Rare FlaMariner Posted September 20 #1 Share Posted September 20 Our kids (28 and 31) grew up cruising with us starting with Carnival and quickly graduating to HAL. Daughter is 8 points from being 3*. She just got off her first Royal Caribbean cruise.....Caribbean run out of Miami with friends celebrating a friends upcoming wedding..... Her phone call to us started with: "I get it now why you sail HAL". When asked why?....Her response/review of the cruise: It was soooo crowded the passengers were pushy and some of the passengers were mean to the crew the food is so much better on HAL the crew seemed happy and were better on HAL I just like the HAL cabins better...they seem bigger the lido deck area was so loud with "boom/boom/boom" music blasting that we laughed how we had to raise our voices to talk to each other there were chair hogs just like HAL no free sushi and they charge for everything & too many "charge" restaurants ship was so big...I'm sure I never went to many of the areas their private island was nice like HMC and it did have a pool which was good She's looking forward to sailing with her Grandma and cousins on the Nieuw Statendam in a few months. Also, the son (31) is getting married next year and he asked me to find him a Holland America Line cruise for the honeymoon. My conclusions: The apple does not fall far from the tree and HAL will be fine with the next generation. 50 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare puppycanducruise Posted September 20 #2 Share Posted September 20 Glad your daughter likes HAL. Thanks for sharing the comments. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdw1972 Posted September 20 #3 Share Posted September 20 My son grew up cruising HAL starting around age 11, so that's what he knew. He's an only child and was used to being around adult company. I always rented the tux package for him so on formal nights he was properly dressed. On land I made him order from the kids' menu but on a cruise he could eat whatever he wanted, and that ended up including escargot, jumbo shrimp, lobster, steaks, etc - all the adult stuff. He enjoyed Club HAL, with the limited # of kids generally meaning they got to decide each day what the activities would be. Before dinner we'd sit in the Ocean Bar and watch the couples dancing - me enjoying the cocktail of the day, him the mocktail of the day. After dinner we went to whatever show was in the World Stage. He loved it all. I was younger then too (almost 30 years ago) and we really enjoyed the older passengers. At age 13 I threw a Disney cruise into the mix - I remember him asking me if his future cruises could please be on HAL. His reason - too many kids! As a young adult he did a Carnival cruise with a bunch of buddies. I assumed he'd love it - drinking, eating, partying - he was in the demographic. He came back saying it sucked - lousy food, drunk/obnoxious passengers, just really tacky overall. A couple years later he & his girlfriend booked a 7-day Eurodam cruise, where he proposed at the Pinnacle Grill. They'll be on Nieuw Amsterdam in Alaska next year to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. Other than a couple Disney cruises they've done with their son (he's 8 now), they seem to be fine with HAL! Sue/WDW1972 26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Mary229 Posted September 20 #4 Share Posted September 20 I have often heard from reports and directly from the crew that HAL is one of the best employers in the industry. To me that is very important. I always like to do business with people who are doing the basics right. Good crew and good mechanical - they have both 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare FlaMariner Posted September 20 Author #5 Share Posted September 20 1 hour ago, wdw1972 said: but on a cruise he could eat whatever he wanted, and that ended up including escargot, jumbo shrimp, lobster, steaks, etc - all the adult stuff. That was an important part for us too in raising our kids.....Today, they seem to enjoy a wide variety of foods...they really learned to enjoy fish from HAL. Also, they had to order their own food at the MDR and discuss with the waiter....no chicken tenders or ranch dressing....Helped later in life, so we think. 8 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare FlaMariner Posted September 20 Author #6 Share Posted September 20 (edited) 1 hour ago, wdw1972 said: A couple years later he & his girlfriend booked a 7-day Eurodam cruise, where he proposed at the Pinnacle Grill. Awesome! Edited September 20 by FlaMariner 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcrcruiser Posted September 20 #7 Share Posted September 20 RCLs new huge ships are a destunation in themselves . however ,RCL does have ships that are similar in size to some HAL ships . We found RCL food as good as HALs MDR food . RCL has stage shows every night where HAL does not have stage shows every night . we also found that Celebrity ,RCLs upgrade cruise line was excellent in all regards . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcrcruiser Posted September 20 #8 Share Posted September 20 Just now, mcrcruiser said: RCLs new huge ships are a destunation in themselves . however ,RCL does have ships that are similar in size to some HAL ships . We found RCL food as good as HALs MDR food . RCL has stage shows every night where HAL does not have stage shows every night . we also found that Celebrity ,RCLs upgrade cruise line was excellent in all regards . Yes we certainly can make accurate comparisins being 3 star on HAL ,diamond on royal ships & Elite Plus on Celebrity ships .. There is truly no bad ship .what is different is what a person gets use to in selection of cuise lines 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare albingirl Posted September 20 #9 Share Posted September 20 1 hour ago, mcrcruiser said: RCLs new huge ships are a destunation in themselves . however ,RCL does have ships that are similar in size to some HAL ships . We found RCL food as good as HALs MDR food . RCL has stage shows every night where HAL does not have stage shows every night . we also found that Celebrity ,RCLs upgrade cruise line was excellent in all regards . NCL has wonderful stage shows, too, but you couldn't get me on one of their mammoth ships again. Too big, too loud, and just a crazy feeling upon embarking. Like, uh oh, what have we done? I'll happily skip stage shows in exchange for sanity. 12 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srsurman Posted September 20 #10 Share Posted September 20 7 hours ago, FlaMariner said: My conclusions: The apple does not fall far from the tree and HAL will be fine with the next generation. In other words, plenty of snooty and/or introverted and/or quiet and reserved youth to follow in their parents' footsteps (my children included). 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shiner6 Posted September 20 #11 Share Posted September 20 My children also like HAL better than all the others except for Disney. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happily@Sea Posted September 20 #12 Share Posted September 20 8 hours ago, FlaMariner said: Our kids (28 and 31) grew up cruising with us starting with Carnival and quickly graduating to HAL. Daughter is 8 points from being 3*. She just got off her first Royal Caribbean cruise.....Caribbean run out of Miami with friends celebrating a friends upcoming wedding..... Her phone call to us started with: "I get it now why you sail HAL". When asked why?....Her response/review of the cruise: It was soooo crowded the passengers were pushy and some of the passengers were mean to the crew the food is so much better on HAL the crew seemed happy and were better on HAL I just like the HAL cabins better...they seem bigger the lido deck area was so loud with "boom/boom/boom" music blasting that we laughed how we had to raise our voices to talk to each other there were chair hogs just like HAL no free sushi and they charge for everything & too many "charge" restaurants ship was so big...I'm sure I never went to many of the areas their private island was nice like HMC and it did have a pool which was good She's looking forward to sailing with her Grandma and cousins on the Nieuw Statendam in a few months. Also, the son (31) is getting married next year and he asked me to find him a Holland America Line cruise for the honeymoon. My conclusions: The apple does not fall far from the tree and HAL will be fine with the next generation. For me it was the constant announcements. Even with the speaker turned off in your room, the hallway ones were still loud enough to hear clearly in your stateroom. Plus I didn't need 'toys' I would never use. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a.madruga Posted September 20 #13 Share Posted September 20 we began with Carnival when the kids were small then tested Celebrity(when they were on their own) which we loved now gotten older and HAL or Princess will do us fine....usually it's the ports that we chose from. As much as we hate to say loyalty does not mean anything to cruise lines and to us more bang for our retired bucks. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxThrusters Posted September 21 #14 Share Posted September 21 I always knew I would not enjoy the big RCL, Carnival, etc ships with the slides and noise and party-party atmosphere. My first cruise was on a Cunard ship, and while I enjoyed it, the fussiness and class separations were a bit tiresome. We couldn't have new friends from the Britannia class dine with us in our Grills dining room. We dined with them one evening in the Britannia dining room instead, and joined for dessert on other evenings. HAL was chosen for our second cruise, and we have returned again and again since. It's had just the right amount of 'fussy', which was practically none at all (and likely less these days). The MDR, Lido, and pool areas can get noisy/busy but it was quite tolerable. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare QuattroRomeo Posted September 21 #15 Share Posted September 21 Some great HAL stories here.. thanks for sharing! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessTraveller Posted September 21 #16 Share Posted September 21 I have only sailed HAL and Seabourn previously until this simmer when I went on a family cruise which other family members chose Royal Caribbean, Brilliance of the Seas to be exact. It was my first and will be my last RC cruise. Only positives were: 1) one of the paid restaurants we went to for lunch and 2) MDR stuff, who were all excellent. Since a smaller RC ship was selected (~2,600 passengers), I thought it would be a decent comparison to HAL. Boy, was I wrong! Everywhere on the ship felt crowded, cabin and public areas were very worn and in great need of attention or refurb. RC food at breakfast and lunch would best be described as institutional cuisine in selection, preparation and quality. My university had much better food. I could go on and on but I will simply end on the fact that I will not be utilizing a FFC credit RC provided for an issue that occured while on board. They can keep it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcrcruiser Posted September 21 #17 Share Posted September 21 14 hours ago, albingirl said: NCL has wonderful stage shows, too, but you couldn't get me on one of their mammoth ships again. Too big, too loud, and just a crazy feeling upon embarking. Like, uh oh, what have we done? I'll happily skip stage shows in exchange for sanity. We never experienced too big or too loud .i In fact just the opposite on RCL & Celebrity ships .We would not sail on the huge ships but their mid size are very very good in all regards . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infi Posted September 21 #18 Share Posted September 21 I grew up on cruise ships (first cruise at 18 months old and many more since) and am now in my 30s. Started sailing HAL 15 years ago and love the experience. The unique itineraries, fabulous crew, high quality food and service, and little touches are what make HAL my favorite line and keep me coming back for more cruises. In fact, the main issue I've encountered on HAL are passengers older than me making snarky comments about my age or asking why I chose to sail on "an old person's cruise line". I am known as the "cruise person" at work and in my friend circles, and often get asked for cruise advice or cruise line recommendations. Truth be told, as much as I personally love HAL, I would be reluctant to recommend it to my friends. The majority of twenty and thirtysomethings expect the constant entertainment, water slides and various active amenities, and party atmosphere they see in cruise commercials. It goes without saying that HAL's entertainment is its weak point, and while I appreciate the destination lectures, trivia, arts and crafts, etc., the majority of my peers would be bored out of their minds. I say this not to malign HAL, but I'm cognizant that it's not the right fit for many, and that's why it's great that there's so many lines for the variety of vacationer types and personalities. Being a good friend means considering their likes/needs, and I recommend cruise lines accordingly. (For example, I count my cruise on Carnival as probably the worst I've ever taken, but I know it's the right fit for many for a quick getaway or booze cruise and do recommend it to others.) I love HAL and would recommend it to anyone looking for a quieter experience, interesting ports, and quality service and little details, but those personality types in my age group are quite rare. I do believe that when my peers get older (or perhaps grow to appreciate the HAL's qualities), it will be a better fit for them, hopefully keeping HAL in business for many years to come. 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike_and_Co Posted September 21 #19 Share Posted September 21 (edited) On 9/20/2024 at 6:23 AM, FlaMariner said: Our kids (28 and 31) I remember when my Dad looked at me and said reflectively "My youngest is 50." It was a poignant moment, particularly as he was nearly 40 when I popped onto the scene. Now, with the kids going on 42 we are about 8 years from having the same experience, though we won't be anywhere near as old as he was, but still... Oh, and pardon me, did you say something about cruising or something? 🤣 Edited September 21 by Mike_and_Co 1 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevingastreich Posted September 21 #20 Share Posted September 21 I like HAL better than RCL too but the entertainment on Royal is WAY WAY better. Whenever we cruise with the kids and grandkids, we choose RCL. It is definitely a different vibe so you have to be prepared for it. Hal is my first choice for relaxed, elegant cruising but I always have fun on RCL. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxThrusters Posted September 22 #21 Share Posted September 22 4 hours ago, kevingastreich said: I like HAL better than RCL too but the entertainment on Royal is WAY WAY better. Whenever we cruise with the kids and grandkids, we choose RCL. It is definitely a different vibe so you have to be prepared for it. Hal is my first choice for relaxed, elegant cruising but I always have fun on RCL. If I could convince family or friends to join us on a cruise, I would certainly consider one of the mega ships just for them, if I thought they would like that better. Easier to herd cats than get people to join in though! I've literally offered friend/family members a FREE cruise as 3rd in a cabin and got excuses like "oh what if I don't like it, and am trapped on a ship' or some such. Sigh 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare QuattroRomeo Posted September 22 #22 Share Posted September 22 4 hours ago, MaxThrusters said: If I could convince family or friends to join us on a cruise, I would certainly consider one of the mega ships just for them, if I thought they would like that better. Easier to herd cats than get people to join in though! I've literally offered friend/family members a FREE cruise as 3rd in a cabin and got excuses like "oh what if I don't like it, and am trapped on a ship' or some such. Sigh yes, some people who have never tried cruising have weird notions about being trapped inside with nowhere to go and nothing to do..! oh well, their loss! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxThrusters Posted September 23 #23 Share Posted September 23 19 hours ago, QuattroRomeo said: yes, some people who have never tried cruising have weird notions about being trapped inside with nowhere to go and nothing to do..! oh well, their loss! So true! There is in fact too much to do. I've never been able to do everything I wanted that was in any daily programme! 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcrcruiser Posted September 23 #24 Share Posted September 23 HAL is the best for itineraries & longer cruises .In fact in the moderate pricing category they are well known for those attributes .Then go to mid size ships for RCL & Celebrity & to us it gives the best of HAL as well as better entertainment .We never would sail on ECL mega sized ships . Our Daughter & Son in Law are flying 6 plus themselves & thast includes their 3 grand chldren to sail on RCL mega newest ship . They fly from LAX to Ft Lauderdale . This experience for the grand children will be exciting for them (our great grand children ) .We would not go on that vessel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbodb1 Posted September 25 #25 Share Posted September 25 (edited) On 9/20/2024 at 10:18 AM, FlaMariner said: That was an important part for us too in raising our kids.....Today, they seem to enjoy a wide variety of foods...they really learned to enjoy fish from HAL. Also, they had to order their own food at the MDR and discuss with the waiter....no chicken tenders or ranch dressing....Helped later in life, so we think. Precisely the way we raised our three kids as well and I would like to think your conclusion is very accurate! Edited September 25 by bbodb1 fix typo 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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