Comparing our recent Celebrity and HAL cruises

We recently took a 10-day British Isles cruise on Celebrity Infinity, and almost immediately after that boarded the Eurodam for a 12-day Baltic cruise. I thought I would write about our impressions of these two cruises, the similarities and the differences. These are just my opinions, YMMV from cruise to cruise. :)

A little background, we are fairly new retirees, are "port people" and fairly active. We're 3-star on HAL (just made 100 sea days) and this was our 2nd Celebrity cruise. The first one was on the Silhouette to the Holy Land. We've found the two lines have more in common than not, but we usually give a nod to HAL for their itineraries.

Both cruises were extremely port-intensive, we had 1 sea day on the 10-day Celebrity cruise and 2 sea days on the 12-day HAL cruise. Needless to say we were tired at the end of each day. :) We were gone a total of 30 days, counting the days pre-cruise, post-cruise and between cruises that we spent in London, Stockholm, and Copenhagen.

First, what we found similar:

The service -- from our cabin stewards to dining, were on a par. Strangely, on both of these cruises we never met our cabin stewards' assistants. But both the stewards were excellent. In fact I think our steward on our Celebrity cruise was maybe the best we've ever had.

Number of passengers in bathrobes -- :D This really surprised me, especially because most people think the European cruises are better dressed. Both HAL and Celebrity had a number of people in bathrobes, something that surprised me. I don't know if I just haven't paid attention before, or if it's something that's becoming more common, but both cruises we saw people in robes at the Bingo game, in the Lido, and walking around the ship (on formal night too). I thought it was funny and it didn't bother me, but they did stand out. :D Overall both cruises were very casual.

Both cruises had a lot of children onboard, and on both cruises they were all very well behaved from what we could see. Lots of families and grandparents sailing with grandchildren.

Pluses for Celebrity:

The ability to see our onboard account on our TV

Much better pizza, even now that HAL has the Slice (which is better than what they had before IMO, but still not good!)

We liked that we could add tips onto our bill at the specialty restaurants, taking away the problem of possibly forgetting to carry some cash around the ship.

The stir-fry is made to order, long lines but worth it.

Better wine selection

The ability to reserve MDR times/days before the cruise with Select Dining (Open Dining)

This is a small thing, but I liked how they said our names (with a welcome back) each time we came back to the ship and scanned our cards.

Again my opinion, but I think the specialty restaurant SS United States is much better than the Pinnacle (but it also costs a lot more)

Real bacon for the omelets instead of those bacon bits HAL has

Minuses for Celebrity:

The buffet menu is not the same as the MDR at dinner.

Their laundry deals, or lack thereof. I've said this before, HAL's laundry deals have Celebrity beat all to pieces. Having only sailed twice on Celebrity, we had only one choice, to pay by the piece. Luckily for us we had a lot of OBC, and had the unlimited laundry set up for our HAL cruise because we had 2 bags to send out right after boarding the Eurodam.

The coffee at the buffet was undrinkable. (IMO) I like strong coffee but this wasn't strong, just burnt.

No 48-hour code orange, and a definite lack of attention to people pawing through the food. :eek:

No nachos, cooking demos, movies, wrap-around deck, or room service the last morning.

HAL cruise

My thoughts are pretty well addressed above, but a few more notes: HAL's specialty coffees are bigger and cheaper; coffee in the Lido is better; BB King is a huge plus. We saw their show at least 4 times during the cruise. The entertainment on both cruises left a lot to be desired, so their show was very welcome!

Thanks for the observations! With that many port days, it sounds like you will need to rest up from your vacation. :)

Thanks for your comparison between the two lines. We have cruise on the Infinity 3 or 4 times and have to agree with you about their specialty restaurant, the US United States is awesome but like you said alot more expensive.

Thank you for taking the time to write your comparisons of the two cruise lines.

We have sailed Royal and Celebrity and may try Hal. Thank you for the comparison.

Excellent comparison, and more or less mirrors what we've found. Itineraries continue to be a major factor for us, but if they offer the same or very similar destinations, we now lean towards Celebrity. We have a HAL Alaska cruise next month but a Med cruise and TA on Celebrity next year.

I chuckled about your pizza comment, as I grabbed a couple of slices of veggie pizza by mistake on the Eclipse back in February, but it turned out to be one of the tastiest pizzas ever, on or off a ship. :)

How do you compare your Silhouette experience to the older, smaller Infinity? Certainly the Infinity is closer to HAL'S ships.

I have sailed the Infinity and the Eurodam . Both are wonderful ships. On the Infinity , I love the corner aft Family Staterooms. The huge balcony cannot be beat for a family. The SS United States is much better than the Pinnacle , in my opinion , but the Eurodam has the Tamarind , which I love..

How do you compare your Silhouette experience to the older, smaller Infinity? Certainly the Infinity is closer to HAL'S ships.

Well we were blown away by the Silhouette. She was only a few months old when we sailed her, so bright and shiny. :D So yes, there's a difference between the ships, but the service, food, etc. were comparable

I have sailed the Infinity and the Eurodam . Both are wonderful ships. On the Infinity , I love the corner aft Family Staterooms. The huge balcony cannot be beat for a family. The SS United States is much better than the Pinnacle , in my opinion , but the Eurodam has the Tamarind , which I love..

Oh yes, I forgot the Tamarind! We loved it too. A totally different experience from the SS United States.

Excellent comparison, and more or less mirrors what we've found. Itineraries continue to be a major factor for us, but if they offer the same or very similar destinations, we now lean towards Celebrity. We have a HAL Alaska cruise next month but a Med cruise and TA on Celebrity next year.

 

I chuckled about your pizza comment, as I grabbed a couple of slices of veggie pizza by mistake on the Eclipse back in February, but it turned out to be one of the tastiest pizzas ever, on or off a ship. :)

I agree! I was amazed at how good their pizza is!

Hi and welcome back,

thanks for the very interesting comparison of X and HAL! :)

I see you have enjoyed both cruises.

Since we have enjoyed our 2 cruises on Summit (close sister to Infinity), we have booked Millie (also a sister) again for 2015, but we also considered HAL's Oosterdam.

I am pretty sure that some day, we will try out one of the HAL's Vista- or Signature-Class ships, since they are also very appealing to me!

All in all, both lines seem to be bery similar.

Thanks for the report! We cruise both and find things we like and don't like about each one. To me the wine list difference is significant.

One question: Does Celebrity have the made to order burgers on the pool deck?

One question: Does Celebrity have the made to order burgers on the pool deck?

The Mast Grill serves burgers, but I've not tried them and can't say if they are made to order. Others speak very highly off them, though, including the veggie and I think turkey burgers.

One question: Does Celebrity have the made to order burgers on the pool deck?

Yes at the Mast Grill, and they are very good. Service is always very quick, but the Grill is staffed sufficiently to make that possible. Since we are not fans of Celebrity's buffet, it was our go-to place for lunch - fast and good.

To clarify: You CAN make dinner reservations on HAL when you have "open" seating. You have to call the reservations number (88 if I recall correctly). We requested a specific time and a specific waiter most nights a few weeks ago on the Eurodam.

both cruises we saw people in robes at the Bingo game,

I don't know about Celebrity, but on HAL, if you wear your bathrobe to one of the Bingo games, you get additional cards.

I would think that for the British isles or the Baltics, it would be very chilly walking to and from the pool in just a bathing suit and that a bathrobe would be necessary to keep warm.

Thanks for your observations.

Great comparisons...thank for posting Carolyn:):):)

Yes at the Mast Grill, and they are very good. Service is always very quick, but the Grill is staffed sufficiently to make that possible. Since we are not fans of Celebrity's buffet, it was our go-to place for lunch - fast and good.

Thanks to you and the previous poster. I'm glad to hear they are very good. We've only been on one Celebrity cruise and that was a few years ago. They were in a warmer then, not on the grill, so I'm glad to hear they have improved. We hit the pool grill for a quick lunch on port days rather than fight the buffets, too.

One question: Does Celebrity have the made to order burgers on the pool deck?

Celebrity's pool grill is very popular.. The food is very good. Pretty much made fresh as someone is doing the different burgers while the line grows. So they haven't been sitting around in a warmer. And the onion rings and fries....yummo!

Well we were blown away by the Silhouette. She was only a few months old when we sailed her, so bright and shiny. :D So yes, there's a difference between the ships, but the service, food, etc. were comparable

Yep....those S class ships are very cool !! Lots of neat touches in the rooms and public areas. And they never feel as crowded as the HAL ships we've been on.

On our last cruise on Solstice, somehow we missed getting our mimosa on embarking. Not a big deal. But I mentioned it kiddingly to the room steward when we met and he asked if we needed anything right away.

When we got back to our room after a lunch, there was a certificate on our bed for a bottle of "champagne" at dinner. That's pretty bad stuff, so our waiter let us just exchange it for a bottle of nice wine and we paid the extra. Now that's service!

To clarify: You CAN make dinner reservations on HAL when you have "open" seating. You have to call the reservations number (88 if I recall correctly). We requested a specific time and a specific waiter most nights a few weeks ago on the Eurodam.

Before the cruise? We have reserved specific tables and waiters during every cruise with HAL, but I didn't know HAL has the option of reserving before the cruise like I did with Celebrity.

How were the outdoor spaces on Infinity?

(The deck plans look like most public space is indoors and relegated to bars or restaurants- not what interests us).

I understand there is no wrap around deck, but can you go out on the bow and what outdoor spaces are there for scenic cruising?

I found a shorter version of Antarctica that DH may be able to say yes to. But if one has few options for outside I think it would be a big "no."

Veendam, with her many public outdoor decks and viewing places was perfect.