Comparison

[Grumpy100]

How does Holland America compare to Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and NCL.

We have gone on about 25 cruises and want to try Holland America so had heard that it caters to older people. Meaning 60-80 crowd. If we go our 30 year old daughter may come and was wondering if it would be boring for her.

How is the food compared to Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. How are the shows?

[Susie51]

My daughter was 24 when we cruised with my mom (86) on Westerdam to Alaska. All three of us had a wonderful time.

 

Like you, I've also cruised 24 times on 7 different cruise lines. HAL is one of my favorites.

 

Some background info: My daughter has cruised on HAL, RCI, NCL, and Disney. She started cruising when she was 8 years old and said, "I'm going to work on a cruise ship when I grow up." After graduating from college with a teaching degree, she worked in the children's department with RCI.

 

Side note: My daughter will attend activities she likes on her own.

 

Tell your daughter to go with a positive attitude and enjoy cruising on HAL.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

How does Holland America compare to Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and NCL.

We have gone on about 25 cruises and want to try Holland America so had heard that it caters to older people. Meaning 60-80 crowd. If we go our 30 year old daughter may come and was wondering if it would be boring for her.

How is the food compared to Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. How are the shows?

 

I'm 35, planning a cruise in 2017 on Holland America, so I can't answer your question from experience. Part of it comes down to what your 30 year old daughter is like. If she likes younger people and nightlife, she might be bored. There was a woman in her late 20's a couple months ago on here, writing about how much she enjoyed reading books against the scenic ocean before here. Maybe your daughter mixes well with multi-generations, and will naturally enjoy Holland's activities. What does she think of Celebrity?

 

Personally we're choosing HAL because of the itineraries, where the other cruise lines can't compete. If we're a little bored on the ship occasionally, that's ok. We enjoy staying at hotels on land with zero activities, so with low expectations, I can only be pleasantly surprised.

Edited June 29, 2014 by Stateroom_Sailor

[SoCal Cruiser78]

...What does she think of Celebrity?...

 

My thoughts exactly!

 

Although it has been awhile since I have sailed on either, I felt that HAL and Celebrity were very similar overall in quality, service levels and demographics of passengers. Celebrity may skew a bit younger age-wise, but not dramatically so that I can recall.

 

Bottom line; if she liked Celebrity, I think she should do fine on HAL. But, as Stateroom Sailor mentioned, if she likes late-hour nightlife with lots of people her age, she might get bored on HAL.

Edited June 29, 2014 by Ryndam2002

[lazey1]

Never been on Celebrity to can't compare.

Food is very subjective, we considered food in the master dinning room on NCL to be totally inedible, on RCL not very good and on HAL to range from good to very good. Specialty restaurants on all 3 lines were good.

Shows again subjective but RCL would be best, then HAL with NCL just okay.

If daughter wants or needs fast paced, very noisy, constant "entertainment" in the common areas RCL would be great, if she prefers quieter common areas to read, relax, talk etc. then HAL would be a better fit.

[sail7seas]

Depending upon the length of the cruise you book and the time of year/date, you often will find the same demographic on HAL as you see on Princess and "X".

 

If you book a 68 day cruise, of course, you will have many seniors aboard. How many young folks have the time for such a lengthy cruise?

 

If you take a 7 or 10 day Caribbean cruise you likely will have some toddlers in strollers, some great grannies and everything in between.

[Fouremco]

DW and I have sailed on both HAL and Celebrity and our next two booked cruises are Alaska on HAL and the Med on Celebrity. All things being equal, I suspect that your daughter would prefer Celebrity. In our experience, there are more activities and better entertainment on Celebrity, which might be more appealing to a 30 year old. That being said, I'm sure that she'd enjoy a cruise on either cruise line.

[Aquahound]

How does Holland America compare to Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and NCL.

We have gone on about 25 cruises and want to try Holland America so had heard that it caters to older people. Meaning 60-80 crowd. If we go our 30 year old daughter may come and was wondering if it would be boring for her.

How is the food compared to Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. How are the shows?

 

I have been on all of the above, and I am still in my 30s. Activities on HAL, especially those that cater to the 30 crowd, are most certainly lacking compared to RCI and NCL. Active entertainment is tough to find at night, especially after 10. Deck parties are less often and the night club is pretty empty. It compares better to Celebrity, but even Celebrity has the active Martini Bar that stays busy until late. I haven't found anything like that on HAL. Even their piano bar seems to shut down early. It's been 2 years since my last HAL cruise so maybe things have changed, but even on their newest ship, the shows were very forgetful and they didn't have interactive televisions in the staterooms.

 

But enough HAL bashing. There is a good side to HAL. In my opinion, HAL has some of the best itineraries. My HAL cruises have been booked solely because they had the best itinerary for what I was looking for. In fact, my favorite cruise of all time (out of 45 cruises) was a HAL cruise. The itinerary far overshadowed the lack of activities. HAL is a nice, traditional cruise line with classic looking ships. The 30 year old may find it boring, but I think the rest of you will like it.

[Sam.Seattle]

If shows, nightlife and entertainment are important, stick with RCI.

 

I too have an adult daughter who has 20 or so cruises under her name and DW and I have in excess of 50.

 

I will always choose RCI when traveling with DD. If just DW and I are sailing, then HAL can work for us.

Edited June 30, 2014 by Sam.Seattle

[Stateroom_Sailor]

I think it's safe to say that most 30 year olds are not going to be an ideal fit for Holland America. However the ones that will, likely will have to enjoy at least one of these:

 

1. Hobby and culinary workshops, art, and wine testing, and similar events.

 

2. Good solitude, reading books, and enjoying the scenic views.

 

3. Diversity of ports, wanting to optimize the bucket list with HAL's diverse itineraries.

[TXCruiser10]

My husband and I were in our late 30s when we took our first cruise with HAL--that was 5 years ago and we've been on both RCCL and HAL. We absolutely prefer HAL over RCCL. The food, service, and rooms are superior to RCCL, in my opinion--although I have enjoyed every single cruise with both lines. We enjoy all the little 'perks' on a HAL cruise--tea time every afternoon (don't laugh--my husband did and now he makes it a point to go to the Cupcake Tea), the beautiful spa area and thermal suites, the water/lemonade and hot towels that await you before you board after a long day in port, the plush bathrobes that are standard with every cabin, etc. And I remember that on my first RCCL there was big push to sell you drinks. I like a good beverage as much as the other person but I didn't like the constant pressure to buy. IF you try HAL, I do think you will all enjoy it very much.

[jaguarstyper]

Holland America so had heard that it caters to older people. Meaning 60-80 crowd.

I think this is a grossly overstated myth. Holland America will cater equally to anyone who pays the fare. I have been on many HAL cruises and have seen a huge number of people from every age bracket. My first HAL cruise was in 2003 when I was 40 years old. I did not feel even slightly out of my age group.

 

Now, that said, I will be the first to say the general atmosphere on a HAL ship leans more toward quiet, sedate and stoic. The nightlife is virtually non-existent. So, if your daughter is a big fan of rowdy pool decks, constant entertainment and lively nightlife, she might not like HAL. If she likes a more quiet and elegant environment, she could like HAL. That is what it is and I don't think it has anything to do with the age of passengers that HAL caters to.

[Hlitner]

It can be a tough comparison because the answer can depend on which ships, itinerary, length of cruise, and even time of year. We have some experience with all the lines, although NCL is too far in our past for us to compare. But we are 4 Star Mariners with HAL, Elite Plus with Celebrity and Diamond with RCI (not boasting but trying to present some credentials). We currently cruise both HAL and Celebrity several times a year and have avoided RCI for the past 4 years because we do not like the direction the line has taken nor their itineraries.

 

HAL is first for itineraries among all the mass market lines. But on most HAL cruises the word "sedate" is an understatement. Part of the problem are the demographics (HAL does seem to attract many older cruisers) and perhaps a bigger issue is the lack of late night activities. On most of our HAL cruises (and we have about 300 days on the line) the ship is close to a ghost ship by 10pm. This is not a problem for the early to bed crowd but might be troubling to many.

 

Another issue are the smoking policies. If you book a veranda on HAL you run the risk of smelling cigarette, cigar and/or pipe smoke. And HAL allows smoking in the Casino. On Celebrity smoking is tightly restricted so you are usually assured of clean air on your balcony and in the casino. I believe NCL still allows cigarettes on their balconies, but not aware of any other cruise line that allows cigars (other then HAL).

 

As to food comparisons, this is difficult because all the cruise lines have been implementing strategies to cut-back on their food cost. We do think that Celebrity has the edge on food (especially in their alternative restaurants) but HAL does do some things quite well.

 

As this point of our cruising lives (we cruise over 70 days a year) we only choose HAL for itineraries. All other things being equal we will choose Celebrity, Princess or Azamara.

 

Hank

[chrisbu315]

How does Holland America compare to Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and NCL.

We have gone on about 25 cruises and want to try Holland America so had heard that it caters to older people. Meaning 60-80 crowd. If we go our 30 year old daughter may come and was wondering if it would be boring for her.

How is the food compared to Celebrity or Royal Caribbean. How are the shows?

 

We took our son, DOL, and grand daughter to Alaska last year on the Volendam. My son and DOL are both 30ish and were very skeptical about HAL. They love sailing the Caribbean on RCI and NCL. Both now consider the HAL Alaska cruise their all time favorite but I think that had more to do with Alaska than HAL. They did both like the food better on HAL and the convenient docking positions because of the ship's smaller size. In both Juneau and Ketchikan the ship was docked right in the middle of the city - very convenient for hopping on and off.

 

I am a HAL lover but wish they had some good late night entertainment like Princess and NCL.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

We took our son, DOL, and grand daughter to Alaska last year on the Volendam. My son and DOL are both 30ish and were very skeptical about HAL. They love sailing the Caribbean on RCI and NCL. Both now consider the HAL Alaska cruise their all time favorite but I think that had more to do with Alaska than HAL. They did both like the food better on HAL and the convenient docking positions because of the ship's smaller size. In both Juneau and Ketchikan the ship was docked right in the middle of the city - very convenient for hopping on and off.

 

I am a HAL lover but wish they had some good late night entertainment like Princess and NCL.

 

We're in our mid 30's, going to Alaska for the first time on Celebrity in late August. After that, we're probably going to sail elusively with HAL in Alaska. The other cruise lines, it's the same exact itinerary every time (for the most part). HAL does the Yukon tour, Haines, and even a 2 week going to Kodiak Island. Exciting new ports is going to win over excitement on the ship, every time.

 

I think that's part of the draw to HAL for seasoned cruisers, when you're young it's all new. Since we're only planning to cruise once a year, I want to incorporate HAL whenever it can give us an edge on seeing more.

Edited July 3, 2014 by Stateroom_Sailor