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Do You Now Sail HAL But Used to Sail Celebrity?


ChucktownSteve
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Would you mind sharing why you switched and what you found to be the difference?

 

Someone on the Celebrity board said that HAL cruisers have always been one to two decades older than Celebrity cruisers. Is that true?

 

Truth is, if Celebrity and HAL were offering the same itinerary at the same price, Celebrity would be the easy choice for me. I prefer their more modern ships. Plus, I think they have better entertainment and better specialty restaurants.

 

The comment about age isn't too far off. Of the lines I've sailed, just speaking from my experience, HAL certainly has the oldest demographic. Don't expect much activity at night.

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We have cruised Celebrity and their sister brand Azamara almost exclusively for several years and still like the ships themselves, food, most of the shows, cabin amenities etc. which are as good or even better than HAL's. Loyalty perks ( we are Elite plus/Discoverer plus which is approx. like 5 star on HAL) are really good, for example free specialty coffees and teas, laundry, internet. Specialty restaurants and Aqua Class are expensive, though and we haven't tried a suite yet even if people seem to be raving about the suite amenities.

Still: we have mostly switched to Holland America now because we found the service in general top notch and cabin and dining room service better (except Celebrity's Aqua class) but especially the itineraries are much better and more interesting. On the other hand we are not always happy with Holland America now since they stopped having or reduced so many features we have come to love - from a librarian and a decent library ( still on Cunard ships....) to crew shows ( nothing on Koningsdam, luckily still on Prinsendam), Indonesian and Dutch teas and brunches etc. Whereas Celebrity now sometimes offers deals with an included beverage package and/ or OBC without rising prices first Holland America always now charges quite a lot more if a promotion appears.

If I won the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow I'd cruise Azamara, Paul Gauguin, Oceania and other premium lines, so it's still mostly a question of itinerary and price for us. Most of the time HAL still wins because of the ports offered but we'd also gladly book Celebrity again if they changed their policy of only offering routes we have already sailed several times.

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We cruise both lines....depending on pricing and itinerary. It is true (at least for all of our HAL cruises) that HAL tends to attract an older clientèle.....in fact the oldest passengers I have seen on any cruise line (and we have cruised on 14 lines). And yes, we would say that on average the HAL passengers are at least 1-2 decades older then what we encounter on our Celebrity cruises. We are young seniors and feel comfortable on both lines (and just about every other line). The biggest difference we see between our Celebrity and HAL cruises are the early to cabin/bed habits of most HAL passengers. On our recent Voyage of the Vikings cruise, DW and I closed down the piano bar many times (in 38 days) which was about midnight. On most nights there were fewer then 8 passengers awake at that very late time (midnight ?). In fact, Barry from Boston (the Piano Bar entertainer) once sang "5" from Sesame Street (as his last song) since there were only 5 of us left. This has never been the case on our Celebrity cruises where you will usually find a decent crowd sipping away at the Martini Bar (until the wee hours) and plenty of other folks in different venues.

 

Hank

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Wow, now I'm wondering if we'll enjoy a HAL cruise. It may have to be one & done.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

I suspect you will :)

 

The age demographics depends on how long the cruise is and the itinerary. A 7 day Caribbean will attract younger people just as it does on Celebrity.

 

A longer cruise usually will attract an older demographic as most people in the working world cannot take off 30 days at a time ;)

 

There is a big difference in the mix on any cruise ship on the shorter and longer cruises. At least that has been my experience on Oceania, Celebrity, NCL, Princess and a few now defunct cruise lines ;)

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We sail both pretty evenly. As several have mentioned it often comes down to price and itinerary. Price, for us, includes the various perks that Celebrity tends to bundle into more reasonable fares whereas HAL tends to really mark up prices for Explore4. For us, we haven't noticed major differences in service or food. We enjoy the drink package on X when included in a special offer (and I price that offer accordingly) but find that the lack of drink package on HAL isn't a big deterrent. We love the cabanas on HAL so if I can build a cruise rate that includes that and leaves room for my DH to buy his drinks, we're good to go too. We're not big show people so that isn't a factor at all but we do love live music - particularly guitarists. We haven't seen as much of that on HAL of late but do still find it on X. I would say that X patrons are, in general, younger than HAL and that's solely based on 7-day cruises. We're in our mid-40s and don't typically mind that. When there's no one else around, it's tough to get bad service!

 

Anyhow, the moral of the story is: six of one, half dozen of another. We find both lines to be a lovely break from reality and that's what counts to us. I think if you go in to a cruise expecting to have a great time, you'll rarely be disappointed.

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I've done 3 on Celebrity and decided to switch to Hal because in my opinion the food is better, I liked the mass being offered and wanted to try BB Kings. I also thought the ships are classier. When I was on NA I

Ike's the service better, the fresh flowers and I thought the drinks were better.

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I've done 3 on Celebrity and decided to switch to Hal because in my opinion the food is better, I liked the mass being offered and wanted to try BB Kings. I also thought the ships are classier. When I was on NA I

Ike's the service better, the fresh flowers and I thought the drinks were better.

 

That is encouraging as we love Celebrity but booked our first HAL cruise on the NA next month! We are excited to try a new cruise line and go to new ports, including HMC, it looks amazing! :D

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Think you will enjoy the aft cabin.

Can’t wait to read your review.

 

We've enjoyed an aft on M Class and S Class. Then have a couple of aft bookings on an R Class to Alaska in June and a full Panama Canal Transit in October later next year. Both are on the same ship, in the same cabin.

 

 

So I'll have something to compare. I'll give my opinions when I return since I won't have internet. I can't remember when I've had no perks before it's been that long ago. However I am going in with an open mind and lowered expectations though. That way I can be pleasantly surprised if they exceed them and not disappointed if they don't. I do want to see how good their burgers are! They've got to beat Celebrity on that. roflmao

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We cruise for the itinerary. We also consider price. We are retired and have the time for the longer cruises that HAL offers and Celebrity doesn't (generally). We also spend time on Princess (and have been on NCL and Carnival). Because we pick the itinerary and we have the time, it tends to draw an older demographic. It only makes sense on that.

 

We did a 14-day/7-day back-to-back on Ryndam and few years ago. Much different group of people. The 7-day had lots and lots of youngsters, even though schools were in session. It was fun to have them there. The 14 day were old because they had the time to get away that younger folks don't.

 

For a 10-day to the canal, you'll have a good mixed demographic.

 

Jim

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I've only cruised Celebrity previously and now have my first HAL cruised booked, with nothing booked on Celebrity for the future.

 

As a solo traveler, I've grown frustrated with Celebrity's policy of rarely offering cruise fares for solos under 200%, and often on last minute cruises, asking more than 200%, or not offering a solo the ability to book. Yes, the double loyalty points are nice, but my upcoming HAL cruise is only costing me $300 over the per person double occupancy rate. I'll be taking an 18 day cruise for the same amount I spent on my last Celebrity cruise which as 7 days.

 

My dining table on my last Celebrity cruise was 3 couples all in their 80s and myself, at half their ages. I was younger than any of their children. And we had a delightful time with lovely conversation. So I'm not at all worried about the age of the HAL clientele.

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We have 80 past cruises . <ost of our cruises had been with Celebrity & then RCCL ships .We have also sailed HAL ,Princess & Carnival .

 

Our main reason for preferring HAL are :

 

1) they cruise from our home port here in San Diego & thus we don't need to fly

 

2) Their itineraries are generally better than Celebrity

 

3) service & food quality seem to be better

 

4) We like the smaller ships

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My wife and I have also sailed both Celebrity and HAL (and many other cruise lines too). We generally choose according to itinerary and price, but prefer Celebrity ships to HAL's on the whole. Celebrity ships tend to have a more contemporary vibe, which we prefer, but HAL tends to have more interesting itineraries. The older HAL ships are pretty shabby in my view with some grotesque styling but Koningsdam has broken with tradition and is much closer to Celebrity in design and overall feel. I assume the same will be true of the Nieuw Statendam which is due for launch next year. In my opinion food is about the same on both lines but there's too much "nickel-and-diming" on Celebrity and $45-$50pp for speciality restaurants (which aren't that special in my view) is OTT. I can't say that I've noticed any significant difference in demographics on any of the cruise lines we've travelled on. On Koningsdam in the Baltic last year the age profile was lower than we've experienced elsewhere but maybe that's because it was a port-intensive cruise with lots of activities and walking. In conclusion, we'll happily sail on either Celebrity or HAL if the itinerary and price are right.

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Would you mind sharing why you switched and what you found to be the difference?

 

Someone on the Celebrity board said that HAL cruisers have always been one to two decades older than Celebrity cruisers. Is that true?

 

As a one who tries different cruise lines, I'd answer the question with yes and no...

 

I've been on Koningsdam in Aug/Sep 2017 and did not notice that the crowd has been significantly older than X's crowd - it always depends on the itinerary and travel time, so the mix of guests varies from cruise to cruise.

We had a mix of older people, adults, youth and families with kids, average age I'd estimate around 45/50.

 

In 2013, after sailing some cruises with the mediocre MSC and Costa Cruises, we've booked Ceelebrity Cruises on Summit, and we've been really impressed - even compared to Princess, we got to know in 2009, we perceived Celebrity as the best major cruise line on the seven seas:

-very professional service

-high fare and special food dishes (e. g. Sushi at the buffet for free)

-culinary extra events, like Gala Brunch

 

But even I started to love Celebrity in 2013/14, I always was keen to try out HAL, and now that Celebrity has been going significantly downhill and has cut a lot of those extra things I mentioned above, I got to know HAL in 2017, with a lot of extras they feature, compared to Celebrity.

In 2015 on our last Celebrity cruise Inoticed some cutbacks, which have even increased until 2017...

 

So I cannot say that I used to sail Celebrity, and due to the down going quality I changed to HAL.

I have my frames and categories every cruise line needs to fulfil for me, and within those frames I select the cruise lines, and also try something new, if those criteris seem to be fulfilled...

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We started sailing on RCCL, then switched to Celebrity, then two couples we know asked us to come on a HAL cruise thru the Panama Canal 17 days, next hal cruise 30 days to Tahiti, next cruise 42 days to Europe. I have done shorter cruises with the "girls", but even those we have done on HAL. I loved the Celebrity Summit and if we didn't have to fly to Puerto Rico I would love to do her again. I love not needing to fly. We did have to fly back from San Diego three times, but our last cruise to Europe we left and returned to Ft. Lauderdale. We like longer cruises and HAL offers them.

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We are in our 40's and would cruise HAL or Celebrity depending on itinerary. We did a great transatlantic on Celebrity and had every intention of booking another cruise with them this year but the itineraries didn't interest us. I prefer being able to buy unlimited wifi on Celebrity and the new modern ships but that's about the only benefit. We eat almost exclusively in specialty restaurants and even though Celebrity has more options HAL is more special.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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While I have the most cruise days on HAL (over 800), I have many on other cruise lines including Princess, Cunard, and great cruise lines of the past such as Royal Viking Cruises in the 80's, Royal Cruise line, and a few others that have either folded or were subsumed by another line.

 

In my experience, the length of the cruise and the itinerary have a GREAT DEAL of influence on the age & interests of the folks on board. In large part, as pointed out by others, because of the cost (not per day, but for the cruise) AND available vacation time. It is hard, if at all possible, for many working folks to take 30+ days of travel/year. Many retired folks can assuming they have sufficient disposable income.

 

Usually our cruises are now over 25 days, sometimes in the 70+ days range. A few times we have gone on 7 day or less cruises with groups of friends. I know that my behavior is VERY different on these types of cruises. On the 7 day or less, even without friends on board, I am up late partying, singing, drinking, etc. On a 30+ day cruise that gets old and I prefer to have quieter evenings and get up early to enjoy the sunrise, peace and quiet on the decks, etc. If you are a party/have fun evening/night person - on a 7 day cruise I would be right there with you, on even a 25+ day cruise - maybe once a week, other than that, NO. I'd be in my cabin - on my veranda if I have one and if weather permits, enjoying solitude. Days - busy when in port, busy on sea days around the ship.

 

A few years ago I was on a Princess cruise through the Panama Canal, etc. It was 21 days. I asked the CD about the difference, if any, between the folks on that cruise and those on other Caribbean only cruises. He said there was a HUGE difference in passenger age AND the nightlife (or at least those who stayed-up for the nightlife). He said you would hardly think it was the same ship and Cruise Line in terms of the folks they attracted for these two different lengths of cruises.

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What a great thread. This question is perfect for our scenario. We love Princess, but decided to "shop around". We are going on our first Celebrity cruise out of San Juan (Summit) on December 2nd. We have our first HAL out of FLL (Nieuw Amsterdam) scheduled for March 24th. We are late 40's. After reading these post, can't wait to compare.

 

Jason and LaRaine

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I do want to see how good their burgers are! They've got to beat Celebrity on that. roflmao

 

The Dive In burgers (and dogs!) are the best I've tasted on any ship. You won't be disappointed!

Try the "Dunkin Dog" ... unless you have an aversion to jalapenos. :evilsmile: :cool:

 

Enjoy!

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I do want to see how good their burgers are! They've got to beat Celebrity on that. roflmao

 

 

Yes, that is one area that certainly favors HAL. Celebrity just has the poolside grill without any specific theme, so the burgers are pretty generic. Dive-In on HAL has different flavors and the burgers are made to order.

 

I don't agree with Vic about them being the best. I think RCI's Johnny Rockets and Carnival's Guy's are much better.....but like I said, HAL's are definitely better than Celebrity's.

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