Holland vs Celebrity

[eddieg07410]

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)

 

 

I agree with you here. We found Celebrity no smoking policy in most areas created a much more pleasant environment for us. Couple iwht their healthier menu items pushes my preference to celebrity. However, I like the HAL itineraries better, which is why we are biting the bullet and going on a HAL Panama Canal.

[Murray's Pop]

We tried Celebrity (Century) last month in hopes of adding another option for cruising. While we enjoyed the cruise, we will probably not be returning to Celebrity for a number of reasons.

 

We prefer to book suites, and was not impressed with Century. It was much smaller than our typical Neptune (DVS) Suite. The bathroom was quite small and only had a single sink

 

The Neptune Lounge provides much more than the Butler provided to suite guests. I believe that we had a very poor and inexperienced butler, but there was no real comparison to what we get in the Neptune Lounge.

 

While food is quite subjective, we did not (nor did our table-mates) enjoy the food in the MDR nor in the specialty restaurant (Murano's). On the other hand our waiter on the Century was outstanding!

 

The ship just did not come close to what we have come to expect on a HAL ship. While it was clean and fairly well maintained, it felt "crowded" and was not laid out very well.

 

We will be coming back to HAL on our next cruise.

[Hlitner]

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.

 

Agree! Just got off the Veendam (2 hours ago) after a wonderful 28 day cruise. As much as we enjoy HA (about 300 days with this line) we still prefer Celebrity for many reasons including the ships, food, service, and amazing frequent cruiser amenities. 4 star on HA gets us an occasional 30 min rushed cocktail party while X gives us a daily free 2 hour cocktail party. And we could go on and on about things like free internet, daily Elite breakfasts, late night life, etc.

We were surprised to find a large group of 15 passengers still awake in the piano bar on the Veendam. A rare occurrence :)

 

Hank

[FoxyTerrier]

We tried Celebrity once 2 summers ago as it was a family cruise. I was very disappointed in the food in the main dining room. The food in the Normandy restaurant was awesome and much better than the Pinnacle Grill even though we like that venue too.

 

We booked a Celebrity Suite which was very nice and I think a some bigger than HALs Neptune Suites I do prefer the Neptune Suites and found no use for the butler. Every time we asked him for something it was not his job.

 

After trying X we have also tried Royal Caribbean (Owners Suite) and Cunard (Princess Suite). I really loved both lines and would rank both above X.

 

I think Cunard has a really great product. The service was top notch and the food in the Princess Grill was amazing. We were traveling with family not staying in a Queen or Princess Grill suite so we ate many evenings with them in the main dining room and the food and service was also really great. I look forward to sailing on Cunard again and was nice leaving from NYC without having to fly.

 

Given all that would I sail on X again - sure, but would rank them in order Cunard, HAL, RCCL and then X.