HAL or Celebrity

[lightsleeper]

Looking at a 2016 European cruise.

HAL Oosterdam vs Celebrity Reflection

Ports are very similar.. Have sailed on Celebrity but not on HAL

Would appreciate differences comments

[Windsailer]

Is there a price difference?

 

Celebrity seems to offer better promotions than HAL does.

 

Having sailed all the Vista class ships, I won't sail again on the Oosterdam. Poor room steward, rude Maitre 'D in the MDR and several other problems.

 

Having heard great things about the Reflection I'm doing a B2B on her this fall - Eastern Med and then the TA. For the Eastern Med I got free gratuties, free beverage package and a lot of OBC.

[iancal]

We have sailed on Vista class and Solstice class (Reflection is one).

 

By far, our preference is Solstice class. This is a personal choice. We like the layout and Solstice ships seem to be in much better shape. They also seem to us to be much brighter and open. Actually, the Solstice class ships are our favourite of any other cruise line that we have experienced with the exception of Crystal.

 

But, if your cruise is very port intensive, which many Med cruises are, does it really matter that much? If there was a good price savings we would have no issue with a Vista class ship on a port intensive cruise.

 

Our decision came down to price. Fortunately on two occasions that meant a Solstice class ship, and on another a Millenium class ship. Celebrity seems to have much better sale prices- most especially on their Tuesday specials.

Edited April 10, 2015 by iancal

[jmps]

We sail both, our last cruise was on the Equinox and the next on the Eurodam (essentially a slightly larger Vista).

 

I agree completely with the last posting. We love the Solstice Class ships. They feel so open and bright. One issue not mentioned is smoking policy. If you are sensitive to smoke the Celebrity smoking policy is more restrictive and much preferred.

Edited April 10, 2015 by jmps

[Germancruiser]

Well I am a loyal ( well almost , exept for the last two years) X cruiser. I just was no longer really satisfied with the product so I changed to HAL and Cunard.

For me the Solstice Class ships are much nicer then HAL´s Vista Class! I just can speak for Zuiderdam, which i think is a Vista Class vessel, it seemed more colorfull, a bit on the bright side!

Prommenade Deck- BIG PLUS für HAL´s Vista Class ( Millenium is much better in the " Prommenade Deck compartment ")

Spezialty Coffee and Tea- BIG PLUS für Celebrity´s Al Bacio ( they should have a coffee house style venue, were they serve fine tea in nice and proper china! )

Food- here I found HAL better then X

Service HAL 9 out of 10 / Celebrity 7 out of 10

Perks- well can´t speak for HAL´s , Elite Plus with X so I like ther perks but even with those I am going to sail Niew Amsterdam next January!

Don´t ever believe in X´s " Modern Luxury " slogan! That is just a joke and not a nice one at that!

[Ky Colonel]

Looking at a 2016 European cruise.

HAL Oosterdam vs Celebrity Reflection

Ports are very similar.. Have sailed on Celebrity but not on HAL

Would appreciate differences comments

 

... for my wife and me, this is a "no brainer", as HAL is the only cruise line that has a Catholic priest on EVERY cruise, which means that we can attend daily Mass on our HAL cruises. So, if having daily Mass is important to you, the choice is easy - HAL!!!

 

Rod

[Aquahound]

Looking at a 2016 European cruise.

HAL Oosterdam vs Celebrity Reflection

Ports are very similar.. Have sailed on Celebrity but not on HAL

Would appreciate differences comments

 

No comparison here. I've been on both ship classes and I would choose Celebrity Solstice Class anyway over HAL Vista Class.

[Stateroom_Sailor]

If you are sensitive to smoke the Celebrity smoking policy is more restrictive and much preferred.

 

If Itinerary and price were the same, I would choose Celebrity. However HAL keeps sending me these flyers in the mail with interesting looking itineraries, which is more important to me than the ship. I probably wouldn't book anything higher than OV because of the smoking policy.

 

Does anyone know if smoking is permitted on a Lanai stateroom deck?

[TraelorMex]

... for my wife and me, this is a "no brainer", as HAL is the only cruise line that has a Catholic priest on EVERY cruise, which means that we can attend daily Mass on our HAL cruises. So, if having daily Mass is important to you, the choice is easy - HAL!!!

 

Rod

 

Ditto for our protestant friends :)