Holland vs Celebrity

[syr101]

What is the difference between the two. Which one do you prefer and why

[pris993]

We cruise both lines.

 

Pref HAL over Celebrity because HAL is more traditional and delivers a traditional experience.

 

Celebrity tries to be more modern less traditional has a lot of hype about best food, tries to be more creative with entertainment... does not live up to the PR.

 

We still cruise both.

 

But since you asked we vote for HAl ove X.

[OCruisers]

Both are very nice cruise lines and we have never had a bad cruise on either.:)

 

At this point it would be HAL for us.

 

HAL does a much better job at moving large numbers of people around efficiently.

 

LuLu

~~~~

[Bramcruiser]

We last sailed on HAL in 2011 (I think that makes it #3 for this line) and tried Celebrity for the first time in 2012. Honestly, I never found what all the fuss about Celebrity was all about. Its tag line about "modern luxury" is puzzling to me. It was an okay voyage but it just didn't hit all the right buttons like our previous sailings on HAL. Holland America is definitely for us.

 

HAL wins over food, efficiency and friendliness of the staff and the traditional feel of ocean travel. HAL has the worst entertainment but we eat late and go to bed early so if I see one show on any cruise I consider myself lucky. :)

[BumperII]

The only "bad" cruise we ever had was on Celebrity Galaxy. The crew was visably angry many times and the cruise staff seemed totally disinterested. The cruise after ours, the ship's captain was arrested for drunken driving the ship. We have never returned to X since.

Edited November 8, 2013 by BumperII

[cruz chic]

Not a fan of celebrity. Service was not good and food was good to really bad.

[sassey]

How do you get your mariner logo on your page?

[George C]

Did Celeberity just once on Solictice which is a truely beautiful ship, was upgraded to a suite, but did not like food in MDR, but ship was really nice and had some great speciality resturants, will try them again sooner or later. Hal ships are nothing special but food in MDR is above average and Pinnacle is a great pay resturant. I also perfer Hal for entertainment. Celeberity also is almost totaly smoke free.

[BSinPNS]

We have cruised both and have moved into the Celebrity camp. Love cruising on their Solstice class ships. That said, they are more alike than different. HAL's itineraries are more diverse since they have more and smaller ships. Celebrity's frequent cruiser rewards are far better than HAL's. BTW, Galaxy left the fleet in March 2009. Have a great time on either.

[cruz chic]

How do you get your mariner logo on your page?

I hope someone will come along to help. There was a thread a few weeks ago about it but I'm at work so I don't have tons of time to search. I did it a long time ago and I think I got it somewhere on Joanie's web page. Sorry:o.

[CRUZBUDS]

The cruise after ours, the ship's captain was arrested for drunken driving the ship. We have never returned to X since.

 

Are you sure you weren't on the Mercury? A Mercury captain was arrested for DUI several years ago. I didn't find anything on a Galaxy captain.

 

HAL has far better itineraries, and their libraries are the best at sea. -- We think they are far more alike than different.

 

Our first choice will be Celebrity for now -- past passenger perks are fantastic and the smoking policy suites us. We'll look seriously at HAL again when they catch up with the industry and stop balcony smoking. (not trying to start a smoking thread ;))

[Fouremco]

We love HAL in most respects but we won't return until smoking is banned on balconies. (Please, no flames, I'm simply responding to the OP)

 

[serendipity1499]

How do you get your mariner logo on your page?

 

I hope someone will come along to help. There was a thread a few weeks ago about it but I'm at work so I don't have tons of time to search. I did it a long time ago and I think I got it somewhere on Joanie's web page. Sorry:o.

 

There are several threads on this subject about putting the four star logo into your signature..Go on both threads & tell them the number of stars you want to put into your signature & hopefully someone will help you..Ask JTL specifically, as I belive he may know how to tell you to do it..Just remember when you put it into your signature, you must SAVE it or it will not work..

If not try doing a search again or start another thread, as your question will be buried into this thread...

 

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1935228&highlight=4+star+mariner

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1853931&highlight=star+mariner+logo&page=2

 

Hope this helps..

Betty

Edited November 8, 2013 by serendipity1499

[iancal]

Substandard ship maintenance, a smoking policy from the dark ages, and a declining 'value for money proposition' (based on our preferences and tastes) has reduced our inclination to sail with HAL in favour of other cruise lines, including Celebrity.

 

We still consider HAL, but not to the same degree that we used to. There are a lot of great ships and cruise lines out there. We sometimes wonder if HAL is aware of the competition.

 

For our taste, Celebrity's Solstice class ships are far and away the best ships in their class. Very innovative with well though out public areas and traffic flow.

Edited November 8, 2013 by iancal

[0bnxshs]

We've done only 1 X cruise and, I guess that particular cruise sort of soured us on them, although we continue to discuss trying them again.

 

We did the Infinity just after it had been "Solticized" in a 2 week drydock. Boarding in PE was a complete disaster as X had to entertain the media and TAs over getting guests on board. We didn't board until after 5pm, never got lunch in the convention center they sent us to and didn't leave port until after 10pm. 2 weeks before sailing, they remembered to tell passengers that boarding would be delayed and not to arrive before 2pm. Huh? We were driving but with so many flying in, there was no way for them to change their plans at that point. To me, this was X administration, not the Infinity staff, and was very poorly planned.

 

As you might imagine, the ship was in various stages of construction when we sailed. But the staff was surly, our cabin stewards didn't even learn our names until the last couple of days, we had to call to get our cabin made up in the late afternoon and ask for soap, shampoo, etc. Not impressed. Also, they just didn't seem as professional as HAL staff consistently do.

 

We found food to be excellent on board. We enjoyed variety that just isn't found on HAL. Over 17 nights, the menu never repeated itself, even slightly (with the exception of the always available section). The preparations were always hot (or cold, as the case be) and we judged preparation, presentation and taste a step above HALs.

 

Highly prefer the smoking policy on X. But, the odor of smoking (except for cigars) generally doesn't put us off too much, certainly not to the extent of changing our perference. Lastly, we entertain ourselves with books, music and leisure so we can't judge the entertainment. The library on Infinity seemed like an afterthought compared to any HAL library we've been in, both in size and scope.

 

Just our humble opinion. :)

Edited November 8, 2013 by 0bnxshs

[LAFFNVEGAS]

We did the Solstice in the fall three years ago and I always swear that I will not discuss or compare a cruise that was that long ago but why we have not returned is that while we had Aqua Class and was able to dine in Blu which we totally loved the other aspects of Celebrity were not us. She was just too modern for decor. Tom called her too industrialized. The regular balconies and the Aqua Class cabins definitely felt smaller especially in the bathroom, no bathtubs. I felt the crew were not nearly as friendly as HAL's crew. There were definitely things we liked on the Solstice such as their buffet area but did not like that we had to pay for real orange juice. I thought that drink prices in general were a lot higher and the drink package was not worth it to us because we could never drink that much to come close to break even. Entertainment was OK one show was a WOW but the rest were ho hum.

I have honestly looked at several possible cruises with Celebrity since and since we liked Aqua Class would only do that or higher but the prices for something comparable with HAL have always been far more money and I seldom see Celebrity dropping their prices closer to the sailing like HAL does to get a good deal with an upgrade. I can still get a HAL regular balcony with a slightly bigger cabin/bathroom, Elemis bath products and better bed and linens for less money.

BTW for those that mention the no smoking on Celebrity, yes this is very true BUT... I have heard of a few occasions that someone has had a cabin that near by someone does try to sneak out in the balcony and have a cigarette so while it is NOT allowed there is no guarantee that no one will not try to do it next to you :rolleyes: Granted likelihood far less than HAL but but in the last few years I only had one time this happened to us and it did not ruin our cruise because it was not all the time and oddly that is not a complaint I hear much of from HAL passengers I speak with. I have heard the complaint far more from those that cruise on Royal Caribbean and Carnival.

[Aquahound]

What is the difference between the two. Which one do you prefer and why

 

I think it depends on the ships. In my opinion, HAL can't touch Celebrity's Solstice Class ships. HAL is blown away by the entertainment, public areas and the beauty of the ships.

 

Comparing HAL to Celebrity's Millennium Class though is pretty even, in my opinion. The ships are more similar in size, as are amenities and entertainment.

 

I cruised HAL's newest pride and joy, Nieuw Amsterdam, and had a very nice time. But the ship just didn't wow me like Celebrity Solstice.

 

Celebrity Century, on the other hand, was one of my least favorite cruises, in terms of the ship. But there's only 1 ship left of that class in their fleet.

[cruz chic]

Substandard ship maintenance, a smoking policy from the dark ages, and a declining 'value for money proposition' (based on our preferences and tastes) has reduced our inclination to sail with HAL in favour of other cruise lines, including Celebrity.

 

We still consider HAL, but not to the same degree that we used to. There are a lot of great ships and cruise lines out there. We sometimes wonder if HAL is aware of the competition.

 

For our taste, Celebrity's Solstice class ships are far and away the best ships in their class. Very innovative with well though out public areas and traffic flow.

Celebrity has also had maintenance issue with their ships.

[Cruising-along]

Granted our one Celebrity cruise (so far) was on the brand new Silhouette, we found the lines to be more similar than not. Service was excellent, we like their restrictive smoking policy, and when we did have a minor problem it was addressed immediately. The MDR food was hit and miss, but their buffet is better IMO. We will continue to sail both lines.

 

We do prefer HAL's itineraries and wrap around deck. We used to prefer their wine policy too. :rolleyes:

[kazu]

Just did one cruise on Celebrity.

 

It was probably a let down as we had just gotten off the Rotterdam where we had a great cruise.

 

Cabins are smaller (paid to upgrade to a mini suite/whatever the term was - joke), I lost 7 - 10 pounds that cruise (not on a diet) so that tells you what I thought about the food.

 

Found service in MDR abysmal to say the least. By the time they came to see if we liked our dinner, everyone at my table was done or it was uneaten, so no one felt inclined to order a new dinner.

 

Now, we probably just had not the best cruise, but so far we haven't been tempted to return.

 

Especially since I wrote to explain some of the issues we encountered and their reaction was basically 'too bad so sad'.

[iancal]

The comment about Celebrity not dropping prices as much as HAL surprises me.

 

Our last two Med cruises were on Celebrity. In both cases booked in the cancellation period and both were substantially less expensive than either Princess or HAL. Princess was most expensive, followed by HAL. On the day we booked Celebrity, balcony cabin that we selected, it was 30 percent or so less expensive than a gty verandah on Noordam. Essentially the same date and itinerary on both. We wanted to try Noordam but the price delta was just too much.

 

Early last week we booked a balcony gty on Celebrity. We were watching Zuiderdam and Crown for the same timeframes...Christmas 14 day cruise.

Pricing on a balcony gty lined up 1500, 1900, and 2400 for Celebrity, HAL, and Princess respectively on the particular day (Oct 29) that we booked.

 

Perhaps it depends on the itinerary and/or cabin type.

 

For our upcoming SA cruise, we went with a Princess ship.

Edited November 8, 2013 by iancal

[Hawkeye1946]

We sailed on Celebrity Solstice this past September and were awed by her. We booked just two months prior to sailing and got an excellent price on an Aqua class stateroom. See signature for HAL cruises. We love the ambience of HAL and almost always have been upgraded or up- sold...last time to a Neptune suite:D! I demand a veranda, DH refuses to pay for it until HAL no longer allows smoking out there.

What we loved about Celebrity - besides dining in Blu:

-Muster Drill inside at various venues - so much easier to bear.

-Cafeteria set up...hardly ever ate there, but the flow was great....no standing in line, no pushing or shoving, and always plenty of open seating.

-VERY limited smoking policy.

-No "in your face" photographers.

What we missed about HAL:

-The beds!!!

-The wonderful Library....altho Celebrity's was a very nice two level affair, it doesn't even come close to HAL's offerings.

-The daily updates from the Captain...Captain on Solstice had one brief update on a ten day cruise!

All in all, I would love to get another star...but until that one policy changes, it's a deal breaker. (No flames please...I smoked until just eight years ago.)

Sue

[rkacruiser]

Sailed on Celebrity Eclipse and found the decor to be very modern, but lovely. More money and thought, for example, was spent on stateroom corridor decor than on the Eurodam's stateroom corridor decor.

 

Two of the three cast shows were weird, in my opinion. Individual entertainers were almost all good; some I had enjoyed on a HAL vessel.

 

Most lounges were really full and busy when one tried to get a before dinner drink. But, I always managed to find a seat. No hot appetizers; but, nuts and goldfish were served. Offer an additional gratuity and the bartenders were very attentive, poured really, really good drinks--even got a free one once. (Never have had that on HAL.)

 

Main dining room service and wine service were excellent. However, the last two dinners on the cruise were the absolute worst I have ever had at sea!

 

Partially obstructed (2C) veranda stateroom was more roomy than a VC on forward Deck 5 on Eurodam. But, storage could be an issue in the 2C, particularly for two people or on a long cruise. No tub in the bathroom, but shower plenty large with a plexiglass door that replaces the shower curtain in some Princess staterooms that "hugs one to death". Toilet amenities are of very good quality, I thought. Good linens.

 

Interactive TV in the staterooms blows away what HAL offers.

 

The wine program part of the activities schedule that was offered on Eclipse was extremely well done. I attended many and was impressed. On the Eurodam this Summer, the wine programs presented by Tony, the Sommelier, were equally well done. Just not as many of them nor quite the variety.

 

Eclipse's "Lido Restaurant" has many stations and is arranged differently than on a HAL ship. I never did during the 14 days aboard completely figure out what was where. But, food was good and served at the proper temperature. They offer a Late Risers Breakfast that is a full breakfast and not a Continental breakfast.

 

Disembarking Eclipse at Pier 25 was the worst disembarking experience I have ever had. 90 minutes from the moment I stepped off the ship until I reached my car in the Mid-Port Parking Garage. Totally inadequate terminal facilities and not enough Customs/Immigration personnel.

[nobog]

We've done only 1 X cruise and, I guess that particular cruise sort of soured us on them, although we continue to discuss trying them again.

 

We did the Infinity just after it had been "Solticized" in a 2 week drydock. Boarding in PE was a complete disaster as X had to entertain the media and TAs over getting guests on board. We didn't board until after 5pm, never got lunch in the convention center they sent us to and didn't leave port until after 10pm. 2 weeks before sailing, they remembered to tell passengers that boarding would be delayed and not to arrive before 2pm. Huh? We were driving but with so many flying in, there was no way for them to change their plans at that point. To me, this was X administration, not the Infinity staff, and was very poorly planned.

 

As you might imagine, the ship was in various stages of construction when we sailed. But the staff was surly, our cabin stewards didn't even learn our names until the last couple of days, we had to call to get our cabin made up in the late afternoon and ask for soap, shampoo, etc. Not impressed. Also, they just didn't seem as professional as HAL staff consistently do.

 

We found food to be excellent on board. We enjoyed variety that just isn't found on HAL. Over 17 nights, the menu never repeated itself, even slightly (with the exception of the always available section). The preparations were always hot (or cold, as the case be) and we judged preparation, presentation and taste a step above HALs.

 

Highly prefer the smoking policy on X. But, the odor of smoking (except for cigars) generally doesn't put us off too much, certainly not to the extent of changing our perference. Lastly, we entertain ourselves with books, music and leisure so we can't judge the entertainment. The library on Infinity seemed like an afterthought compared to any HAL library we've been in, both in size and scope.

 

Just our humble opinion. :)

 

On that cuise also, yes still under construction, good itinerary, the buffet on the Infinity (whatever class that is) is laid out terrible but we enjoyed the cruise. Most memorable was the drugs being chucked over-board off of Peru - watched the packages go over port side myself.

Back to the subject at hand - haven't been on HAL for a number of yrs but are trying a Baltic next yr - expect Celebrity and Hal to be similar.

Jim

[Pearlbill]

Substandard ship maintenance, a smoking policy from the dark ages, and a declining 'value for money proposition' (based on our preferences and tastes) has reduced our inclination to sail with HAL in favour of other cruise lines, including Celebrity.

 

We still consider HAL, but not to the same degree that we used to. There are a lot of great ships and cruise lines out there. We sometimes wonder if HAL is aware of the competition.

 

For our taste, Celebrity's Solstice class ships are far and away the best ships in their class. Very innovative with well though out public areas and traffic flow.

 

I am not a frequent cruiser (every 3 years or so) but my recent cruise on HAL (Eurodam) in October made me think that either cruising has really gone down hill quickly or HAL has not kept up with the times! I'm not sure which. It was my first time cruising HAL. It amazed me that a wonderful area such as the Crowsnest had broken reclining chairs for the entire cruise. No one seemed to care! The large fake plants in front of the elevators were dusty and just looked like they had seen better days. I could list a lot more. It seemed the "seasoned" Hal cruisers on board had just become very complacent about it all.

Pearl