Long time "Loyal to Royal" tries Celebrity - A comparison between the two.

We are long time RCI loyalists who recently completed our first Celebrity cruise on Summit for a 7-night Bermuda itinerary. I thought I'd offer our impressions of Celebrity as a comparison between the two lines.

Summit is akin to the Radiance class ships with RCI, both in overall size and passenger capacity, as well as age of ships. The ship, while a little tired in parts of the exterior, was very well maintained and appointed inside, and had recently completed a refurbishment that had it feeling very fresh. Our stateroom was an aft facing Concierge Class balcony stateroom with a very large balcony appointed with a large table, four chairs, and two loungers. This is a standard class stateroom that while on Summit was a bit larger, would be most similar to a D1 Superior Balcony stateroom on RCI. The following link highlights the amenities package offered with Concierge Class bookings:

http://www.celebritycruises.com/ships/celebrity-summit#Staterooms/ships/celebrity-summit/staterooms/stateroom-subtype-sm-cc

Our comparisons are in the following ares which are important to our cruising experience:

1. Degree of Luxury: To us, this is a measure of the little things that make the cruiser feel a bit special in an atmosphere where things are a little nicer and you are recognized as being important to the cruise line. Celebrity includes things like individual "welcome aboard" greetings with a glass of champagne or mimosa, less frequent shipboard announcements, quiet spaces away from loud music, and large recliners and lounging couches as examples of what was a positive difference in our on board experience.

Degree of Luxury: Celebrity

2. Service and Customer Focus: Our stateroom attendant and assistant were very visible and attentive, always asking if there was anything more we needed from them. They were frequently in the hallway and every time we approached our room, they stopped what they were doing, escorted us to our room, and opened the door for us. Twice we ordered room service that arrived within the designated time frame. We received a call several minutes ahead of the deliveries to tell us it was on its way, and a second call about 30 minutes later to verify that everything was as expected. Once we had a question of Guest Services that was met with a smile and a complete explanation. Later in the day they called to be sure everything was alright and to verify that our question was answered to our satisfaction. The Senior Staff was also very visible and engaging, and were one of the best we've been with on all of our cruises.

Service and Customer Focus: Celebrity

3. Food: We typically elect MTD and did the same with Celebrity's version of this. The MDR food is similar to RCI, but perhaps with a more varied menu, and we only ate there twice. However, they were very accommodating with seating time requests and preferences. We also ate at Tuscan Grill and Q'sine, both specialty restaurants. Tuscan Grill was very good and featured fresh made pasta daily. Q'sine is a very unique restaurant focusing on multiple small servings, each presented in a very unique and interesting manner. This restaurant was very good and we chose to eat there twice. The Oceanview Cafe - Celebrity's version of the Windjammer - was far better than RCI both in variety and quality. They offered a number of dinner selections and we ate there twice, both times being very good. The Spa Cafe offered a variety of fresh selections including grilled salmon fillets, and the Pool Grille prepared thick, freshly made hamburgers and hot dogs on fresh buns out of the bag. This also was the same with their preparation in the Oceanview Cafe. On one day there was also a pool side cookout featuring steak, pork, and chicken, which was very good as well.

Food: Celebrity

4. Entertainment: Both lines are on a par for the normal shipboard staff entertainment and headliners, but as RCI has Broadway shows and more extensive and unique entertainment venues, they come out ahead here.

Entertainment: RCI

5. Loyalty Program: The benefits reciprocity between the two lines is a plus, and as a D+ member with RCI, we are eligible for Elite benefits with Celebrity. The cocktail hour that is 3-1/2 hours long every night with RCI is only 2 hours long and on 5 nights with Celebrity, but is otherwise comparable. Most of the Senior Officers were present and mingling with the guests during the upper tier repeat cruisers reception, and we met one on one in conversations with the Captain, Hotel Director, and Housekeeping Manager. We were also introduced to the other staff members present. But overall, RCI comes out ahead with a stronger program that includes balcony discounts and drink coupons, as example, which are not offered by Celebrity.

Loyalty Program: RCI

6. Overall Value: To be fair we have always felt RCI was a good overall value and in the limited context of a single cruise with Celebrity, I will offer this only as a direct comparison to the same itinerary with RCI, which we have done previously on Grandeur. The pricing overall was similar and the experience on Grandeur very good. But given the differences with our experience on Summit as identified with this cruise, the overall value with Celebrity was better.

Overall Value: Celebrity

One frustrating point with Celebrity lies with their on board wine program in that they still charge a restaurant venue corkage fee of $25. To us, that rubs against allowing wine to be brought on board as dinner certainly is one of the prime times to enjoy your wine.

Someone on board who has cruised both lines said that the difference between RCI and Celebrity is that RCI puts their money into ships and Celebrity puts their money into service and food. I think that is an accurate statement.

We will remain loyal to Royal, but not singularly. We have several cruises planned with RCI, which we will not change, and one that we booked on board with Celebrity. We thoroughly enjoyed our experience with Celebrity and moving forward, we will look a itinerary, ship, and price to decide between the two, but will definitely book again with Celebrity.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope it is helpful. I will be happy to answer any questions or provide more detail if anyone is interested.

Mike

Not a long post at all, a very well written comparison Mike. Thanks!

Thanks for the comparison :)

Will probably look at Celebrity in the future to give them a go

We are long time RCI loyalists who recently completed our first Celebrity cruise on Summit for a 7-night Bermuda itinerary. I thought I'd offer our impressions of Celebrity as a comparison between the two lines.

 

We will remain loyal to Royal, but not singularly. We have several cruises planned with RCI, which we will not change, and one that we booked on board with Celebrity. We thoroughly enjoyed our experience with Celebrity and moving forward, we will look a itinerary, ship, and price to decide between the two, but will definitely book again with Celebrity.

 

Sorry for the long post, but I hope it is helpful. I will be happy to answer any questions or provide more detail if anyone is interested.

 

Mike

Nice review and thanks for sharing! :)

We have been wanting to try Celebrity for some time now, but the ships don't have a lot

of home ports close by like RCI does for our location. Sure wish they would put one of the

Celebrity ships home based into PC!! :) Even Tampa would be nice also!

Excellent review, comparisons and viewpoints. Thank you.

Have always valued your knowledge that you share.

Thanks for the comparison.

Enjoy

Nice comparison!

We thought the Summit beat RCI in entertainment too. It may not have the Broadway shows (but not every RCI ship has those either - especially ones of similar size). There were 3 production shows on a 7 day cruise instead of 2. There were several high quality lounge acts who played multiple sets every day, so when you walked through the ship in the afternoons, evenings, nights, you never walked through an empty venue because someone was playing the guitar/piano/singing/etc in every lounge. The production show singers/dancers held a casual concert where they each performed their favorite songs, and all the entertainers held a jam session on the last night. We loved Dancing with the Stripes and other interactive activities, and though the Captain and Senior Staff were a lot of fun!

In fact, the only area we though RCI beat Summit was in the buffet.

Thanks for the comparison. I think any comparison takes into account which ship you try. We tried Celebrity Reflection for our Med cruise. I totally agree with you on the service, it was excellent. The food was good and we had a great activities crew. The ship itself was ok in terms of layout and things on-board. But there were just way too many people. I've been wanting to try Summit since I like that smaller class of ships better.

Thanks for the review it hit me head on as you and I have a lot in common. My wife and I are also diamond plus and we are traveling on summit to Bermuda August 28th for our first celebrity cruise, and I am also a Mike. Is your wife's name Deb? Lol.

Mine

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Nice comparison!

 

We thought the Summit beat RCI in entertainment too. It may not have the Broadway shows (but not every RCI ship has those either - especially ones of similar size). There were 3 production shows on a 7 day cruise instead of 2. There were several high quality lounge acts who played multiple sets every day, so when you walked through the ship in the afternoons, evenings, nights, you never walked through an empty venue because someone was playing the guitar/piano/singing/etc in every lounge. The production show singers/dancers held a casual concert where they each performed their favorite songs, and all the entertainers held a jam session on the last night. We loved Dancing with the Stripes and other interactive activities, and though the Captain and Senior Staff were a lot of fun!

 

In fact, the only area we though RCI beat Summit was in the buffet.

That's a fair observation. I guess I did lump all RCI entertainment together in a comparison of one Celebrity ship. Summit's entertainment was good and ship class to ship class certainly holds its own.

Thanks for the review it hit me head on as you and I have a lot in common. My wife and I are also diamond plus and we are traveling on summit to Bermuda August 28th for our first celebrity cruise, and I am also a Mike. Is your wife's name Deb? Lol.

 

Mine

 

 

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LOL - no hers is Tami. But there certainly is a lot in common. I hope you enjoy Summit - be curious to hear your comments!

Great comparison Mike. Certainly something that we will consider once we are no longer cruising with the kids.

Thank you for sharing. DH wants to try Celebrity to Bermuda next year.

Thanks for your comparison of X and Royal. We are also similar to you: both D+ and mostly loyal to Royal. We recently tried MSC's Divina in their yacht club and thought it was excellent. However, I'm not sure I would have felt so positive if not for the yacht club amenities. We really like to sail from NJ and after trying Anthem and not really loving her, we booked Summit for the end of April next year. So I was glad to hear your positive comments. We probably will still sail RC. As a matter of fact we have Freedom booked out of Ft. Lauderdale in November but lately we hate to fly so hoping to love Summit. One question: Do they ever open the solarium roof? Again, thanks for your review.

Mike your comparison is right on and very astute given it was your first Celebrity cruise. Thanks so much.

One more item to consider is that Celebrity does not allow smoking in the casino while Royal tries to make half the casino smoke free.

Another thing to consider is that Celebrity is more adult oriented and Royal more family oriented in terms of having more venues available for kids and teens like rock walls, flow riders, zip lines and ice skating rinks. In sum they're both terrific cruise lines which offer a lot of varied activities for cruisers.

Great stuff Mike. Thank you.

Thanks for your comparison of X and Royal. We are also similar to you: both D+ and mostly loyal to Royal. We recently tried MSC's Divina in their yacht club and thought it was excellent. However, I'm not sure I would have felt so positive if not for the yacht club amenities. We really like to sail from NJ and after trying Anthem and not really loving her, we booked Summit for the end of April next year. So I was glad to hear your positive comments. We probably will still sail RC. As a matter of fact we have Freedom booked out of Ft. Lauderdale in November but lately we hate to fly so hoping to love Summit. One question: Do they ever open the solarium roof? Again, thanks for your review.

We too are thinking about MSC as my understanding is they match loyalty benefits and are similar to RCI of years past.

Sorry, the Solarium roof does not open on Summit.

We've been on Celebrity twice - both times Summit (Bermuda and S. Carib). We began with RCL - originally traveling with our kids and now have 7 sailings on RCL. We've enjoyed them but my plan is to get to diamond (we're emerald now) and then switch to Celebrity as we've preferred the service and food and how many times can you see the aqua shows, or go up in the fancy crane? RCL has a lot of "been there, done that" attractions but Celebrity just has a really nice vibe. (Although some people think Celebrity is boring.)

Thank you for sharing. DH wants to try Celebrity to Bermuda next year.

Join us on April 30, 2017 to Bermuda. They had a great deal when we booked it. We got $300 OBC and a beverage package for both of us. They had other amenities you could choose from too, like paid gratuities and free internet. Our Celebrity cruise planner suggested we get what was worth more.

It will be our 2nd time on the Summit. First time was a 14 night to Canada/New England including Prince Edward Island and an overnight stay in Quebec, which turned out to be 2 nights because we couldn't make our next port because of the weather (had to tender in). Cruise was wonderful and everyone was great. Very friendly crew and Captain. I'm hoping we get Captain Kate....they say she is great and very approachable and friendly.

I pretty much agree with the OP. We love Celebrity, but we stay loyal to Royal. Always nice to have a change once in a while though.

Gwen :)

Thanks to all for your positive responses to my comparison! Please let me know of any questions or additional information you are interested in.

Excellent comparison. We are D+ in RCCL and prefer Celebrity during the summers if we go to Europe. For those long itineraries, our Elite's laundry coupons are a blessing. I also like Celebrity's non-alcoholic drink packages better. Canned sodas are included in Celebrity's packages unlike Royal's.

Suite guests in Celebrity dine in Luminae. They also have both; concierge and butler services. Although Royal is trying to improve their suite experience with the genie, Suite lounge and Costal Kitchen IMHO Suite life is better in Celebrity. Most of these improvements are not available fleet wide. :)

Great review, thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the comparisons. I am in the opposite category - a few happy cruises on X (Equinox, Reflection and, soon, Summit), but never on RCCL. But we are going on Explorer's West Coast cruise soon, so I will be able to make similar comparisons. I'll plan to post about it.

Thanks for the great comparison Mike. We are D on RC and have recently booked our first Celebrity cruise for January. We booked one of the concierge class rooms on the 'hump' on deck 11. DH likes the views from the side of the ship so I couldn't talk him into the aft cabin. We're looking forward to experiencing Celebrity.

Barb

Great comparison. We are in the opposite situation. We are long term Celebrity cruisers (Elite) and trying our first RCI next month. Two things we have gotten used to is the two bags of free laundry and 90 min of free internet for each of us. We will miss these on RCI.