digital_curator

We started cruising in our mid 30s and chose Royal Caribbean because we were afraid that we would be bored. After trying a variety of their ships, we decided to try something new and went with Celebrity in 2011 (mostly because we prefer to cruise out of San Juan).

There were things we liked more about Royal Caribbean (the production shows, the onboard activities, friendlier, more relaxed crew) and things we liked more about Celebrity (higher quality of food, live music, more and higher quality events for loyalty club members).

We realize that service etc. can vary from ship to ship and sailing to sailing, but we have noticed a change in Celebrity's quality in the last few years. I have no idea if the cuts are because of the almost always included drink package or not but the cuts are noticeable.

On our first cruise, musicians included a pianist, a guitarist, a classical ensemble, a harpist, and an acapella group (as well as the regular lounge groups- band, Latin band, pool band). Since we didn't love the entertainment in the theater (personal preference), we would enjoy several of the musicians in various areas of the ship before and after dinner. It was a port intensive cruise with an active roll call so we didn't do many activities.

We thought the meals were much higher quality than those on Royal though the variety of sides were sometimes a little monotonous. The desserts were especially amazing- crepes, wonderful French pastries, etc. Things that were hard to find at home except in specialty shops or fine dining establishments. I loved the idea of a sommelier, though the reality was disappointing. As soon as he found out that I was interested in wines by the glass and not the bottle, he told me that the bar waiter could deal with me. Thankfully we had an excellent bar waiter, so I didn't miss the sommelier a bit. We didn't have a drink package on the first cruise because it was relatively new and wasn't an included perk.

We were amazed by the loyalty events- a wonderful selection of drinks and a grand buffet of treats, including crepes to order. Everything was very posh and it was lovely getting to know many of the officers.

We saw very few sales (we avoid the shopping area), and the only time we saw a big push for the spa was a lovely activity they set up around the adult pool with free mini massages, facials, etc. There wasn't even a hard sell.

On our next celebrity cruise in 2014, the 1-2-3 promotion was in full force but I noticed very few changes. We cruised with a large group in Anytime Dining and had amazing service from everyone, including a great sommelier. They didn't seem to have many tables and, as I have noticed, we got great attention because we were a table for 10. We did notice that the menus had become a little more pedestrian, especially the desserts. Our waiter surprised us a few times with old favorites, like the souffle.

At the bars, we never had trouble getting a seat or a drink. I was amazed at how well they handled the number of people with drink packages. The only place that I found to be really swamped was Cafe al Bacio.

We didn't go to many of the loyalty events because many of our friends were new cruisers.

We had a big group and a port intensive cruise, so again we didn't do many of the activities. I remember very few sales, but we avoided the shopping area.

We still enjoyed the musical acts and moved around the ship to listen to them. We spent a lot of time at the aft bar, both at sunset and in the evening, though smaller groups also spent time in the coffee bar at night, the martini bar before dinner, and in Michael's Club when it still had the variety of beer (though we found the room a little dark and depressing).

Forward to our last cruise, this past February. Same ship as last time, just two of us.

The food was good and the menus were basically the same from the last time though I thought the presentation was a little better. The dessert selection had been greatly reduced. Our waiter wanted so hard to please but he was rushed off his feet with so many tables! Our sommelier was the best yet but I hardly every saw him- he had 19 tables!!!! 19!!!! He also did the smoothies in the aqua spa cafe in the morning! But for the first time, the smoothies were good! There were times that he was almost running though that was difficult since the tables were so close together. We were at a lovely 2-top back by the aft windows but the next 2 top was 4 inches from ours (I measured). It was difficult to not feel like we were at the same table.

Service at the buffet had greatly improved. More things were served by the staff (I'm all for keeping noro away) and I liked the selection of food except for dessert (one day it was just pies, another day it was just cookies).

The bars were crowded and the number of staff greatly depleted. They did increase the number of bartenders at the aft bar, which was great because it was busy all the time. The martini bar still only had 3 (I don't think they could fit more) and it was very difficult to get a seat, though they were very quick to take our order. Since the craft beer moved to the wine bar, so did we. The number of people here really varied and it was often understaffed. We often went only to find one poor woman working alone. She couldn't do table service and people were complaining. We just went up and got our own drinks (I'm not bothered). Later in the cruise, they often had 1-2 people come help her before dinner. No drink service around the adult pool area and the lines were long at the pool bars. Fortunately, we often came up after people left for early dinner so not horrible but not like it was before. One place that service improved was the coffee bar- they always had one table-server and 3 baristas and they needed it! This was a working vacation for me (I know, oxymoron) and I worked here most days (yay, new fast internet!).

Most of the music was gone. There was a guitarist and a pianist who played only at the aft bar (guitarist) or coffee bar (both). There was also a Latin band and a pool band, and at the end a very good new group joined us. There was a DJ and while I liked the music she played (she read her audience and adjusted genres as needed), it was loud and really changed the atmosphere of the martini bar- we spent less time here than we did in the past, sometimes grabbing a drink "to go."

With the lack of music, we did more activities. As far as I could tell, it was a staff of three. The CD (who handled the theater), the Activities Director, and his assistant. They had to run from game to game at night, which was crazy. I enjoyed the trivia and liked that they are doing more "game shows," which were something that I really enjoyed on Royal. Many of the activities were in the bar just outside the MDR. This meant that this bar was PACKED all night. The staff of 3-4 were worked off their feet. All of them said that the drink package was killing them- they were making way more drinks and way less tips. One of the bartenders also worked in the coffee bar AND the buffet. I had never seen this before. They are really stretching the staff thin.

The biggest change was the sales- they were everywhere! Outside the buffet, on the pool deck. I rarely went by the shops and yet I saw stuff for sale everywhere. It was often by doorways and really disrupted the flow of people. There were tons of spa attendants and they were by the buffet, offering free 3-minute massages. While I enjoyed this, they were really pushing certain services, with discounts if you booked them by name. They had spa menus with the services circled and their names written out for you. Is the spa pushing them to make a certain number of "sales"?

We only went to one event and the selection of drinks was still quite nice but the food offerings were nowhere near the same. Just a few passed nibbles, not really worth eating.

Have I noticed changes? Yes. Some for the better and some for the worse (mostly staff cutbacks). I love the drink package (I do think I get my money's worth) but I wish that Celebrity could figure out how to make the profits they want without cutting staff. We didn't find grumpy staff but after getting to know them, they would admit how much more they are working than a few years ago and service suffers simply from the lack of people in each position.

None of this is going to make us stop cruising with Celebrity but we are hearing good things from friends and family who have switched to other lines and we are thinking about branching out. For as many new people that they are bringing in, I wonder how many loyal cruisers they are loosing?

Nope, we'll arrive in Lisbon one day later than scheduled after an added port in LeHavre, France! Disappointed not to be going to Bermuda, but will happily spend a day in France.

 

Betsy

Le Harve is great! You can take a train into Rouen very inexpensively and the trip only takes an hour. The city is beautiful and the historical section can be viewed easily in half a day. Lots of Joan of Arc sites! The food is amazing and lots of restaurants have great prix fixe menus.

I would take this over the Caribbean any day!

While San Juan isn't a great beach port, the old town is lovely. There are good self-guided tours posted online and a free trolley if you don't want to walk. We love it so much that we try to cruise out of there whenever possible and always go down early.

Great restaurants! Yummy rum! Very walkable!

Enjoy your cruise!

I was on the Summit on the last cruise pre-dry dock. I needed to work so I bought the unlimited package- $200 but we got 25% off for being Select members. Thankfully our OBC covered it.

They don't have the new "fast' internet but there were only a few times that I found the internet to be slow. I was impressed, since the last time I sailed it could take 15 minutes to do something easy like check in for a flight.

I was downloading a lot of PDFs and images and it worked fine. I didn't try streaming video though.

I agree about the long pants but for a practical reason- I find that the dining room is really cold!

We did a 16-day TA (RCI) and LOVED it. We are in our 40s and the crowd was definitely older, so you will be amongst your peers. There are rarely any children onboard.

We didn't have a ton of activities on our ship but certainly all the regular ones were offered (trivia, bingo, live music, evening shows?). We were never bored.

If you are headed to Europe, you will lose about an hour a day with the time changes.

You can encounter rough seas in the Atlantic, so even if you don't get seasick I would suggest a cabin towards the center of the ship. I'm claustrophobic, so I couldn't imagine an inside cabin for that many days but if you don't plan to spend much time, it certainly is the cheap option. We used our balcony a lot on our TA and we were in the North Atlantic!

The menus in the MDR were different each night, which was nice. The drink packages are not offered as a perk on the TA cruises but at these prices, paying extra for drinks is not a problem.

I would totally recommend it as a relaxing vacation and a great way to get to Europe!

We have only sailed M-class ships and like the CC rooms for the extra 20 square feet of cabin space. Many of the perks for CC rooms have been cut back or made redundant (no more flowers, fewer extra items on the breakfast room service menu, free sparkling wine not needed if you have the drinks package).

You won't get extra space on an S-class ship, so I guess it comes down to whether you need the extra Captain's Club points and if the available cabin is in a better location than your current balcony.

Cheers,

We didn't see these on our Feb. 20 cruise. We had breakfast and lunch in the buffet several times and I was in for sushi at dinnertime and every time, the food was in large serving dishes.

If you plan to upgrade your drink package to premium, you can use OBC towards that.

You can do it the day after you board as well. We do it on the first day since we get onboard as early as possible, usually around 11am. LOTS of time to use the premium package! :D

If you have 1 martini on the first day, you have broken even!

We did a 16-night TA with 2 nights in London and a night in Boston. I brought enough underwear for the trip but planned to wear many things several times, e.g. black pants at dinner (4 nights). We took 2 small duffle bags (carry-on) and one large duffle bag (checked)- which we could easily carry along with our backpacks (carry-on).

In contrast, we did a 14-night Alaska cruise and took about 1/2 the necessary everyday clothes and went to a laundromat. This worked out fairly well- put the stuff in the wash, did a little window shopping, put the stuff in the dryer, did a little more window shopping....

If you have a port that you can spare some time in and you know for certain that there is a laundromat open (we almost missed it in Alaska because it was mother's day and the woman who ran the place closed early that day), it is pretty easy. Many of the places in Europe though take your laundry and do it for you and it might not be as quick as you would like (we did this on our honeymoon in Ireland).

Long cruises often have a $20/25 all you can pack in a bag special, which if you only need to do t-shirts and underwear could probably work.

Cheers,

The buffet on X is the Oceanview. Depending on the ship you are on, it might not be as extensive as what you are used to on RCI; however, it has some awesome additions.

There are made-to-order waffles in the morning and made-to-order sandwiches at lunch.

At breakfast, there is an eggs Benedict station with several interesting variations.

Around 5pm, they do a very nice selection of sushi.

As someone else mentioned, the pool grill does yummy burgers and hot dogs. Nothing like getting one hot off the grill. The pool area also has the aqua spa cafe, which has lots of fresh offerings. The Cafe Bacio has free pastries and treats.

During the day, people will be dressed like you would see people on RCI. At night, they might be a little more dressed up, but there will be a wide range.

Relax and enjoy your cruise!

We have never been at a loss for things to do in an X ship. We are in our mid-40s.

I really enjoy some of the activities on RCI ships- the Flowrider, mini golf, etc. But I don't really miss them on an X ship. We tend to do fairly port intensive cruises on X, and find that we really enjoy the live music, which is available in several venues each night. X also has some fun games (pool volleyball vs. the officers, some game shows). They have started DJ nights but I haven't seen one yet.

I think you have to figure out if you really want to try something new or if you really just want to stay with RCI. We started cruising in our early 30's and started on the Navigator because we didn't want to be bored. But in our early 40's we tried X because we wanted to branch out. We haven't been back, though I do want to try out the new ships, both on RCI and on X.

Now I can say that if I went back to RCI, I would miss things like the Sunset Bar and Martini Bar. Will it stop me from cruising other ships? Of course not- there will be things that we like and dislike on each.

Will the demographic be older? Yes. Does that really matter if you are traveling with friends? We have always met people our age and found that X's demographic is getting younger but without a lot of children, which we prefer on vacation.

In the end, we can give you examples and tell you about our experiences but it doesn't really sound like you want to be convinced.

Our first 2 cruises were on the Navigator and Explorer, in PR rooms. We loved the promenade. But then we sailed the Serenade and loved being able to see the sea from everywhere on the ship- lots of natural light. I haven't been on an S-class ship but the M-class reminds me a lot of the Radiance class.

My favorite ship is the Independence but my husband prefers the Serenade and the Summit, and these are my second favorites.

Perhaps the change might be nice. X ships are beautiful, the food is very good, great live music. I say try it and see what you think!

Cheers,

I'm leaning towards Summit! THANKS EVERYONE for the input! I'll use it to 'present' the trip to DH... He generally 'lets me' do the research then I tell him what I think then he usually says.. OK!....

 

THANK YOU for the help! It is appreciated!

 

We are platinum on Royal... Celebrity takes that standing too? I think someone said yes.. BUT still can't wrap my mind around that.. When booking we tell them our Royal loyalty numbers???

 

Celebrity doesn't recognize us as past cruisers... We even cruised with them before... have my TA friend do battle?

Gabrielle

You need to call X's Captain's Club and give them your RCI number. They will then issue you a X loyalty number with the equivalent status on X (Select). Just remember that points earned on each line don't count towards your status on the other. We too are platinum on RCI (ONE day from Emerald), and therefore Select on X but it will take a lot of cruising to get us to Elite on X- I think we need 200 more points!

Cheers,

I'm also wondering if craft beers would be covered in the classic beverage package. Thanks!

Most of them (if not all) are above the Classic limit. If you only drink craft beers, it is worth upgrading.

Cheers,

Thanks for your updates, Donald! I'm sorry that your B2B extravaganza doesn't continue to our sailing on the 20th.

Might you be able to take a photo of the beer/cider offerings in Cellar Masters? A few on our roll call have been wondering.

Cheers,

HI guys the only post to answer my question was Digital Curator.

Aussie

I think what confused people was your use of the word "cancel." Some people do remove their tips, which will get the result that others describe.

If you haven't prepaid your tips, they will post to your onboard account. Any OBC will go towards these charges (and anything you purchase onboard). You won't need to do anything for this to happen.

Cheers,

I would take the drink package and the OBC. Use the OBC to pay off the gratuities with a little left over if you are on a 7-day cruise in a regular room. We took this option and the OBC will cover all but $42 of our expenses of gratuities and upgrading the drinks package.

Great......our flight doesn't arrive in San Juan until 2:10pm, and it is a CHOICE AIR flight......

If you are on the Summit, it's departure time is 8:30, so you have lots of time to make it to the ship for 7:00 pm.

Hi and welcome to the review! I'm glad you are enjoying it.

 

Well it depends where you want to go on a Princess ship. If you just need a ship name then the Ruby would be my choice off the top of my head. We've enjoyed two Caribbean cruises on her, both reviewed. She has two sisters-the Emerald and the Crown.

 

If going to Alaska or the Panama Canal the Coral is ideal-only 1900 passengers and lots of space to roam. See my review for more.

 

I haven't sailed on the two newer, bigger ships and have no plans to.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Norris

Thanks! Yes, we really don't care about itineraries at this point, so we are looking at the best representative of what Princess offers. We do like smaller ships, and have spent more time on them in recent years.

Cheers,

Hi Norris,

I'm loving your review!

DH and I have only sailed RCI and X (sadly, none of the ships with grass) but I am considering trying Princess. Which ship would you recommend for a newbie?

Cheers,

We were at this port with RCI. We took a taxi into the train station because we didn't want to miss our early train to Rouen but we needn't have worried. It was a short trip (and about 8 euro, if I remember correctly).

Since we were in no rush on the way back, we walked. There was a sidewalk and, while it was quiet, we didn't feel unsafe. It took less than half an hour. It would have been lovely if it hasn't rained for the last 10!

If I want a late night hamburger on a Celebrity ship where do I go to get one?

Room service would be your only option late at night.

Can't help you with taxi fare but it isn't far from the cruise terminal (5-10 minutes). Mt. Gay's website says that the regular tour is $10US.