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Your favorite????

usha

By usha,
in Holland America Line

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Boytjie

Boytjie

Posted
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the Caribbean Princess....

 

It was the first ship I ever cruised on and I loved that it had 4 pools on the Lido deck, one where you could swim against that current. i also liked the pool on the stern under the Skywalkers nightclub.

 

The Amsterdam is a beautiful ship too. :)

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Pam in CA

Pam in CA

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My favorite ship is the old Royal Princess, which is now P&O Artemis. While woefully out of date (the beds were bunk beds that couldn't be converted), she was christened by Princess Diana and there was a wonderful ambiance about the ship that made her special. She also had a "real" movie theater dedicated only to movies.

 

My 2nd favorite is the old Regal Princess, now sailing with P&O Australia. She had several amenities that were unusual, particularly for Princess, with a swim-up bar, a lounge designed specifically for ballroom dancing, real singles cabins that if you could book one, were far less-expensive, and every cabin had a full-sized bathroom with a full-sized tub.

 

The only HAL ship I've been on so far is the Prinsendam and I would equate her ambiance and specialness to the old Royal Princess. Her size, # of passengers, cabin sizes/layouts and amenities are very similar to the new Royal, Tahitian (soon to be Ocean), and Pacific Princess, i.e., former "R" ships.

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pearliemae

pearliemae

Posted
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My favorite was the old Noordam. Such a cozy ship. Alas, she's no longer with us.:(

 

I loved the old Crystal Harmony. Another cozy ship. But she's no longer with us either. :(

 

Is there a pattern here????:D

 

We loved the Sagafjord, Vistafjord, Sea Goddess 1, and Sea Goddess 2. and the Seabourn Sun. Now our favorite is the Prinsendam. Was the word "pattern" mentioned???

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RevNeal

RevNeal

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RevNeal, what was it about Westerdam that put it so low on your list?

 

What can I say? Some ship had to go last in a ranking like that. Given my preferences in favor of smaller rather than larger ships, last place was destined to go to the Oosterdam, Eurodam or Westerdam ... each for many varied reasons. Relative to the Westerdam, perhaps it was because I had the least memorable cruise on her, with ports I'd been to several times before and a Hurricane we were running from? Could be. Or, perhaps it may be that she was a "working" cruise for me? That could be ... however, it should be noted that I've worked cruises on the Zaandam, Volendam, and the Oosterdam, too, and in each case those ships scored higher than the Westerdam in my inner-sense of how much I liked a ship. It may just be that she didn't impress me that much as an outstanding example of HAL excellence? That could be. Or, it may just be that I didn't care for the overwhelming use of red carpet in her interiors? That could be, too ... except that other Damships also use red carpet.

 

In short, it's really hard for me to say why she keeps on ending up at the bottom of my list of HAL vessels. All I know is that the last in any ranking of damships is NOT going to be an R or S class ship ... it's going to be a Vista or the Signature ship (if only due to size). Figure that into the spectrum, and perhaps that helps to quantify why the bottom ends up being one of three vessels (Oosterdam, Eurodam, or Westerdam). What's truly amazing is to note how high the Noordam ranks. I can explain that one ... it's a combination of exceptional interiors, 2 wonderful cruises, the joy of being aboard her for her Inaugural, and the wonderful people I met aboard her and with whom I've cruised many times since.

 

I wouldn't draw too many conclusions from my ranking the Westerdam last. As I said above, some ship has to come last. In a ranking among HAL vessels, the degrees of difference between them tend to be rather minimal, and the reasons why one ship gets put above or bellow another one may be beyond my ability to quantify. They're all excellent ships (YES, even the Eurodam) and there's no way I'd turn down a cruise on ANY of them (again, YES, even aboard the Eurodam).

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BirdExotic

BirdExotic

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For me it just must be the NORWAY [ I also sailed her when she was the FRANCE in 63]. The Norway was truly a grand ship in the "old" way, you just felt awed walking down her grand stairway. Of todays ships I think it must be the MERCURY.

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RuthC

RuthC

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Favorite ever? That's easy---Rotterdam V. I highly doubt that any ship will ever replace her in my heart.

 

Of the current ships I can't say I have a favorite. I prefer the S-class ships, with the R-class running close behind. I don't care for the Vista's, or E-dam due to size. I was prepared to make the Prinsendam my new favorite, but there was a certain je n'sais pas missing.

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Spot

Spot

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We loved the Celebrity Millennium Class ships, it had a place for everything and everyone.

Our favorite HAL ship thus far is the Maasdam although we're hoping that 15 nights on the Westerdam coming up in October is going to change that.

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MightyQuinn

MightyQuinn

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Our all-time fave ship is the old Rotterdam V which was truly outstanding in every respect. But that was another time & place.....

 

Our faves today are the Prinsendam & the new Rotterdam. These are stand-outs for us, but we’ve enjoyed every ship in the current HAL fleet, with the exception of the Vista class vessels which are less appealing to us.

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Copper10-8 "Live from...." Rare

Copper10-8

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My favorite was the old Noordam. Such a cozy ship. Alas, she's no longer with us.:(

 

I loved the old Crystal Harmony. Another cozy ship. But she's no longer with us either. :(

 

Is there a pattern here????:D

 

They're actually both still with us , just not under the names Noordam and Crystal Harmony anymore. Their current names are Thomson Celebration (ex-Noordam) sailing for Thomson cruises (We were lucky enough to see her in Newcastle from Eurodam last month) and Azuka II (ex-Crystal Harmony) sailing for NYK (Japan) Cruises.

650351_800.jpg

 

Thomson Celebration

211451_800.jpg

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