shows in the main theater. Also, we do enjoy the music offerings on Eurodam, such as BB Kings, Lincoln Center, and Billboard Onboard. There should be some tea time dancing in the Ocean Bar on sea days.

 

As so many HAL cruisers have also observed, we cruise HAL for the relaxed and soothing atmosphere, good food, good service, well-appointed cabins, the opportunity to travel to interesting ports, and the chance to spend time together.

 

My sister, mother, and I are planning to do a Eurodam Hawai'i itinerary this coming October, so if that trip remains on our schedule, we'll be doing the usual blogging and posting of menus, the daily programs, photos, and commentary, and will gladly answer any questions at that time.

[Ken the cruiser]

Thanks for all of the responses... just a little more about us... we are looking at a cruise out of San Diego to Hawaii in November. We did this same cruise back in 2006 with some friends that we met on Cruise Critic. This was organized by Rev Neal who call the cruise "The Voyage of the Spammed". It was a lot of fun and I got to meet some wonderful people. We are in our early 60s and recently retired (2 years).

 

The cruise that we are looking at now is in November. It is 18 days in total with 10 sea days. With all that time at sea, we were looking for at least some activities other than cooking lessons. We have always liked the Holland America style...

 

We are also looking at Princess which we have sailed on 10 times. We ruled out NCL and Celebrity for a number of reasons. I really was hoping that Holland America would be it for this cruise but it is unclear if it is the best choice for this length of cruise. Is there a way to find out in advance if there are guest lecturers scheduled or what activities might be planned for a given cruise?

 

We sailed on that cruise in Nov 2016 on the Amsterdam and had a great time. There was a Hawaiian lecturer onboard who gave 2 lectures a day about Hawaii, it's evolution and how the other Pacific Islands played their role. We took HAL excursions in all of the ports and highly recommend you book the ones you feel are the better ones in advance rather than using OBC to purchase them onboard as some may be wait listed by then.

 

The food as usual was quite tasty, both in the MDR as well as the Lido deck. As far as things to do on sea days besides going to the lectures, there are the normal trivia, bingo and the Microsoft computer classes along with a few BBC Earth interactive game shows. But, there is also plenty of down time, which for us allows us to take advantage of the DVD player in the room watching Star Trek episodes as well as sit out on our veranda and watching the waves past by.

[OlsSalt]

Yes, we know you're a diehard HAL fan and they can do no wrong and after 500+ days, I can see why you would think that. We just don't have the same opinion of HAL anymore as you do and continue to hope for a more fun HAL with new experiences to enjoy on sea days rather than the same old selections as well as, of course, more upbeat and modern production shows.

 

But HAL still has a few cool itienaries we haven't tried, especially on the Prinsendam. We're currently waiting to book a July 2020 cruise on the Prinsendam to go to the Polar Ice Cap, Iceland and the UK. We were thinking about going around Australia on the Maasdam in Oct 2019, but we hear they're not doing that now. So we just booked another leg on our Crystal Southeast Asia cruise from Sydney to Singapore in April 2019 which opens us up to booking some southern Australia and southern New Zealand cruises in the Fall/Winter of 2020. We'll see who posts the best itineraries, HAL or Celebrity, and we'll go from there.

 

You see for us unique itineraries matter the most, but having a fun time on sea days is also very important along with going to upbeat production shows. So, if HAL offers the right itinerary we'll still check it out. We're really interested to see what's in the Maasdam's future with the zodiac excursions. But, so far we haven't seen any of her fall 2019/spring 2020 itineraries.

 

As I said earlier "We have nothing against HAL, it's just gotten too redundant and laid back for us, with one exception. As a person earlier mentioned, their 22 day Antarctica cruise this past January was fantastic with great lecturers and they even had a few interactive game shows if you like those kind of things as we do."

 

If they start offering that type of entertainment again on all of their cruises, not just on selected sailings 15 day or longer, that would be wonderful.

 

Ken continues to exaggerate. We just cancelled a longer HAL cruise because of what has happened to the Crows Nest and Libraries. Your own opinions will remain interesting, Ken. Just stay away from your exaggerated and inaccurate opinions about anyone else.

[JT1962]

No, Lawrence Welk style does not describe HAL music choices at all. Some of us know the LW style from personal experience. Challenge your critical thinking skills better than this easy but inaccurate and derogatory slur. Good choice, just leave HAL alone and choose from all the other options out there that suit you better. HAL's future clientele will also be 70 and 80 years old. And HAL will be responsive to them as well. Most in the 70's today will be cruising well into their 80's. Unless you know something that those of us now pushing 80 do not know?

 

Why would HAL turn their current older clientele (70-80's) marketing niche upside down to appeal to those now in their 50's and hope they get a 30 year loyalty commitment from them in return? Except when you are in your 70's and 80s; those 50 somethings now behind you will be slamming you as old fogies who need to be now insulted and tossed overboard, claiming your heavy metal rap is just not for them. Get with it, geezers.

 

Wow! Someone is bitter today, lol.

 

I have no doubt HAL will continue to cater to their current clientele. At some point those people will no longer be cruising and HAL will need to appeal to others. What those changes will be remains to be seen. I do know that companies that fail to change and appeal to new customers eventually shrink or go out of business as their traditional customers age or move on to better options - think Sears, Kodak, Blackberry, etc.

 

 

 

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Edited March 4, 2018 by JT1962

[OlsSalt]

Wow! Someone is bitter today, lol.

 

 

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LOL. Sure, that explains it.

[2Fltravelers]

Not just a dull cruise, but a dull cruise ship. We sailed on the Koningsdam as first time HAL cruisers in January on the same itinerary. We also found the daytime activities severely lacking, even on sea days. It was the first time ever that I finished 2 books on a cruise, even a TA with 8 sea days! I was told that it was because there were 8 ports but I doubt that was the case. We noted very few activities personnel and virtually no live music anywhere on the ship before 5 pm.

[kazu]

No, Lawrence Welk style does not describe HAL music choices at all. Some of us know the LW style from personal experience. Challenge your critical thinking skills better than this easy but inaccurate and derogatory slur. Good choice, just leave HAL alone and choose from all the other options out there that suit you better. HAL's future clientele will also be 70 and 80 years old. And HAL will be responsive to them as well. Most in the 70's today will be cruising well into their 80's. Unless you know something that those of us now pushing 80 do not know?

 

Why would HAL turn their current older clientele (70-80's) marketing niche upside down to appeal to those now in their 50's and hope they get a 30 year loyalty commitment from them in return? Except when you are in your 70's and 80s; those 50 somethings now behind you will be slamming you as old fogies who need to be now insulted and tossed overboard, claiming your heavy metal rap is just not for them. Get with it, geezers.

 

Wow! Are you in a bad mood today!!!!

 

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. You are a bit inaccurate in your statement too and tend to exagerrate.

 

I, for one am not in my 70's or 80's and neither are other HAL cruisers. Sure some are and many that are at that age are young at heart and do like entertainment and activities on board.

 

Choices are always good on board ;). Those who want to mellow out can do so and those that choose to do things can do so as well. It's a win win!

Edited March 4, 2018 by kazu

[JT1962]

Cute quote but not applicable in this case.[emoji6]

 

 

I agree. For whatever reason this person seems to think that HAL can do no wrong and if you are not satisfied or bored, it is your fault, certainly not HALs. Apparently if you don’t find the entertainment and activities interesting or stimulating, you are less sophisticated or it is a character flaw, not a lack of opportunities provided on the ship. If you post any negative experience you will quickly be told to find another cruise line.

 

We all know there are other cruise lines and most of us post here to give our experience and opinions for others who may be interested in learning more about a particular ship, line or port. Everyone has preferences and it is good to here all sides so we can make an informed decision when planning. Most of us don’t have unlimited time or money for travel and like to hear the positives and negatives before committing to a cruise.

 

 

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[Roz]

Crunchii, not looking for noisy things... just something interesting to do during sea days. Interesting lectures, maybe some trivia, maybe some golf/putting/chipping...

 

Agree with BCEagle totally. Activity doesn't have to mean noisy or frenetic. I started sailing HAL in 2001, and there used to be lectures, beanbag throws out on the Lido by the pool, golf putting, craft classes, live band out by the pool, etc.

 

I'm mid-60s and was not quite 50 when I started sailing HAL. If 70s and 80s is the target demographic, then clearly I'm out of it. That said, on my recent Mexican Riviera cruise, I would say it was predominantly a 50 - 70 yr. old crowd.

 

Roz

Edited March 4, 2018 by Roz

[OlsSalt]

Wow! Are you in a bad mood today???

 

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. You are a bit inaccurate in your statement too and tend to exagerrate.

 

I, for one am not in my 70's or 80's and neither are other HAL cruisers. Sure some are and many that are at that age are young at heart and do like entertainment and activities on board.

 

Choices are always good on board ;). Those who want to mellow out can do so and those that choose to do things can do so as well. It's a win win!

 

Yep, all this crazy and exaggerated HAL talk makes me peckish. Or maybe I went into a post-traumatic stress relapse at the mere suggestion HAL was now offering Lawrence Welk entertainment these days.

[JT1962]

Choices are always good on board ;). Those who want to mellow out can do so and those that choose to do things can do so as well. It's a win win!

 

 

Excellent point. The other lines I have cruised with offer more entertainment and activities, but also have quiet places for those that want that as well. You can always find a quiet place to read, do a puzzle, nap or just relax, but if no entertainment is offered, those who prefer that are out of luck. There is no right or wrong, just different preferences.

 

 

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[cruisemom42]

Wow! Are you in a bad mood today!!!!

 

People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. You are a bit inaccurate in your statement too and tend to exagerrate.

 

I, for one am not in my 70's or 80's and neither are other HAL cruisers. Sure some are and many that are at that age are young at heart and do like entertainment and activities on board.

 

Choices are always good on board ;). Those who want to mellow out can do so and those that choose to do things can do so as well. It's a win win!

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

Don't quite get how some complain vociferously about some change THEY don't like, yet when others do the same, their heads are roundly bitten off.

 

HAL is not a personal yacht for any one person or demographic. HAL's ships, even the smaller ones, are large enough to offer things that can please many, not just a few.

[OlsSalt]

I agree. For whatever reason this person seems to think that HAL can do no wrong and if you are not satisfied or bored, it is your fault, certainly not HALs. Apparently if you don’t find the entertainment and activities interesting or stimulating, you are less sophisticated or it is a character flaw, not a lack of opportunities provided on the ship. If you post any negative experience you will quickly be told to find another cruise line.

 

We all know there are other cruise lines and most of us post here to give our experience and opinions for others who may be interested in learning more about a particular ship, line or port. Everyone has preferences and it is good to here all sides so we can make an informed decision when planning. Most of us don’t have unlimited time or money for travel and like to hear the positives and negatives before committing to a cruise.

 

 

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Iti s your fault if you know this upfront and still pick HAL cruise ships.