Celebrity versus HAL - What a difference!

[esimon]

barrette7 - i agree 100% - love the balance of peace and fun on HAL!!!!

[SetAnOpenCourse]

For example... for many... this looks like a lot of fun!!! But for me... it's something I would prefer to avoid.

 

 

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For me, that's something that would be of interest depending on the music being played (volume proportional to how good I think it is).

[bjarrett7]

For me, that's something that would be of interest depending on the music being played (volume proportional to how good I think it is).

 

 

 

Exactly! It really does depend on your personality and interests...and that’s a good thing! [emoji106][emoji322]

 

 

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[cruisemom42]

I have enjoyed following this thread since we have enjoyed both Celebrity and HAL. I am still working full time in a fairly high impact job. I am an introvert, so when I go on vacation I don't want a lot of group activities. I am looking for subdued. It's funny how each of us have different needs when it comes to cruising. Good thing there are a lot of choices![emoji41]

 

 

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Even for those of us who are introverts, I think HAL has cut back too far. Lectures are a big part of my enjoyment when cruising, and I consider them a perfect "introvert" activity :cool:. Yet HAL only offers them, by their own admission on cruises longer than two weeks now....

 

And of course many have complained about the deterioration of the libraries on board.

[bjarrett7]

I leave this Saturday for a 7 day Caribbean on the Nieuw Amsterdam. I will let you know how it goes activity-wise... it’s been a little over 2 years since we last cruised with HAL so I am interested in seeing how much has changed.

 

 

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[SetAnOpenCourse]

I leave this Saturday for a 7 day Caribbean on the Nieuw Amsterdam. I will let you know how it goes activity-wise... it’s been a little over 2 years since we last cruised with HAL so I am interested in seeing how much has changed.

 

 

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Looking forward to your observations regarding changes. It's been a about a year and a half since we last cruised with HAL (we are trying a few other lines but HAL's promenades will bring us back).

[blueboro]

I too like the promenade, but on our recent Westerdam cruise they had removed most all of the loungers from that deck. Very few available...so unless you just wanted the deck to walk on not much of a selling point anymore.

[Safety Squirrel]

Safety Squirrel, just to let you know, you were absolutely right about the chocolate layer cake. My DW just tried it again this evening based on your recommendation and it was great! Not sure what happened with the first piece she had at the start of the cruise, but she definitely enjoyed the one she had this evening. Thanks again for letting us know how tasty it is.

 

Glad your DW enjoyed it. :D

 

Hope you are enjoying your cruise

[SetAnOpenCourse]

I too like the promenade, but on our recent Westerdam cruise they had removed most all of the loungers from that deck. Very few available...so unless you just wanted the deck to walk on not much of a selling point anymore.

 

PLEASE, I would appreciate information from everyone who can corroborate this, regarding any ship in the fleet. A great reduction in lounge chairs on the promenade would be a serious drawback for me, almost a deal breaker!

[Lizzie68]

I hope this isn't true as my next cruise is on the Westerdam. On the NA earlier this year there were plenty of loungers available.

 

 

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[bennybear]

Yikes! I love sitting on the promenade, I hope this isn’t a feature of the recent dry Docks! We are on the Zuiderdam very soon, I will be checking!

[blueboro]

Not sure about other ships, but our Westerdam cruise was in mid-August several months after the reburb and there were few loungers on the promenade deck. Maybe they have added more since then but I was really surprised there were so few as I love to sit out there and watch the world go by.

[yvonneh]

I leave this Saturday for a 7 day Caribbean on the Nieuw Amsterdam. I will let you know how it goes activity-wise... it’s been a little over 2 years since we last cruised with HAL so I am interested in seeing how much has changed.

 

 

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We are sailing on the cruise right after you. I will look forward to reading your feedback!

[Ken the cruiser]

If you’re thinking about taking a Celebrity cruise, here are some “hidden” lessons learned we have discovered on our 25 day b2b on the Celebrity Eclipse.

1. Standing Orders. We have come to enjoy our morning blueberry and chocolate muffins in the MDR on HAL cruises. However, on the Celebrity Eclipse during breakfast in the MDR, all they offer is the plain and bran varieties. We asked if they offered other varieties like blueberry and chocolate and they told us we could place a standing order and have them made available to us every morning. All we needed to do was place the order with the maitre d’ and sure enough every morning when we sat down to breakfast in the MDR, they would bring us 2 of each! We also saw this hidden perk used by other passengers, especially at dinner in the MDR in the fixed seating area. One couple had their ice teas waiting for them while another couple only liked dark bread selections in their bread basket. Note: If you are going to take advantage of this option, please make sure if possible you let your servers know if you won’t be there the following day so they don’t have to do the advanced preparatory work for nothing.

2. Hot soup in the MDR at lunch. We usually go to the MDR for lunch, but noticed there was only cold soup listed as a starter on the menu. When we asked the waiter if there was a hot soup, he said he would check. He came back and said, yes, minestrone. From that point on we always asked for the hot soup of the day and it would always be something different.

3. Discount laundry for Select passengers. We are Select level passengers, but never had used the laundry option on previous cruises. So when we were planning our laundry strategy for our 10 and 15 day B2B cruise, we thought the Select discounted laundry bag referred to on the website was the $49.95 special we had heard about. However, this is not the case. After reading the fine print, the Select level perk is only valid on cruises 12 days or longer and the “Loyalty” charge is just $20 per bag rather than $49.95. The “Laundry Challenge” $49.95 discounted bag, which is offered to everyone except for maybe Elite and above was offered on the 6th day of our 10 day cruise and was only good for that one day as it takes up to 3 days for them to return the cleaned laundry. They offered it again on the 6th day of our 15 day leg, but we weren’t interested as our Select perk was a much better deal.

4. Special juices are free in MDR but not up at the buffet. Funny thing, you can get all the cranberry juice you want in the MDR for free. However, if you want a glass of cranberry juice up at the buffet, it will cost you around $3.50 a glass. Not sure why, but just a heads up if you like cranberry juice in the morning or at lunch.

5. Chic night dress code is optional. On the second Chic night of the cruise, we had a senior moment and forgot about it and I wore my traditional polo shirt and docker pants to dinner while my DW wore her normal country club casual outfit. We ate dinner, went to the show as usual and then noticed as we were leaving the theater that everyone was wearing their fancy clothes. That’s when it dawned on us that it was a Chic night. The point of the story is that no one really cares if you dress up or not on Chic nights if you want to eat in the MDR. At least that was the case on our Eclipse cruise.

That’s some of the hidden lessons learned we found out about while we were on the cruise. If anyone has any others they know about, please let us know as we still have a couple of days left on the cruise to check them out.

Edited November 10, 2017 by Ken the cruiser