Jump to content

NCL Vs Celebrity vs. Holland America


pcl_cruiser

Recommended Posts

We are planning on going to Alaska next year for our 10th anniversary. We booked with NCL since their prices are already out, but still want to keep our options open. We kinda want to try a cruise line we haven't been on. Which leaves Holland America, Celebrity, and NCL for Alaska. Any thoughts???

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For Alaska, I think I would base my decision on itinerary instead of cruise line. Do you want a round trip cruise or north or southbound? Do you want to leave go through Seattle or Vancouver? Once you decide that, it will help you figure out the ship.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are planning on going to Alaska next year for our 10th anniversary. We booked with NCL since their prices are already out, but still want to keep our options open. We kinda want to try a cruise line we haven't been on. Which leaves Holland America, Celebrity, and NCL for Alaska. Any thoughts???

 

All three have something to offer that is different from the others, but all three have similarities as well.

 

Here is my take and it is only opinion:

 

HAL: great cabins

great food

good service

much older crowd even though they are trying to attrack a younger clientelle it is still a much older, very subdued group and not much nightlife..

Has been doing Alaska for years.

 

Celebrity: also very good food,

usually good service, any line will have a bad waiter or cabin steward from time to time.

good entertainment

newer to Alaska than some lines and fewer sailings (in the past, that is)

slightly on the formal side with a friendly crew but somewhat stuffy, same with the passengers.

 

NCL:

good food, but in the MDR maybe not quite as good as the others and not as nice presentation.

cabins very similar in size to Celebrity

great bathrooms

more relaxed atmosphere with a friendly crew.

great sub charge restaurants and an excellent buffet. Actually all three have good buffets, but NCL and HAL are a little better than Celebrity (opnion only)

a better mixture of demographics

 

I think you would be happy on any of them, depending on your lifestyle. NCL is certainly more of a lively ship with more energy, both crew and passengers, HAL is polished and Celebrity falls inbetween, but loyal Celebrity followers think there is no line like it.

 

Nita

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm no expert but my impressions are a lot like Nita's. The HAL cruise we were on definitely had an older clientele. People tended to dress up a lot more on Celebrity. NCL seemed younger and more casual.

 

HAL and Celebrity have more classic looking ships and they have very nice perks, like bigger cabins, robes, beach bags.

 

On our last NCL cruise, we traveled with my parents and my mom won't go on NCL again. She hated the decor (and also the coffee...I hope it's improved in the past few years). But I really liked the Freestyle aspect and trying all the different restaurants. So it depends on lot on what's important to you.

 

I'll go on any cruise line if it has the right itinerary.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nita pretty well nailed it. I cruised on HAL Oosterdam last November and the food in the MDR was not quite as good as NCL Sun a month ago. HAL served larger portions, an additional course and had a much nicer presentation, but NCL beat it by a bit on taste. Service in the Sun MDRs was good considering you don't have as much of a chance to develop a rapport with the waiters under Freestyle dining.

 

Ignore the fanbois and rabid detractors and you can get a pretty good idea what the different lines are like on cruise Critic. You won't really go wrong with any of the three as long as you pick the one that does what's important to you best.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does NCL have a naturalist on board who will narrate the glaciers, give lectures etc? I know they have them on X and HAL. I've been on 2 Celebrity Alaska cruises, but now sail NCL. I am unsure about the answer to my question (I need the answer, too, in case my 3rd trip is on NCL).

 

Nita, Xs cabins are considerably bigger than NCL's. Even an inside cabin is a regulation 172 sq ft but with NCl about 145. More closet space.

 

HAL has the best beds.

 

I liked X's food better than HAL's or NCL's but I didn't complain about it on HAL or NCL. NCL has almost 24 hour availability of real food, though, which the others do not, in the Blue Lagoon.

 

Depending on the ship, HAL and X have some indoor pools (T pool on X free on M class ships) (HAl has the open/close thingy on some ships). Check to see if the NCL ship does, even if you might have to pay for a spa pass, if that is important to you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does NCL have a naturalist on board who will narrate the glaciers, give lectures etc? I know they have them on X and HAL. I've been on 2 Celebrity Alaska cruises, but now sail NCL. I am unsure about the answer to my question (I need the answer, too, in case my 3rd trip is on NCL).

 

 

I should have mentioned that in my earlier post. You are asking good questions.

 

On the Buenos Aires to Santiago trip I recently finished they didn't have a naturalist. The NCL staff member giving the presentations said that NCL is bringing their naturalist/geography/history presentations in house and will be doing them with their own people. He did three poorly put together Powerpoint presentations that were primarily made up from obsolete public domain material. HAL and Celebrity had outstanding presentations by experts who were also very entertaining.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Celebrity, HAL and Princess also let you bring your own wine onboard which I think is a huge perk personally. Celebrity also offers unlimited drink packages (water, alcohol or soda) for relatively good rates.

 

I forgot, Celebrity still gives you a glass of bubbly when you board. NCL did away with this perk recently.

 

Specifically, Celebrity allows you to bring on 2 bottles per cabin, free of charge. After that there is a corking fee, as there is for all wine on NCL.

 

How much wine can you bring on on HAL and Princess free of charge?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Unlimited amounts of wine (bring cases if you can carry 'em!:D), as well as unlimited amounts of water and soda can be brought onboard HAL. Don't know about Princess. BTW - HAL has THE best beds on the high seas....totally comfy and dreamy! ;) Loved our past two cruises to AK on HAL so much that we're sailing w/them again on May 31st, their new 14 day roundtrip Seattle itinerary. Yahoo!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm no expert but my impressions are a lot like Nita's. The HAL cruise we were on definitely had an older clientele. People tended to dress up a lot more on Celebrity. NCL seemed younger and more casual.

 

HAL and Celebrity have more classic looking ships and they have very nice perks, like bigger cabins, robes, beach bags.

 

On our last NCL cruise, we traveled with my parents and my mom won't go on NCL again. She hated the decor (and also the coffee...I hope it's improved in the past few years). But I really liked the Freestyle aspect and trying all the different restaurants. So it depends on lot on what's important to you.

 

I'll go on any cruise line if it has the right itinerary.

 

funny you would mention the coffee, I happen to think coffee on all lines leaves a lot to be desired except for room service. There are others that will say NCL has the best coffee of any line. See what is meant by subjective...Lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does NCL have a naturalist on board who will narrate the glaciers, give lectures etc? I know they have them on X and HAL. I've been on 2 Celebrity Alaska cruises, but now sail NCL. I am unsure about the answer to my question (I need the answer, too, in case my 3rd trip is on NCL).

 

Nita, Xs cabins are considerably bigger than NCL's. Even an inside cabin is a regulation 172 sq ft but with NCl about 145. More closet space.

 

HAL has the best beds.

 

I liked X's food better than HAL's or NCL's but I didn't complain about it on HAL or NCL. NCL has almost 24 hour availability of real food, though, which the others do not, in the Blue Lagoon.

 

Depending on the ship, HAL and X have some indoor pools (T pool on X free on M class ships) (HAl has the open/close thingy on some ships). Check to see if the NCL ship does, even if you might have to pay for a spa pass, if that is important to you.

 

yes, NCL does have a naturalist or they did the only time we sailed Alaska..

 

As for the cabins, we have cruised Celebrity twice, once on the Conny and the cabins were almost exactly the same size as the Sun..In fact I think both were 179 sq ft plus the balcony..We sailed the Zenith, now gone, the cabin was slightly smaller, so I think it depends on the class of ship. except for HAL and Carnival we really haven't seen more than a few feet difference from one line to the other...

 

Nita

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I forgot, Celebrity still gives you a glass of bubbly when you board. NCL did away with this perk recently.

 

Specifically, Celebrity allows you to bring on 2 bottles per cabin, free of charge. After that there is a corking fee, as there is for all wine on NCL.

 

How much wine can you bring on on HAL and Princess free of charge?

 

Actually we brought about 8 bottles on our last HAL cruise, no questions asked, but the corkage fees, if you take the wine to the dining room are higher.

 

As for the beds, the last two NCL cruises we have taken, last year and 2008 the beds and bedding were new and as nice or nicer than any line we have cruised. The old beds were pretty bad I wil admit. So for anyone who has not cruised NCL in the past year or so you might be surprised at how nice the beds are.

 

Nita

Link to comment
Share on other sites

yes, NCL does have a naturalist or they did the only time we sailed Alaska..

 

NCL had Glacier Bay naturalists on board doing commentary and presentations in Alaska last year - will let folks know if they do this year when we go again!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

NCL had Glacier Bay naturalists on board doing commentary and presentations in Alaska last year - will let folks know if they do this year when we go again!

 

In February on the Sun going around the tip of South America, the NCL staff member reading the presentations said that NCL was bringing their presentations in-house fleetwide.:eek:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...