[silver.bullet]

We plan to get on a ship next year. Most cruise lines are only for 7 to 10 days but if we am sitting in a plane for 8 plus hours each way, the longer the better. I see where Holland has several but have never cruised with them. Any opinions?

[kathyspear]

HAL is a nice line, higher end (more expensive, generally) than, say, Royal Caribbean. Mostly an older clientele. Like any cruise line, some ships are newer/nicer/larger than others. If you are not on the CruiseCritic [dot] com forum, definitely sign up. Lots of good advise re: cruise lines, specific ships, ports of call, etc. Cruisers create a thread for each sailing so you can chat with others who will be on your ship. Great site.

kathy

[Stu from NYC]

If we have to fly our cruises are typically 14 days or more.

Never been on HA but they have rep of older crowd everyone in bed by 9.

If the opportunity came up we would try them but these days primarily fan of Princess.

[kathyspear]

Do you have a specific location in mind?

k.

[Kidsmith77]

HAL is one of the best. We have cruised on them several times; my parents took their cruise around the world for 120 days upon my father's retirement in 1996 and did the roundtrip Hawaii cruise for 14 days from San Diego CA to the islands 3-4 times per year. We did the HAL Caribbean cruise in 2019 for 14 days out of Ft. Lauderdale. It was two 7 day roundtrips but the only spot we were to hit twice was their private Cay. Loved it. The clientele are older than Carnival. The food is outstanding. Their dining room food is equivalent to the finer dining restaurants on Carnival and Celebrity. The two restaurants we ate at were exceptional: one steak and the other Oriental (served Japanese, Dim Sum, Cantonese and more). Norweigan Cruiselines has a great deal on now with free everything including free airfare for the second person traveling. HAL is offering discounts and free dining, excursions, etc. We miss cruising and can't wait to return.

[Arctic Fox]

Originally Posted by silver.bullet

We plan to get on a ship next year. Most cruise lines are only for 7 to 10 days but if we am sitting in a plane for 8 plus hours each way, the longer the better. I see where Holland has several but have never cruised with them. Any opinions?

I echo the comments above that HAL is a great line - good food and very friendly, efficient service throughout.

Just be wary of the HAL tours which are overpriced and under deliver.

[Blackbird45]

My wife and I took a cruise out of Spain, but before we boarded we spend a week in Spain. The last stop before the ship returned to the original port was Sicily, we jumped off and spent a week there. If you have the time this might be the way to go, no matter what your destination. That will make the time spent on the flight worth it.

[drgoofy]

We had previously cruised only on Oceania (don't like screaming kids running around). Friends persuaded us to try HAL. We sailed on one of the newer ones, New Statendam, and were very pleasantly surprised. We have since taken another sailing with them. They had blues and rock bands each night in addition to the standard music. Also, they have pickleball courts! I would now rank them: 1) Oceania 2) HAL 3) CelebrityX as we prefer "smaller" ships that are less crowded. We don't like Celebrity always hawking junk goods.

[GRACEALLEMAN]

We used to work on H American cruise line as the florist for many years. I would suggest going on them come on you do know you have to have your vaccine now to get on a cruise line? We liked HAL because you could have a formal night in everyone had to dress up. The only time you ever dress up today is at a funeral or at a wedding.

[safelsen]

People we know have booked back to back cruises...pick up another one at same or nearby port.

[stevecmo]

If you've never been to Alaska, I would highly recommend HAL. Such beautiful scenery and wonderful ports to explore.

You could take a seven day northbound and seven southbound. Or you might want to add a week in between so you can visit Denali. Wonderful trip!

[Bridget Staunton]

Great advice on cruises, thanks

[Footer]

You could consider a Viking Amsterdam to Prague river cruise. That's longer than 14 days and you can spend time in Amsterdam and/or Prague.

[rjn5656]

Did the Viking. Fantastic.

[charlie1]

Holland is one of our favorite lines. We have cruised with them well over 300 days. We combine cruises with Holland on the same ship as they have some ships that travel and are not based in the same port for long periods of time. Usually can go up to 56 days before they start repeating ports. Almost 4 years ago now, we left Ft Lauderdale to the Med, sailed around the Med and then went around Europe up to Norway. Ended the cruise in Amsterdam, where the ship started to repeat destinations. We then flew to England and sailed back to US on the Queen Mary. Just before the pandemic, we had planned a cruise that ended in Singapore that started with a cruise through Alaskan and then down to Japan and the asia countries. it was also about 60 days. Even though it is multiple cruises, we had the same room throughout. Ports that were the end of the smaller
individual cruises were no different than all the other ports for us other than there was a bunch of new passengers that came on board. We could enjoy the port or stay on the ship, our choice! By the way, if you like Princess, Princess is part of the Holland American Group of Carnival Cruise lines. Many similarities!