Difficult decision between Celebrity and Hal!

[Bridge Maven]

(From http://cruises.affordabletours.com/Info/FAQs.html)

 

What is the average age of passengers by cruise line?

 

Passenger ages vary somewhat by sailing, but usually they are as follows:

Carnival Cruise Line: 0 - 45 years of age

Royal Caribbean Cruise Line: 25 - 55 years of age

Crystal Cruise Line: 55+ years of age

Celebrity Cruise Line: 35 - 64 years of age

Norwegian Cruise Line: 27 - 56 years of age

Holland America Cruises: 30 - 60 years of age

Princess Cruise Line: 35 to 65 years of age

 

Thanks for posting these very interesting statistics. My husband and I were only on Holland America once with our then 29 year old daughter, her husband, and their infant daughter. It was a Thanksgiving cruise two years ago and I was concerned that everyone would be much older than my daughter and her family. To my surprise there were many three generation groups like ours and my daughter didn't even think the passenger base on that ship was old. Of course I realize that the age demographics on a Caribbean Cruise during Thanksgiving are going to be very different than on a world cruise. My husband and I had taken a Thanksgiving cruise on Celebrity's Constellation the previous year and never expected the demographics on Holland America to be younger than the passengers on Celebrity for the same time of year.

[Guest LoveMyBoxer]

Need to chime in here. I think the average age of any cruise depends on the itinerary, time of year they sail, and port. The age of passengers on any ship goes up when school is in session and vice versa.

[gprentice]

I think the best idea would be to try out both! HAL this time, X next time. Don't worry about making a bad decision because they're both good in their own ways.

 

Graham

[cruzendude]

As a veteran of X and HAL I think there are a couple of considerations...if you are cruising for the ship....SOLSTICE, hands down

 

If you are cruising for the itenerery....pick your choice

 

You mentioned the specialty restaurant.....Solstice has 4 with the Murano being one of the best afloat.....my HAL specialty restauant experience..WORST I have had..the food was ok to good but I can get that in the MDR...

 

Room service both HAL and X will deliver full menu from the MDR during dining hours...

 

Ages...YES the demographic will be older than Carnival on both BUT Solstice has one of the the younger demo's on X and is a SPECTACULAR ship.....Frankly my ankles can't take the abuse of dozens of walkers and scooters running into them again as is the norm on a HAL cruise

 

For me..hands down Solstice..:D

[floridatravelersforlife]

My 2 c

 

After sailing Solstice, Equinox in 2009 + no smoking + we be Elite member s(free booze & benefits) right now I favor X

 

The food quality on the Equinox was nearly back up at Michel Roux standards.

 

Also, I agree age is dependent on the cruise and time of year. The grey beards bring multigenerational families during the holidays. That distorts everything. Try the two weeks after Thanksgiving for the low season multitudes over 70.

 

As far as our traveling five years from now who nows? Maybe the Golden China Cruise Lines:D or Korean Cruises will be in business.

[bickee]

Ok, everyone has given me a lot to think about, besides all the useless bickering! We all like what we like, no one has to agree! I think they both definitely have their plusses and minuses. Hopefully hubby and I can really sit down and hammer out the options and make our final decision soon! Thanks!

[HWY 101]

Useless bickering? More like playful teasing which occurs often on this forum. You have been given plenty of excellent advice. Basically, you can't go wrong with either choice, and only you can decide. Have a fun cruise no matter which of these two options you choose.:)

[KirkNC]

We will be doing our first X cruise in a few months. We really like HAL (except for the smoking policy) but we are excited by all the great reports on Solstice. About the only concern I have with Soltice is it is bigger than the HAL ships we have cruised.

 

I do think the age thing on HAL is a little over done. Granted it is an older demographic than Carnival but a little short of what some people portray. I like the fact that it is a more sedate crowd.

[cruising puffin]

All in all, I do enjoy both lines. I wish I could have the look and feel of X, with the consistency of HAL, the shipboard management and officers of HAL, and the stateroom attendants of X. :D

 

 

Great comparison. After more cruises than I can count, on many cruise lines, my thought is the big difference is the lack of consistency on various Celebrity ships and even from cruise to cruise on Celebrity. Good management is also sometimes lacking with Celebrity. For me those are the key points and all other aspects such as service, food, entertainment have been good and about the same on all cruise lines. To each their own but for me, consistency of the product is always paramount. That said, on any of the newer Celebrity ships you could not go wrong with either cruise line.

[Bill S]

Well, here is one veteran HAL-cruiser who wishes that HAL would adopt a "no smoking in the cabins or verandah" policy.

Nothing personal Jim, but we have had more than one HAL cruise spoiled a bit by neighbors puffing away on cigars and cigarettes on their verandahs, and not being able to enjoy ours.

With respect to age, our experience on HAL, is probably similar to other cruise lines, in that the longer the cruise, the greater the odds that the average age will be higher than that on shorter cruises. Typically, retired folks have the time to take the longer itineraries. While we have met some folks in their 90s, we have yet to meet any one in their 120s!:) I hope that when we are 90, we are still able to enjoy cruising!

We've sailed with Celebrity once, and by and large, we enjoyed the experience. To us, the Celebrity and HAL "products" are more alike than dissimilar in most areas. We gave Celebrity the edge in dinner meals and in entertainment. Though service was good overall on Celebrity, I guess we are spoiled with the smiles that accompany the service on HAL. As we are "night owls", the fact that HAL gets quiet early is not a negative for us.

HAL has undergone a lot of changes in the last couple of years, some of which we do not particulary like. While we still are partial to HAL, our last two cruises with them have been disappointing in some respects, as compared to previous cruises. So, we might find our way back to Celebrity.

[JimVrhovac]

Generally we introduce ouselves to the people in adjacent cabins at the beginning of the cruise. I go out of my way to mention that we are both smokers. I tell them if it bothers them let us know and we can work out something that makes it good for both of us.

 

By doing this we have never had a prfoblem with our neighbors.

 

If people would just talk with their neighbors we feel tha most of the problems would be resolved. I just get tired of people whining all the time and they neve say anything about trying to resolve the problems with their neighbors..

 

It has worked great for us over the years.

 

We cruise Princes this past January to antartica and a gret cruise on their ship....

 

Ruth & Jim

[CrabbyHarper]

Jim: Sorry - if you asked me if I minded if you smoke on your balcony next to mine, I would respond, thanks for asking, but yes I do mind. I think I am not alone in finding second hand smoke offensive. You have every right to smoke, but please not where the smoke finds its way into my nose and lungs.

 

And another difference between HAL and X, the libraries on HAL are much better! The one on the Ryndam is superb, and the one on Mercury is awful. Nevertheless, our second cruise on Mercury comes up next month. YAY!;)

 

We like both HAL and X. If the good features of each could be combined on one line, we would book that line all the time!

[gillianrose]

Jim: Sorry - if you asked me if I minded if you smoke on your balcony next to mine, I would respond, thanks for asking, but yes I do mind. I think I am not alone in finding second hand smoke offensive.

 

No, you are not alone. I would speak up, too, if I were still in the position of cruising on a line that permits balcony smoking, but I have the impression that our requests to JimVrohac would fall on deaf ears.

 

Cigar smoke is really foul to most cruisers, lingers far longer than cigarette smoke and inhibits the enjoyment of balconies of the vast majority of cruisers who do not smoke cigars, and that includes most cigarette smokers, too, judging from the many posts on Cruise Critic from cigarette smokers who are significantly bothered by cigar smoke.

 

I really do find it shocking that HAL still permits cigar smoking on balconies.

[gillianrose]

Having been on both HAL and Celebrity, I like your analysis very much. You brought out the most important points in your comparison. In my view, if HAL had the same non smoking policy as Celebrity, I would probably chose HAL if the itinerary was similar to Celebrity.

 

Gerry

 

If HAL had Celebrity's much better smoking policy and both lines had the same itinerary, then it would come down to the ship for me, and we are very interested in trying out the newer Celebrity Solstice-class ships. We like HAL's pre-Vista class ships, as long as they are well maintained (meaning no sewage smells like we experienced on the Veendam a few years ago) and have not been expanded to increase passenger capacity beyond the original design. . While we prefer HAL's nice promenade decks on all the ships, HAL's Vista class and newer have very odd corridors and some other facilities that we don't like

[C 2 C]

Last year we cruised on Westerdam followed by three weeks on Solstice. Although we enjoyed the food on Westerdam better, we have cruised on Celebrity many times since then but all on Infinity and Constellation. We prefer the size and layout of the "smaller" M-class ships to the newer larger more opulent S-class. Over the years we have sailed on HAL ships for 165 days on 16 different cruises. At this time we have no intention of going back to HAL unless we wish to try a longer itinerary such as Australia roundtrip. With the new perks on Celebrity, life is just too good.

[jackdiamond]

Jim, I am a non-smoker but I agree with your observations.

[Jade13]

Last year we cruised on Westerdam followed by three weeks on Solstice. Although we enjoyed the food on Westerdam better, we have cruised on Celebrity many times since then but all on Infinity and Constellation. We prefer the size and layout of the "smaller" M-class ships to the newer larger more opulent S-class. Over the years we have sailed on HAL ships for 165 days on 16 different cruises. At this time we have no intention of going back to HAL unless we wish to try a longer itinerary such as Australia roundtrip. With the new perks on Celebrity, life is just too good.

 

I thought HAL now had better perks, no?

[C 2 C]

I thought HAL now had better perks, no?

 

Not according to the mailer I received.

 

Perhaps someone from a recent HAL cruise can explain how it would be superior.

We find service and friedliness superior on X, food is filling on both lines but HAL's desserts are better. Those on X no longer tempt us.

Overall I think that individual experiences will vary more by ship than by either brand.

I would not go back to HAL because I enjoy my free drinks, free internet and laundry. I prefer Celebrity's live music but above all I enjoy the absence of second hand smoke throughout most of the ship.

[PatriciaF]

Thanks for posting this question--I am debating about a South America cruise with the choice of Infinity (Celebrity) and Veendam (Holland America.) I have sailed Holland twice before, but never on Celebrity.

 

The Verandah cabins with the whirlpool tubs sound delightful on the Veendam--but the smoking allowed on the balcony and in the stateroom is a MAJOR turnoff--who wants to be in an almost 300 sq ft cabin that reeks of cigarette smoke for 12 days!

 

Guess I need to read the responses on the Holland America forum.

 

BUT--I think with the smoking we will be trying out Celebrity.

[vcdarty]

Sailed Veendam twice last year. No problem, really, with smoking. Maybe we were lucky. On this ship the casino is filled with smokers, but it's glassed-off and separated from the walking space on that deck. On Mercury, you HAVE to walk through the casino, and even though there's no smoke there, the jangling carnival hype gets to us big-time. (We don't gamble.)

 

Our verandah cabins had the small jacuzzi. We used it once. And if any smokers had used the cabins, we couldn't tell. The cleaning (and fumigation?) were impeccable on Veendam.

[danacline]

One other thing to consider - the movies on Celebrity are not new movies. On our November Millennium cruise, the newest one was Slumdog Millionaire. That one was over a year old, I think. When we cruised HAL (admittedly a few years back), their movies were much more current.