HAL vs Celebrity vs Princess to Alaska!

[sergel02]

Food is always an interesting comparison. I loved the fries I had on Holland recently, but they’re my style. Meanwhile Princess gets rave reviews for their pizza but I found it bland, but I also went over 10 years ago on the Sapphire so maybe things changed. Also, even in the same line I noticed food changes. I went on the Millennium and Beyond on Celebrity a couple years apart. Similar MDR menus but I found Beyond a lot better.

 

In any case, thanks for the review! I’ve been to Alaska once ages ago on Princess and more recently on Celebrity. Yet to try Holland but it would be neat. Convincing my family for a 3rd Alaska cruise would be the tough part 😂

[Stateroom_Sailor]

Interesting review, and I agree with most of it.  We've never sailed on Princess, the atmosphere on film just didn't seem like our jam.  We weren't very happy with our last Celebrity cruise, but we did enjoy the first 3 three.  Since we prefer HAL always, and like their pricing and loyalty structure, we're not in a hurry to return.  

 

As someone mention, HAL wins for burgers, the Dive-In is pretty good.  I didn't feel like I was eating as much of a grease-bomb as Johnny Rockets or Guy's Burgers on Royal and Carnival.

[cruisequeen4ever]

Interesting; I’m surprised you rated Princess food the lowest.

[Jammu2]

13 minutes ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

Interesting; I’m surprised you rated Princess food the lowest.

I did rate Princess specialty restaurants the highest! But food in the MDR was pretty poor on our cruise and the buffet wasn't much better. Could have been the particulars of the cruise - new crew, first Alaska cruise of the season.

 

Pizza was good! Hamburgers were terrible!

[rkacruiser]

23 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I’ve had Alfredo’s pizza once.  I remember it being so so.  I think Hal’s New York pizza is better than that.

 

I wonder.  Was the Alfredo's a stand alone restaurant on one of the Royal Class ships?  Or was it a pop-up on one of the others?  For me, my first experience with this restaurant concept was on Royal Princess and it was excellent.  My second experience was in a pop-up one day in the specialty restaurant on Coral Princess.  It was just as good.  

[rkacruiser]

23 hours ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

I’ve had Alfredo’s pizza once.  I remember it being so so.  I think Hal’s New York pizza is better than that.

 

I wonder.  Was the Alfredo's a stand alone restaurant on one of the Royal Class ships?  Or was it a pop-up on one of the others?  For me, my first experience with this restaurant concept was on Royal Princess and it was excellent.  My second experience was in a pop-up one day in the specialty restaurant on Coral Princess.  It was just as good.  

[Florida_gal_50]

25 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I wonder.  Was the Alfredo's a stand alone restaurant on one of the Royal Class ships?  Or was it a pop-up on one of the others?  For me, my first experience with this restaurant concept was on Royal Princess and it was excellent.  My second experience was in a pop-up one day in the specialty restaurant on Coral Princess.  It was just as good.  

It was in the restaurant proper.  It was on the sapphire Princess if I remember correctly.  It was a number of years ago.  

[rkacruiser]

Just now, Florida_gal_50 said:

It was in the restaurant proper.  It was on the sapphire Princess if I remember correctly.  It was a number of years ago.  

 

I was not aware that the Alfredo's concept had extended to ships other than the Royal Class--and the--to the pop-ups since the Royal Class was introduced.  

 

Lots of debate about pizza on HAL, MSC, Carnival, and Princess.  HAL's New York Deli on the Pinnacle Class ships makes a better pizza than those on the others that are "labeled" as such.  MSC's pizza, in my experience, is very good and better than Carnival's or Princess' other than Alfredo's.  Like any other cuisine, our taste for pizza differs!  

[Florida_gal_50]

3 minutes ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I was not aware that the Alfredo's concept had extended to ships other than the Royal Class--and the--to the pop-ups since the Royal Class was introduced.  

 

Lots of debate about pizza on HAL, MSC, Carnival, and Princess.  HAL's New York Deli on the Pinnacle Class ships makes a better pizza than those on the others that are "labeled" as such.  MSC's pizza, in my experience, is very good and better than Carnival's or Princess' other than Alfredo's.  Like any other cuisine, our taste for pizza differs!  

It’s still showing on the deck plans gala deck on the sapphire.  Any chance I get to eat in a restaurant I take.  I can’t understand people wanting to eat every meal in a cafeteria.  That’s not a vacation to me and it’s way too people-y. 

[rkacruiser]

10 minutes ago, Florida_gal_50 said:

Any chance I get to eat in a restaurant I take.  

 

Agree.  The Lido Restaurant serves a "time and place" at times.  But, not my preference when I am on vacation after being chief cook, waiter, bus boy, and dishwasher in my ordinary life.  

[NMTraveller]

On 9/26/2022 at 4:11 PM, curmudgeon98 said:

I tend to view these three lines as more similar than different, especially for Alaska.  There can be strengths and weaknesses to each ship and itinerary.  Taking the east side of Vancouver Island is definitely a plus, but so is starting or ending in Seward (for visiting Kenai Fjords).  Glacier Bay can be nice, but if you get a socked-in rainy day, you won't see much.

 

My own experiences have put HAL MDR in third place (though still quite adequate), with Celebrity and Princess doing better.  Similar order with entertainment (though that can vary from ship to ship).  Princess ships can get a little large/crowded for my taste.  Celebrity pricing seems to be higher, though prices are all over the map these days.

 

We've got three+ weeks on HAL scheduled for this fall (casino offers).  We'll see if that pulls us into being HAL regulars, or pushes us away towards other lines.  I suspect we will continue to be in the "uncommitted" camp, though.  

If you have followed Celebrity you will note that they are cutting their longer more desirable itineraries as well as getting rid of their forward lookinging views and true balconies (E class) unless you are paying for a suite..

 

I have not followed Princess as much lately, though one of my favorite cruises was with them through the Panama Canal on one of their smaller ships.  

 

I most likely will try HAL once again next.

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by NMTraveller

[cruisemom42]

All of the main cruise lines have pluses and minuses -- the trick is finding the one that has the most pluses for you personally.

 

I used to really like Princess but their Royal class ships turned me completely off them. Their MDRs on those ships turn out worse food than I've ever had on HAL or Celebrity (or other Princess ships). And they always seem crowded. Not enough connection to the ocean.  It's hard for me to overcome those deficits on Princess but to others they may not matter as much as some other things.  Their specialty restaurants are just okay, about on par with Pinnacle Grill for their steakhouse. Tuscan Grille on Celebrity is better than their Italian specialty (Sabatini's).  Celebrity's Murano is my favorite specialty restaurant but you have to enjoy French cuisine (e.g., it's all about the preparation, seasoning, sauces, etc.)

 

In simplest terms I tend to like Celebrity's ships (not the newest class) and HAL's itineraries. About the most positive think I can come up with from my last Princess cruise was plenty of live music....

 

 

[Stateroom_Sailor]

7 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

Celebrity's Murano is my favorite specialty restaurant but you have to enjoy French cuisine (e.g., it's all about the preparation, seasoning, sauces, etc.)

 

Murano is the only specialty restaurant we've ever tried, and it was pretty good.  The passengers at the table nearby got undercooked lobster, so it wasn't a hit for everyone.  We got a full serving of fresh vegetables, which was our main goal.

 

Celebrity was having supply problems in April 2019, which I confirmed with many of the B2B travelers, and here on CC.  Even in Blu, we had many missing ingredients.   The waitstaff was overworked and stressed.  I will typically load on up asparagus, in omelet and pasta stations, but I only came across 2 small pieces throughout the 12 night cruise.  They ran out of Pineapple while docked in Maui, but they did find frozen mixed veggies for the buffet our final night.  Hopefully this was just a bad snapshot in time, and not what current passengers are experiencing.

[cruisemom42]

51 minutes ago, Stateroom_Sailor said:

Hopefully this was just a bad snapshot in time, and not what current passengers are experiencing.

 

I've been on two Celebrity cruises since the restart. The first was on Millennium to Alaska -- probably the best onboard experience I've had in 20 years or more due to the low number of passengers (and high ratio of crew to passengers).  Food was extremely good (as was service) and we noticed no shortages -- this was an Alaska cruise and I can't help but compare with reports on this board of extreme shortages on HAL Alaska cruises at the same time -- fewer entrees being offered in MDR, etc.  Both ships on same itinerary, similar ports, so hard to blame supply chain issues....

 

Last April I was on Celebrity Silhouette from Southampton, the first European cruise of the season. Volume of passengers was waaay up but the food was still excellent. I ate in Murano on that cruise and everything was perfect from the amuse-bouche to the Grand Marnier souffle. The evening vibe was great as well. Always something happening after the main evening show -- a late night show or music in the atrium, or ....   

 

In a sense, everything's a snapshot in time, and ships can also vary significantly within a single line. Hard to put a finger on why you feel more "at home" on some than on others. Things just click.

 

 

Edited September 29, 2022 by cruisemom42

[DaveOKC]

One thing I noticed favoring HAL in Alaska is that they seem to have the better docking locations.  I have heard that this is due to how long they have been servicing Alaska.

 

[kennystwin]

I've done HAL and Celebrity both in Alaska and other itineraries. Would certainly do either again. Here's my $.02:

- I personally like the entertainment on HAL, but I admit I spend most nights at BB Kings YMMV. Celebrity's main stage entertainment is better than the current HAL offerings.

- I enjoyed the food on both. Escargot every night in the Celebrity MDR is a winner for me. But Tamarind is a plus for HAL.

- I sailed on a pre and post revolutionized Summit and generally liked the improvements so a revolutionized Millie would be a good option in Alaska. 

- I give the Crow's Nest an edge over Celebrity's sky lounges, especially in Alaska. It just seems more focused on the scenery outside.

- On Celebrity, your experience will vary widely based on your class of service: regular, concierge, aqua or retreat. The Retreat is a truly premium experience surpassing the Neptune Suite offering on HAL. But "steerage" on either is just fine for me.

- Itineraries: this should be deciding factor and, to me, HAL wins with Glacier Bay - truly the best big ship glacier experience for Alaska.

 

Tough decision. 

[NMTraveller]

11 hours ago, kennystwin said:

I- I give the Crow's Nest an edge over Celebrity's sky lounges, especially in Alaska. It just seems more focused on the scenery outside.

 

 

These are all gone on Celebrity's new E class.  It seems that HAL has the nicer newer ships.  Not to mention the IVs on Celebrity E class.  Celebrity botched them unless you are in a suite.

Edited September 30, 2022 by NMTraveller

[Jammu2]

On 9/29/2022 at 6:40 AM, DaveOKC said:

One thing I noticed favoring HAL in Alaska is that they seem to have the better docking locations.  I have heard that this is due to how long they have been servicing Alaska.

 

For sure. We have noticed this too. Times into and out of port are generally better as well. We were first in and last out (along with either Eurodam or Nieuw Amsterdam) to Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan. With one exception we had the preferred docks closest to the action.

[vicd1969]

Great concise review. I concur that Dive In fries have gone downhill post-COVID, at least in my Norway cruise. The fries were made Dutch-style (kind of like plain steak fires) instead of having the panko-like coating the classic Dive In fries had. But the majority of passengers were Dutch, so they may have modified to suit their tastes. I'm sailing again this November in the Caribbean and really hope HAL reverts back to the old recipe.

[Jammu2]

My formal review got published. Maybe I waited too long to write it - it seems kind of uninspired! But in case anyone was wondering if I would ever get around to it...

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=691139

Edited October 5, 2022 by Jammu2