Celebrity vs. Holland America

[81Zoomie]

We have sailed HAL twice. The retreat cabanas are heads and shoulders above the Alcove cabanas on X. The Pinnacle Grill is the best specialty restaurant we have dined in at sea. The food in the MDR was better on HAL. The buffet on The Reflection was far superior to HAL and Princess. We loved the modern look and feel of the Reflection. The officers on the Reflection were very accessible. I will be cruising with my Mom on HAL in Dec. The reason I chose the Nieuw Amsterdam is because a 7 day cruise in a suite guarantee was $2000 less expensive than the Silhoutte. Both are an excellent product. Let price and itinerary be your guide!

[richstowe]

With limited experience I must defer to Hlitner's experience in that so much depends on specifics such as ship , itinerary etc . In general it seems that HAL cruises are generally priced lower then X . This is only partially explained by Celebrity usually including their drink package into the price . If you are paying for drinks , prices are lower on HAL plus there a 2 for 1 specials .

 

Much less smoking "friendly" on X . I made a vow to never again book a balcony on a ship which allows balcony smoking .

 

Again on limited experience I found Princess falls in between Holland and Celebrity . All three offer a experience which was skewed slightly more adult oriented then Carnival and Royal Caribbean . These 2 have many more constant PA announcements , kid orientation and a fun fun fun vibe .

[florisdekort]

Holland America = old people. Nothing wrong with that, if it's the type of atmosphere you're looking for.

[benny salami]

Both are excellent lines and our two favorites. The food and atmosphere in the MDR is better on HAL and nothing on X compares to Half Moon Cay. But there is no doubt that HAL is a much older crowd. The ship is silent after 10pm. We like the Celebrity total experience, specialty dining (especially LCG) and nightlife. To each his own but single and younger cruisers are better off with Celebrity or Royal.

[Lisah101]

I've only been on one HAL cruise but loved it. The Rotterdam was great in that it felt like you are on a ship - lots of nautical stuff, teak flooring, etc. It was a throw back to the glory days of cruising. I felt the food was comparable. Both cruise lines have things they do very well and things they don't do well. The desserts on Celebrity are mostly a miss for me - a few standouts, but the cakes, desserts etc only taste sweet without real flavor. HAL had amazing desserts and specialty breads. HAL also had a better breakfast in my mind. I'm still drooling over their dutch breakfast plate and who else gives you chocolate sprinkles for your toast! :)

 

Celebrity staff seemed less rushed, but I loved the pre-dinner appetizers in the bar on HAL. Scallops and tapas served by the bartender as a treat while waiting for dinner. Oh, and my favorite - the Yum Yum man - Celebrity doesn't do that, but they do have excellent service across the board, HAL just has the little things that are fun and extra.

 

Calling Customer Service for HAL was FAR ABOVE Customer Service for Celebrity - however, I love the classes they do on Celebrity - HAL didn't seem to have much of that.

 

See my HAL review here (hundreds of photos)

Edited August 30, 2015 by Lisah101

[judatt]

Holland America = old people. Nothing wrong with that, if it's the type of atmosphere you're looking for.

 

Greetings from Richmond, VA. Noticed in your signature you will be in Monaco for the F1 race in May. I was privileged to attend the race back in the late 70's. Mario Andretti won the race and won the F1 championship that year as well. The atmosphere in Monaco is electric that whole week.

 

Have a great time!

[Cindy]

We've taken two HAL cruises. The first, on the Noordam, was excellent. It was an 11-night Southern Caribbean with a fun roll call, and we enjoyed almost everything about it. We had an aft-wrap suite with excellent service and a balcony large enough to host a party for 20 people. The only sour note on that cruise was our exceptionally slow MDR service. We had late seating, and frequently were still waiting for our entrees as others were leaving the dining room. Our waiter tried hard, but he just didn't have "it."

 

Our second HAL cruise was a last minute Alaska vacation saver when our Millennium Pacific Coastal was cancelled for ship repairs in 2013.:mad: We chose the Westerdam thinking since it was a twin to the Noordam we would have a similar experience. We couldn't have been more wrong! We all (my then 82 year old mother was with us) thought the ship was the most blah, non-descript ship we'd ever been on, and other than the ports we were bored most of the time...especially in the evenings. We frequently found ourselves the ONLY passengers in the lounges for a pre-dinner cocktail, and after dinner entertainment other than the casino was virtually non-existent.

 

We had HAL's version of Select Dining, and dinner reservations were a HUGE hassle all week. The attitude of the reservations person left me with a really poor impression of the management staff and their customer service on-board. Dining room service other than the excellent wait team we lucked into at dinner was horrendous. Everything about the service in the dining room at breakfast and lunch was painfully slow. From a lengthy seating process with people lined up to give their cabin number, to the taking of orders, to the delivery of the food, meals in the dining room were kind of an ordeal. On the day we were in Glacier Bay, I finally had to get up and leave lunch after 90 minutes or I would have missed Johns Hopkins Glacier completely. Everybody at the table was still patiently waiting for their entrée plates to be cleared.:(

 

We disliked the Westerdam so much that we're really hesitant to take another HAL cruise. Even the smoking drove us crazy on the Westerdam, whereas I didn't notice it at all on the Noordam (luck of the draw, I know). There are so many other options out there that I would choose another line unless it was for a unique itinerary that I couldn't get elsewhere.

 

On the other hand, we've taken one Celebrity cruise so far, and we really enjoyed it. Our second Celebrity will be on the Equinox in March, and we're looking forward to it. We really felt like everything about our cruise on the Connie was a good match for us, and we're eager to sail on Celebrity again!:)

 

[Champagne Cruiser]

My first HAL cruise was the Noordam and the second was the Westerdam. My experience matched yours exactly. It was lonely being the only people in the lounge for a pre dinner drink and impossible to find any entertainment after the show at might.

[swilliams1660]

HAL = Senior Citizens...........and their parents.

[Got2Cruise]

On the Celebrity Summit I just disembarked there was an 104 year old woman. That being said, at least there was plenty of entertainment on Celebrity. Not as much as Royal but there were plenty of folks up past 10;00 pm

[4774Papa]

We have cruised both lines and enjoy both. However, HAL does generally skew towards older passengers. Food and entertainment are similar. Trivia is more active (and better prizes) on HAL.

I have found that HAL's prices when booking months ahead of time are higher than Celebrity's. However, HAL does offer great savings if you book close to the cruise.

 

I always check HAL, NCL and Celebrity prices for similar cruises and HAL is always the highest for booking a year or more in advance. We book early.

[cachouonacruise]

Days at sea on Celebrity. Did 4 cruises so far, 2 on RCL and 2 on HAL. I am considering a cruise on Celebrity, which includes 5 consecutive days at sea, which is a bit of a concern. Loved days at sea on RCL found them a bit long on HAL (fortunately, I had only one day at sea on my last HAL cruise). Can anyone share how they felt it was to spend several consecutive days at sea on Celebrity and if known, on Celebrity solstice?

[blueboro]

With limited experience I must defer to Hlitner's experience in that so much depends on specifics such as ship , itinerary etc . In general it seems that HAL cruises are generally priced lower then X . This is only partially explained by Celebrity usually including their drink package into the price . If you are paying for drinks , prices are lower on HAL plus there a 2 for 1 specials .quote]

 

We actually have found X to be less expensive than HAL the past several years on comparable cruises...even with the drink package. It could be because it seems the agency we use always seems to have a group of special priced X cabins with additional OBC and perks. Just priced a Panama Canal cruise on Equinox vs. HAL Zuiderdam and X pricing was $300 less pp (in a concierge cabin even) and had $200 more OBC plus your choice of an additional Go Big perks.

[Fouremco]

We very much enjoy both HAL and Celebrity and currently have two HAL cruises booked and one Celebrity. Those numbers could have been reversed had Celebrity offered 7 day Canada/New England cruises when we booked for September.

 

Which brings me to the point that we book primarily based on itinerary, taking into consideration the dates, the duration and the ports of call. We'll then choose whichever of the two lines provides the better itinerary.

 

Many of the factors we rate cruises on, food being a perfect example, we find varies as much from ship to ship as it does line to line.

 

It's interesting in threads like this, comparing one line to another, how the "home team" says how wonderful their lines food or entertainment or whatever is, but if you read all the other threads on that board, the same posters are complaining how the food has deteriorated or the entertainment is no longer what it used to be. I'm not knocking Celebrity fans, as exactly the same thing happens on the other boards. :)

 

Anyway, as someone else has posted, give both a try and decide for yourself which you prefer.

[pwapwa47]

was a last minute Alaska vacation saver when our Millennium Pacific Coastal was cancelled for ship repairs in 2013.

 

 

Pod repairs on the M class!!! You were lucky to be able to get an alternate cruise. I would say that no matter what happened on the Hal Alaska cruise it was better than having no cruise at all after all that anticipation and planning.

 

I have had the unfortunate experience of having two trips interrupted by faulty pods.

[tangerinebunny]

I've enjoyed reading this thread. We've had five HAL cruises followed by two on Celebrity with another booked for this December.

 

Since no line in our price range is perfect, we'd consider going back to HAL if the circumstances were right.

 

HAL's balcony smoking policy was a problem on only one or two of our cruises. But the slow main dining room service was an issue three of five times. The bars truly are quiet in the evenings, but we're quiet people and enjoy that far more than the Celebrity hustle.

 

I'm waiting for someone to assure me that HAL's food has improved, then I'll go back. Right now Celebrity has us hooked with their suite and specialty restaurants.

[Fouremco]

I'm waiting for someone to assure me that HAL's food has improved, then I'll go back. Right now Celebrity has us hooked with their suite and specialty restaurants.

On some cruises the food is as good or better than what we've enjoyed on Celebrity, but sometimes less so. But the quality is sufficiently high on both to not make it a deal breaker for us.

[Hlitner]

We think the food offerings on both HAL and Celebrity have deteriorated in the past 2-3 years. As to which line has deteriorated more....that is the question :). And what we experienced a few months ago might not be relevant today since cut-backs on all the mass market lines seems to be an ongoing practice.

 

Hank