Celebrity versus HAL - What a difference!

Ken the cruiser: I find your description of Celebrity's buffet as "a pig trough" completely unfair and insulting! The station design on Solstice style ships is much more efficient, and the food is certainly not slop! (I really think you just hate to serve yourself) And your logic of booking Suite cabins for thousands of dollars more to avoid paying $30 for specialty restaurants escapes me.

Ken the cruiser: I find your description of Celebrity's buffet as "a pig trough" completely unfair and insulting! The station design on Solstice style ships is much more efficient, and the food is certainly not slop! (I really think you just hate to serve yourself) And your logic of booking Suite cabins for thousands of dollars more to avoid paying $30 for specialty restaurants escapes me.

That’s fair, but I disagree as to being more efficient. For one thing we have to go to multiple stations at both breakfast and lunch to get our meals. The issue I have with that is most everyone is doing the same thing, so you have to be aware of your surroundings when going between stations otherwise you wind up running into people.

Then once you fill your plate, you have to find a table to sit at which can be a major effort all in itself. Then, you have to go get your drinks because there are no servers, just those cleaning tables. Then there is the dessert area where there are sheet cakes where you might want to take a slice from. All is good if you get there right when it opens. However, half way through lunch that sheet cake has been totally trashed. So, you’re right, pig trough might be too harsh, but it is by far way less organized than HAL’s buffet up on the Lido deck.

To exemplify our opinion of the Solstice buffet, the MDR at both breakfast and lunch is packed whereas on HAL the MDR during those times is much less crowded. So it’s not just us that believe eating up at the Solstice class buffet is not worth the effort. But, that’s just our opinion. Others, like yourself, may have a different opinion.

As far as the suite life goes, it’s being able to eat at the Luminae that entices us to move up. By being able to eat at the Luminae every morning and evening, and lunch time on sea days, we would have no reason to eat at a specialty restaurant, even if we only have to pay 60% on the retail price like we are doing on this cruise. Also, Luminae serves chocolate desserts at both lunch and dinner which is a big plus rather than once every 4-5 days like it is in the MDR. Again, that’s just us. You may not think so.

This is true. We usually book either a vista suite or on occasion a Neptune suite and for as much as we pay for those, we expect to be entertained. That used to be the case with regards to entertainment a few years back, but not so much anymore. However, I will say the food seems to have gotten better in the MDR.

Thanks for starting this thread. We have been thinking about trying Celebrity. We were in a Neptune Suite last year for our first HAL cruise.

What type of cabin did you have on your Celebrity cruise and how did it compare to a Neptune Suite?

Thank you so much for the info -- assume you will no longer be on HAL and I will not be sailing on Celebrity !!!

Thank you so much for the info -- assume you will no longer be on HAL and I will not be sailing on Celebrity !!!

That is not the case. We have a 21 day Antarctica cruise booked on the Zaandam in January. We also would like to go to the Arctic Circle and right now the only affordable cruise line that goes there is HAL on the Prinsendam. I’m just saying, fun wise, Celebrity has HAL beat hands down, but HAL sill has Celebrity beat when it comes to unique itineraries.

Thanks for starting this thread. We have been thinking about trying Celebrity. We were in a Neptune Suite last year for our first HAL cruise.

 

What type of cabin did you have on your Celebrity cruise and how did it compare to a Neptune Suite?

We are in a concierge veranda which is quite comfortable, but nowhere the size of a Neptune suite. We’ve cruised twice in Neptune suites and they are hugh unless you get one of the aft-facing corner rooms on the Koningsdam which are a little smaller.

On our next Celebrity cruise we’ll be in a Sky Suite and are looking forward to it. It’s not as big as a Neptune, but picture being able to eat in the Pinnacle Grill every morning and evening and at lunch on sea days. If you’re in a Celebrity suite, the Luminae is your private restaurant. On a HAL cruise when you are in a Neptune, you only get to eat breakfast in the Pinnacle for free, but you do get free laundry. Also picture going to the Neptune Lounge and having an open bar waiting for you. That’s what Michaels Lounge offers from what I understand.

We briefly looked into a Celebrity Suite today and it had a separate bedroom which seemed to be the same size as a Neptune if you combined the bedroom area with the living room area, but I could be mistaken. Hope this helps.

I totally agree with most of what the OP said. IMO, Celebrity is a far superior line to HAL. I think Solstice class ships are the most beautiful cruise ships at sea and I can't wait to see the new Celebrity Edge. The only thing I disagree with is the buffet. I have always found the islands design of the buffets on Celebrity (and RCI) ships to be much more efficient.

The one thing that I have never understood on this forum is how personal and loyal some posters can be to a cruise line. HAL, Princess, Celebrity, whatever. There appears to be some who are seem to identify themselves so much with their cruise line of choice that they seem to take offence at any criticism or dismiss any criticism.

This seems so odd to us. After all, it is a cruise line. Do people feel this way about their favourite airline, department store, automobile manufacturer, or whatever. Never understood such loyalty and personal identification to a faceless corporation..or should I say just another subsidiary of a large corporation. We have a preference for many diffierent brands of products. We are only as loyal as our last product or service experience. Nor do we care if other buy the same product/service or criticize it.

Just a thought . . . maybe it's a (cruiseline) preference rather than loyalty. Sometimes the words are used interchangeably.

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Ken the cruisers, thanks for taking the time to reply to my question. It will help me with my research. Happy Travels wherever you go next.

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Their MDR is average and they only have a chocolate dessert every 5 days or so which is not good when your DW is a chocoholic. However, we’re finding that if we book a sky suite on our next cruise so we can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Luminae restaurant that will solve the food issue as they have chocolate desserts every night as well as lunch with both the lunch and evening menus changing every day. [/quote]

 

Having sailed mainly on Celebrity -- would just like to point out that the MDR has chocolate cake every night on the right hand side of the menu -- which includes things like, salmon, chicken, steak, onion soup, shrimp cocktail, desserts etc.

 

It is a very deep, moist and delicious chocolate cake with chocolate syrup on top.:D

 

 

I agree that they do not have a chocolate dessert every night on the regular menu -- but then I always went with the chocolate cake when a chocolate option was not available.

 

Like most cruise lines (Princess, HAL, Celebrity, Carnival etc) - the choice and quality of food has gone down in the last few years; however, food is very subjective and I do not want to get into a discussion on that topic.

 

Went to a HAL presentation this week to look at a possible cruise and land trip to Alaska. One of the things that, so far, is preventing me from going on HAL, is that on older ships they have very few balconies as well as some ships still allow smoking in their casinos. The Volundam was the ship highlighted (August 2018) and it only had suites, oceanview and inside cabins. I usually get a concierge balcony on Celebrity.

 

If I find an itinerary that suits me and a newer ship with balconies and that does not allow smoking in the casino -- I will then consider HAL. They do have some intineraries that Celebrity does not. So will probably look at Princess for next cruise.

Having sailed mainly on Celebrity -- would just like to point out that the MDR has chocolate cake every night on the right hand side of the menu -- which includes things like, salmon, chicken, steak, onion soup, shrimp cocktail, desserts etc.

 

It is a very deep, moist and delicious chocolate cake with chocolate syrup on top.:D

 

 

I agree that they do not have a chocolate dessert every night on the regular menu -- but then I always went with the chocolate cake when a chocolate option was not available.

 

Like most cruise lines (Princess, HAL, Celebrity, Carnival etc) - the choice and quality of food has gone down in the last few years; however, food is very subjective and I do not want to get into a discussion on that topic.

 

Went to a HAL presentation this week to look at a possible cruise and land trip to Alaska. One of the things that, so far, is preventing me from going on HAL, is that on older ships they have very few balconies as well as some ships still allow smoking in their casinos. The Volundam was the ship highlighted (August 2018) and it only had suites, oceanview and inside cabins. I usually get a concierge balcony on Celebrity.

 

If I find an itinerary that suits me and a newer ship with balconies and that does not allow smoking in the casino -- I will then consider HAL. They do have some intineraries that Celebrity does not. So will probably look at Princess for next cruise.

Unfortunately my DW tried the classic chocolate cake the first evening and it was dry and didn’t pass the calorie test. But on the bright side, they are starting to have more chocolate offerings. Not every evening, but they’re getting better.

As far as smoking goes, I’m sure they pointed out in the HAL presentation you can’t smoke on your veranda anymore. But I’m not sure about smelling smoke in the casino, if they still allow it in certain parts of the casino, as we don’t gamble. However, we have walked through the casino on many occasions and never noticed any hint of it. But that’s just us. Hope you do find a HAL itinerary you like as they are a quality cruise line, just different that from I’ve experienced on the Eclipse this cruise.

We haven't cruised with HAL since 2009. We have a 21 day cruise booked for next May so it will be interesting to see how they shape up now. I guess the itinerary that HAL offered was the main reason for booking the cruise with them in the first place. Time will tell.....

We select based on ship. It is getting difficult to get DW to opt for a HAL ship.....the cruise line has fallen down in her comparative pecking order. I cannot disagree. Perhaps the new K.

LOL... Took the words right out of my mouth, except in reverse. One of our first criteria in looking at a cruise IS the ship, and anything larger that 1800 passengers is just too large for us. We used to love Celebrity, but the thought of a huge ship with 3000+ others is simply not appealing any more, and unfortunately the cost of most other "small ship" cruise lines is somewhat prohibitive to us.

So, while not every cruise (last one was Star Clippers, the next is CMV) HAL remains high on our "pecking order".....

 

We briefly looked into a Celebrity Suite today and it had a separate bedroom which seemed to be the same size as a Neptune if you combined the bedroom area with the living room area, but I could be mistaken. Hope this helps.

We've sailed on HAL once in a Neptune suite and several times on X in a Celebrity Suite. While we certainly enjoyed our Neptune suite the Celebrity Suite was a much nicer accommodation in my opinion. Completely private bedroom area, bathroom with entrances from both bedroom and living area and, if you are lucky enough to book a CS on the hump, the balcony is huge!! The perks for a suite on X are outstanding too, with Luminae and Michael's Club. Even though we have very little HAL experience we believe we would prefer the X ships overall HOWEVER X's itineraries never change and having done so many of them we are looking elsewhere now. The pricing on X has started to get completely out of hand for suites also. Too bad, we like their product but have no desire to repeat itineraries..........

Have been several times on both lines. Not much difference although Celebrity may lean towards a younger crowd. On our last Celebrity cruise, I sensed more gimmicks. We ate in two of their specialty restaurants. The waiter in the European style one refused to stop telling us all about French food and the correct way to eat it even though we told him that we had been to France several times and that the couple with us owned property there. In fact, they are fluent in French. So, that experience while making us grin afterwards, was not a bit like the friendly crew on HAL. Food was okay.

If I might ask as this is our first TA ever and I've been saying how entertaining this Celebrity Eclipse TA has been, has anyone reading this thread been on a HAL TA in 2017? If so, how was it? Did HAL offer professional lectures every sea day and interactive game shows other than trivia to keep folks entertained as there are a bunch of sea days when cruising across the Atlantic. Just curious.

Unfortunately my DW tried the classic chocolate cake the first evening and it was dry and didn’t pass the calorie test. But on the bright side, they are starting to have more chocolate offerings. Not every evening, but they’re getting better.

We see getting less & paying more , on both cruise lines:( . We have 80 cruises behind us & definitely see dramatic price increases / Thus we will now only cruise if we get a great cruise price .

Yes there are other forms of vacationing & seeing /touching & tasting of many interests ;which we have turned to ;).The benefit is also we save money as well :D

We see getting less & paying more , on both cruise lines:( . We have 80 cruises behind us & definitely see dramatic price increases / Thus we will now only cruise if we get a great cruise price .

 

Yes there are other forms of vacationing & seeing /touching & tasting of many interests ;which we have turned to ;).The benefit is also we save money as well :D

You're so right. Cruising has become more and more expensive. Therefore, we have certain expectations and that includes different dining venues and entertainment during the sea days and a variety of nightly events. Our first cruise with HAL was in 1995 and after many cruises over the past 22 years with HAL, we were sorely disappointed in HAL on our last cruise and have now tried another cruise line, RCL. I love the itineraries that HAL offers, but we've done many of their cruises so now we look at the ship as the destination. We enjoy the mega ships sailing in the Caribbean since one of us has a mobility issue and doesn't always want to disembark at ports. The larger ships offer multiple dining spots and many entertainment options that appeal to us at this stage of our lives. I would never rule out a HAL cruise that was port intensive, but I do wish they would have more activities and entertainment options.

If HAL did not have the Culinary Arts Centers on its ships and the associated activities, we probably wouldn't cruise with them again. The cutbacks in the cruise director's staff and activities is one of our big disappointments on HAL cruises. At least they still get some interesting guest entertainers. Princess, by contrast, has a lot more daytime activities and a variety of evening entertainment options as well. That's one of the reasons why we sail five times more often on Princess than HAL.

If I might ask as this is our first TA ever and I've been saying how entertaining this Celebrity Eclipse TA has been, has anyone reading this thread been on a HAL TA in 2017? If so, how was it? Did HAL offer professional lectures every sea day and interactive game shows other than trivia to keep folks entertained as there are a bunch of sea days when cruising across the Atlantic. Just curious.

I did a HAL TA last month. There were professional lectures on different subjects and theme series several times a day. I don't recall any interactive game shows but I may have skimmed by those since they don't hold any interest for me. There were different types of dance classes and I know I saw card games and such. There were also different types of trivia depending on your interests. Oh, and computer classes as well as photography. I know there was a lot more but I was mostly in recuperation mode so I didn't pay a lot of attention.

I have enjoyed following this thread since we have enjoyed both Celebrity and HAL. I am still working full time in a fairly high impact job. I am an introvert, so when I go on vacation I don't want a lot of group activities. I am looking for subdued. It's funny how each of us have different needs when it comes to cruising. Good thing there are a lot of choices![emoji41]

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If I might ask as this is our first TA ever and I've been saying how entertaining this Celebrity Eclipse TA has been, has anyone reading this thread been on a HAL TA in 2017? If so, how was it? Did HAL offer professional lectures every sea day and interactive game shows other than trivia to keep folks entertained as there are a bunch of sea days when cruising across the Atlantic. Just curious.

Did a TA on the Rotterdam this spring (and a live thread) and there were some excellent lecturers on board. Very popular and deservedly so.

There were some additional activities during the sea days as well. I don't recall game shows though. Our days were full and we had a lot of sea days.

For example... for many... this looks like a lot of fun!!! But for me... it's something I would prefer to avoid.

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