Just switched my large group from Celebrity to HAL!

[capeboy96]

Know I'm going to not be too popular on here. Have sailed 3 times on both lines. Definately prefer Celebrity now. Put together 2 group cruises last year on Celebrity- first the Constellation and then the Infinity to Alaska. Both are amazing ships with great food, decent entertainment, and the have the best thelasotherapy pools and specialty restaurants. Put together another group cruise this past March and selected the Westerdam (over the Infinity) after having great experiences on both the Maasdam and Statendam. Since I was the one who put everything together, and switched us off of the Infinity and onto HAL, I was the one who got nasty glares the whole time. The overall consensus from our group (all of us in our 30s) was that the Westerdam sucked (that was their word- not mine). While the cabin was one of the most comfortable I've ever experienced (almost up there with Crystal), the food and entertainment were both pretty bad. Ship had a constant sewerage smell on the upper deck that just wouldn't go away. Covered pool was ok but missed Celebrity's T-pool. Got a cut on the bottom of my foot from a screw poking out of the bottom of the hot tub. Ship is relatively new but looked very worn to me and already needing a dry dock to spruce things up. I have read enough about the Vista class ships that I will never step foot on one again.

 

Alaska is amazing. In 2004 I sailed on the Statendam doing a southbound cruise from Seward to Vancouver. Ship was very nice with excellent food and service. Did like being able to see Glacier Bay. Did not notice much difference in the number of shore excursions offered between Celebrity and HAL. One HAL problem I did run into was that because HAL has an older clientele, a lot of the more active shore excursions got cancelled due to lack of interest. The biking in Sitka and snorkeling in Ketchikan were both cancelled at the last minute when I was on the dock and ready to go. Got to experience both with Celebrity last summer so was happy.

 

Good luck with the cruise. I would be happy to sail on HAL again in a heartbeat but only on one of their older, smaller ships.

[thomasale]

I too have been a happy Celebrity cruiser who, due to their recent problems, will be trying HAL for the first time. I have also booked a small group trip that will be trying Princess for the first time next summer. Looks like a good time to spread our wings...

[kelmac]

I'm huge Celebrity fan, but HAL is always our second choice. You can't go wrong with either of these cruise lines. Pod problems are very rare, and the M class ships of Celebrity are our favorites!!

We have four cruises coming up, two with HAL, and two with Celebrity.

Many HAL fans are like Avis fans, their favorite past time is bashing Hertz. :rolleyes: :)

 

Enjoy!

Kel

[xpcdoojk]

This is my first post here so here it goes. Over the last 2 months I have been planning a May 07 Alaskan cruise for a group of fifty freinds and family to celebrate four of the couples anniversaries together. After strong reconmendation I choose Celebrity Infinity, we were all was looking forward to our first trip to Alaska.

I was fully ready to place deposits this week on the 24 cabins (mostly suites), but I became disturbed while really watching the boards and being shocked to see how many reocuring problems they were having with the noro virus(200 people sick on July Cruise), constant cruise delays due to pod drive and electrical problems (2 July cruises left a day late and a cruise in 4 weeks just cancelled), just about every person posting complanning about the embarcation and disembarcation process and worse of all was there unacceptable response to someone not seeing Hubbard glacier was here is a $200.00 room credit. :confused:

I called several times to Celebrity and there response was that there is not a problem at all and that there is always going to be a few complainers no matter what. I understand that but when a thread about if (I should change lines) is posted and the majority of the people who are previous celebrity guest suggest to move I said whoooo!

So just today I just decided to Jump Ship:eek: and put my group on HAL's Oosterdam next May 12th and I feel really good about the decision as do all of my group. Any hints from people that have sailed or organized a large group on HAL would be helpful since I or none in the group have been on HAL before!

Thanks in advance for any comments or help on this subject, also any HAL secrets would be great!

 

Making vacation decisions based on the crazy people that post in these forums is probably not the wisest decision I have ever witnessed. All cruiselines have been affected by norovirus. HAL included. :rolleyes:

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise.

 

jc

[gizmo]

I think X treated the recently cancelled cruise pax pretty good. I got this from the X board.

 

Infinity will go into drydock in San Francisco from September 13 through September 24 to fix the pods. Celebrity wants to ensure a problem free South America season.

 

The September 13 Alaska sailing is cancelled. Guests should call the Re-Accomodation Desk at 800-8528175.

 

Compensation is a full refund, a free future cruise certificate (which excludes XPeditions and Holiday sailings) and reimbursement of airline change fees up to $100 per person.

 

For those that are booked on the September 23 15-night Panama Canal sailing:

 

This cruise now departs one day late, on September 24, and will skip Cabo San Lucas. Arrival into Acapulco is delayed by 2 hours. Compensation is $500/$600/$700 stateroom credit (depending on cabin type) + $200 off a future cruise.

 

I was on the September 13 sailing. As much as I regret not going to Alaska, I have to admit that a full refund plus a free future cruise is a generous offer

[Williebill]

I certainly think you made the right decision to go with HAL. My wife, two of our friends and myself took the Westerdam to Alaska this past May 7 and loved every minute of the trip. It will be a lot cooler that early in the season; but, what scenery!

[lucchese1]

I think X treated the recently canceled cruise pax pretty good. I got this from the X board.

 

Infinity will go into drydock in San Francisco from September 13 through September 24 to fix the pods. Celebrity wants to ensure a problem free South America season.

 

The September 13 Alaska sailing is canceled. Guests should call the Re-Accomodation Desk at 800-8528175.

 

Compensation is a full refund, a free future cruise certificate (which excludes XPeditions and Holiday sailings) and reimbursement of airline change fees up to $100 per person.

 

For those that are booked on the September 23 15-night Panama Canal sailing:

 

This cruise now departs one day late, on September 24, and will skip Cabo San Lucas. Arrival into Acapulco is delayed by 2 hours. Compensation is $500/$600/$700 stateroom credit (depending on cabin type) + $200 off a future cruise.

 

I was on the September 13 sailing. As much as I regret not going to Alaska, I have to admit that a full refund plus a free future cruise is a generous offer

 

That is truly generous!! for X to come through for all the people on that cancelled itinerary, thats even better than what happened to us on the last cruise we had canceled. Don't get me wrong I do truly look forward to cruising with them in the near future, but my real problem I had with X was getting them to admit to me that there was a problem and how were they going to address it in the near future as not to affect my sail date and all the ones in between. I have been directing all of the people in our group to visit this and other sites and it was a unanimous decision by all of us to change when a answer could not be obtained.

[griswalds]

Celebrity has handled scheduled dry docks well as indicated by the postings below. The problem with Celebrity is how they have handled the passengers during a cruise when the pods stop working on that specific cruise. There have been a number of Celebrity M ship breakdowns that has resluted in some "disasters" at sea and very poor compensation. It is well documented that the Celebrity M ships have pod problems (design issue) and the pods seem to go without any warning even if the ship has had a recent visit to dry dock.

 

Griswalds

 

I think X treated the recently cancelled cruise pax pretty good. I got this from the X board.

 

Infinity will go into drydock in San Francisco from September 13 through September 24 to fix the pods. Celebrity wants to ensure a problem free South America season.

 

The September 13 Alaska sailing is cancelled. Guests should call the Re-Accomodation Desk at 800-8528175.

 

Compensation is a full refund, a free future cruise certificate (which excludes XPeditions and Holiday sailings) and reimbursement of airline change fees up to $100 per person.

 

For those that are booked on the September 23 15-night Panama Canal sailing:

 

This cruise now departs one day late, on September 24, and will skip Cabo San Lucas. Arrival into Acapulco is delayed by 2 hours. Compensation is $500/$600/$700 stateroom credit (depending on cabin type) + $200 off a future cruise.

 

I was on the September 13 sailing. As much as I regret not going to Alaska, I have to admit that a full refund plus a free future cruise is a generous offer

[gizmo]

Griswald, I agree. I recall reading posts that indicated disasters because of the "POD Problem".

 

Luchese1, I think you made the right decision going with Hal. Those "POD Problems" cause nothing but havoc when one decides to break.

 

Hope you and your group have a great cruise. :)