I'm thinking about doing a week on Holland America with my mum, sister, Madeleine and maybe Chester in November to Mexico from San Diego. I looked in the reviews and didn't see any of HAL. Do any of you who have sailed on HAl and a luxury line have feedback on sailing with them. I'm ready to lower my expectations but not sure how low to lower them!

Hi Julie!

We did a 4 day HAL cruise last year. We enjoyed it. It was quiet, we did have a suite and we had upgraded amenities to the rest of the ship with a private lounge and dining room. Food was acceptable and excellent in the alternative restaurant. We enjoyed it enough that we are probably booking the same cruise again next spring.

Julie, we have taken a HAL cruise in the past and really enjoyed ourselves. We found the food to be wonderful in the main dining room, especially the beef selections which were delicious. I also fondly remember some flourless chocolate cake that was fantastic! Since we don't care to sit with strangers, we asked for our own table each night and it was not a problem. I don't think you need to upgrade the dining room and lounge if you don't want to do so.

I also don't remember any long lines during our week.

Hi Julie,

We just came back from a 15 days cruise on HAL's newest ship , the Eurodam, from Copenhagen to NYC. We had a great time , but it's quite a different experience that Regent, mainly due to the size of the ship and # of passengers.

I thought the service was excellent. I had an issue with my air conditioning and it was taken care of immediately. Then I kept getting follow ups from their passenger relations people. I would call to request an extra towel, ice or whatever, and 2 minutes later there was a knock at the door.

Service in the dining rooms, lounges and especially at their alternative dining venues (extra charge for that) was great.

My main , actually only complaint, is the physical layout of their main dining room. Tables too close to each other and the acoustics of the room were terrible. I understand from talking to other passengers that this is not teh case in their other ships.

All in all, I wouldn't hesitate cruising on HAL again, especially if I'm going with my teenagers.

Editing to add that , like Karen, we enjoyed their food tremendously. Frankly, I found it superior to Regent. They have an alternative restaurant called Tamarind, with an Asian theme, that was out of this world. The setting as well as the food.

We've had three cruises on HAL - in a standard outside (old Noordam), mini-suite with balcony (Rotterdam VI), and full suite (new Noordam). It's quite true that HAL is not Regent, but the experience is quite good on its own merits.

The full suite was larger than a standard suite on Regent by quite a bit, and it was nice to have a butler. The private Neptune area for suite PAX made the experience quite luxurious, and the breakfasts in the Pinnacle Grill for suite PAX were fantastic - maybe even better than Regent.

We prefer Regent because the HAL ships are still too big for us, there are long lines for many things, the food (while pretty good) isn't as good as Regent, and we prefer all-inclusive to nickel and diming. Still, you can have an excellent experience in HAL, particularly in a suite; and we may go back to HAL if Regent keeps raising its prices.

Julie - we've done HAL twice, once in a category B balcony on the Ryndam, and once in a Deluxe suite on the Maasdam. We found the experience to be quite nice and actually would easily cruise HAL again, although I'd have to say I was so spoiled by the deluxe suite that I could probably never do anything else. We loved the extra perks, the concierge (and we did not have a butler as JoanandJoe mentioned), but would love that too. Given right itinerary, right timing and right price, we'd be there in a heartbeat. I have had several clients on the larger Vista class ships and have had pretty good feedback in general, and I would definitely try those, again with the above mentioned criteria. The smaller class ships do have a more intimate feel and now that they have a very nice alternative dining venue (with a surcharge) other than the evening Lido buffet, that makes a nice change. Also, they now have an "open" type seating in the upper dining room, I think, similar to Princess if you don't like the fixed table/time/table mates type dining. Food was excellent when we last cruised and overall we enjoyed it.

We had a bad experience on the Prisendam's "maiden voyages" several years ago, and I would avoid that ship, as there seems to be too many passengers for the common elements to handle. When they refurbushed the ship, they took out one of the dining rooms and added more staterooms; "the straw that broke the camel's back". You can read all about it on Cruise Critic: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=947

I think HAL is best of the mass-marketed lines. You should have a wonderful cruise, but don't expect it to be a Regent experience.

Deluxe suites are more than 500 square feet including balcony and come with worthwhile perks. I prefer the Neptune lounge services over a butler.

Oops, no butler, but the suite had enough luxury that we might as well have had one. As stated by Cruisinfanatic, what we actually had was the concierge ladies, who handled everything from getting us into a "sold out" excursion, to reservations at Pinnacle Grill, to handling the shipboard account so that we didn't need to go to the "main desk". All in all, a lovely experience in a suite.

Oh - you can bring wine on board - no hard liquor - for consuming in your stateroom. That was a great feature for us because we were travelling with honeymooning friends and we had lots of champagne available.

We are looking at a South America cruise next year so we have appreciated the comments in this thread. Could someone explain to me what services are offered in the Neptune lounge? Customary tipping?
Many thanks.

I disagree with Count Florida in his assessment of the Prinsendam. The maiden voyage was 2002 and my cruise was 2004, but I will know better by the end of November, when I complete another cruise on her.
I have done 2 of their 55,000 ton ships, and I have never had any problems with them
I think if you do not have the expectations of Regent, and try not to compare every little thing, you will enjoy it.
Lynn

Neptune Lounge has the concierge in it with a coffee bar and 24 hour snacks and tables, makes reservations for you for everything, has a quiet lounge, I think a TV was there. They were really lovely there. You never had to ask anyone else a question. They were the non-invasive butler, travel desk, and front desk all in one. The suite we had spoiled us with it's wetbar - humongous deck which included a table for dining outsite and lounge chairs, a dressing room and whirlpool tub - separate shower and a wet bar - huge leather couch and chairs. too in the seating area 550 sq ft I think.

Thanks ChatKat. What was the name of the HAL and where did you sail? Sounds like fun!

We were on the Amsterdam. 1200 pax. They aren't doing that sailing again this year. Actually looking at a different sailing that goes LAX to Vancouver but I think it's not on HAL.

When's that, Kathy?

Thanks everyone. I still haven't made up my mind if I'm going to go or not but it sounds like HAL is the best of the mass market. I was on Celebrity a few years ago from San Francisco to Vancouver and it was ok. The only really bad thing was the food, I've never seen so much grease in my life! The speciality restaurant was outstanding though with food and even service on par with Seabourn. As we sat down at our table, we looked out the window and saw some dolphins jumping out the water, perfect.

For the record: Unless it has changed in the last couple of years, Neptune Lounge is only open from about 7 am to 8 pm each day. 24-hour room service is available for all cabins, however.

I’m afraid I’m going to be a naysayer here. Please don’t blast me, as I am going to state our personal experiences with the two lines. We have sailed Holland America twice in the past, a few years ago. We also have cruised Regent a number of times. To our minds, there is absolutely no comparison. The main issues are personalized service, flexibility and size.

We cruised both the Oosterdam, a large Vista ship for 7 days to Mexico, as you are considering, and the Rotterdam, one of HAL’s “smaller flagships,” for 12 days. We did both in a Deluxe Verandah Suite with Neptune Lounge Privileges.

The sailing to Mexico was fine. We had an aft corner suite with the large wraparound balcony which was lovely. The ship was absolutely full so it’s necessary to be able to deal with crowds at buffets and on the pool deck. The Oosterdam was fairly new at that time and well maintained.

On HAL, the suites themselves are very large and with very comfortable beds and nice bathrooms. We decided to give them another try a year later with some family members who had their own cabin, on the Rotterdam, one of their smaller ships. The size of that class of ship is better.
However, we found that the maintenance and upkeep on the ships is not close to Regent’s. Our family members had toilets that backed up and a constant noise problem in their cabin. Their toilets were fixed by the next day.
But, in our suite, we had a major problem on the Rotterdam with water leaking through a light and tile in the ceiling into our dressing area, right outside the bathroom. We immediately reported this problem and were told by the Concierge that the problem did not exist. Meanwhile our cabin steward was doing his best to dry the carpeting and put huge round fans in the room to attempt to dry the area. The leak and corresponding smell got worse. We immediately and consistently contacted everyone we could think of on the ship (including the Hotel Manager who was “unavailable’ for 4 days), and Head of Engineering. Because the ship was full, we could not switch to another cabin. The leak got so bad that the entire hallway outside our cabin was wet. I had to take all of our clothing out of the closet in order to prevent them being drenched. When Maintenance finally was dispatched to fix the problem, they pulled down the entire ceiling area, leaving moldy insulation, light fixtures and dirt throughout the area. They said they could not fix it and simply walked away. They said it happened all the time. It was necessary to call the Hotel Manager to the room to show him the mess that was left. The ceiling tiles and lights were put back up and left for the next passengers to deal with.
As it turns out, the maintenance people told us there is a problem with leaks on this and the other ships of this type that HAL uses. I have spoken with other cruisers who have had the same cabin and those adjacent in the past, and they too have had leaking ceilings. The problem continued to be more extensive than just our suite.
We did contact Stein Kruse of HAL and, after four months of negotiating, received a substantial credit for a future cruise (basically free, which we are extremely reluctant to use).
The main problem was the lack of empowerment by anyone on the ship to deal with an issue. The Concierge, while very nice, has absolutely no authority to solve problems.
We believe that the issue lay in large part with that particular Hotel Manager, who was, in our opinion, completely detached from the experience his customers were having. His lack of presence on the ship spoke volumes.
However, another major issue on that trip was the fact that Park West brought in a group of “High purchasers” and completely took over the Crow’s Nest, the large front observation lounge on the ship, which is one of the most popular areas on their ships. No passenger who was not part of the Park West group was allowed in the Crow’s Nest for the entire voyage. That means that when we sailed through the Greek Isles, into Istanbul, through the Dardanelles, etc., there was no forward observation lounge available. Instead, the lounge was full of Park West’s so called “art.” When many long-time HAL cruisers complained to the Hotel manager and home office during the cruise, the home office denied that it was happening. It caused a huge uproar among HAL cruisers and resulted in additional cruise credits. The passengers had paid for the use of the entire ship, and were allowed only in a portion (the smaller theater also was taken over at times). There is a very long thread on CC about this. They have not done that again to my knowledge, although Park West continues to have a large presence on their ships (and, to be fair, is also on Regent). I would definitely check to see if HAL has a large group on any ship I was considering sailing.

While the Neptune Lounge is very nice, it is only open certain hours, and not early enough for early risers who want decent coffee. You pay for bottled water in the Neptune Lounge as well. (By the way, HAL allowed Park West to put its art on easels in the Neptune Lounge during that cruise as well). On our 7 day cruise, we found that children occupied the lounge while their parents went elsewhere. It does not replace the room service and amenities available to ALL Regent passengers, not just those in the higher suites.

Food on HAL can be good in the Pinnacle Grill (a fee restaurant). The food in the dining room is pre-plated and special requests are almost never accommodated. We had a family member with an allergy who had contacted HAL prior to the cruise. Despite this, their plate consistently had foods that could have caused a problem. We’ve found that much of the dining experience depends on the waiters you have. Because of the set dining times, waiters are very conscious of the need to “move” diners out of the dining room for the second seating. While HAL has recently instituted As You Wish dining in one area of the main dining room, it has met with mixed reviews. We have found Regent food to be consistently excellent and special orders to be met with enthusiasm.

There are many fine employees on HAL ships as there are on Regent. Our suite steward on the Rotterdam worked diligently to try to solve a problem that was totally beyond his control. However, the ingrained very personalized service is much more consistent on Regent.

Shore excursions on HAL were fine. Shows were ok. There are a large number of “sales” like “inch of gold” and promotions that are constantly pushed. Daily activities mostly involve a fee, such as a cooking class, wine tasting or needlepoint. You pay for most anything they do. The libraries are nice. Internet is much more expensive on HAL than on Regent (although we now have free internet on Regent). On a port intensive cruise, HAL activities are fine. I would hesitate to take a crossing on HAL with a lot of sea days as the activities and special events are not interesting enough. Regent really shines in this area, I believe and has some of the best crossings ever!

In the end, the suites are nice, but, when you come out of them, you are in a very large ship, with a large number of passengers. Tendering and queuing occur more consistently. The additional charges on HAL also do add up, and we have found that HAL often is more expensive than Regent for the same itinerary. There are also many more children on HAL, so, for a family experience, I think it would be given the nod on HAL over Regent.

I do not mean this post to be HAL bashing. Many people have had wonderful experiences on HAL. It meets a need in the mid market sector. However, consistency of problems we have experienced over a number of cruises, specifically in the service area, shows that, to us, it just doesn’t meet the luxury ship criteria despite some luxury ship pricing.

I agree that HAL is NOT a Regent Experience. But Regent has 4 ships, no short jaunts or local cruises for most of us. I think that your experience had to have been horrible. I've heard similar tales on other ships as well.

But for the costs, and if you have somewhere you want to go, my experience was perfectly acceptable. Every cruise has it's ups and downs - some higher and some lower.