Celebrity VS HAL

[Devo12]

Hi, We are just in the planning stages of booking a cruise and cannot decide between Celebrity and Hal.  Looking for advice from anyone who has cruised both recently. The itineraries are pretty much the same for the cruise we are looking at.  10 day cruise Panama canal

About us

-Mid 40's

Cruised NCL 6 times-enjoyed it but looking for something different

-will be booking a regular cabin with balcony-would be booking a retreat Cabana on HAL if we go that way

like to be fairly casual for suppers if possible-no set time, respectable but casual clothing

enjoy good food and specialty restaurants but not "foodies"

-not much for nightlife, usually in bed around 10-11

-fairly easy going people who just enjoy being outside, enjoying sun, good drinks and some shows/entertainment

 

Thanks for your help,

Devo

 

[terrydtx]

We did a Celebrity Reflection cruise in a Sky Suite from Rome last Year followed by a HAL Oosterdam cruise in a Signature Suite from Venice.  You do not mention the ship names for both cruises. If the Celebrity ship is one of the Edge Class ships it does not have traditional open air balconies other than aft facing verandas and Suites. The E Class ships have an Infinite View (IV) sun room with a window that opens and closes, many like them and many like me hate them. IMO last year the Oosterdam MDR food was overall much better than both the Reflection MDR and Suites only Luminae. HAL is going to be a much older demographic than Celebrity with a different kind of shows in the theater, that includes a lot of BBC world documentaries. Both will have anytime dining and dress is smart casual on both with none of the old formal nights where a suite and tie were required. HAL calls them Gala nights and Celebrity Evening Chic.

 

IMO if you are booking just a regular Veranda cabin HAL offers a better value for the money spent. HAL still has room service without any extra charge while Celebrity now charges $9.95 + 20% gratuity for room service. Celebrity charges way more for the specialty restaurants than HAL

[Cruise a holic]

I would highly recommend Celebrity.  First, the crowd younger then on Hal and more to do in the evenings.  Celebrity has a wonderful Martini Bar and the food IMO so much better.  We do enjoy the Edge class ships.  You can get an aft balcony with a true balcony, which we prefer and the bathrooms are excellent-.  If S or M class, cabins are very nice also and food very good.  We like a sky suite if your budget allows, but a true balcony also fine.

 

We never use room service so that isn't an issue for us- but if you use a couple of times it isn't expensive. The specialty restaurants on celebrity IMO much better.  Take a package for dining if you like.

[StartrainDD]

For entertainment and lots of activities Celebrity is a better choice.

For food in main dining HAL is a better choice, although Celebrity is perfectly fine.

Fully agree with terrydix that HAL's specialty restaurant(s) are a better value than X.  We don't do X's any longer, as nice as they are.

HAL is not what it used to be but if you've not cruised with them before you wouldn't miss the things I miss.

[Tudy]

I respectfully disagree the terrydtx. 

I like the infinite veranda. I found that I don't use a regular veranda that much simply because it is too hot of too cold. An infinite veranda is climate controlled. 🙂

I LOVE the E-class ships. They are so beautiful and the art is amazing. The crew is to very responsive. I took my brother, a seasoned Carnival cruiser, on his first Celebrity cruise and he was blown away by the service. The food was good. We have no complaints about options or quality.

 

My last HAL cruise was in November and it is probably my last HAL cruise. The ship was the Eurodam and we were in a signature suite. The room was large, not not nice. The decor was tired and and had nothing to set it apart as "special."

Overall, I found the crew to be condescending. Explanations were often given when none were needed. Crew dismissed passenger complaints as invalid than addressing the issue.

HAL's passengers are definitely older. You won't be the youngest people on the ship, I am sure someone will be younger than you.

 

I do agree that both cruise lines would meet your criteria as far as dining times, dress codes and shows. I say, try both, make your own decision.

[trout62]

I just posted this in response to a similar question over on the HAL boards:

 

Well, this is timely.

As I mentioned in another post, Mrs. Trout and I were in corner aft on NS in December.  We have done probably 16 cruises total, half and the most recent 4, were on HAL, rest were NCL, RCL and CCL, all in suites except CCL. (We personally would prefer to cruise less often but stay in suites).

After our last cruise, we both looked at each other and said "I think it's time to try something else."  Nothing was horrible, and had it been our first trip on HAL we would have been blown away.  But it wasn't our first, and it wasn't as good as we remembered other trips being for so many of the reasons folks have posted here and elsewhere.

And so, our next cruise will be in a Sky Suite on Celebrity Ascent.

But because I am a nerd, I did the attached evaluation (it's a working document so be gentle)

Keep in mind, I have never been on X so the info is based on Cruise Critic and YouTube...feel free to correct my perceptions.  Also, what is important to me may not be important to you.

In summary, X is going to be 1K more, but I think (hope?) the value is there.  I'll report back in a year or so.

Trout

HAL vs X.xlsx

[lizinindy]

Just returned from 2 weeks on the Nieuw Amsterdam followed by 2 weeks on the Celebrity Reflection. We were in a Neptune suite on HAL and a sky suite on the Reflection. We thought the food was comparable on both lines. The standout on HAL was the Tamarind and our favorite on Celeb was Le Petit Chef. HAL specialty restaurants are a much better value. Celeb has production shows, comedians, and singers in the Theater. Holland has comedians and dancers in the Theater but they have 3 other venues with live music which was great. Our disappointment with both ships was the lack of a cozy library. Both ships still have the library areas but very very few books and most were foreign language books. Elevators in HAL were fabulous and there were endless wait times on Celeb. Both crews were comparably friendly. We loved our cruises on both so I’d say, go for your favorite itinerary. You won’t be disappointed with either line….but then, our philosophy is, a cruise is what you make of it!

[snowballs mom]

We have cruised multiple times on Celebrity and one of our favorite spaces is the solarium. Does HAL have an indoor equivalent to that space? Thanks.

 

[fergorama]

We've cruised mostly on RCL & Celebrity but in the past several months tried two HAL cruises and were very impressed. If you like live music, the HAL is the far superior product with bands performing in proper music venues not seven storey atriums. The quality of live music and shows was in our opinion superior to RCL & Celebrity which have been getting progressively sadder. Food was a step up from RCL and on par with Celebrity on a good day. And if you don't have a drink package they have actual happy hours with 50% off beverages at at least one bar every afternoon. All this of course IMHO.

 

[tunafish]

We sailed HAL much more than X, but for what it worth just got of Edge from a 11 day cruise and while we liked X, I think you get more bang for your buck on Holland. I think X prices are overinflated for the services provided. The food is better on HAL. You have more ship to yourself. We are also in the 40s. I do not think you can draw big picture from people traveling in grand suits ;-)

[tunafish]

1 hour ago, snowballs mom said:

We have cruised multiple times on Celebrity and one of our favorite spaces is the solarium. Does HAL have an indoor equivalent to that space? Thanks.

 

hal has retractable roof over main pool that is simply awesome

[George C]

If you are booking a suite then definitely celebrity,Hal can’t compare with celebrity suite lounge and restaurant.

[Ex-Airbalancer]

1 hour ago, lizinindy said:

Just returned from 2 weeks on the Nieuw Amsterdam followed by 2 weeks on the Celebrity Reflection. We were in a Neptune suite on HAL and a sky suite on the Reflection. We thought the food was comparable on both lines. The standout on HAL was the Tamarind and our favorite on Celeb was Le Petit Chef. HAL specialty restaurants are a much better value. Celeb has production shows, comedians, and singers in the Theater. Holland has comedians and dancers in the Theater but they have 3 other venues with live music which was great. Our disappointment with both ships was the lack of a cozy library. Both ships still have the library areas but very very few books and most were foreign language books. Elevators in HAL were fabulous and there were endless wait times on Celeb. Both crews were comparably friendly. We loved our cruises on both so I’d say, go for your favorite itinerary. You won’t be disappointed with either line….but then, our philosophy is, a cruise is what you make of it!

I don’t think I have ever been in a library on any of the ships we have cruised on 

I just bring my own, before it was paper now it is an eread

on our last cruise I didn’t have a chance to open the E read as I was to engage talking with all our friends that we have been seeing for years😁

Everyone has different idea what a perfect cruise should be 

[MarkWiltonM]

We think the buffets on HAL's Pinnacle-class ships (Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam, and Rotterdam) are significantly better than Celebrity's and almost worth going on those ships just for that. Main dining rooms are about the same with a very slight edge to Celebrity. The Crow's Nest on HAL is very nice and very popular. The sushi bar in Tamarind on HAL is good (you can book the sushi bar separately from Tamarind). We don't like any of the other specialty dining venues on either ship. Too much money for "meh" food. We don't care much for production shows or other entertainment on cruise ships but HAL has more music; Celebrity is said to have better shows. The HAL ships are a little bit more cramped-feeling in the pool and some other public areas. But, overall, the lines are comparable so you may want to base your decision on price and itinerary.  

[Essiesmom]

One matter mentioned but not addressed is the itinerary.  You mentioned Panama Canal, since 10 days, I assume a partial transit.  Which ships are you considering, because ship depends on whether you will transit the old historic locks, or the new larger locks.  The HAL ships doing partial transits use the old locks.  The only partial I have seen this year for Celebrity has been on Edge, which uses the new locks.    I believe this is something that deserves some further research on your part before making the decision.  EM

[retired dude]

we are pretty simply folks, and not braggers, but are proud of being diamond with rccl and elite with X. We have also tried hal several times and outside of the bb king and rock clubs we were not impressed with any of the new rotterdam. The food was the worst we have eaten on any cruise ship and it just was not a great experience. We were on a free sailing and we would not sail hal again even if it was free.....Celebrity is our favorite but they are pricing themselves out of our comfort zone for a lesser product than in years gone by...Rccl offers the best value for those of us who only do balcony cabins and cant afford suites, .....like i said we are pretty simple folks that lead a blessed life in retirement. wish everyone well on whatever sailing they choose....

[Devo12]

15 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

One matter mentioned but not addressed is the itinerary.  You mentioned Panama Canal, since 10 days, I assume a partial transit.  Which ships are you considering, because ship depends on whether you will transit the old historic locks, or the new larger locks.  The HAL ships doing partial transits use the old locks.  The only partial I have seen this year for Celebrity has been on Edge, which uses the new locks.    I believe this is something that deserves some further research on your part before making the decision.  EM

Thanks everyone for their feedback.  The ships would be the Celebrity beyond or the HAL Rotterdam.  

Upfront price is very similiar but HAL cruise is 2 days longer, we get some OBC ($400) and a couple meals in a specialty restaurant.  Leaning towards to the Celebrity but for this cruise, I am not particular to a cruise line.  Thanks again, Devo

[DesertRat46]

I haven't sailed Celebrity since 201... but was on 3 HAL cruises in 2022

Really liked HAL last year, didn't notice any "cutbacks" other than a shortage of staff in some areas

Scheduled for a TA on X next month and picked it purely on the port calls. That said, I am a little concerned about all the X cutbacks I read about on Cruise Critic. Enjoyed X in the past, so I hope the naysayers are wrong about the impact of the cuts at Celebrity.

In general I prefer HAL, but I am looking forward to finding out for myself what differences the changes/cuts at X will make.

 

[Oceansaway17]

I prefer how Celebrity treats their guests while on board.  the buffets were good too.

Also, HAL has several sneaky promos that are tied into the vacation protection plan and must be purchase up front otherwise one can't add at final payment.  They trip you up with the promo rules and will let you walk away before trying to fix a problem.    I go tired of hearing the words Sorry you can't.

 

HAL likes to give new reservation numbers when making changes so that any new rules kick in and override whatever you had with the reservation you are trying to change.

I had to loose $300 recently and I do no like HAL promos which no other cruise line does. 

 

Looking forward to the Edge in Europe this summer before she moves to the Pacific and Alaska market.

[Essiesmom]

2 hours ago, Devo12 said:

Thanks everyone for their feedback.  The ships would be the Celebrity beyond or the HAL Rotterdam.  

Upfront price is very similiar but HAL cruise is 2 days longer, we get some OBC ($400) and a couple meals in a specialty restaurant.  Leaning towards to the Celebrity but for this cruise, I am not particular to a cruise line.  Thanks again, Devo

In that case, both ships use the new locks. 

[Quo Vadis?]

3 hours ago, Devo12 said:

Thanks everyone for their feedback.  The ships would be the Celebrity beyond or the HAL Rotterdam.  

Upfront price is very similiar but HAL cruise is 2 days longer, we get some OBC ($400) and a couple meals in a specialty restaurant.  Leaning towards to the Celebrity but for this cruise, I am not particular to a cruise line.  Thanks again, Devo

We have cruised frequently on both Celebrity and HAL.  We do not like the lack of balconies on the Edge class.  It’s a cabin with a window that opens.  We do not like the lack of a forward observation lounge .  Going into the canal, that lounge would be the go to place.

we have spent 10 weeks on The sister ship, the Nieuw Statendam.  We loved the crow’s  nest, a combination of Cafe al Bacio library and comfortable lounge.  The choice of food on HAL is greater than on Celebrity and more to my liking.  
by the way we are booked on Rotterdam for the partial transit as well.

You will enjoy either ship but for different reasons.

Live entertainment is better on HAL but the stage is better on Celebrity.

The crew is great on both.

HAL cruisers are not older than on Celebrity, the demographic is much more diverse than expected.

 

 

[conwakr]

We have done both. Celebrity for my Panama cruise. I like them both but Celebrity a tiny edge as I prefer the ship layouts better BUT I have not sailed the huge ships on Hal or Celebrity. I would choose based on the ports and time in ports if I had to choose.