Do You Now Sail HAL But Used to Sail Celebrity?

and I can eat Johnny Rockets here at home so I don't want them on my cruise ship - give me HAL any day

=X= is still our go to, but ... pricing for the cruises we want to do are just ridiculous. Add to that their president is, in my opinion, not up to the task, and we are trying Hal again after a 5 or 6 year absence. Like the OP, this will be our first cruise in a long time without "perks". I must add that =X='s suites are much better than the Neptune's and Signiture's that we sailed in on previous HAL cruises. There is no comparison between Michael's Club and the Neptune lounge, Luminae, the suite restaurant, is wonderful, and the butler service is helpful arranging whatever you need.

I remember HAL fondly, and we go into this cruise next month with an open mind, and we are certain that we will have a great cruise on what we believe will be a wonderful new ship.

Ken

Love the Thai specialty restaurant on most HAL ships.

BB KINGS really rock, a big update on HAL.

But most of all: the service on HAL is superb.

Love smaller ships.

(X has a nice fresh food bar on the pool deck and good speakers)

I took my first Celebrity cruise for my 50th birthday... we did Aqua class and loved it... especially Blue. That said, I felt like there was too much partying and too loud of music for my taste. The pools were also very crowded and it felt a little like a Disney world rush at times. So we tried HAL... sure the ships may not have the modern wow factor... but they are super nice... refined elegance. I would compare the HAL ships with the Disney cruise line. In fact, I'd say that the whole experience is more refined in a good way. The ships are smaller and other than the Lido rush, I found more places to relax, enjoy the ambiance, and feel like I was really vacationing. I never had a problem finding a chair by the pool.

I had no complaints about the food and the specialty dining was less expensive but equally as good. Over all, I'd say the service on HAL was superb... much, much better than Celebrity. Of course... every opinion is subjective! [emoji41]

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The Silhouette is an outstanding ship and my personal favourite.:D

and I can eat Johnny Rockets here at home so I don't want them on my cruise ship - give me HAL any day

The thread was about Celebrity vs HAL. There are no Johnny Rockets on Celebrity. And, as a both a 5 Star Mariner and Elite Plus....I can tell you that the alternative restaurants on Celebrity are in a class way above the Pinnacle. DW and I do enjoy lunch (and to a lesser degree) dinner in the Pinnacle.....but when compared to Murano (on Celebrity) its like comparing Longhorn Steakhouse to a top restaurant.

Celebrity also has its burger place (just like Dive In) and I would give the edge to HAL's Dive In......but just an edge.

Hank

The thread was about Celebrity vs HAL. There are no Johnny Rockets on Celebrity. And, as a both a 5 Star Mariner and Elite Plus....I can tell you that the alternative restaurants on Celebrity are in a class way above the Pinnacle. DW and I do enjoy lunch (and to a lesser degree) dinner in the Pinnacle.....but when compared to Murano (on Celebrity) its like comparing Longhorn Steakhouse to a top restaurant.

 

Celebrity also has its burger place (just like Dive In) and I would give the edge to HAL's Dive In......but just an edge.

I totally agree with this post. I'll go one further to say I wish HAL had an equivalent to Celebrity's Bistro on 5. The lunches in there are great, but those crepes....wow. What I wouldn't give for one of their Nutella crepes right now.

We cruise much more on Celebrity than we do on HAL. we are no loyal to any line. Last few have been neither HAL or Celebrity.

Why? Comes down to the ships and to the amenities. We like Celebrity ships, especially the newer Solstice class vessels, and we like the choice of dining venues.

The HAL fleet is getting a bit long in the tooth and those older ships have fewer choices, fewer dining options.

I totally agree with this post. I'll go one further to say I wish HAL had an equivalent to Celebrity's Bistro on 5. The lunches in there are great, but those crepes....wow. What I wouldn't give for one of their Nutella crepes right now.

Except that Bistro on 5 has now become Sushi on 5. Which is fine with me but came about with much wringing of hands on the Celebrity forum...

I totally agree with this post. I'll go one further to say I wish HAL had an equivalent to Celebrity's Bistro on 5. The lunches in there are great, but those crepes....wow. What I wouldn't give for one of their Nutella crepes right now.

The Bistro on 5 is now gone (from all the ships) and replaced by a Sushi Place that is not nearly as nice. They do have a few other items other then Sushi....but the crepes are gone. DW and used to also love those crepes (she always got the Nutella for dessert) and that was our "go to" place for the embarkation lunch.

Hank

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

We sailed the Viking Crossing on the Zuiderdam. Every ship and mix of guests are definitely different. We closed down the Plano Bar almost every night and on average 20-30 were still singing and enjoying their beverage of choice. And the casino was loud and active long after the PB singers sang adieu!

Except that Bistro on 5 has now become Sushi on 5. Which is fine with me but came about with much wringing of hands on the Celebrity forum...

The Bistro on 5 is now gone (from all the ships) and replaced by a Sushi Place that is not nearly as nice. They do have a few other items other then Sushi....but the crepes are gone. DW and used to also love those crepes (she always got the Nutella for dessert) and that was our "go to" place for the embarkation lunch.

Darn it. That was also my go-to place for lunch. Oh well. I guess all things change. :(

I have purchased both HAL and Celebrity over the years. Due to cutbacks on both lines, in September I experienced my first Oceania product.

Outstanding.

Oceania is what Celebrity and HAL used to be before all the cutbacks and changes.

If you wish to experience outstanding included restaurant selections, food choice and quality, excellent service everywhere, no blaring music, patrons that are classy and dress country club, afternoon tea to die for, classy entertainment - try Oceania.

No shrilling to sell things like on Celebrity, no art auctions - the commercialization of the mass lines is not on Oceania.

Also, all guests mingle in lounges and restaurants - no overt class segmentation and isolation like on Celebrity - in fact many guests on my sailing were former Celebrity Elite and above who disliked the growing suite snobbery on Celebrity and moved their business to Oceania.

Many times a day my spouce and I kept saying "this is like the old Celebrity".

There comes a time when your old service provider can not longer meet your requirements - many cruise customers are finding the mass cruise lines are going in a direction that does not work for them. Hence the true premium lines (no Celebrity, you are not a premium line), like Oceania, Azamara etc

So glad we patronized Oceania so we are now able to evaluated service providers.

Happy sailing.

I did one HAL Cruise and that was enough to put me off for a very long time. I would however be open to trying Koningsdam or NS but my preference is Celebrity.

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

Do report your impressions of both, please! I was more of an NCL guy, but I'm sailing HAL more and more. (Did I mention I just turned 50?) Nieuw Amsterdam is a slick ship and is likely my favorite, but I may change my mind after I sail Nieuw Statendam a year and a half from now. I keep feeling like I should try Celebrity, but I mostly sail solo and Celebrity prices are generally higher than HAL. I wonder if the premium is worth it, especially as the thermal suite on HAL is better. That said, Celebrity has a Queensland/Great Barrier Reef cruise that is essentially similar to a Princess cruise that I keep putting off. That might be my opportunity to give them a try.

I did one HAL Cruise and that was enough to put me off for a very long time. I would however be open to trying Koningsdam or NS but my preference is Celebrity.

Would you mind being more specific about what put you off?

Would you mind being more specific about what put you off?

The food was really bland and not very good service. Buffet had very limited hours when coming back from tours. Surf & Turf without the Turf, wait 20 minutes to get the other part. Twice they passed off fake crab as Alaska King Crab and Dungeness Crab (we were sailing Alaska). I really hate how they have the air conditioning above the bed with no way to turn it off, we both came home with raging head colds. We had hot water issues in our cabin. We really must have hit the perfect storm of a bad cruise because they couldn't be that bad and still be in business. We're both very hesitant to return though. Once bitten....

We are Elite Plus on Celebrity and also high level on Princess. I agree with so much of what has already been said about the slippery slope of services being eliminated.....though i still appreciate the loyalty perks on X. Love my wine but don't need a beverage package to have fun. But like most folks on this thread, looking for a change. We are booked on the 18 day Hawaii trip in January and will be curious as to how it goes. We took HAL because we prefer to cruise out of SanDiego and Princess has 1 less day on the islands. Be curious to hear feedback about things like line dancing or Zumba. I have already accepted the fact that it will be an older crowd because of length of trip. Hey, Im not that young but still love some peppy exercise! Really was disappointed when X started changing for exercise stuff that used to be free and prefer not to pay $15 just to find out if i can really DO the class. I also like to go to lectures but from what I'm reading here that could be a disappointment. Which ship had the overhead AC? wouldn't like that either......we are on Oosterdam

We did HAL only for about 6 cruises, but just switched to Celebrity for a Transpacific last month, our only other Celebrity cruise as at least 10 years ago on the old Century. We generally choose according to itinerary and price. That being said I give HAL an edge on food in the MDR and cabin service. Our last 3 HAL cruises we had aft balcony cabin and we also did on the Millie's TP. I give HAL an edge on the quality of the furnishings in the cabin and the service. I'd give Celebrity an edge on the speciality restaurants and the music venous around the ship.

Also agree HAL tends to attract an older passenger, but don't think it is 2 decades older on average, maybe 1.

Both a good experiences and I'm sure you'll have a great cruise on HAL.