Is Holland America a Good Fit For Me?

[marshhawk]

Well, quiet nights with the motion of the ocean  and the sound  seems wonderful to me.  it's scary, I never really think of myself as old, just more old cat like.

[Hlitner]

On 7/24/2021 at 9:55 AM, Level six said:

HAL has good itineraries, but the ship life seemed more like a rest home to me.  The "entertainment and night life" was the worst I have ever seen on any cruise line.  Even their "party night" was like a sleep party with a few people playing the piano.  We are early 60, not the party type, but it was pretty boring.

Having said that, if HAL had a great itinerary at a good price, I would sail with them again and just treat the ship like a hotel. 

Was just catching up on this thread and spotted your post.  Although we are in our 70s and long time HAL cruisers (5* Mariners) your post does reflect our own experience/feelings.  At this point in time we only consider HAL cruises if there is a really terrific itinerary and would not generally book HAL if there were other cruise options that had a similar itinerary.   Bottom line is that we are normally happy to be on HAL but can be somewhat happier if we are on other lines with better cuisine, entertainment, and some life after 9:30 pm.

 

I continue to be puzzled as to HAL's philosophy regarding onboard entertainment.   Consider that their closely allied sister company, Seabourn, has gone in a complete opposite direction even though they operate smaller ships with fewer passengers.  Seabourn contracts with Belinda King Productions (a decent English production company) to provide top notch singers/dancers for their various Production shows.  Even their smallest 450 passenger vessels will carry 2 bands plus a piano bar singer/player.  We recently cruised (twice) on Seabourn and were delighted to see that this type entertainment (including one brand new Production show) continued even though the number of passengers ranged between 25 and 50% of ship capacity.  

 

We have often wondered if the early nights we have experienced on many HAL cruisers (where most passengers are in their cabins by 9:30) is because older folks just like to go to bed early or they go to their cabins early because the onboard options are not sufficient to keep their interest.  We have been on other lines that will have a late (11:30 or midnight) adult comedy show and have met plenty of cruisers who would stay awake (and spend money in the bars) just so they could attend those comedy shows.  On HAL ships the only thing happening at midnight is the activity of the night cleaning crew.

 

Hank

 

Hank