HAL's Vieuw Amsterdam vrs. Celebrity

Just wondering if the Nieuw holds its own in comparison to Celebrity ships....looking at a 12 day med cruise for 2015...Good and bad?

Just wondering if the Nieuw holds its own in comparison to Celebrity ships....looking at a 12 day med cruise for 2015...Good and bad?

I just did a comparison here

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2102567

The NA is a very nice ship with an excellent Asian specialty restaurant - Tamarind. Overall the food is equal to celebrity. The Lido buffet on Celebrity is much easier to negotiate because of the many stations concept, vs HAL ships.The NA ship design is more traditional vs the newer Celebrity ships, i.e.: feel more enclosed, with less larger inside spaces. Entertainment depends upon the current offerings, but normally pretty good on HAL. Casino is smoking allowed vs Celebrity. On a longer cruise, the NA may get a bit boring and feel more contained vs the newer Celebrity ships, would depend upon what you really like in Celebrity that HAL might not have. I guess in comparison, our preference would be a newer Celebrity ship.

Just wondering if the Nieuw holds its own in comparison to Celebrity ships....looking at a 12 day med cruise for 2015...Good and bad?

Hi horatio,

My wife and I have cruised HAL nine times (including the Nieuw Amsterdam) and Celebrity 25 times. Not sure which Celebrity ship we are comparing, but I've cruised almost all of them. Here is my comparison:

(Mac-O-Meter is on)

Ship quality -- NA 8.8 Solstice Class 9.2 Millennium Class 9.0

Decor -- NA dark traditional 8.3 Solstice Class Modern bright 9.2 Millennium class Modern open 9.0

Food -- NA very good 9.0 Solstice Class excellent 9.4 Millennium Class 9.3

Service -- NA warm and efficient 9.2 All Celebrity ships Professional and cheerful 9.2

Itineraries -- NA creative 9.3 All Celebrity ships Getting better 8.8

Officers -- NA Dutch, Professional 9.5 All Celebrity Greek fun, approachable 9.5

Passengers -- NA Older, passive 9.1 All Celebrity mature, well traveled, happy 9.3

Cabins -- NA dark, tubs, great beds 9.0 All Celebrity modern, bright, better showers, interactive TV's 9.4

Entertainment -- NA standard 8.5 All Celebrity improving, professional 8.9

I'm not a huge fan of the direction that HAL is heading since 2007; seems more and more like a Carnival step child product. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean are on a huge upswing.

Enjoy!

Kel:)

Just wondering if the Nieuw holds its own in comparison to Celebrity ships....looking at a 12 day med cruise for 2015...Good and bad?

We did a 14 day transatlantic on the Nieuw Amsterdam in April, from Ft Lauderdale to Barcelona. Loved the ship, actually prefer it to the Silhouette that we are going on in October out of Rome for 14 days. We have cruised on the Equniox and Eclipse before. We booked the Silhoutte because the itinerary has 3 days in Israel.

Love the traditional main deck on HAL which we really miss on X. We had late dining had a wonderful table for 2, on the landing between the top and bottom floor of the MDR. Service and menu options were very good. We are elite on Princess and X, 2 star on HAL, cruise Cunard and NCL as well. Have over 50 cruises on 9 different lines over past 30 years.

We did a 14 day transatlantic on the Nieuw Amsterdam in April, from Ft Lauderdale to Barcelona. Loved the ship, actually prefer it to the Silhouette that we are going on in October out of Rome for 14 days. We have cruised on the Equniox and Eclipse before. We booked the Silhoutte because the itinerary has 3 days in Israel.

 

Love the traditional main deck on HAL which we really miss on X. We had late dining had a wonderful table for 2, on the landing between the top and bottom floor of the MDR. Service and menu options were very good. We are elite on Princess and X, 2 star on HAL, cruise Cunard and NCL as well. Have over 50 cruises on 9 different lines over past 30 years.

We were also on this cruise and felt it was the best TA we have done. We have crossed on the Eclipse, Ruby & Emerald Princess as well Loved this ship.

We are crossing on the Infinity in October (Elite Celebrity & Princess 3 star mariner on HAL) Ontario Cruiser

I have only sailed on HAL once. We had a beautiful suite. Only problem was people next door smoked on their balcony non stop. Have not been back to HAL since. If they stop balcony smoking I will try again.

Hi,

Very recently we disembarked the Neiuw Amsterdam after a 24 night cruise around the greek islands, turkey, med and Dubrovnik area. There were some super ports of call most of which we had been to before, but none the less still enjoyed seeing again.

We have sailed HAL a number of times and Celebrity even more (42 cruises in total) but there was something about the Neiuw Amsterdam that we just didn't like. Although food and entertainment is extremely subjective, we just felt that something was really missing on this cruise. Sadly the entertainment personel was reduced to just the cruise director as his right hand man had to fly to the Eurodam due to a staff crisis and the food in the buffett was far from HAL's standard -luke warm at best and repeated often. Its actually put us off booking HAL again. We love the S class ships so its back to Celebrity for us.

wow...lots of terrific information...I think they are both premium ships and I haven't cruised on either...but tending to Celebrity...thanks

We have sailed HAL recently because Father in law chose that ship and cruise itinerary. We enjoy X ships because of smoking rules, size of ship, friendliness of staff, more bars and lounging areas, brightness of common areas, more alternative nightly entertainment, and specialty restaurants. To me most important on Soltice class ships the Apple tv is outstanding for music and movies and on a TA it is important to us.

We have done seven HAL cruises in recent years including NIEUW AMSTERDAM for the 12 day Med.

We tried REFLECTION last Feb. and are going again next Winter as well as an upcoming 9 day on CONSTELLATION.

Would not hesitate to sail either line based more on itinerary and favorable pricing than concern over the ship.

We were also on this cruise and felt it was the best TA we have done. We have crossed on the Eclipse, Ruby & Emerald Princess as well Loved this ship.

We are crossing on the Infinity in October (Elite Celebrity & Princess 3 star mariner on HAL) Ontario Cruiser

Glad you enjoyed the NA too. We also did a crossing on the Ruby and Queen Victoria a few years back, both of those cruises were also first rate. Love those crossings.

We have sailed HAL recently because Father in law chose that ship and cruise itinerary. We enjoy X ships because of smoking rules, size of ship, friendliness of staff, more bars and lounging areas, brightness of common areas, more alternative nightly entertainment, and specialty restaurants. To me most important on Soltice class ships the Apple tv is outstanding for music and movies and on a TA it is important to us.

Great, will have to check this Apple TV out on the Silhouette. We loved the extensive library of DVDs HAL on the Nieuw Amsterdam... we often got a movie in the late afternoon to view in our cabin.

My biggest concern on HAL is the smoking allowed on balconies and the casino which is why we havent been back for 2 years. However, We found a great price on the Westerdam leaving a week after we get off the Summit repo cruise. If we find the smoking on the balconies to interfere with our cruise (we like to do breakfast on our balcony) we won't be back on HAL until they eliminate it.