Celebrity Vs Holland America

[drowelf]

2 hours ago, Oceansaway17 said:

I am hearing this story a lot more with anyone who chooses a particular cruise line to give all their money to.

It is always best to sail on various lines and to not have loyalty to any one company. 

For 20 years we sailed HAL, simply because they experience was excellent, with many varied itineraries and simply loved the smaller ships. In fact for the last 5 years we only sailed on the Prinsendam, which only carried around 850 passengers. 

 

We cruise to go to new places around the world and have rarely repeated any ports. So until recently, HAL took care of us. But alas it seems that those days are over for HAL. We have friends on the Oosterdam right now and they have reported that they are very disappointed with the cruise. You know its bad when your avid cruising friends tell you that they are ready to "get off the boat" with 5 days still to go. 

[mcrcruiser]

38 minutes ago, drowelf said:

For 20 years we sailed HAL, simply because they experience was excellent, with many varied itineraries and simply loved the smaller ships. In fact for the last 5 years we only sailed on the Prinsendam, which only carried around 850 passengers. 

 

We cruise to go to new places around the world and have rarely repeated any ports. So until recently, HAL took care of us. But alas it seems that those days are over for HAL. We have friends on the Oosterdam right now and they have reported that they are very disappointed with the cruise. You know its bad when your avid cruising friends tell you that they are ready to "get off the boat" with 5 days still to go. 

5 hours ago, newtocruiseinblue said:

We cruised both last year and I enjoyed celebrity more. They are very close but I give Celebrity the edge over HAL as others have said, celebrity is usually a little bit more expensive. 

 

We did 10-day Reflection in the Mediterranean and 7-day Caribbean on Nieuw Statendam. Even though the  Statendam was much newer than the reflection I felt that the ships were comparable. I actually liked Reflection better than the Statendam. The service was better on Celebrity. It was just a more electric vibe on Celebrity. Both cruises were great. 
 

HAL seems to have better itineraries and celebrity seems to have higher prices. Celebrity has more entertainment around the ship and Hal used to have great port lectures. I was bored with all of the up-selling in HAL that I encountered. 

 

I felt that celebrity handled the pandemic better than Holland America did as far as communicating with guests and keeping them engaged. I feel, overall, Celebrity is a stronger company than HAL and will outlive the downturn the industry is experiencing now climbing out of the losses from the pandemic. It still seems questionable to me if Carnival will keep HAL forever or maybe merge it with princess.

HAL just announced longer cruises as their itineraries are known for those .There will still be the 7 to 10 night cruises but more longer cruise itineraries . Celebrity is a good line however for us they rarely sail west coast waters where HAL is in our local SD port often 

[keysey222]

We go between the two based on itinerary. Celebrity suite class is above and beyond preferable to HAL. However, the Celebrity cost is higher for similar cruises, so I always remind myself of that when I'm annoyed at the lack of suite amenities from HAL. (Still...I'll gladly pay more for a private sundeck any day!) I feel more nickel and dimed when sailing HAL. MDR (or Club Orange/Luminae) food has gone downhill on both since before the pandemic. HAL has a better buffet. Celebrity has better entertainment, especially since I rarely see enrichment talks on HAL anymore. I prefer the pool decks on HAL as they are quieter/calmer than the pools on Celebrity. The pool activities and loud music at the lido pool on our Edge cruise were obnoxious and I hated being around it. HAL has better live music. Celebrity has a better kids club. Service has been great on both lines, but I give HAL a slight edge on it. We like both, but always look at Celebrity first. It's a better product for suite guests, especially with the private Retreat deck. However, sometimes HAL wins based on better itineraries. 

[Oceansaway17]

On 1/9/2023 at 6:29 PM, drowelf said:

Don't get me started on Disney. We had a horrible experience about a decade ago. The most glaring fails were: 

 

1. DW's baked potato was cold when served. Replacement showed up with desert. 
2. The Belgian Waffle I ordered one day turned out to be a cold Eggo Waffle. You can easily tell the difference between a waffle cooked in a waffle iron, versus something that started out frozen and was just warmed up, which this one was not even warmed. 

 

There were quite a few more, but even trying to think about them again gets me upset.

ok sorry you had a bad experience, but I was merely saying try all the lines and I had two very good experiences on two different ships.

[Oceansaway17]

On 1/9/2023 at 6:42 PM, drowelf said:

For 20 years we sailed HAL, simply because they experience was excellent, with many varied itineraries and simply loved the smaller ships. In fact for the last 5 years we only sailed on the Prinsendam, which only carried around 850 passengers. 

 

We cruise to go to new places around the world and have rarely repeated any ports. So until recently, HAL took care of us. But alas it seems that those days are over for HAL. We have friends on the Oosterdam right now and they have reported that they are very disappointed with the cruise. You know its bad when your avid cruising friends tell you that they are ready to "get off the boat" with 5 days still to go. 

ya I hear ya.  I so wished I had gotten a chance to sail on the small Prinsendam just like I wished I had  the chance to sail on the smallest RCI ship they sold recently as well.

 

For now all ships might be sailing even the new ones.   I can't wait to see what 2024 and beyond looks like.

[Tom47]

We are considering HAL for a Baltic itinerary not offered by Celebrity.  We have never sailed on HAL, 8 times on X.

[Arubamoose]

We too have been cruising a while (1989).  Never done HAL, never done Princess.  D+ on Royal, Elite on Celebrity.  Done 45 days on NCL and a blip on MSC and Carnival.  

 

We cruise mainly for the itineraries except for when we do the Caribbean to get outta winter.  

 

Celebrity is our winner hands down - especially since we were on the last viable cruise around the horn as COVID hit.  They shut down as we had a two week cruise back to San Diego.  No one could get on in Santiago and no one could get off.  They treated us wonderfully during the tense way back.  Free cruise, Free wifi, Open bar (keep the inmates amused and drugged).  

 

I will reserve judgement as we get on the Edge in a few weeks.  Loved the Apex last year.  Hope the cuts are not that drastic. 

 

May be the time to try other lines.

 

 

[Hlitner]

Interesting topic in light of recent cut-backs and price increases on both lines.  At this time, even thought we are Elite Plus on X and 5* on HAL, we cannot recommend either line!  We do have an upcoming 42 day HAL voyage which will likely answer some questions and determine if we want anything to do with HAL in the near future.  For now, we find ourselves leaning towards small ship luxury lines (for the best overall value) and MSC's Yacht Club for the Caribbean.

 

As avid cruisers (often over 100 days a year) we think that so much is changing (in terms of quality and pricing) that wise folks should do a lot of homework reading recent reviews and shopping around among many different lines.  Things are not always what they seem.  So, for example, booking Seabourn at $500 or $600 a passenger day might seem like a lot of money until you consider that everyone gets a suite, it is all-inclusive (including things like caviar), and the space ratios are far better than on mass market lines (meaning few to no lines).

 

I do think all things cruise will become much clearer in the next 6 months as lines get a better feel for bookings (yield management) and costs.  One interesting facet is that the CCL, RCI and NCL Holdings, have all been forced to increase their debt (over $30 Billion for CCL).  All that debt must be repaid with increasing interest rates and this can only happen with more bookings and more revenue per person/day.  MSC (also owner of the new Explora Journeys line), on the other hand, is still a closely held family company with very deep pockets and very reasonable debt,  Since MSC is now the largest container ship company in the world, and this part of their business has been booming, they are in the unique position of being able to easily finance their own operations.  That is why MSC continues to add at least one new mega ship per year and are in the process of starting a new luxury line (slated to have six, 900 passenger ships within 5 years).

 

Hank