Royal Caribbean or Celebrity?

[cruiseaholic13]

Just got back from a WONDERFUL cruise on Serenade and anxious to plan our next one! We have been on 5 cruises all on RC...we have never been on a "Freedom Class" ship but have done all of the iteneraries they do. Celebrity's new ship "Eclipse" has a great itenerary that we have not done and it is a brand new ship! We have always been very happy with RC and are hesitant to switch. Any thoughts would be appreciated!!

[teenXcruiser]

Well I have never been on a Celebrity cruise, but I went on Freedom of the Seas in December of 2009 and I loved it. From my experience on that cruise I'd say go for a Freedom class ship, but as I said, I've never been on a Celebrity.

[mommabean]

I've been on a whole lot of cruises, mostly RCI, never Celebrity. I loved them all. We will be going on our first Celebrity cruise in March and I'm excited to see the difference, although not excited about the smaller concierge class cabin. I wish they had something more like a JS - larger room without all the perks.

 

I HAVE been on one Freedom class ship and that was Freedom of the Seas. I have to say it was my least favorite ship. I thought it was way too large and it didn't have the beauty that I've seen on the other ships I've been on.

[Dick in Falls Church]

Have done both, and find we prefer Azamara to either. However, of the two in question, we favor the Celebrity. I'll caveat that by saying that we were mostly on larger RC ships and smaller Celebrity. We thought the Radiance of the Seas last year was excellent. We have a 5 day family cruise scheduled in April on the Grandeur, followed 3 days later by TransAtlantic on Celebrity Constellation. Haven't had a bad cruise yet!

[cruiseaholic13]

Good to know...thanks for the reply!

[cruiseaholic13]

Have done both, and find we prefer Azamara to either. However, of the two in question, we favor the Celebrity. I'll caveat that by saying that we were mostly on larger RC ships and smaller Celebrity. We thought the Radiance of the Seas last year was excellent. We have a 5 day family cruise scheduled in April on the Grandeur, followed 3 days later by TransAtlantic on Celebrity Constellation. Haven't had a bad cruise yet!

 

I will have to check out Azamara...is the price comparable to RC? Why do you prefer it?

[cruiseaholic13]

I've been on a whole lot of cruises, mostly RCI, never Celebrity. I loved them all. We will be going on our first Celebrity cruise in March and I'm excited to see the difference, although not excited about the smaller concierge class cabin. I wish they had something more like a JS - larger room without all the perks.

 

I HAVE been on one Freedom class ship and that was Freedom of the Seas. I have to say it was my least favorite ship. I thought it was way too large and it didn't have the beauty that I've seen on the other ships I've been on.

 

Good to know...please let me know what you think about Celebrity. That was my concern with the Freedom Class...we just got off Serenade and LOVED IT!!

[Miss Vickie]

We're loyal RCCL cruisers, the Radiance class is our favorite (never been on anything larger, actually), and absolutely love Serenade. We sailed X Summit last year, chosen primarily for the itinerary. We did love the itinerary, but prefer Serenade, and RCCL in general. That being said, the Solstice class is supposed to be wonderful, and if it's an itinerary that you really want to do I'd encourage you to go for it.

[TEXASMUNK]

Celebrity...formal nights are formal nights, nope, no t-shirts or jean. And Celebrity asks you to remain in formal attire throughout the evening.

Celebrity...step up in food quality. Although our last Voyager cruise in January, the food was dramatically better. Celebrity spends more per passenger on food.

Royal...activities...far more pool side activities and events. Lots of evening variety. less so on Celebrity, but still, never had a boring evening on Celebrity.

Royal....kids/teenagers, except for holiday periods, Celebrity will have fewer young people.

Announcements...Celebrity assumes you can read, so very ver few announcements. Royal....can't wait to hear about Bingo and the free drawing for the 39 cent trinket in the jewelry shop!

 

We love RCI because it is more active, but we cherish our Celebrity cruises because of the ambiance.

[nps001]

We have been on a majority of the X ships, Brilliance and Oasis. To answer your question, one needs to know what is important to you on a cruise?

 

Celebrity ship life is more sedate. If you are after finer service, better food, etc. I would suggest Celebrity.

 

The Solstice class ships are as close as youll get in style to RCCL. No doubt they are beautiful and have a more active night life.

 

I'd be glad to answer specific questions.

[ccletzgo]

have done my share of both lines (see signature) and prefer celebrity. Our last cruise was on Radiance with the two before that on Celebrity and I am looking forward to going back to Celebrity.

Dont get me wrong. I am a RCCL fan, but I like X better..;)

[bigeagle12]

If you are cruising with kids then Freedom .. if not I would try Celebrity. A little more upscale and adult friendly.

 

The Freedom is just the Adventure and Mariner slighlty enlarged with a few more amenities.

 

Bottom line .. you will enjoy either.

 

Although I have to admit I miss the Promenade when I get away from the RCL Voyager class ships and above.

[blue/eyes]

Is anyone out their going onthe Adventures of the Sea April 25, 2010? I'm going alone would like to meet someone to hang around with.

[bigeagle12]

You need to go to the Roll Calls board and find your ship and cruise date to find others that will be on your cruise.

[Miss Vickie]

Is anyone out their going onthe Adventures of the Sea April 25, 2010? I'm going alone would like to meet someone to hang around with.

 

Check out the roll call for your cruise, most likely place to find someone to hang with http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1079238

 

Our Celebrity vs RCCL experience (note - our opinion only): Food - we actually didn't find it any better than Serenade. Service: We prefer the service on Serenade - friendlier. Cabin: we book aft D1's on Serenade, aft Concierge Class on Summit, RCCL's cabin was bigger. Concierge class amenities were okay - nice to have fresh flowers, and the shower head was good. The new shower heads on SR are just as good, though. Ship: Serenade is better maintained, more glass, and I think prettier. Dining Room (not the food) - Summit's is really nice - it's at the aft of the ship, with a large window at the back - really, really nice. Buffet: Summit has a great salad bar, but other than that, I prefer SR's Windjammer. Both have outdoor seating at the aft, a nice touch. Summit's is actually part of a bar, though, and one of the few places on the ship where cigar smoking is permitted (which also happened to be immediately above our balcony cabin - we got to smell the cigars :(. Announcements: I'm not a big announcement fan, and Summit was nice with fewer announcements. Entertainment: We're not big partiers, don't go to the pool games, bingo or anything like that, but we found Summit a little too quiet for us. Shows better on Serenade. My husband said the casino was absolutely dead in the evening. Fellow cruisers: We did not see a big age difference on the two ships. Could be the time of year we cruise, after schools are back in session in January. We don't see many kids on Serenade, and there seemed to be an older group on Serenade this year, fairly similar to what we experienced on Summit last year.

[beachnative]

We are RCCL diamond which shows how much we like RCCL. We have two RCCL cruises booked, one on the Liberty and one on the Mariner. Now that we have learned that smoking is NOT allowed on Celebrity balconies we have booked our first Celebrity. We are also looking at Celebrity's transatlantic, Panama Canal, and European itineraries for something to book.

[mommabean]

have done my share of both lines (see signature) and prefer celebrity. Our last cruise was on Radiance with the two before that on Celebrity and I am looking forward to going back to Celebrity.

Dont get me wrong. I am a RCCL fan, but I like X better..;)

 

Why? I want to hear all the details. :)

 

Gina

[tinkerme1]

It is really hard sometimes to put your finger on what makes a cruise line better than another one. In the case of Celebrity vs. RCCL, TexasMunk really hit the nail on the head.

 

It is all about what type of cruise you would like to experience. Of course, the type of ship also enters the mix and you need to realize that each class of ship has a different "ambiance."

 

We are RCCL cruisers, we have over 70 cruises with them, and decided to try Celebrity Equinox (Solstice-class) this past December with two other couples who are also RCCL fans. We had a marvelous time and would definitely go on Celebrity again. I can only speak to the Solstice-Class experience.

 

We booked an Aqua-class cabin which is equivalent to a "D" class cabin on RCCL. The Concierge class and Aqua class cabins are identical in size with some balconies being larger due to location on the ship (hump in particular). The differences are the amenities that are provided to each class of cabin.

 

We loved having dinner in BLU each evening and enjoyed not having the "din" of the MDR surrounding us while we ate. The staff was extremely friendly and we felt the service was amazingly good.

 

Nightlife (it was the holidays) was okay but in no way compared to the activities offered on RCCL. We did really enjoy the quiet of the PA system which is not the case with RCCL.

 

Our D+ equates to ELITE on Celebrity, and the perks were excellent.

 

Although the room was small and the storage was adequate, we found the service and amenities to be very good.

 

Since we traveled with two other couples who also booked the AQUA class cabin, and we were next door to one another, we had the cabin attendant open up the balcony dividers. We created our own parties and enjoyed the balconies very much.

 

I can see where, if we went as just a couple, the whole experience would have been a little different.

 

I think that Celebrity and RCCL have enough differences that the company got it right! Celebrity is more formal, it is a bit quieter, but still has lots to do and the itineraries are a little different as well.

 

RCCL is more casual in nature, has more for kids to do, and IMHO, is positioning themselves to be a "family cruise line."

 

We like both lines and will cruise both in the coming future.:D

[NordicPrince]

I will have to check out Azamara...is the price comparable to RC? Why do you prefer it?

 

Looked at brochure prices before our last cruise. Azamura is 2.5 to 3 times the average cost on RC. They only have 2 main 30,000 ton ships (as compared to Radiance-class ships which are 90,000 tons and considered 'small' by many RC-ers) but as a result they can go to ports which are not accessible to the larger ships. They also cannot have the same scale of theaters and pools.

 

Varied reports from CC-ers if the step-up is worth the cost.

[mjldvlks]

We have sailed the smallest RCCL ship [splendour], the oldest [Monarch] and, at the time we sailed last April, the newest and biggest [independence]. We recently sailed Celebrity Mercury on a short Pacific NW cruise from Seattle. I would take any of the three RCI ships before returning to Mercury. The RCCL ships have the edge in every single category I can think of with the possible exception of our cabin attendant who was excellent, and at least equal to our RCCL experience. The menu on Mercury had more options, but I didn't really think the food was any better. The MDR service was absolutely pathetic. We had been seated for 30-40 minutes before we even met our waiter. The ship was poorly designed and traffic didn't flow well. It felt much more crowded than I ever did on Independence. The buffet was like a school cafeteria. I went to one of the attendants and asked for the Boston Cream Pie that was on the list of options. She had no idea which one was the Boston Cream Pie. I MUCH MUCH prefer the openness of the Windjammer on RCCL ships.

 

I might try another Celebrity ship if the itinerary and price were right, but I wouldn't go out of my way.

[Lineaway]

Gotta agree with most of these posts. Celebrity is a bit more sedate and the food is a notch better but with kids I would go RCCL, more for them to do. RCCL had better entertainment too besides the main showroom. It seems like there were multi lounge acts each night vs. Celebrity had only one. Celebrity ships seem more elegant and I thought the service was a notch better too. I don't remember any "issues" on Celebrity vs RCCL,NCL,HAL,or Costa where we had billing, cabin maint problems, or a variety of other problems that can come up on a cruise. But we may have been lucky on that one.

 

Jlmolner, I think we were on the Summit with you last Jan. Aft cabin too. I see Celebrity now charges more for that cabin.

[pltag]

We love RCI because it is more active, but we cherish our Celebrity cruises because of the ambiance.

Active ??? Here's my question for TEXASMUNK, or for anyone else who has sailed Celebrity.

 

DW and I are 40 somethings who like to act like 30 somethings when we cruise -- read as DRINKS..... ALOT!! :D :D We prefer nicer (larger) cabins. Love laying by the pool....more so with steel drum band than a belly-flop contest. We occasionally find ourselves missing dinner because we are having too much fun. Love the casino, and bars which either have live entertainment or dancing.

 

Are we too young (actual or acting age) for Celebrity?? :)

[tinkerme1]

We have sailed the smallest RCCL ship [splendour], the oldest [Monarch] and, at the time we sailed last April, the newest and biggest [independence]. We recently sailed Celebrity Mercury on a short Pacific NW cruise from Seattle. I would take any of the three RCI ships before returning to Mercury. The RCCL ships have the edge in every single category I can think of with the possible exception of our cabin attendant who was excellent, and at least equal to our RCCL experience. The menu on Mercury had more options, but I didn't really think the food was any better. The MDR service was absolutely pathetic. We had been seated for 30-40 minutes before we even met our waiter. The ship was poorly designed and traffic didn't flow well. It felt much more crowded than I ever did on Independence. The buffet was like a school cafeteria. I went to one of the attendants and asked for the Boston Cream Pie that was on the list of options. She had no idea which one was the Boston Cream Pie. I MUCH MUCH prefer the openness of the Windjammer on RCCL ships.

 

I might try another Celebrity ship if the itinerary and price were right, but I wouldn't go out of my way.

 

Mary, try the Solstice class of ship! Lightyears of difference from the Mercury!

[cruiserbryce]

we just took our first cruise with X and LOVED it. While there are small differences we like the experience on both. We will still probably cruise with RC more often but after the great food, service and layout of the Equinox we would certainly go back

[Lineaway]

Pltag Yup I think you may be a bit underwhelmed on Celebrity. RCCL will have more going on at night. The bigger the ship the more there will be to do. Stay away from Enchantment, Granduer and Monarch. Any of the newer bigger ships seem to have better reviews.