Which cruise line would you consider after Hal?

[GeriatricNurse]

Morning Sapper....if we didn't have to fly to cruise it would be a wonderful thing.:)

 

Colleen, there are four travel agencies where I live that all offer "No Fly" escorted cruises, (bused to & cruise out of New York City)!:)

[m steve]

Princess. Very similar to HAL in quality and policies and since my partner smokes, we would only sail on a line that allows smoking on the balcony. We woudl consider X or Oceania if their policy was different.

[PaulMCO]

Definitely -- Oceania (and that is our next cruise).

 

HAL is a better value. But Oceania's mid size ships and smoking policy certainly is a plus for us.

 

New Marina and future Riviera are very similar in size to HAL.

[Texas Tillie]

We were given the opportunity to tour and have lunch on two ships in the harbour this year---the Celebrity Summit in August and the Crystal Symphony last week.

 

I took one look at the concrete outside deck on the Summit as we boarded and was completely turned off, spoiled as we are by HAL's lovely wooden decks. The whole ship seemed very ordinary and we saw nothing to entice us away from HAL.

 

The Crystal Symphony was another story. What a beautiful ship! The carpeting underfoot was very plush all through the ship and the cabins were appointed in a quiet luxurious manner. They even had lights which switched on inside the closets when one opened the doors. (Nice touch).

Although it carries only about 900 passengers, it seemed to be such a spacious ship. We were served a buffet lunch in what would be the equivalent of the Crow's Nest and the staff were very friendly and helpful.

 

It would happily take a cruise on Cystal but it seems that now that we are getting some meaningful Mariner perks on HAL, it would be starting all over again at the bottom of the heap. Our upcoming cruise on HAL required two deviations; one for only taking Cruiseair in one direction, and one for getting our flight info right away. Having 3 star status saved a few hundred dollars in deviation fees right there.

 

Crystal's free air sounds good unless you live in the Maritimes. The only gateway cities are Montreal, TO, and Vancouver, with an add-on option offered from Calgary. You are responsible for a round trip flight to your gateway city, and flights from the Maritimes to Montreal and TO are not cheap. Because of fog delay issues to pick up what is not a connecting flight you would have to plan to fly up a day early and stay in a hotel overnight to catch your flight. The same thing applies on the return flight----not connecting so you have to plan on spending the night in your gateway city to allow for delays. All that added expense means that it is just as easy to book your own flight straight through to Florida, making Crystal's free air a non-issue.

 

If you choose to take a chance and do it all in one day with a flight that does not connect, you have to pick up your luggage, stand in line to re-register and then go through customs and security after that, hopefully in time to catch your plane. If you miss that second flight you are on your own. Not good.

 

FYI, you are free to deduct the value of the included air from any of the Crystal cruises and book your flights on your own. For example, my Lisbon round trip on the Serenity in less than 3 weeks has a flight value of $1,200 and my round trip was only $1,018. :) With my Antarctic cruise on the Symphony in January, the flight value was also $1,200 and I'm doing it for 55,000 air miles and $61.50!

[amunhbuu]

Anything where I feel like I got a good value.

 

I am a very pragmatic person. ;)

[jotabecu]

Princess or Oceania.

[COLLEYBERRY]

Colleen, there are four travel agencies where I live that all offer "No Fly" escorted cruises, (bused to & cruise out of New York City)!:)

 

Good to know .. lots of interesting info coming out on this thread.

Thanks to all.

[Cruising-along]

After 8 cruises on HAL and only HAL, we have a Egypt/Holy Land cruise booked on Celebrity next year. We booked it because of the itinerary, and because we've heard that Celebrity and HAL are different but very similar. We want to spend overnight in Egypt, and the only cruise with HAL that offers that is on the Prinsendam -- which would cost $$$$$$$$$$ more --- so because of that, we'll give Celebrity a try.

 

I'm expecting to find that I'll miss things about HAL on that cruise, but am also looking forward to the more restrictive smoking policy. On the other hand, they have no self-laundries (we'll be traveling a week in Europe and will have dirty clothes :p) and we love HAL's liberal allowance of bringing on your own wine.

[Randyk47]

We tried Celebrity and actually liked it but right now we're considering and researching Cunard. No decision but we do have a couple of Cunard cruises on the radar screen for 2012 right now.

[Himself]

Celebrity or Norwegian

[kalliekae]

Great thread! I've never heard of a couple of these cruise lines so I'll have to check them out. We have only sailed HAL with the exception of an upcoming December RCL Oasis cruise. The only reason we booked RCL was because we wanted to see that particular ship. In the future, we might check out Princess or Oceania if either had an itinerary that we wanted. Friends have sailed both and loved their experiences.

[kelmac]

Holland America is great, but for the same costs, I would pick Celebrity every time! In the large ship catagory, no line can compete with Celebrity's new Solstice class ships (IMO).

 

Oceania and Azamara have outstanding cuisine, but the ships are really small (great for unique port intensive cruises), and slow, and the cabins are small, and you really have to work to keep yourself entertained. Two or three times the cost of a HAL/Celebrity cruise.

 

Going to try Cunard next month!

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[RuthC]

I have not heard of Saga or Hurtigruten ....I enjoy cruise researching even if I may never cruise the line or take the itinerary...couple more to check out... thanks again.:)

Saga is a British line, with a minimum age requirement. Maybe you don't qualify yet? It's a rather reserved, traditional cruise experience.

Hurtigruten is the old Norwegian Coastal Cruises. I once saw one of their repositioning itineraries that went from several Norwegian ports all the way down to their winter home port in Ushuaia. What an itinerary!

Might get sick of eating herring, though. ;)

[COLLEYBERRY]

Saga is a British line, with a minimum age requirement. Maybe you don't qualify yet? It's a rather reserved, traditional cruise experience.

How lovely to be carded and told you were too young :D

( if it's over 40 I am more than good to go ...very good to go ;))

[jimneycrkit]

Saga would be my second choice cruiseline. It's HAL the way HAL used to be.

Third choice might be Cunard. I was too young for Cunard when I sailed that line, and it was not a good fit at the time; I think it would be now. The only thing that would stop me from choosing them is the size of the ships. They really are too large for my taste. I don't know if the atmosphere would compensate for that.

Or, maybe Hurtigruten. I love their itineraries.

 

Hi Ruth

 

The QM2 is really not as big as it seems and there are only a little over 2000 passengers The cabins are bigger generally and the hallways which I know would be good for you are wide enough for 2 scooters at a time down them The main hallways and open spaces are bigger also as well as the elevators. Plus the speakers are wonderful.

 

 

Crystal is wonderful and I like Princess very much also. Depends on who I am with as to which line I go on.

[bepsf]

Definitely -- Oceania (and that is our next cruise).

 

New Marina and future Riviera are very similar in size to HAL.

 

Yes, Marina and Riviera are beautiful ships - the size of the R-Class with the passenger capacity of an S-Class...

...the only thing that turns me off of Oceania are the lack of formal nights.

[Mary Ellen]

We're considering Azamara and Oceania because of itineraries and smoking policy.

[curtdesilets]

Just curious again.:D...Which cruise line would be your second choice after Hal... just for fun you have to pick one.

 

 

Celebrity is our favorite line. It is very similar to HAL in many respects. Both are focused on the same type of clientelle. Both offer great food/service/ambiance and do not try to be something they are not. Both lines offer the luxurious cruise experience without the luxury price. Both lines are not PARTY boats.

 

Since we cruise a lot, I would like to go back and forth between the two lines, as doing the same line over and over again gets mundane. Trust me on this, if you like HAL, you'll like Celebrity, and vice versa! :D

[sapper1]

FYI, you are free to deduct the value of the included air from any of the Crystal cruises and book your flights on your own. For example, my Lisbon round trip on the Serenity in less than 3 weeks has a flight value of $1,200 and my round trip was only $1,018. :) With my Antarctic cruise on the Symphony in January, the flight value was also $1,200 and I'm doing it for 55,000 air miles and $61.50!

Thank you as I was not aware of that. Good to know.

[foodsvcmgr]

I currently alternate between HAL and Cunard.

 

As long as one is comfortable with the formality of Cunard, the two

lines are rather comparable overall, far more similarities than glaring

differences.

 

Might be interested to try Celebrity or Princess based on itinerary and

fare as I understand these two are roughly similar to HAL as well.

[constantcruiser]

After 30+ cruises on all the major market lines plus a couple on Crystal, last month we sailed the Celebrity Solstice. It is absolutely the most beautiful ship we've ever been on, and the food and service were outstanding. The passengers were well-mannered and pleasant, and the enrichment programs were fascinating. While aboard we booked an 11-night cruise on her sister ship Equinox in April, and I haven't been this excited about an upcoming cruise in years.

[seacruise9]

Hi,

 

I agree that Holland America and Celebrity are similar. I have cruised with both lines fairly recently (Zuiderdam in December 2009, Eurodam in December 2008 and Celebrity Solstice in May 2010) and will be doing two Celebrity cruises this month (Celebrity Century and Celebrity Summit). Food and service are fairly similar between these lines. I think the Celebrity product is a little more contemporary and the Holland America product is more traditional, but the quality on both lines is comparable.

 

I agree with constantcruiser that the Celebrity Solstice is stunning (I absolutely loved this ship)!

 

I also would recommend Cunard or Crystal (two other favorite lines of mine).

 

Chuck

[MightyQuinn]

Oceania. A great cruiseline & superb alternative to HAL for us.

[suse]

Crystal to Greece. Santorini. Venice. My brother went on that ship this spring and absolutely loved it. Of course, he was the one who bought everyone a drink on sail-away. I asked him if he cared about the bill and he looked at me like I was crazy. I love my brother.:)

[Typhoon1]

If i wanted total luxury, it would be Seaborne.

 

A mainline cruise, most likely Celebrity.