Quandary: Eurodam or Celebrity Reflection?

[ej22ndrow]

My 40th birthday is in March. We are looking at booking either the Eurodam eastern Caribbean on 3/16 or the Celebrity Reflection eastern Caribbean on the same date. Can't decide.....help:confused:

 

We've been on about 15 cruises ( see signature below). Tried Holland for the first time this past September and fell in love. Already booked HA again for our 20th anniversary this coming Sept to the Mediterranean.

 

But, we' ve always wanted to try Celebrity.

 

Thinking about a Deluxe Suite on the Eurodam or an S2 Sky Suite on the Reflection. Reflection will be about $125 more than the Eurodam.

 

Reflection goes to St. kitts which we've never been to. Eurodam goes to Half Moon which I know is their private island but we've never been there either and have heard its awesome.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm going to post this on the Celebrity board as well. Thanks.

[kkorman]

Reflection is an absolutely gorgeous ship. So much o we booked her again for later this year. The specialty dining on X is also fantastic.

[sail7seas]

We went to Eurodam shortly after she joined the fleet just out of curiousity to see HAL's newest (at the time) ship. We never expected to like her as much as we do. We've now sailed her 5 cruises. :)

 

We think her a terrific ship.

 

[sammygoose]

We sailed the Nieuw Amsterdam in the Med in October. We liked her so much that we booked the Eurodam in Feb for the Eastern Caribbean. We actually had no intention of booking a cruise this spring hoping instead to save our $$ for a cruise to Scandinavia in 2014 but our wonderful experience aboard the NA has forced our hand and we will just have to save a bit harder for next year. :)

I guess what I am trying to say is that I expect the Eurodam to fit like a glove just like the NA did. When it's good it's good.

HMC was also a deciding factor, weather permitting-fingers crossed.

[sppunk]

You know you like HAL, so I'd try a great new Celebrity ship and unique room. Plus St Kitts > a crowded beach with shanty-style condos. ;)

[lovetocruise2020]

The cabanas on the Eurodam take the cake. As well as the wine policy, Tamarind and disembarkation day breakfast.

We would like to do the Reflection, but the above keeps us from it.

[PathfinderEss]

Your already planning on a Hal cruise for your 20th Anniversary in September, why not Celebrity for your 40th Birthday.:)

[sammygoose]

All excellent points! If Celebrity cannot match these then the choice would be clear for me. Bringing back a local wine from a port to enjoy on the verandah is quite simply lovely.

[ej22ndrow]

Wow, thanks everyone for the responses. I just checked my posting on the Celebrity board and although it has 101 views there are no reponses:rolleyes:

 

I have to say I am a little surprised that so many of you on the Holland board suggested I try Celebrity. I had pretty much talked myself into trying Celebrity until I checked the prices again this morning. The Reflection is the same price as yesterday but the SC Deluxe Suite on the Eurodam had a $400 price DROP overnight! So now, it's about $525 cheaper than the Reflection. I'm taking that as a sign to go with the Eurodam:D

 

Luckily, I already have a courtesy hold on a GTY cabin so I'm just waiting for my TA to call me back so he can reprice it at the lower rate and take my payment.

 

Decision made, weight lifted (who'd have thought planning a vacation could be stressful?) and the excitement begins. I just hope that this close to sailing we can still book a cabana on the ship and at HMC.

 

We've never had a cabana before anywhere. Any thoughts on those? Any particular location better than the other (assuming I'll even have much of a choice)?

 

Thanks again. I think turning 40 is going to be fabulous!

[George C]

My 40th birthday is in March. We are looking at booking either the Eurodam eastern Caribbean on 3/16 or the Celebrity Reflection eastern Caribbean on the same date. Can't decide.....help:confused:

 

We've been on about 15 cruises ( see signature below). Tried Holland for the first time this past September and fell in love. Already booked HA again for our 20th anniversary this coming Sept to the Mediterranean.

 

But, we' ve always wanted to try Celebrity.

 

Thinking about a Deluxe Suite on the Eurodam or an S2 Sky Suite on the Reflection. Reflection will be about $125 more than the Eurodam.

 

Reflection goes to St. kitts which we've never been to. Eurodam goes to Half Moon which I know is their private island but we've never been there either and have heard its awesome.

 

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm going to post this on the Celebrity board as well. Thanks.

 

Can not go wrong with either, we really like the Sky suite on Celebrity , give it a slight nod over Deluxe on Hal, perfer MDR on Hal, perfer lido on X, Celeberity new ships are much larger than Hals, more non smoking areas on X. We also like St Kitts and will be there in April on Hal

[lovetocruise2020]

Wow, thanks everyone for the responses. I just checked my posting on the Celebrity board and although it has 101 views there are no reponses:rolleyes:

 

I have to say I am a little surprised that so many of you on the Holland board suggested I try Celebrity. I had pretty much talked myself into trying Celebrity until I checked the prices again this morning. The Reflection is the same price as yesterday but the SC Deluxe Suite on the Eurodam had a $400 price DROP overnight! So now, it's about $525 cheaper than the Reflection. I'm taking that as a sign to go with the Eurodam:D

 

Luckily, I already have a courtesy hold on a GTY cabin so I'm just waiting for my TA to call me back so he can reprice it at the lower rate and take my payment.

 

Decision made, weight lifted (who'd have thought planning a vacation could be stressful?) and the excitement begins. I just hope that this close to sailing we can still book a cabana on the ship and at HMC.

 

We've never had a cabana before anywhere. Any thoughts on those? Any particular location better than the other (assuming I'll even have much of a choice)?

 

Thanks again. I think turning 40 is going to be fabulous!

 

The Cabanas as the best thing about that ship. We book one of each in case of bad weather. Its important for us to not lose our vacation time due to bad weather.

[brazilgirl]

Do you think a cabana on the Eurodam's Northern Europe Itinerary would be a waste of money?

 

Can friends visit your cabana? We are traveling as a group of 10 .... How would that work?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[lovetocruise2020]

Do you think a cabana on the Eurodam's Northern Europe Itinerary would be a waste of money?

 

Can friends visit your cabana? We are traveling as a group of 10 .... How would that work?

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

You would need multipule cabanas for your group. Each holds 2 adults.

With our last group we had one family cabana, 2 regular retreat cabanas.

 

I would suggest a Lido Cabana under the retractable roof for that sailing.

[Chelly]

Celebrity and HAL are my only choice in cruise lines these days. When all things are equal between Celeb and HAL, I select HAL for the piano bar. Always love the piano man.

[cyntil8ing]

I made a Celebrity vs. HAL decision this week. We booked Celebrity.

 

Celebrity is running a free classic beverage promotion right now. It convinced us to book our December cruise this week, something we normally don't do until after final payment in October.

 

The other deciding factor for me personally choosing Celebrity over HAL is smoking. The smoke-free balconies make the decision easy.

 

The butler on Celebrity is also nice-to-have, but wasn't a factor.

 

Finally, in reference to your destination, though Half Moon Cay is one of my favorite stops, docking in St. Kitts vs. tendering in Half Moon Cay would have me leaning to Celebrity. Weather is more likely to cause a cancelation in a tender situation.

[atlgators]

Another thing to consider is time in port. We did not notice until after we booked our upcoming trip on the Westerdam that we are in a couple of ports from 7am until 3pm. It seems like a really early departure time, especially if you are looking forward to going to the beach.

 

 

By the way, we are Elite on Celebrity, but like both lines. We're really looking forward to our HAL cruise.

[SoonerA4pilot]

I made a Celebrity vs. HAL decision this week. We booked Celebrity.

 

Celebrity is running a free classic beverage promotion right now. It convinced us to book our December cruise this week, something we normally don't do until after final payment in October.

 

The other deciding factor for me personally choosing Celebrity over HAL is smoking. The smoke-free balconies make the decision easy.

 

The butler on Celebrity is also nice-to-have, but wasn't a factor.

 

Finally, in reference to your destination, though Half Moon Cay is one of my favorite stops, docking in St. Kitts vs. tendering in Half Moon Cay would have me leaning to Celebrity. Weather is more likely to cause a cancelation in a tender situation.

We did the Transatlantic on the Reflection this fall and had a wonderful cruise. The ship is gorgeous. We also selected the dining package for the speciality restaurants which was fabulous. The drink promotion is an unbelievable value....I would go with Celebrity for this cruise.

[iancal]

They are both great ships, great cruise lines. If you cannot decide, go with price and itinerary.

 

And keep checking for price decreases.

 

On our last three Celebrity's cruise we each took 2 bottles of wine on board. We stopped at Funchel on our TA and brought another two on board. No issue. But I certainly prefer Hal's wine policy.

[quanta88]

From what I've seen on YouTube, Celebrity Reflection is sure a spacious and pretty ship. In terms of ports, HAL's Eurodam seems to be better value for the money.

 

Eurodam goes to 4 ports: Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas, HMC

Reflection goes to only 3 ports: San Juan, St. Maarten, St. Kitts