Go Ahead. . . Make My Cruise!!!

[kakalina]

As you can see from my signature I am a HAL fan. But then it is the only line we have ever cruised.

 

DH is a " if it ain't broke don't fix it" kind of guy. I think there is a possability that we might be missing something.

 

Can any of you give a few good things about Celebrity that are better or not available on HAL??

 

I appreciate any help. Thanks

[motherchic]

I have never sailed on Hal. We love Celebrity. We have always sailed on the M class ships.

I love:

the service and welcoming crew.( Champagne welcome, iced washclothes on silver trays when your boarding the ship after a warm day on the islands )

the dining room and having table mates that become good friends. Not to mention very good food.

the Thallo pool and spa area. The aqua spa cafe. Evening sushi.....

the entire atmosphere a fun beautiful ship, little older crowd, very relaxing and fun but not a loud party boat.

We only get to cruise about every two years. So when we do, we keep coming back to celebrity, perhaps if we cruised more often i would try a different cruise lines. The only other line we tried was RCCL.

Good luck with your choices and hope you enjoy your next cruise

Nadine

[kakalina]

Thanks for the information. I had hoped for more responses. I am kind of disappointed.

[Ine]

We have sailed both HAL and X and love them also both.

Have a look at this link, there are some opinions/differences mentioned about them

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=331761

[suec12]

We have cruised with several of the different companies including one cruise on HAL. My travel agent had always just raved about HAL and while it was nice enough, I was a little disappointed - maybe I just expected more from what she had said. I think the atmosphere was just a little "stuffier" than Celebrity and the food not quiet as good. But also we cruise with our young adult daughters and there were very few others on board from that age group on the HAL ship (it was a Carrib cruise in Feb. I think). Anyway I think the differences between the two are slight, you might as well try Celebrity one time and see what you think!

[SANDY BEACH]

Celebrity offers the T-Pool on the M class ships free to all. Great to relax those muscles. Also, there is a special Aqua Spa cafe in this area which serves healthy, sometimes unusual menu's. I really enjoyed eating there each day for lunch. If you enjoy martini's, great Martini Bar. Celebrity is a classy cruiseline IMO. We also enjoy Holland.

[julieanne]

I agree with Suec....I have sailed HAL before as well. It seems to be an older more conservative crowd. HOWEVER, they do an excellent job! What are the differences? It would be hard to say. I, too, love the "M" class ships and have faithfully taken the last 6 cruises with "X". I also love NCL......Your time is what you make it! I think what made our decision for us was "price". We have been able to get better deals with "X" and therefore, we get to take more cruises! As for service, we have always had excellent food and service on both.

[mountainmare]

kakalina- I'm in the same boat as you. We are HAL cruisers and my DH also was reluctant to switch. We've booked our first X for October based on itinerary and price. We like the Rotterdam the best and have cruised the Oosterdam which we felt was HAL-lite. I'm looking forward to the Millennium and the champagne welcome--although DH is whining about about missing the smaller HAL ships I'm sure that the Med will make him happy. Looking at the offerings next winter we are torn between the Ryndam in Mexico and Galaxy in the Carribean, the prices in Celebrity are pretty hard to beat. I don't think that there is a significant difference between the two lines.

[etoile]

I have sailed both and I found the cabin service much better on X but the bar service much better on HAL. Can't compare the dining service because we had open seating on HAL and it doesn't seem fair to compare that to having my own waiter on X.

[Arubalisa]

This post http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=6386495&postcount=19 in particular nailed down the differences between the two lines.

 

Overall Celebrity is definitely no worse than HAL. Depends a lot on why you cruise, but IMHO, service all over the ship as well as the food, were better on X than HAL. X is not wild or crazy, but if you want really sedate, quiet and a more "mature" crowd, and especially wish to cruise with as few children as possible, then stick with HAL.