Look out Celebrity--we just returned from Eurodam, and may be switching for good!

[The Anchor Banker]

Just a note for everyone to be mindful of what, where and when you are comparing when making negative statements about a cruise LINE. I have found the age of the fellow passengers, type of passengers you sail with and level of "vibe" on the ship is highly dependent on:

 

-the ship (much younger crowd on bigger, newer ships than older, smaller ships);

-time of year (we have found much classier people on Carnival at March Break than Princess in November);

-length of cruise (again, shorter cruise, younger passengers).

 

Service should not vary much though I've found on every cruise ship you have the odd person or combination that makes you think the entire line has horrible service. I have been on an RCCL that had good waiters and cabin attendants and then I've also experienced the worst ever, also on an RCCL.

 

Food, while subjective, does contain some objectivity. If your jaw hurts when you leave the MDR, then objectively, the meat is too tough. If you found your steak to be 1/10 of a % less pink than you enjoy or there was too much or too little salt/pepper/seasonings/sauce...that is subjective. Also, if you have a large group of friends and family that are cruisers and you all have different tastes yet can positively come to an agreement on order of preference for food, that says something.

 

We enjoyed HAL (Zuiderdam), though did find it a bit dull. It still is remembered as one of our most enjoyable cruises. Fantastic food and superb service all around. They have made our "short list" for the last 4 cruises we've taken but haven't sailed them again (yet). We have also enjoyed the food on others, including Princess and particularly Carnival, who do a great job. We also like RCCL for its' nice ships but they fall down several notches due to their poor food (objectively and subjectively) in their MDR and haven't made our short list for the last 3 cruises.

 

You may have a bad experience on one ship but can't paint the entire line with the same brush. If it happens more than once and to others that are close to you, well.......different story! Overall, I think you'd love HAL, just like you'd love just about any other cruise line. Any way you look at it, it's an awesome vacation!!!

[RicardoC]

We are loyal Celebrity cruisers, have done ten cruises in 9 years, and have been mostly satisfied but exasperated with the pre-cruise experience, staff attitude, and the 'you must grade us EXCELLENT' in all your surveys'.

 

Let we say that Eurodam and HAL BLEW ME AWAY last week. Terrific cabin upgrade (guarantee inside changed to outside semi-obstructed view with floor to ceiling window and a bathtub), chaming and friendly front desk staff, Anytime Dining was WONDERFUL, they had a real library with librarian, an adults only pool, and lectures and presentations that aren't come-ons for buying something. Great food, and if you don't care to dress up for dinner, most of the dining room menu is available in the Lido restaurant. Gorgeous teaching kitchen with free lessons. Quality show entertainment, including an incredible magician and his aerialist wife. On debarkation day you could stay in your cabin until your color/number was called. And EVERYONE smiled and wished you a good day--it was amazing. There was no pitch AT ALL to fill out the survey. Having sailed on HAL once nine years ago, I qualified as a Mariner, and was invited to the Brunch during one of our sea days. Beef Wellington, and several other delicious choices were served, along with champagne or mimosas. At each place setting was a delft-type tile in a paper package thanking us for sailing HAL. And, Half Moon Cay is the best beach I've ever been on--bar none.

 

So, are you listening Celebrity? HAL may be replacing you for us four cruisers!

 

If anyone has questions, feel free to ask...

 

 

Good to hear you had a good time :)

Have you guys cruised on the Solstice? Weird because I loved both cruises (Solstice and Eurodam) earlier this year but for me Solstice was better....and yes the library/ internet cafe/ Crowns Nest area was our favorite onboard as well....nothing like a puzzle after an exciting day in Stockholm or a mocha frappuccino after a tour in Russia ;):cool:

[shipshape sam]

We are loyal Celebrity cruisers, have done ten cruises in 9 years, and have been mostly satisfied but exasperated with the pre-cruise experience, staff attitude, and the 'you must grade us EXCELLENT' in all your surveys'.

 

Let we say that Eurodam and HAL BLEW ME AWAY last week. Terrific cabin upgrade (guarantee inside changed to outside semi-obstructed view with floor to ceiling window and a bathtub), chaming and friendly front desk staff, Anytime Dining was WONDERFUL, they had a real library with librarian, an adults only pool, and lectures and presentations that aren't come-ons for buying something. Great food, and if you don't care to dress up for dinner, most of the dining room menu is available in the Lido restaurant. Gorgeous teaching kitchen with free lessons. Quality show entertainment, including an incredible magician and his aerialist wife. On debarkation day you could stay in your cabin until your color/number was called. And EVERYONE smiled and wished you a good day--it was amazing. There was no pitch AT ALL to fill out the survey. Having sailed on HAL once nine years ago, I qualified as a Mariner, and was invited to the Brunch during one of our sea days. Beef Wellington, and several other delicious choices were served, along with champagne or mimosas. At each place setting was a delft-type tile in a paper package thanking us for sailing HAL. And, Half Moon Cay is the best beach I've ever been on--bar none.

 

So, are you listening Celebrity? HAL may be replacing you for us four cruisers!

 

If anyone has questions, feel free to ask...

 

Glad you had an excellent cruise! My DW has sailed on HAL twice. First time was similar to your experience on a ladies cruise. So.......she talked me into sailing on HAL with our travel partners and it was a very disappointing cruise/sailing from a service/product perspective. Almost everything she told me, was not up to the same standard. She sailed to Alaska on the Westerdam in 2006. We sailed on the Zuiderdam in the Caribbean in 2007.

 

I would not write Celebrity off, but you have to make your own decison. My experience on HAL would not entice me to sail HAL again, but know we will as we are sure it was not typical of their level of service.

 

Half Moon Cay is my favorite private island. We sat in middle at the bar which provided a great view of the beach, and was in the shade!

[neilrr]

I have to say we are loyal Celebrity cruisers, but they have made many changes recently and some do not appear to be better for the consumer i.e. that new beverage program. Celebrity should have taken a lesson from HAL.

 

We went on HAL this summer for the first time and really enjoyed it. The food, service and drink cards were great. We love the smaller ships and the rooms and bathrooms (w/bathtub) were amazing (Princess take note - don't even let me start on their bathroom).

 

The only thing on HAL -- is the age group tends to be much older. We have some friends in their 80's and they said the people were too old for them...:eek: We are 50'ish & 60'ish - night life was very, very quiet.

Other than that it was a wonderful B2B cruise in Alaska...

[moondoggie]

Yes, the demos were a bit older than Celebrity, but there were plenty of people in our age range, including a group of middle agers who did the on-board Pub Crawl with great, uh, GUSTO! The advantage of older cruisers is...more space at the pools, in the public rooms, and on shore trips. The really oldies tend to stay on the ship!

 

We're looking forward to comparing Eurodam with solstice next month--will report back.

[gatorbaby1]

As another poster brought up the demographics of a particular sailing are dependent on itenerary and time of sailing. I just retured from a 10 day Equinox and the ship was dead most nights after 11:00. However I have been on the Zuiderdam during spring break and seen parties go on until the wee hours of the mornings. It just depends.

On another note the first thing I did when I returned from the Equinox was book on HAL.

[ginagirl]

We are long-time cruisers of both HAL and X. In the past, we have always loved service, food, entertainment, etc. on both. But after sailing on the Oosterdam last year, we have kept away from HAL like the plague. It was like a totally different line completely, and not in a good way. I am happy to hear of your wonderful experience on them more recently. Just might try them again, especially since I can combine stockholder credits with future cruise credits on HAL. Will try to pick the ship more carefully next time though because I think the overall experience does make a difference from ship to ship. I just wish quality wouldn't be so inconsistent and constantly changing. :eek:

[Shaco]

We really love HAL, too, except for their smoking policy.

They allow smoking (even cigar smoking) on balconies (ick and double-ick).

Also, in public areas designated as non-smoking on HAL, there was very little enforcement.

Until HAL brings its smoking policy into this century, Celebrity is the best choice for us.

 

We will not cruise HAL again until they prohibit smoking on their balconies and in the cabins.

 

When we got closed out of Traditional dining on the Noordam, waiting in line for 25 minutes one night and being given a pager the next night made us miserable.

 

But the cabins and the beds were great.

[KirkNC]

We are actually HAL vets but X newbies with our first X cruise this January. The difference in smoking policies will be a pleasant change on X versus HAL but we have always enjoyed HAL. We are not late nighters and have always viewed the demographics as a positive. Less crowds in the casino, bars and shows plus we can beat those old folks off the ship and get to the taxis first!:D

 

Kirk

[Charles4515]

We will not cruise HAL again until they prohibit smoking on their balconies and in the cabins.

 

When we got closed out of Traditional dining on the Noordam, waiting in line for 25 minutes one night and being given a pager the next night made us miserable.

 

But the cabins and the beds were great.

 

After over 30 cruises and I am Elite CC on Celebrity I just returned from my first HAL cruise. I have to say it exceeded my expectations. The food and service were great. Better than Celebrity which I also cruised on last month. There were other aspects than the food and service that make me still favor Celebrity over HAL though including the Celebrity smoking policy. The HAL ship was not too smokey though except the casino. Luckily I did not gat any whiffs of smoke out on my Verandah. And there is hope about the HAL smoking policy. They handed out a survey asking us if we would sail HAL if they banned smoking in the cabins and on the balconies. They also asked about making the ship all no smoking. I expect some changes are in the wind on HAL's smoking policy.

[warmwinds]

HAL was one of many cruise lines we tried until we blissfully found X, and haven't looked back.

 

The biggest negative I had (and this might have been just the particular cruise we were on), was that the food was SO SALTY that I could literally see my ankles swell with each day of the cruise. Was this just a one-off?

[KirkNC]

After over 30 cruises and I am Elite CC on Celebrity I just returned from my first HAL cruise. I have to say it exceeded my expectations. The food and service were great. Better than Celebrity which I also cruised on last month. There were other aspects than the food and service that make me still favor Celebrity over HAL though including the Celebrity smoking policy. The HAL ship was not too smokey though except the casino. Luckily I did not gat any whiffs of smoke out on my Verandah. And there is hope about the HAL smoking policy. They handed out a survey asking us if we would sail HAL if they banned smoking in the cabins and on the balconies. They also asked about making the ship all no smoking. I expect some changes are in the wind on HAL's smoking policy.

 

Don't put too much hope on HAL's smoking survey, they have been "conducting it" for at least three years. I will say as you did, it is usually not a problem other than in the casino.

 

Kirk

[jackdiamond]

I assume from your post that you are elite cruisers with Celebrity; and, as such you are experiencing the new perks. Does HAL offer anything comparable to the aforesaid. Also, what Celebrity ships have you sailed? Also. what are your usual cabin designations on Celebrity; and, how do they compare to HAL.

Thank you.

[katgio50]

I have enjoyed this thread very much. We have probably sailed HAL 10-12 times and just returned from our second Celebrity cruise on the Solstice. We couldn't believe the difference.We absolutely LOVED the non-smoking especially in the casino. The food and service was far superior to our last cruise on the Noordam. I do love Half Moon Cay . Also the production shows are very good on HAL. The Solstice shows were OK , but the singers were weak. We are definitely Celebrity converts!!!

[moondoggie]

Can't tell from your post. I am Elite, and have sailed on all Celebrity ships except Galaxy, so some more than once. This is my second sailing on HAL, was on Staatendam in 02 to Alaska with my family. (Have also done RCCL and Norwegian, but never again)

 

We always book an inside, because it isn't that important for us to have a big/view cabin. We were upgraded once to an outside cabin, and while it was nice, it wasn't worth the $$$ for us--we'd prefer to spend our $$$ elsewhere. We found the Eurodam cabin to be about the same size as the Celebrity insides, but I did not take my tapemeasure with me (!).

 

The beds were MUCH nicer on HAL, and i liked the REAL flowers compared to those fake-o things on Celebrity ships. I guess the service is what stands out most in my mind--and the friendliness of everyone, esp the Front Desk!

[Papa T]

I have never had a bad cruise but there are variations from cruise to cruise - even on the same ship - so it's difficult to generalize. My impression on Zeiderdam last year was as follows: great itinerary (Eastern Med), good food and service and decent entertainment. Poorly designed ship for active adults (we love to work out and walk). Clearly the focus was on a rather old demographic - at 65 I was the kid on board. Unfortunately our travel mates found when they arrived at the airport to fly back to Chicago from Venice that HAL had not paid for their air ticket and they were forced to pay walk-up fares out of their pocket. HAL's reimbursement was slow in coming and came only after applying significant pressure. I'm also seeing a pattern on many Carnival, Princess, and HAL ships that the sq. ft. per passenger is less than that of RCI and Celebrity. The Queen Mary II has the best sq. ft. ratio of the big ships but it appears to be down hill from there for the rest of Carnival Corp.

[jackdiamond]

Can't tell from your post. I am Elite, and have sailed on all Celebrity ships except Galaxy, so some more than once. This is my second sailing on HAL, was on Staatendam in 02 to Alaska with my family. (Have also done RCCL and Norwegian, but never again)

 

We always book an inside, because it isn't that important for us to have a big/view cabin. We were upgraded once to an outside cabin, and while it was nice, it wasn't worth the $$$ for us--we'd prefer to spend our $$$ elsewhere. We found the Eurodam cabin to be about the same size as the Celebrity insides, but I did not take my tapemeasure with me (!).

 

The beds were MUCH nicer on HAL, and i liked the REAL flowers compared to those fake-o things on Celebrity ships. I guess the service is what stands out most in my mind--and the friendliness of everyone, esp the Front Desk!

We always have real flowers in our room on Celebrity, although we have never cruised in an inner cabin. Perhaps your asessment would be more viable when comparing insides to insides. I was hoping that your experience was in the suite category with HAL (as was ours) so that we could compare. We are elite on Celebrity; and, in general we prefer the Celebrity M and S class in CC-1, or AQ to Hal.

[moondoggie]

The four of us (two couples) work full time, at about 50-60 hours each per week, and do not have the luxury of collecting SS or retirement benefits yet. We choose to buy the least expensive accommodations because we use our room for sleeping and that's about it.

 

Our preference is to vacation (some cruising, some not) economically and cruise more often rather than less often. It is hard for us to justify a larger/better cabin at twice the price of our insides.

 

Sorry I cannot compare the 'better/best' cabins for you on both lines. Again, it was the whole experience rather than the cabin that made HAL exceptional for us.

[cruising teacher]

We really love HAL, too, except for their smoking policy.

They allow smoking (even cigar smoking) on balconies (ick and double-ick).

Also, in public areas designated as non-smoking on HAL, there was very little enforcement.

Until HAL brings its smoking policy into this century, Celebrity is the best choice for us.

:) We just returned from the Eurodam. I was very pleased to see that they were taking the exact same survey that Celebrity did concerning smoking. Seriously the survey was word for word except that it said Holland America. Hopefully it will have the same happy result. There was a cigar smoker on the balcony next to us. Give me a break!

[betonic]

This thread has been very interesting to me since I'm 36 and have sailed mostly on HAL. We just returned from our first X cruise and have been mentally comparing things. The one thing that always brought me to HAL were the interesting itineraries and that will probably bring me back there. The cabins and beds were much better on HAL but nothing was wrong with our X cabin. I tend to book longer cruises so the age range seemed about the same to me on both lines. Our waiters on HAL are always Indonesian and very nice but our X waiter was also Indonesian and probably the best we've ever had. Al though we are young we don't drink much and usually go to bed on the early side but I will comment that the drinks seemed more expensive on X and the shows a little better on HAL. We didn't bring our son on the X cruise but one other benefit to HAL is they run their kid's program no matter how few children there are which is important for us since we normally travel off season. I don't know what X's policy about kids are but I know some lines don't run the kids programs for less than 20 kids.

 

Food is very subjective but in general I think the food in comparable. There are things that I like and always a few things I dis-like. It's nice that X has a very extensive "everyday menu". The ice cream flavors and taste were much better on X but I prefered the desserts on HAL. All cruise line food feels salty to me.

 

We don't smoke and I never noticed smoke on HAL except in the casino which I only walk through. On Carnival our neighbor smoked on his balcony which was annoying. I think he waited for me to go out so he could smoke or he just smoked all the time.

 

One thing to note is that our recent X cruise was by far the least expensive that we've ever paid. Granted, the itinerary wasn't amazing but the value was. I will keep cruising HAL but would go on X again for the right itinerary and the right price.

[Northwest Wind]

.. they had a real library with librarian, an adults only pool, and

That's odd. We were on Eurodam that same month and despite the cruise director having reminded pax at the start of the cruise that one of the pools (can't remember which now) was adults-only, there were always kids in it every time we put our suits on and went up there for a dip. When we complained, the crew just shrugged. Fed up, we finally spoke to an officer, who rudely informed us that the CD "never said that" :eek:

 

We never did get to enjoy time in any pool on the ship without kids there, splashing/squealing, etc.

 

This incident is a major reason we have decided to try another cruise line this time. Cruise line should not announce rules they have no intention of enforcing, and they certainly should not imply that passengers are lying about the existence of a rule.:rolleyes:

[markstudy]

I'm walking away from Carnival and Princess because we've had smokers on the balcony and it can really add stress to a trip where we go for the fresh sea air.

 

I guess I won't even look at HAL... if they allow smoking on the balcony.

 

I'm looking forward to booking my next trip on Celebrity, unless anyone can recommend another line to compare with?

[Solstice23]

We have just booked a Celebrity cruise because of the itenerary and long days in port but we are lovers of HAL for all the reasons you mentioned. We have almost 100 days with HAL but have cruised Princess, Norwegian, as well as Celebrity. You just can not beat Holland America!!

 

HAL needs better ships, Service from varied nations not just one! and they need nicer Decor. My mother has sailed them and finds them similar to Celebrity minus the amount of really elder people and boring cruise staff. As for ordering of the dinner menu, you can do that on Celebrity also up stairs in the aft and not dress up. Have not seen a Large HAL ship place in a readers survey in a long time.

 

I agree with my mom and most that they are a great cruiseline but a little to dark and blah for our more modern tastes. Yes the rooms can be bigger ( seen my moms HAL picks and videos, but we don't like the style so to each his own I guess.

 

My suggestion is to have a few cruiselines you like to cruise opens up more options then being a snob to just one line. one ship to another in the same line can be totally different.

[Solstice23]

I'm walking away from Carnival and Princess because we've had smokers on the balcony and it can really add stress to a trip where we go for the fresh sea air.

 

I guess I won't even look at HAL... if they allow smoking on the balcony.

 

I'm looking forward to booking my next trip on Celebrity, unless anyone can recommend another line to compare with?

 

We really never looked back to Carnival after our first cruise, and after our last cruise this past summer on Princess we were not impressed with them at all. No cruise is perfect but we like Celebrity ship style and food most overall. We would cruise RCCL before Princess again

[Charles4515]

My suggestion is to have a few cruiselines you like to cruise opens up more options then being a snob to just one line. one ship to another in the same line can be totally different.

 

That is a very good suggestion. There is no reason to stick to one cruise line or be loyal to one cruise line. It is good to have options.