Celebrity vs. Holland America

[MerrylandCruiser]

Starting to plan a cruise in early March 2012 to the Caribbean for my wife's 55th. We will have 2 college daughers with us (19 and 18) as well as a married daughter and husband (early 30s) and 1 or 2 other couples.

 

Have narrowed it down to 4 possible itineraries on: (1) Celebrity Eclipse/Solstice or (2) HAL Nieuw Amsterdam/Eurodam. All 4 ships looks great, but I am trying to figure out which cruise line is better for us. We all enjoy fine cuisine, good entertainment (including late-night dancing and other activities), fitness, relaxing at the spa, and generally just having fun. We realize both lines cater a bit more to the older set, but want to make sure our younger daughters have a great time. I like the HAL itineraries a bit better (and their policy for bringing wine on board) but am a bit concerned that it is geared to an older crowd with less going on at night. By the way, we did a transatlantic on the QM2 last summer and loved it (the disco was great) ... not sure we would be happly going back to RCCL or Carnival, but don't want to be on a ship that shuts down at 11:00. Also liked the formal nights on Cunard. Do Celebrity and HAL have these?

 

Any insights you could share would be greatly appreciated.

[IrishLassie]

We have been on Solstice & Eurodam and overall we liked Solstice the best. The food & entertainment was great & the Captain was the funniest Captain we've ever had! Loved it. They are both nice ships, but our 1st. choice would be Solstice, if that helps. Either one, I'm sure you'll have a great cruise sharing it with your daughters.

[Gonzo70]

I would recommend going with Celebrity. Both Celebrity and HAL are geared more towards a significantly older demographic than your travelling companions, but out of the two Celebrity (especially their newer ships) has a bit more going on at nighttime. On the S-Class ships the martini bar tends to be pretty vibrant late into the night and many people gather at the bar by the Lawn Club at night if the weather is nice. Neither Celebrity nor HAL have much late night dancing occurring (there is a nigh club on Celebrity, but on most sailings it does not have a lot of action).

 

Celebrity also has a bit more activities that may appeal to younger people during the day time (i.e. various games at the Lawn Club) and the Hot Glass show is interesting for all ages. If you go with HAL, the piano bar tends to be the most popular area for younger cruisers. Both Celebrity and HAL have similar quality in terms of service and food. One advantage of Celebrity's newer ships vs. HAL is the multiple specialty restaurants; if you do not mind paying a bit extra for some dinners Celebrity has a great selection of diverse specialty restaurants all providing outstanding food, service and ambiance.

[MerrylandCruiser]

Thank you for your feedback so far! It looks like the Ruby Princess has a good itinerary for the dates we are interested. How does Princess compare with Celebrity and HAL? Would it be a better choice for a range of ages (late teens to 50s)?

[AlanAllyn]

In my opinion, Princess is more in the class of RCI. I would pick the Solstice class Celebrity ships over either of the other brands.

[Hlitner]

This is tough! We like X (Elite) and HA (3 Star) and since the last person mentioned Princess (we are Elite with them) that is also a topic. Personally, we think HA now has better cuisine then we find on X, but its close. Entertainment is not teriffic on either line but most of our HA cruises have had little action after 11 pm. I think the new Celebrity ships are really nice but find myself agreeing with the Princess comments. The Ruby is a beautiful mega-ship and we particularly love the Caribe deck balcony cabins on this ship (and all the other Grand Class ships). Princess food is not quite as good as on X or HA, but the activities and entertainment are somewhat better. In this situation we would probably let price be a major factor but the college age kids (I know they do not thing they are "kids") would probably enjoy the Ruby more then the other two lines. 2nd choice would be X. As much as we love HA (and this is our current favorite among the mass market cruises) we just are not sure that HA will have enough to keep college aged "kids" happy,

 

Hank

[Dancer Bob]

I think Hlitner is right, go with the Ruby. I refuse to go back on HAL because it's so boring (and I'm 61!) and Celebrity wasn't much better. I've been on Cunard several times, and the nightlife is far superior to HAL, even though the age groups may be similar.

Food is a very subjective item, I'm not going to say anybody is right or wrong. Formal nights on HAL were also a joke compared to Cunard.

[sjmarante]

You are better off with Celebrity, Holland America usually attracts to an older crowd, with teen they will have a much better time on the Celebrity. The whole family will have something to do on those Celebrity ones.

[tartanexile81]

If entertainment is a priority, I would definitely go with Princess. We find Celebrity and HAL really dull after second sitting dinner. We'd compare the music in the bars on Celebrity to the sort of music you hear in lifts and there's so little variety. We def had more fun on Ruby and loved spending time in Crooners Piano Bar and the show lounge where there was often dancing to a live band.