Holland America vs. Princess, RCCL, Celebrity

[sppunk]

HAL DOES NOT allow smoking on Balconies any more....

 

Um, yes they do.

[Hlitner]

HAL DOES NOT allow smoking on Balconies any more....

 

If only that were true! Actually they DO ALLOW smoking and we are not talking just cigarettes (which is bad enough). On HAL you could be surrounded on all sides by cigarette, cigar and pipe smokers who puff away whenever you are on your balcony. And for the record, we are 4 Star Mariners on HAL (with over 350 days) but recently cancelled an expensive booking and have no immediate plans to book future cruises (primarily because of their smoking policy).

 

Hank

Edited August 7, 2015 by Hlitner

[George C]

I have sailed all lines mentioned, including 4 times on Hal, I have one major problem with Hal that is the entertainment, RCCL is so much better, you will not see ice shows or any live music past 11:30, which is why we went back to RCCL. In general food is about the same, but Hal does have a great steak restaurant Pinnacle which is much nicer than chops on RCCL. I am sure the new ship will be very nice.

[qsuzi]

As the OP is considering the Koningsdam, I'm not sure this would be meaningful to them...

 

There are a few places where having a slightly smaller ship is a benefit, but I've found that unless you sail on the ships that are Prinsendam-sized or smaller, the places you dock are the ones that can accommodate large vessels.

 

Thanks. This is good to know.

[oliver1821]

Sailed on all the ships and agree with most of the posters. Hal and Celebrity as a lot alike...Did the Med on Celebrity and it is very port intensive, only time I had an inside stateroom and it was fine as we really were never in the cabin except to sleep!

 

Last 2 cruises have been on Hal and I think the food is a step above Celebrity. Did not care for Princess and stopped sailing RCCL when Celebrity arrived.

[WisRiver]

We are 3* on HAL and sailed on Celebrity for the first time in April on a Florida/Italy repositioning cruise. We were on the 2000 passenger Constellation in April, and in October, 2014 were on the Prinsendam on a Black Sea cruise. We have also done three repositioning cruises on HAL. I prefer HAL. We do not use the MDR very often. The Lido on HAL serves pretty much the same dinner menu as the MDR, while on the Celebrity the Lido was constantly disappointing. The MDR menus on both ships were about the same. We did not eat in any of the premium restaurants on our last HAL trip or the Celebrity.

 

We do not buy any drinks packages. I like to buy a bottle of liquor for our cabin. The Celebrity package was twice the HAL

 

Finally, I like the library on HAL. Since we like to do repositioning cruises we have lots of sea days. The Celebrity library is a joke. While I bring a Kindle loaded with things to read, I always find something interesting to read. Plus the library on HAL ships is close to the Explorations Cafe, so it is easy to get something to drink.

 

Unless the itinerary is exceptional, I would choose HAL.

[iancal]

If your cruise is port intensive, as they usually are, and you are will be very active on port days forget all the great advice about libraries, entertainment, pool are, drinks packages, optional restaurants,etc.

 

You will be very tired at the end of the day. Besides, the entertainment on all of the cruise lines you mentioned, in our experience, is hardly worth staying up for if you have had multiple busy days. This will be different if you plan to spend all of your waking hours on the ship. Can you see yourselves spending much time in the library?

 

Go for the best value on one of your preferred ships/cruise lines. Really, one year later your memories will be about the Baltic ports that you visited rather than the various attributes of the ship you select.

 

All of the cruise line boosters, whichever cruise line, will tell you in earnest that you should be going with their preferred cruise line. Food, entertainment, service is subject to personal likes/dislikes and in our experience can be extremely variable on HAL, RCI, Celebrity, or Princess. Not one of them delivers a truly consistent product (in our experience)-most especially in the MDR.

Edited August 7, 2015 by iancal

[OlsSalt]

As the OP is considering the Koningsdam, I'm not sure this would be meaningful to them...

 

There are a few places where having a slightly smaller ship is a benefit, but I've found that unless you sail on the ships that are Prinsendam-sized or smaller, the places you dock are the ones that can accommodate large vessels.

 

I believe even HAL's larger and newer ships are still smaller than most other mainstream cruise lines. HAL tops in 2000 plus passenger level. Most of the other newer mainstream cruise lines appear to start in the 3000's. Which makes me appreciate those grand old HAL R and S ladies in the 1200-1400 passenger size all the more. Long may they sail.

[Tennessee Titan]

Deleted

Edited August 7, 2015 by Tennessee Titan

[Tante Amalie]

I would agree with most of the posts here. These are all mainstream cruise lines and the similarities outnumber the differences. We did the Baltic on HAL and it was fine. There was a time when one could argue that HAL offered higher quality than the others, but that is sadly no longer true. They have been on a cost cutting drive that has reduced them to mainstream status. On the other hand, they do offer some nice bargains if you book late in the game.

 

In my experience (5 Star on HAL), the biggest issue is the lack of consistency. You can have a wonderful cruise on HAL with outstanding service on one trip and get lousy food, poor stewards and long lines on the next trip. It can happen on any of their ships. We did the Baltic on the Rotterdam in 2012 after taking a South America trip on the same ship 6 months earlier. The first Rotterdam cruise was among the worst HAL trips we've ever had. We booked the Baltic on the Rotterdam with great trepidation and low expectations and we had some of the best food and service HAL has ever given us. Go figure.

[iancal]

Absolutely agree with your comment regarding consistency.

 

It is not only a HAL challenge, other cruise lines have the same issue to different degrees. Especially so with HAL when it comes to the physical condition of the ship and/or cabin.

 

Taking a cruise on HAL and some others is a bit like buying a box a Cracker Jacks. You know what the lowest common denominator might be however the hidden prize can vary greatly, or in some cases just not be present.

[InCruiseMode]

We are Diamond Plus on RCCL and Elite Plus on Celebrity. Have been on Cunard, Seabourn, Princess and Holland America multiple times. We recently went on Holland America for the second time to Alaska. We were pleasantly surprised by the Noordam that it was more of the old school oceanliner we enjoy. The staff was very friendly, the specialty restaurants were great (never went in MDR), and the furnishings, though a bit dated in areas, was classic and in good shape. We were so impressed we have booked the Westerdam for November out of Miami and plan on doing the new HA ship next year. I would recommend trying HA, but maybe a newer ship.

[kelmac]

In this list:

 

#1 -- Celebrity -- very restrictive smoking policy; better MDR/Alternative Restaurant food; bright modern decor; active and interactive officers; best loyalty program.

 

#2 -- Royal Caribbean -- really interesting ships, but large; their new generation Q-class feels more like a Celebrity ship; so so food, on par with Princess; great entertainment.

 

#3 -- Holland America -- smoking policy a real bummer; very good MDR food and Lido can be great; very traditional and dark decor; warm, asian feel and good service; older clientele.

 

#4 -- Princess -- good basic company; crowded areas of their ships; so so food, including the alternative restaurants; nice deck areas; small showers.

 

I've cruised all four (27+10+9+3) and agree with those above who point out that there are more similarities than differences.

 

Enjoy!

Kel:)

[OlsSalt]

We don't smoke and we don't like to be around smoking. However this has never been a major problem when we sail HAL ships. Mainly confined to the casino area and one part of the aft deck.

 

Very rarely have we had the occasional smoker on a balcony next to ours, but that was only a brief interference - as long as the time it takes to smoke one cigarette?

 

Others offer horror stories about non-stop smokers (cigars and worse?) on the adjoining balcony, but this has never been our experience. So one apparently pays their money and takes their chances, since HAL ships still do allow smoking in very limited areas. If you win the lucky balcony draw, the other few public area where smoking is allowed are easy to avoid.

Edited August 8, 2015 by OlsSalt

[ijsprinses]

For us the intenary is the most imortant thing, but also how long the ship stays in port! We had long port days with HAL, once till midnight plus one overnight, which is really nice to explore the ports in the evening!

[avian777]

[quote name='cambriah']Hi
We have sailed with Princess, celebrity and Royal Caribbean ... Any opinions as to how HAL compares to the other cruise lines mentioned above would be greatly appreciated ... We would be interested in such things as ... service, cabin size, entertainment, fellow passengers, etc.

We are two Seniors who really enjoy cruising.

Cambriah[/quote]

There are many differing opinions & preconceptions about Princess, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and HAL but IMHO only one significant [I][B]factual difference[/B][/I] between them - only HAL has a Roman Catholic priest (who celebrates daily Mass) on board every one of its cruises. So if spiritual renewal is an important component of your vacation experience, HAL is the hands-down choice. Whichever you choose, I hope you enjoy the cruise!