Celebrity Infinity vs Nieuw Amsterdam...a review

[janmcn]

Just back from two AK cruises: one on the Nieuw Amsterdam, the other on Celebrity Infinity.

 

We are 300 plus days on HAL, never been on a Celebrity ship, so we were eager to try them within a week of each other. (Different itineraries were the reason.)

Both ships are similar numbers of passengers.

 

Overall, we enjoyed the Celebrity. The entertainment was the most outstanding we've seen. However, there are a lot of little things that we didn't care for on C so, unless there's an itinerary that isn't covered by HAL, we probably won't bother again.

 

Celebrity likes: Entertainment, no smoking policy, custom sandwich bar, omelettes not made from the "required pasteurized eggs" that HAL seems to now have, sliding doors to verandah, verandah furniture is quite nice with larger table than HAL, lighting in cabins is lovely

 

Celebrity dislikes: tiny bathrooms (Concierge Level), no complete Promenade Deck, no stadium blankets for verandah sitting, no towel animals, no good laundry options (by the bag), no Happy Hours, (drinks were overall expensive), no ice buckets constantly filled in cabin, disorganized Muster Drill, no place for the paperwork one gets in the cabin, no room darkening curtains, no cover for central pool, no Lido staff helping get coffee refills, etc., slow clearing of Ocean View buffet tables, can't access cabin until after 1 on embarkation and must vacate by 8 AM on disembarkation. There is also a younger crowd so the noise/activity level is much higher. Too many extra costs to tempt you (gelato, extra restaurants, room service extras, etc.)

 

HAL is better for us (early 70's) since a bit quieter crowd that enjoys the library area (tiny one on C), food was very similar on both (HAL gets the edge for better breakfasts...i.e. sticky buns and/or raisin buns...nothing like them on C), great laundry service, better muster drill (IMO...even though it's more comfortable on C, at least on HAL, we know exactly where our boat is and how to get to it.), I like having my cabin available when we embark...and not having to vacate it early upon disembarkation. (How HAL seems to get all the rooms done in a short amount of time, whereas C needs more, I don't know), much friendlier staff on HAL, more service in the Lido area (had to walk all over getting this and that on C), better desserts overall on HAL, better TV service on HAL (larger screens, free movies...C had pay-per-view and small screen), INSIDE theater on HAL for movies, larger bathrooms on HAL with the dispensers for soap, shampoo, conditioner (on C they have tubes...ran out of conditioner and had to go find a steward for more), no fruit bowl filled with your choice of fruit (on C, you get what you get), beds/bedding on HAL in our opinion are much better.

 

MickyLive, the port lecturer was the best I've heard...would love HAL to steal him from C! Entertaining and informative.

 

We enjoyed C, but see that it really is a better fit for a bit younger crowd with all the venues for dancing, drinking, entertainment, etc. The Photo Shop alone on the C took up an enormous amount of space, as did the casino (probably 4x the size of HAL's on the same size ship.) Loved having a Mac store, though, but most the other shopping was higher end and again geared to those in the middle age category who have plenty of money to spend.

 

I'd love HAL to visit the ship to see how they could up the quality of the stage production shows on HAL...fantastic productions (3) done by their 14 singers and dancers...awesome!

 

MDR food was similar to HAL...however, we did send one breakfast back on C (our entire table) due to the waffles and pancakes being totally inedible.

 

The cruises were fantastic, though...great weather (for AK) and beautiful scenery the whole way. AK remains one of our favorite cruising venues since it's never the same.

Still love HAL's laundry:D

[KirkNC]

We have and do sail both and I think you hit the highs and lows pretty good. One positive for X is their loyalty program, once you become Elite (which is probably like a 3 star mariner, they have a FREE happy hour for an hour each night.

 

Your comment about the bathroom is right, the showers are tiny.

[Cruising-along]

Thank you for your comments.

We sail both (second Infinity cruise coming up) and I agree with most of your points. I did a similar comparison 2 years ago when we did back to back cruises on the Infinity (northern Europe) and the Eurodam (Baltic).

 

I especially agree about X smoking policy, promenade deck, and laundry options.

 

We did get towel animals and our stewards were great -- including keeping the ice bucket filled. The pizza on our Infinity cruise was awesome but the coffee was awful! :D

[cbr663]

We've only sailed on X's Reflection and also agree with most of your comments. We did have lots of staff re-filling beverages and clearing tables at the Ocean View Buffet. We didn't like the set up though of pods as we found it very confusing and overwhelming at times to navigate.

 

We agree with most of your other observations. The washrooms are tiny and the showers particularly so. Barely okay for short cruises, simply too small for longer cruises.

[megavfm]

Thank you for the comparison janmcn. After trying Cunard and HAL, Celebrity has one of our future considerations and your review was very useful. If the bathrooms are as compact as Cunard's then I could live with that for a week or two.

[erewhon]

Thank you for your interesting comments.

[SoCal Cruiser78]

Thanks for the comparison. I haven't sailed HAL and X back-to-back for over 10 years, so was somewhat surprised that your current observations are quite similar to what I remember from back then. At that time, I gave X the edge for main showroom entertainment and CD staff, but felt HAL excelled in just about everything else!

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for taking the time to post your comparisons.

Glad you enjoyed the cruises.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for doing a comparison between HAL and Celebrity.

Glad you had good weather for your Alaskan cruises and enjoyed them.

[portofrome]

Thank you for the comparisons.

[catl331]

free Happy Hour for 3 * --it would take an hour to get up to the bar with all the 3 and 4* HAL sailors!!!:)

[VioletHorse]

free Happy Hour for 3 * --it would take an hour to get up to the bar with all the 3 and 4* HAL sailors!!!:)

 

With Celebrity including beverage packages in many of their cruise fares, the Happy Hour is rather redundant. All it does is restrict access to a public area of the ship for a couple of hours (oops - wrong thread!). If a very large number cruisers are eligible for the Happy Hour perk, Celebrity just hands out drink coupons which can be used at any bar.

 

The included beverage packages have essentially watered down an Elite perk.

[Lady Arwen]

I love Celebrity (we're Elite, so nice perks) and we also really enjoy HAL. HAL provides more of a traditional cruise experience and Celebrity's tend to be more modern/upscale. We choose our cruise by itinerary, price and then cruiseline.

[iancal]

We like both but we have, and will continue to cruise on many lines.

 

While we never select a cruise based soley on frequent customer rewards we do like the Celebrity program best especially since it is honoured on RCI ships as well.

 

As elite, our last verandah booking on RCI (it made us Diamond) gave us an immediate, additional $200. cabin discount.

 

We had access private lounge, with concierge. Breakfast, lunch, and pre dinner snacks were always on offer along with caps/expressos all day long. The lounge had an open bar in the evening from 5-8. Additionally, three drinks per day were loaded on to each of our room keys. We were able to use them at any bar on the ship(but not in the dining rooms) from 5-8PM. If we had booked the lowest cost inside cabin we would have all of the above with the exception of the $200 cabin discount. We actually prefer our Celebrity status honoured on RCI ships more than we do on Celebrity ships.