Comparing Celebrity to HAL

[sciteach603]

My husband and I just returned from an 11 day Italy and Croatia cruise on the Celebrity Constellation. We are 3 Star Mariners on Holland America but chose Celebrity because we had heard many good things about Celebrity and really liked this itinerary. There are many similarities between the two cruise lines and in short, we now have two cruise lines from which to choose from. I will give you my perspective of HAL versus Celebrity.

Embark/Disembark – Organized and fairly quick on both lines. Upon entry to the Celebrity ship we were greeted by loud rock music that surprised us, but we found a quiet venue to wait for the cabins to be ready. On HAL we could have gone directly to our cabin.

Ship – The Constellation has a nice decor and well cared for. Very inviting as are the HAL ships we have been on. The ships are laid out very similarly.

Staterooms - We had an Oceanview cabin on Deck 2 on this cruise. Size and Layout of the cabin was much like similar rooms on HAL. Oceanview cabins on HAL have a smallish window above the bed. I preferred the large round window we had on Celebrity. The small settee was next to the window, so you could enjoy the view sitting on the bed or the settee. Bathroom size essentially the same and room stewards excellent on both lines. HAL beds are more comfortable than Celebrity.

Buffet – Food good on both lines, though I would give an edge to HAL for variety, fresh orange juice (had to use your beverage card for fresh squeezed on Celebrity), and number of servers around to clean tables and replenish coffee, water, etc. Overall we noticed a lack of servers in all venues on Celebrity. On HAL ships, there is always someone nearby to take an order or assist you without hovering. Pop music played rather loudly all the time in the Celebrity buffet. I would have preferred quieter, mellower music. Celebrity seating seemed less crowded than HAL, maybe due to the fact that there are other dining rooms for Aqua staterooms. I ate Eggs Benedict most every morning and on Celebrity there was just one guy prepping, cooking and serving which made for long lines. HAL generally has several servers at this station.

Dining Room – Dining Rooms nice on both lines. Food choices on Celebrity are not as varied as HAL and I believe the food on HAL is a little better. Servers are attentive on both lines.

Specialty Restaurants – Ate at both Tuscan Grille and Ocean Liners on Constellation. Food was good but price was higher on Celebrity and I don’t think the quality was any better than Pinnacle Grill or Canelletto. Odd that Tuscan Grille windows look out at a deck and railings rather than nice floor to ceiling ocean view you have at the Pinnacle.

Poolside Grill – HAL’s is much better, especially with the newer menu. HAL also has the taco bar with salads that are available throughout the day. Again, we were frustrated by lack of help at Poolside grill on Celebrity. There was just one guy taking orders and cooking, whereas HAL has a group of folks and gets the orders out quickly.

Café Bacio – (Specialty coffees) – Celebrity has the pastries/desserts and coffee options like at Explorers Lounge on HAL. However on Celebrity you can actually sit down and be waited on and coffee is served with biscotti. Very relaxing for a late morning or afternoon snack. Both lines charge for coffees but not pastries or desserts there. You can use your beverage card to pay for the specialty coffees.

Bars – In almost every bar, we had to look for a server or go place the order at the bar. Celebrity had no real drink menus to tell you what was in any of the drinks. The menus on the table listed what drinks were available for each beverage plan, but didn’t explain the drinks. We never saw a drink of the day advertised like on HAL, nor did Celebrity have any bar snacks in any of the bars we were in. The Reflections lounge (similar to HAL Crow’s Nest) was a nice place to relax during the day. There was a bar there, but only open at night, so you couldn’t get a soft drink or glass of wine while relaxing.

Activities – This is where HAL could take note of the way Celebrity does things. When you won one of the various trivia or other games, you got a signature (or maybe 2!) on a signature card that you kept throughout the cruise. At the end of the cruise you “cashed” your signatures in for Celebrity merchandise – a pen for 1 signature, caps, tote bags, lanyards, tshirts, etc for more signatures. Was so much better than playing for a silly HAL pin!! Some of the evening games were Port vs Starboard games that encouraged you to get to know some other people in order to win for your side.

Entertainment – No piano bar or Adagio Strings on Celebrity, but did have many good entertainers scattered around the ship. The guest entertainers in the Showroom were good, as are HAL’s usually. The Celebrity cast productions – singers and dancers – were, in my opinion, better on Celebrity than on HAL.

Overall – We thoroughly enjoyed our Celebrity cruise. My husband and I preferred the diversity of age groups on the Celebrity cruise – seemed to have more active seniors than “older” seniors. We also enjoyed the mix of nationalities – I don’t know whether that is due to the European cruise or the cruise line. We booked another Celebrity cruise on board and will now compare Celebrity and HAL for itinerary and price before booking.

[mef_57]

Thanks very much for the comparisons and opinions. I am new to both lines and have short listed both, but HAL won out due to relaxing itinerary for my December cruise.

I was surprised to read how few servers there seemed to be on Celebrity; but I like that they have the settee near the window rather than over a bed. I think I'll enjoy HALs relaxing music choices over Celebrity's.

[puppycanducruise]

Thank you for posting your comparisons.

 

[pbr]

Thanks for your information. Celebrity is our favorite line and we're going on our first Holland cruise next week. You've confirmed some of the things I'd heard about Holland - lack of age diversity and entertainment- but sounds like there are many positives.

Patti

[Cruising-along]

Thank you for your review. We sail both lines. We're 4-star on HAL and have a 3rd cruise booked with Celebrity.

 

I agree with your assessments, and would add that HAL has longer European cruises, better promenade decks (until the Koninsgdam), and better laundry options, but Celebrity has a better smoking policy and we like having the choice of more specialty restaurants.

[StartrainDD]

Is our favorite "X" ship. Agree with nearly all your assessments, except entertainment. That will vary from cruise to cruise I am sure!

 

We do think Café El Bacio has it far over the Explorer's café. Hoping that the Royal Dutch Café on Koningsdam will be a superior experience!

[mef_57]

Interesting......I checked the stats and Constellation has 57 more crew than Nieuw Amsterdam with almost the identical number of passengers. Wonder what Celebrity has the extra staff doing if not serving in food or drink venues?

[iancal]

We like both. We do find that we have to be much more careful about what HAL ship to select. We are not interested in their older vessels. Too many mtce issues.

 

Solstice Class ships are our all time favourites. We typical select a cruise based on the ship first, and then the cruise line. Celebrity, Princess, and RCI have been our picks lately though we are looking at a HAL Med cruise in the fall.

 

We prefer the demographics on Celebrity and Princess. Food and entertainment is so very subjective.

[Hlitner]

Like Lancal (above), we like both lines. Just got back from 55 days on HAL (Prinsendam) and our next scheduled cruise is 14 days on the Eclipse. We have our favorite vessels on both lines and there are also some ships (on both lines) that we try to avoid.

 

On our Prinsendam cruise the bar service was amazing....but that was because most of the time there were fewer then a dozen passengers in the bar :). On Celebrity the bars are full of life (until late at night) and a lot of fun. But when there are 50-100 folks trying to get drinks at the same time, service does suffer :).

 

Re fresh squeezed OJ, it has recently been eliminated from Celebrity...and more recently HAL has stopped serving it in the Lido (on the Prinsendam it was only available in the MDR). We agree with the OP about the pricing of Celebrity's alternative restaurants...although we routinely are able to get a 30% (sometimes more) discount just by asking and being flexible. However, we do think that several of the Celebrity specialty restaurants are in a class far above the Pinnacle. And we also should note that on quite a few nights of our Prinsendam cruise, they had "special dinners" in the Pinnacle (Le Cirque, Indian, Chinese, etc) that actually cost more then the Celebrity restaurants.

 

As to entertainment, we think that both lines have cut-back in this area. But we do enjoy the Piano Bar's on HAL....and its something we miss when on Celebrity. But on the Solstice Class ships (the ones we prefer) there is an attractive bar (just outside the Murano restaurant) where there is usually some kind of smooth jazz quartet or another laid-back music group. It is the closest thing they have to a piano bar. On the other hand, the Prinsendam (our favorite HAL ship) does not have a piano bar (they use the Crows Nest).

 

Hank

[Fouremco]

All of our cruises to date have been on HAL or Celebrity, and we are quite happy booking on either one. We returned from two weeks on the Eclipse last month and are scheduled for 10 days on the Koningsdam in November.

 

I pretty much agree with everything the OP has mentioned, with one exception. Both the variety and quality of the food in the MDR on the Eclipse was better last month than on any of our previous sailings with either line. I realize that food can be very subjective, but I felt that the bar had definitely been raised. It may be a ship-to-ship difference as much as a line-to-line difference, and the Connie isn't up to the same standard as the Eclipse.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

Appreciate your comparisons between the 2 cruise lines.

[kelmac]

This past year we completed our "Grand Slam" of Celebrity ships, having sailed all of their ships ever built for the company (Horizon -- Reflection). We've also sailed HAL nine times and took a break from their ships over the last five years.

This December, we are giving HAL another try to see if things have improved?

 

Celebrity has four new ships on order, called the "Edge Class" and may phase out their older Millennium class ships. Everything about Celebrity seems fresh and new, and everything about HAL seems old, dark and traditional. We want to like HAL again!:rolleyes: :)

 

Time will tell,

Kel:D

Edited May 25, 2016 by kelmac

[jtl513]

Activities – This is where HAL could take note of the way Celebrity does things. When you won one of the various trivia or other games, you got a signature (or maybe 2!) on a signature card that you kept throughout the cruise. At the end of the cruise you “cashed” your signatures in for Celebrity merchandise – a pen for 1 signature, caps, tote bags, lanyards, tshirts, etc for more signatures. Was so much better than playing for a silly HAL pin!! Some of the evening games were Port vs Starboard games that encouraged you to get to know some other people in order to win for your side.

HAL used to give out "Dam Dollars" (Monopoly money) for participating in activites, and these would then be used to buy merchandise at the cruise end. Unfortunately a lot of cheating went on ... people saving them up from cruise to cruise to get bigger stuff, and allegedly even some home counterfeiting :eek: so the program was eliminated. Sounds like X has a better way.

[OCruisers]

Thank you for your comparison between the two lines. Good to know someone else feels the same as we do.

Just adding for a "port intensive cruise" HAL would be our choice over Celebrity.:)

[Hlitner]

HAL used to give out "Dam Dollars" (Monopoly money) for participating in activites, and these would then be used to buy merchandise at the cruise end. Unfortunately a lot of cheating went on ... people saving them up from cruise to cruise to get bigger stuff, and allegedly even some home counterfeiting :eek: so the program was eliminated. Sounds like X has a better way.

 

Not quite true. On our recent P'Dam cruise they were again giving out Dam Dollars that one could use to purchase various prizes. But the prizes were really nothing special with the most popular being a Teddy Bear that went for $100 Dam Dollars.

 

Hank

[blizzardboy]

With Celebrity you have to step up to Pinnacle Suite type fare to get a king bed. They're only available in their Royal or Penthouse Suites. We've booked a RS for a 15-day Asian/Arabia cruise in Jan, 2018, our first with Celebrity. However, I figure we can take a Jan, 2018 Caribbean 7-day and a 12-day Med cruise in late May or June, both in Neptunes, for the same money. It's my bride's call as I live to please.