compare balcony HAL to Celebrity

[oaktreerb]

Thinking about taking first Celebrity cruise on the Millennium and am trying to figure out the 2A, 2B, 2C veranda categories. I am familiar with Hal's Westerdam balconies and wonder how Celebrity compares. Hal has wonderful beds, a refrigerator and plenty of storage for suitcases and clothing. We don't require a suite since there are only two people. Are there veranda staterooms to avoid for instance small, or solid railing or noisy. This would be for Alaska so there would be little open sea concern as far as sea sickness. I've pretty well figured out the HAL system of guarantees and how to choose the best value.

 

Are there any Celebrity inside tips that might enhance our cruise experience if we decide to try Celebrity?

[djhsolara]

I don't know your timeframe, but if you can wait a month or so I can give you some comparative feedback. We've been on Westerdam three times (most recently this April) and will be on Millennium for the first time on October 31.

 

:) :)

[Zoey]

Well, when I cruised on Westerdam a couple of years ago, I barely got two hours of use out of my wonderful veranda due to the two women next door who spent the whole cruise on their veranda smoking and coughing up their lungs. Last year on Solstice, I spent almost my entire cruise on my wonderful, smoke free veranda. My favorite cruise activity is to sit on my balcony and catch up on my reading.

[pamesacruisin]

DH and I have just booked an Alaskan cruise on the Millennium sailing next August. We have been on 4 cruises, 2 with Princess and 2 with NCL. After much researching and studying the CC message boards (thank you CC members!) we chose Celebrity for our next cruise. Everyone seems to love "Millie" and she should be even better after her spruce up in April, 2012. We reserved a C2 cabin, midship on deck 8, there are only cabins above and below. I studied the deck plans and this seems to be a very good location.

[oaktreerb]

I don't know your timeframe, but if you can wait a month or so I can give you some comparative feedback. We've been on Westerdam three times (most recently this April) and will be on Millennium for the first time on October 31.

 

:) :)

Have a great cruise and I will look forward to your review. I'm looking at a cruise for June 2012 from Vancouver to Seward. We have only cruised on HAL but have heard good things about Celebrity. I read about Celebrity special options and different categories and I tend to want to return to the familiar ships of HAL. I do think I would like Celebrity's smoking policy since I try to avoid the smoking areas on HAL ships