It’s a beautiful sunny day in Saint Petersburg. We get off the ship at 9h00 and it takes an hour to clear passport control due the large crowd. There are at least 8 cruise ships in town and it is the first day of World Cup in Russia.
Out tour guide’s name is Marina – the same as our ship. She speaks excellent English and off we go as a group of 16 on a luxury tour bus – day 1 of 3 here.
Saint Petersburg is breathtaking with 400 bridges over the Neva River and canals. The streets are wide, straight and surprisingly uncrowded for a city of 5 million plus. Founded by Peter the Great in 1703, it is Russia’s largest port and known as “The Venice of the North”. The only thing bad here is the weather. If it is nice, here they say wait 10 minutes and it will change. Today is glorious.
We stop for a photo shoot on the Neva. We head for the Peter and Paul Fortress and tour the golden domed cathedral. Inside we see the crypts of Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and many other Tsars.
We drive out into the suburbs and have lunch at a mini-palace facility. Food is somewhat bland like Poland but nourishing. Refueled, we head for the Peterhof Summer Palace.
Peterhof, constructed on the bank of the Baltic, was Peter’s getaway place. Extensive gardens and fountains abound. We tour the palace and marvel at the gold trim everywhere and the beautiful portraits of several Tsar dynasties. The fountains out front are stunning – gold aninals and statues and dozens of smaller fountains surround a 70 ft high fountain. It is all powered by gravity using 300 year old oak pipes designed by Peter himself to the carry water. Stunning!
That night, I head out on a private world cup experience tour with Jack from Virginia. We have our own guide and driver. We take some photos of the new soccer stadium and pick up some souvenirs. We go to a local bar. Everyone is cheering. Russia has just beat Sauida Arabia 5 – 0.
We have some beer and vodka. A fan from Toronto strolls over and explains he has tickets for 5 matches. Two Russians come over and want to have a toast. We drink some vodka and part as friends. We stroll down the Nevsky Prospect. There are hundreds of fans with flags. A large group of Iranians drown out the smaller Moroccan fan contingent. Russians runs by with their flag cheeriing. Everyone smiles and high fives us. Wow, a real international brotherhood experience! We call it a night, a fantastic one.
We recently visited the War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City commonly called Saigon.
We toured the War Crimes Floor. We saw gruesome photo after photo of Vietnamese people being shot, tortured, burned and mutilated with agent orange, phosphorous and napalm by American forces during the Vietnam War 1965-75. We were appalled by what we saw.
Many of the victims were women and children, hardly a threat to the United States. I guess they could not distinguish who was VietCong and who wasn’t. It reminded me of the the famous quote by Arnold Amharic the Catholic Abbot responsible for ending the Albigensian Heresy in 1209. When asked by his Crusaders how they could distinguish between loyal Catholics and Cathar heretics, he ordered them to “Kill them all, God will know his own.”
Now we see today Venezuela being attacked, Cuba being starved out and in Iran a girls school bombed out and an unarmed Iranian ship being blown to pieces with no attempt to save the survivors. The United States is a killing nation.
Later we visited the former CIA building where the last Americans and allies were rescued by helicopter. Our tour guide encouraged us to take this picture at the exact site.
A change of heart, this cruise was a solid 4 out of 5.
After a few lacklustre days, we finally had some very good times on the Anthem of the Seas.
We went to the matinee performance of the We Will Rock You show. The story was a bit confusing at first but we really liked it in the end.
It is a futuristic story taking place in 2325. The world has forgotten all about rock and roll. A guy has some dreams and strange words pop into his head, the titles of famous songs like Blue Swade Shoes etc. He eventually remembers a bunch of Queen songs, this engages everyone and they get into it.
It’s hard not to like the music and the dancing. They did a great job putting the show on 3 times so everyone could see it. Will remember this one. Apparently it was a massive hit musical with audiences around the world but the critics panned it due to its thin storyline.
Then, the next night they had Maine lobster tail and baked Alaska in the dining room for dinner. Yum. And they did a dancing parade of all the dining room staff. Pretty impressive.
And finally on the last day, they had a hula hoop contest and a lady from Canada won. Lots of fun on this cruise. 9 days all the way to Hawaii!
Food was generally good in both the Windjammer buffet and the main dining room
Service in the cabin and dining room was excellent
Kids camp and arcade for the grandkids was great fun
Bigger ship had more to do yet never felt crowded
People very polite and well behaved
Less focus on alcohol drinking
Value proposition high due cheaper fair
No high end ship within a ship cabins so not as class oriented like Celebrity
They held daily Mass onboard with a great priest from Victoria, BC
Not so liked
The daily entertainment guide had some errors and omissions
The 2 device internet account was awkward to switch back and forth
The numerous cutbacks – no turn down at night – no chocolates – no high end foods like pickled herring, no hard ice cream in the buffet, fancy cheeses, peanuts at the bars
Upsell for e.g., specialty restaurants
Some confusion finding the birthday cake I had preordered
You have to sign out towels to your cabin now
So far, not impressed with the shows or theatre compared to Celebrity Edge
Captain had no personality we were aware of as we never actually saw him
There was an extra hour time change that they forgot to tell us about
Celebrity Edge, 2018, 2918 pax
We much prefer Celebrity in general and the Edge in particular however for a best value family cruise, RCL is hard to beat
Cruise Director Giuseppii doing his classic kick start of the nightly shows (not my photo)
We were now about to now cross the Pacific on the beautiful Celebrity Edge. It was to be an 18 day cruise with 13 sea days; the longest cruise we had ever been on. We would cross the Equator and International Dateline, visit New Zealand and Tahiti before pushing on to Hawaii.
The Edge was launched in 2018 as the first of a new class. It carries 2900 pax with a crew of 1300. At 130,000 tons it is slightly bigger than the Solstice with about the same number of pax. Everything on board is different. It represents Celebrity’s attempt to move up from a “premium” cruise line to a “luxurious” one. In our view they greatly succeed. This was to be the best cruise we have ever gone on!
Take a look at the Edge
We decided not to opt for the drink package due its high cost. Instead, we brought on many bottles of wine that were duly detected by scanning but never objected to by the security staff. We were going to celebrate our 40th anniversary again and also Dave’s birthday. This excuse seemed to work with them.
The shows on the edge were fantastic. We would alternate between the 7 and 9 pm shows depending on our dining arrangements. We saw large cast stage shows, comedians, singers, instrumentalists, acrobats and even a hypnotist. Many of the entertainers were from Australia and were very talented.
The port stops were Bay of Islands and Auckland in New Zealand and Raiatea, Moorea and Papeete in Tahiti. In New Zealand we wandered around, enjoyed the local sights and bought some great wine. In Tahiti we took an outrigger boat excursion, Dave went snorkelling and we went to several little beaches that were absolutely beautiful and later picked up some souvenirs. We did not particularly like Papeete the capital as it was jammed with traffic, noisy and too darn busy. Moorea and Raiatea were simple, calm and stunning. Sadly, our ship was too big to put into Bora Bora, the jewel of Tahiti. Hightlight was probably the quiet little beach stop in Raiatea – calm, uncrowded, pristine.
The food of course is the best part of a cruise. The Edge has 4 separate dining rooms, 4 or 5 specialty restaurants and of course the Oceanview Cafe buffet. We frequented almost all of the restaurants. The service, food selection and quality were truly amazing. Best meal was filet mignon and lobster tail in the Finecut Steakhouse on Dave’s birthday. Our anniversary dinner in Eden was very memorable too.
The best part of this cruise were the 13 sea days. With nothing to do but relax and enjoy the ship’s amenities, we got quite into a calm state that lasted for weeks after the cruise. Never bored, we found somewhere on deck to relax before we went for our next meal. The walking track was a long one and well laid out. The hot tub was never crowded. The pool was large and inviting. The last night there was an all white party on deck with live music. The 7 piece orchestra on board was consistently 5 star. Our only complaint was the wifi would often drop out as we moved around the ship forcing us to log in again.
The cruise ended in fantastic controversy. Approaching the sacred and pristine Na Pali coast off Kauai, our ship’s captain Matt decided to do a 360 Deg turn. We were very close to shore to start with. In our view, as the 1000 ft long ship spun around, we went well within the 1000 foot minimum distance that ships are supposed to keep from shore.There was nothing unsafe about it but it did stir up the sea bed and visually disrupt the sacred nature of the area. Captain Matt said after that he was not aware of the 1000 foot limit. After an investigation, the State of Hawaii recently decided not to pursue charges and I speculate that Celebrity promised not to do it again. It was surreal and stunning how close we were. It gave us something to talk about and boast that we were there lol.
We disembarked in Honolulu, rented a car and drove to the north shore of Oahu for some fresh shrimp and a swim. We stopped at the Dole Pineapple Plantation and then headed back to the airport. Had a very smooth flight home via Vancouver. What a vacation! Thanks for travelling it with us!
Trip By The Numbers
Solstice cruise to Sydney 4525 nm = 8,380 km
13 nights, 4 ports, 9 sea days
Edge cruise to Honolulu 6319 nm = 11,702 km
18 nights, 5 ports, 13 sea days
Total distance travelled by air from Ottawa to Mexico to Singapore to Honolulu to Ottawa 29,000 km
Perhaps not the liveliest of versions, however non-Aussies like us need to see the lyrics to better understand this great folk song. e.g. a billabong is an isolated stagnant pond, a jumbuck is a male sheep. There was a proposal to make Waltzing Matilda Australia’s national anthem. No wonder. When we saw it performed live on board Edge and it brought tears to our eyes.
The view from our aft balcony as we pulled into Sydney, Australia. Were we were in for a nice surprise. Sydney, we were about to discover, is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. We are no longer city people and so have fairly low expectations about cities. Hence our surprise. The beauty of Sydney is focused on its magnificent harbour, its many surrounding beaches and an active outdoor lifestyle that its over 6 million inhabitants enjoy.
Leaving Solstice, we got an Uber to our 54 floor hotel, Meriton Suites in the heart of the commercial district. We could not figure out how to operate the elevator to get to the 39th floor. Duh. It turns out you must place your room card on the scanner and then an elevator is assigned and pre-programmed to take you to your floor and not to any other ones. Welcome to new hotel security technology! Our room was spacious and well equipped with a kitchenette. If we ran out of anything, we called down and it was delivered in minutes. We highly recommend this superb chain!
We were overlooking George Street which is like Toronto’s Yonge and Bloor Streets combined, jampacked with restaurants, high end shops, food stores and coffee bars etc.. The first day we walked around the magnificent St. Mary’s Cathedral, the iconic Opera House, visited the Aquarium and then did some shopping. We found everything we needed including delicious Australian wine very cheaply priced, just footsteps away. There were dozens and dozens of of Asian style restaurants filled with patrons. The streets were teaming with people, many of them young and Asian. It felt exciting to be there.
Next day Marie’s colleague from nursing school, Maureen and her husband Joe visited us. They took us on a delightful harbour cruise and a walkthrough the historical Rocks district near the harbour. Then we went for a lovely seafood lunch in a pub, thoroughly enjoying the company and the conversation. They live in a suburb of Sydney and took the transit system train back and forth easily. Sydney has a an extensive tap on, tap off transit system and an LRT right down the middle of George Street that works!
Next day we hit the beach. We hopped on a tap on, tap off ferry for a 20 min. ride to Manly beach. We walked around the shops and beach area marvelling at the surfers everywhere. We continued exploring the ocean path and found a tranquil little beach protected by large rocks. It was absolutely gorgeous there! We had a dip followed by snacks and beer in a sunny surf-side restaurant. Truly a great place to live and play we were thinking as we headed back by boat to our hotel.
The next day we went to Bondi Beach which you have probably heard of. It is very long with even bigger surf. Lots of surfers again, people exercising, walking dogs, sunning on the beach, happy. On the way home our bus stopped at the mall just before a tragic mass stabbing was to take place inside. We were shocked next morning when we head the sad news of this.
Perhaps the highlight of our whole visit was attending a standing room only, solemn Mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral. There were 2 Archbishops, a huge men’s choir, and dozens of priests and lay in the processing party. We chatted with a parishioner who had come to Sydney from Malta and noticed a lot of young families there. It was a great send-off before embarking on our next cruise later that day.
We explained in an earlier blog why we like cruising so much. Click here to read this post. We waited a long time to go on this trip and were very excited to be boarding a ship again. It was our 40th wedding anniversary year so we were going to celebrate it. After 5 wonderful days in Singapore we were now ready to cruise!
We boarded the 2850 passenger Solstice, our 19th cruise and 3rd on Celebrity. Built in 2008 it is the first of its class, still very elegant but showing its age. It has a traditional look and feel which many guests prefer versus the newer ultramodern Edge class ships Celebrity has now deployed. It holds 2850 passengers, has a crew of 1250 and is thus a mid sized ship by today’s standards.
Celebrity Solstice our temporary home for 13 nights
We had an aft balcony which is at at the end of the ship overlooking the wake. This is a premium cabin however, we did not use the balcony as much as we thought we would for reasons I will explain. Typical in Asia, boarding was very slow and took about 90 minutes. There were 3 or 4 holding areas each with their separate line up. The difficulty is immigration controls. In order to board the ship, it was mandatory to have an electronic visa for Bali and a travel authorization for Australia. Some people didn’t have these in advance and this caused delays.
We were very happy with our cabin steward whom we met immediately – I Gede (pronounced I g’day). He was very attentive to our needs and constantly greeting us. I took to saying g’day g’day to him. He laughed. I regret we did not take his photo. People from Bali, Indoneisa we found to be the happiest. smiliest people we have ever met. Bali was to be our first stop.
After 2 sea days of enjoying the food and drink (we had a drink package) we were ready for some exploring on shore.
Bali is one of many Indonesian (pop. 150 million) islands but is unique because its religious heritage is Hindu while the rest of the country is Muslim. We took an excursion into town (Kuta), walked to a beach and then did some shopping. We marveled at the hundreds of offerings on the street to please the Hindu gods, the beauty of their temples and the low prices in the stores! The other thing we noticed was the heat. Very hot, impossible to be out in during early afternoon. We were happy to return to the ship and cool down! Would love to go back.
The next day was Easter Sunday. While there was no religious service on board, Celebrity provided live large screen viewing of the Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square celebrated by Pope Francis. After that we retired to the Oceanview Cafe and enjoyed seeing all the colourful cakes the chefs had baked.
Two more sea days and we would be in Australia. One of the best meals we had on the whole trip was in the Tuscan Grille. This is a specialty restaurant for which an upcharge applies. We celebrated our 40th anniversary in style there. I think I had lobster tail and filet mignon, yum. Marie enjoyed the calmari and a delicious white fish. Later, G’day even made us two towel swans! We felt caudled by the excellent service. Did we mention the wine?
Out and about on the ship, we found it a little crowded at times. The walking track weaved its way thru lounge chairs and the main dining room food and menu got boring after a couple of nights there. What we really did like was the range and high quality of food in the Oceanview Grill (buffet). We liked the complimentary continental breakfast room service, the specialty coffees, tea and cookies in the El Baccio cafe and the peaceful atmosphere and simple food at the spa cafe. Wherever we went, the service was impeccable. Staff really try hard on Solstice to please you and they succeed immensely! We did not use the casino at all but enjoyed the shops and some of the nightly shows. We were never bored.
We stopped in 3 ports in Australia: Darwin in the North, Cairns and Airlie Beach in Queensland before docking in Sydney. Each place was beautiful and unique in its own way. Darwin is a relatively new city having been rebuilt after Cyclone Tracy completely destroyed it in 1974. A nice little lagoon for swimming followed by some great shopping was in order. The small town of Palm Cove near Cairns had a great little beach, was very quiet and relaxing. Finally Airlie Beach in the Whitsunday Islands was fabulous for shopping, swimming in the lagoon and people watching. The Whitsunday Islands are truly an amazing place to go sailing in their calm waters. In Queensland during the season we were there, there is a high risk of being stung by highly poisonous jelly fish. Hence, each of these beach towns had an ocean lagoon for safe swimming which was protected by a mesh screen to prevent the “stingers” from getting in. No problems.
So why did we not use the aft balcony as often as we thought we would? The first reason was it was too darn hot! We were sailing in a south easterly direction most of the cruise so the sun was on our west facing balcony from 10 am onwards. At a few degrees from the equator it was scorching out there with no shade! The second reason was soot that landed on our balcony each day after being blown out the ship’s exhaust stacks. It was a black particulate matter that fouled our balcony each day and night. I think because of the SE trade winds we were constantly deluged with the problem. G’day took to washing it off twice a day. Many others around us experienced the same issue. Towards the end of the cruise, the problem went away and it got cooler. Celebrity gave us a small future cruise credit (discount) for the inconvenience.
After 13 nights on the Solstice we were now ready to get off in Sydney for a 5 day stay before our next cruise.
Being an avid cruiser, I do wonder what impact a cruise ship has on the environment and on climate change. A lot it seems in terms of air born particulates from the burning of dirty fuels, the releasing of off-gas scrubber, food and sanitary wastes into the sea, running into whales and other fish while all the time generating tons and tons of greenhouse gasses (GHGs) contributing to global warming. The conclusions I get from watching the video below are that cruise ships are exempt from many environmental damage and GHG regulations, enforcement is particularly difficult on the open seas and that the overall problem is largely being ignored at present.
I did a search on Cruisecitic.com and could find only one users’ discussion thread asking if people felt guilty about cruising knowing that the ship damages the environment. The overall response was no. Hence there would appear to be very little consumer pressure on cruise lines for increasing their transparency and rate of progress toward improved environmental practices and obtaining net-zero operational carbon footprints.
Despite this scenario, cruise lines are making some improvements:
Converting to cleaner fuels such as low sulfur diesel and LNG
Connecting to shore power and turning of engines when in port
Buying wind farms as a carbon off-set to GHGs emission
Installing improved technology gas scrubbers and waste water treatment facilities
Researching carbon free propulsion systems in the longer term
So what to make of all this? People on cruises for the most part don’t care about the environmental damage their ship is doing. Nor do they want to know about it it seems. If they did, they would likely opt out of cruising as a protest. Hence, at present IMHO it is an oxymoron to go on cruises and say that you are concerned about the environment. I guess I am guilty!!
One way of starting to turn this around is to inform cruisers on board, what they can do to minimize their personal impact while on board: e.g., don’t run air conditioning with the balcony door open, turn off lights when leaving cabin, recycle towels longer, don’t waste food, recycle things, how to carbon off-set a cruise etc..
A more controversial measure might be to implement an “environmental tax” on individual cruises that would vary with the cruise line environmental practice rating (currently Disney is doing best at D-, Carnival and Royal Caribbean got an F, according to Friends of the Earth). Also increasing fines and publicizing cruise ship environmental violations would help cruisers make more informed decisions about who to cruise with. Not good for overall cruise business for sure. However just to start discussing the subject is a first step forward. Anyone want to go on a discussion themed cruise to get the ball rolling? Any other good ideas out there folks?
10.Enrichment Lectures. Often a cruise line will have a guest lecturer onboard who will discuss local history and culture usually on sea days. We recall lectures on the Caribbean Islands, the Roman Empire, Vikings, Italian food and regae music. Some lecturers are retired professors and do a really great job of teaching interesting material. It’s not for everybody, but Dave really enjoys these sessions. In a related vain, some lines offer daily Catholic Mass and most provide non-denominational religious services at Christmas and Easter.
Chef Dave having funon the way to Rio!
9. Entertainment. Cruise ships provide endless complimentary entertainment. From Broadway shows, to comedians, to live music of every sort. Usually there are 2 nightly shows in the theatre at 7 PM and 9 PM. And what a theatre it is; huge with state-of-the-art lighting, sound and special effects and comfortable seating, bar service etc. There are movies on outdoor screens, casino facilities and television movie channels in your stateroom. The bigger the ship the more options and the higher the quality. We love the Broadway shows and comedians and the meet and greet events with the captain and crew
Having fun aboard the Carnival Paradise
8.People Watching. It seems, the older we get the more interesting it is to watch other people. Particularly younger people but also people our age and older. We see and hear couples interacting and having fun, see what they are wearing, eating or how they dance (some are really good!) and overhear disputes or complaining (very rare lol). On a cruise there are people from many different places, with different accents, clothes, tatooes etc., etc.. Same sex couples are present in large numbers on some lines, particularly men. Cruises provide endless opportunity for people watching close up.
Having fun aboard Oceania’s Marina in the Baltic
7. Drinks and specialty coffees. We have started purchasing the drink package which includes alcohol drinks, bottles of water (actually now in cans) as well as specialty coffees. You can enjoy as many glasses of wine, beer, cocktails as you like up to a certain price limit e.g., $11 at no additional charge. We also like Americano coffees and a capucino, latte or Irish coffee. The convenience and service is phenomenal. It’s open bar on board if you like to drink. We certainly do within reason.
In St. Martin on our very first cruise on the Sunbird back in 2004!
6.Healthy Exercise. Every ship has an outdoor walking/running track, a state-of-the-art exercise facility and several swimming pools. The top deck walking track is marked as to how many laps are needed per km or mile. The older ships also allow you to walk completely around the quiet promenade deck where there are few people. We walk many laps on sea days. Dave likes to swim laps in the pool first thing in the morning when it is not crowded. Marie sometimes uses a treadmill and enjoys daily yoga. In a related vain, cruise ships provide scooters to rent for those with accessibility limitations.
Formal night Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas, New Orleans to Puerto Rico
5.Meeting people. We have met some very interesting people on board e.g, a superb ball room dancing couple from Vancouver, a very friendly couple from Omaha, NE, an ex-clown from Cirque du Soleil, an interesting Mormon couple from Utah and a same sex couple who would always ask us st dinner, how was your day? We do not go out of our way to meet people preferring our own company, but the opportunities are endless. When we do hit it off with someone, it’s often a hoot, and when we run into them again it’s like running into old friends. Catching up and laughing is on the agenda.
Embarking on our best cruise ever with in 2008: Oceania from Istanbul to Venice followed by a group party in Rome!
4.Food. Probably the number one reason many people cruise is because they love good food. Each ship has a main dining room (that’s all they have on a river cruise ship), a buffet restaurant, a pizza and burger spot and 4 to 7 specialty fine dining restaurants: usually Italian, French, Steak, Asian and Seafood. Each tries to outdo the others in quality and service. It makes for some great eating! On some lines (e,g., Oceania) speciality restaurants are included in the base fare. Most though charge extra for specialty restaurants. We love the lobster tail and filet mignon night! We also enjoy room service for breakfast at no extra charge.
On the Avalon Waterways Artistry II, Nuremberg to Luxemburg.
3. Destinations. We go places we otherwise would not go. We have been through the Baltic, the Mediterranean, South America, up to Alaska, all around the Caribbean, a bit to Africa and Asia with Singapore, Australia and South Pacific up next. We would never have gone to most of these places otherwise. In ports we tend to do our own thing lately. Ship provided excursions tend to be expensive. We have organized group excursions and joined in ones that fellow cruisers have organized. These are much cheaper. Our favorite excursions involve beaches, shopping, snorkeling and sightseeing.
Enjoying some delicious seafood on our first Celebrity cruise in 2017. No crowds here!
2.No laundry, cooking, cleaning or grocery shopping. This is a big one. Also no lawn mowing, snow shovelling, garbage, maintenance, etc.. While doing chores at home can be invigorating, it’s sure nice to have a break once in a while. When cruising, someone else takes care of the domestic duties. Makes for a great restful holiday every time.
On the Norwegian Dream having fun!
1.Always going somewhere. For many, being constantly on the move is the biggest attraction of cruises. One never gets a chance to get bored. There is continuous anticipation of new adventure. And some one else does all the driving! Every night on a cruise when we go to bed, we feel the slight roll of the ship reminding us that we are on our way to a new adventure the next day. Makes for a restful, invigorating and renewing experience that a million Canadians a year have become addicted to, us included!
In Alaska with Holland America when the sun came out!
So now we have explained why we enjoy cruising so much. If you’ve never tried it, perhaps you will someday. If you are a seasoned cruiser, you know what we mean. We are planning a back-to-back trans-Pacific extravaganza cruise to celebrate our 40th anniversary in March 2024. Can’t wait!
Cheers from the Celebrity Beyond 2022.
Next up on matersofthemoment: Cruise Line Environmental Practices
This is a detailed comparison of two recent cruises we were on: Celebrity Cruise’s Beyond (X, 3260 pax, 2022, 140,600 tons) Oct 26 to Nov 4/22 to Bermuda/Southern Caribbean and Holland America’s New Statendam (HAL, 2666 pax, 2018, 99,500 tons) Nov 5 to 12/22 to the Northern Caribbean.
Beyond: Newark to Ft. Lauderdale Nieuw Statendam Ft. Lauderdale to Ft. Lauderdale
Boarding – Hands down X. It took 10 minutes and we were in our cabin. No line up or delay. On HAL it took close to an hour of standing and sitting in 2 different holding areas. The HAL gang plank had a very specific weight capacity that could not be exceeded which was the bottleneck I think. The Magic Carpet steel canopy used on X has greater weight capacity it seems. X 5/5. HAL 2/5.
Sailaway – HAL did much better. They had special cocktails for sale, free horsd’oeuvres and a warm welcome from the cruise director on the Lido pool deck. It felt like a sail away should be like – a celebration. On the Beyond, fog poured in at the last moment and the sail past the Statue of Liberty had to be cancelled. Regardless of the weather, it did not have the feel of a sail away (I think we were at the Sunset Bar area and nothing particular was happening.). X3/5, HAL 5/5.
Food – Initial impressions HAL provides food as good as the X and sometimes exceeds. We were sometimes disappointed in the Beyond Ocean View Cafe food quality. The Statendam’s Lido buffet had better tasting food usually as it is maintained in smaller quantities that they serve you (you do not help yourself usually). Bigger lineups. Beyond had a greater ethnic diversity ot offerings in their Ocean View Cafe and virtually no lineups. HAL’s Dining Room was a major disappointment. Due shortage of staff the service was appallingly slow. Giving X too the edge as they served lobster tail one night ( we had two each) and HAL wants an upcharge now for this. X split the dining room into 4 separately decorated smaller ones, a nice touch. X 4/5. HAl 3.5/5
Specialty Restaurants – We were disappointed on X as we chose the Raw on 5 which was mostly sushi and other raw fish (we could have had the fab seafood tower but chose something else). I heard the man at the next table tell the waitress that his was not a good meal and that it was not her fault!) On HAL we went to the Pinnacle Steak and Seafood Grill. It was the best meal we had on either ship. We could have paid some up charges and gone to better specialty restaurants on X so perhaps this comparison is unfair. X 2.5/5. HAL 5/5.
Cabin – Hands down Beyond! Our balcony cabin was large and spacious with clean lines and bigger bathroom. We had the so called Infinite Balcony which is a sun room closed in on 2 sides with a horizontal wall to wall picture window that goes up and down. You leave the space open to the cabin which increases the latter’s size. We found ourselves spending lots of time in the cabin as it was comfortable and not jammed. On Statendam, the balcony cabin is smaller with a queen instead of king. However we prefer the traditional balcony on HAL since you are actually outside and it is larger. But, HAL’s cabin was dated and jammed. We kept the small coffee table up on the couch to increase space. X 5/5. HAL 3.5/5.
Service: Hands down Beyond. We rarely waited for service for more than a minute anywhere on the ship. On HAL we found ourselves waiting at every bar and restaurant. Compounding this was the process of printing out a receipt for signature even though we had the drinks package and there was no charge. On X they swiped the card or asked your cabin number – no paper. There was a shortage of staff on HAL so that even when there were empty tables all around, the service was slow. X 5/5. HAL 4/5.
Ship: Hands down Beyond. Huge ship with plenty of nooks and crannies to get lost in so it never felt crowded. On Statendam we managed to find a quiet spot on the sun deck as we could not get near the pools or hot tubs due to the crowded conditions. On X I swam laps in the pool which was 75 ft long. I never got in the pool on HAL – no room! However on HAL they had the traditional promenade deck where you could walk around the whole ship perimeter. On X it was blocked up by specialty restaurants. X 5/5. HAL 3.5/5.
Ports of Call: Hands down Statendam. 3 beach destinations and 1 good shopping day: Half Moon Cay, Ocho Rios, Cayman Islands and Bimini, Bahamas. The weather was superb on the HAL cruise. On X we were rained on at each of 3 destinations. There was not enough time in Bermuda. Curacao was really run down – major hotel and casino closed, shops closed etc. Aruba was nice as usual but it was our 4th visit there so we just walked around downtown. It rained a lot on the X cruise. HAL had sunny weather. X 3/5, HAL 4.5/5.
Entertainment: Giving X the edge here. They had fairly good Broadway style shows in the fantastic theatre. Also more intimate shows in The Club. We found ourselves dancing in front of the Martini Bar to the soul band that was playing. On HAL we went to one show, a comedian who was pretty funny. They have a wider variety of music including raunchy rock and roll, blues vocal and instrumental music plus we enjoyed some classical quartet performances. X 4/5. HAL 3.5/5.
Technology: HAL had the best app on board. You could order pizza or burgers on-line and by the time you walked to the takeout restaurant, food was ready for pickup – pretty cool I thought. You also use the app to book excursions and specialty restaurants and this worked well. What we did not like was the throttled internet service which gave us much trouble trying to play our online euchre games every night. On X, the internet was fast allowing us to do basically anything even though we had the basic non-streaming service. There was an up charge for the 2nd device. Their app is poor and I had much trouble navigating it to find what I was looking for. In general, in the 15 years we have been cruising, it is amazing the improvements in on board wifi internet service that have occurred, thanks in part to Elon Musk’s recent Sky Link satellite based internet service. X 4/5. HAL 4.5/5.
Percs and Price: X’s percs were free drinks, pre-paid gratuities and basic internet service for 1 device. HAL’s percs were free drinks, a prepaid specialty restaurant meal for 2, basic internet for 2 devices and $100 excursion credit per person. Celebrity bills itself as an upscale cruise line so their price was naturally a bit higher than HAL’s at $CDN245/person/day vs. HAL at $CDN215. Add $35/day/person for airfare costs. Overall X was the best value we we got a particularly good deal when we booked early. It pays to book early since as the ship fills up, the prices go up and up and up, at least on X. X 4.5/5. HAL 4/5.
Crew: It’s fun, interesting and educational to meet staff from around the world. Each line boasted that they had at least 50 nationalities represented in their crew! On X, the Captain was a stand up comedian who had us in stitches. Their regular captain Kate was on board on vacation with her celebrity cat named Bug Naked. On HAL the captain was more of an engineer reporting technical details and weather. The staff on both lines were always curtious, friendly and hard working. Common to both lines, Rumanians make the best waiters! X 5/5. HAL 5/5.
Best Day: Going to Couples San Souci in Ocho Rios on a day pass – top shelf food and drinks, beach, snorkeling and pool. Worst day – probably Curacao due poor weather and economy there. We would like to visit Bermuda again and spend more time there. Marie’s favourite: Bimini, Bahamas.
Demographic: HAL had a slightly younger demographic with several young families, lots of couples etc. X had an older well heeled group, more obese people, many with electric scooter and lots of gay couples, mostly men.
Best Overall Experience and Value: Celebrity. We will definitely cruise with them again. HAL not likely. One thing we really do like about HAL is they always have a priest on board and celebrate Mass daily. On X they celebrate Mass only a few times a year. There is a lot more of a modern buzz on Celebrity. On HAL, people take it perhaps as it is a little cheaper and more traditional in approach it seems. HAL also gave us 2 nice pottery coasters as souvenirs. X 4.5/5. HAL 4/5.
I welcome any questions you may in the comments section. If you remain skeptical about cruising, stay tuned for Why Cruise? coming up soon.
