Should we stay with HAL

[leck57]

First up, full disclosure - we have done 10 cruises with Princess and a couple with Celebrity.

 

We recently completed our first cruise with HAL on Westerdam, a return cruise from Singapore through Malaysia and Thailand. Overall we had a great time and the points I'll raise now, I appreciate, are first world problems.

 

The Westerdam was in good shape, our balcony cabin as good or better than Princess, the crew fantastic with a few exceptions, and dining room food (subjective I know) was as good as any cruise we have taken. However the entertainment was poor, activities limited and often held in poor venues (eg bingo in Billboard), ship layout was not great (had to go to level 10 to get a decent coffee, not in a central location, Billboard was against the casino), on some occasions the Open Dining seating wait time and organization was a shambles, the layout of the buffet was poor. The main issue we had was that the tendering, which was done at two ports we were supposed to dock, was terrible. They ran limited tenders and seemed to have little docking space at the drop off point which slowed the process. At Langkawi I could have swum over to the large port which we have docked at previously, but for some reason HAL dropped anchor and tendered here. At Phuket we waited around three hours total on one day we were there to get to shore and then back. Overall, I quite liked the ship but it had no wow factor and I'd hate to spend many sea days on a cool weather cruise on her.

 

However, we like the look of a cruise in April next year that goes to the Canary Islands then the Baltics, for 27 days. The ship is the Nieuw Statendam. I appreciate that this ship is newer and larger than Westerdam and the itinerary appeals greatly. With Have it All the cost is quite significant for a balcony cabin. I would be interested in the views of people that have been on both ships or Statendam in particular whether the issues I raised above are not so much of a problem on the Statendam. I stress the Westerdam cruise was not a bad one but there were some things we haven't experienced on other cruise lines. Please, no flaming. I have tried to be objective and hope for open minded responses. Thank you.

  

Edited February 17, 2023 by leck57

[REOVA]

I would suggest NS in April for you. You may like the larger ship, more music venue and definitely the Dutch Cafe. But book the lowest cabin in your category and pay for Club Orange upgrade to select a "better" cabin in that category. 

 

With this caveat: HAL has had a 40% decrease in their contract entertainers not coming back and many of their crew are new. Hopefully in a year+ they will have things ironed out. But the Pinnacle Class ships (which I personally don't prefer but may be better experience for you) seem to be too big for the ratio of crew they use so having Club Orange helps to have some more attentive dining and customer service (although we shouldn't have to pay extra for that). 

[scokely]

I sailed on the NS February of 2019 and the sister ship Rotterdam for a Baltic cruise last may. Unfortunately I can't comment on the tendering as we never ended up tendering with either ship. 

 

I get picky with coffee and felt the only truly good coffee came from the Dutch Cafe, which is in a pretty central location and had a wonderful seating area. It was very convenient stop entering or exiting the ship. The food offered was great on the Baltic cruise, split pea soup wasn't appealing in the warm Carribean but after a rainy day in Norway it hit the spot. I did run to the buffet for coffee or tea on a few occasions I woke up before DC was open, certainly not terrible but not my first choice.

 

Activities across the lines certainly seem more limited. We are avid Happy Hour trivia attendees, and my husband really enjoyed the various musical acts at the Music Walk venues, so they had everything we needed. Neither of us are great at sitting through the large scale productions. 

 

For both cruises we were in a balcony cabin and did the Have it All with the last one. Our last cruise was 14 days and I couldn't have imagined doing it in anything other than a balcony. Sailing through the Swedish archipelago happens early in the morning and it was amazing to sit on our balcony and watch it go by. 

 

We will be trying Celebrity again for a Mediterranean itinerary this summer and plan to decide after that which line to sail on going forward. 

[VMax1700]

We are booked on the 14day Canary Islands cruise.  Unusual itinerary for HAL so jumped at it.

There are no tender ports on that segment.  There are two tender ports on the following Baltic segment, but we have not been to either of the ports so really cannot comment.  Also being 4 star we would have priority tendering ashore.

We have about 70 days on Koningsdam, older sister to Nieuw Statendam, and just one 14 day cruise on Rotterdam with another 14 days due this year.  We would not hesitate to book any of the Pinnacle class ships in preference to the other ships.  More music venues and Dutch cafe are the two important facilities on these ships.

Come and join us!

[montythecat]

We are new converts to HAL from Celebrity because we like the 

music which, for us, is much more varied and enjoyable. This 

was particularly the case on NS although we thought Oosterdam

was pretty good. Overall, everything about NS appealed to us and

we decided that it was our favourite ship (nearly 30 cruises). The

crew were great and The Dutch Cafe is alone worth the price.

Great choice of beers, delicious toasted sandwiches (honestly!)

and circular chocolate and cream pastries (just described to me

as a profiterole or chocolate eclair on steroids) to die for.

The itinerary you are looking at will be wonderful. We have been

on three cruises in The Baltic. So much to see with terrific

variety. It is one of our favourite destinations. Enjoy !

[HappyInVan]

2 hours ago, leck57 said:

Overall we had a great time and the points I'll raise now, I appreciate, are first world problems.

 

 

Its possible that the tendering problems were unique to the itinerary and to your voyage. Sadly, entertainment is likely to be diminished as HAL shuts down parts of Music Walk.

 

Personally, I prefer to sail in the Pinnacle ships. More spacious and with greater choice of food outlets.

 

Sadly, by all accounts, HAL's quality is diminishing as their customer base increased. 

[*Miss G*]

I have sailed on both ships and agree with the others that you can’t go wrong with the Nieuw Statendam.  It is worlds apart from the Westerdam and, based on your likes and dislikes, it sounds like what you are hoping for.

 

As @REOVAsuggests, take a look at Club Orange.  If you decide to go with it, make sure you request it at the time of booking.  Take a look at the Deck Plan and be ready with your preferred cabins within that category (Verandah, OV, Inside, Suites) as you will be assigned immediately.

[3rdGenCunarder]

51 minutes ago, HappyInVan said:

 

Its possible that the tendering problems were unique to the itinerary and to your voyage. Sadly, entertainment is likely to be diminished as HAL shuts down parts of Music Walk.

 

Personally, I prefer to sail in the Pinnacle ships. More spacious and with greater choice of food outlets.

 

Sadly, by all accounts, HAL's quality is diminishing as their customer base increased. 

 

The tendering problems could also be due to decisions made by the port.  When we had a stop at Bali, (Cunard, not HAL) there was a nice long pier for the tenders to use, but for some reason, they allowed only one tender at a time. The ship had plenty of tenders in the water, but there was nothing they could do about the pier restriction.

[Overhead Fred]

@leck57 - I have not sailed on the Westerdam but have been on one of its sister ships (Oosterdam) at least twice. We have been on the Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam several times.

 

The Pinnacle class ships like the Nieuw Statendam, have more entertainment venues and more restaurant choices. The music programs seem to be evolving and there has been much turmoil on the HAL forum about this. But nobody really knows how good or bad the changes will be. 

 

The Dutch Cafe does have very good coffee (and food!) and is fairly centrally located. The Lido on the NS seems more spacious and well organized to me. We usually only have breakfast or lunch there and try to go during off-peak times. 

 

The chaos, or lack thereof, for MDR open seating may vary a lot from ship to ship and cruise to cruise depending on passenger load (and temperament), staffing level, cruise length, and such. We always use late fixed dining, so I can't comment directly. Club Orange is worth considering.

 

Tendering should be similar on the ship-side assuming the crew is well trained as per usual. However, weather and shore-side operations can have significant detrimental effects.

 

I think you will be happy with your proposed Canary Islands/Baltic cruise on the Nieuw Statendam. Especially since you will be cruising the Canary Islands with @VMax1700 and us 😁!

Edited February 17, 2023 by Overhead Fred

[iceman93]

Thank you for asking your question in such an open-minded way.  The Westerdam and the Nieuw Statendam are the two ships my family has sailed most recently, both within the past year.  I'll sum up by saying I think you should give the NS cruise a try, and then draw your own conclusions about HAL after that.

 

Tendering on our Westerdam cruise was, like yours, a frustrating pain in the neck.  I don't know whose fault it was, but the process seemed disjointed and highly inefficient and was only exacerbated by being in a hot climate and HAL mandating mask wearing while on the tenders.

 

We didn't necessarily mind the lack of activities as we find plenty to do on our own, but understand what you mean about the odd choices of venues for certain things.  And we didn't find the Lido buffet any harder to navigate than on any other ship, except for certain stations being randomly closed forcing us to go to the other side for particular items.

 

The NS, I think, has more of that "wow factor" you're looking for.  It's more modernly-designed, with a nifty music theme throughout.  Everything is more spaced out, so there's not so much "venue clash".  There are more specialty dining venues which not only offers more variety on a longer cruise like the one you're considering, but also spreads out the crowds.  And tendering was night-and-day different from the Westerdam--quick, efficient, and quite tolerable in comparison.  Ironically, the "cruise and activities director" on the NS was a dud while the one on the Westerdam (I assume the same Aussie chap you had) was fun and engaging.  But there are just certain limitations with an older, smaller ship that you already pointed out.

 

I realize the cost of a 27-day cruise on the NS must be an awful lot just to gamble that it's going to be a good experience.  But for what it's worth, I think it's a relatively safe gamble.  The things you liked about the Westerdam will still exist on the NS, and many of the things you didn't like will be improved.