Loyal HAL Cruisers try Celebrity for the first time, WOW!

[Happily@Sea]

All the reasons you like Celebrity - are the reasons I would not change from HAL. I like a quiet, laid-back ship with not too many people - even K'dam was too big and noisy for me. But I am happy you found another ship and its itineraries that you can enjoy.

 

BTW - I'm on that April Zaandam cruise with you - I see you are going all the way to Seattle.

 

Carole

Edited October 27, 2017 by Happily@Sea
Reread posting and confirmed FLL-SEA - 23-day cruise.

[blueboro]

For me, the great thing about Celebrity S-class ships is that they do not seem at all crowded IMO. They did a great job designing them and I felt much more crowded on a recent Westerdam cruise than on my X cruises.

[iancal]

Absolutely agree with you. For us, ship interior design and flow is as important as ship size. We have been on a few smaller ships where the elevators are right in front of the MDR entrance. Creates a huge mess a meal times. Even though Solstice ships are 2700/2800 we do not find them any more busy that some smaller ships that we have been on. I think the big difference is that these ships were really designed/re-designed from the ground up. They are not like some other Carnival lines who essentially stuck to the Spirit class design with minor interior changes for many of their builds. We find that ship design and innovation is the one big difference between RCI Corp. cruise lines and Carnival Corp. cruise lines. Could also be a difference between Fin. and Meyer shipbuilding yards.

 

We don't bother that much with the specific cruise line. Our three preferred, HAL, Princess, and Celebrity have much in common and service levels, from our perspective, is so similar that they are the same to us. The big difference for us is the ship-age, size, reputation, reviews.

[Cruiz'nBaers]

While this cruise was the largest ship we have ever been on, by far, it never felt crowded. We found plenty of quiet areas when we wanted to. We feel that this ship was very well designed and easy to maneuver.

It's nice to have more cruising choices

[G&G]

While this cruise was the largest ship we have ever been on' date=' by far, it never felt crowded. We found plenty of quiet areas when we wanted to. We feel that this ship was very well designed and easy to maneuver.

It's nice to have more cruising choices[/quote']

 

Totally agree. Sailed on HAL for pass 40 years but started on Celebrity 5 years ago, most all on Equinox. Great entertainment, lounges and drink packages. Also like their frequent cruiser awards. Earn points per day towards Elite status based on type of cabin; higher class of cabin, earn more points per day.

[kftw]

Thank you for your comparison & review.

[erewhon]

Thanks for the comparison.

[JRG]

We like Celebrity over Hal and have sailed both enough to compare. The kicker is that the clientele on Celebrity seems to be 'younger at heart' (and maybe in years too) and this lets us find more people in our demographic zone. with similar interests and that just makes for a better time for us.

 

We like to have fun, mingle with people and HAL just had too many fuddy duddies for us to have the same fun we have on Celebrity. If you are like us and have never tried Celebrity you may be enjoy trying them. If you prefer a slower pace then you are fine with HAL.

 

That said, we still like HAL and continue to sail on it when the itinerary fits, but all other things being equal Celebrity get the X!

[Sea girl 23]

Wouldn't mind trying Celebrity.. quite frankly there have been a few times when it's felt a little cramped on HAL ships.. to hear that there is a lot more space(on Celebrity) is appealing.

[cbr663]

Thank you for the review and it is great reading that you enjoyed your cruise.

 

We sailed on the Reflection in Aqua Class. Loved Blu. I really wish that HAL offered something similar to Blu as it really made a difference to the enjoyment of the overall cruise experience.

 

I agree that the ships seem livelier. One of the reasons is that X has activities in the main atrium that attracts a lot of onlookers. I also think having a lot of open bars makes for a busier experience. On that note though, as we do not generally drink a lot on cruises, we found other than the bars, activities were lacking on the ship. I spent more time in our cabin watching television than on any other cruise.

 

We also found the cabin sizes notably smaller than on HAL. Perhaps because we spent so much time in our cabins that we noticed the smaller size.

 

There were several groups on our cruise and I think because of their activities there were times that we found the ship quite crowded and difficult to get around. Thankfully though all you had to do was wait a few minutes and things would go back to normal.

 

For a port intensive itinerary we may sail on X again, but we were more than happy to return to HAL. We are glad though that we tried it.

[Wehwalt]

Also thanking for the review.

 

I'm Diamond on RCCI, which is mid-level (think three-star) but Celebrity recognizes it as Elite, which means that you can go to the Elite Lounge every day at 4:30 and there are free drinks (a limited menu).

 

I was on the Equinox in June. It's nicer than the chaos of the RCCI big ships, but I enjoy the calmness of HAL's smaller ships.

[Keith1010]

I enjoyed reading your trip report/review.

Keith

[kazu]

thanks for the review and interesting reports and comparisons.

 

Only sailed X once and not that class of ship so your report was very informative.

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for taking the time to post your comments.

Very informative.

[Clarea]

Enjoyed the review, thanks!

[foodsvcmgr]

We are on Celebrity Equinox currently and agree about the bright modern decor, spacious feel, and more mixed age demographic. Pushing 60 and don’t feel like the kid on board like sometimes on HAL.

As others have said we also like mixing up our choices of lines, alternating among HAL, Celebrity, Princess, and also Cunard from time to time.

Find pluses and minuses on each but overall more similar than different.

Nothing to make us stick with only one to the exclusion of the others.

[St. Louis Sal]

Thanks for your review of the Equinox. Despite being a 4 star Mariner, the Equinox is one of my favorite ships. I agree with most of what you shared in your review.

 

I am not as knowledgeable about the MDR because we have always done the Aqua Class and eaten at Blu. I have to admit though that the last cruise we took on her November 2016, I thought Blu had slipped a bit.

 

I do love the décor and the spaciousness of the Equinox. Sorry to hear you missed the hot glass show-that is one of my favorite things on board and actually the reason I booked the ship the first time.

 

I think Celebrity's entertainment is a notch better although I did enjoy the new format on the Koningsdam. As others have stated, I missed the promenade, nothing like that on Celebrity.

 

Is the Equinox sailing out of Miami now? I must have missed that. Funny thing is we are doing the opposite of you this December. We hate the Fort Lauderdale airport and have switched to flying into Miami instead. We usually fly Southwest and really don't like the terminal at Fort Lauderdale. Southwest sort of lost us as a customer last year although the circumstances were not entirely their fault. The weather turned bad and we got an email stating our flight was cancelled. We had to scramble at the last minute and find another flight. Luckily we were flying to Orlando first for a few days before driving to Ft Lauderdale for the cruise. We ended up on an American flight plus were able to upgrade to first class for a reasonable fee. Now my husband doesn't want to fly anything but! When I told him how expensive it was he answered that we didn't fly that often. Okay.

 

So this Christmas it's back on HAL on the Veendam (and first class roundtrip to Miami-ouch). Being 4 star is very seductive. I'm still a peon on Royal, Celebrity and Norwegian. But it's really about the itinerary because let's face it- there is no really bad day on a cruise.

 

St. Louis Sal