Celebrity vs Holland America

[colonialinnkeeper]

The crew on Holland is the best.

 

Agree, totally.

[Aquahound]

The crew on Holland is the best.

 

I see that said on the HAL boards a lot but in truth, I can't say they're any better than on the other lines. I've had excellent, personable service on all lines I've sailed. In fact, I'd rate Celebrity slightly higher because their officers mingle with the passengers a lot more.

[Ken the cruiser]

Previously we've been loyal to Celebrity but the prices on their med cruises are currently very high with all the included "freebies". Spotted a couple of very good Holland America itineraries around the med that seem reasonably priced.

 

How does Holland America compare with Celebrity

How does Oosterdam compare with one of Celbrity's newer solstice class ships (e.g. Eclipse) - decor seems VERY different

If you are doing comparisons, may I suggest you also check out similar Oceania itineraries. Their ships are smaller and their main focus is on food and it is wonderfull! They also offer quality lectures on sea days and their specialty restaurants are free! Keep in mind their cruise costs include air fare, port fees and OLife amenities, but cruise only fares are also available if you want to do your own planning.

[avian777]

... How does Holland America compare with Celebrity ...

 

There are many differences between Celebrity and HAL but IMHO only one significant difference between them - only HAL has a Roman Catholic priest (who celebrates daily Mass) on board every one of its cruises. Since spiritual renewal is an important component of our vacation experience, HAL is our hands-down choice of cruise ship lines. YMMV

[Fouremco]

With the exception of a wonderful family cruise on RCI, all of our cruises have been split between Celebrity and HAL. Our last cruise on Celebrity was this past March-April, a southern Caribbean 14-day cruise on the Eclipse, and our last HAL cruise was in November 2016, a 10-day southern Caribbean on the Koningsdam. Our next booked cruise is on the Nieuw Statendam, so we continue to patronize and enjoy both lines. We have also cruised on the Oosterdam, although not since 2014.

 

As a general comment, DW and I are happy cruising on either line, and book our cruises based on the itinerary, price and, to a lesser degree, the ship. If the itineraries and pricing were equal, we might base our final selection on the ship, but it usually doesn't get that far. Based solely on this factor, I'd go with the Eclipse, but if you like the other aspects of what HAL is offering, I'd not hesitate to cruise again on the Oosterdam.

 

Each line has a a lot of positives and a few negatives, but your individual tastes will dictate how much of an incentive or drawback these represent to you. For example, specialty restaurants tend to be quite a bit more expensive on Celebrity, so if you enjoy this type of dining, HAL is the better choice. On the other hand, if you enjoy good entertainment, we find HAL lacking when compared to Celebrity.

 

We've had excellent service on both lines, with more of a variation ship-to-ship and cruise-to-cruise than line-to-line.

 

One of the reasons we originally tried Celebrity was to get away from the smoke on HAL. Although balcony smoking was finally banned, HAL still allows smoking in the casino, and on some ships you have to either walk through the casino or go up/down a deck to avoid it.

 

My recommendation would be to give HAL a try and see for yourself. Even if you conclude at the end of the cruise that you prefer Celebrity, I doubt that you'll be disappointed with your experience on HAL.

[bUU]

One of the reasons we originally tried Celebrity was to get away from the smoke on HAL. Although balcony smoking was finally banned, HAL still allows smoking in the casino, and on some ships you have to either walk through the casino or go up/down a deck to avoid it.

There is no smoking in the casino on Nieuw Amsterdam since last December at least.

[DYKWIA]

If you are doing comparisons, may I suggest you also check out similar Oceania itineraries. Their ships are smaller and their main focus is on food and it is wonderfull! They also offer quality lectures on sea days and their specialty restaurants are free! Keep in mind their cruise costs include air fare, port fees and OLife amenities, but cruise only fares are also available if you want to do your own planning.

 

Thank-you, we are are. Riviera and Marina look stunning. Whilst cost isn't the overriding factor I do feel that with some of the prices I wonder if the value is there with Celebrity now. Currently Celebrity want close to £6000 for a balcony for a cruise to the Canaries. For a modest supplement the overall value offered by Oceania is looking very tempting. They have some cruises going from New York this summer (albeit on one of their older ships) which are priced similarly to .

 

I know it sounds shallow but my wife and I struggle with the styling on some of the slightly older HAL and Princess ships (Koningsdam and Regal / Royal look great). If we are spending 14 nights these things become more of a deciding factor for us.

Edited May 29, 2018 by DYKWIA

[Hlitner]

Thank-you, we are are. Riviera and Marina look stunning. Whilst cost isn't the overriding factor I do feel that with some of the prices I wonder if the value is there with Celebrity now. Currently Celebrity want close to £6000 for a balcony for a cruise to the Canaries. For a modest supplement the overall value offered by Oceania is looking very tempting. They have some cruises going from New York this summer (albeit on one of their older ships) which are priced similarly to .

 

I know it sounds shallow but my wife and I struggle with the styling on some of the slightly older HAL and Princess ships (Koningsdam and Regal / Royal look great). If we are spending 14 nights these things become more of a deciding factor for us.

 

At the risk of hijacking a HAL thread, we have been appalled at the future pricing on Celebrity cruises. Celebrity's relatively new CEO (Lisa Lutoff-Perlo) has talked about her feeling that Celebrity has been underpricing their product and over providing onboard. This has resulted in many cut-backs (I call it a death by a thousand cut-backs) coupled with huge price increases. Balcony cabins are often priced at $300+ per day which puts the in competition with Oceania and bargain fares on even higher end cruise lines. The pricing on the new Celebrity Edge has reached ridiculous heights and it will be interesting to see if they can maintain their pricing model over a period of time.

 

Hank

[iancal]

We prefer the open feeling and the light decor of Celebrity ships. It is a personal preference.

 

As for service we do not see any significant difference between the staff and the service that we have received on Princess, HAL, or Celebrity. It has always been top notch on all three. Certainly there are occasional service glitches on all of them but we find that they are primarily attributable to staff cutbacks. No mass market cruise line has been immune from this.

 

Absolutely agree about Celebrity pricing. The mass market pricing and staffing cutbacks are leading us to look at the premium lines. The price is not much higher but the value, from our perspective, is significantly higher.

Edited May 29, 2018 by iancal

[Ken the cruiser]

Thank-you, we are are. Riviera and Marina look stunning. Whilst cost isn't the overriding factor I do feel that with some of the prices I wonder if the value is there with Celebrity now. Currently Celebrity want close to £6000 for a balcony for a cruise to the Canaries. For a modest supplement the overall value offered by Oceania is looking very tempting. They have some cruises going from New York this summer (albeit on one of their older ships) which are priced similarly to .

 

I know it sounds shallow but my wife and I struggle with the styling on some of the slightly older HAL and Princess ships (Koningsdam and Regal / Royal look great). If we are spending 14 nights these things become more of a deciding factor for us.

 

Here are some of the more cool things my DW and I enjoy on Oceania ships. On the larger 1200 PAX ships, there is a 18 hole putt-putt course, a netted paddle ball court and golf driving cage and a croquet field along with the usual ping pong and shuffleboard, with one notable difference. You will find very few children on the cruise which means you normally won't have to wait in line to play. Also, they have free art classes and hands-on culinary classes for a small fee. BUT, the really cool thing on all of their ships is the Terrace Café with its shaded outdoor dining area where you can have lobster and filet mignon grilled to your order every night if you so desire; although all of their entrees and desserts are wonderful! I personally like to eat breakfast out on the Terrace when we're docked as it is so relaxing to look out at the port while the sun is coming up before heading out on an excursion.

[iancal]

We certainly would not buy a HAL or a Celebrity cruise if we could, by spending just a little more, get so much more value (as we perceive it) by buying an Azamara or some other truly premium brand. It comes down to value for us and our starting point is fares on the mass market lines.

 

Cruise pricing, with the exception some very competitive itineraries, seem to have increased to the point where we land trips are more attractive to us. The only exception for would be late booking sales.

[Ken the cruiser]

One thing we have found with booking a Celebrity cruise is to book it as soon as it comes out. I realize some folks can't do that, but as an example the S1 cabin we have booked for next January has gone up $1,000 pp for each leg of our B2B. This was also the case on a recent Canary Island/transatlantic cruise we took last October on the Eclipse, which I might add was fantastic!!

[bUU]

At the risk of hijacking a HAL thread,

You are not; you are helping folks who don't cruise on Celebrity understand that the grass may not be greener...

 

This message may have been drafted using voice recognition. Please forgive any typos.

[iancal]

Given a choice, all things being equal, DW would always choose Celebrity for their ships, their food, their dining options, and their complete no smoking policy that extends to the casino. Although the casino is not important to us we do not like the smell of stale smoke wafting into adjancent areas that we do take advantage of.

 

Service is a wash for her, entertainment is so variable that is is more like a lottery than anything else.

[Fouremco]

One thing we have found with booking a Celebrity cruise is to book it as soon as it comes out. I realize some folks can't do that, but as an example the S1 cabin we have booked for next January has gone up $1,000 pp for each leg of our B2B. This was also the case on a recent Canary Island/transatlantic cruise we took last October on the Eclipse, which I might add was fantastic!!

That's been my general experience with HAL too: buy early and watch the prices increase. Nevertheless, prices can and do drop for a variety of reasons, and for our 14-day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Eclipse in March-April of this year, there was a price drop after final payment to below our original price. We asked our TA to see what could be done, and we received a free upgrade from a Sunset Veranda to a C1 Concierge cabin, also in the stern.

[iancal]

Agree about the pricing on Celebrity. Most of our Celebrity and our RCI cruises in the last five years have been purchased inside the final payment window. But,we are not seeing the same sort of final payment window pricing on Celebrity that we have seen in the past.

[DeepWaterMariner]

I've sailed on a few Celebrity cruise but it has been awhile. The reason I sail Holland most of the time is smaller ships, at least while they still have them, and longer itineraries. Smaller ships generally mean less time waiting to tender ashore. I guess you could get a longer repositioning cruise on Celebrity but nothing like the longer Holland standards (Voyage of the Vikings, Atlantic Adventurer, Tales of the South Pacific, etc) or the Grand cruises. Plus the option on Prinsendam of doing back to back to back cruises since Prinsendam never does exactly the same itinerary from cruise to cruise.

[dogo88]

We prefer Celebrity ships. If all things were equal, and it came down to these two, Celebrity would win. Ship, dining options, non smoking casino. We never consider HAL's older ships.

 

Both cruise lines are excellent. It comes down to personal preferences.

 

Similar point of view after our first Celebrity cruise last fall.Have another one booked for next spring. Not a fan of HALs older ships either due to maintenance issues, but I will say we were pleasantly surprised with the Zaandam's condition earlier this month in Alaska.

[Wishing on a star]

We noticed the Edge, and yes the pricing is $$$$ !!!!

And, wow, doesn't the styling look to be way over the top!!! Like the Magic Carped hanging off the one side.

Looking for a newer ship, and an itinerary we liked, have a deposit on the upcoming new-build, Nieuw Statendam, for the Western Med. next year.

 

We have sailed Princess, and no, this probably won't be the Regal Princess... But I am hoping that this would be a very good choice for a Med. Cruise, where the focus is def. on the destination.

[HokiePoq]

I chose HAL on the Veendam (one of the oldest ships) for our upcoming cruise. I haven't been on HAL, but the itinerary was exactly what I was looking for, Boston to Montreal in the SUMMER. Even though the reviews haven't been the greatest, itinerary won out for us. With that being said, our next two cruises will be on Celebrity. Europe on the EDGE, and then a Solstice cruise. I think you just have to figure out what you're looking to get out of the trip. The New England/Canada trip was all about itinerary, but Edge in Europe was more about the ship, even though the price was higher than what I would have liked. (Although I did like the itinerary as well) As long as the food and service are decent, I'm pretty happy to be seeing some new ports, not so worried about entertainment.

 

That's the way I see things. Although an older ship, the Veendam is my favorite ship. We've spent 90 days onboard. The crew is wonderful.

OP, I agree with those who say the X ship is superior, especially if you want the modern look. I disagree with those who say X entertainment is better. Our experience is that HAL's is better. (NCL and RCCL have better entertainment IMHO). I used to think Celebrity had the best food of the lines we've sailed but our last Celebrity cruise in February of this year made me change my mind on this. HAL in 2017 (Veendam 48 days) was WAY better than the Millie this year. We've been on the Millie twice before and thought the food was great.

We are four star Mariners and Elite on X so have been on both. Food and entertainment can be subjective but this is my two cents worth.

[HokiePoq]

We are probably in the minority’s, BUT....we do not like the Soltice class ships! The loud music that is often in the open atrium carries all the way up to the upper floors. Often times you can hear it in your room. We prefer the M class ships, which are now getting pretty old. They have been chopped up and additional staterooms added so they are not the same as they used to be.

 

Yes, the ships are glitzy and sparkling, but we are looking for a different experience. We don’t like the loud thumping music in all the venues on Celebrity. Some other things have changed since the addition of everyone having beverage packages as booking promos, too.

 

I like the M class ships better as well.

[Jade13]

The crew on Holland is the best.

 

 

 

Agree!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[Hlitner]

You are not; you are helping folks who don't cruise on Celebrity understand that the grass may not be greener...

 

This message may have been drafted using voice recognition. Please forgive any typos.

 

Just a funny thought but they do have real grass on some Celebrity ships. So I guess in that respect the grass is certainly greener :)

 

Hnak

[stickey_mouse]

I love Celebrity's Solstice-class of ships. The openness of their interior public spaces trump the claustrophobia-inducing public areas and hallways of HAL. I love both lines, though, and would not hesitate to sail on either. I can't wait to see how Edge is received. I suspect that Celebrity has done its homework and will have a winner on its hands, but we shall see.