HAL or NCL

[SleepyDeb]

We love DCL, but we're looking for an itinerary we haven't done before, 7 days min in Jan or Feb, and on DCL that means EC. Few ports and concerned that we may not even be able to stop at those, so....

One of the things we like about Disney is that it tends to be a young and active group. We're in our late 50's, but we like to stay active and don't want to get stuck in a rut. We like to go snorkeling, zip line, horse back riding, etc in excursions. We also like that DCL cruises are not booze cruises, and the pampering DCL provides. But, we're going to have to look elsewhere.

I know the reputation of HAL is that they're for the Senior Set. The TA assured me that HAL isn't like that at all and that there will be lots of people our age and younger (in addition to ppl older) on our cruise.

I booked a Panama Canal Sunfarer on HAL which looks great. Starting to get apprehensive as the PIF day nears. I read a bunch of reviews on Cruise Critic and was not at all reassured that we won't be the youngest people on the ship. Read stuff ranging from "My spouse and I are Seniors and we loved it" to "Difficult to move around bc of all the walkers and scooters. No entertainment after late seating." Not one review with anything like "we enjoyed the mix of generations" or anything like that.

There's another cruise on NCL that would be actually a few bucks cheaper that is on the sames dates and almost the exact same itinerary.

What would you do?

 

[mevelandry]

What about Carnival? Longer voyages don't tend to be "booze cruises". If you liked the Disney ships, you might enjoy the Carnival Vista (sailed on her 2 weeks ago)... We sure did! She does 6 nights in Western Caribbean and 8 nights in Eastern Caribbean.

And the Carnival Horizon is coming soon. Should be a great ship as well.

 

[KashasMom]

What NCL ship? I would normally say between HAL and NCL go with NCL - if it's the bigger ships. Since it's PC I assume it's not. Still many people love the smaller NCL ships and without kids I probably wouldn't be too concerned about the smaller ship. Did you read the NCL ship reviews on CC? Google Freestyle Dailies so you can see what kind of activities and shows NCL offers. Based on my experience with NCL - they have theme parties - White Hot, 70's, etc. - that were a lot of fun.

 

[SleepyDeb]

What NCL ship?

It's the Jade.

 

[KashasMom]

It's the Jade.

We were booked on the Jade for next summer but changed to a land-based trip. The Jade has recently been refurbished and looks really nice. I would definitely cruise her.

 

[SleepyDeb]

The Jade has recently been refurbished and looks really nice. I would definitely cruise her.

There's another that has slightly better dates for us, doesn't go into the canal, but does stop in Columbia. It's on the NCL Dawn. Any views on that one?

 

[KashasMom]

There's another that has slightly better dates for us, doesn't go into the canal, but does stop in Columbia. It's on the NCL Dawn. Any views on that one?

Sorry, no info on that one.

 

[cadien]

My in-laws (early 60s and still fairly active) have done NCL through the Panama Canal three times. It's their favorite itinerary. The thing about HAL, or really any line, is that the longer the cruise, the older the passengers get. Everyone is assured there will be lots of younger people on a HAL cruise but they're certainly not as noticeable.

I've been on one of the Dawn's sister ships. It's not all that different from the Jade. Smaller and older part of the fleet regardless.

DH and I would actually take HAL over NCL if it wasn't for the huge price difference, but that's in part because we're totally inactive.

 

[cmph]

In my 20s, we went on a HAL 10-day southern Carib in January. It was with extended family, and really the only reason we ended up on HAL was b/c everyone wanted more than 7 days and some place new to us, and it was the only option. It was after the Christmas break for schools, and man - you could tell. I don't remember any kids other than my cousins (who were mid to older teenagers). My cousins spent most at-sea days playing cards b/c there just wasn't much for them to do. They did have the ballroom dancing type of stuff, if you consider that "active", but those of us in our 20s ended up sitting in lounges with cocktails more often than we would choose simply b/c of lack of other options. My parents, aunts, and uncles were all 40s/50s at the time, and they were definitely "young" for that cruise as well. I'm not sure I'd try to convince anyone to go on HAL again, but it definitely wouldn't be in Jan/Feb if I was hoping for mixed generations.

 

[dcassetta]

One trip on NCL was a disaster, but this was more than 20 years ago, so I am sure things have improved!

I enjoy HAL and though it does tend toward an older crowd, there are also lots of younger, active people.

HAL's BBC Earth partnership has led to some great programming, and I like the cooking demonstrations, blues club, chamber musicians and piano bar.
There will be less competition for the more active shore excursions
I love the Explorer's Cafe on HAL. Great seating area with beautiful views and depending on the cruise, ranger/naturalist/historian talks take place there.

Any longer cruises during school time will have fewer children, even Disney.

 

[bfamily5]

So we tried the NCL Escape last year as our first foray off of DCL. I likened it Carnival's drunk uncle. It was awful! I have since discovered that my cruise age is 60+ even though we are in our mid forties. The techno beat was ridiculous and the drinks were flowing. The pool areas are very limited and I didn't realize how important that was to me. So we are actually looking at HAL for our next non-DCL cruise

 

[aflynn33]

Have you looked at Princess Cruises? We are about your age and had a great time on the Mexican Riviera cruise last week on the Ruby Princess. The ages were older than Disney, but there were lots of younger people - even children. I am a DCL fan, but sometimes I want to go somewhere different, too.

 

[emilymad]

Have you looked at Celebrity? We find they screw older but not HAL old. I felt that their level of "luxury" was close to DCL.

 

[cadien]

I do keep forgetting NCL gives everyone unlimited drink packages now. Although that is still less of an issue on the longer itineraries. And their pool space is terrible.

I do really want to try Celebrity.

 

[dcassetta]

Have you looked at Celebrity? We find they screw older but not HAL old. I felt that their level of "luxury" was close to DCL.

Did you mean skew - or will this turn into a verandah club discussion?!?!

 

[grantclaire]

Hi, I have a good buddy who says I am being too loyal to DCL! He has sailed on RCI, MSC, Carnival but not Disney. We have an upcoming Western DCL in Feb 18. Today he showed me an add in the paper for Norwegian Escape sailing Jan/ 18 Western Carib, it is half price compared to my Disney Cruise and included airfare and transfers. He thinks I should try another line at least once. So I might try!

 

[AquaDame]

Hi, I have a good buddy who says I am being too loyal to DCL! He has sailed on RCI, MSC, Carnival but not Disney. We have an upcoming Western DCL in Feb 18. Today he showed me an add in the paper for Norwegian Escape sailing Jan/ 18 Western Carib, it is half price compared to my Disney Cruise and included airfare and transfers. He thinks I should try another line at least once. So I might try!

If you don't try you'll never know...! I agree its worth a shot.

 

[beccawes7471]

We went on an Alaskan cruise in 2011, wanted Disney but they weren't going to Glacier Bay. Travel agent convinced my mother in law that HAL was the premier line ( our other options were NCL and RCCL at the time) and was also told that it would be very family appropriate...it really wasn't and there were very few people under 60 on board. We had a 2 year old and an 11 year old at the time, we were late 30's and my in laws mid 50's. Now, staff was very nice, as were fellow passengers but pretty much all activities were def geared toward an older set, my in laws even thought so and we were often bored while on board. The good part, for us at least, was that Alaska is amazing and we all loved it so the boat was just a way for us to get there. That said, we decided HAL really wasn't for us in the future and have had great subsequent cruises on Disney and RCCL, and are cruising NCL Jan 2018. Hoping to try Carnival in the future too. Have fun, whatever you choose, it beats a day at work

 

[brewcrew]

We have been on 7 Disney cruises and are getting ready for our 8th. We were ready to try something new and we just booked a cruise on Princess. Hoping it's similar with the service that DCL offers. It's a cruise and we will have fun and we will at least have the knowledge of other cruise lines. Look forward to hearing about your thoughts whichever cruise line you choose.

 

[KVH]

My DW and my DD2 are both former HAL employees. Definitely the senior set there. But even moreso is that a lot of those cruisers tend to "think" old. Heck, my mother is 88 and still cuts her own lawn. But my wife's experience is that many of the cruisers (Alaska route usually) just act like their age is an impediment. NCL or Celebrity definitely the way to go for anyone fairly active.