Hal loyalist giving Celebrity a try

Well we did it!!! We just booked the Millennium Oct 5, 2006 med cruise. I really love the itinerary and the price was considerably lower than the HAL cruises we were considering.

One other deciding factor was the great chatter on your roll call boards, I felt that we had a better chance of making "connections" to share private tours here than elsewhere.

I am really looking forward to my first celebrity cruise!!! I am begging all of you who are cruising the med to keep posting great reviews and tons of information, after all I only have 15 monthe to plan!!!

Trust me.

You will have a great time.

Ships, food , service slightly better than HAL.

No need to fight to get early seating dinner.

We jumped the HAL ship last year ourselves and took Celebrity's Galaxy out of Galveston in March. It was a great cruise, maybe the best we've been on. Certainly would second that the food and service on the Galaxy was far better than what we got on the Oosterdam the previous March. We back to HAL this coming March but that's due to cost, timing and choice of itinerary and not because of any dissatisfaction with Celebrity.

While it's been a while since I did a Hal Cruise, I think you'll like the refinement of the Celebrity Cruise. On the Mecury, at near full capacity we never felt crowded. Dinners were delightful. We had a great time meeting fellow passengers.

You'll have to come back to the boards and let us know how it went.

We are also HAL fans going on our first Celebrity cruise this week (July 17). It was a deal to good to pass up. Everything I have read makes me certain it will be a great cruise. I'll let you know.

I am going the other way.....twice on the Millie (and you will LOVE it), but trying the HAL Westerdam this December to see how it is .

I have been on both (and several others as well). Each has its srong points/

The HAL suites are larger and the S category offerss some vey nice perks.

The food is aout same IMO.

Gene in Birmingham

Celebrity is a fine cruiseline!

After 20 cruises, eight with Celebrity and three on HAL, these two lines have become our favorites. Celebrity shines in dining room cuisine, overall service, and an elegant European atmosphere. Hal has a little larger cabins, with great bedding, and a cheerful Indonesian crew. The lido buffet on HAL seems to have a better selection and out does Celebrity in some areas (like desserts). Entertainment varies from ship to ship, but is pretty similar. Both companies provide a quality experience.

We keep trying Princess, Royal Caribbean and NCL, but even though they have wonderful ships, great activities, super itineraries.., they come up short in overall service, they have crowded ships, and lact a quality cuisine.

We have never had a bad cruise!:D

Kel

My husband and I have been on 22 HAL cruises since 1996. Our last cruise on HAL was on the Rotterdam in Europe last year. The sevice "left a lot to be desired" to say the least. Not because of the lack of trying on the part of the waiters, cabin stewards, etc. It was because they were spread too thin. I gave up on deserts at dinner, because it took an average of 25 minutes to get a piece of cake. This year we have taken 2 Celebrity cruises and have another booked....why?...service, service, service...IMO..it is great!... what HAL was when we first started cruising with HAL. Also, after 22 cruises with HAL, the only thing we have ever gotten was a couple of free drinks. We are not giving up entirely on HAL, as we are booked this OCT., and curious to see if anything has changed.

Thanks everyone, now I don't feel like such a traitor!!

Cruisers739, I'm sorry to hear about your experience on the Rotterdam, that is my favorite ship and if the price difference hadn't been so great we were looking to sail her in 2006. We took the Oosterdam through the canal this year and even though shes a big ship the service was better than we expected (though still not as good as on the smaller ships).

I am really looking forward to the food and service on Celeb. Hoping that even though its a large ship you get small ship attention.

I too was a HAL loyalist, who has her first Celebrity cruise booked for Sept 16th to the Med. The primary reason was the availability to get a suite on Celebrity when all of the Rotterdam suites were already sold out. I have always had good service on HAL, but agree that they have spread the staff a little too thin sometimes recently. I know they are having more Visa problems with Indonesian staff. That being said, I am not usually in too big a hurry on a cruise,so if I have to wait a little while longer, I try not to get too upset.

I too am looking forward to trying Celebrity, as I know they are well respected in the Cruise field. The one thing I didn't like about Princess was staff kept trying to "sell" me on a bigger tip and it felt awkward to me, after HAL's low key tipping policy and a Radisson "no tip" cruise. How will the tipping be on Celebrity? Is it automatically taken from my shipboard account, or do I have to bring cash? If cash, should I do it in Euros or US dollars? If I give a staff member extra tip, does anyone know if they can keep it? I usually take phone cards with me to give to staff so they can call home as well.

To all you Celebrity experts, what perks, if any do I get in a sky suite? HAL offers free dry cleaning and laundry, services I love, as well as snacks, etc for your suite. I can live without anything extra, but really don't want to! Thanks,

We added our tips on our shipboard account. For those who gave us exceptional service we tipped a little extra in cash (US dollars) on the last day of the cruise. We also sail Holland but feel Celebrity is a notch above in service. Holland tries hard and gets an A for effort but Celebrity IMO is better. Give me the Holland S Suite, Neptune Lounge on a Celebrity ship and now you have a perfect cruise. Enjoy your planning. I think you will enjoy your Celebrity experience.

You have the choice of tipping in cash, or having it added to your shipboard account. We gave cash last time but this time I'm going to use the onboard account since I recently received the Celebrity MBNA card, so I'll get double points for the tips.

I am looking forward to our cruise next week and will be aware of any differences in service between an 11 day and a 7 day cruise. We may be in more of a hurry in Alaska with all the shore excursions, so it will make a difference if service is not speedy at some meals. Guess i can always do the buffet if I'm in a hurry rather than try to do a dining room meal and be late for an excursion.

Welcome, glad you have come over from the dark side!

We were expecting another HAL experience when we booked our first Celebrity cruise.

Although our Zaandam experience was impeccible, we did find:

The Galaxy did not effectively shut down at 9:30pm like the Zaandam did.

The food was far more flavorful. Felt the HALL food was very bland ( to suit the widest range of tastes possilbe) while the Galaxy food offered more variety and tasty (Purely a personal observation).

The Galaxy did not cause us perminant hearing loss as does HAL with their BINGo announcements.

We truly relished the Celebrity experience.

Guess you can count me in as a HAL loyalist going back to Celebrity. :) Actually sailed the Millenneum in 2000 and enjoyed it, just prefer HAL's smaller ships. We will be cruising to Alaska on the Summit in Summer 2006 with our sons. Celebrity offered an itinerary with both Sitka and Skagway, and HAL has none that include both of those ports. Am looking forward to the cruise!!

After four Celebrity cruises in a row, we decided this spring to give HAL another chance and took their Tampa to San Diego Panama Canal repositioning cruise. It was good, but we felt that the quality of service had fallen off dramactically both in cabin service and in the dining room since our last HAL cruise four years ago. The waiters were so rushed that there was never any time to get to know them on a personal basis. And it was a lot later in the day before your cabin was made up.

I missed the waiters carrying your tray for you in the buffet and the ice towels coming back from shore excursions. The food was about on a par overall. And, unless Celebrity has upgraded its mattresses in the last year, the new HAL mattresses are five notches above anything offered by Celebrity. But a mattress doth not a cruise make. Next year, bucks permitting, we will be back with Celebrity.

Ah, the silence. No bingo announcements!

Fr. George+

I agree with what has been said here - the Suites & bedding on HAL is nicer than Celebrity but the food on Celebrity (with the exception of the bread) is better than HAL. The HAL food is too bland, perhaps to cater to the somewhat older demographic. I also felt that the Celebrity ship was livelier than HAL, although HAL has a classier more upscale feel to it.

Bryan

agree with all your points. We will give HAL a rest for about 15-20 more years. Sailed 3 times with them, and the Rotterdam was really the only ship that we really liked a lot. We seem to be getting about 2- 3 pieces of mail a week right now from HAL.