alma7

I am wondering if anyone can recommend a cruise line that is similar to HAL in quality and comfort. I've been on Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity and found them all to be disappointing.

I am interested in the quality and comfort and nice atmosphere that I've found HAL to provide, ie. super comfortable mattresses as opposed to lumpy, hard beds, wood lounge chairs as opposed to dirty and broken plastic chairs, staff that is friendly as opposed to staff that disdainful….

I am looking for this because HAL no longer offers departures to Caribbean, Bahamas, Bermuda from the Northeast US.

Any input will be greatly appreciated!
Thanks.

ira

Hi Alma,

A: I loved The Prinsendam.

I have not sailed on any of their ships yet, but from my researches, I think that Oceania and Azamara come close to HAL in price and ambience.

B: Have you been to www.cruisecritic.com ?

Bette

Hi Alma7,
Holland America has announced that they will return to the Boston / Bermuda route in 2015. They will offer 6 sailings from May to July. Check Holland America site for specifics. The voyages will be on the MS Veendam.

rjgdjg

Hi-
I don't know if Princess has trips from the Northeast, so you'd have to check, but I highly recommend the line. We've gone on Celebrity, RCI, HAL and Princess, and have found Princess to be a solid, all around good line. The food and entertainment are about the same as the other lines, but we've found the service to be a bit better (particularly in the buffet), great itineraries (Curacao, Aruba, Grenada, Bonaire, etc.) and some other nice features, such as Movies Under the Stars, great pizza and International Café (salads, quiches, desserts). And the biggest stateroom closets at sea! - Diana, https://musingaboutcruising.blogspot.com.

Luv2travel15

Hi Alma, are you looking for a specific itin or just looking for HAL and/or cruise lines similar to HAL?

We have cruised on the major cruise lines many times, RCCL, Princess, Celebrity and every cruise line is different in terms of what you will receive for amenities, etc., depends upon you and what you are looking for. We have cruised twice on HAL and really do like this cruise line. Many of the ships on HAL are older and smaller so you may not find these amenities (wood deck chairs, etc.) on the newer ships of other cruise lines. We have found that every ship you cruise on will be entirely different than another you have been on.

I search for an itinerary first, then look at the cruise line ships, make my comparisons and then book. We just completed a Caribbean cruise beginning of April and were looking for a winter getaway so compared the Caribbean ports, cruise lines, prices, etc. The best offer at the time of booking was Royal Princess so we booked this ship. We are not big fans of Princess ships (we had a couple of terrible cruises) but went w/ an open mind. Royal is a brand new ship and we did like it's amenities, food, entertainment, etc. What we didn't like was the largeness of the ship and 3600 passengers. We prefer small passenger ships. Would we cruise again on the Royal? Yes, as we had a lovely cruise and met so many nice people. This is what is important to us when we cruise, along with the amenities.

Here are some websites you can browse for comparisons:

http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/small_ships/
http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/pl...lore-our-ships

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=360

Princess, Celebrity and RCCL all have smaller ships, you just need to do your homework. Good luck.

alma7

Thanks all for the replies!