Holland America vs. Celebrity

[californiacruisefreak]

Just curious....What do you all think about Holland America vs. Celebrity? Both are nice products, but I feel Holland America has a slight advantage in being a little more of a personal experience.

 

We are booked on the New Year's sailing of Summit, but considering changing to the Volendam for New Year's.

[Lois R]

Ohh....I have been asking about HAL too...I have been on Celebrity 3 times...LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT:D .

 

I recently had to cancel an upcoming cruise on the Horizon:( so I am trying to find another cruise.

You are sailing on the Zuiderdam next month? That is the ship I am considering for September!!!

I have heard really nice things about that ship....but I would also tell you, you can't go wrong with Celebrity:).

If I could have found something to replace Horizon on here, to be honest I would have.

HAL has a wonderful single rate....and right now that is swaying me towards them...hope my cruise experience over there will be just as rewarding!

[Guest alexMD]

I too love Celebrity, but booked my next three cruises with NCL, HAL, and X.

 

I know I'm going to take some heat on this, but the reasons I decided to look around a bit and compare are:

 

1) Celebrity food, while very good, is always the same -- year in, year out. No change from ship to ship, location to location, or season to season. Ok, I know if something is good you shouldn't tamper with it, but if X can do so well with their present menu, what's to prevent them from making a "Summer Menu" or a "Winter Menu" or a "Summit Specialty Menu" or a "Mediterranean Menu". They could borrow a bit from the locations that they are sailing to.

 

2) Celebrity Itineraries. For some reason, this year's offering of itineraries just didn't appeal or didn't work for me. Because of my busy schedule, I need to have an "efficient" vacation. UNFORTUNATELY for me, this means that I really need to start and end on a weekend, and I can't fly very far to get to the ship. X just didn't have anything that fit the bill that I was interested in.

 

3) Okay, there are the Bermuda cruises. However, (call me a snob, claustrophobic, or spoiled) I just can't go on a ship with no balcony cabins. I need access to fresh air.

 

4) Finally, when I added everything up, the Celebrity itineraries over the periods that I could travel this year were not cost competitive.

 

 

Yes, I know I may be making a BIG mistake, but at least I'll have something to compare with.

[yarlenna]

IMHO Celebrity has the edge for food. For everything else - HAL wins hands down.

[Lois R]

Alex, you booked the Zuiderdam for December? I am looking at her for Sept!

 

Seems she is a nice ship....built in 2002...I am wondering the same thing as you are .....am I making a mistake?...but the price of a single on HAL is sooooo good....it is very hard for me to turn it down.......

[zebra]

This is a very difficult one! We love X, HAL and Princess. All for slightly different reasons, and have cruised them all many times. All I can say is that you definitely won't be dissappointed in HAL. In fact, our opinion is that HAL has the edge on food and wins hands down on service. We also enjoyed their private island (Half Moon Cay) more than the others - gorgeous! HAL has wonderful white glove service and some nice little touches. String Quartet playing during afternoon tea, Serving of hot hors d'ouevres in the lounges and bar during the evening, taco bar on pool deck, free freshly made popcorn in their Movie Theatre, wonderful free ice cream bar with a large variety of toppings and on our Caribbean cruise a real Barbeque on deck, around the pool!! My opinion is - go for it!! You won't be sorry!

[Guest Cookiegirl]

We're looking at HAL for Alaska in '05. Everyone on these boards is so knowledgeable & helpful. Thank you for all of your honest input. Am looking forward to reading more info on differences between these two cruise lines.

[Lotsacruising]

My dh and I have been on about 6 HAL cruises and 6 Celebrity. We used to say that HAL was the best, but.... now we are Celebrity people all the way. Service, the ability to grant all reasonable wishes, cabins, service, food, entertainment, all outstanding.

Looking forward to many more Celebrity cruises.

[Tatka]

I will be able to answer this question in a couple of months...

 

I hope HAL = Celebrity or at least close to it. :)

[Guest alexMD]

Yes, I'm on Zuiderdam. They have something called a Deluxe Verandah Suite, which they offered to me for the New Year's cruise at a great price. I basically couldn't turn them down. The Deluxe Verandah (Cat "S") is their second best suite. It's not really a suite, because there is no separate bedroom, but it's considerably larger than a Sky Suite (which is the nearest X equivalent). There's no butler, but there's a concierge and a concierge lobby area where you can get hors d'ouvre and coffee. They have little perks like a stocked mini bar (gratis) and free laundry and drycleaning.

 

At least according to the HAL board, people seem quite satisfied. I hope you and I will be too.

[tuggers]

I'm liking the ice cream bar and pop corn in the movies. Now if they just show decent movies...

[cruiseyguy]

In general, the differences between the two cruiselines has been more style than substance, although in the last year Celebrity has begun to move ahead in overall quality.

[pat54]

We were on HAL last year for our first cruise, and it was excellent. The information on this board reassures us that our Summit cruise next month will be excellent also.

If I were going to the Caribbean again, I may choose HAL over Celebrity, because I must get back to Half Moon Cay.

[jenmac711us]

We did Alaska on HAL last year and Alaska on X this year. I think that Celebrity was by far the better of the two. HAL was nice but there was less to do, the crew on X was much more friendly, our cabin for around th same price was MUCH better on Celebrity. Anyway, it is personal preference to be sure. Both were great but given the choice I would choose X everytime!

Jen

[MBeamTX]

Yes, I'm on Zuiderdam. They have something called a Deluxe Verandah Suite, which they offered to me for the New Year's cruise at a great price. I basically couldn't turn them down. The Deluxe Verandah (Cat "S") is their second best suite. It's not really a suite, because there is no separate bedroom, but it's considerably larger than a Sky Suite (which is the nearest X equivalent). There's no butler, but there's a concierge and a concierge lobby area where you can get hors d'ouvre and coffee. They have little perks like a stocked mini bar (gratis) and free laundry and drycleaning.

 

At least according to the HAL board, people seem quite satisfied. I hope you and I will be too.

 

Alex,

The laundry and dry cleaning is indeed free to S suite passengers, but the mini-bar is not free. You will be charged for what you consume. There are a few other nice perks for S passengers on HAL: upon request, afternoon tea or pre-dinner hors d'ouvres served in your cabin; access to a DVD or video tape library (DVDs on the newer Vista ships, tapes on the older ones); corsages and boutinieres on the first formal night; invitations to a captain's reception; a welcoming bottle of champagne. I hope that all of these are still provided. It's very easy to get spoiled in a suite.

 

And HAL's private island, Half Moon Cay, is just gorgeous. Last October, we rented a cabana on the island. At the time, they were only available to suite passengers and you had to book once you boarded. Now, anyone can reserve them at any time prior to the trip. And there are only about 8 of them. We already have ours reserved for our December trip on Westerdam.

 

So far, I've only sailed on HAL. I'm considering a Celebrity cruise to Panama Canal out of Galveston next year, though, so I'll be scoping out the X board for info on Galaxy.

 

Happy cruising,

Susan

[Danno]

My experience...just some random thoughts on HAL.

 

The food at dinner....uggg!! Someone tell the cook veggies are not supposed to be boiled for 35 minutes!!

 

The food in the LIDO...VERY GOOD!! Must be a different cook.

 

The staff...warm and fuzzy, severely overworked. Simply not the required numbers to do the job. They make a great effort but it falls short.

 

The other PAX...large seniors percentage. May be amoung the rudest group I have ever encountered. VERY tough on the staff.

 

The ship (Volendam)...stunning. However the shortage of staff means some areas aren't tended to as well as they could be.

 

The whole experience...like being at a 5 star restaurant with new owner having only managed a MacDonalds (read Carnival). What was left over from HALs proud past is outstanding...what has been introduced in the last while falls far short of Celebrity standards.

 

Aside form the diningroom food I would give this line another try...but the food was grusome beyond description. How on earth do you make pudding tough?!?!

 

I hope for Lois' sake that I just caught a bad 10 days.

[pilewski]

danno, i've heard almost the exact same comments from friends who have been on both celebrity and hal. the main complain was that the hal ships were understaffed.

[Danno]

As a person who employs others I think I'm a bit more sensitive about who's working hard and who is not...the staff on HAL work EXTREMELY hard but there is only so much work one person can do in a 16 hour (at least) shift. I expect for an equivilant pax count Celebrity probably has 25% more staff...and they have to work hard to meet standards.

 

The next Celebrity staff member I see loafing...will be the first I've seen loafing.

[FlorenceItaly]

Danno - How long has it been since you sailed HAL? I just came back a few weeks ago from my first HAL cruise(Maasdam), and I really enjoyed it...so much that I came home and booked a cruise for next month on the Veendam. I thought the food was very good, and always hot.

 

I did not notice understaffing. The service was adequate/good. Not a noticeable difference from Carnival and RCI. I haven't sailed Celebrity YET, so I can not compare. I am booked on my first Celebrity cruise April 2005.

 

Marie

[Danno]

I sailed Superbowl week 2002...I don't recall the dates but I remember the game:D . It sticks in my mind because the game was on in the show room and I overheard one of the wait staff say that his tips were almost nothing because so many people found an excuse to skip out on the final dinner.

 

I went to dinner...and I tipped.

[cruisinjudy]

We sail both HAL and X. We alternate the two and love both of them.

[nealberk]

I have sailed both, love both and have a comprehensive comparison on my web site http://www.celebrity-century.com and http://www.hollandAmericaVeendam.com. The Celebrity site is bigger- it was our more recent cruise.

 

Next cruise looks like HAL and the web site will be even bigger as I find more things to look into.

[luv2ski2]

dear nealberk,

I've sailed on both HAL (Mediterranian) and Celebrity (Caribbean) and leave for a 2 wk cruise on X this Saturday (Northern Europe). The main difference I found was in the crew/staff. HAL has prided themselves for recruiting an Indonesian staff (not officers) vs Caribbean or Eastern European. This sounds good but from our experience meant few of the stewards or assistant waiters or other waite staff could speak English. In the main dining room the waiters understood us but the other folks didn't have a clue. In the casual dining rooms we got a lot of smiles - when they weren't talking to each other in their native language - but it was evident they had no idea what we wanted so they just smiled then ignored us.

[Longboysfan]

We were on HAL last November out of Port Canaveral - great pier facility.

Then in February on the Zenith out of Jacksonville - New pier area.

 

That not withstanding.....

 

HAL caters to an older group than Celebrity.

You will find that the age group is about 65 on a HAL ship.

This is who they market and sale to most often.

You will not find many children on a HAL ship - unless it is during the summer.

 

Celebrity is the 40 ish group.

This is their market group. And if you have been on a Celebrity cruise there are usually some kids on the ship on all trips.

 

Ship layouts being about even. But I give Celebrity an edge here for how they decorate the ships.

 

Shows - I did not think one line has an edge on the other. They all book the same types of performers. But I will give Celeberity an edge in some sport - as they had a guitarist playing at the pool every evening as the sun went down. Nice way to finish the day.

 

Food - Celebrity in variety, volume, timing. The sauces at dinner were great on Celebrity - bland on HAL.

They have a sushi bar on Celebrity that opens at 6:00 pm. Nice.

HAL has an edge on tea time and hors drvs in the afternoon - if you can find them.

Celebrity has a late afternoon till early AM pizza bar going.

I did not see anything like this on HAL.

 

Service - Celebrity. Not from the standpoint of being polite or friendly - but in understanding what you would like one time.

I found the staff on HAL to have less english language skill than on Celebrity.

Not a big point but...

 

Rooms - about even here. We had a suite on HAL and a smaller room on Celebrity so it's hard to compare.

 

Facilities - about even. Although you will see the Celebrity Century and Millennium series ships have a lot of extras on them.

 

Things to do - Celebrity hands down. I like to stay busy on the trips and there was only a few things to do during the day on HAL. On Celebrity there is something going on just about all day long.

 

That's what I've seen and done....

 

Any questions - just ask.

[elmel]

I just returned from a HAL cruise on the Maasdam (our 7th on that line) and my comment card stated " If this was our first HAL cruise, it would certainly be our last". We sailed twice on Celebrity last year and I have just booked the next one with them.

 

I found the food on this HAL voyage to be pretty bad in the dining room. Vegetables were a garnich. Selections were boring and the meat on the tough side. We also ended up on the 5:45 seating which was less than desirible and even though we asked to be switched, we were ignored. Due to this early sitting, we could not avail ourselves of the pre-dinner hors'dourves and thr YUM YUM man was not at the exit of the dining room for several evenings until we voiced our complaints.

 

The crew was still most friendly, but since HAL recently instigated adding the $10 per day gratuity to your tab, I don't think they found it necessary to go out of their way,

 

Activities were just about non- existant, quite contrary to our experience on X, but to be honest I am comparing 14 day sailings to a 7 day.

 

On the positive side, yes there was popcorn, and free coffees at the Java Bar. We had our 8 year old grandson with us, and we thought that Camp HAL was wonderful as did he.

 

Most likely, I will sail HAL again in the future ( if the price and itinerary are right), but at the present time, I would have to give Celebrity a great plus

in food, activities and presentation.

 

Elissa