Would HAL be for us?

[drenk1976]

So we’re 6 cruises in to our experience and we’d avoided HAL in the past. 

 

We don’t enjoy pomp and circumstance particularly and there are elements of “traditional” cruising we don’t like. We certainly don’t want to share a table at dinner and we’re not particularly bothered about “Broadway style” entertainment. 

 

Food is an important part of our cruise. 

 

We love Celebrity but are currently on a Princess cruise and are underwealmed. We don’t like the “brown and gold” decor or the feeling of everything being just as at has been for years with no real feeling of progress or improvement. Cunard would, for example be our last choice. 

 

We are a UK couple, 40s with no kids.  I’m not particularly bothered by the age of other cruisers as long as this doesn’t mean the line are catering purely for traditionalists. 

 

We don’t need water slides or go karts for a great holiday but we do enjoy an “interesting” itinerary (I.e more looking around a city than a Cozumel type place). 

 

I had always had the perception that HAL wouldn’t suit us but I’ve looked at the Nieuw Statendam (apologies for spelling) on a Norway cruise in Aug 2023 and find myself quite excited by it. We also love music by the way, but again more in terms of something new and exciting/interesting rather than a pianist knocking out Beatles and Elton John tracks all night. 

 

I don’t mean to offend anyone who likes the above things-there’s nothing wrong with that but it’s not to our taste!

 

I’d love to hear from HAL regulars as to whether they think we’d enjoy the ship!

[Aquahound]

HAL doesn't sound like a bad fit for you as long as you stick to the new Pinnacle Class ships.  Stay away from anything older.  The color patterns and more traditional vibe would most likely not suit your tastes.  

 

Ref the music...they do have good live music.  However, it's the same few choices every night so it does get pretty repetitive come night 4 or 5.  HAL doesn't do theme parties (like the 60s and 70s nights on X) and you might have 1 game show the entire cruise.  

 

HAL's ships are nowhere near as "wow" as Celebrity's, but the brighter and more airy Pinnacle Class (compared to their older ships) are a step in that direction.  

 

 

[drenk1976]

1 minute ago, Aquahound said:

HAL doesn't sound like a bad fit for you as long as you stick to the new Pinnacle Class ships.  Stay away from anything older.  The color patterns and more traditional vibe would most likely not suit your tastes.  

 

Ref the music...they do have good live music.  However, it's the same few choices every night so it does get pretty repetitive come night 4 or 5.  HAL doesn't do theme parties (like the 60s and 70s nights on X) and you might have 1 game show the entire cruise.  

 

HAL's ships are nowhere near as "wow" as Celebrity's, but the brighter and more airy Pinnacle Class (compared to their older ships) are a step in that direction.  

 

 

That’s super helpful and your point about sticking to the Pinnacle class was where I’d got to. 
 

All the X Edge class are in Europe for Summer 2023 but the prices are much higher than HAL. I also love that HAL are doing some (what I believe is) Alaska style “scenic cruising” days in Norway.

 

Actually my favourite ever entertainment on a ship was Howling At The Moon dualing pianos on the NCL Epic and I believe the Nieuw Statendam has something similar.  

[Aquahound]

1 minute ago, drenk1976 said:

.

 

Actually my favourite ever entertainment on a ship was Howling At The Moon dualing pianos on the NCL Epic and I believe the Nieuw Statendam has something similar.  

 

About that....it's a bit of a false advertisement when anyone says HAL has "dueling pianos."  They don't.  Billboard Onboard is "duel pianos," not "dueling pianos."  It's just 2 pianos playing together.  It's not the dueling format like Howl at the Moon.  It's good that you know this ahead of time because I thought it was dueling too.  I was disappointed when I found out it wasn't.  

[drenk1976]

26 minutes ago, Aquahound said:

About that....it's a bit of a false advertisement when anyone says HAL has "dueling pianos."  They don't.  Billboard Onboard is "duel pianos," not "dueling pianos."  It's just 2 pianos playing together.  It's not the dueling format like Howl at the Moon.  It's good that you know this ahead of time because I thought it was dueling too.  I was disappointed when I found out it wasn't. 

Really helpful again.  Thanks.  Goes to show there's no better way of finding out about something than asking someone who's done it!

 

I do appreciate your considered thoughts.

[78232]

It is possible to request a table for two for early or late fixed dining when booking the cruise.  I understand that it is possible to request a table for two in open dining although there may be a wait.  It is easy to eat in the lido without sharing a table.  We have never had to share a table in any of the dining areas.

[Suzcruz57]

Hi Drend, We are D+ on RCCL, and sailed a lot with Celebrity and a couple with Princess. If food is important to you, as it is with most people, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with Holland. I believe its a few steps above the others. We did the British Isles with RCCL, loved the the ports of call. The combo you want to do with Holland sounds great! One thing I really love about Holland is, you can stay in your cabin until your time to disembark! ++++ the best. Good luck! Happy sailing.

[TomTN]

You might be happier with Celebrity.

HAL night life is not much. I prefer food on HAL too.

Entertainment is not very good on HAL these days. Broadway??? When I hear Broadway I think of 1st class theater  like Hamilton. You won't see it on Hal. I think they have done away with the Las Vegas style shows too.

Table for 2 shouldn't  be a problem.

 

Almost every cruise line that caters to adults will have older music because  by far the bulk of passengers on those cruises are 60+.  We started cruising 30 years ago and the music and entertainment was directed towards people who had lived through World War 2. It was boring to us. It's  perfect now.😉😁

No pomp on HAL. We normally see what we perceive as more formality from British passengers when sailing the North Atlantic.  But then we live in the southeast US where things tend to be less formal.

You likely won't find a perfect cruise line, and as you age your idea of perfect will likely change. 

[silversneakers]

3 hours ago, 78232 said:

It is possible to request a table for two for early or late fixed dining when booking the cruise.  I understand that it is possible to request a table for two in open dining although there may be a wait.  It is easy to eat in the lido without sharing a table.  We have never had to share a table in any of the dining areas.

You don't technically "share a table" but seating at a table for two seems to have minimal space between tables and you do feel like you are "sharing"......

[drenk1976]

1 hour ago, TomBeckCruise said:

You might be happier with Celebrity.

HAL night life is not much. I prefer food on HAL too.

Entertainment is not very good on HAL these days. Broadway??? When I hear Broadway I think of 1st class theater  like Hamilton. You won't see it on Hal. I think they have done away with the Las Vegas style shows too.

Table for 2 shouldn't  be a problem.

 

Almost every cruise line that caters to adults will have older music because  by far the bulk of passengers on those cruises are 60+.  We started cruising 30 years ago and the music and entertainment was directed towards people who had lived through World War 2. It was boring to us. It's  perfect now.😉😁

No pomp on HAL. We normally see what we perceive as more formality from British passengers when sailing the North Atlantic.  But then we live in the southeast US where things tend to be less formal.

You likely won't find a perfect cruise line, and as you age your idea of perfect will likely change. 

Thanks for sharing this. One thing we really weren’t keen on with Princess was the formality of everything BUT this was generally reflected from fellow passengers who, given the sailing was from Southampton with no kids allowed because of COVID were overwhelmingly 60+.
 

Interesting what you say about British passengers. I think there’s probably been more of a change in attitudes in the UK over the last 20 or 30 years than many countries to the extent that as a 1970s baby, when I travel to the States or Europe, I don’t perceive a big difference between myself and the locals but if I brought my mum and dad, they would. It feels almost wrong to say this but I’ve had easier conversations with older Americans when we’ve been in the Caribbean etc that I sometimes have at home with older people. I guess television, films, the internet etc has brought us closer together over time!

[drenk1976]

3 hours ago, Suzcruz57 said:

Hi Drend, We are D+ on RCCL, and sailed a lot with Celebrity and a couple with Princess. If food is important to you, as it is with most people, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed with Holland. I believe its a few steps above the others. We did the British Isles with RCCL, loved the the ports of call. The combo you want to do with Holland sounds great! One thing I really love about Holland is, you can stay in your cabin until your time to disembark! ++++ the best. Good luck! Happy sailing.

Thanks so much for this.  I’m pleasantly encouraged that a high status RCCL member has such good things to say about HAL!

[julia]

I'm fairly certain that, based on your criteria, HAL would not be a good fit for you.

[Charlies Aunt]

I have just been on Princess for the first time having cruised with most of the major cruise lines including Cunard, Celebrity, Costa, Azamara,Regent Seven Seas and HAL of course.

 

I urge you to try HAL for whilst I enjoyed the cruise I was quite happy to disembark in Southampton on Saturday (in the pouring rain). I felt I had "done " all that there was to do on the ship and I had very little desire to repeat any of it. I have never felt like that disembarking from a HAL ship in fact quite the opposite.

 

Food is subjective but I did feel the Lido is far more impressive on HAL and a much more pleasant area to eat in and HALS Dive-in burgers and fries leave Princesses offerings standing. 

I will say Alfredo's pizzas were great and I cannot fault the staff on either Princess or HAL.

 

The pool areas on HAL are much more comfortable and the sliding roof on the main pool area is invaluable on bad weather sea days in spreading the passenger load. I am not sure how comfortable Princess would be with anywhere near a full load.

 

I wanted so much to like Princess as to have another line that would allow us to cruise out of the UK would have been useful but sadly for us it wasn't a match almost to the point that I am so glad that it was not our first cruise...had it been I think we would have missed out on a tremendous amount of fun over the last 15 years.

 

I hope you choose to give HAL a try you sound like a good match.

regards 

Chris

 

[Hlitner]

It is difficult to know what line is best for folks unless you really know that person.  But we would say that HAL and Princess are more alike then not although Princess does have more entertainment options.  Cuisine on both lines are what I would call typical cruise line food which is to say it is OK but nothing special.  Folks that insist that HAL has great food would generally answer "No" if asked "would you pay to go to a local restaurant that serves HAL food?"  

 

Since the OP says they "love Celebrity" perhaps they should stick with that line.  But even Celebrity has downgraded their cuisine (served in the free venues) over the past decade (primarily since Lisa Lutoff-Perlo became CEO) although we have found Murano (which does not come free) to have some of the best food afloat.   But since the OP seems to put emphasis on food I think they might want to consider a line such as Oceania where food/cuisine is taken seriously.   Having recently taken a few cruises on Seabourn, this is also a line we would recommend to the OP...assuming their budget can handle the higher prices of this luxury line.  

 

I think there is an ugly truth to cruising (not often admitted by line-specific cheerleaders).  Over the past few years the quality of included food on all the mass market lines has gone through a gradual decline in both quality and quantity.   Those of us who consider food an important part of the cruise experience have been forced to look towards the Premium and Luxury lines to satisfy our food wants!  I know that if I order a normal steak in a HAL or Princess MDR it will be mediocre at best.  But when I order filet mignon on Seabourn I know I will get a piece of beef that rivals what we get in many land-based steakhouses.   Or course this means paying higher prices for the cruise.  The last time we cruised on Celebrity we bought a package that let us dine 10 times (out of 21 days) in Murano because we were willing to pay extra for better food.  On HAL they do have the PInnacle which we have always found somewhat underwhelming (especially at dinner) when compared to offerings at places like Murano (Celebrity).  On Seabourn they have the Thomas Keller Grill (no extra charge) which has offerings such as Dover Sole which is properly prepared and fileted at tableside in the same manner that you will find in the finest restaurants.  Murano (Celebrity) also has some similar offerings.  But Princess and HAL do not have anything that comes even close to this kind of quality.  In fact, the Crown Grill (Princess) makes a big deal over the various types of salt when I wish they would focus on the quality of their beef (it is good but far from excellent).  

 

I do love this topic of food on ships.   When folks say food is subjective (what isn't) I just laugh.  There is nothing "subjective" about a cruise line that features something like "meatloaf" or mystery fish or completely depends on tasteless farmed fish (such as tilapia) to satisfy seafood lovers.  And yes, they can buy cheaper quality beef and run it through tenderizing machines but it is still cheaper quality beef.  

 

Hank

 

[mcrcruiser]

46 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

It is difficult to know what line is best for folks unless you really know that person.  But we would say that HAL and Princess are more alike then not although Princess does have more entertainment options.  Cuisine on both lines are what I would call typical cruise line food which is to say it is OK but nothing special.  Folks that insist that HAL has great food would generally answer "No" if asked "would you pay to go to a local restaurant that serves HAL food?"  

 

Since the OP says they "love Celebrity" perhaps they should stick with that line.  But even Celebrity has downgraded their cuisine (served in the free venues) over the past decade (primarily since Lisa Lutoff-Perlo became CEO) although we have found Murano (which does not come free) to have some of the best food afloat.   But since the OP seems to put emphasis on food I think they might want to consider a line such as Oceania where food/cuisine is taken seriously.   Having recently taken a few cruises on Seabourn, this is also a line we would recommend to the OP...assuming their budget can handle the higher prices of this luxury line.  

 

I think there is an ugly truth to cruising (not often admitted by line-specific cheerleaders).  Over the past few years the quality of included food on all the mass market lines has gone through a gradual decline in both quality and quantity.   Those of us who consider food an important part of the cruise experience have been forced to look towards the Premium and Luxury lines to satisfy our food wants!  I know that if I order a normal steak in a HAL or Princess MDR it will be mediocre at best.  But when I order filet mignon on Seabourn I know I will get a piece of beef that rivals what we get in many land-based steakhouses.   Or course this means paying higher prices for the cruise.  The last time we cruised on Celebrity we bought a package that let us dine 10 times (out of 21 days) in Murano because we were willing to pay extra for better food.  On HAL they do have the PInnacle which we have always found somewhat underwhelming (especially at dinner) when compared to offerings at places like Murano (Celebrity).  On Seabourn they have the Thomas Keller Grill (no extra charge) which has offerings such as Dover Sole which is properly prepared and fileted at tableside in the same manner that you will find in the finest restaurants.  Murano (Celebrity) also has some similar offerings.  But Princess and HAL do not have anything that comes even close to this kind of quality.  In fact, the Crown Grill (Princess) makes a big deal over the various types of salt when I wish they would focus on the quality of their beef (it is good but far from excellent).  

 

I do love this topic of food on ships.   When folks say food is subjective (what isn't) I just laugh.  There is nothing "subjective" about a cruise line that features something like "meatloaf" or mystery fish or completely depends on tasteless farmed fish (such as tilapia) to satisfy seafood lovers.  And yes, they can buy cheaper quality beef and run it through tenderizing machines but it is still cheaper quality beef.  

 

Hank

 

Hank yes you are totally correct about the food qualities  . We sailed more with Celebrity  than any other cruise line ;but ,even here there have been let downs .We once could get AHI tuna near the pool for  lunch & then Celebrity all of a sudden no longer served AHI tuna  .This & other reasons we decided why pay those higher cruise prices when a cruise line takes away what we like   .  We too will use the special restaurants  for  many of  our  dinners  .

 

Right now we are finding  that Princess has better cruise prices than HAL   & of course we would have many meals in their special restaurants 

[mcrcruiser]

Another thing when we compare the sister lines ,we have found that Princess has the Broadway style shows where HAL does not have those style shows in their Main Showrooms   . Then we like the cabins on the new Pinnacle class HAL ships over the cabins  pf the new Princess ships & the balconies are too small 

[Hlitner]

3 hours ago, mcrcruiser said:

Hank yes you are totally correct about the food qualities  . We sailed more with Celebrity  than any other cruise line ;but ,even here there have been let downs .We once could get AHI tuna near the pool for  lunch & then Celebrity all of a sudden no longer served AHI tuna  .This & other reasons we decided why pay those higher cruise prices when a cruise line takes away what we like   .  We too will use the special restaurants  for  many of  our  dinners  .

 

Right now we are finding  that Princess has better cruise prices than HAL   & of course we would have many meals in their special restaurants 

It is fun to be talking about cruise choices rather then COVID :).  Prior to COVID we got fed up with the many small cut-backs (I called it "death by a thousand cut-backs") at Celebrity which seemed to be part of the revised company philosophy a la Lisa Lutoff-Perlo.  We used to try and cruise on Celebrity at least a few week every year but completely stopped booking with them in favor of Princess and HAL.  More recently we started to become somewhat disgusted with changes at HAL (such as eliminating Production Shows and their piano bars) and were booking more Princess and only HAL when they offered a great itinerary.  But prior to COVID we decided to move upscale and give Seabourn a try and it was truly love at first cruise :).  We recently (the last 3 months) took two more Seabourn cruises and booked another longer SB cruise for next Spring.  After 45+ years of cruising we finally found something we consider close to the perfect cruise line (for us) even if it is a bit expensive.  

 

So now we face a dilemma about how we can possibly go back to some mass market lines.  We have future bookings with both Princess and HAL and we do understand that we will have to lower our expectations when we return to those lines.  We also are finally giving Oceania a try (next month) hoping that their cuisine is as good as we have been led to believe.  

 

I agree with you about HAL prices.  Part of this is because HAL gave out a lot of FCCs because of cancelled cruises and they seem to have increased prices to essentially devalue all those FCCs.  But our future booking (a 42 day Asian cruise) is currently locked-in at old prices because HAL cancelled our previous 3 Asian cruise bookings and kept rolling them forward to the following year.  

 

Just a warning to regular mass market cruisers.  If you decide to try one of the ultra luxury cruise lines (Crystal, Seabourn, Silverseas, Regent, etc) it can really leave you spoiled.  Many of the folks we met on SB had moved up from the mass market lines and most told us they will never go back.  There is something about being treated to unlimited caviar, French Champagne, no lines, etc. that makes one realize that you do get what you pay for with these lines.  That begs the question does one want to continue to pay that kind of money?

 

Hank

[mcrcruiser]

43 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

It is fun to be talking about cruise choices rather then COVID :).  Prior to COVID we got fed up with the many small cut-backs (I called it "death by a thousand cut-backs") at Celebrity which seemed to be part of the revised company philosophy a la Lisa Lutoff-Perlo.  We used to try and cruise on Celebrity at least a few week every year but completely stopped booking with them in favor of Princess and HAL.  More recently we started to become somewhat disgusted with changes at HAL (such as eliminating Production Shows and their piano bars) and were booking more Princess and only HAL when they offered a great itinerary.  But prior to COVID we decided to move upscale and give Seabourn a try and it was truly love at first cruise :).  We recently (the last 3 months) took two more Seabourn cruises and booked another longer SB cruise for next Spring.  After 45+ years of cruising we finally found something we consider close to the perfect cruise line (for us) even if it is a bit expensive.  

 

So now we face a dilemma about how we can possibly go back to some mass market lines.  We have future bookings with both Princess and HAL and we do understand that we will have to lower our expectations when we return to those lines.  We also are finally giving Oceania a try (next month) hoping that their cuisine is as good as we have been led to believe.  

 

I agree with you about HAL prices.  Part of this is because HAL gave out a lot of FCCs because of cancelled cruises and they seem to have increased prices to essentially devalue all those FCCs.  But our future booking (a 42 day Asian cruise) is currently locked-in at old prices because HAL cancelled our previous 3 Asian cruise bookings and kept rolling them forward to the following year.  

 

Just a warning to regular mass market cruisers.  If you decide to try one of the ultra luxury cruise lines (Crystal, Seabourn, Silverseas, Regent, etc) it can really leave you spoiled.  Many of the folks we met on SB had moved up from the mass market lines and most told us they will never go back.  There is something about being treated to unlimited caviar, French Champagne, no lines, etc. that makes one realize that you do get what you pay for with these lines.  That begs the question does one want to continue to pay that kind of money?

 

Hank

Hank you could not have said it better . I we were younger & still flying ,we too would try a upscale cruise line  .Just that we are now 82 each  & I am 83 next month ,so we try to sail from San Diego ,our home port  or 1.5 hour drive to San Pedro 

[MMastell]

I would suggest NCL. Their newer ships have a wide variety of entertainment options and open seating and a variety of specialty restaurants to try.  I have cruised almost every major cruise line from Azamara to Seabourn.  NCL has a variety of international itineraries and reasonable pricing and often include drinks and specialty dining credit but there is a service charge and it will add about $200 to $300 to the fare if you elect to take the offer.  It's a lot less than paying for individual drinks and specialty dining.  If you are not a big drinker the drink package is not worth it.  They have plenty of two tops for dining and the main dining rooms, lido buffet and other venues are included with the fare. I love Seabourn and have over 60 days onboard its ships. Their itineraries are first rate and you will not have service comparable to this on any major cruise line. It is open seating and almost everything is included in the cruise except high end wine and HIGH end liquor.  It's wonderful but it can run between $900 to $1500 per person per day for a standard balcony. It can be a budget breaker for even people who are reasonably well off.  There are so many choices you have to be somewhat of a Goldilocks and keep trying different lines until you find one that's just right.  I have to say that I haven't had a terrible cruise.

 

Take care,

Mike

[opa&oma]

On 10/31/2021 at 10:49 AM, drenk1976 said:

So we’re 6 cruises in to our experience and we’d avoided HAL in the past. 

 

We don’t enjoy pomp and circumstance particularly and there are elements of “traditional” cruising we don’t like. We certainly don’t want to share a table at dinner and we’re not particularly bothered about “Broadway style” entertainment. 

 

Food is an important part of our cruise. 

 

We love Celebrity but are currently on a Princess cruise and are underwealmed. We don’t like the “brown and gold” decor or the feeling of everything being just as at has been for years with no real feeling of progress or improvement. Cunard would, for example be our last choice. 

 

We are a UK couple, 40s with no kids.  I’m not particularly bothered by the age of other cruisers as long as this doesn’t mean the line are catering purely for traditionalists. 

 

We don’t need water slides or go karts for a great holiday but we do enjoy an “interesting” itinerary (I.e more looking around a city than a Cozumel type place). 

 

I had always had the perception that HAL wouldn’t suit us but I’ve looked at the Nieuw Statendam (apologies for spelling) on a Norway cruise in Aug 2023 and find myself quite excited by it. We also love music by the way, but again more in terms of something new and exciting/interesting rather than a pianist knocking out Beatles and Elton John tracks all night. 

 

I don’t mean to offend anyone who likes the above things-there’s nothing wrong with that but it’s not to our taste!

 

I’d love to hear from HAL regulars as to whether they think we’d enjoy the ship!

HAL gets our vote if for nothing more than the Music Walk.  The Blues Club is just great live music.

The Classical is music we don't ever get to hear live.  Celebrity's music is just meh.

[cruisemom42]

9 hours ago, Hlitner said:

I do love this topic of food on ships.   When folks say food is subjective (what isn't) I just laugh.  There is nothing "subjective" about a cruise line that features something like "meatloaf" or mystery fish or completely depends on tasteless farmed fish (such as tilapia) to satisfy seafood lovers.

 

Hank, I don't think you've been on Celebrity for a couple (few?) years and I understand your dissatisfactions but I have to say that post-COVID Celebrity seems to have refocused on food. The Alaska cruise we took this summer was more than satisfactory in the MDR -- over and over we were delighted with what we ordered and both the quality and number of choices were terrific (especially when compared with what HAL was offering in Alaska on very similar itineraries at the same time, as evidenced by many live-from threads). They also still have dedicated sommeliers and adequate bar staff.

 

And they seem to be keeping it up. Just yesterday I saw a post with a photo from a very happy (and generally picky) cruiser of rib-eye and filet mignon being served in the Lido. Cooked to order. And even letting passengers choose their cut before cooking.

 

I am not saying Seabourn doesn't offer more. But for those looking to choose between HAL and Celebrity with regard to food -- I would not hesitate to recommend Celebrity at this time.

 

Edited November 2, 2021 by cruisemom42

[Hlitner]

17 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

Hank, I don't think you've been on Celebrity for a couple (few?) years and I understand your dissatisfactions but I have to say that post-COVID Celebrity seems to have refocused on food. The Alaska cruise we took this summer was more than satisfactory in the MDR -- over and over we were delighted with what we ordered and both the quality and number of choices were terrific (especially when compared with what HAL was offering in Alaska on very similar itineraries at the same time, as evidenced by many live-from threads). They also still have dedicated sommeliers and adequate bar staff.

 

And they seem to be keeping it up. Just yesterday I saw a post with a photo from a very happy (and generally picky) cruiser of rib-eye and filet mignon being served in the Lido. Cooked to order. And even letting passengers choose their cut before cooking.

 

I am not saying Seabourn doesn't offer more. But for those looking to choose between HAL and Celebrity with regard to food -- I would not hesitate to recommend Celebrity at this time.

 

We do hear you (and others) and acknowledge that perhaps they are moving back to their old emphasis on decent food.  DW and I have actually talked about booking a future Celebrity cruise and perhaps even trying a suite (we have never done this on X).  As to comparing X to HAL, at the risk of getting flamed by many we have never been impressed with HAL food.  Never!  We do love HAL for their itineraries and their food was always more then adequate....just not anything special.   If food were the deciding factor between X and HAL we would have always chose Celebrity.  

 

Perhaps I never should have let Seabourn get into this discussion since that line is on an entirely different level then both X and HAL.  One shocker that we have talked about elsewhere on CC is that in many cases one can book Seabourn for about the same or less than a comparable cabin (which would be a small suite) on the new Edge Class ships of Celebrity.  For many years we had a local radio show hosted by an avid cruiser who worked for a large local auto club/travel agency.  The hostess would often preach that many of us who booked mass market lines would be surprised to find that the luxury lines were often a better value.  We had very little luxury line experience having only cruised on Crystal and the old Radisson Seven Seas (now Regent).  But now that we have further expanded our luxury line experience we understand that the radio hostess had a very good point.

 

We had been long time Celebrity fans going back to the days when we cruised on their old Meridian, Horizon and Zenith.  When LLP took over the helm of that company she made it pretty clear they were overspending on their product and their cruise fares were too low.  When she started doing silly cut-backs like removing free bottled water from Aqua Class (which must have saved the line less than $1000 per year) it rubbed me the wrong way.  But now, we have to deal with a HAL that has decided to eliminate Production Shows and dramatically reduced the quality in their MDR.  Suddenly Celebrity looks a lot better :).  As to HAL we still look to that line for some amazing itineraries although they do have some decent competition from lines like Oceania.  But my personal weakness for included Caviar and French Champagne is a strong draw back to Seabourn :).

 

You have to love a cruise world where we have so many choices.  It is going to be very interesting to see what each line does (in terms of quality and pricing) post COVID.  So far we have only been on Seabourn (twice) since the restart and think that line has actually made some improvements, especially with the offerings in their MDR.  But we do have "O" coming up next month and more Seabourn and Princess next year (perhaps there will be more to come).  HAL is again on the back burner because they again (for the third year in a row) cancelled our Asian cruise.  If we can find the time (and itinerary) for Celebrity we will try to add them to our 2022 voyages.

 

Hank

[opa&oma]

We just got off a 12 night Celebrity cruise and after years with them for comparison, the food was extremely disappointing. It's the exact same menu they've had for 15 years , except for some of the better offerings being replaced with something cheaper.  So, we too are now looking for another line.