Celebrity and HAL vets---opinions/advice appreciated

[tmac]

Following advice from this board, having cruised X a lot and looking to venture out, I checked into HAL and they have a new ship Noordaam that just debuted and I wanted to know for those who have cruised both X and HAL, could you do a side by side comparison of the two lines?? Thanks in advance!

[Fblack]

I have been on both lines many times. They are very similar. The new HAL signature of excellence would sway me to HAL. Nothing beats their pillow top mattresses. They have lots of other nice things not found on many other lines. Free hot H'orderves in the bars at night, free cappuccino at meals, etc. I like Celebrity and in fact I am going on the Mercury in April, but I really like the newer HAL ships.

[ocngypz]

Noordam is drop dead gorgeous. I was on her last weekend. She offers more lounges than the M-class ships. The rooms are beautiful.. the beds.. not merely mattress toppers.. but all brand new.. no matter what category.

 

Menus are different, different style touches. but right now IMHO HAL's product delivery is stronger.

[flashdog_1]

The rooms are beautiful.. the beds.. not merely mattress toppers.. but all brand new.. no matter what category.

 

And the pillows? Any choice of types like in concierge class on X?

We'll be on Veendam (lst time on HAL) in two weeks and want to know if we need to carry our goose down pillows in our suitcases. Really. Thanks.

[ocngypz]

Hmm... they were soft. but I didn't smoosh my head down on them....bad enough I was lying down on the job.... so to speak.. LOL

[TEXASMUNK]

Celebrity...great food

 

HAL....food designed to not offend the pallete

 

Celebrity....one announcement per day

 

HAL...BINGO

EVERY TIME THEY PLAY BINGO GET READY TO HAVE YOUR EAR DRUMS BROKEN

 

10+ CRUISES....HAL older passengers

[Lois R]

:) :D ;) Thanks Jim for putting a big smile on my face:D

[ocngypz]

Well.. I have 100+ days on HAL and have never found any of the announcements to be over the top. During the day I tend to hang out by the aft pools. It's quiet.

 

On Celebrity, unless you are on Galaxy or Mercury and using the aft pool, if you wish to remain poolside, you are subjected to the various obnoxious (IMHO) pool games, gag me with a spoon fashion shows.. and some of the CD's and Asst CD's can get too chummy and talkie with the pa system.

 

I'd go hang out over at the HAL board and ask folks returning from the Veendam what they liked.

 

Oh if you like pumpernickel bread... in the morning HAL has the real stuff. Cut in little squares in front of where they dish out the hot items. Oh.... boy.. it is sooooooooooooooooooooo good.

 

The other night for dinner onboard Noordam (which was a formal night menu btw) I had fruit in a small carved out pineapple with liquor, caesar salad, rack of lamb and a souffle with Grand Marnier sauce. Then they brought out the petite fours. I passed on the soup course.

 

At lunch, HAL has always had a more extensive salad buffet than Celebrity (even HAL's smaller ships).

 

I like both lines.

[Shelley G]

My husband and I were on the Westerdam Feb. 5-Feb.12th. We have been on two Celebrity cruises before and have a cruise coming up on the Constellation this summer. Celebrity was our favourite cruise line before we tried HAL, but now, it is hard to say ( we have been on RCCI, Princess and Norwegian as well). We felt the food was better on HAL, but we missed the Aqua Spa cafe. The Thalassotherapy pool was free on Infinity, but HAL charged to use their Hydrotherapy pool. Overall, I would probably rank HAL slightly better than Celebrity.

Shelley

[dhcoaster]

Now I disagree with Jim M. I think on our Celebrity Cruises the aveage age was older. Other then that there is not much difference between both lines.

[JohnChiang]

The average age of passengers on any cruise will depend on the itinerary, the time of year, and the length of the cruise. However, certain cruise lines will try to cater to specific demographic groups. I found on my one HAL cruise on the Maasdam that ALL the entertainment and activities were designed for passengers over 60. Which was an almost perfect fit because 95% of the people on this New England cruise were in fact over 60.

 

Holland America advantages:

nice beds

excellent service from friendly (Indonesian/Philippino) crew

everything well organized and on time

better single rates than Celebrity

 

Celebrity advantages:

also excellent service

slightly better food

better overall cruise experience ( a very subjective judgement)

[Druke I]

We are primarily Princess cruisers, and think they have the best range of itineraries.

 

Been on Celebrity once, and HAL three times, and thought the two lines very similar. HAL, with more ships, does have a better variety of itineraries than Celebrity.

 

Different people have different priorities and expectations. Our 1st priority is location (itinerary), closely followed by cruise line/price.

 

Isn't it wonderful we have so many choices?

[MandyGirl]

I think the age depends on itinerary and time of year.

 

We've cruised HAL twice - holiday time since I'm a teacher and can't take vacation during nonpeak season. The last time there were over 400 kids on Zuiderdam - lots families. I think I was 29 and 28 on our two HAL cruises. While Maasdam may have had a higher average age than Zuiderdam, we actually loved it more, particularly the insightful people we visited with each day at afternoon tea. The Maasdam is probably our favorite ship of all ships we have cruise (although limited).

 

Our one Celebrity cruise was early December out of San Juan, and I could have sworn I was on Spring Break with a lot of college age students. Jeans in the dining room even on formal night, dancing on the tables at the pool, just no respect for other passengers. In fact, the clientele on that ship is what kept us FROM coming back to Celebrity. However, a travel agent told us it could have been because we were going out of San Juan after 9/11 when they were still trying to fill the ships - hence giving the cruises away with local specials (ship staff had told us at the time it was 80% local passengers and 20% US and other). She suggested we try Celebrity again... so here we are leaving in two weeks and VERY excited!!:) We're hoping to have more of the Celebrity clientele onboard we have heard about on these boards.

 

But again - I think it all goes back to time and itinerary.

[Lsimon]

We've been wanting to try HAL too, but haven't done so yet. We've just been having so much fun on the Celebrity that we keep booking here.

 

Here is one interesting thing I've found: We've had the most fun on cruises socializing with friends we've made both from our dinner table mates and those we've met through the Cruise Critic roll calls. Take a look at a couple of Celebrity v. HAL roll calls on this board for two cruises that you might be deciding between. For some reason I've found the Celebrity roll calls much more active than HAL (with rare exceptions) - hence a greater chance of meeting people whose company you'll enjoy.

[jacank]

We've been on two HAL cruises (both on the Maasdam) and one Celebrity (Horizon) cruise. We're set to go on another in April (Zenith). All ships were similar in size (smaller). In comparison - HAL's rooms were larger, main dining room elegant. Celebrity had better entertainment and parties. Food on both was excellent and so was service. Friendly staff on both. I wouldn't hesitate to take either cruise line. :)

[ArtM]

MandyGirl

 

If it is any consolation to you, I had exactly the same comment from our son who was working on the Connie? out of San Juan around then so it probably wasn't just TA jazz that you were getting.

 

Better luck on your next X Cruise.

 

ARt

[Cracker Ken]

While we prefer Celebrity these days, there's one thing for certain, the people on HAL aren't having to beg for egg-carton-foam mattress covers just to get by with some of the deplorable mattress they have on some of the "X" ships. When we were on Century back in Nov, the mattress was very, very bad. A deck lounge would have felt better. The foam cover was good enough to help. Some people reported getting more than one cover. Even a new mattress, of the type that has been standard on cruise ships for a long while would have been great. We'll be on Century again in April (the last voyage before drydock, trans-Atlantic), and the mattress condition will be the first thing we check out.

 

One thing we have noticed lately, is the HAL cruises certainly cost more. Other than the beds, I can't see that they are that much better than "X".

 

I agree, the length of the cruise and itinerary sure can mean a lot with demographics. A longer cruise out of FL in the winter, and the average age may be 80.:D

 

Ken

[Lane40]

We have always enjoyed HAL (7 cruises), even when we were 24-25 years old and cruising with it seemed like 90% of the passengers over the age of 70. We are taking our 3rd Celebrity cruise in a few weeks and have enjoyed our two previous Celebrity experiences. Our last three cruise have been on Princess mainly because we could not find the itinerary we wanted on HAL or Celebrity.

 

Now, that we have advanced in age (46)....lol......we fit even better with the HAL crowd. Honestly, though, it is difficult to go wrong with any cruiseline. We enjoy quiet/alone time when we cruise, and have found HAL provides more quiet/alone time.

 

It is a matter of selecting what is a better fit for you.

[dabear]

having been on 4 x cruises (mostly millinium class) and on the HAL Zuiderdam, I agree the length and itinerary affect the demigraphics. Having said that I previously thought x had better food, but just off the Connie this month, a number of us thought the food dropped a notch. I think either cruise line is fine with each having a few xtra touches.

[phillipahain]

We are Elite on X and Platinum on Princess but decided to try HAL Volendam last Nov and were sadly very disappointed ........i agree the beds were great and so was size of the stateroom although there were no fridges

 

Breakfast and lunch buffets were excellent however Dinner left a lot to be desired especially the Chefs Celebration Dinner and as for the Baked alaska that was slopped onto everyones plates like it or not with no option of an alternative

 

While the decor of the ships and the floral displays were good many of the public rooms were freezing cold and the entertainment staff were more suited to kids summer camp

 

The majority of passengers were geriatric and sadly i doubt i would consider booking again

[mafig]

No fridges????? May I ask what category cabin you were in?

 

We have Volendam booked for this November and are looking for all the info. we can gather. It will be our first time on HAL.

[phillipahain]

Outside cabins on Volendam do not have fridges

 

but they on Celebrity and on Princess even inside cabins have fridges

 

HAL and Princess have Laundromats and irons for passenger use

 

Celebrity do not

[kelmac]

Here's my standard answer. (people are probably sick of seeing this:rolleyes: )

 

 

We have cruised Celebrity 9 times and HAL 3 times; here is a short list of my impressions:

 

Holland America:..............Celebrity:

1) old school feel..............Modern feel

2) Indonesian crew...........European/International crew

3) All ships have altn Rest..Only the Millennium class ships have altn rest

4) Great food...................Excellent food

5) Lido buffet excellent......buffet great

6) Super beds/bedding.......average beds/bedding

7) large cabins.................better than average size cabins

8) bath tubs....................usually shower only

9) darker decor................brighter decor

10 Covered main pool........very open main pool

11 poor sun deck area.......plenty and varied sun deck areas

12 clumsy threater design..open, nice threater design

13 good entertainment......good entertainment

14 some shops.................many shops

15 wrap around prom deck. wide, but dead end prom deck

16 2 level dining room........2 level dining room (except Zeinth)

17 intimate dining room......open, airy dining room

18 great service (warm).....excellent service (formal)

19 aft pool open (nice)......aft pool Cent class (poor) Thlo pool excellent

20 aft deck areas great......aft deck areas small

 

We love both HAL and Celebrity!

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[thomasale]

Kelmac now that's a great comparison!

[Islandbuoy]

2 comments:

1) I second the comment about the ridiculously hard old beds on X (Zenith)

2) Last month on Ryndam , I was amazed that they no longer had the Bingo announcements.