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I've cruised on both lines extensively, to Japan on Celebrity. The quality of the cruises is very close and I don't think you can go wrong with either one. You may have to compare the ships to make a decision. As MrCruiser stated, the theatre production shows on Celebrity are much better. The crew on both ships come from Indonesia and Philippines but beyond that, Celebrity has many eastern Europeans mixed in. Celebrity has many Greek Officers whereas HAL has many from the Netherlands. We liked the food better on HAL than on Celebrity and the service is exceptional on both lines. We have cruised on HAL 10x since September of last year and loved the HAL entertainment other than the shows. Compare the ship layout, the ports to be visited and the roll calls of the ships that you are comparing. Japan is an amazing experience.

I just had my "handle" changed. Our Rotterdam sailings are 2 - 21 day itineraries that are really 6 back to back cruises.

April 29 Zaandam and May 6 for 2nd week. Nov 3 to Dec 15 for Rotterdam

Zaandam B2B Montreal to Boston our 11th and 12th HAL cruise since last September. I'm celebrating a birthday and getting close to 300 days on HAL. We're also booked on Rotterdam for 6 weeks starting in November.

We're on the same cruise. This past January we left N Statendam with Pneumonia and my wife took 8 weeks to recover. In September I left the N Statendam and tested positive for covid when I arrived home 8 hrs later. Ships are great for relaxation but the bugs on board that infect us are just looking to spread the joy.

I just don't understand people who book a cruise so that they can eat ashore. If one does not like the food onboard, why not just drive to a port so that you can enjoy a donut or something more significant such as a lobster roll. What I do remember about bar harbor is the story about a tender running into an island in the fog. I like to see tours around or away from the city but then I'm not a foodie but enjoy unique landscapes. Cruise companies know that some cities don't want 1,000's of pax flooding a town but despite that they still offer destinations which they will cancel after final payment. Few people read the fine print but strangely continue to believe in the cruise brochures offering ports they wish to visit.

When we cruised back to back on N Statendam Nov-Jan, there were between 200 and 600 guests doing the same