Stuck between 2

[acpcruiser]

what do you think Holland America or NCL??? Can't decide between the 2 never cruised on either before . HELP

[pg.]

Well honestly, I like Princess best, but between the two lines you have asked about I think the Holland American product would be the best choice. NCL gets a fair amount of flack for less then steller service, and I think the overall quality of HAL is just three steps up from NCL.

That being said, it is always better to start with a less exspensive cruise and work your way up so to speak, never having cruised you will have nothing to compare your experience to, so may be happy.

 

It would help if you could tell us a little about yourself, older , younger, want night life, like good food, etc. Also, some people always choose by iternerary and not by ship, so if you are choosing between two lines which ship goes to the ports you are most interested in?

[GaryWT]

Not always true but Holland America is thought of as an older crowd and fewer kids, if this is what you are looking for then this is your best bet.

[Cruzman]

Pick a category, service, quality of food/entertainment, atmosphere, etc. Of all the main stream cruise lines, HAL is, or is near the top of the heap. On the other hand, NCL is near the bottom IMHO. I think this is an opinion shared by many who have experienced both lines.

[songanddance]

NCL - The mass market line among mass market lines. Excellent cruise for the price but don't expect a traditional old style cruise like you have romantised about. It is very casual, dungarees, baseball hats and tee shirts plus a few that dress up. I love the dining concept but found the crowd to be rather insular (into themselves and not terribly interested in meeting new people)

 

HAL (while I have not cruised it) appears to be much more traditional in every aspect. A more upscale offering at a higher price of course. With from what I can tell from reading thousands of posts a passenger consist of people interested in broading their horizons by meeting others.

 

Just my opinion.

[songanddance]

strange this thread has problems bumping up when posted to.

[shops54]

Our first cruise was Costa. It will remain in my mind as wonderful because it was our first cruise. Now I hear it is decidely mainstream. Go figure - to us it was the utmost. Our next cruise was HAL. We had high expectations after a great cruise on Costa. HAL failed in every regard. The ship was old (Ryndam) and not at all well kept. The food was ordinary. The service poor. (EX: Costa let us keep all our menus for keepsakes - HAL was "no no no"). There were no special touches. Then the big disapointment; The toilet in our room was broken the whole trip and HAL never compensated us a penny. We are now booked on NCL because of itinerary - and because of its reputation for a clean ship. It surely can't be worse in any regard than HAL. But we'll let you know next week. -Eileen

[shops54]

Our first cruise was Costa. It will remain in my mind as wonderful because it was our first cruise. Now I hear it is decidely mainstream. Go figure - to us it was the utmost. Our next cruise was HAL. We had high expectations after a great cruise on Costa. HAL failed in every regard. The ship was old (Ryndam) and not at all well kept. The food was ordinary. The service poor. (EX: Costa let us keep all our menus for keepsakes - HAL was "no no no"). There were no special touches. Then the big disapointment; The toilet in our room was broken the whole trip and HAL never compensated us a penny. We are now booked on NCL because of itinerary - and because of its reputation for a clean ship. It surely can't be worse in any regard than HAL. But we'll let you know next week. -Eileen

[acpcruiser]

we are a couple in our mid 40's with a daughter who is 19. We have sailed western caribbean on carnival. Like the 11 southern Holland is offering out of our home state of NY

[SANDY BEACH]

Possibly you are sailing the Noordam, Holland's newest ship which sails alot out of NY. We enjoy Holland very much and would definitely choose it over NCL. They try very hard to please, food is very good and the ships we have sailed are in good condition.

[cruzeluver]

You need to compare individual ship to individual ship, not just cruiseline to cruiseline.

 

Not all NCL ships are the same. That goes for HAL as well.

 

Do you want a large ship with all the bells and whistles? Or would you prefer a smaller, more intimate ship? To me that makes more of a difference.

[acpcruiser]

the 2 ships that we would be choosing between are the hal noordam or the nlc gem.

[Cuizer2]

what do you think Holland America or NCL??? Can't decide between the 2 never cruised on either before . HELP

 

You picked a couple of opposites. HAL is an older traditional line and NCL is anything but traditional. NCL is geared more to the active family crowd, while HAL's passengers tend to be older and more interested in mental activities than physical activities.

 

For example, lets look at the pool areas. First the aft pool on the HAL Oosterdam ...

 

 

And the main pool area ...

 

 

Now compare that to the aft pool (which is the kids pool) on the NCL Star ...

 

 

And the main pool area of the NCL Star ...

 

 

or the other side of the above photo ...

 

 

HAL offers traditional fixed dinner times (main and late). NCL offers Freestyle (eat where and when you want - more or less). The average age of the passengers on NCL will be lower than on HAL. During school time it is possible that there will be no children on a HAL cruise. NCL will always have some kids, even during school time.

 

HAL is known as a premium line. NCL is more of a mass market. Using a rating system, NCL is three stars and HAL is four starts (the luxury lines like Seabourne are five stars). Most likely NCL will cost a little less than HAL.

 

So, which experience are you looking for?

[agabbymama]

I would definitely pick HAL. To me NCL is glitzy and just a step up from Carnival. While Carnival owns HAL, it is it's own entity. The ships are more elegant, brass and wood all around, teak promenade deck all the way around the ship (HAL is the only mainstream cruiseline that does) with teak wood deck loungers, fresh flowers all around the ship, deck boys (in their neat little uniforms) wandering the decks to make sure you have everything you need while out on deck, real hand towles in the restrooms and the Lido buffet is wonderful.

 

Just more reminiscent of an ocean liner from days of old, which HAL actually was in the beginning. A lot of folks say HAL is for the older generation, of which I guess I am now a member, but at 60 I found a lot more older folks on Celebrity than I did on my HAL Alaska Inside Passage cruise. There were scooters and wheelchairs everywhere you turned on Celebrity.

 

NCL will probably be less expensive, but I believe you get what you pay for. Have a great cruise whichever you end up choosing.

[jerseygirl3]

We've done both and there is no comparsion. HAL wins hands down.

[zman5]

NCL freestyle is tough to beat in my opinion but depends what your looking for