celebrity sky suite vs HAL S suites

[Peggy Sue]

OK..we're deep into discussion about what we want to do for vacation in 2005. We're seriously considering a Panama canal cruise. Ideally, we want a cruise that that travels from west to east, so we end the cruise on eastern standard time..and a flight that is only a short two and a half hours from home. As we will be returning to work the following day, we thought being on the east coast would minimize the return travel torture....

 

Sadly, I'm not seeing any west to east HAL cruises. I have found a Celebrity cruise that departs from Ensenada, Mexico and ends in Fort Lauderdale. (14 nights) A sky suite on the infinity 251 square feet with a 57 sq foot verandah. An S suite on the Veendam says its 563 including verandah..

 

Can anyone compare an S to a Sky suite?? Altough close is cost .. looks like the HAL S offers much more value and perks....but very interested in hearing about first hand experiences comparing the two. They have a celebrity suite, that is closer in size the an S..but this suite does not have a verandah. Anyone have experience with this type of suite on celberity?

 

Any words of wisdom on selecting a Panama canal cruise??

 

Thanks for your help!

 

Peggy Sue

[Cauvet]

Usually if you cruise from the west coast to the east in 14 days, there are a lot of days at sea and not too many ports. Some cruises leave from Acapulco or Costa Rica which gives you more ports or a short cruise (11 or 12 days). We are booked in a sky suite for this January. I understand they are not that large, but you do get a bulter. We were just in an ss suite on the Oosterdam which was a good size, with a large bathroom and large balcony, but NO suite bennies at all. The S suites are huge and on the vista class ships are located on deck seven and have a private lounge with consierge. Very nice indeed. I think the O has a Panama Canal trip like on 1/9 that I was looking at but I can't remember what direction it went--but was between San Diego and Fort Lauderdale for 13 or 14 days.

[garydm]

Peggy Sue-Did you look at the January 13 HAL cruise on Ryndam from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale-16 days? We did this cruise on the Statendam in January of this year in an S Suite. We had an incredible time. Ryndam and Statendam are the same design. I would do this trip again without hesitation.

 

Gary

[CGMan]

Peggy Sue

 

I think that the following site could be of some interest to you. You can compare cabins as well as ships.

 

http://www.cruisestateroom.com/

 

 

Happy Sailing!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

:)

 

We have always booked the suites on HAL because we love the larger room, separate dressing area, larger bathroom and large verandah.

 

The Ryndam will be doing a cruise in January from San Diego to Ft Lauderdale.

 

We have sailed her several times. Even after she had the Pinnacle Grill and Neptune Lounge added.

 

:)

[Debi_D]

Peggy Sue - We have been on Celebrity 2 times once we had a Sky Suite From Mexico (Baja) to Hawaii and really enjoyed the room but as for the butler on this trip he did not do anything special for us and half the time we did not see him. The second time we had a Royal Suite on Celebrity (huge) and the butler was fantastic but he still did not do a lot for us... Now we have been on HAL 11 times and in a Suite 5 of those times and I would have to say HAL Suites are hands down over Celebrity. I agree with Gary about the San Deigo to Ft. Lauderdale. Besides if you go out of Ensenada you still fly into San Deigo than they (Celebrity) transfer you by bus to Ensenada and that takes about 2 hours if I remember right.

 

The butler thing really is not as important to us, we like.. actually love;) the rooms better on HAL.... Hope this helps if you have any other questions ask away....

 

Debi

[Peggy Sue]

thank you for your suggestions.

 

GCMan -I checked out the web site..very nifty tool to have to check out the various staterooms...thank you!

 

One of the issues we have with the hal cruise dates is the length of cruise. We both work and a 2 week cruise is about as long as we can manage to be away from our respective positions.

 

We have been looking at the veendam cruise in April..i think this was 16 days, involving 3 weekends...so we could work with that.

 

Any opinions on the veendam? Only only HAL experience was on the zuiderdam last May in an S suite..we loved the suite, ship, staff .. a wonderful vacation that was over all too soon after 7 nights. I noticed the Veendam doesn't have a conceriege lounge yet...anyone know when one will be added? Is the Veendam considered one of the "S" class ships that folks speak so fondly of on these boards?

 

Again, thank you all of your input!

 

Peggy Sue

[digby]

Not sure why they call the "S" class cabins a SUITE. WE spent 12 days in one on the new Westerdam, and it is simply a larger one room cabin. It was very nice, but NOT a suite in the true sense of the word. I have found the penthouse suite and owners suite on NCL to be far nicer with more perks.