Need your experienced feedback

[laineymb]

I am looking for input from experienced cruisers. Just came off the Westerdam and we were very unhappy. We have been most happy on Celebrity and formerly Princess.

I am thinking about Jewel of the Seas RCI, Millenium Celebrity and Caribbean Princess .

Our needs are as follows for a Caribbean itinerary:

Looking for creative and tasty Lido buffet, great dinner menus, good entertainment and a variety of daily activities

Please send me your favorites and your thoughts on the ships I noted-would appreciate new ideas too.

Thanks:)

[doone]

You didn't say why you were so disappointed in your Westerdam cruise.

[sail7seas]

You asked for our favorites........

 

My favorites are: Maasdam, Volendam, Noordam, Veendam, Ryndam, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Statendam, Zaandam, Zuiderdam ....haven't yet been on Oosterdam, Westerdam or Prinsendam (but will be soon).

 

Sorry you did not enjoy your cruise.

 

Do you wish to share with us what you thought could be improved?

The vast majority of people think that HAL does the best job of all the major lines with their Lido. You said a good Lido is important to you. Did you not enjoy it on your cruise?

 

Hope your next cruise is more to your liking.

 

(BTW........could you please try to use a somewhat larger font as that tiny type is very hard to read. Thanks if you can do that.)

[bottomrung]

Our first cruise ever was with HAL 10 years ago and the Lido was great especially since being on our first cruise ever we had no idea what cruising was all about. Our next cruises were with Carnival and RCCL and we were at disappointed with the Lido. Recent cruises with each of these cruise lines tell a different story, There Lido is great.

[Cruishappy@aol.com]

After 57 cruises - on many of the cruise lines - I would strongly reccommend the Jewel of the Seas on RCI --- just returned from a cruise on the Noordam and will be sailing on her again in the near future --- had I not made our reservations long in advance --- I believe would have chosen to cruise on RCI --- the food - in my opinion - on RCI was far superior - the accommodations were comparable - suite - the crew on the HAL were very accommodating - polite - and competent --- my preference for service would most definitely be HAL = the entertainment would be about the same - of course this is just a matter of personal preference --- I would definitely not reccommend Celebrity - and of course not Carnival - hope this has not offended anyone and that I do not get bashed --- but as I said this is just a matter of personal opinion ---

[Tricia724]

You might also want to ask this question on the Celebrity, RCI, and Princess boards. While many posters on the Holland America board sail other lines, some sail Holland America exclusively, and since you are looking for information on ships and cruises other than HAL, you would have a larger pool of people on the other boards who have sailed those particular ships to help you decide on your next cruise. I hope you find one that you will enjoy.

[MercedMike]

I am looking for input from experienced cruisers. Just came off the Westerdam and we were very unhappy. We have been most happy on Celebrity and formerly Princess.

I am thinking about Jewel of the Seas RCI, Millenium Celebrity and Caribbean Princess .

Our needs are as follows for a Caribbean itinerary:

Looking for creative and tasty Lido buffet, great dinner menus, good entertainment and a variety of daily activities

Please send me your favorites and your thoughts on the ships I noted-would appreciate new ideas too.

Thanks:)

 

Well, my consistent recommendations on this and other boards to people who want those things has been: The Vista class ships of HAL. We think the buffet is wonderful, the dinners are great, the entertainment is fairly good, and the variety of activities each day leaves us wishing we had more time to do more of them.

 

BUT -- if that did not work for you, then my next choice would be the Radiance class ships of RCI. Their buffet is every bit as good as the Vista ships, the dinners are pretty good but not quite up to HAL, the entertainment is good to very good, and the variety of activities is pretty good but not really full.

 

OTOH, you can try the Jewel class ships of Princess. The buffet is, frankly, disappointing, the dinners are great, the entertainment is very good, and the variety of activities is about average.

 

HMMMM -- guess what, there is some give and take on every ship. We have never been on a cruise, on these or other lines, where we let some small disappointments ruin the cruise for us, or keep us from returning to the line.

 

Whatever you choose, have a GREAT cruise!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Would really appreciate it if you would tell why you were unhappy with your Westerdam cruise.

 

We have sailed on her - twice - and enjoyed her.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We feel that the buffets have improved 100% since we first sailed on HAL in 1996.

[bottomrung]

As entertaintment goes the Ice Shows on the RCCL Voyager class ships cannot be equalled.

[laineymb]

Many of you have asked what I did not like about the ship. I have posted my review of the Westerdam.

I appreciate your feedback as well on my post.:)

[Roz]

Where is the review??? For someone who wants feedback, you're not providing much information.

 

Roz

[hammybee]

The OP posted a mini review on or about 12/25. If I recall, she did not much care for the food in the LIDO or the DR. Given the OP has enjoyed sailing with X, I suggest she continue to sail where she is most comfortable. We are fortunate in that we have so many choices available to us.

[hammybee]

The OP posted a mini review on or about 12/25. If I recall, she did not much care for the food in the LIDO or the DR. Given the OP has enjoyed sailing with X, I suggest she continue to sail where she is most comfortable. We are fortunate in that we have so many choices available to us.

 

I just took a look at the full Review. It's well balanced and written. The OP simply did not care for the food and was not impressed with the attitude of some of the crew. Food is subjective and the few comments about the crew are not out of the ordinary. I iterate, given she enjoyed her time with X, why not give them a try, next time.

[sail7seas]

I didn't find the review. I'd like to read it. It would have been great if OP linked it here.

 

[Navy_Chief]

I didn't find the review. I'd like to read it. It would have been great if OP linked it here.

 

Here it is Sail: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=24033

[michmike]

Seems pretty straightforward to me...If you've been happiest on Celebrity that's where you need to be.

 

Our first cruise was on Celebrity (Galaxy) and then we found HAL and it was just a better fit for us. 6 trips on HAL since. We have no great desire to check out other lines. Have been perfectly happy, by and large, with HAL. We would cruise Celebrity again, given the right itinerary and pricing, but haven't gone out of our way to do so.

 

There are any number of choices out there and each line has its vocal fans, many of whom enjoy the very same things that others of us dread about those lines (or at least our impressions of those lines). That variety and freedom of choice is what makes the world go round.

 

All of that having been said... you would get a much better feel for HAL, in my opinion, if you tried one of the R or S class ships. We were on Westerdam in October and overall it was my least favorite HAL cruise. Still had a good time and enjoyed the company of the friends we were with, but most likely future trips on HAL will be back on the R or S class.

[sail7seas]

Thanks, Chief. Appreciate it.

 

[messy]

I'm pretty new to these boards but I actually have an opinion on this topic.

 

I have sailed on RCCL, Carnival and NCL (my first HAL cruise will be in April and I'm looking forward to it).

 

Sailed on Jewel of the Seas a couple of years ago, she is a beautiful ship. We enjoyed everything about it.

 

Carnival and NCL were okay but preferred RCCL over the other two.

[MBeamTX]

Our cruises have exclusively been on Hal (8) and Royal Caribbean (2 with a third currently booked). On HAL, I've sailed Maasdam, Zaandam (twice), Zuiderdam, Volendam, Westerdam (twice) and Noordam. Both our RCCL cruises have been on Serenade of the Seas, which is a sister ship to Jewel, Brilliance and Radiance. We booked Serenade again, which probably tells you that we like the ship a lot.

 

The two cruise lines are different in some respects but are largely equivalent in our opinion. We've only done longer (10 and 14 day) itineraries on RCCL, a deliberate tactic to minimize the number of children on board. Because of that, we found the onboard ambience to be very similar to HAL.

 

We've had good service on both lines but, surprisingly, I'd have to say it was more personalized on RCCL than on our more recent HAL cruises. On our last RCCL cruise, my dad raved about the banana bread served on Caribbean night. Our waiter had a plate of fresh banana bread for him every single night of the cruise after that. It became a running joke, actually, as they presented the covered plate each night. We took them back to our stateroom for snacks and breakfast. :D The HAL dining stewards, in my experience, don't interact as much with the passengers as they used to. I attribute this to the change in the dining room schedules (first to 4 seatings, then to the "flexible" scheme on Noordam).

 

I'd give the edge to HAL's Lido over RCCL's Windjammer Cafe, but thought the dining room food was quite good on both. The Radiance class ships also have the Seaview Cafe (burgers, Cuban sandwiches, chicken strips, etc.) and the Solarium Cafe (pizza, cookies) for late-night snacking.

 

Favorite public area on HAL's Noordam: Explorations Cafe; on Serenade, the Solarium (adults-only) pool! Also love the six-story Centrum on Serenade, where you can lean over a balcony to watch people and enjoy the evening's music.

 

Can't wait 'til our next cruise. Hope yours are just as wonderful.

 

Susan

[laineymb]

thanks to everyone for your honest feedback. As many of you are loyal HAL cruisers-do you think that there is a better HAL ship to the Westeram??

[MBeamTX]

The Board is at it again - posts at the top of a new page don't appear until another message is posted. So let's see if this works ...