Celebrity vs Holland

[Morris4me]

We've sailed on Holland America but never on Celebrity. How does Celebrity compare to Holland in service, food quality, entertainment, ship decor and customer demographics?

[kitty9]

I've sailed both, and while the cabins in some categories are larger on HAL, I feel the food and service is better on Celebrity---especially the service. Age demographics on Celebrity is based on time of year, itinerary and things like that, but I do feel that HAL skews somewhat older than Celebrity. If you take a longer cruise during times when school is in session, the average age for every line goes higher. Entertainment is a wash, but I do prefer the look of Celebrity ships.

[Jade13]

We've sailed on Holland America but never on Celebrity. How does Celebrity compare to Holland in service, food quality, entertainment, ship decor and customer demographics?

 

We didn't like Celebrity as much as HAL and will most likely not be cruising with them again. They weren't bad, ship was so clean that the lido was slippery, just not HAL standards on food or customer service. They beat HAL on pricing though. As far as demographics it really depends where you are going and the date.

[eandj]

We enjoy Celebrity more. We like the appearances/decorating of the X ships better. Food and service are pretty much equal , but lean towards X. I don't think you will be disappointed with X. Which ship are you looking at? I cannot comment on the 2 new X ships. I have enjoyed the other classes.

[Bill S]

We've cruised both lines, although more on HAL than on Celebrity.

The core experience between the two is very similar IMO, but I found subtle differences in cuisine and entertainment, with Celebrity having a slight edge in those two areas, again just another opinion. The Celebrity decor left us cold. Also, there was no wrap-around lower promenade deck for walking and the lifeboat drill was a a total joke.

We prefer HAL's better service, decor of the ships, and great crews. But, we would definitely consider cruising with Celebrity again, if the itinerary and price were right.

Different strokes for different folks! :)

[eandj]

I think it is really clear to the OP that the two lines are very close. ( Not like comparing NCL or Carnival to X or HAL. ) Both lines are a step above the mainstreams, I think. Can''t go too wrong with either.

[Keith1010]

I've sailed on both lines and would recommend Celebrity over Holland. I prefer the food, service and entertainment on Celebrity over Holland.

 

Keith

[rebeljohn]

We haven't cruised Celebrity lately, but it and HAL are our favorite lines. HAL fits our budget better, and service is excellent. Celebrity has better food(but only slightly). Service is good too. Entertainment on both seem about the same.

[Sundagger]

We've sailed on Holland America but never on Celebrity. How does Celebrity compare to Holland in service, food quality, entertainment, ship decor and customer demographics?

 

One thing you don't mention, but is significantly different on the two lines is their smoking policy. Celebrity has banned smoking from cabins and balconies and has restricted indoor smoking in general. That may weigh one way or the other on your decision.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have never sailed on Celebrity -- but have xruised quite a bit on HAL.

 

I appreciate all of you who did the comparisons and gave your honest answers.

[momofmeg]

I enjoy both lines very much and would sail again on either. I would make my choice by ittenary or price.

[ce2000]

I have been on the Celebrity Summit and the Holland America Zuiderdam. Both offered a very good cruise experience, but for my taste, I would give a very slight edge to Celebrity. Check out the new Celebrity Solstice, I believe you will have a very good time on this ship.

[momofmeg]

I have been on the Celebrity Summit and the Holland America Zuiderdam. Both offered a very good cruise experience, but for my taste, I would give a very slight edge to Celebrity. Check out the new Celebrity Solstice, I believe you will have a very good time on this ship.

 

Actually since the Solstice holds nearly 3000 people I would pick the Constellation or one of the HAL Vista Class ships if I was the OP. I believe Celebrity has made a BIG mistake immitating Carnival, RCI and Princess by coming out with a ship which holds so many PAX. I do believe by keeping the passengers down was how they are able to give a more "personal" touch. without that personal touch Celebrity may as well be RCI.

[cruiseman40]

Flip a coin! Both cruiselines were very comparable across the board. It varies between ship to ship and other variables and children's program vary slightly. I loved them both.

[ce2000]

Actually since the Solstice holds nearly 3000 people I would pick the Constellation or one of the HAL Vista Class ships if I was the OP. I believe Celebrity has made a BIG mistake immitating Carnival, RCI and Princess by coming out with a ship which holds so many PAX. I do believe by keeping the passengers down was how they are able to give a more "personal" touch. without that personal touch Celebrity may as well be RCI.

 

You make a good point, but I believe that you can offer the same quality of service with more PAX, it just requires more crew members to handle the additional PAX. I really believe that the experience onboard the Solstice will be better than RCI, Carnival or Princess, time will tell.

[Been There, Planning That]

We haven't done a great deal of cruising compared with others who post, but we'd give the edge to Celebrity over HAL.

 

Our 14 day Celebrity around the Horn was an incredible experience. We found the food a bit better than on HAL. The presentation was more attractive with smaller portions.

 

We enjoyed some of the performances on each ship with neither being better than the other in our view.

 

On our 30 day HAL to the South Pacific we appreciated the daily Canadian news flyers -- a biggie for my news addicted husband when the ship was out of satellite contact and he couldn't get his daily news fix.

 

HAL had a much older passenger list with many very frail passengers, but perhaps this was determined by the longer cruise round trip from San Diego.

 

We received royal service on both lines in our window steerage cabin.

 

The Celebrity Infinity seemed more elegant than the HAL Ryndam -- but I couldn't pin point why.

[TomTN]

We've sailed on Holland America but never on Celebrity. How does Celebrity compare to Holland in service, food quality, entertainment, ship decor and customer demographics?

 

 

We've sailed 5 times with HAL and 5 times with Celebrity.

 

Will have to agree with BillS(Hey Bill) about the lack of a wrap around promenade deck on Celebrity and more elegant decor on HAL ships.

 

As far as better food? Flip a coin. I slightly prefer Celebrity. My wife slightly prefers HAL. Better shows? My wife loves them. I don't. If you sail either line more than one time in an 18 month period you will likely see a repeat of the entertainment.

 

All the cruise lines are changing. they seem to be making a greater number of changes at the present time. Most of the changes are cost cutting. The changes are often noticeable to those of us who sail often, but in most cases they are subtle changes. Cruising is still an enjoyable experience for us on either line.

 

IMO it would be a mistake to dismiss either of these cruise lines. The itinerary is probably the most important thing along with price.:)

 

Again "Different strokes"