HAL vs Celebrity?

[mafig]

15 minutes ago, BarbarianPaul said:

We sailed for a week in the eastern Caribbean in late Feb. on the Edge. There were zero issues of the nature you’re describing, and this has not come up in a single review or comment about the ship. When we’re you on the Edge? What did you like or not like? Where was your cabin? 

 

I like Celebrity and can't wait to go on Edge.  However, the problem with the bad smell is well documented.  There are several threads about it on the Celebrity board.

 

We were on MSC Seaside and when she first came out there were also problems with a bad (think sewer or worse) smell.  They were able to fix it.  Hope Celebrity can do the same.

 

 

[BarbarianPaul]

19 minutes ago, mafig said:

 

I like Celebrity and can't wait to go on Edge.  However, the problem with the bad smell is well documented.  There are several threads about it on the Celebrity board.

 

We were on MSC Seaside and when she first came out there were also problems with a bad (think sewer or worse) smell.  They were able to fix it.  Hope Celebrity can do the same.

 

 

My mistake then! We didn’t experience that issue at all. We pretty much loved the ship, and all the innovation. It’s so different, but all of the changes—for us—enhanced the entire experience. Not sure why there’s so much negativity and mean spiritedness being expressed.

 

That said, we cruise more with HA, especially  in more distant locations. The ships are nice, the food is great, and the itineraries both longer and more unique.

[Caymus88]

2 hours ago, BarbarianPaul said:

We sailed for a week in the eastern Caribbean in late Feb. on the Edge. There were zero issues of the nature you’re describing, and this has not come up in a single review or comment about the ship. When we’re you on the Edge? What did you like or not like? Where was your cabin? 

We were on the Feb 10 sailing

I don’t know where you have been but there is an active thread oh the sewer stench in the Celebrity forum.  Hundreds of responses.

There have been trolls telling everyone who experienced the stench that they are liars.

[BarbarianPaul]

2 hours ago, Caymus88 said:

We were on the Feb 10 sailing

I don’t know where you have been but there is an active thread oh the sewer stench in the Celebrity forum.  Hundreds of responses.

There have been trolls telling everyone who experienced the stench that they are liars.

Eek! Did you experience it? We didn’t. But I don’t think these kind of issues are uncommon with new ships. Maybe we lucked out. Or maybe they fixed it. I’m sure it’s not going to be a permanent problem. But there seems to be a lot of weird anger directed toward this ship. Not sure why. I think it could be a game changer. 

 

 

[Stateroom_Sailor]

8 hours ago, JRG said:

 

HAL just did not do very well in the dining ratings.    

 

 

This baffles me, but maybe it had something to do with having sailed on HAL recently, directly after dry dock.  I thought the MDR was equal to, if not superior to, X.  BLU is very good, but you pay extra in Aqua Class.  HAL's buffet had more fresh cooked options and service.  Breakfast options, and even junk food, far superior.

[Sailor Taylor]

HAL's website makes it difficult to book the way I want.  Not that Celebrity's website is anything to write home about but HAL's website really takes the cake when it comes to user unfriendliness.  

[BarbinMich]

On 3/21/2019 at 11:57 AM, BarbarianPaul said:

. . . And the huge lido buffet, the Ocean View Cafe, has the best food we’ve ever had in that kind of venue, and with floor to ceiling glass windows and it’s two story ceiling, the space is spectacular. . . .

FWIW, the Ocean View Cafe on the Edge as described above is not "new"; we experienced the same on the Cel. Eclipse which debuted in 2010 and on which we sailed in 2014.  So I assume it's been on all X ships since 2010, if not earlier.  It's one of the best we've eaten in our 51 cruises on Princess, X, and HAL and the view is amazing even when at sea.

[BarbarianPaul]

14 minutes ago, BarbinMich said:

FWIW, the Ocean View Cafe on the Edge as described above is not "new"; we experienced the same on the Cel. Eclipse which debuted in 2010 and on which we sailed in 2014.  So I assume it's been on all X ships since 2010, if not earlier.  It's one of the best we've eaten in our 51 cruises on Princess, X, and HAL and the view is amazing even when at sea.

I know that the Ocean View Cafe is on every Celebrity ship. But the one on the Edge is unique. The volume of the space is different. The ceiling is two stories high, and the taller floor to ceiling windows create a much stronger more dramatic impression. Also, the central area with all the food stations, though similar, isn’t the same. It feels considerably larger, and I think there are more choices.

[westcoastcruiser]

We have cruised both and even made our own personal list outlining the things we liked about each.  For itineraries, unlimited laundry service, length of cruise options, hydropool and San Diego embarkation we like HAL.  For loyalty program, price, aft cabins/family verandah on M class ships we like Celebrity.  I am sure we noted more items on our list but I do not have it readily available.  Food is so subjective although we have never been hungry on a cruise!  Staff is outstanding on both ships.

 

 We are elite on Celebrity and 3 star on HAL and currently have cruises booked on both.  

 

As others have mentioned, a lot depends  upon what is important to you.  If you want rock climbing walls and belly flop contests, neither of these lines are right for you.

[BarbinMich]

1 hour ago, BarbarianPaul said:

I know that the Ocean View Cafe is on every Celebrity ship. But the one on the Edge is unique. The volume of the space is different. The ceiling is two stories high, and the taller floor to ceiling windows create a much stronger more dramatic impression. Also, the central area with all the food stations, though similar, isn’t the same. It feels considerably larger, and I think there are more choices.

Looking at the deck plans, OV Cafe does appear larger but then isn't the Edge larger?  The Eclipse buffet had window "walls" all around.  We always tried to sit by them in daylight hours while at sea.  One morning while sailing near Bay of Biscay (France), we spotted either dolphins or whales down there.

[Cruzaholic41]

3 hours ago, BarbarianPaul said:

I know that the Ocean View Cafe is on every Celebrity ship. But the one on the Edge is unique. The volume of the space is different. The ceiling is two stories high, and the taller floor to ceiling windows create a much stronger more dramatic impression. Also, the central area with all the food stations, though similar, isn’t the same. It feels considerably larger, and I think there are more choices.

 

Agreed. I cruised Edge and I LOVED it. Edge is a beautiful ship and her design blows away everything in the HAL fleet. 

 

Now I’m looking forward to my cruise on Flora. Celebrity is the best expeditionary cruise line I’ve sailed and it looks like they’re upping their game with Flora. The renderings look beautiful. 

[mafig]

2 hours ago, BarbinMich said:

Looking at the deck plans, OV Cafe does appear larger but then isn't the Edge larger?  The Eclipse buffet had window "walls" all around.  We always tried to sit by them in daylight hours while at sea.  One morning while sailing near Bay of Biscay (France), we spotted either dolphins or whales down there.

 

I don't think Edge is  larger than Eclipse.

[iancal]

We spend far more time comparing ships that we do comparing cruise lines.   Age, amenities, condition, etc.

[jkrislc]

For what it's worth, my family had both  Celebrity and HAL cruises booked for this July. Ten days Barcelona to Venice on X and 12 days Venice to Barcelona on HAL. We ended up opting for HAL as we are comfortable with how they deal with dietary allergies and have more fresh prepped options in the buffet. In addition, HAL has more deck food options (e g., Burgers and pizza) than the X ship we were booked on. We also liked the fact that our 12 year old is in the regular kids club rather than in the teen, come and go as you wish, club. The movies are another plus. 

 

The down side is that X had better booking perks, better loyalty perks, and better shore excursion pricing. We did, however, score some nice airfare pricing with HAL. 

[Fouremco]

17 hours ago, mafig said:

 

I don't think Edge is  larger than Eclipse.

It depends on what you use to measure size, but the Edge has larger tonnage (130,818 GT versus 121,878 GT) and a greater passenger capacity (2,918 versus 2,850). However, the Eclipse is 11 metres longer than the Edge with its blunted bow.

Edited March 25, 2019 by Fouremco

[igraf]

On 3/20/2019 at 4:46 PM, AncientWanderer said:

 

Ya know....they really do offer more interesting ports.   And another thing that isn't mentioned often is actual time in the ports.  I'm really digging in making our plans through 2020, and I don't know if this is a new thing or if I haven't noticed it before, but I'm seeing great variability in actual time in the ports, even if the port stops are the same.  When you consider that "all aboard" is even earlier than stated port times, this can make a lot of difference in the actual "value" of a port stop.   HAL is looking really good when the port hours are factored in. 

 

Very true.  I have seen very short port stops on other cruise lines.   Consider also the extra time to exit the ship when there are 3000+ passengers and tender boats are required.

 

igraf

 

 

[Hlitner]

18 hours ago, iancal said:

We spend far more time comparing ships that we do comparing cruise lines.   Age, amenities, condition, etc.

Interesting :).  We used to do it that way, but no more.  Now, most of our initial motivation (when looking at a cruise) is the itinerary.   I use a major travel agent data base where I can pull up every ship (of all cruise lines) by simply querying itinerary options.  So, for example, about a year from now we are booked on the Westy from Japan to Vancouver).  Our planning started with the idea that we wanted to spend some time in Japan next spring and then take a cruise back to the USA.  There were a few options but the Westy's itinerary and dates most perfectly fit our "wants."  The fact that HAL is one of our "go to" cruise lines made the decision easy.  The last time we booked a cruise that went between Asia and the USA it was on the Golden Princess....which best met our needs at the time.  

 

We currently have no real favorite cruise line since our traditional favorite lines have all done too many "cut backs."  So we keep expanding our horizons :).  Our recent cruise history and immediate future was/is Princess, MSC, Seabourn, MSC, and HAL.  That is all within about a year and we are now looking for a last minute option (somewhere in the world) for next month or early May.  When it comes to the Caribbean, MSC (only in their Yacht Club) has quickly become our favorite option for the Caribbean (lines like HAL, Celebrity and Princess are not even close).  But as much as we enjoyed MSC's Divina in the Caribbean, we have little interest in using that cruise line in Europe (this may change in the future).   We would be happy to do a last minute cruise on Azamara, Oceania, or Viking....but have not seen anything (yet) that captures our imagination.   

 

The idea of limiting our search to one or two cruise lines makes little sense since it would just limit our options.   Failing to find the right itinerary/value for the next couple of months is no big deal as we could always jump on a flight, head to Europe (anywhere), rent a car, and go go go.  The nice thing about our European driving trips is that we can eat a lot better then on any cruise ship :).

 

Hank

[iancal]

We compare ships only after we have settled on an itinerary.   We also check the port scheduled port times of the various ships. 

 

We select the itinerary, including time in port.  We take a look at what cruise lines/ships are on the itinerary.  Then we watch pricing.  It is sometimes surprising to see the wide variation in pricing between comparable ships as well as the pricing fluctuations over time.   The last late booking cruise we picked up was Rome to Barcelona.  We were touring in Sicily by car, just thinking about this.  Checked the price.  Then decided three days later to see if we could get  balcony.  Price had decreased substantially in those few final payment window days.  Of course, it could have increased in which case we simply would have carried on with our plans.

[Aquahound]

27 minutes ago, igraf said:

Very true.  I have seen very short port stops on other cruise lines.   Consider also the extra time to exit the ship when there are 3000+ passengers and tender boats are required.

 

I've tendered from both HAL and Celebrity ships, and I saw no difference.  

[JRG]

27 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

I use a major travel agent data base where I can pull up every ship (of all cruise lines) by simply querying itinerary options

 

18 minutes ago, iancal said:

Then we watch pricing.  It is sometimes surprising to see the wide variation in pricing between comparable ships as well as the pricing fluctuations over time.

 

If you do these two things regularly, then you increase the probability of finding the right Cruiseline/Ship/Itinerary/Value combination for your cruise.

 

If you are limiting your searches only to the HAL or X or other cruiseline website;  then you may be treading water.

Edited March 25, 2019 by JRG

[iancal]

We look at multiple cruise lines.  We really do not see much difference between the HAL's, Celebrity's, or Princess's of the world.  Or the RCI either.  They all seem to be similar in terms of service to us.  And they all seem headed in the same direction...to the lowest common denominator.  We are not about to pay 25 or 30 percent more for a cruise simply because it has a Celebrity or a HAL logo on the funnel.

[Aquahound]

54 minutes ago, iancal said:

We look at multiple cruise lines.  We really do not see much difference between the HAL's, Celebrity's, or Princess's of the world.  Or the RCI either.  They all seem to be similar in terms of service to us.  And they all seem headed in the same direction...to the lowest common denominator.  We are not about to pay 25 or 30 percent more for a cruise simply because it has a Celebrity or a HAL logo on the funnel.

 

I'm a little different in that I do see more difference between the lines, but I do agree that service is pretty equal, and they are all fighting for that mass market crowd.  I'm also not a loyalist, so my last 7 cruises have been on 6 different cruise lines.  

 

My last cruise was on Koningsdam.  There were similar itineraries on 3 other lines (Celebrity, Princess and RCI), but K'dam was significantly cheaper....like 50% cheaper.  Hence, my last cruise was on Koningsdam.  

[quack2]

The single thing I like most on most Holland ships is the wraparound promenade deck that allows you to get in your laps while, in my case, viewing the beutiful Alaska scenery.

[Ken the cruiser]

We're in our mid 60s and for us there is more energy on a X cruise whereas HAL is more relaxing. We also like eating in the Luminae dining room and the Go Best perk package when we book a Sky Suite.

[igraf]

9 hours ago, Aquahound said:

 

I've tendered from both HAL and Celebrity ships, and I saw no difference.  

 

The difference will be HAL offering a full day while another line only stops for a half day.

 

igraf